Day 6: Last Full Day in Seoul

The week went by so fast, I suddenly felt loneliness knowing that I soon have to leave this beautiful country without any plans of coming back soon. I didn't want to leave just yet but since the day has started, why not continue with my plans?

On this day, all four of us decided to do our Solo Trips in the morning and meet up in the afternoon then eat together for dinner. (Robert went to visit the National Museum, Ryan went on a Hike, while Shai and I are spending the rest of the day after Church). My bestfriend and I wanted to make the most out of this day because this is our last date before I leave for Australia. True enough, it really was. We didn't see each other after this Trip and I am looking forward to reuniting with her this December!

Our sixth day was a Sunday! First Sunday of December 2016. Dad never fails to remind me that if I happen to be somewhere else on a Sunday, I have to go find the nearest LDS Church and attend meetings there. So, I decided to find an English Ward of our Church. Looking it up online was easy, but navigating my way to it was definitely not! I totally forgot that the pocket wifi was with Ryan when I left alone for church. I wanted to be there in time for the Sacrament so I risked taking a cab! 

The cab driver couldn't understand what I was saying (even if I'm trying my hardest to speak in Korean LOL). I just told him to drop me off a train station that I know but when I check the screenshot of the map I just went on to tell the driver about the directions from it and finally, found the church. I was exactly on time! The moment I got in, the congregation has already started singing the opening hymn. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Seoul English Ward Building

A copy of the Korean Hymnbook!

Day 5: The true meaning of Hectic in South Korea (lol)

Korea has been a beautiful dream! Just by reviewing our photos from our winter visit last year, I can feel that cold winter breeze and the unexpected tourist frenzy moments. I know this post has been long overdue (which I am sincerely apologetic about!). I'm sorry, blogging has been out of my mind for ages...but the good thing is I'm back at it soooo, let's celebrate! lol. 

It's our 5th day in South Korea and we still wanted to explore more places. With this in mind, we visited four completely different locations which exhausted every ounce of energy we had for that day. We squeezed in one day to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village, Pocheon Art Valley (which is about 1 hr away from the City) and more shopping at Myeongdong. 

The visit to Gyeongbokgung Palace was my second time but I haven't tried on these palace guard costumes so Robert, Ryan and I went to try it! The best thing about it? It's FREE! My bestfriend Shai was back at the Hostel still preparing for our day. She stayed back since she's been at the palace for three times already! 

The Morning of our fifth day was spent at Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village. These places are one train station apart, and it is always a must to visit these two spots together when in Seoul! 

A selca for our palace guard costumes! Would we pass as palace guards in Joseon Era? LOL

Met a Filipino couple and had our photo taken with them because why not?!

Selfie with Ry while waiting for Memshie Rob to get dressed ;) 

The men went to have a look around the palace while I went to meet up with my bestfriend (in a secret cafe) hahaha. We didn't tell the boys about us eating here but they end up finding us! That moment crack me up. We were literally trying to hide from them so my bestfriend and I can catch up on everything we've missed out on while away from each other for months! Too bad, the boys are too keen on finding us because they happen to be hungry, too HAHAHHA! Food gets us all together <3 

Winter in Korea: Day 4

I've always wanted to visit a place where I can actually see rows of trees all lined up on the sides of a long pathway where I can take my time to walk and enjoy how those trees were perfectly planted. Isn't that pretty? On our fourth day in Korea, we finally visited one! It's NAMI ISLAND!

This day's itinerary is a Tour Package we got from onedaykorea.com. The tour included two tourist locations namely Naminara Republic/Nami Island and an afternoon Ski at Vivaldi Ski Park (gears included on the package). 

We met with the tour guide early in the morning at Hongdae so we can all travel together to the locations mentioned. Here goes our photo diary:

As we went on to the port to ride the ferry to Nami Island, a big banner welcomed us.

The view of the port from the ferry on our way to Nami Island.

The tree lane behind us really amazes me. 

More photos because...why not?

My favorite photo of myself in Nami Island! Thanks Ryan for this!

Winter in Korea: Baekje Cultural Land (Day 3)

The Entrance to the Main Hall of Sabi Palace

I must have already mentioned a thousand times that Baekje Cultural Land is one of my most favorite places that I've visited last winter in Korea. Even until now, I still can't forget how beautiful this place is. You should definitely put this location on your must-see places when you visit Korea. I promise you will adore this place. 

Baekje Cultural Land is a huge area composed of several villages. Each village has reproduced a variety of culture from how people lived in the Three Kingdoms Era (Goryeo, Silla, Baekje) influenced by the Japanese. The construction of the whole Baekje Cultural Land took 17 years to finish. This tourist spot has been a shooting location for famous TV Shows including "Running Man" and the Korean Drama called "Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo". 

Our sole reason for visiting this amazingly designed location was to recreate a scene or at least photograph a frame from a scene in the Korean Drama that my best friend and I were extremely obsessed with. Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo will make you feel all sorts of emotion in just one episode. So if you wish to watch this drama, be ready for a series of extreme scene transitions and mood swings, too! hahahaha

Behind me is a five-story pagoda from the Neungsa Temple on the left of the Sabi Palace.

The Life and Culture Village photographed at a Jehyangru on the hill. Credits to my Bestfriend Shai for this photo!

On our way down, my Shai and I wanted a photo together but an ahjussi who's also going downhill joined us in our photo.

Winter in Korea: Day 2 (Part 2)

Browsing our Korea travel photos, I only realized it now that we visited the most number of places on the second day of our trip. We went to five different places (Jongmyo Royal Shrine, Changdeokgung Temple, National Museum, Namsan Seoul Tower & Myeongdong Shopping District). This probably explains why we woke up late on our third day and missed eating our breakfast. 

Going back to the other half of our second day itinerary, we went to meet my bestfriend and momshie Rob so we can finally see more places as a complete group. Since we all haven't taken our lunch, we went on a Barbecue Place called "MEAT-ing" in Hongdae. For a $13 lunch buffet, it was a pretty good price. However, when we told out Korean Landlord about the place, he was insistent that the place was not the best barbecue place. He suggested other better places that serves good meat. 

(Sorry, we forgot to take a photo! We're starving so no one thought of taking a photo. Hahahaha)

Now that we have our energies back, we decided to visit the most popular tower in Seoul--Namsan Seoul Tower. I knew the tower because of the Korean Drama "Boys Over Flowers". It was the place were Geum Jandi and Goo Jun Pyo were supposed to meet but Gun Pyo got stood up and waited in vain at the tower on that cold winter night. I'll never forget that scene! (I swore to myself that I have to visit this place every time I come to Korea, I'm glad I still do. It's my second time!).

It's a sin to not have any photo taken with this love locks around the tower if you visit this place. 

Meet my bestest friend forevs Shai! Read my previous blog posts (click here) about our friendship and you'll know why she's my bff! Ooopsies the benches in Namsan Tower look bent but trust me it's just the "style" we didn't break it.

Winter in Korea: Day 2 (Part 1)

The last time I went to Korea with my bestfriend, Shai, we didn't prioritize visiting temples. We only visited Gyeongbokgung Palace. That's because we thought they all look similar so visiting one would be enough. 

However, when we visited several temples in this trip, I felt the need to correct myself and tell you that Palaces and Temples in Korea each has its own story to tell and their aesthetic structures are surprisingly diverse. I didn't want to discuss history to y'all. I just want to invite you to visit palaces and temples in Korea if you really want to have a greater perspective of their culture. 

It's our second day and our first stop was to visit Jongmyo Royal Shrine. It's very accessible to public transport (subway) and it's location is just a few minutes walk from the other tourist spots. The great thing about our second day was that we were admitted in the palaces for FREE! Yes you've read that right, Admission Fees for that day only was free. How lucky are we?! 

I know you'll ask why it was free for the day. The answer: UNESCO has conducted a survey for the temple visitors. Six temples/palaces were part of this survey which means all six temples have free entrance for the day. We were given a free tote bag after filling in the survey and of course, we can enter the palaces for free. 

It looks like it's Autumn, but trust me it's winter. It was 5°C freezing cold. I was still hoping it'll snow but it didn't. This is what will welcome you as you enter the gates of the Shrine. The colors are amazing!

Winter in Korea: A Mischievous Adventure (Part 1)

Behind me is the Pagoda at Baekje Cultural Land, Buyeo Province.
Shooting Location of Moon Lovers/ Scarlet Heart Ryeo
Shout out to Ryan for taking this photo and patiently dealing with my un-photogenic quality. haha 

Way back April 2015, as my bestfriend (shai) and I wait to board our plane going back to Manila from Seoul, we asked ourselves if we'll ever get to visit Korea again and  hoped that it will be sooner. Never have I ever imagine that "sooner" means 19 months!

Lo and behold, November 2016 we're back in Korea!!!

As a KDRAMA FANATIC with *slight mental* issues when seeing Korean Hotties on screen *ehem* (Gong Yoo, Song Jong Ki, Nam Joo Hyuk.... I can tell you the full list but it will take us days to do that LOL), I am blessed to have visited the only country which I don't mind going back to even for hundreds of times. This is another dream come true! To add more excitement: It's winter!!! It was my very first time experiencing winter--and I'm pretty sure I loved that season but I don't think I could let go of the fact that Spring in Korea is overwhelmingly refreshing and surprisingly chilly.

My friends and I spent a great winter week in Korea (just like the last time) last November 29 to December 5. Sad to say, we were unable to witness the first snowfall which happened three days before our arrival. However, an artificial snow made up for that disappointment when we visited a ski park!

Let me give you a glimpse of how beautiful this country is through my favorite photos of our trip two months ago: