Living, Loving Seoul

19:52:00 APRILSKELTER 0 Comments

Ever been touched by a person or a place so deeply? Here I am, a year later, writing about you. Longing for you.

Seoul.

What’s so special about you, Seoul?

It’s been too long. And yet, everything is still so vivid.

I remember having tough couple of days at work with only this trip to look forward to, motivating me every day. I can still recall the anxiety that I’ve felt while applying for the VISA (which is even more terrifying than when we applied for Japan, not gonna lie) and the relief when we received mostly positive results (A friend was denied initially and had to reapply to another local embassy due to some reasons but she still made it in time. It was truly meant to be). I can still feel the excitement of landing our feet in your soil for the first time and breathing in the same summer air.

Another dream that came true through God’s amazing provisions. I am truly grateful.

I am also glad that we were able to experience Korea before this pandemic situation happened. Actually, we have tickets booked in June 2020 but we could not push through because of the current situation. 2020, you are full of surprises. Here’s to praying that the situation will get better and God-willing, we will get to come back. But for now, let us reminisce.

Five days. No, scratch that. Actually, we only had four full days to spend because our round trip flights are set on a Monday morning and Friday at noon. We endured an eventful itinerary living and loving you with no regrets.

We planned everything thoroughly with our schedule set from the wee hours of dawn to the closing moments of Seoul Station at night time. Also, we took notes of the estimated expenses down to the very last Won. We also kept track of the k-drama locations that we would like to visit beforehand so the information would be handy and we would only worry about navigating onto the actual place. But of course there are circumstances that we cannot anticipate like the delays and the weather. It didn’t stop us from having the best experiences together, though.

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Buses with changing landscapes even when I'm sitting still

And similar buildings actually varying a little

Scent of life that could be disgusting or not

And the cold parks pretending to be warm

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Ready for takeoff.

D-1 is particularly a long one as we almost have no sleep due to excitement..... not really, but mostly because we all are hailing from the province and we need to head early to catch a 7 AM flight.

The next thing we know, we are at the Incheon International Airport and so the adventure begins.

After claiming our Flytpack (wifi) weeks ago and our Discover Seoul BTS Special Edition Passes in the airport, we availed the free AREX Airport Express Train ride to Seoul Station. The whole ride gives a glimpse of the fine distinction of every facet of the city.

What happens behind the scenes

The first day is all about the city’s youthful side, reminiscent of our university days. Roaming around Ehwa Women’s University, Hongik University and the streets of Hongdae made me miss the times when I am also a student.... hopeful of the opportunities of the world. Today, I am still learning the ropes. And I am still hopeful.

Seoul's nuance in pictures

Feeding the Potterhead in us, we went to visit the outskirts of Hongdae leading to the 943 King’s Cross Harry Potter Cafe. We only took photos outside, though because of the time constraint.

Harry Potter-ing everywhere we go

We also watched the buskers on the streets. Everything is lively and bright.

We ended the night visiting the flagship store of LINE in Itaewon.

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People who always have to wander

And the Han Rivers that bear too much Han

And the swings that can't look at the sky on their own

And the kids all grown up, and me who’s a little late

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D-2 is all about Namjooning (nature-tripping) also known as the Nami Island/Morning Calm Arboretum Tour and what a calming trip that was. We are lucky that the weather is also on our side as it is forecasted that it will be a rainy week ahead but our Nami trip is all sunshine and literal daisies and every flowers that you can think of.

The Garden of the Morning Calm

Aegyo-ing at Nami Islandㅋㅋ

Sana all may ka-Park Bo Gum uwu

(Love in the Moonlight shoot location)

My Love From Another Star? Petite France is such a dream.

Sarreh Cheon Song Yi, I had to. But I love you and Do Min Joon both!!

Dongdaemun is where we first experienced the night life on the streets, trying out their authentic tteokbokki and japchae and communicating with the locals among others.

Random food finds

D-3 is all about BTS (the Gangnam Tour) in which I have a separate post that you could also read here.

It is already raining occasionally in D-3 and it feels like it has prepared us for the downpour. D-4 appeared to be the most challenging one with the rain continuing to get ahead of us. Oh, rainy Seoul. That’s the only part that I don’t really miss.

Kween?

Another "BTS"

Later that day we realised that we skipped the eating-at-a-proper-restaurant in the itinerary part to save the time that we missed off being stuck in the palace for hours because odf the rain while being on our rented Hanboks. Part of the budget-friendly itinerary is living off 24-hour convenience stores and it has saved us that day and to be honest, it is not that bad. Those stores have better varieties of microwaveable dishes and instant noodles that are just as good, anyway. We were able to tick off reenacting our favourite k-drama shots at the Changdeokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village, Gyeongbokgung Palace, the N-Seoul Tower and Heo Joon Jae’s house (Legend of the Blue Sea location) because of that minor sacrifice.

Our age is showing heh. But here's me reenacting that scene

from the kdrama, The Heirs.

Yong-hwa oppa, why didn't you wait for me ╥﹏╥

It was fogging and raining so hard that we cannot see anything that we almost lost hope. But the sun revealed itself towards the end.

That's our travel buddy RJ at the Observatory. As you can barely see,

it was raining really hard that day. But we're glad that the sky has cleared out
towards night time.

Also, Gu Jun Pyo's "hininga" for my Meteor Garden collection. jk

What’s good in Myeongdong? Yes, the shopping district lived up to the hype. This was where we bought most of our souvenir items and skin care hauls. Lastly, who’s not to miss the authentic Bulgogi at the airport?

A merge of Korea's past and present

It feels like Namjoon has made some valid points on his song Seoul off his EP, mono. It was actually my whole vibe on the whole trip. From watching re-runs of 너의 목소리가 보여 (I Can See Your Voice) and other shows on the local channels (without the subtitles) to the seemingly endless walks through the steep streets, there are still things that we wished we could have done like noraebang (karaoke) or do a proper mini-hike in the mountains but it feels like we lived and immersed with the their culture as much as we can, within the time frame that we had.

It also gives us more reason to come back. We’ll see.

The place may not be on top of my list and there are other places that I can say that are even better in many aspects but there is just something about Seoul that makes it feel so homey and safe. The place embodies the nuance of modernization and cultural heritage perfectly. We have seen enough and yet there are still a lot to see. Seoul, you truly are something.