Dalam Kereta

the boy who smiles

Oh! There's a camera pointing at me!

Let's give it a smile. ^_^

Korea Trip - Day 5 (Part 1)

There are many tourist attractions in Seoul that are closed on Mondays, so we planned our trip to Nami Island on Monday.

From Myeongdong Station we took the subway to Jongno 3-ga, and walked to Tapgol Park. Here, waiting for us was the shuttle bus to Nami Island. Handing the driver the payment receipt from the Nami Shuttle Bus Office, he gave us a set of tickets that include return bus tickets, ferry tickets and admission tickets. He also showed us a paper informing that we should be on the bus from Nami Island before 4pm.

Journey took about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Some of us took the chance to continue sleeping, while me and Rahah chit-chatted the whole way through, and took random pictures from the bus' window.

I sat next to Aha Mok Mok!

Clear road, clean road.

We arrived around 10.45, and after showing the officers our tickets we were ready to board a ferry that would take us to the island.

Banner welcoming us. There are two "Selamat Datang".

There were limited seats in the ferry and almost everyone had to stand. But the ferry trip was only less than 10 minutes so no one minded.

Inside the ferry.

Reached Nami Island! Lets take a commemorative picture with the ferry first.

Ah Nami Island. What can I say? It is really beyond beautiful. It would be almost a crime to visit Seoul/South Korea without visiting this place. I'll just let the pictures tell the story.

Of course, of course that ahjumma would walk into the frame in that particular moment.

Even our shoes looked beautiful on Nami. Haha.

Tak dapat peluk orang, peluk papan pun jadila...

Romantic couple. ♥

And then come one of my most favourite about this trip, bicycling in Nami Island. The bicycle rental hut is around 15 minutes walk from the dock, and it costs 5,000 KRW for one hour. Me, Rahah, Kaifa and Azie rented normal bicycles while Anis and Nadia rented a two seaters bicycle. Almost an expert now with the amount of cycling I did before the Korea trip, off I went far, far ahead of everyone. Wheee~

.. But then it wasn't fun cycling alone, so I stopped and waited for them.

The bicyle was different from those I'm used to in Malaysia, it was longer (a challenge for my short legs) and heavier but with only a small push on the pedals it went quite far.

While the rest of us had bicycle similiar to mine, Kaifa's was a bit.. unique.

We cycled fast, and because it was cold and we didn't sweat we cycled faster. We cycled like we were students late for school prompting Rahah to say: "Lets cut school then."

Students who ditched school. The leader is the one with horns.

Our original plan was to cycle around the island one time and then we'll go around again, while slowly enjoying everything. However we couldn't resist stopping and taking pictures.

We stumbled into Nadia's parents and their family bicycle.

We thought we had time for another trip around the island, but then it was already nearing the one hour mark, so we had to go back and return the bicycles. One hour is really not enough! Next time it would have to be 2 hours minimum. Everyone who come to Nami Island must experience this, the feel of the wind on your face, the freshness of the air, the beautiful scene around you.. So if anyone is planning to go to Nami, make sure you know how to bike :D

We ate our packed lunch, and once finished, we walked around again.

The Winter Sonata gallery.

Soon it was time to leave Nami Island. We made our way to the dock in order to not miss the ferry before 4pm. We really feel that time passed too quickly, and we didn't get to explore everything on the island..

I miss you o beautiful Nami.

Bye bye Nami. Till we meet again.

Korea Trip - Day 4

It was Sunday, and because we didn't get the chance to really enjoy Namdaemun the previous day, we decided to visit it again, this time early in the morning. So off we went to Namdaemun.

We arrived around 8.45 am. Most of the stalls and shops were in the middle of opening up. We decided to walk around and see if there were any shops already opened.

Standing in the middle of the road, surrounded by not-yet-opened shops.

This shop is already opened, selling the latest ahjumma fashions.

As we walked around, the shops started to be ready for business one by one. Being early, there were no crowd in the market and we can browse easily. The ahjummas (aunties) here were especially friendly, almost all asking where we are from. They were also mighty impressed by the little Koreans we know (asking for the price, asking for discounts) and our correct pronounciation, one ahjumma even pinched my cheek. Because we were one of their first customers, we also got additional discounts on top of the already reduced prices.

I must say, Namdaemun is one of the very best place to shop for clothes in Seoul. I love, love the blouses and hoodies they sell here. The blouses were really beautiful, pricing around 15,000 KRW (if it is priced higher, try to haggle until you get around that price) and the sellers all insisted that they were all made in Korea and not in China. I guess clothes made in Korea are supposed to be of better quality (but oh so soft, I'm afraid of washing it by machine). Needless to say, I bought a few blouses and hoodies.

Hoodies. Not really a practical wear for Malaysian weather, but being so pretty I still bought them. That white Chopper hoodie? Mine.

Look at the pretteh! If I have all the money in the world I would've bought them all.

How did we shop? We used a mix of Korean, English, Japanese and sign languages. The sellers here mostly speak fluent Japanese, and there was this one time we wanted a new piece and not the displayed one. I impulsively said "atarashi" (I was actually getting my languages mixed up and only when I spoke it I realized that was Japanese and not Korean). The ahjusshi understood however, and went inside to get us a new one. Whee! There was also this one ahjusshi that said "Tiga sepuluh ribu!" when we walked pass his stall. I think they are already getting used to seeing Malay faces.

From Namdaemun, we went to Myeongdong. It was 10.30 am and Myeongdong was also relatively empty. We wanted to check out SPAO again, but the store apparently is closed on Sundays. So we just mostly walked around, taking silly pictures with Korean idols endorsement boards. Anis and Nadia also bought a serious amount of Converse sneakers. Korean Converse stores have a lot of colours not available in KL.

Myeongdong street is rarely this empty. Especially on a Sunday.

Yep. That's Hyun Bin.

G Dragon from the group Big Bang.

Flower boy Song Joong Ki. Oh why, why did you leave Running Man?

We went back to our room, but not before putting a big dent on our wallet by buying photo albums and CDs of our favourite Korean groups from a shop inside Myeongdong subway station. Carrying so many plastics, plus the albums were heavy I didn't take any pictures at all.

Damages. We had to put our purchases down to look for the room's key.

At our room, we cooked the chicken drummets we brought from Malaysia, heated up a can of sardine and also the instant rice bought in GS25. It was one of the very best meals we had in Korea. Mostly because we were hungry.

Done with our lunch and prayers, we moved again. This time our destination was COEX Mall located in Gangnam, at the opposite site of Han River. COEX Mall was big, but we really didn't explore it because our feet were really hurting. My calves especially were really painful because I was running the other night in order not to miss the Seoul City Tour Bus. I actually do feel our trip here was a bit wasted because Gangnam was very far from where we stayed. It is worth going however if you want to experience COEX Aquarium.

COEX Mall's entrance from the subway station.

COEX Aquarium was big, it was divided into sections and of the most interesting sections was the one intended for children. Here it has many aquariums and tanks in almost every shapes imaginable. The kids loved it, squealing and saying "Annyeong!" to the fishes.

Fishes! : Inside a PC, vending machine, kitchen sink, cracked tank, traffic light, washing machine...

The deep-sea tank was also very, very big. With big sharks, turtles, other fishes. When one of the big sharks swam very close to where I was standing, it felt like I was swimming next to it. Those with phobias of sharks (like Rahah and Kaifa) will probably not appreciate it though. Hehehe.

Big, fat, shark swimming through!

After the aquarium, we went to Bandi and Luni's in COEX Mall, but just to find a book by Tablo (Epik High) that Anis wanted to buy. Once she got the book, we started heading back to the subway station.

We also bought iced-chocolate in Dunkin Donuts. This device lights up when drinks are ready but because we didn't know we waited near the counter.

We took the subway to Myeongdong station again, this time to watch NANTA, a non-verbal musical. The plot was simple, but very well executed and so funny. It also involved a lot of viewers' participation. One time the actor asked us to stomp our feet, I did so and then only I remembered my legs hurt. Ouch. We laughed so much throughout the show, it was really entertaining.

We bought the cheapest tickets sold, but still got a clear view of the stage.

The actors for that day's performance.

Picture with the staff at reception hall. So short compared to her. Woe is me.

NANTA done, we were finished with our fourth day at Seoul. We were tired, but also excited because the next day, Nami Island!