Autumn Trip Day 1 - From Kota Kinabalu to Seoul

Assalamualaikum. 안녕

Sebenarnya niat di hati mau continue update cerita Trip to Land of Ong Bak. Patut continue cerita Day 5 but the bijak me just realized that I've accidentally deleted most of the pictures in my Thailand Folder; Day 5 pictures to be precise. I've asked Ms G to emailed me her pictures because apparently I only managed to transfer the pictures of our Japan trip into her external HD. Bakal update entry Ong Bak guna gambar hasil ehsan Ms G.

Considering ndak dapat continue cerita Ong Bak, aku plan untuk update cerita trip lepas raya. Indonesia Trip with my girlfriends from high school. Then someone said this to me

"Ko update lah cerita autumn dulu wei. Indonesia & Thailand can wait. Autumn cannot sebab sekarang kan musim. Ko share cerita yang tengah hot lah!"

Gitu kan arahan. Cerita yang tengah hot lah, in lah. Pastu si Err pun terfikir...

"Aah kan, skip dulu cerita lain. Share jak lah yang ni dulu. Sambil feeling guling atas timbunan dauh merahkuning."

Drama betul! Mau update cerita mana satu pun boleh jadi isu. Enough with the intro, tersasar jauh ke laut sudah Bie oii. As I said in my previous entry, trip kali ni memang full with drama berbabak². Pastu trip berani mati pun iya juga.

21 Oct 2014

KKIA, Terminal 2

Sebenarnya sedikit panas hati with the system at the airport. Don't know who to blame. The airport authority or the airline. Jadi pengguna ni, pasrah jaklah. 

I had the e-boarding pass saved in my phone. The lady at the AA counter told me there's no need for me to print my ticket. I was quite impressed upon realizing that. Wah, sudah ada sistem macam GSC tu lah. Ini sudah bagus. Paperless means environmental friendly system is being applied. Sampai depan kaunter AA untuk document verification, suddenly aku kena suruh tunggu. One of the staff took out a piece of paper & started filling my flight details on that paper! What? Apa guna e-pass barcode di phone aku tu? Scanner ndak da kah? Sangat time consuming ok! Orang belakang aku sudah menyinga, they thought I didn't print my ticket. 

Pastu di bahagian kastam pun sama. I have to show the e-pass in my phone, and also the slip to the officer. Same goes at the Immigration counter. Aigo aigo. Macam ni kalu, menang lagi sistem GSC kan. 

My flight to KLIA2 was at 820pm. I arrived early because Bunda wanted to avoid the traffic jammed. Masa tu memang confident 120% that I would make it to the departure hall at KLIA2 for my flight to Incheon at 1am. Tengah melayan watsapp suddenly ada announcement. Slight delay for the flight to Kuala Lumpur. Ok, hati terus bergoncang. Jantung dupdap non stop. Confidence level dropped to 30%! 20 minutes delay sounded too long for me. Barulah aku rasa betapa penting flight departed on time. Selama ni delay ka apa, aku memang malas bising. Safety comes first kunun. But not that day. Memang cuak habis. KLIA2 adalah super besar & luas, memang masak lah aku ber-amazing race kalau captain parked the plane at the last parking bay. Double masak kalau kapal to Incheon pun di parking paling last.

Alhamdulillah the plane arrived as scheduled albeit being delayed. The captain parked the plane at the bay right next to the luggage claim area. Fuh, memang kelegaan tahap paling maksima!

21 Oct 2014

KLIA, Terminal 2

Nampak ni, terus tarik nafas paling dalam, and hembus paling panjang. 

I reached the departure gate an hour early! Siap layan charge phone, and supper. Dasar betul. Flight adalah on time. I got the couple seat at the farther back of the plane. Masa web check-in, I was auto-assigned to the last row. Right in front of the lavatory & galley. Haruslah menempah bala kan, sah² seat ndak boleh reclined. Hence terpaksalah si Err mengalah sama AA. Terpaksa beli seat; cuma mampu yang standard jaklah. Premium aku senyum sinis.

22 Oct 2014

Incheon International Airport

After 6 hours on board, I arrived Incheon International Airport in one piece. Nampak jak sign ni, terus senyum lebar penuh sendu. This is too awesomely surreal; I said to myself. 

First thing first lepas keluar dari arrival hall. Picked up my wifi modem I've previously booked via online (here). The rental for WiBro is now 5,500KRW per day. A slight increase compare to the previous rate.

In my previous trips, I took the bus to downtown Seoul. But for this trip, I purposely chose the train. I'm going solo for this trip so jimat cermat comes in highest priority.

A'REX platform. One can use their T-Money to ride this transportation.

My first time with A'REX. 

I took the commuter services so there are few stops before I reached Hongik Station, and transferred to another lines from there in order to get to the nearest station to my hostel in Insadong.

Incheon International Airport A'REX ---> Hongik Station Line 2 ---> Euljiro 3-ga Line 3 ---> Anguk Station (Fare: 3,950KRW)

After changing trains & climbing countless flight of stairs I finally arrived at Insadong. Phew! It was really a challenge for me. I almost forgot the torture that the stairs at Anguk Station gave me last time. Ada hati booked accommodation di area yang perlu turun di station ni? Memang menempah! Maybe belum cukup nightmare yang aku dapat last time.

22 Oct 2014

Seoul

Out from the station exit. This! Among my first glimpse of autumn. Teruja melantun². Tujuan & misi jejak 'kampong' secara tiba² is mainly because of this view. Alhamdulillah syukur, mission #1 accomplished!

The hostel I booked is situated right behind the Hostel Korea building. 

I stayed here for a night only & the rate is pretty cheap. I've planned to strolled along Samcheong-dong area on my first day in Seoul. Hence the reason why I chose to stay here. 

Managed to check-in my room despite the check-in time at 2pm. Cepat aku pilih bunk bed bawah walhal cuma aku sendiri di dorm malam tu. So kesemua 4 katil adalah BibiErr yang punya! Without wasting time lepas mandi & siap² off I went exploring. Time is gold when I travel, mau duduk lama dalam bilik sila balik KK. 

I walked from my hostel to Samcheong-dong. It was just 5 minutes walking. Tu ikut kelajuan supertapaki aku.

Menapak naik bukit 30 degree! Pengsan. 

No wonder petang tu both my legs almost gave up on me. Nasib mental kuat hokey, psycho sikit sang Kaki untuk tabahkan tulang-belulang meredah 'kampong'. Ever since the night before sudah ber-amazing race; mana ndak kaki pun surrendered. 

Macam perli aku jak kan. Indeed this trip sounded so not real to me! Macam masih mimpi up to this moment.

Aku lepak at one of this hanok cafe recommended by KTO. Yang tu aku sengaja buat separate entry, mengada nama dia. Lepas jamu mata, tenangkan minda & alas perut aku sambung berjalan until Gyeongbok Palace. Kali ni aku ndak masuk, just cuci mata tengok pokok menguning kiri kanan jalan. Balik hostel, check gambar aku ambil & baru perasan all the pictures I took after the ones at the cafe; disappeared!!! Memory card error kunun. Restart camera banyak kali pun tetap gambar ndak muncul. Tengok di dropbox, pun ndak da. Jadinya pasrah! All those pokok flaunting their merahkuning leaves are all gone. Cherished dalam hati jak lah kan Bie.

In my previous trips, selalu jak aku plan untuk jejak tempat ni tapi cancelled. Last Jan sempat pi sini tapi stay di Ground Floor jak. This time, aku make sure ronda sampai level paling atas.

Ramai orang posing di wings tu. Jadi angel kaedahnya kan. Posing as an angel is too mainstream so I took the picture of the wings instead. Walhal?! Tettt.

Niat di hati hendak ku posing ala layan blues di kerusi ni...tapi apakan daya, I was too shy to ask for help! Hampagas. Now baru menyesal berlantunan.

Ssamziegil from the outside. This road leads to a vegetarian restaurant; Oh Se Gae Hyang at its end.

Ahjussi boleh, kau pun boleh Bie. Kena! Hwaiting!

Namdaemun Market. Tujuan adalah untuk beli kasut! Semata!

The brilliant moi wore the shoes that didn't fully covered her feet. Sedih betul perangai. I seriously thought the weather was bearable for me. Little did I knew, my legs were hurting. Trip local, pakai baju sehelai cuma. Bukan sweater mahupun jacket! Just a blouse that I normally wear in KK. Padan lah muka! 

I walked from Namdaemun to Myeongdong. Annyeong N-Tower! We meet again only this time I have to cancelled my plan to visit u. Next time I promise I'll go up there!

Memang planned untuk jejak SPAO. Sempat invest few thousands (main ribu riban sekarang) for new sweaters. Selalu memang ndak shopping but this time aku sudah aimed untuk bawa balik something from this store. 

Singgah sini juga untuk langsaikan pesanan sang Sahabat. Also to stock up mine. Sila tahu, aku adalah pengguna tegar this brand. Tapi ndak sanggup beli di Malaysia sebab mahal berlipat ganda.

Lepas urusan terbeli-belah, I went back to the hostel. Belum habis lagi agenda untuk first day, but I have to go back first. Kena kasi rest sikit kaki, mandi & baru sambung berjalan. Lagipun tengok weather forecast, the temperature is going to drop that night. Before jatuh sakit, betterlah sedar diri & pakai baju yang tebal sikit. Single digit temperature bukan benda boleh main Bie! Unless kau hidup di Kutub Utara selama ni.

Anyhow, I am happy I managed to accomplished most of the missions I have set for my first day in Seoul. I don't have any fixed itinerary for this trip. Hence the missions. Mana yang sempat, jejaklah. Mana yang ndak, boleh masuk list next trip. Woops!

Alhamdulillah. Aktiviti malam, nanti aku continue in the next entry...annyeong!

eryantierdabdulkarim

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