Return to Land Of Kimchi

Part 2: The Day!

Finally, the long wait is over.. THE DAY has arrived..! was not able to sleep during the night - super excited! ive always known to bring lots of stuffs when travelling. i just hate not being prepared so i make sure i bring stuffs just in case i need it for every kind of situation.. but, because now im travelling with a kiddo, I tried to packed light.. operative word here being - TRIED.. :-) well, at least i managed to cram our stuffs (including a portable cooker and loads of rations enuff to last a week) into one HUGE 30 Kg bag, 1 back pack, 1 hand luggage and a stroller. thats not bad isnt it..

our luggages

we board the flight from LCCT bound to ICN @ 2.20pm - which was a bit delayed due to disembarking a passenger's luggage cos he failed to show up after checking in. it was a boring uneventful 6 hour flight to ICN which feels like forever. luckily Q managed to behave considerably well, except that being a very active, chatty toddler, she just couldn't sit still for a bit and she did not slept a wink either! finally we arrived at the airport around 10pm local time. took quite a while for immigration to clear due to the long que.

in flight

long immigration clearance que

arrival time

 

we took the taxi to our hotel - despite having done extensive research which tells us NOT to take the black taxi, we took it - bcos we are not able to find the silver taxis. it costs us 90k won as compared to 70k won if we took the silver taxi. oklah, as long as we arrived our destination safe and sound. We chose Prince Hotel in myeongdong as our accomodation due to its location which we established thru reviews we read.. Frm actual experience, Even though the room is quite small, but i must say that the location is indeed SUPERB!!! Its in the middle of myeongdong (happening shopping / tourist area) where the subway, taxi stand , the seoul tour bus station and the 24 hr convenience store (family mart) is literally in front of ur doorstep. and the incheon airport shuttle bus stop is also just across the road.. if ur wondering why we took the taxi as opposed to the airport bus shuttle which only costs 10k won, its because the bus stop is on the opposite of the road which requires u to cross the road via the subway which involves flights of stairs, and were carrying a HUGE luggage which we can barely lift ourselves. so that's why. we booked the same taxi for our ride back to ICN in advanced @ 70k won, dont ask me why the price differs, its just like that.

tourist spots like the namsan tower, namdaemun market and a few other places are also within walking distance, if ur up for it (ill elaborate on this later :-P) or u can just easily take the subway which is only a few stations away..

We did have doubts about this place before since they do not provide some facilities like guesthouses do  - i.e. microwaves, but we solved the problem by asking the cashier of family mart to heat up the instant rice for us. We brought our own portable cooker which we used to fry eggs and heat instant foods we brought from home. Tip: Dont forget to bring some oil and salt from home, and most importantly, dont forget the kicap kipas udang of course..!  U can do much more with the portable cooker - explore ur creativity / survival instinct while ur at it :-).. We hardly starved during our stay in Seoul despite it might be challenging to source for halal food / food that suits our palettes - especially  if u have a hardcore Malaysian appetite (like the Captain). Other tips would be (1) bring your own toiletries as they don't provide them; (2) if uve read somewhere that there is a bakery beside the hotel (Paris Baguette), fyi, the bakery has closed shop and im not sure what kind of establishment that will take its place.

this product is revolutionary!

we survived on this

fyi, guesthouses are popular among msians travelling to Korea and from what ive read some of the popular GH are really provides descent and comfortable accommodation.they also provide free wifi, simple breakfast, cooking utensils and washing machines for diy laundry. one GH thats popular is the http://www.namsanguesthouse.com/

arrived at our hotel around midnight. we were the only ones in the lobby. check in was a breeze, barely a few minutes - the most effective ive ever experienced!. it was like they were expecting us. checked into our room, did a lil unpacking and hit the sack.. zzzzzzz

view our Seoul Trip pics here --> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/iamatinydot/3/tpod.html