CutiCuti: South Korea Day 1 - Arrival & Namsan Gueshouse 2

Assalamualaikum. 안녕!

Selamat Menyambut bulan Ramadhan yang mulia kepada semua umat Islam! 

I'm back from the not so long hiatus. Erk? I literally miss my blog. Poyo!

Alhamdulillah. My recent trip to South Korea went superbly well. Some plans were cancelled due to time constraint yet I truly enjoyed the holiday. Thanks to the ladies for the trust they gave me. And of course for making the trip so unforgettable to me! 

We departed from LCCT at midnight; on the 22^nd of June. Arrived Incheon International Airport six hours later; at approximately half past 8. Fyi, South Korea is one hour early than our local time. 

Because I had the window seat, I managed to watched the sunrise. Really, that was such a great thing to start the day. Yes?

The arrival & departure gates are connected with the main terminal building by shuttle train. Before arriving at the immigration & baggage claim; we have to take the less than five minutes train ride.

In pink signage...I like!

Out from the luggage claim area, I straightaway headed to the kT Roaming Center Information counter to pick up the mobile modem I have reserved weeks before our departure. It's not hard to find the counter as it is located right in front of the arrival hall. 

To stay connected with family & friends back home while we're vacationing in South Korea, I purposely chose the olleh 4G (EGGwifi). One of the great side about this device is it could connect up to five devices at one time. And the usage of data is unlimited!! With only 8,000KRW of daily rent which is paid upon returning the device, that definitely was a deal we wouldn't resist.

Yeah right, talk about staying connected lah sangat? Sounded like it was more to having hard-time disconnecting ourselves from technology. For more information about this service, please read here. 

For the first three nights, I dictator-ly opted to stay at Namsan Guesthouse 2 situated in Myeongdong. Location-wise, price-wise; enough said. 

To get to Namsan Guesthouse (Myeongdong branches) from the airport, we boarded the bus #6015 & alighted at the last stop; Sejong Hotel.

View along the way from the airport to the city I missed most; Seoul. A lot has changed since my last trip Feb last year. And yes, quietly I forced myself to calm down a bit although I can feel the adrenaline rushing over the entire system. I made a promise to come back...and I have fulfilled it. Imagine the excitement I tried to hold.

Nearly an hour in the bus, we finally arrived Myeongdong. I followed exactly the map I had stored in my memory...thanks to map.naver I had 'walked' on the path even before we were there. Told u, I love playing with the online map. Imagining myself walking on streets/cities I dream of. Tripping guna search engine for Korean, kunun boleh baca Hangul sudah, kan.

Ms Z (far back) dragging the luggage that contains our bekalan makanan. 

The nearest subway station to Namsan Gueshouse 1, 2 & 3 is Myeongdong Line 4 (Exit 2 or 3). 

Reservation was made through booking.com. And confirmation done with the hostel through emails. Easy peasy. I only need to pay the rental fee upon check in. Regardless arriving a bit early from the check-in time; we were told that our room is ready. Alhamdulillah boleh refresh sikit before we continue our journey that evening. 

Our room is located on the first floor. It was a four-people bedroom. Everything was just like in their website (here). We have our own bathroom. Air-conditioned room. I missed the ondol room I stayed during my last visit; hence I deliberately chose this style of room for this trip. Although the other ladies couldn't experience the Korean traditional floor heating system for we were there NOT during the winter; I picked the room still. 

We had our brunch in the room; cancelling the plan for luncheon at Murray in Itaewon. We decided to "jalan satu kali". Took our shower; get ready...and off we went to Namsangol Hanok Village. Which is located only a subway station away from our hostel. 

But before naik subway, kena beli T-Money card dulu. Since I still kept mine, I only need to reload my card to activate it. This time beli sendiri without any help from anyone. Last time semua urusan depends on Lisa; our guide. A bit proud with my very little understanding & ability to speak Korean. Walawei!

Taken from Ms G's camera. Surprise not; she has loads of my pictures taken from behind. Like this one! Nampak sangat aku kebulur jalan ke depan, kan. 

Anyways, entry about our next destination will be up in the next entry. Risau muntah darah orang meninguk too many pictures in an entry. Motif sangat.

eryantierdabdulkarim