Let the Korean Adventure begin!
Our plane left the Philippines around 1:15 AM (Philippine time) and touched down Incheon around 6:15 AM (Korea Time). When the plane landed, my brother looked outside and saw a lot of blue colored planes. Then he turned to me and asked, “Sister, why are there a lot of PEPSI planes here?” I laughed so hard coz he thought that Korean Airlines are PEPSI planes! Anyways, after getting through the immigration, we exchanged a hundred dollars and looked for the nearest convenient store to buy T-money which we will use to pay for our transportation and other petty expenses within Korea. Each T-money costs 3,000 won and we loaded 20,000 won each.
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| T-card loaded 20,000 won |
After which, we headed for the bus stop as instructed by our hostel which was at bus stop 12A. We had to wait for bus number 6011 which took around 20 minutes to arrive.
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| Bus stop sign |
When the bus came, we gave our baggage to the attendant who placed a sticker on our baggage and gave us our claim tickets. When we got on the bus, we showed the bus driver the following lines which was sent by our hostel:
창경궁 지나 대학로 성균관 대학교역에서 내려주세요!
(Just after Changkyunggung, please let me off at SungKyunKwan station.)
After reading the lines, the driver agreed by nodding and asked that we pay the fare. To do so, we had to tap our T-money cards on the bus’ system and saw that 10,000 won was deducted from our card. Since we knew that the ride from Incheon to our destination would take more than an hour, we took the chance to sleep. We woke up when we were already in Seoul.
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| We're in Seoul! |
We had to listen carefully for the places the driver was saying. We should be getting off at the SungKyunKwan bus stop. Since we researched ahead on the place that we’ll be staying, we had an idea of how the bus stop looks like. So when we saw the Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks, we knew we were already at our destination. True enough, the driver said that it was the SungKyunKwan stop. We got off the bus, handed our claim ticket to the driver, got our baggage and began our way to the hostel which was only a few blocks away. When we saw the hostel signage, we were so happy and excited. We were greeted by the receptionist who happens to be the sister of the owner. She then directed us to our room and directed us on how to get to the places we would like to visit for the day.
We stayed at the new green building. It was great for a budget accommodation. The room was clean, spacious, had its own bathroom, lockers, a computer with internet and wi-fi, washing machine, microwave and some cooking stuff. They also provided towels. The location is good. It was only a few minutes walk from the bus stop and subway which made it easy for us to see all the places in our itinerary. There was also a bakeshop nearby that sold delicious breads good for breakfast. The place is also near a lot of food shops that sold affordable and delicious Korean food. After resting for awhile and taking a bath, we started our Korea vacation.
Our first day in Seoul started with a visit to the Trick Eye Museum. From Backpacker Inside Hostel, we walked a few blocks to get to the subway. The nearest subway from our Hostel was the Hyehwa Station which is Line 4. But before heading for the museum, we looked for the nearest bank to exchange our dollars. The nearest bank we found was Woori bank which was just a walk from the station. The bank rates were fair enough. To get to the museum, we had to transfer to Line 2 when we reached Dongdaemun History & Culture Park.
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| It was good that they have signs in English |
From there, we changed to Line 2 and got off at the Hongik University Station. From the Hongik University Station, we got out through exit 9. From there, we asked the locals for the way to the museum.
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| Finally! |
When we finally saw the museum’s signed, we dashed towards it coz of excitement. We had to go down the stairs to get to the museum. The museum consist of two areas: the Trick Eye Museum and the Greek Myth Museum.
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| Posters that can be seen while going down the stairs |
At the reception, we paid 13,000 won each. In the reception area, they have these cute figurines of a chubby guy and a girl with their country’s flag and the words “welcome” in the native language of the country.
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| Cute figurines welcomed us |
Inside the museum were a lot of paintings that would really trick the eye into believing that the paintings are real. There are some tips at the side of the pictures on what to do to make it appear that the paintings are real and there are also guides on the best photo spot to take a picture. Here are some of the pixes:
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| Bro |
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| With papa |
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| Mirror Maze |
After spending an hour or two at the museum, we decided to have our lunch at any of the restaurants nearby. And we saw one that lets you cook your own food at the table. They have gas stove per table and what they do is to put aluminum foils at the metal plate on top of the stove. Then its up to you to cook what you ordered. They did teach us how to cook our food since its obvious that we don't know what to do.
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| Where to cook the food |
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| Our First Super yummy Korean food! |
After the satisfying lunch, we headed to Samsung d'light as requested by my dad. To get there, we rode the subway line 2 until we reached Gangnam Station and went out at exit 8. When we got to Samsung, we saw a lot of high school students hanging around trying everything. All the gadgets there were super cool. They have a cursor that can be controlled by the eye - COOOOL! They also have all the wii and 3D televisions. What we enjoyed most was the colorful wall that when they get tapped, they create a sound. We had so much fun just tapping the wall and listening to the music it produce. We were also amazed by how their motion detector devices works. There were areas where it seemed as if nothing is there, but when someone steps in the area, these lights and videos appear. Samsung is really something!
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| These walls creates music by just tapping them |
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| The first thing that can be seen at the third floor |
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| Bro activated the monitor through the motion detector device |
On the first floor, they have a camera that lets you take your picture and send it to your email. Once the picture is taken, it asks for the picture that you like best. This is then displayed in one of their walls that has lots of monitors. Here's our family picture:
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| Imagine Happiness - with the family |
Next stop: 63 Building!!!
We almost got lost trying to find this place. From Samsung d' Light, we took the subway line 2 and got off at Sindorim station. We then rode line 1 and got off at Daebang station and came out at exit 6. From what the personnel at Samsung said, there was a free shuttle from this exit to the 63 building. Unfortunately, all the people we asked were not aware of the shuttle we were looking for. Since it was just near, we decided to take the cab - atleast we got to ride a cab in Korea.
When we got at the building, we went to ticket booth. Initially, what I had in mind was to get the package for the Sky Art, 3D and wax museum. Unfortunately, the 3D was not available that time since it was already late. We were offered to take Sea World instead but since I read from the reviews that it is not worth it, we decided to just take the sky art and the wax museum. We went to the Wax Museum first. Outside the museum, we were greeted by the 63 Wax Museum sign and by Albert Einstein.
Welcome to the Wax Musuem!!!
Inside the museum, they have all kinds of waxes. It was like the wax museum in Thailand. They have local and international artists. So there were some personalities that we didn't recognize. But I think they have more waxes here than the one in Thailand.
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| Leo |
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| Obama |
There were also scary waxes with all the blood effects, the last supper, and bears!
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| Bears!!! |
Near the exit of the museum, like all other museums, they have an area that makes a wax of your hand for 5,000 won each. Since it would be a good souvenir, me and my brother tried it. The first step for having a wax of your hand was to apply lotion at your hand to make it easier for them to get the wax.Then, they ask you to position your hand in the way you want it to be waxed and they soak the hand at this super cold water. Next is they transfer your hand to a container with melted wax. Then they soak your hand again at the cold water and followed by the melted wax. They repeat this steps until they feel that the wax is thick enough. They then remove your hand from the wax and clean it a bit, put a base and ask for the color.
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| Dipping my hand in the cold water. Notice the wax that formed |
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| Cleaning the wax |
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| Dipping the wax hand in different colors |
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| The finished product |
After the wax museum, we headed for the Sky Art Gallery to have a view of Korea at night. It was a wonderful experience to see Seoul at night. We were amazed at how organized the city was. The Philippines was nothing compared to this country.
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| Sky Art Sign |
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| The N-Tower can be seen from here |
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| Traffic is starting to build up |
After admiring the beauty of Korea at night, we decided to eat at the building food court.
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| Delicious but spicy Korean noodles |
After eating, we then asked on how to get to the subway. Luckily, the person we asked was very enthusiastic and insisted that we wait for the free shuttle to take us to the nearest subway. At first, we did not understand him and went to look for the shuttle. Then he ran after us and said that we just wait where we are and the shuttle will come. True enough, we saw a bus with 63 building written on it. We rode it and it dropped us off at Daebang station. From there, we found our way back to Sungkung Kwan where our hostel is located. Before heading to our hostel, we dropped by 7-eleven and bought some ice cream. Yey!
We ended the day this delicious Korean Ice Cream (yummy! ^_^)
Time to sleep and be ready for Lotte World!
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