Autumn Trip to South Korea 2024

 This will be a very long post.....yet, very beautiful.

Call me 'cegil' or crazy gurl who went to South Korea again. Spending her saving in a flash. I am broke now, but, I am zzuper happy. This time, I spent more than 2 weeks in Korea. Initially, I was travelling 'alone'. What an experience! I never 'really' do solo travelling abroad before.

I took a flight in the morning. A long way to go. From train to airport, first airport, second airport, third airport, and finally Incheon airport!!! Took more than 24 hours, calculated from when I left my house. This time, I got a chance to transit in Vietnam, Tan Son Nhat airport. It was quite, mmm, not so comfortable experience? Tan Son Nhat airport is not bad. However, that time I felt hurt in my left chest. I got panic. But I calmed myself that it was due to muscle sore. I was carrying a backpack, which is quite heavy for me. I packed a laptop, jacket, and some clothes. The transit duration was around 5 hours, it was in the evening. I booked low-cost flight, so, there was no meal. I must eat in the airport! BUT. There is no halal or muslim friendly restaurant. The cafe near my gate sell pork and alcoholic beverages. The only halal restaurant was halal 'lounge' that was expensive. I almost ended up go to that 'halal lounge'. I took a walk in the airport. At the other side of airport, the lady in a snack counter was very sweet. She greeted me. At the end, I bought hot tea in that snack counter. During the dinner time, I bought the hot tea again and a noodle cup. No halal logo, but the lady said, it was 'safe' for muslim. Okay, I trusted that lady. Finally, this not so lovely time in Tan Son Nhat ended.

The next day, in the morning, I arrived at Incheon airport! Woah, I was very happy already. I went to the toilet first and changed my outfit. I went to the immigration. The immigration took a longer time than it used to be. I don't know why. I took a train to go to my airbnb. The accommodation was on the 4th floor. I knew it so I wasn't surpised. But, still, I must carried my luggage to the 4th floor without elevator. I left my luggage since I must went to my first conference venue. LOL. I went to a conference without taking a shower in the morning. No doubt, I didn't feel that good while attending the conference. But, who care. As long as I got a free halal and delicious lunch.

Wrapping my first day in Seoul, I went home and took a shower. OMG. That was sooooo refreshing. Then, I went to a mall to buy new shoes. Yes. My very first thing to do in South Korea is buying shoes. After that, I went to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Lucky me, I got a chance to visit the palace at night. The night tour was not available all the time, only during particular times. I think, it was during spring and autumn season. Since I went alone, no photos of myself. I only took photos of the palace. I walked around 1 hour, but suddenly felt VERY hungry. Yeah, it passed dinner time so I went home and ate.

Second day! It was way better than yesterday because I felt fresh in the morning without skipping to take a shower. And when I went to the conference by train, the train was so PACKED. I was literally standing in front of the train door. Since I was staggering, a grandpa beside me told me to hold on his arm. LOL. Yeah, so I was holding his arm until he got off. It was a lovely day in the conference too. The lunch was delicious too. It was the last day of the conference. I went to a park near the conference venue. I knew that park from a Korean tv show called 'Hangout with Yoo'. The view from the park, and the park itself is sooooo beautiful. I walked to go to the park and the neighborhood is also very pretty. Approaching sunset time, I rushed to the metro station. I wanted to try to hop on a metro that will go across the Han river. A Korean drama titled 'Queen of Tears' told us that watching sunset from metro while crossing Han river is very beautiful. BUT. Approaching sunset means time when people go home from work. So, the metro was veeeeeeeery PACKED (again). Watching the sunset? LOL, not a chance. So, after failing to watch the sunset, I went to a cafe. I wanted to go to this cafe sooooo much. I wanted to go since a year ago, but didn't get a chance. Since I had all the time, because I was alone, I decided to go to this cafe. WHH cafe. I wanted to go because my idol, Jinan from iKON, posted this cafe on his instagram. I ordered a mint chocolate. Love it. Then, I must went home because my phone battery was running out. When I walked to the bus stop, I found 'Photoism'. I wanted to take a photo in 'Photoism' because there is a template with Woo Jae. So I paid, took a photo, finished it, but couldn't find Woo Jae template. Turned out, I had to chose the template before taking the photos. Okay, lesson learned. Finally, I took a photo with Woo Jae on my second attempt and went home.

Third day! It is Saturday and I decided to go to the Blue House. Recently, I love K-drama about Korean president, 'Survivor 60 days' and 'Whirlwind'. Oh, before going to the Blue House, I went to Dongdaemun market to buy some accessories. My friends requested it. It is not a tourist spot. A market for local people. I still spot some tourists but definitely not a 'reguler' tourist spot. After having a lovely shopping time, I walked to buy 'Grandpa crepes'. It is a famous crepes in Dongdaemun, only open around 11 am until He ran out of batter. The famous menu is strawberry-banana crepes. I ordered strawberry crepes with ice cream. Delicious crepes and experience. Absolutely love it. After finishing my crepes under the shade of tree (it was a sunny day), I took a bus to the Blue house. I don't know why, It was sooooooooo crowded approaching the Gyeongbokgung-Blue House complex. The bus took a different route because of this crowd. I got off as soon as possible because I had to walk further. This is already hard. Inside the Blue House, I have to walk, walk, walk, walk, and walk again, and under the sun. Ah, I met two grandpas again in Blue House. He asked me with Korean! Like, OMG I don't know Korean. I think he asked where I am from, so I replied Indonesia after buffering for some time. Lol. I was happy, but also tired. I walked again to the bus stop to go to the next place. Waiting, waiting, still waiting, the bus didn't come. Turns out, all bus were avoiding this complex because of the crowd. Okay. So, I walked again, walked, and walked, until I arrived at the Bingsu place I wanted to visit. I also knew this Bingsu place from 'Hangout with Yoo'. I took a queue number and waiting. Finally I ordered Hojicha bingsu, finished it, and went home because my feet were already giving up. I went home early, but I used this time to wash my clothes and packing because tomorrow I will go to Busan!

Fourth day! I wake up early because I have an early 'train to Busan'. Why so early? Because it is the cheapest option, hahaha. I am quite anxious so I went to the train station way way toooo early. LOL. It was my first time going to Busan, and I was alone, and I brought a big luggage. BUT. It was very very very satisfying, know that I made it! Hello, Busan!!! OMG, I am so proud of myself because I can go to Busan alone. Arriving in Busan station, got confused to find the metro line. But, after some walk, finally I found the exit and went to the metro station. I took the metro and went straight to the hotel. Luckily, I could do an early check in. I messaged my friend's friend who stay in Busan couple days ago. We agreed to meet and spend the day together. It was very fortunate. I won't feel lonely on my first day in Busan.

First day in Busan, we went to Huinnyeol culture village. Found this spot from youtube video and Busan official website. I would recommend Huinnyeol culture village. The view is beautiful, can get tons of great photos. I think this is the first time I had a proper photo of myself. Lol. The second spot, we went to Busan station because there is a park behind the station. In front of Busan station, there is a Busan sign and their slogan (?). "Busan is good". And I was like? Why Busan is so humble? Why not Busan is great? amazing? wonderful? Anyway, it was a lovely night in Busan. We wrapped our day by visiting BIFF square. We bought some pairs of socks and a waffle.

Fifth day! Hahaha, let's start with laughing. So, today, the original plan was going to Songjeong beach and take the beach train. We need to take two buses. I took the first bus and arrived in the bus stop. The second bus was coming in 20 minutes (?). I forgot, but it took a very long time. And because it took a very long time, I wandered around the bus stop. I didn't know, that we need to queue in a particular spot, standing, not moving at all. So, even though I came earlier, I didn't secure my spot in the queue line. When the bus came, it is already almost full and only accepted 2 people. Of course, it was not me even though it should be me (it should be me, riding the bus......). And I need to wait again, for 20 minutes, for the next bus. And the trip itself will be around 1 hour. Not gonna work. I am not going to wait anymore. So, I decided to change my destination to Taejongdae Park. The bus was way more frequent and finally I arrived in Taejongdae Park. I took the Danubi train to explore Taejongdae. Maybe because it was weekday, Taejongdae was sooooooo empty! It was so empty to the point I got scared. And Taejongdae was sooooo big. So tired of walking in this sunny day. After exploring Taejongdae, actually, I want to visit a very beautiful cafe in a seashore. But, there was no bus and I must walk around 1 km. Nah, not gonna work again. I gave up on that idea and went to Samjin Amok instead, because yeah, I was hungry. When walking from the bus stop to Samjin Amok, I was passing a very very local market. What an experience! From Samjin, I continued my trip to visit my friend's friend. I had lunch, finally, and went to coin karaoke! So happy! After that, I went home, pretty early.

Sixth day! My friend's friend had a test today, so I have to explore Busan alone, again. Today, I must go to the beach! But, I changed my destination to Heundae beach. Fortunately, the trip was smoother since I went earlier. However, Heundae beach is sooooooooo crowded! I stand in the queue line to take the beach train. My plan is to take the train until Songjeong beach while observing the track. Then, I take the train again to go back, but I will get off before arriving in Heundae and take a walk in the walking trail. It was a very beautiful experience. When I took photos of beach, two women approached me. They spoke in Korean! LOL. And then, they also said, "Shashin?". I still don't get it, but turns out, they offer to take my picture. I love to walk in the walking trail. But yeah, it was very hot and very windy. My second destination after exploring Heundae is....Gwangali beach! Another beach in Busan. My target is to go to the cafe that has Gwangali beach view. I got lost first while searching the cafe, I entered the wrong building before finally found the cafe. Unfortunately, there was no empty seat with Gwangali view. Nah, that's still okay. I can have my drink and a cake (turns out it is a cake that I want to try. But I forgot the name, I tried to google it but failed to find it) and take some photos before leaving the cafe. I took some photos in the Gwangali beach, scenery photos of course, and went to the next destination. Originally, I want to have lunch in a restaurant that has a prayer room. I arrived, but there is a sign that the restaurant has moved (not too far). I arrived in their new address. BUT. The restaurant was closed. Huff. I went to hotel to pray and ate porridge from convenience store since I was starting to have a stomachache. This is my last night in Busan, so, I decided to pack my stuff and went to my last destination in Busan. I went to Dadaepo water fountain. Interesting. Got splashed a little by the water. No regrets.

Seventh day! Haa, I need to take a very early train again, to go back to Seoul. I love my time in Busan. The difference from Seoul is there are fewer buses and metro lines than Seoul. And it is hotter, and more wind. Oh, it is also my first time staying in a capsule hotel. Not bad, and the hotel provided standard breakfast (toast and cereal). Haa, it was so cold in the morning because of the wind..... The trip from Busan to Seoul went smooth. Arriving in Seoul, I went to my guest house. And you know what? It is located UP ON THE HILL. OMG. It was sooooo tiring to hike with my luggage. I dropped my luggage and went to have lunch. I went to a local noodle shop, hungry, tired, and it was CLOSED. It passed lunch time (2 p.m.). They will re-open in the evening for dinner (5 p.m.). So, I just bought milk (with 'together' flavour. Unique, right?) and honey bread in the convenience store. I had nowhere to eat, so I ate in Seoul station. LOL. The milk and the bread were too sweet. Huff. After filling my stomach, I went to Lotte zetaplex to shop (skincare) and then, went home. I did laundry and had dinner. I think it was a cup noodle, sari gomtang, it was delicious and now I am craving for sari gomtang. I didn't go out in the night because I don't want to hike again. No, enough for today.

Eighth day! Today will be a loooong day..... My first destination was a park with an octagon pavillion. I found it from 'Hangout with Yoo', again. I took a metro and walked to the octagon pavillion. I started to feel strange. The park is supposed to be on the hill but there is no sign of hill, nowhere. I walked and walked and arrived at the octagon pavillion. LOL. It is indeed an octagon pavillion, but NOT the octagon pavillion I want to visit. Huh, I just lost. So I searched the park again, took the buses to go to the RIGHT octagon pavillion. Arriving in the bus stop, I saw the hill. Yeah, finally, made it to the right park. But now, I need to hike. Trip to Korea is all about walking and hiking. lol. The park is beautiful and I felt rewarded. Took some scenery photos and went down. I took the bus again, to go to Hongdae. I went to Iftar restaurant because I was so hungry! I ordered bibimbap and finished all of them. Then, I went to Top10, Korea brand, like uniqlo. They often have huge discount. I bought 1+1 sweater. After that, I was rushing to Hollys coffee. I ordered flavour tea (I forgot) and joined zoom meeting (working from Korea). After 2 hours, I went shopping again. I went to olive young and duty free shop. Because I was carrying my laptop in my backpack, I became very very very TIRED. I hesitated whether to buy HEY TEA or not and decided to not buy it. I just bought mineral water. I took buses to go home. But, Hongdae was so crowded, the bus stop was so crowded. I missed my first bus. Crying inside. However, I still managed to go home. I visited convenience store to buy dinner before hiking to the guest house (again). I think I bought sari gomtang, milk, rice, and ion water (to prevent diarrhea).

Nineth day! Today, my two friends will arrive in Seoul! Yeay, no longer alone in Seoul. First, I need to move from my guest house to another guest house where I will stay with my friends. This time, I got another experience. So, the last metro line to my fourth 'house' has two endpoints (branches). And I didn't pay attention at first, so I took the wrong branch. I got panicked at first, but I was quite quick to figure out. So I travelled back to the previous station and took the right branch. Actually, at first, I want to go to the airport to pick my friends up, playing like a 'local'. But nah, I was too tired and I had a work to do. So I brought my laptop and worked from Gongcha cafe. I ordered chocolate milk tea and turned out, I love it! After doing some work, finally, my friends had arrived! We went home and took some time before going out for dinner.

We had dinner in Itaewon. It was my second time. I love that restaurant. We had toppokki, friend chicken, and spicy stir fried squid. After dinner, we walked to the Noksapyeong bridge. I was afraid, the bridge was quite shaky. But the view was so beautiful, including Namsan tower. After that, we went to Cheonggyecheon stream. It was nice, but it was pretty late. After some walk, we decided to go home. We walked in the different path with when we first exploring the stream. We were following a guy. The path was quite dark, since it was very late. Suddenly, the guy was facing a dark path covered with medium size grass (lol, I don't know how to describe it). He stopped at first and turned around. I think originally, he want to go back and take different path. But, when he turned around, he saw 3 hijabi girls following him. LOL. He was surprised and decided to walk through that grassy path. SO FUNNY. We followed him again, arrived at the bus stop, and went home.

Tenth day! We went to 1in1jan cafe and Eunpyeong Hanok village. Both are very beautiful. In Eunpyeong, you will see beautiful hanok village with beautiful mountain as a background. Very very very beautiful. After exploring Eunpyeong, we went to Gyeongbokgung palace (again). We rented a hanbok first, for 1 hour, at Daehan hanbok. Gyeongbokgung palace was very crowded and it was quite difficult to take a nice photo (with a nice background). One hour passed too fast. It was only several minutes before 1 hour ends, so we were rushing to do back to Daehan hanbok. Literally, we were almost running with this hanbok dress. Lol. However, we made it on time. We changed our clothes and went to the third destination, Kampungku, to have lunch. I was so happy arriving in Kampungku because we could rest a bit. I ordered ramyun, and I love it. We had very late lunch and our last destination was to see Seoul International Firework Festival. The festival took place in Yeouido Hangang Park, and we decided to go to 'a less' crowded place, Nodeul island. But, little did we know, there was no 'less crowded' place. EVERYWHERE IS CROWDED. Lol. And again, because Nodeul island was too crowded, the bus didn't stop in Nodeul island, as we planned. The bus driver made an announcement, in Korean of course, so we didn't catch it. Many people got off from the bus after the announcement and we regretted a little not following them. We got off in the next stop. However, we still managed to find a spot to watch the firework, in the roadside. Lol. The roadside was full of people too. The firework was good, but not that great (?). It was a long long day...

Eleventh day! Omg, I already forgot whether we went to Suwon or still in Seoul today. But I think, we still in Seoul. Today we had an easy day. First, we went to Megabox cinema since my friend want to buy a movie ticket. After that, we had lunch in Gosame. We had grilled mackerel and spicy stir fried squid (again). SO GOOD. We wanted to go back to Gosame again before leaving Seoul, but couldn't make it. After that, we walked to a traditional market, Mangwon market, to have local street food. We had Kkwagaei or korean twisted doughnut. So good. Then, one of my friend went to the cinema, and the rest went to Myeongdong to shop and went home. At night, I went to Costco. LOL. It was a quite frightening experience. Costco is located outside Seoul, it is in Hannam. The road is so big, like a toll. I nearly missed my bus again. And when I arrived in the bus stop, I have to walk to Costco. The path was empty. I was alone, so it was frightening. My friend who finished watching the movie followed me to Costco. We explored Costco and took some skincares (the price was so good tho!). When arriving in the cashier, she asked our 'membership'. And without membership, we couldn't buy anything! LOOOOOL. So, we ended up going home empty-handed since we didn't have membership. LOL. The effort to go to Costco, to buy skincare in cheaper price, was in vain. Silpae! (red: fail)

Woah, I still has five days to go. I will continue in Autumn trip to South Korea 2024: part 2!