CutiCuti: South Korea - Banana Backpackers Hostel, Insadong

Assalamualaikum. 안녕!

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Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5 

After spending three nights at Namsan Guesthouse 2, we moved in to Banana Backpackers located in Insadong. Saja tukar angin. Padahal a bit bingai jugalah planning tu sebab kena mengangkut bags/luggages bila pindah hostel ni. And yeah, ndak pernah tau the flight of stairs at Anguk Station adalah membunuh. At least untuk orang yang bawa beg AF (trolly bag) super berat. Just like what happened to Ms Z. Hmm rugi pula aku ndak snap gambar makcik tu susah payah hangkut bag dia mendaki tangga subway. Ok, kau kejam Bie!

Nampak macam bias pula bila NG-2 langsung ndak da review suddenly rajin buat entry about Banana. Rasanya ndak payah buat review pasal NG-2 sebab ramai sudah orang stay sana. And sudah berlambak reviews about the guesthouse. Undoubtedly, staying at NG-2 memang best. Dekat sama subway, dekat sama tourist attractions...and paling penting, dekat sama the famous Myeongdong streets. 

Walau bukan kaki shopping, tapi aku suka pegi sana. Too lively a place. I enjoyed watching the many people there. Observing fashions & whatnots.

Anyway as said in my previous entry, we checked out from Namsan Guesthouse early in the morning. Jadual on the fourth day memang akan wander around Seoul only. Sebab takut bangun lambat & manalah tau ada problem with the check out & check in thingy, selamatlah sikit. Kalau plan untuk pegi tempat yang jauh² berpuluh kilometer from Seoul, memang menempah. 

Direction to Banana Backpackers Hostel. Only five minutes walking distance from the subway station. This is emailed by the hostel as soon as I secured my reservation through booking.com. Tabiat aku, lepas dapat confirmation booking aku akan email hostel tu lagi untuk reconfirm. Sebab risau hostel tu belum dapat any notification about my reservation. 

Adalah sangat haru bila sampai di sana, booking nan hado in the system. Happened to few friends I know hence untuk avoid encountering the same thing, aku buat kerja annoying sikit. Selagi ndak dapat feedback from the hostel, I will email again & again until I got their reply. Bila sudah ada double confirmation from the hostel, barulah senang hati. Make sure to print the email. Boleh jadi bahan bukti if anything bad occurred (knocked on woods). Who knows the system ada problem ka apa & ur booking ter-delete accidentally. 

Tadaaa...newly renovated mini garden in front of the hostel. Aku stalker tegar hostel ni di fb page diorang. Sekian.

Yours Truly at the reception counter. We arrived quarter to 10a. As the check in time is after 1p, we left our bags & luggages at an area near the stair. Just next to the reception. Fyi, check out time is before 11a.

Brochures, pamphlets, maps etc available for free. If you wish to watch any show or performance, or even want to book tour...you can do so from the hostel. Just go to the reception counter & asked the staff there. They will be more than happy to assist you. We booked our DMZ Tour from the hostel. Easy peasy. We just need to pay the tour fee at the reception once booking is confirmed. 

Waiting area just in front of the reception.

Free pc usage & free wifi. Unfortunately, we have super weak wifi connection in our room. Lucky we rented the olleh pocket wifi else we need to go down to the lobby everytime we want to use the internet. I reckoned the reason behind the poor wifi signal in our room is because the neighbouring building stands too close to the hostel. Close enough I can see people in the room next building. 

Even with the pocket wifi, we had to put it on the window's pane in order to get clear connection. Elsewhere than the window, the pocket wifi shows zero connection. 

Stairs leading to the communal area; where we had breakfast throughout our stay at the hostel. The half-opened door on the right is where the laundry room is. 

Neat & tidy. Breakfast is serve free daily. Hot drink i.e coffee, tea is available all day long. Every morning, we watched the news at the tv while having breakfast. As if we understand...trip paham jaklah.

Electric cooker, microwave ove & air-fryer are free to use. Lepas guna, silalah ada courtesy to clean up. The appliances & the area. 

Guest can do laundry for free. Detergent is free as well. As for the dryer, an additional 2,000 KRW is charged. Kami cuci kain secara jemaah, jadi konsep sharing adalah caring harus applied. The service is only available from 7a-7p. I think because there is a room located next to the laundry area, hence it is not permitted to do laundry after 7p. Hormat orang lain please! 

We booked for a family room; consists of 1 queen bed, 1 single bed & 1 bunk bed. Super comfortable & spacious enough for us four to move around. 

Attached bathroom.

Stayed at the family room for two nights & moved to another room after Ms H went back to Malaysia. 

Stayed in this triple room in our last two days in South Korea. Still wifi connection super lemah as this room is situated just one floor below our previous room. Masih melekat dekat sama building sebelah. Pocket wifi pun still letak tepi tingkap. 

Good thing about this room is the space near the window. Ala balcony tertutup. As the room is already quite crowded with beds & dressing table; we placed our things there. Also sangkut baju bajan semua di sana. And automatically jadi ruang solat tidak rasmi. 

Nasib baiklah ada instruction in English kan. Heating function aku rasa only useful during the cold winter weather. Supaya kaki ndak beku pijak lantai super sejuk. 

This hostel is a great place to stay. But from my point of view, I wouldn't stay here if I were to come to South Korea with Bunda & the aunts. Climbing stairs at Anguk station; the nearest subway to reach this hostel is super tiring but super refreshing though. I will stay here if I came alone or with friends who don't mind about the stairs thingy. Because I love the environment the hostel has. I feel at home staying here. 

And fact that this hostel is only a walking distance from many tourist attractions in Seoul; is a big bonus. It is situated very close to most of the UNESCO sites. 

I knew I made a right decision on staying here as we went visiting the main attractions only by foot. Jimat duit walau peluh ndak berhengat. Aktiviti sihat, bilang. And that is yet to be update soon.

To those interested to stay at this hostel, u can browse their website for more info (here). Or u can visit their sister hostel, Apple Backpackers (here). It is just a few minutes of walking from Banana. Accessible via subway Jongno-3-ga (Line 1 / Line 3). Price is a bit high than Banana for it is a new hostel. 

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