I'm going solo......
The plane departs Manila midnight of March 16 and we arrived in Incheon around 6:00AM of March 17. The 4 hours flight from Manila to Incheon was breezy, except for some turbulence when we are nearing Incheon, which is pretty understandable because of their current weather. Though it was a smooth flight, I was not able to catch some Zzzzzz maybe because i am very excited, and yeah, I'm seated in the aisle and so I can see and hear everyone passing by.
Maybe people would think that this is over acting or whatever, but when the pilot announced that we were about to land in Incheon, when the plane touchdown and the pilot said "....the current weather is 6 degrees celcius. Thank you for flying with Cebu Pacific, until your next flight with us. Kamsahamnida. Welcome to Incheon, South Korea", I almost burst into tears if not for the embarassment and people around me thinking i'm crazy, hahahahaha. But it was really a crazily happy emotional moment for me, If Andie or any of the girls I'm supposed to be with at that moment is with me, we sure will hugged each other, tears in our eyes saying "finally we are now in South Korea! the land of our oppars" xDDD but since i am alone, i can just (almost teary eyed) smile like an idiot and utter a prayer of thanksgiving that finally I arrived safely in the country I dreamt of travelling. Upon exciting the tube, the cold weather of Incheon greeted us, and so we need to put on our jackets and scarfs to keep us warm. One of my rules when travelling to a foreign place, is to just follow where others go!^^ and since Incheon International Airport is a huuuuuggggeeee airport, I just followed where fellow passengers are going. :D
The plane departs Manila midnight of March 16 and we arrived in Incheon around 6:00AM of March 17. The 4 hours flight from Manila to Incheon was breezy, except for some turbulence when we are nearing Incheon, which is pretty understandable because of their current weather. Though it was a smooth flight, I was not able to catch some Zzzzzz maybe because i am very excited, and yeah, I'm seated in the aisle and so I can see and hear everyone passing by.
Maybe people would think that this is over acting or whatever, but when the pilot announced that we were about to land in Incheon, when the plane touchdown and the pilot said "....the current weather is 6 degrees celcius. Thank you for flying with Cebu Pacific, until your next flight with us. Kamsahamnida. Welcome to Incheon, South Korea", I almost burst into tears if not for the embarassment and people around me thinking i'm crazy, hahahahaha. But it was really a crazily happy emotional moment for me, If Andie or any of the girls I'm supposed to be with at that moment is with me, we sure will hugged each other, tears in our eyes saying "finally we are now in South Korea! the land of our oppars" xDDD but since i am alone, i can just (almost teary eyed) smile like an idiot and utter a prayer of thanksgiving that finally I arrived safely in the country I dreamt of travelling. Upon exciting the tube, the cold weather of Incheon greeted us, and so we need to put on our jackets and scarfs to keep us warm. One of my rules when travelling to a foreign place, is to just follow where others go!^^ and since Incheon International Airport is a huuuuuggggeeee airport, I just followed where fellow passengers are going. :D
 a blurry shot of mine of the led screen that welcomes passengers of our flight |  it tells what cart we can go to get our baggage |
After exciting the plane/tube we walked in here and i thought that we'll be heading to immigration already, but......
...No! we walked and walked and rode 2 escalators down going to here!! A train shuttle that would bring us to the main airport! I'm really impressed! hahahaha :DD
After getting off from the shuttle and going up, we walked to this area heading to the immigration!
I was informed by some of my fangirl friends that Infinite, Teen Top and EXO would also be arriving around that time from Bangkok,Thailand where they performed at the Korean Music in Bangkok the night before, i then decided to wait a little bit before falling in line at the immigration. There was around 2 batches of people coming in and on the 2nd batch i spotted Sungjong of Infinite walking just in front of me! He is wearing a black sweatshirt and has a mask, it's really hard to spot them from the crowd as it seems like they are purposely blending themselves with the crowd and walking separately. Next i saw is Sungyeol and finally i saw Dongwoo who came from a comfort room. I was not to take a pic as i was really shocked and they are really fast! I did not spot the other members as its really hard to see them with my far sighted vision and yes, they walk far from each other and just blends in the crowd. Since the lanes of foreign passport holders and korean passport holders are different, i did not bother following them or waiting for other groups as my Korean friend Ran is waiting for me outside.
After passing through the immigration and getting my luggage at the cart, I went out and saw tons of fans with their huge cameras waiting for their bias groups. Earlier on Ran told me there's really a lot of fans waiting outside and she have no idea why, so i told her. I then saw her with a banner of my name on it! hahahahhaha so cute^^ Finally, after about 4 years i was able to personally meet my Korean friend Ran Ju. She is living an hour away from Incheon Airport and volunteered to meet me up at the airport^^ Really sweet girl. After introductions and some greetings, i asked her to accompany me in going to Sroaming desk so i could get the mobile phone i rented online. Ran was such a great help as she talked to them in Korean. She then invited me to have an early lunch at a Korean restaurant in the airport. She asked me what i want to eat and told her as long as it's a Korean food then it's okay. She ordered bibimbap for me and Kimchi stew for her.
After passing through the immigration and getting my luggage at the cart, I went out and saw tons of fans with their huge cameras waiting for their bias groups. Earlier on Ran told me there's really a lot of fans waiting outside and she have no idea why, so i told her. I then saw her with a banner of my name on it! hahahahhaha so cute^^ Finally, after about 4 years i was able to personally meet my Korean friend Ran Ju. She is living an hour away from Incheon Airport and volunteered to meet me up at the airport^^ Really sweet girl. After introductions and some greetings, i asked her to accompany me in going to Sroaming desk so i could get the mobile phone i rented online. Ran was such a great help as she talked to them in Korean. She then invited me to have an early lunch at a Korean restaurant in the airport. She asked me what i want to eat and told her as long as it's a Korean food then it's okay. She ordered bibimbap for me and Kimchi stew for her.
My first meal in Korea!! Bibimbap, kimchi chigae and some banchan^^
I am really excited seeing her and so we just talked some random things over lunch. Get to know more and asked me my plans while in Seoul. The food is really delicious!! Finally, an authentic Korean meal! After our quick lunch, she invited me for a tea at this very cute tea shop near the restaurant where we ate. Bye the way, the restaurant, tea shop and other eateries are located in the basement of the airport. There's also a mini grocery and some other stores there.
  Cute bear^^ |  That's Ran in pink dress reading the menu^^  Menu board |
I let her order for me since i know nothing on their menu, and since she had worked in a nearby store before, she knows what are the nice teas and cookies to eat there.
 Our cute snack! For Ran, a blueberry slush/smoothie (really delicious) and a tea for me. Cute tasty cookie/bread with some rice cake..it's hard to describe~~ :D |  Cute little interior |
After our nice meal and chat, we returned to the ground floor and i bought a T-Money card that i will be using as a form for payment while commuting in Seoul. We then head out to the Seoul bound bus station. I was supposed to ride the bus that will stop at Jongno(3)ga but the dispatcher said that the street where the bus will pass by to that bus stop is closed as there's a marathon going on. Good thing Ran was there to talk to him, and so he suggested that i should instead take another bus that will make a stop in Gyeongbukgong Palace (the other end/side of the street near my hostel). I then agreed since it's the bus stop nearest to my hostel. I could take a taxi from that stop to my hostel since i have a heavy luggage.
 Bus route... Bus 6002 |  The huge Incheon International Airport |
Take note if you're travelling to Seoul and will take the airport bus from Incheon Airport to Seoul, you need to know from your hotel/hostel the bus number of the bus that you're supposed to take and the bus stop where you'll be alighting. Taking a bus is more convenient than Korail especially if you have lots of baggage with you. Anyway, i said bye to Ran and and told her I'll go and visit her in Incheon on Tuesday.
 Going out of Incheon Airport  Han River again^^ |  hello Han River!^^  Entering Seoul... Hapjeong @ Mapo-gu is the first area you'll passed by |
The weather was really cold when i got there, insanely cold for someone like me who is living in a tropical country. I arrived at Seoul around 11AM, alighted at the bus station in the Gyeongbukgong Area, and i flagged down a taxi and showed the driver my hostel's address. In less than 5 minutes I was already at Apple Backpackers in Jongno(3)ga area (very near the palaces and Insadong). However when i was about to check in the manager on duty told me that the room that im supposed to stay in have broken faucet and thus i cannot stay there because they need to fix it, he then told me that they have a sister hostel nearby which is Banana Backpackers and that i can stay there instead. Banana's rate is much higher that the one in Apple's but since it's their fault of me not having any rooms at their hostel, i'll pay Apple's rate at Banana, i then agreed (since im so tired n sleepy and cold and i badly need to lie down or something) and he accompanied me to Banana Backpackers. I was told that i cannot check in yet since the check in time is at 2PM and it was still around 12NN, but then i can already pay for my room. Since i've got nothing to do while waiting for 2PM, i decided to go Dongdaemun and buy a pair of shoes since my boots broke ( i don't know why T_T). I leave my baggage in their storage room and brave my way to Dongdaemun with a map at hand. :)))
*I was not able to take any pictures of the hostel T_T but it was a great and clean hostel with lovely helpful staff and a good location (with a convenience store nearby, lots of korean restaurants around, very near the palaces, myeongdong, insadong and a subway station orange line Anguk station), highly recommended to anyone going to Seoul.
*I was not able to take any pictures of the hostel T_T but it was a great and clean hostel with lovely helpful staff and a good location (with a convenience store nearby, lots of korean restaurants around, very near the palaces, myeongdong, insadong and a subway station orange line Anguk station), highly recommended to anyone going to Seoul.
 The street leading to the hostel  Hanbok on display. for sale i guess... |  I dont know the name of this street/road, but it's the one leading to Jongno(3)ga stations. Empty street when i arrive there |
Insadong and Jongno 3 ga are like the old part of Seoul and so it's not surprising to see traditional stuffs there such as hanbok stores, traditional Korean stores, jewelry and eateries.
I walked around 10 minutes to Jongno 3 ga subway blue line that would take me to Dongdaemun. I made one transfer to another (forgot what station it is^^) and then bam! I'm already in Dongdaemun. Dongdaemun is one of Seoul's major shopping/market districts. There are these huge and famous mall called Doota and few other buildings selling different merchandise from fabric, clothes, foods to just anything else in cheaper price as compared to the malls or any other shopping districts in Seoul. There's a lot of street vendors where you can buy stuff at cheaper price and you can haggle. Street foods and eateries and coffee shops are also everywhere in the area. Since Dongdaemun is one of Seoul's major tourist destination, there's a couple of english, japanese and chinese tourist helpers who can help and assist tourist should you have any concern. They can be found mostly near subway entrances/exits.
I walked around 10 minutes to Jongno 3 ga subway blue line that would take me to Dongdaemun. I made one transfer to another (forgot what station it is^^) and then bam! I'm already in Dongdaemun. Dongdaemun is one of Seoul's major shopping/market districts. There are these huge and famous mall called Doota and few other buildings selling different merchandise from fabric, clothes, foods to just anything else in cheaper price as compared to the malls or any other shopping districts in Seoul. There's a lot of street vendors where you can buy stuff at cheaper price and you can haggle. Street foods and eateries and coffee shops are also everywhere in the area. Since Dongdaemun is one of Seoul's major tourist destination, there's a couple of english, japanese and chinese tourist helpers who can help and assist tourist should you have any concern. They can be found mostly near subway entrances/exits.
 Dongdaemun gate |  Around Dongdaemun |
Doota Mall (i did not bother going in)
I was able to find a nice pair of highcut shoes good enough to keep my feet warm on a stall in a building that sells mostly shoes. The saleslady is very nice and helpful and can speak basic english, so I was not able to encounter any problem buying it. Bought my new pair of shoes at 30,000won! ^_^ i think it's a good buy^^ Used it during the rest of my stay there.
New pair of kicks^^
Passed by Angel in us coffee shop near the subway line, since i was intrigued long before of this coffee shop, i decided to order a hot coffee (forgot what variety was that). The coffee tastes good, but man, their coffee prices are way expensive than other coffee shops (around 7,000won)
After buying the shoes, i decided to go back to the hostel since i am so tired and sleepy. Was able to check in smoothly to my room after. I was surprised that the room is so spacious!! and the bed is huge! Good enough for 2 people! There's also a small space to store the luggage. I'm really happy since the bathroom is private (which is also very spacious and clean). After changing to comfortable clothes, i decided to take some needed Zzzzz, woke up at around 7PM, I wanted to go out, but i don't know where to go. LOL. So i just decided to stay in my room, unpack my luggage and sort the gifts for BTOB, Yesung and for my friends. And my journey in Seoul began....
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