I am speechless. 2016 is really something. Making me cringe and smile at that time. Making me clench my teeth and laugh at the same time. Especially November. I couldn't express November in a word since there have been so many things happened. Nonetheless, this post will be entirely about my trip to South Korea... :)
Yes baby! Finally I MADE IT! Even though, it was not without a drama lol
Before we dig into a deeper passage, let me remind you that I am going to come back stronger in 2017. Expecting more exciting posts in Strawbearies or in Let's Talk. I know I owed you a loooot in the last 3 months of 2016. But hey, it was worth it. :) More details will be revealed in some other time.
 |
| Meda |
There I was with my cousin, Gina travelled all the way from Surabaya and Makassar, met in Jakarta hours before our departure to Incheon! All hyped up. We all worked on our visa by our own. Our visa were granted a week before our departure. Thumbs up eh?
Nov 21st and 27th of November was the period of joy and devastating part in my life haha. Now, which one first, I need to reveal? Chronoligically?
Anyway, we arrived in Korea in the morning of 21st, Monday. We loved our place. We lived in airbnb near by Hongdae, very conviniently across Hongdae Station exit 5. It was a lofted officetell, was clean and neat. We were excited of our new place, and we were ready for our very first adventure in Seoul that very Morning.
Hongdae, Shinchon, and Edae, the golden triangle of universities. I personally love Universities and the surrounding. That was why we picked Hongdae as our staying place. As I have predicted, I fell in love with Seoul! That's it. That very first day, I claimed my self liking the place so much. We went there in the end of Fall season, yellows and reds were still around. Our first adventure was Ehwa University and the Gwanghamun gate and Cheongyecheon river. I always wanted to go to Ehwa University. It has the unique architecture, and I was amazed that Universities in South Korea was influenced by European style of architecture. Lovin it.
 |
| Ehwa Univ |
When in the heart of Seoul, the road was still having the mark of ancient Korea, not to mention tha grand mountains behind the panorama. The dried river, the old shrine, and so on. It was lovely. On top of that, in front of the statue of Lee Sun Shin *the great general, there was a conselebrated mass held for the Sewol Ferry victims back in 2014. Me and Gina were excited over the simple coincidence. We got to see a national event.
 |
| Seoul |
 |
| Seoul, Requim Mass |
We were so happy, and so tired at the same time. I dragged my feet to go home literally. The day before, I was in a wedding party, I got to wear high heels from the Morning to nightfall; therefore, my toes were killing me. When I took off my shoes, both my toe nails *the big thumb, turned to blue. lol My body was screaming out loud asking me to sleep, but oh no.. I just realized that my pouch filled with my cash was vanished.
yes.
I lost 75% of my cash on the very first day in Seoul.
Could you believe it?
It was hard for me to believe it, maybe because I was so tired as well. Fortunately, I was surrounded by a lot of people who sincerely cared about me, and I did not want to let them down, the vacation was just started. I decided to stay calm and kept going. The next morning, I contacted a friend of mine, a local. She helped me a lotttt... like a lot! We went to the police station first thing in the morning. Another thing that made my day brighter, the polices were soooooooo niceeeeeeeeee. They were not scary. Police station was not a scary place. They welcomed us warmly. They listened to our story and suggested what we should do. At that very moment, I started to feel that my life in Seoul was indeed like a Korean drama. Involving a dramatic event, police officers, CCTV, and romance everywhere which will be inserted here and there in this post. Losing money like this was my first time experience. Thankfully, my cousin reminded me that she owed me some money for the airbnb. I paid it with credit card, so she was able to pay me back in advance. I had cash, not so much, but enough for my life in Seoul for the rest of the week. Touched.
 |
| Police office |
I told to my self and others, that I would be OK. We would still have fun! That day, we decided to dig a little more into Korean culture, we went to Jimjilbang! But before, we got to wander around Yonsei University. One of the top three universities in Korea. I was amazed that Korea has preserved such a respect to their ancestors and histories. Among the modern buildings mixed with European styled building, there was an area like an ancient Joseon school :).
 |
| Yonsei Univ |
 |
| Yonsei Univ |
Seriously, South Korea made me fall in love even more even though all the cash I saved was gone in a blink. I did not think that it was done by pickpocket, since I put the money in a pouch which not look like a place for money. I was trying to enjoy every minute of my time in Seoul even more. I did not want to waste anything about it. Thank goodness, my cousin and my friends were very supportive. Therefore our Sweet Seoul Adventure continues!
 |
| Jimjilbang |
The next day, we decided to go to Nami island, my top priority when I planned this trip. The autumn there was sooo magnificent. On top of that, mambo's favorite man after his dad and perhaps my dad was Bae Young Jun. Haha. Yes, that Korean actor. Mambo went to Nami Island as well for the sake of the drama - Winter Sonata. It was not a bad idea at all. Nami island was beautifully made. The trees, the parks, the arts, the wooden buildings, everything about it was so pretty! My favorite place indeed. I definitely told my self that I would come back and enjoyed it even more. The smell of autumn, and the yellow leaves were so pretty! We got back from Nami, and decided to shop a little in Myeondong area. Guess what, me and my cousin did not really enjoy the shopping experience that all people were bragging about. We loved Edae area. Not so crowded, but everything that we needed was there. Thus, not long afterwards, we went back to our place and decided to do Chimaek - Chicken and beer time.
 |
| Nami Island |
Our next adventure would be only me and my cousin. The friend from Canada would go back sooner than us. Me and my cousin decided to get back to Joseon area. We started with the last emperor's residence. Both me and my cousin loved about philosophy and history. We went out a little late, but arrived safely, and just the first sight, we were amazed. The trees were so pretty combined with the classic Korean Hanok styled palace, and the background were skycrapers. Beat that! The last palace was influenced by western interior since it was for diplomat's residence. So, we got to see a traditional Korean palace with a gold chandelier and silk curtains. Behind the palace was a gathering place with chairs and tables. The name of the palace is Deoksugung. The palace was not as popular as the other palace, the place was in peace. Only a couple of tourists. We met a couple who had lived in Indonesia for some quiet time, the husband could speak Indonesian pretty fluent. :)
 |
| Deoksugung |
 |
| Add caption |
After the art gallery, we went on a tour inside the European styled residence. I have been dreaming to go to that palace since I watched it on a show on KBS. It was lovely!!! The tour was in Korean unless we booked on internet tour. For me and Gina, we got a phone like recorder. We could hear te explanaton in English. Handy.
We finally got to eat our first big meal at 4 or 5 PM. We decided to go to Gwanjang market. It was heaven except all the vendors were calling us in Chinese. There's a little habit that the vendors would talk in Chinese since there were so many Chinese tourists. Well, it became handy when we talked about money. Surprisingly I could speak a little Chinese if we were dealing with numbers compared to Korean. Lol. My adventure with Gina was perfect because we had different role. Gina was taking care of map reading, I took care of communication and KTX thingy.
Back in Gwanjang, we were delight to see a lot alot aloooot of mountainous of food. lol. We did a little souvenir shopping, and went back to our place.
 |
| Gwanjang Sijang |
I may say that our Friday could be called Freaky Friday. It was two days left, and that Friday was the freakiest. Started out ordinarily in the Morning. We went to Bukcheon, a Hanok traditional house village. The houses were pretty, but there were too much noisy Chinese tourists, made us not really comfortable to wander around the residence. We went out to the street randomly, and looked across the street, there was a Catholic Church. We decided to check it out just because we wanted to know what the inside looked like. It turned out to be one of the first Catholic Church, and one of the last King's descendant was the first few Catholics in Korea. Smiled, we both got more excited. haha We loved this kind of discovery. The interior of the church was modest, only made by woods. Nonetheless, the ground level was a small gallery. :) So excited about our hidden gem.
Next, we headed to a jjajangmyeon's place. The place was packed. We, however, got to sit at a table for 6. Not long after we sat, there were two grandpas were sat on the same table. He spoke "excuse me" in Korean, and I replied in Korean "please..." Then, we ate in silence until one of the grandpas saw my cousin was eating jjajangmyeon with chilli pepper lol. He started speaking in Korean, obviously even me, couldn't understand. I explained that we were not Korean nor Chinese, we were from Indonesian - again in broken Korean. Finally, we ended up conversing with mixed of broken English and Korean, and added a little of gestures. In the end, we were offered drink haha. 56% alcohol drink in th middle of the day! Both gina and me, was looked at each other haha. We realized that it was an honor to get a drink, even from a stranger. hahaha They insisted that it was nt really strong. Yea right! After the first shot, I felt the burning inside my lung hahaha, and it was a little adventure we got there. What a blessing I may say. Having so closed to local.
After lunch, we headed to Gyeongbukgung, the majestic palace in the heart of Seoul. We got to see the soldier ceremony, and wandered around the magnificent palace. It was HUGE! I loved the fact both me and Gina appreciated how nature played a little in our scenery. We went there around sun sets, we got to see the changing color of the sky with all the yellow and red trees, and the beautiful palace, it was such a beauty! Only if my pupil could also projecting in words.The palace was sooo big, we couldn't do the whole palace, but we got a little more time to wander around the museum, Grateful that I watched a little of Six Flying Dragons, so I did have a little knowledge about Joseon lol. It was a nice experience to be able to know about the creation of Great Korea.
We went home with happy satisfying heart. Oh to add more fun surprise, we met our relative randomly at Gyeonbukgung hahaha. He was one of cousin's husband. He was sent to Korea for his job. What a day!
That evening after a stroll around inside the museum across the palace - getting closer to the King's family, we figured out that there was a little commotion out there. We saw young police officer ran around the palace to Gwanghamun gate. Not to panic because we have faced similar situation on our first day in the city Seoul. There was little protesters went out. At that time, South Korea people have plead for the president to end her presidency due to corruption and irresponsibility. What made me and Gina amazed, the protesters were so in order, not making any chaos. Most of them were university students. Moreover, there was a rehearsal for the big protest on the next day. LOL! We got to witness that. I am blessed. Seeing the civilisation does well.
That night, we decided to go in separate ways for our last day. Gina went to the national museum, I went to Insadong. The narrowed alley was real, and the old houses were as cute as on the pinterest, Samzegil was great. Pricey but good artworks were everywhere. Also, it was our last day, and there was there, the first snow :)
 |
| Insadong |
My trip to Seoul was sweet and full of drama. Literally like a Korean drama. It was like a series of imperfections and making it more special. I couldn't ask for a better version of it. I promised my self to coming back and wander around more like a local. haha. Despite losing all the money I saved for this trip, I still had no less than I expected. That's how great God is. Thank you for all the people who supported me. I had so much FUN! SOOO MUCH fun and food!! :)Oh yes... I forgot to tell,
Let the picture speaks ...
 |
| happy "intern" and One International (Misaeng) |
Keep tuning in :)
Hello 2017, I am ready
CVB
No comments:
Post a Comment