16 Sept
I was at the airport way before my 2350 flight. I browsed shops, had a nice cappuccino, diaried, browsed shops again (same ones even) while I waited for my flight. Finally, it was time to board the plane. I was pleased with my isle seat. It was a six and a half hour flight and I had little sleep. Too many movies, too little time.

17 Sept
We reached Incheon Airport at around 7AM. I found out from the information counter that there is an coach service that runs from the airport to various parts of the city and one of the stops is at Hotel Ibis Myeongdong, where I would stay for the first two nights.

I was planning to take a cab there but since there is a coach service, heh, why not? It sounds fun anyway, and I wanted to waste more time on travelling since I can only have my room after 12NOON. I waited for about 10 mins before the coach numbered 6015 arrived and I was at the hotel about an hour and a half later, looking totally drugged and head as heavy as lead.

I checked in, no room could be made available to me until 12NOON – crap they really mean it, so I left my stuff with the hotel and went for a walk. Despite the fact that I was so freaking tired I could not wait to catch a huge glimpse of Seoul.

I tried to walk from the hotel to Gyeongbokgung Palace but I lost track of myself on the map about half an hour later! What a dumbass but still, I was going in the right direction and it was so much fun! I had a coffee and a sandwich at a little cafe. The lady manning the cafe spoke no english but was very helpful when I asked her where Gyeongbokgung Palace is. I had this feeling that the palace was quite far away when she kept pointing to somewhere between the end of the road and the sky. So I decided to give up, and walked back to the hotel. Just beside my hotel is Myeongdong shopping street! It is as hip as Taipei’s Xi-Men-Ding, if not, hipper! Coolio~

I had a good time walking around and I knew I will be back there in no time for REAL shopping when my legs were less wobbly and my head, less heavy. I tried to walk to Namdaemun market and got lost again. I managed to find it in the end.

It is just a boring shopping street, and is nothing compared to Myeongdong shopping street so I left quite soon and walked back to the hotel. I finally got a room! I showered and slept zzZZ. When I woke up, I was full of energy again and I diaried before I went for a walk.

I tried to walk to Dongdaemun, and it took me about 2 hours to get there! It was so much fun! On the way, I made a stop at Myeongdong Catholic Cathedral, and in I went.

I read somewhere that it is the first catholic cathedral in Korea. Nice~

As I continued my journey towards Dongdaemun, I was not hopeful about finding it but I did not really care about it. I simply loved the sightseeing part.

After a freaking long walk, I found Dongdaemun Market, Dongdaemun Shopping Complex, and Dongdaemun Gate.

I was really happy to see the gate. I do not really care about the market and the shopping complex because they look too old for my liking. The gate is a different story. It is historical but I forgot for what reason. It was getting dark and I was getting hungry. I could have walked back to the hotel because I was quite sure of the way to get back by legs but the curious me decided to take the metro. Heh, I did not know where I was on my map when I alighted. Duh. When I finally reached the hotel, I had no more appetite. My head was heavy and my legs were cushiony. I had a glass of juice in my room, lazed around a bit, diaried, and went to the lounge for a REAL drink. It was such a nice place, and I could use their computer for free. I chatted with some friends online. Hee. I went to bed after my Irish coffee. This is the view from my room.

18 Sept
I started the day with a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel, and a nice laze on my bed after breakfast. Damn, I could do with this kind of lifestyle for a long time. At 10AM, I went to the lobby to catch a free shuttle service from the hotel to the cable car station for Namsan Seoul Tower. I bought a return ticket for the cable car and waited till one arrive. Each cable car can take quite a number of people.

We alighted at the bottom of Namsan Seoul Tower. I bought a ticket that allowed me to go up to the observatory area of Namsan Seoul Tower and to the Teddy Bear Museum.

I felt that the tower’s observatory area was too small and hence slightly disappointing. The museum is supposedly quite famous but well, I am not really a fan of teddy bears. (link to a separate post on Teddy Bear Museum)

On my way back, I took the return trip of the cable car, and then continued my return journey in a cab! Back in the hotel, I decided to make my way to Myeongdong shopping street to do some shopping and nearly did not make it for the 3PM shuttle service from the hotel to Gyeongbokgung Palace. It was quite a distance even by wheels. I must have been crazy to think that I could get there by legs. Anyway, the palace looks so CHINA!

That is probably the most CHINA thing I have ever seen in my life. After I left Gyeongbokgung Palace, I walked to Insadong, the art street. It took me about 30 mins to get there.

I was planning to go to Itaewon shopping street after that but someone from the information centre at Insadong told me there is nothing much at Itaewon, too many foreigners there. If I could walk there, I would but it is impossible to get there by legs. I got a cab and decided to go back to the hotel. I had a nice shower, lazed around, diaried, and in the evening, I went Lotte Shopping mall which is just opposite the hotel.

It was all high-end shopping there. Then I went to Myeongdong shopping street again for the nth time!

Check out the previous two pictures! How cool is that? I bought a pair of shoes and a bag. I had burger king for dinner.

19 Sept
I had buffet breakfast at the hotel again. It was a slower day for me. I had a good rest and started packing to move to another hotel for my next two nights. At around 12NOON, I checked out of Hotel Ibis Myeongdong and took a cab to Hotel Ibis Gangnam. My cab driver made an illegal turn, and was stopped and booked by a traffic police. I was so amused but I did not have the courage to take a picture of the traffic police when he was questioning the cab driver. For the rest of the journey, the cab driver kept whining in korean to me but I could not understand a thing. Hotel Ibis Gangnam seemed less crowded and quieter.

I had a room of the SAME design as my room in the previous hotel. The view was not forgivable though. I looked out to see the top of a lower building so I saw pipes. Yucks. I went for a walk without unpacking.

I tried to get to COEX, the central business district and I took a longer route, not by intention, and when I finally reached there I was so amused. We have a carbon copy of COEX in SG and it is called SUNTEC.

I walked around a bit in COEX mall, and then left to go back to the hotel. It was late afternoon and I decided to rest till evening. When it finally got dark, I went out to look for dinner and got sushi. Nice~ But the same cannot be said for that night’s rest.

20 Sept
I woke up at 1AM, after an hour of sleep, in cold sweat. I could not sleep anymore after that but I continued to lie in bed. At 3AM, I could not take it anymore, and went to the lobby to use their computer. It was nice there with dimmed lights and it was very quiet. There were a few staff manning the lobby counter and I could hear them whispering to each other. At 5AM, I went back to bed until 9AM when I got a morning call in my room. We went to Lotte World, the theme park. (link to a separate post on Lotte World)

It was quite a nice place, colourful and all. I had korean food for lunch and I did not really like it. Oops~ After that, a boat cruise took us along Hans River.

It was a tiring but very fruitful day. When I was back in the room, I showered and diaried. I rested for a while before taking a cab to Apjujeong, a high-end shopping district.

I did not buy anything but it was a great experience.

I had a nice walk there and took a cab back to the hotel. I had a good sleep that night. It was my last night in Seoul and I was feeling slightly depressed. I love the place so much.

21 Sept
I had buffet breakfast at the hotel. It was half the standard of that at the previous hotel. It started raining and refused to stop so I borrowed an umbrella from the hotel and went for a walk.

It was a long walk. I had a coffee at a cafe and continued walking. I totally love the place. At 3PM, I took a cab to the airport-city station and boarded a coach that took me to the airport for my 1945 flight to SG.

************************************************

As I stared at the wet and empty street, it flashed before me.

The torrents of my life.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 4:34 pm and is filed under 2009 Seoul, Blog of Sadness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.