Monday, January 14, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Seoul, Korea - Shopping Details Part 2
Hello!
After doing up my part 1 of the shopping details, I'm here for part 2. This will have to be a pretty quick one as I need to get ready and leave home for Brother's place for a siblings' gathering today. We are gonna have a Korean food feast with the Korean food I've bought back from Seoul (I'll take pictures!).
For those who have yet to read part 1, the link is here. I'm continuing with the stop numbers so it's Stop 4 now!! *Stop numbers indicates my personal preferences of the places*
Shopping Stop #4: Lotte Marts (Jamsil & Seoul Stations respectively)
How to get there: For the one at Jamsil - Take subway line 2 or 8 to Jamsil station, the one at Seoul - Take subway line 1 or 4, exit 1.
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| Interior of Lotte Mart |
They have 4 outlets in Seoul but I've only gone to the ones at Jamsil station and Seoul station. Jamsil station is also the station where Lotte World is located. So you can actually go to Lotte World and buy some goods back to hotel or hostel. Oh and 1 thing I love about Lotte mart? They provide EMS services right at the outlets, so purchase, go to the boxing corner, get a box, pack your stuff and proceed to the EMS counter, send it back home! I didn't do this this time round since I didn't get much stuff but my next trip, I'm so gonna do that! Either that or I'll send my clothes back. hahhaha!
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| The entrance of Lotte Mart at Seoul Station |
The one located at Seoul station is the one where by the airport railway and the buses to Busan are. For those taking the railway back to the airports (Gimpo or Incheon), you can drop by Lotte Mart before going to the station. I spotted a corner where by many luggage are left and it isn't a proper luggage corner but they have staffs at the counters so I presume it's pretty safe!
Happy shopping for food before going back home!! Prices are reasonable as well so grab as much as you want. Oh tip! You might want to buy the food back the day before you return home or on the day itself so the food is somewhat fresher (especially the kim chi and side dishes!) so save a whole lot of money! You will easily reach 30,000 won with just 2 kim chi and 1 side dish. Also, kim chi is a prohibited item for hand carries, so you should pack them in a box at Lotte mart and check in at the check in counter.
How to get there: Take subway line 2 or 8 to Jamsil station
My Korean Unnie brought me to the Jamsil Station and told me there's another underground shopping mall at Jamsil station. We didn't have much time to shop around by then because she had to drive back to Incheon, 1 hr drive! So whoever goes to Seoul and have a chance to visit this underground shopping mall, let me know how is it?? hehhe!
Shopping Stop #6: Hongdae Street
How to get there: Take subway line 2 and alight at Hongik University station.
I didn't get anything from this street as the prices of the items are higher as compared to the Gangnam Underground Shopping Mall or at Sinchon station. Hongdae has nightclubs for foreigners just like Itaewon. I constantly hear loud music on the street and most of the songs are English hits. They have many cafes as well, my friend and I went in to the Hello Kitty cafe which we found by chance! It's lovely and the prices are very reasonable!
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| Their washroom! They apparently only has washroom for the ladies, so guys.. I guess you have to go else where? hahah. |
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| Cafes in Seoul mainly uses the device that beeps and vibrate when your order is ready. I love the Hello Kitty design on the table. haha. Oh btw, I am not a fan of Hello Kitty or pink but it's really lovely there in the cafe. |
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| Sweet potato latte (must try in Seoul!), hot chocolate and a choco banana waffle~ Cost us about 13,200 won if I didn't remember wrongly. |
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| Design on the cup! heh! ^-^ |
Bye~~
Friday, January 11, 2013
Lunch at Genki Sushi!
Alright so I had to change my finance module over to another PR module because of my deferred paper (finance paper) and I absolutely do not regret it. hahhaah! I've decided to officially drop out of my finance major and focus on just my PR major. Don't see the point in struggling to pass when I know I don't want to work in that field. Sorry, I am just not cut out for finance.
Having said to switch my module, I moved from Wednesday's afternoon to Thursday's afternoon class but I am still not in the same class as Brendon! Sighhhh.. Can't disturb my old man leader during class but I still have before and after class to irritate him. lol! Met Brendon at Somerset 313 after meeting Pei Yan (to pass her the items I got for her from Seoul), went to Genki Sushi which we both have not visited for ages! We sort of didn't know they exist actually. Oops.
We were pretty glad we decided to settle lunch at Genki because we discovered something which got us pretty hyped up for a while, it was kind of embarrassing as well since we had no idea how high tech Genki has become. hahahah! Let pictures do the talking!
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| Genki used iPad for ordering of food now! I attempted to touch the screen without removing it from its pod and the staff had to come over to ask if it's our first time there. LOL! |
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| See the train! Basically each train can only fetch up to 4 items so you have to select the food in fours. hahah! Oh if you look at the picture carefully, you'll spot "service call", "billing call" and one other selection which is not found here, it's the "view bill" which allows you to view the bill immediately! For budget watchers! |
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| You know how sushi restaurants have the round about sushi in plates for us to pick them up? Genki doesn't do that any more, it's just steel bars (?) as seen in the picture above. Guess what is it for...... . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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| For these! You can't it clearly in the first picture but it's a white train which delivers the food to you from the kitchen. This got our attention! hahah! We decided to place our orders ASAP after seeing these trains arrived at our neighbour's spot. This is so cool~~~~ |
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| Send the train back to the kitchen by pressing the blinking yellow buttons. hahha. Simple yet super fascinating!
Brendon and I went to the outlet at Orchard Central and I did a research to find out where there could be more... but that seems like the only one I can find so far. heh. Brendon and I thought we should visit Genki more now because of its innovative ordering and delivering system. The food selection is wide small though, but oh wells for the sake of the fun we get as we eat, I guess it's worth to visit once in 2-3 months? That's for me though.
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Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Seoul, Korea - Shopping details~
What's up? hahah. I gave up doing my 16D15N trip to Seoul in the day-by-day format hence I am gonna just gonna summarize the whole thing into different activities. ^-^
Theme for this post will be the shopping areas in Seoul, my favourite place and down to my least favourite. You will realise that Dongdamun (extremely overpriced as I've heard) and Namdaemun are out of the list because I did not visit those 2 places.
Walk around some more and the prices of the stuff there cost between 5,000 won to 100,000 over won. I actually went to Gangnam Underground Shopping Mall thrice in during my trip! hahha. No I am not joking plus every time I go, I end up buying things. I have absolutely no idea why shopping is so hard to resist when you're there.
Shopping Stop #2: Ewha Womans' University/Sinchon Subway Station
How to get there: Subway Line 2, get off at either Ewha Womans Uni Station or Sinchon Station.
I got off at Sinchon Station and started walking around. Some items sold here can also be found at Myeongdong but this place has more designs! You will love this place. Mass spam of pictures of the items I bought here~ As you look through the pictures, make a guess at how much each item might have cost me.
So.... How much do you think the items cost me? hehehhe. Each item above only cost me 10,000 won each which is approximately SGD 12 each. The prices here are actually the same as those you can find at Myeongdong or the Gangnam Underground Shopping Mall but like I've mentioned, there are more designs here at Sinchon area so visit this place first! ^-^ Oh and if you're wondering why I got so many tops and bags, they are not all for myself, most of them are for friends.
Kstory from what I've heard, is open by Super Junior's Heechul's sister and they sell other kpop stars items other than SJ. They just have a special Heechul corner in the shop and Heechul merchandises as seen in the pictures above.
Theme for this post will be the shopping areas in Seoul, my favourite place and down to my least favourite. You will realise that Dongdamun (extremely overpriced as I've heard) and Namdaemun are out of the list because I did not visit those 2 places.
So I woke up on the 23rd Dec (2nd day of my trip) and got ready to meet my Unnie at the Express Bus Terminal subway station. Basically, unnie stays in Incheon and she took the bus down to Seoul to meet me and brought me around for my first shopping trip in Seoul.
Shopping Stop #1: Gangnam Underground Shopping Mall
How to get there: Take subway line 3, 7 or 9 to the Express Bus Terminal, exit 8.
My other Korean friend told me that the Underground Shopping Mall recently opened back and it was previously closed for a couple of years which probably explains why it's mainly visited by the locals and not many tourists. Less tourists = Less English or Mandarin speaking staffs so don't expect to be another Dongdaemum or Myeongdong. If you have any Korean friends, ask them to bring you there for easy communication and probably get some discounts!
The whole underground mall is so huge, you can spend some time walking around and looking at stuff. I am the sort who walks around the whole place first before I start buying anything, so I spent like half a day there. haha! If you head to Seoul during Winter like me, the puffy down jacket I was wearing is not gonna be enough for you to keep warm in Seoul. That jacket belongs to my sister-in-law and I borrowed from her, she got it in Singapore for a couple of hundred dollars and it's useless in Seoul. haha. So my unnie told me to get another jacket for winter which cost me less than SGD 100....
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| I look retarded. LOL! |
The mall is located underground (like obviously), the upper levels are actually the Shinsaegae Departmental Store. I didn't walk around the store so if you would like to take a look, by all means travel upwards. ^-^
[I found a blog with more pictures and other info on the Underground mall, please visit http://discoveringkorea.com/2009/07/10/gangnam-underground-shopping-arcade/]
[I found a blog with more pictures and other info on the Underground mall, please visit http://discoveringkorea.com/2009/07/10/gangnam-underground-shopping-arcade/]
Shopping Stop #2: Ewha Womans' University/Sinchon Subway Station
How to get there: Subway Line 2, get off at either Ewha Womans Uni Station or Sinchon Station.
I got off at Sinchon Station and started walking around. Some items sold here can also be found at Myeongdong but this place has more designs! You will love this place. Mass spam of pictures of the items I bought here~ As you look through the pictures, make a guess at how much each item might have cost me.
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| Got 2 of these, 1 for a friend. ^-^ |
Shopping Stop #3: MyeongDong
How to get there: Take subway line 4 get off at MyeongDong station, exit 6.
No pictures for this place because I didn't have much chances to take my camera out and snap pictures. hahhaha. This is the heaven for tourists, you need Mandarin/English/Japanese speaking staffs, you go to MyeongDong and you will have no worries. I basically got myself a lot of cosmetics here from Natural Republic (I will probably do a separate post on this brand and the products after using them more here in Singapore). Discounts and cosmetics shop every where, at every corner! No joke, you'll never find your way if you try to use any cosmetic shop as your guide so please don't do that.
I've gone to MyeongDong thrice during my trip as well and I love it there! If you are into KPOP, you get SPAO, EverySing Shop, Kstory and some CDs shops here. I went into all of those shops and they were amazing, I'm no longer a crazy fan or I never really was a crazy fan, so I don't go in to those shops and scream or whatsoever. I just look at them and decide if I want to get anything. haha! Which remind me, I do have some pictures!
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| From kstory |
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| Super Junior's Heechul merchandises |
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| Bought this from Zara from Kstory! hahah |
When I went back to MyeongDong again for the 2nd time, I walked really long and went around to every corner to look at the stuff they have. I made the right choice for sure because I managed to get myself and a friend tops for 8,000 won each (Approximately SGD 9.30) and I managed to grab some tops for my blogshop which I will be setting up with my friend, Min Min. heh. Pause here, Min min is the one I got the knitted top for and this 8,000 won top as well. hahha. She's paying me for some while I got some stuff for her as well. So support us when our blogshop is set up? =DD
End this post with Haechi, the Seoul's Mascot! heheh. That's basically my top 3 favourite place to shop in Seoul, will do up another post for the others which I did not shop at actually, I just roam around. haha.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Seoul, Korea Trip Day 1
Hello everyone!
Gonna start on my Seoul trip, like finally! I'm still on holiday in Seoul currently, planned for a 2 weeks trip and I'm left with 4 days. Okay 3 days for meeting friends and walking around since the last day will be spent on the flight back to Singapore. I don't want to go back!!! =(( *I promise myself I'll be back again! for sure. heh.*
Let's get started! I woke up early on the 22nd Dec 2012 to catch my flight with China Eastern Airlines transiting at Shanghai before I get to Seoul. Here... Let me do a review of my experience with China Eastern Airlines. If you check up online review websites, most of them gave really terrible reviews and I was honestly quite worried about my flight but those worries were useless. Firstly, I read online that form transit flights, you have to check in and check out at Pudong Airport and check in again but nope, apparently at Changi Airport I could check in for both flights and got seat numbers immediately. So no worries peeps! Oh and i asked if I could do the same when I return, the lady told me it's the flight for the same day so yes I can do check-ins for both flight when I return.
It was pretty good in fact, the air stewards or stewardess were nice and a few of them are really pretty! As most review shared, they only offer main screens for everyone to share and not individual screen, that's true but it was definitely not noisy at all. They provide ear piece for those who wish to watch the movies they played, I didn't watch any since I bought my Samsung Galaxy note 10.1 with me and was watching a Korean drama called School 2013. You get dehydrated on flights easily so I consistently ask for water (I thought the stewardess are probably gonna hate me for pressing the bell so many times! hhahaha.). I was preparing myself to speak in Mandarin for a glass of water but to my surprised, no need to ask! The stewardess came with a glass of water ready for me! Excellent! And probably some time close to the preparation for landing, the stewardess came out again (I pressed the bell again!) with a tray of covered plastic cups of water and gave me one, then proceed to give out to the rest who needs in on the flight. Even SIA doesn't have such excellent service for water when I took SIA to Guangzhou with school back in September 2012.
After a whole lot of excellent stuff about China Eastern Arlines, time for the not so fantastic ones. You have no idea how long more before you reach your destination because you can't really see the small and personal sort of screen placed high up at the top of the plane. transit at Shanghai Pudong Airport and I have to say they ought to get more people who speaks English at the airport. I ended up being the translator for like 10-15mins when I actually wanted to ask where I should head to for my transit flight. It was really messy and even being able to read Chinese, I had no idea where I should go. That's the terrible part. I mentioned previously about checking-in for both my flights, I still had to queue for some passport checks (this is fast but more time spent on queue-ing). Sadly, for travelers from the western countries like London, France and etc.. I helped them translate at the airport and for those who had the check-ins done, they queue like I did. Met a couple from France (I speak no French and they don't really speak English so I had some difficulties but managed in the end), they had to check out and check in again.
Done with the long review for China Eastern Airlines! It quite worth it to travel with them, so feel free to go ahead and take their flights! ^-^
After arriving at Incheon Airport, I attempted to rent a phone from Olleh and other telecoms but it's really expensive so I don't suggest wasting your money on it! I'll do up a post on getting a pre-paid phone though I didn't get any pre-paid phones in the end because!! Wifi is like everywhere in Seoul. Except for the subway stations, subway trains, buses and maybe sight seeing venues, you get wifi easily over at their restaurants and cafes. Cafes are the life of Koreans, so there's one at every corner, just walk in and get some wifi!
I was really sleepy because I actually had an exam the night before I flew off, which is like 7-10.10pm on the 21st Dec 2012. I left early because I completed the paper but still, I had to pack my luggage since I spent more time studying then packing so I slept late. heh. Hence... I hoped on a cab, and no worries about not being able to know which cab to take because you just have to go to the taxi line, there will be staffs helping you and they will speak basic English, give them the address and they'll get you a cab driver. My hostel was a little difficult to find so I had to call the hostel's owner like twice before I finally got there. haha! No pictures here because it was really dark and I was sleepy! oh FYI! Don't cab if you can! The cab ride cost me 55,000won! That's a lot of money! Have to add in the toll fees as well which was 7,100won. It wasn't worth it at all. I regret later on but oh wells, what can I do? heh.
Reached my hostel and it's called Sun City Hostel for those who might be interested! The pretty good looking owner came to pick me up at the main street and bought me to the hostel, I paid for my full 16D15N stay and I was originally given discount, he gave me more discounts during payment. ^-^
My room was actually a twin bunk bed room and the owner told me specially for me, I get this room all to myself (I came to Seoul alone by the way), how lovely~ Each room has a own private bathroom and as you can see from the picture, it isn't a very big room but I thought for it's price, it was really good already. You can top up your water bottle everyday at their pantry area, or cook instant noodles or cook any other food using their pantry, they won't stop you. They consistently have people living in the hostel so you wont actually feel alone and don't have to worry about not being safe because the owner and probably his partner or something lives in the hostel itself and they tend the front desk from 8am to late at night. They will greet you every morning when you leave the hostel and say "hello~" when you return. Nice people! I recommend this hostel!
One other reason to stay in this hostel? It is located 2 mins walk away from Samgakil station as shown on the map above. you can exit either exit 1 or 13 depending on which line you are at. Line 4 exit from exit 1 while line 6 exit from exit 13. How convenient is this place? Extremely! You can get to Itaewon (line 6) which is 2 stations away and no transfer needed or if you enjoy walking, you can walk to itaewon. If you look at the map above, it says Seoul station right at the top, it's 2 stations away on Line 4, again no transfer needed and yes again, you can walk over instead. What else? Line 4 is actually the line which Myeongdong and Dongdaemun are along. So you don't have to transfer to get to those place, just pop on the subway and travel there. ^-^
Alright! That's all for Day 1! Flight took up like 3/4 of my day anyway. hahah! More updates to come.. I'll try to blog day by day and provide as much details as I can for everyone who intends to travel to Seoul. Cheers! Happy Year 2013 by the way!!
Gonna start on my Seoul trip, like finally! I'm still on holiday in Seoul currently, planned for a 2 weeks trip and I'm left with 4 days. Okay 3 days for meeting friends and walking around since the last day will be spent on the flight back to Singapore. I don't want to go back!!! =(( *I promise myself I'll be back again! for sure. heh.*
Let's get started! I woke up early on the 22nd Dec 2012 to catch my flight with China Eastern Airlines transiting at Shanghai before I get to Seoul. Here... Let me do a review of my experience with China Eastern Airlines. If you check up online review websites, most of them gave really terrible reviews and I was honestly quite worried about my flight but those worries were useless. Firstly, I read online that form transit flights, you have to check in and check out at Pudong Airport and check in again but nope, apparently at Changi Airport I could check in for both flights and got seat numbers immediately. So no worries peeps! Oh and i asked if I could do the same when I return, the lady told me it's the flight for the same day so yes I can do check-ins for both flight when I return.
It was pretty good in fact, the air stewards or stewardess were nice and a few of them are really pretty! As most review shared, they only offer main screens for everyone to share and not individual screen, that's true but it was definitely not noisy at all. They provide ear piece for those who wish to watch the movies they played, I didn't watch any since I bought my Samsung Galaxy note 10.1 with me and was watching a Korean drama called School 2013. You get dehydrated on flights easily so I consistently ask for water (I thought the stewardess are probably gonna hate me for pressing the bell so many times! hhahaha.). I was preparing myself to speak in Mandarin for a glass of water but to my surprised, no need to ask! The stewardess came with a glass of water ready for me! Excellent! And probably some time close to the preparation for landing, the stewardess came out again (I pressed the bell again!) with a tray of covered plastic cups of water and gave me one, then proceed to give out to the rest who needs in on the flight. Even SIA doesn't have such excellent service for water when I took SIA to Guangzhou with school back in September 2012.
After a whole lot of excellent stuff about China Eastern Arlines, time for the not so fantastic ones. You have no idea how long more before you reach your destination because you can't really see the small and personal sort of screen placed high up at the top of the plane. transit at Shanghai Pudong Airport and I have to say they ought to get more people who speaks English at the airport. I ended up being the translator for like 10-15mins when I actually wanted to ask where I should head to for my transit flight. It was really messy and even being able to read Chinese, I had no idea where I should go. That's the terrible part. I mentioned previously about checking-in for both my flights, I still had to queue for some passport checks (this is fast but more time spent on queue-ing). Sadly, for travelers from the western countries like London, France and etc.. I helped them translate at the airport and for those who had the check-ins done, they queue like I did. Met a couple from France (I speak no French and they don't really speak English so I had some difficulties but managed in the end), they had to check out and check in again.
Done with the long review for China Eastern Airlines! It quite worth it to travel with them, so feel free to go ahead and take their flights! ^-^
After arriving at Incheon Airport, I attempted to rent a phone from Olleh and other telecoms but it's really expensive so I don't suggest wasting your money on it! I'll do up a post on getting a pre-paid phone though I didn't get any pre-paid phones in the end because!! Wifi is like everywhere in Seoul. Except for the subway stations, subway trains, buses and maybe sight seeing venues, you get wifi easily over at their restaurants and cafes. Cafes are the life of Koreans, so there's one at every corner, just walk in and get some wifi!
You have to take this tram to collect your luggage at the Airport!
I was really sleepy because I actually had an exam the night before I flew off, which is like 7-10.10pm on the 21st Dec 2012. I left early because I completed the paper but still, I had to pack my luggage since I spent more time studying then packing so I slept late. heh. Hence... I hoped on a cab, and no worries about not being able to know which cab to take because you just have to go to the taxi line, there will be staffs helping you and they will speak basic English, give them the address and they'll get you a cab driver. My hostel was a little difficult to find so I had to call the hostel's owner like twice before I finally got there. haha! No pictures here because it was really dark and I was sleepy! oh FYI! Don't cab if you can! The cab ride cost me 55,000won! That's a lot of money! Have to add in the toll fees as well which was 7,100won. It wasn't worth it at all. I regret later on but oh wells, what can I do? heh.
Reached my hostel and it's called Sun City Hostel for those who might be interested! The pretty good looking owner came to pick me up at the main street and bought me to the hostel, I paid for my full 16D15N stay and I was originally given discount, he gave me more discounts during payment. ^-^
My room was actually a twin bunk bed room and the owner told me specially for me, I get this room all to myself (I came to Seoul alone by the way), how lovely~ Each room has a own private bathroom and as you can see from the picture, it isn't a very big room but I thought for it's price, it was really good already. You can top up your water bottle everyday at their pantry area, or cook instant noodles or cook any other food using their pantry, they won't stop you. They consistently have people living in the hostel so you wont actually feel alone and don't have to worry about not being safe because the owner and probably his partner or something lives in the hostel itself and they tend the front desk from 8am to late at night. They will greet you every morning when you leave the hostel and say "hello~" when you return. Nice people! I recommend this hostel!
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| Map of hostel, credit to Sun City Hostel |
One other reason to stay in this hostel? It is located 2 mins walk away from Samgakil station as shown on the map above. you can exit either exit 1 or 13 depending on which line you are at. Line 4 exit from exit 1 while line 6 exit from exit 13. How convenient is this place? Extremely! You can get to Itaewon (line 6) which is 2 stations away and no transfer needed or if you enjoy walking, you can walk to itaewon. If you look at the map above, it says Seoul station right at the top, it's 2 stations away on Line 4, again no transfer needed and yes again, you can walk over instead. What else? Line 4 is actually the line which Myeongdong and Dongdaemun are along. So you don't have to transfer to get to those place, just pop on the subway and travel there. ^-^
Alright! That's all for Day 1! Flight took up like 3/4 of my day anyway. hahah! More updates to come.. I'll try to blog day by day and provide as much details as I can for everyone who intends to travel to Seoul. Cheers! Happy Year 2013 by the way!!
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