Seoul Searching, Days 1 and 2.

We could have been at Atlanta, touring the CNN headquarters or roaming Georgia Tech. But that's another story.

We left Gimhae on an express bus, which is quite ironic since there's nothing fast with the express bus and it still took us four hours to reach Seoul. KTx, which only takes 2h40m to travel from Busan to Seoul, is quite expensive: 30000KRW more than the express bus fare. At least with the bus, we can catch up on some Zs.


It then took another one hour via subway to reach the guesthouse. I know what you're thinking, the subway's as inefficient as Manila's MRT/LRT. No. It took us one hour since we got lost INSIDE the subway station. And it took us around twenty minutes to figure out which exit to go to to board the connecting track. If it's any consolation, the subway lines here are extremely efficient. You only need a keen sense of direction and good map-reading skills to know where you're headed. Lucky for me, Maffy was both.

We stayed at Penicl Guesthouse, a nice cozy hostel in the residential area of Hongdae. The staff can understand English well, so that's an A+. They serve free breakfast (nothing fancy, though you can raid their shelves and refrigerator all the time), so another plus. We didn't mind bunking with another woman in an 8-bed room because she was really nice and has a nice Danish accent whenever she speaks (she's Korean BTW).

A five-minute walk from the guesthouse will lead you to a place called Barbeque Avenue. It's like the Maginhawa Street of Hongdae, only they don't have Moonleaf but Gong Cha. BUT STILL! If you only saw our faces when we saw a Gong Cha branch in there.

Beef buffet at Mammoth for 1100KRW, y'all! 

The place is much more alive in the evening, mainly because of the students from the nearby Hongik University hanging out and the street performers in the middle of the road showcasing their talents. One night we chanced upon a Caucasian a capella group, and if you could only see the reactions of these Koreans when the group sang in Korean.

We then proceeded to Myeong-dong to do some shopping. And oh boy, I could just live in Myeong-dong forever. Brands such as H&M and Uniqlo have at least two three-story stores in that small parcel of land. But it was like an intricate piece of puzzle: we had to make a lot of turns and wrong exits before we eventually found the reason why Maffy went there: SPAO, the brand that Super Junior advertises.

Haggler in action: Even night stall goods don't come cheap.
This coat is pegged at 80000KRW!

Day two was supposed to start with a visit to the Philippine Embassy in Itaewon to apply for absentee voting. But thank me for snoozing the alarm several times, we woke up late. So we just decided to take a trip to Gwanghwamun Square to see the famed Gwanghwamun Palace and the Statue of King Sejong.

Nice photobombing, ladies!

And made a short stop at the underground museum dedicated to King Sejong.

HAI GAIS I AM KING SEJONG-BERT LOL

And up we went again and straight to the palace.

I'm not small. The palace is just really big.

And here comes the fun part. Thinking that Insa-dong is really close since it's just one station away, we decided to walk. It's actually within a walking distance, if by walking distance you mean 25 minutes of walking.

Personalized ginormous fans, ceramics and pottery, bargain-priced hippy bags? Insa-dong is the it place. But one landmark that stood out in this stretch of land is the Ssamzaegil Shopping Center. Famous for its slightly slanted spiral floors, it lets the shoppers go up the place without using the stairs or elevators!

The spirals. Literally.

Sad part is that we had to descend using the stairs, which is hidden from plain sight, because the spiral walkway has become too crowded to counter.

And we ended our day with a walk around Myeong-dong. Again. Okay maybe shopping a bit more, too. ;-)