Seoul Trip Part 2 Day 6 to 9

If you have notice, I have given my blog a brand new template and feel. Do let me know by commenting on my post if you like this template. Without further ado i shall continue my post.

Continuing from the previous post.

From day 6 to 9 is purely about Seoul.

Day 6 (9 October): JEJU-GIMPO

The two days with YehaTour has ended and overall experience i only enjoyed 75% of the overall tour. That being said, the Seongsan Ilchulbong sunrise peak was cancelled due to the approaching Typhoon. It was a good experience and I will definitely come back just to see the Seongsan Ilchulbong Sunrise Peak. Remember Catherine? She send me a few photos through email and I will share with you here. The view is fantastic but it is not the same to see it real. If i have the opportunity i will visit Jeju-do again. 

The journey back to Gimpo took about 55 minutes after taking off. As a avid fan of air plane collectors i bought a 737-800 1:100 scale model of EastarJet model. To date, it will be the largest model I've gotten to my collection. I shall talk to you about my hobbies in a separate tab and post to let you know me better.
Throughout the plane journey i saw beautiful image of Korea from birds eye view. Boxes of plantation fields, contours of river flowing,clear skies. No wonder i was attracted to it because back home it was only a bustling busy city day in and day out. Something you want to consider and since its nature, it's good for your eyesight and it will make anyone relax just by looking at it.

Arrived in Seoul at about 2pm KST(Korean South Time) and check in back at BoA Guesthouse for the rest of the stay in Seoul. Lunch and head out to Dongdaemun History and Cultural Park. The unique part of Dongdaemun is that it is surrounded with a lot of shopping malls like Doota, Migliore,Hello APM,Maxstyle, Lotte Fittin, Napyeonghwa shoes market etc. It's the place every tourist will go for shopping. In the itinerary for any tour to Seoul, they will bring you to Doota an 8 storey shopping Mall with a rooftop coffee place. Its a very nice place to Shop. Some of the shopping Mall opens from 6pm and it will closes at around 4am. Yes, it is that night life shopping you are looking for. Just remember to bring extra cash because the last train will be around 12 to 1am. Best if you can stay around Dongdaemun area.

To visit Dongdaemun: Take Metro Line 2 and drop at Dongdaemun History & Cultural Park. Most of the Exit but i prefer Exit 1-4

Near to Napyeonghwa shoes market there's a river alley where people can walk. If i am not wrong, the river alley begins from Gwanghamun, pass through Myeongdong and Dongdaemun. It's really a long walk but it's the fastest way around this part of the city. We went there just to window shopping and survey the price of the stuff there. As a guy visiting korea, other than looking at the nature landscape and people culture, I can only buy a few things there. Guys items is a lot more expensive because most of the market belongs to the ladies. If you are a lady, you will sure enjoy Dongdaemun!

*Tips: Some shops have discount. Make sure to ask first before bargaining!

Day 7(10 October): Everland Themepark

Have you ever heard of Universal Studios Singapore, Disneyland Hongkong,Tokyo? Well for Korea, one of their biggest theme park is Everland. Apart from there the other famous one is Lotte World. I am sure you have heard about it. Everland is Korea own unique themepark with various rides for the thriller to the faint-hearted. It is situated outside of Seoul city. Journey by bus took around one hour approximately from Gangnam Station.

To Get there: Take Metro to Gangnam Station, Exit 5 or 10. Walk to the bus stop at the center and take bus number 5002.

When you board the bus you can pay using T-money or cash. It cost about W2000 to Everland Themepark. The worse part is that if there's no seat, you need to stand up and seriously the bus is full everytime. If you can get a seat, you must be lucky but well not for me. Upon arriving at Everland, there's a bus from the parking lot to take you to the entrance. Purchase the tickets there and enter through the enormous gate. Welcome to Everland everybody!

*Tips: If you are a foreigner you can get a discount for the entrance tickets!

I spend the whole day inside Everland. It is my second time there and I really enjoyed it. The weather that day was unfortunately sunny and everyone was using sunglasses. The first place i go is PSY Hologram show. What so great about it is that is uses 21st Century technology of Hologram and present us a concert feeling. The hologram is very realistic and the sound is very crisp. It's like you attending PSY Concert with him and dance to the beat of Gangnam style and Gentleman. Recommended it's good!

Next of, i visited the Safari there. The park is divided into two areas, the rides and the safari. Do you watch running man and remember the river safari? That's the place i went. The queue was very long. Since it got popular thanks to running man. Waiting time took almost 2 hours but it's really worth it. We travelled in a bus which can submerged in water. We met the lion,running man camel the cheetah as well as feeding the giraffe. The giraffe is the nearest animal we get in contact with. It was the giraffe that running man Lee Kwangsoo kissed! Everyone was scared when the giraffe gets close. After that we wanted to go to the other safari but the waiting time is really outrageous! So we headed for the cable car to make our way to the top. Ended the day with some churros and a long bus to train ride back home.

Day 8(11 October): Itaewon

Next day is Friday. So everyone wake up later than usual. We went to Seoul Grand Mosque situated at Itaewon. This is the only Mosque in Seoul so during Friday prayers, It will get really packed. Everyone from Seoul will come here to perform Friday prayers. I had a sumptuous vegetable beryani while everyone else had korean foods. For me i didn't choose the Korean food because its not authentic. Not like the one similar at eating at Korean restaurant. However it was good and i really enjoyed the food.

Direction to Seoul Grand Mosque: Take line 6 to Itaewon station. Exit near the kebab shop opposite Hollys Cafe. Walk straight till you see another Kebab shop, Turn right and walk up hill and turn left when you see a school. Continue walking straight up the hill. The Mosque is on the left.

Along the way there's Middle Eastern restaurant and provision shop, to get your daily groceries. One thing to take note is that, it is expensive. Since its the only Halal restaurant you can find in Seoul, you should try!  Next up on the destination we visited Namsan Seoul Tower or as known N Seoul Tower. It is situated a the Namsan mountain and can be seen anywhere around the city. It's one of the place tourist should go when visiting Seoul. Standing at 243m Seoul tower offers panoramic view of Seoul city and surrounding areas.

To get to N Seoul Tower: The fastest way is from Myeongdong Station line 4 and take the cable car up. For my case, I took the bus from Itaewon Station. Opposite Hamilton hotel and take bus number 03, Exit 4 of Itaewon station. Journey took 20 minutes to the middle of the mountain. From there you need to make your way on foot up to the tower.

There's a lot of things you can do there, for example you can go to the observatory, Teddy bear Museum and lots more. There's a place for Love locks where couple locked their love wishes there. It's so pretty and each time i visit, the number of locks increased tremendously. It was my fifth time on top there and i bought souvenirs only from the gift shop. We took the cable car down to Myeongdong station. Then we shop around at Namdaemun Market just 5 minutes walk from the station.

Day 9(October 12): Nami Island

We get ready for our trip to Nami Island today. A short introduction of Nami Island taken from Official Visit Korea Website.It is a moon shaped Island and it's situated near Gapyeong Wharf situated 63km away from downtown Seoul.

To get there the easiest: Take train to Wangsimni station. and then take the ITX Chuncheon to Gapyeong station. Travel timing expected to take around 1 1/2 hour to 2 hours by train. This is by far the easiest and cheapest way to Nami Island. There's bus services to Nami Island but It is much expensive than taking a train there.

Upon reaching at Gapyeong station, you need to cross opposite and take the bus to Nami Wharf.  There's two ways to enter Nami Island. One is by taking the ferry and second for those who want a special entry by taking the ZIPwire. It cost more taking ZIPwire but it looks fun, i didn't have the opportunity to get on the ZIPwire. The entrance tickets cost around W8,000 and if you take ZIPwire, it'll cost W38,000. 

The moment you reached Nami Island, you will be greeted by vast areas of line trees from the Wharf to the end of the Island. This island is called Winter Sonata Island because this is where the first kiss of Winter Sonata is taken. The number of tourist increased in numbers since the Drama aired more than 5 years ago and where the Hallyu wave begins. There's 4 types of transportation available at Nami Island, firstly you can walk from one end to the other, second rent a Bicycle for about W5000/ hour, Nami car and lastly the sky bike. We rented the bicycle for an hour and we managed to cover the whole of Nami Island within 45 minutes. It's really worth it to rent a bike. If you go in deeper with lesser people, you can take a picture of nice lined trees. I shall let the pictures to do all the talking alright. Some things couldn't explain using words.

At the end of the day, journey back to downtown Seoul took 2 hours in total and worse is a standing journey. Arrived at BoA Guesthouse at around 8pm, had my dinner and i'm off to sleep. It has been a really tiring day.