If you haveread my previous post on how expensive taxis can be in Seoul then you will know that the cheaper alternative to use transportation in Seoul is to use the train/subway! In this post I am going to share with ways on how to use the subway (More like sharing a video from YouTube 😂), also I would like to apologize to one of my reader yang betanya cemana kan memakai subway atu cause I'm having trouble kan meng-explain 😂
Below is a video uploaded by YouTube user TheTravelingKimchi on How To Use Seoul's Subway:
The Seoul Subway App is an app that you must have on your phone time di Seoul! This app has proven useful masa kami di Seoul, banyak information buleh kitani dapat, macam when is our next stop, location-location yang kan di aga and banyak lagi lah! The app is available on App Store and Google Play.
To be honest, masa first time kami memakai subway ada sasat lah sekali. Bukan pulang sasat sampai turun arah location lain, just salah Line saja. After a couple of times memakai subway biasa tia sudah. Macam nada ganya lapas atu, apa nya urang, cacah cabur naik subway ani. 😂
How often do you get to hang out with a K-Pop artist? Jarang kan? On our third day in Seoul, we get to hang out with a K-Pop artist! She's my cousin, Putri Norizah's friend. Lucky right? By the way, her name is Beige! Kenal? Kalau biskita minat meliat K-Drama, confirm biskita kenal ia ani siapa.
Bagi yang inda kenal, si Beige ani famous for the song Because I Miss You from the drama Moonlight Drawn by Clouds. She also made a cameo in the drama Secret Garden.
This one right here is my personal favorite, "Your Song" from the soundtrack "Five Children".
Gwangjang Market (광장시장)
Beige picked us up around 1pm at our guesthouse and she brought us to Gwangjang Traditional Market. The market is South Korea’s first market and continues to thrive as a popular tourist destination today. The second floor of the market provides all of your silk, satin, and linen bed-sheet stores, which are the largest and most famous in Seoul.
Many of the stores in the area even have their own factories supplying fabrics to the Namdaemun Market, Pyoung Hwa Market, and even to some department stores. Even though the goods are not brand-name products, the wide selection of high quality goods at inexpensive prices makes it an enjoyable shopping experience. Via Visit Korea
Beige as our tour guide!
Gwangjang Traditional Market ani sama macam Tamu Kianggeh kitani disini. Macam-macam ada bejual disini. From Korean traditional food and delicacies, to kain-kain and pakaian traditional bisdia. We also get to try some of their food, kana belanja oleh si Beige! 😝
Nokdu Jeon/Mung Bean Pancakes. Crispy and it has a sweet and savory taste!
Ani confirm orang tau. Tteokbokki - made from soft rice cake, fish cake, and the sweet red chili sauce called gochujang (a savory, spicy, and pungent fermented Korean condiment made from red chili, glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, and salt.)
This one right here is Eomukguk/Korean Fish Soup. The fish cake NYAMAN! The soup was really spicy but I like it!
Thank you for the treat Beige! 😍
Insa-dong (인사동)
Lapas dari Gwangjang market, Beige brought us to Insa-dong. Disana kami tejumpa Korean yang pandai cakap Melayu!
Insa-dong, located in the heart of the city, is an important place where old but precious and traditional goods are on display. There is one main road in Insa-dong with alleys on each side. Within these alleys are galleries and traditional restaurants, teahouses, and cafes.
Every Saturday from 14:00 to 22:00 and Sunday from 10:00 to 22:00, the main street is blocked off from traffic and it becomes a cultural space. Stores set up booths outside and Korean candy merchants and fortune teller stalls can easily be found; there are traditional performances and exhibits as well. Insa-dong is especially popular among foreign tourists. This is where they can experience and see traditional Korean culture firsthand, and also purchase pieces of fine art. On the street you can eat Korean taffy and traditional pajeon (Korean pancake), and see many foreigners lost in all the joyous festivities of the street. Via Visit Korea
Enjoy the video that I took when we were in Insa-dong.Kami tejumpa orang Korea pandai bekurapak Melayu!
The snack yang that Korean guy made in the video is called Honey Candy. I didn't catch its Korean name. It is made out of honey which turned into around 16,000 strings and filled with peanuts as its fillings. Very sweet treats and we all like it and ended up buying 10 boxes of the snacks lol
After strolling around Insa-dong Beige brought us to try traditional Korean tea and delicacies, which was perfect for the cold weather!
Beige showing me some of the traditional Korean tea available on the menu. Too bad I didn't catch the name of the tea shop!
Korean Traditional Plum Tea. A little to sweet for me. The one behind the tea is a snack made of rice cake and honey! Koreans do use a lot of honey in their recipe.
This is called Yakgwa. Yakgwa is traditionally made of honey, sesame oil, and wheat flour. Recently, Yakgwa has been manufactured by corporations that add more ingredients in order to improve the taste of the biscuit. Rasanya macam kuih lidah disaluti madu. Luan-luan sama rasanya! We ordere few boxes of this untuk dibawa balik ke Brunei pasal nyaman.
One with Beige! 😍
After having the tea Beige brought us strolling around Gangnam city which you can see from the video that I shared above!
Had Ice-Cream in the winter time sajuk-sajuk. Kana liat-liat tarus. Either kana ucap kabal, atau gila. 😂
After strolling the city we went home. Sorang-sorang sudah lalah and kanyang and ada yang selisma lapas makan ice-cream (me)! Nasib si Beige membalikan ubat. Alhamdulillah esoknya baik! The ubat was really strong and effective but really pahit rasanya.
The fourth day kami semua ke Namsan Tower! Stay tune for my post!
You can follow Beige on Instagram and Twitter: @beigeluv
The second day of our trip, Brunei Embassy in Seoul membawa kami makan! She happen to be my Aunty's close friend and we contacted her and kana offer makan tarus at a Pasha Cafe, a Turkish Halal Restaurant in Itaewon.
We had lunch buffet and the food were lovely! Lovin all the food especially the chicken kebab! So tender and juicy! I didn't ask for the price though pasal kena belanja oleh Brunei Embassy! 😝
One with Aunty Ros and her family! Thank you so much for the treat Aunty! 😊
My baby cousin Adelya with Aunty Ros' youngest son Arif!
Babies are soo adorable! 😍
After we finished our lunch, Aunty Ros membayarkan kami van and a driver for a day untuk membawa kami jalan-jalan! We were so happy and thankful for her kindness! By the way, the van cost about BND200 and ia membawa jalan-jalan kemana saja kami mau! 😂
Of course alang-alang sudah di Itaewon, kami minta bawa ke masjid, and the only masjid yang ada di Seoul is the Seoul Central Mosque!
Located in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu in Seoul, the Seoul Central Masjid was the first Islamic mosque in Korea. Construction of the mosque began in October 1974 on a piece of land (5,000 square meters) that was donated by the Korean government. Funded by the Islamic countries, the mosque officially opened on May 21, 1976 and now stands proudly halfway between the Hangang River and Namsan Mountain. Via Visit Korea Below is a video of the masjid uploaded on YouTube by Anwar H. Freeman
Selepas selesai di masjid Seoul Central kami minta bawa ke Lotte World to have a bit of fun! Kalau orang yg minat RUNNING MAN confirm biskita kenal Lotte World ani. Tempat durang filming their first episode (According to my cousin lah. I'm not a big fan of the show 😂)
According to Guiness World Record, Lotte World is consists of the world's largest indoor theme park, an outdoor amusement park called "Magic Island", an artificial island inside a lake linked by monorail, shopping malls, a luxury hotel, a Korean folk museum, sports facilities, and movie theaters!
Terus terang kalau sehari memang inda cukup sini ani. Basar banar tempatnya!
Harga ticket di Lotte World ani untuk one day admission is 41,000won, about BND50 for orang basar, and ticket untuk kanak-kanak cost 32,000won, around BND40.
The amusement park is so huge that I did not get to explore all of them! Lagipun pasal kami kesini in the afternoon and sorang-sorang sudah ngaleh after jalan-jalan and inda sanggup lagi so we decided to go home saja. Perhaps I'll come back here on my next trip in June 2017!
For now enjoy the short video that I made during our trip to Lotte World;
Sebelum kami balik, we got so lucky pasal we get to watch K.A.R.D performing LIVE di Lotte World. Diorang ani group K-Pop yang baru start last year if I'm not mistaken. First time dangar live and I am already in love with the group! Below is a video that I captured when they perform their song "Oh NaNa".
Way to end my day! A free live performance by a K-Pop group! lol
Their original music video;
Find out which K-Pop artist that we hanged out with on my next post! Stay tuned! 😝
We arrived in Seoul from Kuala Lumpur on 21st January 2017 at 3:00pm (The time differences is 1 hour di Seoul). We literally landed in snow on that day! 😀
It was freezing cold! First time lagi experiencing winter. 😂
Wearing a hoodie that I bought from Lagenda Clothing. Usulnya macam tabal but trust me, I can still feel the cold breeze because it was really cold that time!
We spent almost an hour di Airport mencari taxi or bus untuk ke guesthouse tapi payah kan belurih. Luckily ada this one taxi driver meng-approach kami and offer taxinya. Awal-awal I hesitated takut taxi sapu kah apa then he showed his name card and ia cakap ia pakai meter jua apa. He looks legit so we took his offer.
It took about sejam labih from Incheon International Airport untuk smpai ke guesthouse kami di Gangnam. If you guys followed me on my Instagram (If you haven't, go follow me now! 😜) you will know the incident that happened to me once we arrived at the guesthouse.
YUP! You read that right. I left my bag in the taxi!! A bag full of valuable items. Here's whats inside my bag yang tetinggal di taxi atu;
1. My laptop
2. Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom
3. Asus Zenfone C
4. GoPro Hero 4 Session
5. Nintendo 3DS XL
When I found out my bag atu tetinggal di taxi, of course I panicked! I almost cried and inda tau kan buat apa. I can only hope that taxi driver jujur and hantar balik my bag.
After about setangah jam, I feel like redhakan saja because those stuffs dapat dibali lagi nanti. Luckily I have my wallet and my passport dalam pocket seluar all the time!
But AHAMDULILLAH lapas kan sejam, the taxi driver came back!
I ran outside and hugged him and gave him some money! Payah belurih urang jujur masa ani and nasib ia menghantar balik my bag.
"Best Driver". Very well deserved! Hahahah.. If you happen to be in Seoul and mencari transport you can contact Mr. Jung. He is a very honest driver and he speaks English jua! Save the number!
Alhamdulillah after that incident our whole trip was a blessing! I get to meet new people, and hang out with a K-Pop artist! Siapa nah? I will reveal who she is on my next post! 😝
Some people say only the rich can travel. WRONG! If you do some research, you will find that traveling can be a lot cheaper than you think. To tell you the truth, my budget for my trip to Seoul last January I only bawa about BND1,200 ditangan and I survived 8 days disana. I was in Seoul from the 21st until the 28th of January 2017.
So how do I managed to travel with such small budget? Part ani memang banyak yang betanya and banyak yang mau tau.
1. Budget Airline - Pakai AirAsia, Bali Ticket Awal.
Super cheap flights and budget airlines like AirAsia will let you travel on a budget. Siapa inda kenal AirAsia? Flight yang diorang offer memang murah-murah and affordable.
My belanja for air tickets were roughly around $700+. I know mahal usulnya. By the way, just so you know harga ticket ani inda temasuk with my budget ni ah.
I spent $700+ on tickets pasal I was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul, bukan direct flight. Lagipun mana ada direct flight dari Brunei ke Seoul pakai AirAsia.
Below is the amount of money that I spent membali ticket;
BWN to KUL: BND81 KUL to INC: BND291 INC to KUL: BND253 KUL to BWN: BND128 Total: BND753.
I did not spend BND753 all at once. What's the trick? Bali ticket sebuting-sebuting! 😂 Of course the only way you can do this is to plan your trip awal. We planned this trip for almost A YEAR! Once the date is confirmed, baru start membali ticket.
The trick is to secure the ticket one way saja dulu, then bulan dapannya bali lagi ticket untuk balik apa. Of course if you have the money bali lah saja return ticket tarus.
2. Travel In Group - Sharing Is Caring nya urang putih.
Traveling solo can be fun and it is the best way to find yourself. Although I have never been on a solo travel, I would love to experience it one day.
Traveling in a group can be an advantage! Why? Because you can share membayar tempat tinggal and transport. Splitting the taxi fare with your friends can be a lot cheaper daripada membayar seorang diri. My last trip to Seoul I was traveling with my cousins, so everything kami sharing membayar saja.
3. Travel by Train/Jalan Kaki - Avoid makai Taxi.
Taxis are everywhere in Seoul. Bejurit macam nasi katok lol But the disadvantages are they can be really expensive! Advisable memakai subway/train kalau biskita kan jalan-jalan disini pasal it cost way cheaper than taxi, ganya lambat sedikit lah kan sampai arah destination yang kitani kan tuju atu. Memakai bus payah sedikit kalau di Seoul pasal all the signs and routes are written in Korean, unless biskita bedangan dengan orang yang pandai membaca tulisan Korea.
4. Tinggal Di Guesthouse - Hotel Mahal Di Korea.
Nowadays you can find cheap hotels and accommodations through mobile apps like booking.com, agoda, etc. On our last trip we stayed at 24 Guesthouse di Gangnam area, murah saja and it only cost us around BND218 for 8 hari! And the owner Mr. Lee is really friendly urangnya.
With Mr. Lee, the owner of 24 Guesthouse in Gangnam. His family runs guesthouse business all over Seoul! Google saja 24 Guesthouse banyak tu!
Of course you need money to fund your trip. If you are working, try to save as much as you can. It took me a couple of months to save up some money for my trip to Seoul last month. Duit inda gugur dari langit, but the whole trip was totally worth it!
If you have more questions pasal my last trip to Seoul you can contact me on Instagram and Twitter: @haneeeeep or just drop me an email at mh.hidayat256@gmail.com!
