5th Korea trip stories part 6

Hello everyone! A lot has been happening, my 1st period in school is finally over and 2nd period starting soon~ Guess what, I got accepted for student exchange to South-Korea! To Seoul of course :D Can't wait to start planning my exchange~ But anyway, let's get started with my korea trip series :)

Day 9

 

Daejeon and Gongju

 

Sirja had one korean friend in Daejeon and she and her sister invited me over also so we decided to visit, I personally like to meet new people even though I get shy sometimes. But anyway, I was excited!

First thing in the morning we took subway to seoul express bus terminal station where bus terminal was located. We took tickets for about 11am departure (can't remember the exact time) and bought some snacks for breakfast while waiting the bus to arrive to platform. It took about 2 hours from Seoul to Daejeon (Daejeon express bus terminal).

We waited couple minutes in Daejeon terminal before Sirja's friend and her sister came to pick us up. We were hungry so we went straight to eat to this budaejjigae (부대찌개) place, I happen to love budaejjigae (army stew) so I was happy :D Budaejjigae is kind of hotpot in which you can find noodles, meat, vegetables and so on.

Sirja's friend said Daejeon is not a tourist city so there's less to see but they decided to take us to Gongju. I had visited Gongju before but Sirja hadn't. But I hadn't visited the place they took us to so it was really nice for me too~ Gongju is about 20 minutes away from Daejeon. Sirja's friend and her sister took us to a mountain where the scenery was so beautiful and peaceful. We went to one cafe and enjoyed the view and chatted about everything, I really enjoyed my time there.

We walked around a bit after enjoying coffee but soon we had to head back to Daejeon because it was getting late and we still had to travel 2 hours back to Seoul. We took a local bus to Yuseong bus terminal from where we took bus to Dong Seoul terminal. Near Yuseong bus terminal we went to Paris Baguette cafe to chat some more while we were waiting our bus to leave. I had fun day and our hosts were so friendly! Even though I didn't know them before they treated me like a friend and I could comfortably talk with them. Because sometimes it can happen that when you meet your friend's friend they talk alot to catch up and you just end up sitting there and listening so I was so thankful they were so open and friendly.

I took a photo from the bus on our way back to Seoul

Day 10

 

Incheon

 

Next day it was my turn to take Sirja to meet my friend. My friend is finnish and lives in Incheon with her family, I was doing my volunteer work period in Korea the same time with her but in different places. Anyway, we woke up early because we took subway to Incheon and it takes about 2 hours to where my friend lives from Sinchon station.

Our route from Sinchon to Incheon

If you're ever in Incheon area by the way, I recommend to stop at Bupyeong. I believe they have the largest underground shopping area in Korea (correct me anyone if I'm wrong). It's even bigger than Express bus terminal area in Seoul.

Anyway, we arrived on time, went to eat first in local restaurant before going over to my friend's house. It was funny in the restaurant when we went in and the ajumma (waitress) was shocked to see foreigners but she was very friendly. In that area you normally don't see foreigners (at least often).

We ate delicious mandusoup and mandus

After eating ourselves full, we went to finally meet my friend. I remembered how to walk there from station and even remembered the building (it was like two years when I last visited) but I was a bit confused with the apartment number but ended up finding it anyway. We got safely into my friend's place and were greeted by her over excited welsh corgi (it's sooooo cute) and we got to meet my friend's cute baby (squishy cute I can't even, he was so adorable). My friend also owns a cat and it's just a fluffy ball, it's nice but doesn't really care about anyone lol, it's sometimes needy for petting xD

who could really resist this attention needy corgi

As I have said before, I will not post photos about my friends or their families in case they don't want to be on my blog posts so that's why I won't post photos about my friend's baby even though I'm tempted to because he was so adorable I want to show him! (but he's my friend's baby so..)

After catching up a while, we decided to visit one mall near my friend's home. Not really sure if it was Sinsaegae or not but anyway, it was big. Went there by local bus and it took about 20 minutes to get there. We went to a cafe and did a little browsing tour in the stores but didn't really end up buying anything. We were there about 2 hours and then decided to leave because we had 2 hour trip back to Seoul city center and my friend's baby was getting quite restless. But I had a nice day catching up with my friend and Sirja apparently had nice time too because I asked if she felt left out and did I take her into consideration enough.

We headed back to Seoul by bus and got off at Hapjeong (which is almost next to Sinchon). We were really hungry and first we planned to eat in Sinchon but we came across to one korean restaurant which looked inviting so instead of going straight away to Sinchon we ate in Hapjeong.

I got kimchijjigae (kimchisoup) and Sirja got bokkeumbap (fried rice)

Next post is the last in my series and then I've finally finished with my 5th travel posts about Korea! This has been looooooong overdue but I explained last year why. And especially with school it has been very busy so usually when I have assignments I don't have any strenght to write more. But I'll try taking time on weekends. Until next time~

5th Korea trip stories part 5

Hello guys! Again, I'm really sorry about keeping my post intervals so long but in my holiday I was in Japan and when I got back to school it was like BOOM, here's too many assignments for you D: I'll try finally finish my Korea trip stories series so I can start telling about my trip to Japan which was interesting and awesome. But anyway, let's get started~

Day 8 

Jangchung

On this day I went to Astro Aroha festival fanmeeting in Jangchung gymnasium. Astro is a korean kpop group that debuted 2016 and I'm a fan of especially one member. Sirja and Su accompanied me the whole day even though they didn't attend the concert.


This was the other concert that I bought tickets online for from someone else and it was a legit ticket. First when we went to the venue, we had to take subway to Dongguk univ. stop. Venue itself was right in front of exit 5, you cannot get lost! When we got out of the station I was shocked because we were there about 3 hours before event even started and there were LOTS of people. I had to line up a bit to get my ticket (I had only confirmation slip and id copy proof from buyer, I explained earlier that you need buyer's id or copy of it if you want to get your ticket). It went without problems and I got my ticket~

Translated it for you to understand better

That's how the ticket information usually looks like about in every concert, you have information where and when and then it states your place. In Astro's fanmeeting it was all seating places. When you are in seating section, the ticket states very specifically in which place you should go. In the venue, they have these huge signs telling which are which section so you can find your place pretty easily.

Anyway, after I got my ticket Sirja and Su accompanied me to go to merchandise queue because I wanted a lightstick (it's concert culture in korea to have a lightstick). But we only had two hours before doors opened and the line was soooooooooo long. We still went in the line and I was hoping to get the official lightstick. But in the end, two hours wasn't enough. Their system in mechandise tent sucked though, you had to fill a form which took time and then you could get your stuff what you wanted so because of that, so many were left without official merchandises. I ended up buying a cheap lightstick because as I said, lightstick is part of the experience. Anyway, if you go to a concert or even a fanmeet, be prepared to queue alot (to merchandise and to venue).

After my failed attempt to get the official lightstick I parted ways with Sirja and Su because it was time to go in. Before the doors there were wreaths and congratulatory messages from fans. It's also tradition that fans send for example rice and eggs to honor the artist and what I've heard, the food will be donated.

There were two queues to inside, one to ground floor, one to second floor. It was quite unclear and I had to ask couple times that I was sure I was going the right direction. But people were helpful there and I found myself to the 1st floor. I spotted my section right away but I was unsure about the rows because they were marked so that your place was actually marked in the seat in front of you. So I was confused that is my seat the one with the mark or is it the seat which in front of the mark was. So again I asked and the fans were really helpful and told me that I'm actually in the right row and pointed out my seat. If you are lost like me and can't speak korean, you can try english (though usually koreans are afraid of speaking english or don't know how to speak it) or then just point your seat number from your ticket and I'm sure they'll help.

When I sat down to my place I was admiring how good place I had and so close to the stage! It was funny that there were staffs going around and yelling that no photos during the show and "if you are seated next to foreigner, please tell them also this". But nobody next to me turned to tell me this. Well, I could understand it anyway but the persons next to me couldn't have known I can speak korean. In these kind of events you also see many foreigners who don't really speak koreans but they want to see the artist and let me say; there is no english usually used only than some small notices from the staff. So if you're a foreigner and want to attend and experience, be prepared to hear only korean. And keep and open mind, many of koreans don't speak english but they are very helpful still. In my experience, they actually speak chinese usually better than english. But it's just my experience..

When the fanmeet started, cheering was phenomenal! It was absolutely awesome to be part of the experience. Though I was in a funny situation because in my right side was an avid fan who went a little crazy throughout the concert and in my left side was apparently some fansite staff who sneakily took photos without even caring about the concert. It would be a long story trying to explain fanculture so let's just say that this "sneaky camera" -thing happens in every concert. If staff spots you taking photos, you're out and they confiscate your camera to delete your photos.

Anyway, I had awesome time. The end was memorable because during the second last song Astro performed, members walked through aisles between our seats and my favorite member, Cha Eunwoo walked beside me and I saw him from couple meters away.

Fanmeeting lasted about two hours and after it I met up with Sirja and Su again who had been waiting in the area. We said goodbyes to Su who had some school staff to do and then me and Sirja went to Hapjeong (near Sinchon) to eat dinner in a famous chicken restaurant. I have been raving about korean chicken meals before, but it's so good! I have yet to taste anything like it in other countries.
After eating ourselves full, we headed to Hongdae where we walked for a while before deciding to call it a day and went to sleep.


Next up is day 9 and 10. This post would be just too long if I would add day 9 because we went to visit Daejeon on that day.
(I seriously try to hurry up with my posts but let's see, I have too many school assignment currently >_<)

A fun ending to this post; I found this video from my photo archives which I took one day in subway~ it's from Sinchon and shows how normal korean subway station looks like, what the digital signs show and how you know the subway will arrive shortly xD

5th Korea trip stories part 4

Hello everyone! I've been super busy with school, I still have some exams coming up and assignments to do but decided to write this post anyway because it's a bit overdue.

Day 6

Olympic park

We started our morning by going to eat some breakfast to a cafe sometime around 11am. Then we headed up straight to Olympic park where 2PM 6Nights concert was held in SK olympic handball gymnasium. 2PM is one of the first Korean artists we both knew and coincidentally they had a concert in Korea at the same time we were there. So of course we had to get tickets. But don't even get me started about buying tickets because it was a total hassle.. Korean internet servers are much faster than Finland's so it's pure luck if you have a chance to grab tickets at all. We got them and our seating was waaaaay back from the stage but we were happy we could attend.

We arrived early because previously I have attended B1A4 and Block B concerts in the same venue area and in my experience it was really crowded in midday already. But when we arrived there were only few fans going around.

What you should know about korean concerts (if you ever attend) is that being a foreigner, your only option is to buy ticket online (from yes24 or interpark) and receive confirmation email. And with that confirmation email, you can get your physical ticket. But they require you to have your id with you. If your friend bought your ticket, you have to have your friend's id copy with you. ID always has to match the name in the ticket, koreans are very strict with that.

Anyway, we went around the area because ticket counters opened only 2 hours before they let us in to the venue (concert started 5pm). I haven't really gotten a chance to tour Olympic park before so it was nice, walking around it and seeing a famous Olympics monument also. The area hosted summer Olympics in 1988. It's nice area to explore and easy to get to, just take subway to "Olympic park station". There are few restaurants and cafes but the restaurants are pretty expensive. We had a coffee break in one of the cafes and then later had our dinner in one korean restaurant (it looked too fancy to be honest but it was the only option for us because the others were more expensive).

After walking around and eating dinner we just waited ticket counters to open. We had to line up to a tent where there were tables as "counters" and they had staff who checked our confirmations and gave us our tickets. It was efficient and we didn't have to queue long.

Then we waited some more time before going to queue in front of the doors. Opening of the doors was delayed by 45 minutes and we were suffering a bit because it was starting to get really cold outside. They let standing areas in first and that was taking more time than expected so that's why they were delayed. But when they finally opened the doors everything went smoothly, there were some pushing but not much. When people got in they were pretty calm at least in our side because all of us had numbered seats.

When we first saw our seats our faces propably said like "seriously". Because where our seating was it was reeeeally steep! I was afraid of falling down.. it was almost like 85 degree angle.. But we got to our seats safely and in every seat there was a banner placed which said something like "raise this up during this song". Koreans like to do this kind of events, I have done this kind of banner event before and it's fun and results are beautiful.

The stage setting was awesome, behind the screen you see in the photo was the actual stage. Unfortunately like almost in all concerts in Korea, photos weren't allowed. But I had awesome time just having fun and partying. Although I think the british gentleman in his 60's sitting next to me had more fun than me xD he was partying like crazy, his wife was into this concert too. I think their child was somewhere in the standing area. But it was funny when 2PM members came close by they noticed us because of this gentleman next to me and they were laughing at him but he had fun :D Junho and Chansung waved at us also when they went by~
We also saw GOT7 because they were in vip section close to us and 2PM members pointed them out at one point and thanked them for coming to their concert.

We had to leave during encore so we wouldn't miss last subway to our part of town (Sinchon). But it was truly a fun and awesome concert. We were so tired when we got to our hostel that we went straight to bed.

Day 7

Next day I didn't do much. Sirja went to meet some friend so I was alone whole day, just touring around Express bus terminal and Hongdae. By the way, express bus terminal in Gangnam connects also to a shopping center Shinsegae which is huge! There are lots of high end brands but you can find a little bit affordable stores also and lots of cafes and restaurants. There's also that Doredore cafe near bus stops inside terminal building, which is known from their rainbow cake.

Anyway, here's just some random food photos from the day :D

Bibimbap

Desserts are always delicious :P

Until next time!
Next up day 8 and 9~

 

5th Korea trip stories part 2

Day 2

Sinchon + Hongdae

First night was kind of hard because we were really tired from previous day but on basement level in the same building that our hostel was, was noraebang aka karaoke bar and we could clearly hear the noise from over there.. well, they stopped around 1am but still, it was pretty annoying (korean buildings have really thin walls..)

In the morning we went to find a cafe where we could eat breakfast and after looking around a bit we found two-some coffee and ordered some simple sandwiches and lattes. Our hostel had breakfast but it was until 10am and it was either cup noodles or toast.. and me and Sirja don't really like those things in the morning so that's why we wandered to find our own breakfast (besides, korea is really affordable when it comes to food so we paid like 6000won from our breakfast which is about 4.50€).

After breakfast we walked around Sinchon to see what kind of place it was (the day before we really didn't have energy to) and found for example Moomin store in U-plex mall lmao.

We took our time to go around and then went to meet up our friend Su and her friend who came for exchange program to Korea. And coincidentally their hostel for few days before going to dorm happened to be beside ours. After meeting we went to eat because at least me and Sirja started to be very hungry.
After we stuffed ourselves full of kimbap and mandu we decided to walk to Hongdae from Sinchon because Hongdae is close by and it's approximately only 20-minute walk. If you want to go there by subway or bus, be noted that in english they put the stop up as Hongik University because Hongdae is actually shortened slang word from korean 'Hongik daehakgyo' (Hongik University).
We toured around Hongdae for awhile before we decided to go back to Sinchon and we parted with Su and her friend.

Sinchon is actually really close to Hongdae

We rested for awhile in our hostel room after walking for a whole day. In the evening we met with my friend Laura who was working in Seoul at that time. We went to eat chimaeg (chicken+maegju) which means basically chicken+beer and it's quite popular evening snack thing in korea. Usually these kind of places are bars or late-night restaurants which means they're closed at afternoon. But I highly recommend to try them even if you don't like alcohol (you can order soda or cola like I always do) because korean chicken food is to die for! So if you're in Korea and see the word 치맥, that means that type of restaurant/bar.
We were kind of early (around 6pm) so the restaurant was empty. But after we got in it was like 15 minutes and other people started coming in too. So if you're not up for a really noisy enviroment to eat and talk, it's best to go early because in Korea restaurants start getting full about 8pm. But actually our finnish culture is funny because if you eat dinner after 6pm it's considered very late, we usually eat dinner around 4-5ish pm so eating 6pm was not a problem for us, we were actually quite hungry.

Anyway, we talked quite awhile and then walked around Sinchon. We thought the idea of wanting to visit cat cafe because neither me or Sirja had experienced it before (even though we both have visited Korea before). So Laura searched nearest cat cafes and we ended up in one pretty close by our chimaeg place. Going to cat cafe (or any animal cafe), be sure to read rules and listen to owner. When we got in, we had to take our own shoes off and we got sandals in place of them and had to be very careful with doors so no cats could escape. Also, to these type of cafes you usually pay attendance fee and many cafes like ours included one drink to the fee so basically you get entrance and one drink for the same price. Cat cafe where we went had also one cute dog which was still a puppy, this is quite unusual but it was a pleasant surprise~ In this cat cafe the cats were same breed because owner was concentrated on just one breed but majority of cat cafes have many kinds of cats. We played with the cats and the dog for couple hours before finally leaving since it was getting pretty late.

Day 3

Gwanghwamun, Jogyesa, Bongeunsa, Coex

We decided at the morning to spend time going around famous sightseeing places so what better way to start than going to Korea's most famous square, Gwanghwamun square from where you can also see and access Gyeongbokgung palace. I have visited there many times before but it's always an awesome sight for me. Laura was working nearby so I message her if we could go eat lunch together and she gave ok after she had run some errands. So in the meantime me and Sirja decided to tour Gwanghwamun's Kyobo bookstore which is the biggest bookstore in Korea and located in a big building complex in Gwanghwamun. If you want to go to Kyobo, don't worry it's easy to find. You will see a big sign in the building and you just have to take glass elevator to one floor down from main floor. Besides being bookstore, they have electronics store, accessories store, kpop albums store and cafe complex in the same floor inside Kyobo so it's a good place to spend some time~

And near Gwanghwamun you have for example Cheonggyechong stream, Jogyesa and Insadong so you can easily spend a day in the area just walking and sightseeing.
Anyway, Laura messaged me that her errands took more time than expected so I suggested to Sirja that we walk to see Jogyesa because it's basically next to  Gwanghwamun square (about 15-minute walk).

From this spot if you turn right Kyobo building would be about right in front of you

Jogyesa temple prayer lanterns

So we walked to Jogyesa, took some photos and walked back to meet Laura and go eat lunch. After lunch we parted ways and me and Sirja headed up to Bongeunsa temple which is in Gangnam area and it's famous for having preserved it's historical look even though it's in middle of concrete jungle. And surprising enough, I have never visited there even though this was my 5th time in Korea so I was really excited to see something I hadn't seen before.

Bongeunsa was quite easy to find because I looked from map beforehand that it was next to exit 1 from Bongeunsa temple subway station.
We took our time to sightsee and admire the temple. It was quite peaceful and we didn't see many people around. I heard that Bongeunsa arranges temple stays and that's why you can see also foreigners wearing a traditional temple clothing on temple grounds. Many korean temples arranges these temple stays where you stay in the temple and do a monk's routine which includes meditation etc.

entrance to Bongeunsa, you can clearly see how surrounded by tall buildings it is

We were getting pretty tired after travelling from one place to another and walking alot but because Coex is literally other side of the road from Bongeunsa we decided to check it up. Coex is a mall complex that has for example aquarium inside. I have never actually visited it's aquarium even though I wanted to and we didn't visit this time either because as I said, we were tired. We wandered around Coex like half an hour and then decided that we really need to get to our hostel to rest so we headed back to Sinchon.
Later in the evening we went to eat and I ordered sundubujjigae (soft tofu soup) which was like the most spiciest soup I have ever eaten.. I have eaten sundubujjigae before but not that spicy! I could finish it but I burned my mouth xD After my burning food experience I mainly wanted some cold dessert so we found a cafe and ordered dessert drinks and cake slice which we ate half and half. Seriously, Korea has some of the most delicious looking and tasting desserts I have ever seen.. be careful if you don't want to gain weight because temptation is big xD

Somewhere around Coex

Desserts that taste like heaven

I end my post here, next up is Day 4 and 5. I start school soon so I'm guessing I'll be very busy next couple months but I try to update a new post next month.
By the way, my Japan trip arrangements have been almost done! Flight ticket reserved as well as accommodations, yay no stress from that part anymore~ Our trip will be a tour; Osaka-Nara-Kyoto-Tokyo-Osaka. Can't wait!