Winter Seoul 2011 Part I

Seoul is one of the cities that I really would like to visit besides Tokyo. Well since I've covered most of SEA, it's time to go up north. Hopefully next time it'll be heading more towards Europe or probably the States~ :)

For winter trips to Seoul, there're a few preparations which I've learned from a few close friends of mine. Besides the winter clothings (Snow cap, Gloves, Winter Jacket, boots/shoes), other miscellaneous stuff are needed to be included as well. To those who would like to travel cheap, there are a lot of choices there which the price are very reasonable.

Smart phones (iPhone, iPod Touch, Android phones or Windows 7) are needed for this trip as you need to download the Seoul Metro applications. This will DEFINITELY make your travel easier by just referring to the subway maps as it'll be very annoying for you to keep on opening a folded map. For me, I've downloaded Seoul Metro, iTour Seoul and Incheon Live Airport applications on my iPod Touch. iTour Seoul will give you the attractions places and guides on how to go there and Incheon Live Airport will provide you online updates on your flight, gate opening times and reminders for you for your flight.

Halal logo in Seoul restaurants

To those who are really particular on foods, Seoul does have Halal food chains as they will show their Halal logo in front of their restaurants. But most of the restaurants that shows halal logos are spotted at Arab Restaurants, and some muslim Korean restaurants which you can only know by following Muslim Tours or Google it. I saw this logo back in Nami Island which they're serving "Shake Kimchi Fried Rice". (If I'm not mistaken, Mawi went to this restaurant as well in 1 of his travel shows) but most of the restaurant doesn't have any Halal logo on their premises~

It is also advisable to learn some important Korean words such as Hello, Thank You, Excuse Me and Goodbye. The rest is up to you to learn more on the numbers or to order food as most Koreans do speak a little bit English but it's still understandable.

Another thing to take note during your trip to Seoul is the toilets doesn't comes with water pipes. Well since most of them are using tissues to wipe so it's advisable for you to bring baby wet wipes along with you. (Do bring extra thou, just afraid that 1 just won't be enough)

Banana Backpackers front view

I've made reservations at Seoul Banana Backpackers, where a single bed dorm costs you KRW20,000 (during my trip, the conversion is RM1 to 0.00280) per night. Banana Backpackers also offers single room for those who would like privacy. This place located 5 mins walk from the Anguk station. For specific location of this place, you can refer at the link above. Besides Banana Backpackers (previously was called Seoul Backpackers), you can also choose to sleep at their branches which is Seoul Backpackers at Namdaemun (Single & Double bed room) which only costs you around RM150-RM200 per night or Seoul Backpackers at Myeongdong (only for female travellers) which will costs you around RM50-RM100 per
night.

Uljiro CO-OP Residence

For family trips, it is advisable to find a suitable place where the price is affordable and it is accessible. My friend suggested that you can choose Uljiro CO-OP Residence which is located at Dongdaemun. It is only less than 5 minutes walk from the Dongdaemun History and Culture Park, where you can find various of food outlets including the famous Lotteria. If you have nothing to do during night time, don't worry as there are no curfew at this area as Lotteria is opened 24 hours a day and not forgetting Good Morning mall is open until 4.30am!!! So if you're traveling with your family, this is another place recommended for you.

Easy bus route

I took bus 6011 from Incheon Airport gate 5B which costs me KRW10,000 straight to Anguk Station. Don't worry as there will be announcements in English once you're reaching on some destinations. Just wait for the Anguk Station announcement and you're done. Kindly take note that there are a few bus types in Seoul, which you need to familiarize with. Busses from airport are Limousines Shuttles, as you can see there are destinations written on their side windows and you should see Incheon Int'l Airport on the shuttles. Normal busses just written their numbers as you need to see on the boards which stops these busses are heading to ease you on your destinations. If you planning to ask the drivers, good luck then, most of them don't really understand english, even if you ask for fares.

T Money comes in a box

T Money card

There're a few options for you to choose to enter Seoul. Its either you choose to take the Seoul Metro, Airport Limousine or their Seoul's own bullet train, the KTX which will take you to seoul in less than an hour. Once you arrive at Seoul, it is advisable for you to take their T Money card which is similar to our Touch N Go card. The best thing about T Money is you can use it on all transportation in Seoul, including the Metro, busses and even their convenient store. How convenient is that!!! Just walk to 1 of their vending machine next to the ticket vending machine (usually at Metro stations) and buy it for KRW3,000. You can then topup some amount of cash in it and once you're done with the card, just return it back to any convenient store with the T Money logo and they'll refund back your money depending on the amount left in it.

I arrived quite late and was looking for this place. Well I was a lil bit lost when I can't really see the small alley heading straight to this place. Lucky there are some locals who familiar with the place when I show them the map. I concluded my day and preparing for the next day's trip to YongPyong Ski Resort.

Temperature currently shows 2 deg celcius

It was lil bit snowy when I arrived in front of Lotte Mart. To go to YongPyong, you actually need to make a reservation which you are required to call them straight. But actually in the end, it was useless as the bus was open to public and they don't even look at our reservation number. To go to YongPyong ski resort, you should take a direct bus (which actually a purple bus) but you can refer to their signboard with the word "YongPyong Ski Resort". The bus fare was KRW28,000 for return trip. It was a 2 1/2 hours trip from central Seoul. You need to take the 9am bus as there are not much timings to go to the destination. The next bus will be at 4pm. For return bus, you need to confirm it once arrive there. For return bus, the timings which available are 3pm and 5pm back to Lotte Mart.

The temperature when I arrived there was 2 degrees celcius. This was because of the sun shines straight at us which increase the temperature a bit. If there's some wind blowing, for sure the temperature will be lower.

Gondola fare and timings

There are some food stalls at the side of the building which you can choose to eat. I tried one of the kebab which costs around KRW4,000. Then you can proceed either to rent on the ski or snow board. Pricing are around KRW20,000 to 25,000 for a session which ends around 4pm local time.

The other options which you SHOULD take is taking the gondola to Dragon Peak. Dragon Peak was part of the scene taken in Winter Sonata. The gondola price for return trip is KRW12,000 which will take you around 20-30mins through some hills and ski slopes.

Winter Sonata scene at Dragon Peak

Once on top, you can see the view on some hills around Dragon Peak. This is consider the highest slope among all in YongPyong Ski Resort. From the building, you can head to the platform to take some picture, or just walk straight up to enjoy the snowy view of the hill top. Not much to do here as you can just enjoy playing snow or try the not-very-steep hill slide.

You can head down after enjoyed the view on top of Dragon Peak by using the same gondola service. It's either you would like to stroll around the area, or wait for the return bus at the same bus stop.

let's snowboarding!!!

my "free" glove

Once we're back at the bottom, my friend Nazlee tried to rent a snowboard. It's quite cheap thou as you can rent either a ski or snowboard at a very affordable price. For Morning or Evening session, the rates are KRW20,000. You can choose either to get the morning session (10am to 12.30noon) or evening session (2pm to 4.30pm). I let Nazlee have some experience first since he's very excited to try. I mean who doesn't right? Since he's busy to learn some basic moves, I was entertaining his son, Adam by playing snow ball war. There's this 1 "ajima" or auntie fell down so I helped her to get up. Well maybe it's a fate I've tried my hands on snowboarding which is quite hard to maneuver. Especially my right knee is not really as strong as before (torn ligament). But hey, at least I've tried. hehe~ When suddenly I saw a glove lying on the snow. Well look at that!!! It's a winter glove and with the brand of Lotto. OMG!!! I think that's the result of helping those in need. hehe~

Lotte Mall indoor ice rink

Once arrived at Lotte Mart, I just have a walk inside the mall, which Lotte World located. I didn't went in thou, just walk around the mall and saw an indoor ice skating. The size of the rink is slightly larger compare to Sunway Pyramid's ice rink. It's quite late so I need to get back to Anguk station as the last train will be around 2345hrs. So I grab a set of Grilled Chicken Burger at Lotteria worth KRW5,300.

That covers 1st day of my trip, will continue back in Part II for 2nd day adventure of Seoul~

for more pictures on this trip, kindly refer to my Facebook photo album: 

Winter Seoul 2011 Part 1

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108578&id=1372841986&l=5ed3f7da79

Winter Seoul 2011 Part 2  

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108690&id=1372841986&l=4da372f265
Winter Seoul 2011 Part 3

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108697&id=1372841986&l=9062e7ae64
Winter Seoul 2011 Part 4

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108700&id=1372841986&l=bfa5efec98
Winter Seoul 2011 Part 5

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2108704&id=1372841986&l=09db5937c3