How To Get To Everland Resort?

Due to the pouring rain on the second day of our South Korea trip, hence we immediately checked what's the weather forecast for our third day. After confirmed that that it was pretty fine weather, we came into a conclusion that our trip for the day is to Everland Resort.

There are few alternatives route to one of this best amusement theme park of South Korea.

One of the easiest way is grab a taxi and you'll reach Everland easily but I will not choose this if I were you cause it definitely cost a bomb since the journey from Seoul to Everland is 1 hour plus away. Hence, if you are budget traveller just like me, the best way but at the same time it is more cost-saving would be travel by public transportation; both subway and public bus at the same time.

We started our journey from Myeong-Dong, the station which just few stones away from our guest house.

Even by public transportation, there are 3 ways. Here I shared with you 2 of the ways of going to Everland using public transportation.

First Way To Everland

#1. Take a train to Sadang Station of Subway Line 2 or 4. Then heading to Exit 2 or 3.

#2. Once come out from the station, heading to the bus station and take bus 1500-2 to Everland. The travel time takes 80 minutes.

We did used this route at the first place, but somehow when we hopped on to the 1500-2 bus, the bus driver told us that he was not going to Everland. Therefore, without thinking too much, immediately we changed to our second route.

Second Way To Everland

(I more prefer and recommended to take this route instead)

#1. Take a train to Gangnam Station for Subway Line 2. After that, heading to Exit 6.

#2. Once out from the subway, walking straight for about 3 minutes until you see this shop on your left-hand side. There's where the bus station to Everland located on the right-hand side.

#3. Hop on to the 5002 bus which cost 1,800 won per single journey and there it goes all the way to Everland until you reach the final stop.

#4. The journey hasn't end here yet as you need to take another shuttle bus in order to reach Everland itself and no worries, this shuttle bus is free.

Finally! Tadaa.... Here we are at Everland.

Wanna know more and the interesting things of Everland? Stay tune for my upcoming blog which I think might overloaded with tons of photos. 

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Foodie Friday: Dim Sum Diary

Time to share foodie post in Foodie Friday segment again! And once again, shame to say that it's another long way back outdated post again which happens one year ago. I am seriously forgotten about this, until I browsed through my photo album and like, "Oh no! I should blog about this earlier". But then, I guess maybe this is the right time for me to post this in conjunction with this "Mother's Day" event which happens this coming Sunday. So, what's your plan for your beloved queen of your heart?

For this post, I am gonna share about dim sum which I had in KK last year. Not only one but two which I had for two consecutive weekend. Don't worry, it's all halal by the way. Anyhow, who doesn't fall in love with this small little bite-sized but awesome delicious foods? It has become a ritual especially for the Chinese to have dim sum as breakfast. Or even having dim sum as "brunch" - the combination of breakfast and lunch into one large midmorning meal. Just like it literally means, dim sum has become everyone favourite delicacies - from variety of dumplings, steamed dishes to deep-fried.

Dim Sum @ Hyatt Hotel

One of my bestie told me that The Chinese Restaurant at Hyatt Hotel does offer an abundant selection of dim sum delicacies from 9:00 am to 2:30 pm. It may a lil bit pricey which cost around RM60 per pax, but my friends and I were sitting and enjoy our meal for more than 3 hours. So, it's kinda worth cause with the wide spread selection of foods, the attentive services and great atmosphere that we're paying for.

Besides with over than 20 choices of dim sum you can choose from, there even a section for those who are sweet tooth lovers.

Only available on weekends and public holidays, I recommended to go earlier because it will be crowded after 10:00am.

Dim Sum @ Pacific Sutera Hotel

A week after having dim sum with my besties, I tagged my family along for another dim sum buffet again. I saw this promotion for the Mother's Day event, where all the mothers get to eat for free. Hence, I suggested to give a try since I have membership card offers.

Will I bring my mom and family again this year? Well, the answer is No! It's not because the price per pax may sounds costly, but I dislike the idea where you have to order and wait for your meal. I tends to prefer where you go the main table and grab the foods as many as you can. Doesn't that what's buffet means for?

P/S: I'm not sure whether this year they still have this kind of promotion but if you are interested, you can try give them a call for the confirmation.

Anyhow, I think I will go for another dim sum meals again this coming Mother's Day cause all of my family members and even my boyfie love dim sum so much. Might be sounds to early, but I here sincerely wish all the mother especially mother bloggers like Shirley Tay, Cath-J, Nadia Richard, Chawana, Stella Claire, Mamarazzi

"Happy Mother's Day!"

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Massive Urban Restored of Cheonggyecheon Stream

Date of Visited: 09th September 2011

NOTE: For this post, I'm gonna hide all the photo taken using my Canon compact camera cause can't perform well at night. Hence, I'm sharing the photo using my friend's camera instead, Nikon D90. Looks like it's time for me to buy a new and better camera that can perform well at night. Any recommend? You're welcome to leave comment.

So, what's this Cheonggyecheon Stream famed for? It was once a dusty and heavily poluted area with many traffic and highways but now it has restored to become a major city retreat and tourist spot in downtown of Seoul. Cheonggyecheon Stream runs across the city centre of Seoul to Hangang River.

At here, it offers visitors with the amazing and marvelous sight of a candle fountain illuminated by differently colored lights, and a four meter high waterfall. 

A modern public recreation space with variety of leisure and recreational facilities newly built. Fountains, bridges and various sculptures stand above the streams for a picture-perfect view.

I am truly astonished with this photo which took by my friend using her Nikon D90. It's looks so real. Don't you think so?

So, that's end of my second night in Seoul. Wandering 4 different spots in a day (Myeong-Dong, Dongdaemun, Namdaemun and Cheonggyecheon] maybe seems tiring but for me, this is where my true journey has just begun. Where will be my friends and I heading on the next day? Stay tune for more of my travel journey and adventures around downtown of Soul of Asia.

How to get to Cheonggyecheon Stream:
It is just located at the center of Dongdaemun area, therefore take subway Line 1 or 4 to Dongdaemun Station and exit 1.

[Credit To: Wikipedia, Hi Seoul]

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Foodie Friday: Hokkaido Ichiba, The Gardens

Hello everyone! Have your dinner yet? It's been a while I haven't post anything under "Foodie Friday" segment and since it's Friday, hereby I shared with you another Japanese eatery I visited last year before "tapao+ing" everything back to my sweet hometown, Kota Kinabalu. Yeap, another backdated post again.

My lovely housemate and I love Japanese foods so much. So, when everytime we plan to dine in the mall, definitely Japanese restaurant will be our main choice. Since both of us had tried Sushi Zanmai before in the Garden mall, hence we decided Hokkaido Ichiba which located at the same floor as Sushi Zanmai. Surprisingly, both Hokkaido Ichiba and Sushi Zanmai are operate under the same management.

No surprise with the long queue since it's time for dinner. 

After waiting for almost half an hour, finally both of us being served to our seat. Browsing through their extensive menu, I realised they did serve quite a number of Japanese foods that couldn't find in other Japanese eatery and their price are slightly higher than most of the average Japanese restaurant. Hopefully their foods would not disappointed us with the amout we're going to pay. 

So here's the food that we ordered:

Both of us ordered the same set of meal, Chicken Katsujyu [RM28.00] and what shocking us was, it comes in a huge portion. Kinda regret for ordering two cause at the end, we have hard time to finish them all. Should order other meal instead.

One of my favourite dishes when visiting Japanese restaurant will be Tori Katsu and Hokkaido Ichiba did served a delicious and pretty awesome for that. The chicken is so crispy on the outside but at the same time, it so tender and juicy once you bite from the inside.

We did ordered two slide dishes. That's why we unable to finish out giant Tori Katsu set meal. 

Spider Maki or Soft Shell Crab [RM22.00]. Again, another pretty huge sushi.

Unagi Ozushi [RM28.00] Frankly speaking, I dislike order or even eat unagi cause I hate those fish bone. But for this time around, decided to have a try. The taste is quite sweet but again, got fish bone. Must be careful when eating it.

Besides sushi, sashimi, bento, ramen and any others of Japanese foods, Hokkaido Ichiba does served extensive range of desserts. Since both of us are so full with the above dishes, we only ordered two small ball of their Hokkaido ice-cream [RM6.80 for two flavours]

The total damages for this meal cost RM130.85 and both of us are pretty satisfied with the foods. Reasonable price with 2 set of bentos, 2 slide dishes, desserts and even including the refillable green tea. 

However, my housemate and I are quite dissatisfied with their services when they keep gave us the wrong ice-cream flavour that we ordered. And even upon requested to make payment, it tooks more than 20 minutes and asking more than 5 waiter/waitress to give us the bill. Not only us, the patron sitting next to us even make a complaint to the manager. How shameless a big and premier Japanese restaurant could serve their customers in this way? Hopefully they will improve their service in my next visit.

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Namdaemun, My Favourite Souvenirs Market

Date of Visited: 09th September 2011

After done with Myeong-Dong and Dongdaemun, two of the hottest tourist spot in Seoul, we're then heading to another one, Namdaemun. Just like Dongdaemun, Namdaemun is located near its namesake of Great South Gate. It is the largest and oldest traditional market in Seoul.

Among three of these places we went on the second day, Myeong-Dong, Dongdaemun and Namdaemun, I tends to prefer to shop in Namdaemun for one main reason, tons of souvenirs I can choose from and this is where I can bargain for more cheaper price than elsewhere. So, if you love to collect fridge magnets and keychain just like me when everytime going travelling or even looking for vast variety of traditional and local souvenirs for family and friends, this is the recommended place.  

Pretty awesome hanbok for the little one.

Once I spotted all of these, I tends to forget where were my friends are. 

Begin my mission to hunt for more fridge magnets, keychain and souvenirs for family, friends and even for myself.



If you are looking for seaweed either for cooking or even snacking purpose, Namdaemun is the best place to search for.

Since we walked non-stop from Myeong-Dong to Dongdaemun and after that to Namdaemun, we decided to take a break by visiting a cafe located nearby the Namdaemun market.  

A coffee break in Holly's Coffee before continue with the mission of hunting more souvenirs.

Although many of Namdaemun's shops are within the buildings that make up the area, but when the days start to break, the market is busy and happening with the group of street vendors that setup in the alleys and walkways between the buildings. 

The typical Korean street food vendor which can be seen in most Korean drama. Namdaemun even being listed as Asia's 10 greatest street food cities under the Seoul list. (Source)
Too bad for us as we didn't managed to try any of the street food cause our stomach were filling with tons of water from the cafe we visited.

It's so hard for me to bid goodbye to all the cute and pretty souvenirs at Namdaemun. Wanna see what did I bought from there? Stay tune for "My Travel Haul from South Korea" post in the future.

How to get to Naedaemun:

Hoehyeon Station, Subway Line 4 – Exit 5, 6 or 7 (You can get off either one of these exit to the market)

[Credit To: Wikipedia, Official Site of Korea Tourism, LifeinKorea]

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Dongdaemun, 24 Hours Shopping of Seoul

Date of Visited: 09th September 2011

After bidding goodbye to our lovely Korean friend, Kyung Hee in Myeong-Dong, then we're heading to next pitstop for shopping time again. Talking about shopping in Seoul, it is one of the popular activities which most travellers/tourists like to indulge in as it has more to offer from shopping mall, centres to markets and even streets which you barely to miss them out.

Since we have T-card with us, hence we fully utilised it by taking subway to the next destination.

One of my best travelmate who travel together to Japan in 2010, Nicole.

 

My best travelmates in crime. We used to travel a lots of places during studied in UK.

 

My friend "forced" me to take this pos, pretending I was very strong. 

 

More spacious and clean inside subway train.

Dongdaemun, is our second destination on the second day. Dongdaemun is claimed to be the largest market in South Korea that supplies stocks to thousands of retail fashion shops around the whole of Korea. You can find greatest bargain in almost more than 30,000 stores in the Dongdaemun area with many different kind of products such as clothing, accessories, bags, shoes, textile, fabrics, footwear, and sporting goods.

Literally, Dongdaemun means "Great East Gate" but for sure this word not only means that in Korean but in Chinese too. It was so named because it was the major eastern gate in the wall that surrounded Seoul.



Dongdaemun area was built nearby an old fortress wall gate and it can be easily noticed this once come out from the subway station.

Typical street of Dongdaemun

 

Ginseng can be found anywhere in South Korea. Cheap or not? Don't ask me cause I'm not interested with it.

What makes this market outstanding than others is because most of the shops around this area open from 9:00 pm until 5:00 am or even 6:00 am on the next day. So if you can't enough to shopping during the daytime, you can continue shopping at here until you're drop. Experience this nightime excitement which not often seen in many other places in the world.

 

We spotted one whole row of food street vendors that sell many of local cuisines, hence we decided to try.

My friends and I did tried one of Korean popular authentic street snacks, stir fried rice cakes (as photo below), added with some crispy fried seafood snacks (as photo above). Although it was quite a spicy, but it taste delicious and we did almost have two bowls for it.

We strolled around Dongdaemun for one or two hours but we found out nothing that we fond of. Maybe because this district market would be more happening at night than the daytime, thereafter we moved to the next place before it's getting dawn.



How to get to Dongdaemun:
Subway Line 1 or 4, Dongdaemun Station

[Credit To: Wikipedia, ExploringKorea.com, VisitKorea.or.kr]

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