Annyeong Haseyo Seoul! ^^

And now for the second part of my trip, "on our own". No more tour guide, no more planned day, it's all on our own the next 9 days. We don't speak Korean, we understand very very little Korean, the rest of our trip was pretty interesting! ^^

From Itaewon, the last stop of our tour, we took a cab to the guesthouse we will be staying. That night is our first Big Bang - Big Show concert. My first time in Seoul Jamsil Olympic Stadium and it's not as big as I thought. But the stage is impressive, it has a lot of room for effects and props. It was my very first Korean concert and I have to say, the Korean fans are really admirable. They sing, they chant, they dance with the artist. No artist in that stage will feel tired with all the support they are getting from the audience. I talked about my Big Show experience in my other blog >> Big Bang - Big Show.

Next day (sat), we went out for lunch, my first Korean food that's really tasty, Dak Galbi (spicy chicken) then we went around Myeongdong for some shopping. We also tried the Korean instant photo and it's really cute! Dunkin Donuts for snack and more shopping.

Sunday is another Big Bang concert day, this time we weren't able to finish the whole show, we have to leave early for a friend's sake.

Monday is my day, Jeongbalsan day! We just realized later in the trip that each of us has our "moment" in this trip, and this is my moment! We travelled really long by subway to get to the pizza place of DBSK's Xiah Junsu's Dad. With the help of the Korean people, we were able to find the place. I'm glad Junsu's dad was there, and he's so gracious and nice! He went to our table, asked where we're from and shook each of our hands. He even agreed to take a picture with us. Such a nice man! ^_^

Next day, we went to "The Village of Traditional Houses" in Namsan. There you can see the preserved houses of Koreans from olden times. From the bedroom, to their receiving room, even the storage and the tools they used in those times. That night, we went around looking for Canon Service Center. We met nice policemen that helped us locate the place. We didn't understand each other that much but that's what I like with Koreans, they try their best to help, even if it's really difficult to communicate.

Wednesday is our Seoul City Tour Bus day. We took the city tour bus and we stopped at every possible stop we can. First stop, Deoksu Palace. The palace guards in their costumes are so nice to look at. Next stop is the National Museum of Korea. A really spacious place for art lovers. They have preserved art pieces from historical times. Next is Seoul Tower. We planned to take the cable car, but the bus already brought us to the upper level so we just took the bus back down. At night, we stopped at Dongdaemun for more shopping.

That night, we tried to catch "Sukira", a radio show hosted by Suju's Leeteuk and EunHyuk. But sadly we didn't make it. We even missed the last subway train to go back. We have no choice but to take the bus but we don't have any idea which bus to take. Thank God for the really nice Korean man, this respectable middle aged man came over to us (while we're looking at the bus stop sign, obviously lost) asked us where we're going. Again, thank God he speaks English! We asked him to help us, but he told us the he haven't taken the bus before (he looked like a high ranking executive that drives a very nice car) so he helped us talk to a cab driver to take us to our place. And to our embarrassment, the good man even paid for our cab fare! We're in shock that all I can do for him is to say a small prayer of thanks. That God will bless him more, and that I may in my own little way be able to pay it forward.

The next day, we finally made it to Sukira. But we didn't finish the whole show in fear that we might miss the subway again. =S

Lotte World day on Friday! It's our last three days in Korea so we better make the best out of it. We went in pretty late so we weren't able to catch the rides outside in Magic Island, sad... T_T But for theme park lovers, Lotte World is one good theme park for the family. They have rides for everyone. I'm just glad that we were able to take the roller coaster ride. Even just for that, I'm already happy we went there.

Saturday is practically our last day to go around Seoul, since the next day we have to do our last minute packing before our flight in the evening. We went around for more additional shopping in Myeongdong. You can say that it's our favorite shopping place because in my 2 weeks in Korea, I've been there about 3 to 5 times already. Dinner around Hongik University. Coffee at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Walk around more... and walk around more... before we finally decided to go home.

Sunday, the day to go back to Manila. Lunch with a friend and one last Baskin Robbins. The much awaited ice cream cake! Then off we go to the airport! Bye Seoul! Bye South Korea!

Until I set foot in Korea again... I'll be looking forward to that day... ^^