We had a pack schedule for our third day in Seoul, and this is my favourite day.
We went to Gyeongbukgung Palace in the morning. We arrived just in time to witness the guard changing ceremony. The ceremony took about 10 minutes, before we were allowed to wander around the palace to take pictures. I made a video during the ceremony but I think it is too lengthy to put it here.
Anyway, since I'm a sucker for any historical and cultural attraction, I had fun exploring this palace. We spent about one hour and a half there. Perhaps it's not the best attraction for most people, but I am in love with the environment, the scenery, the ancient design, how the structure is built, the history behind it, everything. I can imagine the lives there in ancient times (thanks to a drama I watched about Joseon Dynasty). I am definitely an old soul. Lol.
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| One of the palace's gates. I thought it's weird that there's an ancient palace among the modern buildings. But then I remembered of our Istana Negara. |
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| Guard Changing Ceremony. |
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| Columns inside the palace. I thought the design is interesting. |
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| The Gyeongbukgung Palace. |
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| Spotted a cute princess in front of the palace. Lol. |
Our next destination is Gwanghamun Square, located right next to Gyeongbokgung Palace, where we were split into two groups. There is a bundle market for those who wanted to go shopping and an art gallery underground for those who wish to learn about the greatest king (they claimed so) in Joseon Dynasty -- King Sejong & also the history of Hangul (Korean letters). So guess which one did I chose? Hahaha. The Art Gallery, of course.
We learn a bit about the history of Hangul, and then there's a whole gallery dedicated to King Sejong. We then walked further and found this one section in the gallery in which we can write our names in Hangul. Excited iolls.
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| Suraya <3 |
I'm not sure if I wrote it right. I think it meant Suriya instead. Lol. Fun fact -- as I finished writing my name, a passer-by Korean stopped at our table and pointed at my handwriting and said, "very nice!" (Of course I have to brag about this hehehe).
So we spent time in the art gallery till afternoon (omg I have a feeling this is going to be a long post too since we're only halfway there), and then we had our lunch at Cheongyecheon Stream. The stream itself has an interesting story behind it but um, explaining it will take some time haha. So yeah, the stream is very beautiful, with clear running water, unlike streams in Malaysia. Unfortunately I did not take any picture of it because by this time the temperature got way cooler (approx. 4 degree celcius) and I was too busy hiding my hands in the pocket. Hahaha. Additional fact -- hot coffee smelled and tasted wayyyy nicer during this cold temperature. I started to appreciate the existence of coffee in this world more during this time (not exaggerating though).
After lunch, we went to Itaewon to see the biggest mosque in Korea (Itaewon is a district with the majority of Muslims in Korea) to perform our prayers. Itaewon is a hilly place, and the mosque itself has a very steep entrance.
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| Itaewon Mosque. |
You can find most Arabs in Korea live in this area. Most of people I met in this mosque are Arabs, except this one handsome Korean that walked in when I walked out of this mosque (hai jodoh tak kesampaian, lol). So after we performed our prayers, we decided to find a place to eat, because this is the only place that you can find Halal foods all around you. Tempat lain telan ayaq lioq ja mampu yuolls. We went to a halal korean restaurant, and had Bulgogi (Korean beef) set; that comes with kimchi and sambal ikan bilis (Malay fusion much).
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| Weolls tukar jadi takeaway sebab takut kena tinggal bas, last-last melangut tunggu bas sambil makanan bertukar sejuk -__- |
Then, we headed to our last destination for the day -- Namsan Tower. At first I was like "ala boringnya pi tower2 ni, kat KL pun ada KL Tower what's so special" but I am really glad I was wrong. When we arrived, it was during sunset (Namsan Tower is also located at a hilly place) and - I don't know if I can describe it accurately - got to see one of the most significant view of Seoul. I got to see the whole city, with sunset as its background. It was so mesmerizing. I tried to take a picture of the view, but I thought that the picture couldn't compare to what I saw with my eyes.
We spent some time there taking pictures, and then my mother and I found a perfect place to enjoy the view. There is a large glass wall facing the city of Seoul, and the chairs were empty. So we both sit there, and enjoy the night view silently. We didn't say a word, but I know we both can feel the serenity of the moment. Until - it got too cold. Hahaha.
Day 4 (Namdaemun Market - Everland)
Fourth day -- in the morning we were brought to Namdaemun Market to shop for souvenirs. According to our tour guide, this is one of the most famous place to shop for souvenirs because the price is low compared to anywhere else. And the merchants are familiar with Malaysian tourists, some can even speak Malay. Phrases like "murah murah" and numbers in Malay can be heard anywhere hahaha.
After we finished bargaining things (and finished our money too), we went to Everland, one of the theme parks in Seoul. It is quite far from the city, it took us about one hour and a half (the normal journey will take two hours, according to the bus driver).
So we entered the theme park, and in my personal opinion, it's a family-friendly theme park since most of the attractions are for kids. But some of the rides were too extreme, Mak didn't dare to ride it, considering her health condition (actually, me also so penakut meh, need to have someone brave with me). By the way, some of the rides are also closed for maintenance that day, so it was quite dissapointing. So we just rode the cable car, watched some street performance, rode the train, and the roller coaster meant for kids. Tapi menjerit bagai nak rak jugak, air liur almost meleleh. Hahahahahah adoi.
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| On the way cycling to oppa's house. |
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| The queen and princess. Probably the only picture of both of us together in this blog :P |
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| Everland in autumn. |
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| Everland in autumn 2.0 |
Oh, the highlight of the day is we entered a 4D ghost house. I'd say that is the best attraction there for me. Takut jugakla experience tu. Nasib baikla hantu-hantu tu cakap Korea, makanya tak faham. Kurangla takut tu. Kakakakaka.
After that Mak got tired, so we went back to our meeting point and waited for the bus to arrive. And that was how we ended our day.
Day 5 (Incheon - KUL)
This was our last day in Korea, and we woke up at 3.00 a.m since our flight is at 8.00 a.m. The temperature got cooler, I checked my phone and it was 0 degree celcius. No it's not a typo, it's really zero. But dear god, now I miss the cold weather. We got into our flight, and tadaa, the end of our trip.
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I won't share my expenses like I always do whenever I go travel, because this is a guided trip. Instead, I'll share what are my thoughts on this journey.
Korea trip is an emotional trip for me, because I was having a rough moment (it had been going for months) at my workplace. So it was a nice escapism from all the troubles I had back in Malaysia. I can say that this vacation is THE dream. Although we followed a guided trip with more than 40 people, my mother and I really had our fun together. We really didn't mind other people (literally, jalan menonong berdua tak hirau orang lain). It was our first trip together, just the two of us. And I couldn't be more happy to have my mother by my side to share these precious moments with me. I want the moment to freeze. I want to be with her forever. It was so sad that the journey has to end and I need to face the reality. But thinking back, what I have now, the good or the bad, is MY world. I could run, but I couldn't just run forever. It is a part of my life.
Anyway, this trip will ever be a special trip because of the moments I spent with my mother. And, this trip made me realize that all things must end. Good things, bad things, it will end eventually. I (again, not exaggerating) really miss the weather there. And I know this is quite childish, but I now have one more reason to strive hard to enter paradise -- so that I could reminisce and have that feeling I had in Korea, forever.
Korea -- what I feel there -- reminds me of heaven. I know it sounds stupid because, of course, heaven will be way better & incomparable to life on earth, but, I don't know, I feel that this is a glimpse of it. What I had in Korea is not perfect, of course. There are flaws here and there, but I feel enough.
And the feeling of ENOUGH -- is what I was looking for the whole time in this life :)
This was our last day in Korea, and we woke up at 3.00 a.m since our flight is at 8.00 a.m. The temperature got cooler, I checked my phone and it was 0 degree celcius. No it's not a typo, it's really zero. But dear god, now I miss the cold weather. We got into our flight, and tadaa, the end of our trip.
---
I won't share my expenses like I always do whenever I go travel, because this is a guided trip. Instead, I'll share what are my thoughts on this journey.
Korea trip is an emotional trip for me, because I was having a rough moment (it had been going for months) at my workplace. So it was a nice escapism from all the troubles I had back in Malaysia. I can say that this vacation is THE dream. Although we followed a guided trip with more than 40 people, my mother and I really had our fun together. We really didn't mind other people (literally, jalan menonong berdua tak hirau orang lain). It was our first trip together, just the two of us. And I couldn't be more happy to have my mother by my side to share these precious moments with me. I want the moment to freeze. I want to be with her forever. It was so sad that the journey has to end and I need to face the reality. But thinking back, what I have now, the good or the bad, is MY world. I could run, but I couldn't just run forever. It is a part of my life.
Anyway, this trip will ever be a special trip because of the moments I spent with my mother. And, this trip made me realize that all things must end. Good things, bad things, it will end eventually. I (again, not exaggerating) really miss the weather there. And I know this is quite childish, but I now have one more reason to strive hard to enter paradise -- so that I could reminisce and have that feeling I had in Korea, forever.
Korea -- what I feel there -- reminds me of heaven. I know it sounds stupid because, of course, heaven will be way better & incomparable to life on earth, but, I don't know, I feel that this is a glimpse of it. What I had in Korea is not perfect, of course. There are flaws here and there, but I feel enough.
And the feeling of ENOUGH -- is what I was looking for the whole time in this life :)
