Seoul 09.09

Okay, so me and my sis recently went to Seoul, mainly to stalk 2PM and do some shopping on the side. We took a red-eye direct flight from O'Hare to Incheon and that saved us a lot of money. Our flight left around 0100 and we landed in ICN around 0500 (i love time differences! made it seem like a 4hr-flight as opposed to a 14hr-flight). From the airport we took the KAL limousine to our hotel, the 80-minute trip only cost us $14 *woot* I would've enjoyed the scenery more if I wasn't so sleepy. I was only able to take pictures during the beginning of the bus ride coz before I knew I was dozing off, as well was my sister =P

it was too dark for me to make out what this thing was >.~ 

on our way to Seoul...

land of the morning calm ^.^

I booked our trip through Expedia. Expedia was having this summer sale so I saved $200 from our hotel accomodations. RT tickets and the 5nights/6days hotel stay cost around $2500 for the both of us, which I think was awesome, considering our recent NYC 2nights/3days trip cost us $1800 O__o (and our Seoul hotel was waaayyy nicer than the one we stayed at in Manhattan =P ).

We stayed at Grand Intercontinental Seoul, which is located in the business district of Gangnam-gu. The hotel itself is okay, typical for a five-star hotel, but I appreciated the warm reception and amazing service the hotel employees showed. From the bellman to the concierge to the cleaning ladies, they were always helpful and smiling. And they don't discriminate, there were a lot of important-looking business people staying at the hotel but the employees were just as ready to serve me and my sister in our casual street clothes ^__^

We arrived way before the check-in time, luckily our room was ready so we didn't have to wait. We're NOT rich but we're pretty generous when it comes to tipping, so imagine our conundrum when the porter helped us carry our huge-ass luggage. I've read beforehand that tipping is a no-no in South Korea, but still, being used to thanking people monetarily, me and my sister were frantically making eye signals at each other hoping one would know what to do. In the end, we just thanked him with our limited korean. Luckily, my sister read the little hotel manual-thingie and it stated there that tipping is not allowed, that helped me get over feeling guilty for not tipping the guy. So here are some pics our hotel room.

the entryway

our double beds

our beds again

the desk

our mini seating area by the window

our tv

inside our closet by the entryway

part of the vanity and shower booth

the bathtub

the view from our window

to the left, to the left...lol.

looking down onto the streets of Gangnam

Another cool thing about our hotel was its location. It was connected to COEX Mall and the subway station was just a quick walk away. We mainly shopped in Coex since it was so near. Although we did venture out to Dongdaemun (no pics though, coz we didn't want to look like tourists, lol.) We took the subway (line 2). Their subway system is fairly easy to navigate. There are maps in the station and stops are announced in English and Korean, so all you have to do is pay attention. We mainly bought clothes in Dongdaemun. We hit Good Morning City, Hello APM, Migliore, and Doota. The clothes sold in Dongdaemun were pretty affordable. But it seemed like everything was one-size-fits-all[Asians], lol. I've read blogs complaining about the lack of bigger-sized clothing in Korea, I guess it's true. I'm built like a kid, short and thin, and I wear a size 0 or 00 in the US, and it seemed like the clothes were made for people the same size as me. I didn't really see any non-Asian foreigner in Dongdaemun so I guess the one-size clothing system won't be a problem.

In Coex we mainly bought school supplies, lol, I know we're such dorks. We bought tons of notebooks, pencil cases, pens, and what-nots from Dalki and Art Box. Notebooks in Korea are wayyyy cuter than the ones sold here. Plus I found this ginormous pink pen, that's currently my favorite.... I collect pens and pencils, did I tell you that? 

Before going to Seoul I vowed to only eat Korean food. But we ended up eating pizzas and bagels. My sister has a pretty high tolerance for spicy food, unfortunately I don't... and Korean food is sssspicccyyy! I tried this cup ramyun (well udon, technically), and I specifically chose it coz it wasn't marked spicy or hot, but it was still too spicy for me ;(

my not-supposed-to-be-spicy-but-still-spicy ramyun

We did try their beef soup (설렁탕), which only cost $5 for the whole meal. It came with rice, several side dishes plus a drink. :)

We also got to try their famous galbi thanks to our new friend Sae Beom. She even wrapped one for me :) I truly enjoyed hanging out with her albeit it was only for a short while.

I wish our stay was longer. 6 days is too short to fully appreciate what Seoul has to offer. Hopefully on our next visit we can stay longer.

I'll write a separate blog on my encounter with 2PM ^___^. That day truly deserves its own entry :)