Travel Guide South Korea

Both of my friends have confirmed coming to Seoul from 30th Oct - 8 Nov for T, and 30th Oct - 21st Nov for H. The three of us will be painting the Seoul town red from 30th Oct till 8th Nov; approximately 10 days. After that H, will go WWOOFing with me for the remaining days.

Here's the tentative itinerary and budget:

30th Oct
Flight from Kuala Lumpur - 2330 hours

31st Oct
Arrive at Incheon airport - 0710 hours
Meet H and T at Myeongdong Station -0900 hours
Check in Namsan guest house
Namsangol Hanok Village
Lunch & Itaewon
Seoul tour bus
Namsan tower
Dinner & Cheonggyecheon Stream

1st Nov
Yeouido Park and Seoul Park
Insadong
Namdaemun
Dongdaemun

2nd Nov
Everland (1 whole day)

3rd Nov
Nami Island

4th Nov
Mount Seorak

5th Nov
Return to Seoul (Morning)
Seoul Coex Mall + Kimchi museum (Evening)

6th Nov
Hands-on Traditional Culture Programs at Korea House
Visit the Palaces + Coffee Prince
NANTA show

7th Nov
Final shopping

8th Nov
Flight to Kuala Lumpur 1100 hours

Budget : Flight - MYR 1000, Seoul -10 days MYR1,300, Shopping - MYR700
Total: MYR3,000 ~ approximately 1 million won.

Rugged, old, loud place? Just next to SungKyunKwan University (my tounge twisted to pronounce this) and the Ediya coffee lot that I want to test. Hmm..but it's dirt cheap..dormitory bed for 13,000 won/night and single bed for 28,000 won/night. Have been searching high and lows for reviews, most of them commented that this place rocks! Not the quality though..cause what you pay is what you get, but the manager has a friend who hosts a WWOOF Farm. Ding..ding..I should befriend this manager shouldn't I? Anyway, right after a few days in Seoul, I'm off to WWOOFing..

I will think about it..and will put my worthy comment once I stayed there. But all in all from the journal this place seems happening. ^__^

As I browsed through happycow site for vegetarian food in Seoul, I stumbled upon this chain vegetarian restaurant Loving Hut. They have a branch in Puchong, Selangor. Wow??

All the menus are from vegetarian..hmm I will be a vegan temporarily (3 months) + seafood + fruits = seafru vegan..haha. I'm just making that up. No pun intended.

The menu shows mix of korean and western food. They only have one branch in Sinchon, Seoul though. Tried to find the review and surprisingly encouraged that even the 'cold burger' tasted yummy for this blogger - Kelly. Loving Hut website have the map shown but really... not helping at all, for me at least. Situated near Yonsei University gate, I supposed I have to take subway Line 2, Sinchon Station? Hmmm..from there, I supposed I have to ask around with my limited Korean language. God, please save me.

No!! They don't have bibimbap in this branch..arghh..heck it, I will try other food then. Hmm.. Jjajangmyun, anyone?? Hehehe..3,500 won for Large - approximately MYR10. Quite ok..

Well, Halal food is a bit difficult to find in Seoul/South Korea. I will try my best to try permissible Korean cuisine by Islamic standard.

Basically, I'm gonna be half vegan over there. Fruits, vegetables, seafood...hmm..totally organic. Say hello to slimmer, svelte figure Zarina with S-figure to boot. Hehehe..

Here are the list of menu in Korean with pictures that I would like to try in Seoul. However the menu would be customized for Muslim ^__^:

Menu taken from Kimbap Nara compiled by Mary Eats.
*Price will differ.

1 - 야채 김밥, Yachae Kimbap, Vegetable Kimbap, 2,000 won: Filled with various veggies including carrots and spinach. Little variation from Won-jo Kimbap.



Picture courtesy of www.mykoreankitchen.com

2 - 순두부 찌개, Sundubu Jjigae, 3,500 won: Sometimes fiery bubbling cauldron of soft tofu, freshly cracked egg (don’t stir if you’d like it hard boiled), chili peppers, inoki mushrooms, a couple clams, onions and deunjang (Korean miso) paste. Served with the ubiquitous fire
retardant sticky rice.*


Picture courtesy of Ottawa Foodies


3 - 된장 찌개Dwen-jang Jjigae, 3,500 won: Sometimes slightly spicy bubbling cauldron of dwen-jeong paste, inoki mushrooms, onions, clams and the odd cube of tofu. Korea’s answer chicken noodle soup. Served with the ubiquitous fire retardant sticky rice.


Picture courtesy of Ambitious Deliciousness

4- 돌솥 비빔밥, Dolsot bibimbap, 4,000 won: See above served in a hot stone bowl and topped with a (usually) fried egg.*




양푼 비빔밥, Yangpoon bibimbap, 4,000 won: Bibimbap served in a large metal bowl, usually serves two people.

호박 죽, Hobak Juk, 3,500 won: Thick pumpkin like porridge.


단팥 죽, Danpat Juk, 3,500 won: A thick red bean porridge.

떡볶이, Ddokboggie, 2,000 won: The street snack with chairs. Simmered rice cake (log form) swim in a sea of spicy pepper sauce augmented with odang (processed fish), cabbage, carrots, onions and leeks.



라볶이, Raboggie, 2,500 won: See above and add Ramyeon noodles. Bonus!

치즈떡볶이, Cheese ddokboggie, 2,500 won: See Ddokboggie, add cheese. Bonus!

Sometimes is not fun only to decline or refuse an offer by saying "No" in Korean. Another option is you may decline using "It's okay" or "It's alright". To say it in Korean would be:

gwaen cha nha yo =



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While having dinner with my friends in Kerinchi, we were discussing about plans to go to Seoul. Right after I finished explaining the budget and the itinerary, suddenly news of Seoul popped out on our Local TV News.

It felt surreal cause there we were discussing on the place and suddenly the same place popped out on the news. I really felt the goosebumps!

The place that we were discussing is Cheonggyecheon Stream.

Please click on the picture to check on other amazing picture of Seoul taken by caveman_lee

This phrases is very very important when you want to agree and decline.

Yes =



No =


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