Seoul, March 2018

Potentially, a long post. Realistically, I should be glad if I have the itinerary up here!

17032018 - Okay! 2 sections are up! Next are the very long winded travel stories and photos. Well, maybe, photos.
18032018 - Yay! Some 1/4 of the travel stories are up! We'll see how much progress I can make in time to come.

WHY KOREA?

Because I don't want to go Japan again. I wanted to go somewhere we haven't been but not too far away because the youngest is still too dependent on me for a lot of things and very long distance means I get very little sleep. Korea was chosen because it is near enough and there is enough info about it online (especially halal food). We have very little interest in K-pop though. Which means we cannot speak the language (all my Kpop loving friends seem to be able to speak the language). I can't even say excuse me and sorry in Korean - essential skills because my clumsy self keeps knocking into people.

GROUND PACKAGE

We are not the best planners. We tend to bumble around during our holidays.

To avoid that, we took up a ground package (we settle our own flight; they'll deal with the itinerary and stuff we need to do in the country we are visiting). This was a good idea on paper.

Unfortunately, the company and us are not on the same wavelength.   The ground package is for the first 4 days. We wanted just 2 or 3 days, more of a familiarisation exercise but they strongly encouraged us to take up a 5d4n package. (Fifth day, no more tours. We are supposed to check out of the hotel.)

The main problem with the company is the accommodation. They discouraged us from taking up our own Airbnb accommodation and said that their place is at a strategic location. Nope. It's near Anguk station which is not an interchange. A 10-minute walk from the station.

The room - for our family of 5, we get a family room. Sounds large and spacious. But the space is about 20-22 sqm with 2 queen-sized beds. For a family of 5, being constrained in such a tiny space can make one feel a wee bit stressed. No cupboards for me to unpack our luggage. Very little space to move around. When we go on a holiday, we want to relax and not be imprisoned so we got out of there the very next morning after we managed to score a pretty airbnb apartment with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, washer and dryer, kitchenette et al.

Washer and dryer. When we go on a holiday, we never bring clothes for the entire duration of the holiday. Siao ah? Like that, for a winter holiday, I need to bring five 29" luggage, izit? Washer and dryer are necessities so that we can bring enough for just 2 or 3 days. The tour company told me that there was washing and drying facility available at the hotel. What I didn't know was that there was only that one washer and one dryer in the entire hotel. The hotel staff wash all their sheets and towels using that one washer and dryer. Like that, when do guests get to use the washer and dryer?

Anyway, enough ranting about that company. Will not recommend it to anyone but our guide who freelances with them was pretty good. If you want a 1-day familiarisation exercise with her, she can do that. Send me a message and I'll hook you up with her.

ITINERARY

Day 1

• Itaewon (but still too late for Friday prayers)
• Lunch: Eid (Itaewon)
• Insadong
• Dinner: Bought those onigiri rice triangles from 7-11 + heated up a pack of microwaveable rendang rice

Itaewon is where you can find Seoul Central Mosque. Naturally, where there is a mosque, there will be halal food. Yay!

Our first day being a Friday, we wanted to go to the mosque to do our Friday prayers there. Unfortunately, because our guide was a bit late picking us up from the airport, we got to the mosque after Friday prayers were over. Not such a big issue because we are musafir so we did our jamak takdim zuhur + asar after which we had our first halal Korean meal at  Eid.

The Seoul Central Mosque is on top of a hill. It's a very picturesque  area but getting to it requires a huge amount of legwork. Steep inclines et al. Maybe that's why we see lots of fit pioneer generation Koreans going on hiking expeditions.

After that, our guide took us to Insadong which is some 10 minutes from our 'hotel'.You can give Insadong a miss, really. Lots of pretty souvenirs but on the pricey side. Namdaemun has cheaper stuff. Maybe I was feeling the blues from the shock of seeing our hotel room but Insadong didn't do anything for me. There are 2 places there where you can have your halal meals though. One is an Indian restaurant and the other is a vegetarian restaurant. Our guide highly recommends the latter but it was already 6+pm and it was getting bitingly cold. I was anxious to get back to the 'hotel' to do laundry. Housewife issues.

Back in the hotel, I literally felt like crying. I was trying to unpack and could not find any space to unpack our luggage. The kids have so much homework and I plan for them to spend 1 hour every night doing homework. But where to do homework? No space! I went to the reception to ask for bath towels and toiletries. No, they only gave face towels and I have to buy the toiletries from them.

TheHusband started looking for airbnb apartment and found 1 in Itaewon. That heavy feeling in my heart went away and I slept well that night despite the springs I could feel poking my back.

(For the first day, we were supposed to go Insadong only but as the guide was late, the company added Namsan Tower (which we did the next day) and Itaewon.)


Day 2

• Got out of the hotel and moved to our new Airbnb apartment in Itaewon.
• Lunch: Muree (Itaewon)
• Namsan Tower
• Gyeongbokgung Palace
• Kim Sejong Museum
• Gwanghamun Square
• Chonggyecheon Stream
• Dinner: Self-prepared dinner

Our guide was very kind. She understood the problems her guests were facing and helped us move from our hotel to our new apartment.

Our new apartment requires us to climb 70 uneven steps to get to it but it is worth the climb. You suffer a bit for 2 minutes but the end result is amazing comfort and a place to call home for the next 3 nights. It is also less than 5 minutes away from the Seoul Central Mosque and therefore, all manners of halal restaurants! Yay!

After we dropped off our luggage at the apartment, we had an early lunch at Murree Musim Food. When we order any Korean food, it will come with some side dishes - seaweed, fishcakes, ikan bilis, kimchi. TheHusband feels that Murree has the yummiest side dishes. For me, I'm happy with the seaweed.

After lunch, we went back to the apartment as the host wanted to orientate us. We did our zuhur + asar in the apartment and then started our tour.

Gyeongbokgung Palace was an ig-worthy palace. But, I must state that I am not that much into photo taking so all these pretty places are a bit lost on me. Take note that most of the palace is refurbished. If you like photo taking, it's a good idea to dress up in a hanbok and take photos there. Very perfect location.

After that, we walked over to King Sejong museum. Learnt a bit about King Sejong and the things he did to improve the Korean way of life.

All these happened around Gwanghamun Square where there is always at least, one protest going on. Here, you have 5 people holding a placard and that's it, your life is finished. But, in Korea, the police will be there to maintain the piece as you go about doing your human rights stuff. An eye opener for us and especially the girls who are not used to such things.

Ended the day by walking over to another picture-worthy place - the Chonggyecheon Stream.


Day 3

• Petite France (Don't go also, never mind. I love The Little Prince but this place seems a a bit.. confused and a tourist trap. Actually, everything also tourist trap. But some are worthy of your money while others are, errrr... nope.)
• Nami Island
• Lunch: Asian Family Restaurant
• Musollah: Above Asian Family Restaurant
• Dinner: King Kebab @ Itaewon. Huge portions. Share your meal if you are a small eater.

Day 4

• Ihwa Mural Village
• Noryangin Market. Planned to have lunch there! Thank goodness our guide could speak Korean and knew what was happening. Tourist trap!
• Gwangjang market
• Lunch: At a stall at Gwangjang market. (Brought our own rice)
• Han River
• Dinner: Makan Restaurant (Itaewon)

Day 5

• Moved house (Bye bye, Robin's Nest!)
• Lunch: Busan Jib
• Myeongdong (Daiso!! OMG)
• Musollah: Kampungku
• Light dinner at Kampungku
• Street food at Myeongdong

Day 6

• Lotte World
• Lunch: Tuna Mayo onigiri rice cakes from 7-11
• Musollah: 3rd floor, Lotte World
• More Lotte World (but, really, Tokyo Disneyland has spoiled it for us. We cannot enjoy another theme park)
• Dinner: Yang Good. Masya Allah. 

Day 7

• Day started late because it was raining
• Namdaemun Market
• Lunch: Kampungku
• Musollah: Kampungku
• Dinner: Street food at Myeongdong (yes, again)

Day 8

• Lunch: Makan Restaurant
• Itaewon to catch solat jumaat
• Quick 1h stop at Namdaemun
• Airport (Don't buy anything at the airport. Make sure you've bought all your sovenirs from everywhere else! Default price at airport is in USD and multiplied manifolds! I thought I could get snacks as souvenirs from the airport but not at those prices!)

COST

(People often ask about this so this section should help.)

Flight: We took Cathay with a 3h transit at HK. For 2 adults + 3 children, it was around SGD2.4k. Had we taken SQ, it would have been SGD4k.

Food: Meals at restaurants cost about 10000 won per person. So each time we ate at a restaurant, it was about 40k - 50k won. (Our exchange rate was about 1000 won = SGD1.2. So, that's about SGD50-60 per meal. Ihsan eats very little so he does not get his own dish. At all the restaurants we go, a jug of water and cups are provided with every meal. So we never spent a single cent on drinks, except at Kampungku where I ordered teh tarik (and then couldn't sleep until 2am).

Airbnb: About SGD150/night.

Ground package for 9 - 13 March (inclusive of accommodation for the first 4 nights but we stayed one night because, like I said, NO!): RM5200 (On hindsight, don't need to spend this money. Save it to buy more seaweed snacks, face masks, socks etc.)

Lotte World ticket from Klook for 5: SGD154.93

Travel insurance: SGD70
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