Day 2 in Seoul: Nami Island

Day two in Seoul.. And we had visited Nami Island! Everyone knows how beautiful this island can be especially during spring, fall and winter. I missed the best fall scenery.. When all the leaves were very orangy and still freshly hanging on the trees. But it was fine because Nami Island still looked awesome with dried yellow leaves everywhere! 

We woke up to a snowy morning. It was my very first time experiencing real snow falling from the sky. I couldn't describe how beautiful it was, the scene was just amazing! Imagine walking down the street with mild snow trapping all over your beanie and coat.. goodness (I'm missing it already.)! I felt blessed because it snowed on the right day. The weather just made my visit to Nami Island an extraordinary experience.

I really wanted to take a nice photo under the beautiful weather but we were in a rush to catch our shuttle bus. Almost late for that as there were too many unexpected things happened in the morning, I had slight diarrhea, hunted for more pantyhose as my legs were freezing and went to grab coffees to warm ourselves so yeah.. Definitely a rushy morning.

Anyway, I still managed to take a short video using my snapchat through the bus window
before we took off. (Excuse me for the bad quality)

Reached here after 1.5 hours of ride! It was 11:00 am in the morning and still snowing.

Despite of the strong wind, we stood at the outer part of the ferry.. just to capture a photo lolol

Okay, this is how Nami Island looks like. I took tons of photos, so yup, gonna spam this post with some of it. Sadly we could only stay there until 3:30 pm or else we could have seen the night view of this island as well. Seriously wished the shuttle bus could have stayed longer because 4 hours didn't seem to be enough to explore the whole island. And I wouldn't know when I would have the chance to come back...

This thing was the savior of my day. The cold could be unbearable when you've been outdoor for hours. Nami Island was quite crowded. Everyone just gathered at the fire to warm themselves up. I was freezing all the way and whenever I found one, I would be like "Go there!"

Snow accumulated on the rocks.

The main reason I've taken this picture, was to show the partly frozen pond in my background. 

Yes, the weather was this cold.

Oh look, ostriches running away from me HAHAHAH They might seem to be scared of us.. but nah they were not at all! They reacted curiously when people were tryna take a selfie with them and these monsters just kept attacking people.. not sure if they wanted a kiss or whatever.. but they just kept stretching their necks towards everyone. 

Took one photo when they were far behind.

I was trying to interact with them a little, then this crazy thing thought I tried
to feed or something and wanted to attack the cute bunny mitten.

Daniel thought the scenery was great here and he offered to snap a few photos for me. 

Gigantic statue in breastfeeding posture.. What is this HAHAHA 

Railway track ootd shot! No perfect ootd shot for this entire trip because everyday I had to wear so many layers.. kinda gave up many nice outfits and just wrapped myself up with thick layers and coat.

I tried so hard to capture this thing but it just moved here and there.

After hours of  exploration, we stopped by Sonata cafe to grab hotteok (Korean pancake). 

Grilled Hotteok: 1,500 won

Normal Hotteok: 1,000 won

 In case you don't know what's inside of this pancake, there are brown sugar, honey and peanuts. It tastes sweet, and looks like the normal pancakes you could get anywhere. Try once, and you would definitely like it.. Unless you hate sweet stuff.

I guess I have too many photos to post.. and I cant even decide which one to go with, therefore I'll just put them here. Special thanks to Daniel for being a patient photographer.  

This doesn't look like a candid but it is a candid. 

Not sure who made the heart on the ground but it looked lovely so hehe selfie time!

Alright, just an hour before we left this place, Daniel and I decided to take our lunch here at this restaurant located near the Namiseom dock called Chuncheon Dakgalbi. Chuncheon Dakgalbi was one if the must-try-food in our itinerary but not this one near Nami Island. We made a huge mistake by thinking that this was the one.. But nevermind, we were extremely hungry. 

 This small amount costed 25,000 won. The portion was really small, seriously not
so worthy compared to those dakgalbi restaurants in Malaysia.

That's all for Nami Island. Simply like this picture taken by Daniel (although the quality is just moderate) Stay tuned for the next post.. which I am trying to finish as soon as possible!

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How to travel to Nami Island:

1. By cab:

Go to Gapyeong Bus Station, take cab from the station to Namiseom Dock and then take the ferry to Nami Island.

2. By shuttle bus:

Book the shuttle bus to Namiseom. Pick up points are either Insadong or Namdaemun Gate. Entrance tickets to Nami Island as well as the transport fee will be inclusive once you book the shuttle bus.


 

Day 1 in Seoul: Dongdaemun

안녕하세요

Two weeks ago, I travelled to Seoul with my traveling partner, Daniel and here's my very first update about the trip (finally the first one is up..). Three words to describe this entire trip: Adventurous, fun and astonishing. We weren't there with a big group of people nor with any tour guides. Everything was planned and scheduled according to our own will. You gotta trust me, going to a country with language you don't speak and without a guide isn't that bad. In fact, it's very interesting! Of course, you have to be prepared for challenges like hassles while looking for certain places, impromptu change in schedule if plan A fails and also being unable to communicate well with people around. 

Talking about challenges, the weather has to be one of it! We all know how the weather swings drastically during winter, but honestly I did not expect it to be so cold as it's not even mid winter on the end of November. I even checked the forecast two weeks before when I was planning out the clothes to pack. Guess what? The temperature dropped by at least 7 degrees when I rechecked it few days before my trip. My flight reached Seoul at 3.30pm when it was zero or negative one degree. 

As we only had less than half a day after settling down from the airport to our Airbnb home (my first time trying Airbnb and it was awesome!), we'd decided to just wander around Seoul and see what we could get. First night was all spent at Dongdaemun. 

Dongdaemun is one of the famous places in Seoul with many shopping malls. You could find a big variety of clothes from cheap prices to expensive ones. I didn't buy any clothes though, as most of the apparels were too thick for Malaysia. It's okay, because I went there to experience winter not mainly for shopping. Also, not forgetting the street food there.. Places like Dongdaemun, Insadong, Sinchon, Hongdae and Myeondong sell lots and lots of street food. 

We didn't really grab a proper meal on our first night there. Honestly we didn't even feel the urge to eat because it was extremely cold. We were kinda focusing on how to hide from the strong wind and cover our palms. 

These decorations outside the mall were so pretty! Couldn't resist to snap a photo although we struggled to get our hands out of the pockets. I guess I only took a few pictures on the first night. As you can see, I was so wrapped up... 

After a short while spent in the malls around, we headed to the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. It's actually a building with Art Halls, Conference Halls, Media Centre and more. Months ago, I saw people posting photos of the LED roses planted at somewhere in the building. We had a hard time finding the garden.. walked around the buildings for an hour just these LED roses!

Tadaa! Aren't they beautiful?

The sign says " Do not touch" but I still do it HAHA OPS

For those who are looking for this place, just take the subway and exit at the Dongdaemun History and Cultural Park Station.

We thought of hanging out until late night, unfortunately, the markets there were all closed at 10pm. So, Daniel and I decided to just go back to our Airbnb apartment and cook ourselves some noodles. Yes, I mean the SPICY KOREAN RAMEN!

I have been eating this since a few months back.. so it wasn't a big challenge for me. Meanwhile, for Daniel, it was his first time eating this super spicy noodles. We both managed to finish it.. with the aid of many glasses of iced water HAHA

 And also this! Our favourite Banana Milk! This is like the best milk I've tried in my life. I wanted to get a few cartons back to Malaysia but I couldn't.. My luggage kinda overweight.. Definitely missing it alot now.