10 PLACES TO INCLUDE ON YOUR KOREA ITINERARY 2018

Just recently, the universe allowed my feet to walk in some part of South Korea. After how many years of longing to set my eyes on the exquisite beauty of the country, we finally indulged to this new experience seeing a lot of different things that made this country stand out from all other 7 countries I have already visited. Transportation is very good and the Koreans are respectful and generous people.

Such a wonderful feeling that I have seen these great places I often see only in K-Dramas or in Postcards when travelling abroad is quite unattainable for me.

1. EWHA WOMENS UNIVERSITY

This is the famous and the first modern educational institute women’s university in Korea. Add this on your itinerary and have some lovely photos with their eye-catching slope design buildings. This place is good to explore since there’s a lot of hip and fashionable clothes you can buy with reasonable prices especially if you are young woman and looking for latest trendy outfits.

Direction: Take subway green line going to Ewha University Station and Exit to #2.

2. SEOKCHONHOSU LAKE (SEOKCHON)

Korea is known of its scattered cherry blossoms, one of the reasons why this country includes in my bucket list. Seokchon Lake is the first place that I have seen bunches of cherry blossom trees surrounded and coincide with a peaceful lake. This place is best seen in Mid-April as the flowers are fully bloomed. If you are lucky, you can witness cultural activities that will give you a bit of knowledge over their customs and traditions.

Direction: Ride subway line 2 or 8 and drop off to Jamsil Station (Exit 2 or 3) it’s near the Lotte World.

3. N-SEOUL OR NAMSAN TOWER

This Iconic Namsan Tower of Korea offers panoramic views of the vast metropolis from the deck of every floor. There are 2 options to get there. It’s either by walk or via cable car. If you are in the mood to trek and have much time and energy, you can just enjoy the place while walking. But, if you just have a least time to roam around, just ride a cable car and it will take you up the Mt. Namsan. Up here you can see a lot of attractions. Aside from captivating cherry blossom trees during spring season, there are lot of gift shops, restaurants, cafes and locks of love can be found. It’s best seen at night as the tower lights up during night-time.

Direction: take the subway line 4 and get off at Myeong-dong station and exit 3 then it’s just 10-15 minutes’ walk before you see the cable car station.

4. MYEONGDONG

One of the busiest places in Korea surrounded with different shops and stores. It is also known by numerous stalls of beauty products. Some of them are facial masks, facial creams, Cheek and Lip Tints and cushions. You can also jump to a lot of souvenir shops especially if you are a K-pop fanatic. And when you go hungry, worry not.. because there are a lot of diverse street foods that you would surely love and won’t hurt your pocket anyway.

Direction: take the subway to Myeongdong Station (Line 4) and Exit 6 or 8.

5. DONGDEIMUN MARKET

We did a last minute shopping here. This market is arguably the cheapest shopping district compare to other markets in Korea. It’s similar to divisoria in the Philippines, where you can get lot of stuffs in just minimal budget.

Direction: take subway line 2 to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park station and exit #14 or Take Subway Line 1 or Line 4 to Dongdaemun Station Exit 8 or 9.

6. GURI MARKET PLACE

This place is a locally famous market it is located to the east of Seoul. Getting here was not really planned. We just need to meet a friend and had a farewell dinner. There’s a lot of Restaurants that you could choose from, one of it was the (Korean Name) can’t read Korean words. Here, we treat ourselves with limitless samgyeopsal.

Direction: From Maseok or Cheonmasan Station you can take any of the bus no. 65-1, 30,165,23, and 1-4. I suggest that you download Korea Subway App on your phone for your easy reference.

7. THE GARDEN OF THE MORNING CALM

If you are a nature lover and into flowers, you will surely enjoy this place as the flowers are amazingly beautiful. The vivid colors of tulips can make your trouble go away in an instant. Seeing different flowers are very relaxing, you will feel a sudden calmness and you will feel happy as you trek the entire garden. Some of the great spots here are used on filming location for Korean dramas like “Love in the moonlight” on the pavilion and pond garden.

Direction: Depending on which station you alight from Cheongpyeong station Exit 2 or cross to the bus stop and take #391 bus going to Garden of Morning Calm. (I suggest that you download Korea Subway App on your phone for your easy reference).

8. YEOUIDO PARK

If you are going to visit Korea on Spring Time, you can include Yeouido Park on your itinerary and unwind. You can leisurely walk along this large public park with sightseeing trees loaded with cherry blossoms and other flowers everywhere. Flowers are fully bloomed in the middle of April. It’s a great deal too If your visit day would falls on the spring flower festival schedule. More flowers to see and a lot of food stalls you can be found too. In our case, we went there on the second week of April the flowers are just started to bloom and there’s actually a Festival but it cancelled due to torrential rain.

Direction: From Yeouido Station Line 5, Exit 3. Walk 5 minutes towards the National Assembly building.

9. GEONGBOKGUNG PALACE

One of the “must-do” things when going to Korea is to visit a palace. So give those feet of yours a leisure walk around this gigantic Palace until they weary. Out of 5 palaces, we chose to go Geongbokgung palace as it is the most impressive and the largest palace of Korea. If you want to feel Korean style and traditions you can wear traditional Dress and roam around the palace for 2 to 3 hours. They call it “Hanbok” there’s a lot of Hanbok rental stores surrounding the place. You can rent your your attire including accessories for just an average of 8,000 won.

Direction: Gyeongbokgung Station (Subway Line 3), Exit 5. (Download Korea Subway App on your phone for your easy reference).

10. RESTAURANT NEAR PYEONGNAE HOPEONG STATION

When you are in other country, finding some authentic food from average restaurants will always be your endeavor. So if you hunger for Korean dishes, come and try this original flavour of Korea’s pork back-bone stew. It’s locally known as Gamjatang. “gamja” refers to the delicious meat around the pork spine bones, and that’s where it got its name. The taste is pretty good. You can eat it while it’s hot as it serves in a cooking pot. It comes with potatoes, lot of veggies and spicy soup.

Direction: From Yeouido Station get off to Pyeongnae Hopyeong Station and walk its near to E-Mart Store. (Download Korea Subway App on your phone for your easy reference).

-PORK BACK-BONE STEW-

5 PLACES TO SEE IN BANGKOK WITHOUT HURTING YOUR POCKET- 5D/4N.

Visited Thailand on October 2017 and it was rainy season. Booked our tickets 4 months in advance and because it’s on promo, we expected a not so good weather. Days before our flight, we already seeing news in social media about the weather condition in Bangkok. The places we wish to see were flooded and we are hesitated to push through on the trip. But God is always been good to us. Every time we travel somewhere, He made it sure that we are safe and will enjoy the rest of our trip. So after worrying about the bad weather it came out to be excellent as we indeed enjoy our stay in Bangkok.

After we rested for few minutes at the hotel, we consulted Google right away for the best routes we should take and start on our itinerary.

Here are the places we have seen in Bangkok for 5D/4N .

TOP PLACES WE GO

1. WAT PHO

You’re not been in Thailand if you’re not been into Temples even just one. WAT PHO is a Buddhist temple where you can see one of the biggest Gold Buddha measured in 46 meters long. It’s a wonderful feeling that you able to see this amazing creation in personal. When entering the temple, you will remove your hat and shoes and your shoulder should be covered. Wearing skirts and shorts are prohibited.

WAT PHO Temple is near Tha Tien Pier Adjacent to Grand palace. We did not go to Grand Palace because it’s close. During that time Thai King’s cremation ceremony is being taking place over five days at the Grand Palace.

Entrance Fee is THB 100 Open from 8:00AM TO 5:00PM

2. WAT ARUN

This is the first temple that we rest our eyes with. It feels so amazing seeing this tall and unique temple covered with engraved porcelaine floral tiles. Take note that you are not allowed to enter in the temples if you wear shorts or skirts so just wear decently. You may bring shawls to cover your shoulder.

Wat Arun is located in west side of Chao phraya River

Entrance Fee is THB 50 Open from 8:00AM TO 5:00PM

3. KHAOSAN ROAD

They call this place a backpacker’s haven because of cheap rates not only for Hotel or Hostel. Foods and necessities are also cheap too. What we came here for is we want to see those exotic foods they sell in the streets. But unfortunately, we got there in day time and what we only seen are just restaurants and people who approach you and offer you massage or tattoos. So we just spent a little time here and ate super late lunch. I suggest that you go here during the night as it is very lively and you would surely enjoy the place if you are party pipz.

4. SIAM PARAGON/SIAM CENTER/SIAM DISCOVERY

These 3 malls are situated one after the other. First is the Siam Paragon it is the popular mall in Bangkok but it focuses on fashionable and luxury items. The other 2 malls are both like siam paragon that mainly for fashion, beauty and lifestyle accessories. You can also find Madame Tussaud at the sixth floor of Siam Discovery.

5. SANRIO HELLO KITTY HOUSE

This restaurant is for Hello Kitty lovers. It’s an instagramable place! you can have your food with a touch of hello kitty decors like what we ordered A Hot Milk Tea and Strawberry Frappe . It’s located in Siam Square One Building..If you are in Siam paragon just exit on the other side as it’s just opposite the Siam Paragon Mall.

WHERE WE SHOP

1. PRATUNAM MARKET-It’s an outdoor night market. You can find more cheap buys here.

2. BIG C- It’s a super market in front of central world mall it’s just near the pratunam market.

3. PLATINUM MALL-This is the common indoor shopping center in Thailand. Basically if you want to find some good stuff with cheap price that you could make fancy of yourself, you can find anything here from head to toe. This Platinum mall has 4 floors and all about fashion clothing, shoes, bags and other trendy accessories. You can save more money when you buy large quantities. It’s near the Chidlom BTS Sky Train or Ratchathewi Station.

4. PALLADIUM MALL– It’s a wholesale shopping center. It’s just across the pratunam market and platinum mall.

WHERE WE STAY

When we travel abroad we consider 3 things when choosing hotel 1. Price should be on our average budget but won’t compromise our comfort when nappy times because that’s the only time you would need a good sleep after a long tiring day. 2. Area should be accessible to everything easy to go to train station, market and attractions and 3. Place should be in a safe surroundings. We stay at Grand Omari that we booked through www.agoda.com and the hotel meets those 3 things that I mentioned.

FILIPINO-AMERICAN COUPLE VISITING SINGAPORE

Hi guys this is john and jenny documenting our first international travel together as a Fil-Am couple.

After deciding which country to visit, we chose to go to Singapore. Why? Well, logistically speaking it’s a small and exciting country that you could travel multi country because of shared borders that you can easily go on short trips via bus or ferry. From Singapore, You can plan a day trip to Malaysia and or Indonesia.

PLACES WE VISIT IN SINGAPORE FOR 5 DAYS AND 4 NIGHTS

Since John still lives in the US and me in the Philippines, we had to do some extra planning so after John’s 22 hour flight to the Philippines he needed a day of rest before our flight to Singapore.

When choosing a flight and hotel, we chose an early flight to get the most out of the day. We stayed at Hotel 81 in Geylang. What’s good about this hotel is that it was centrally located to the MRT. We book our hotel in advance via http://www.agoda.com.

Now, Let us show you some pictures of the top places we visit on this trip.

DAY 1- Manila to Singapore

Travel time from Manila to Singapore is almost 4 hrs. We checked in around 2:00PM instead of going to our planned tourist attraction on this day, we decided to roam around the area of Geylang and familiarize the surroundings. Found some few affordable restaurants that cater Chinese and Indian foods but none of them suits our taste. Maybe because of its on-the-go kind of servings plus the cheap price they offered. I remember one time, we did try to eat and ordered 2 sets of breakfast coffee and sandwich that comes with 2 boiled eggs and to our surprise, the server gave us two mugs with the eggs inside the hot water. She said to let it sit for 3 minutes before we crack it. We almost finished eating but the 2 eggs are still soft and end up wasted.. but the coffee?it was a slamming! That’s the only thing we liked on that breakfast.

DAY 2-Treasure Bay Bintan Resort>Bugis Junction Mall

One of the reasons why we chose Singapore is that we can cross borders and include other countries on this trip like Indonesia. We left the hotel early and took a taxi from hotel to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to Bandar Bintan Telani Terminal for a day trip in Lagoi Bintan Island. Our departure time is 10AM. To avoid queuing, we book our ferry ticket online at www.directferries.com. Our entire day was spent in one enormous tourist spot called Treasure Bay Resort. For things to do and how to get there you can get more information when you visit www.treasurebaybintan.com.

Ferry from Singapore to Indonesia Bintan Resort

Bandar Bintan Telani Terminal Station- where you have to go through immigration process

Treasure Bay Bintan Resort

So, after a whole day of fun, we decided to leave the resort early just to give us time to look some goodies and souvenirs. We were so tired when we got back to Singapore. From terminal, we headed straight to the junction mall just to get a decent food that could satisfy my cravings for white rice since those restaurants nearby hotel are not good enough for me and my fiance. He only eats food that he knows and familiar with ingredients, plus he does not eat sea foods.

DAY 3- Bugis Street >Merlion> Pelican Restaurant

Our first stop on this day is the Bugis Street where we did a little shopping. This shopping center is just more like a Divisoria in the Philippines because of its varieties of clothing stalls and other stuff that offers low price. Average of cheapest clothes you can get is just S$10 but if you convert it to peso, which would be ₱308 as of today’s conversion rate.

Bugis Street Shopping Center

After getting some souvenirs like magnets, keychains and shirts for pasalubong or a gift to our loved ones, our next stop is Merlion park where we have to have our picture taken with the iconic background view of The Merlion Statue, a lion’s head and fish’s body that spouting water from its mount and Marina Bay Sands, a luxurious hotel that only wealthy people can afford. From Bugis Street, Singapore has a good transportation.. but we choose taxis for convenience and meter prices were fair. Going to Merlion Park, the average taxi meter falls to 10 Singapore Dollars (₱308).

After our moments taking great pictures in the park, we had our lunch late due to our ecstatic condition, seeing this place together for the first time. We dine in at the Pelican Restaurant, one of those restaurant situated beside the bay. It was very pleasurable eating while overlooking the scenic Marina Bay together.

DAY 4-Sentosa Island>Cable Car>Merlion

Sentosa Island is the best place to go in Singapore. It’s a premier island resort getaway that due to its enormous land, a day is not enough. This island Offers many attractions.. so if you planning a trip, you need to choose which part of it you want to go for the limited time for a day. We got there via train from Aljunied station that close to our hotel to Harbourfront. We took a round sky pass and had few stops to see every attraction along the way. The highlight of the day was the Iconic Merlion Statue, Seloso Beach, the Butterfly Park and the Cable Car.

DAY 5-Gardens by The Bay

This was the coolest and the most relaxed day in this entire trip, where we don’t need rush going to some places because we just allotted our time in one place only and that’s Gardens by the Bay. The hot temperature gets higher on that day, so we visit the place late in the afternoon since the place is best view during the night because of the floral lighting’s. Again we got there via taxi. As you notice, this article might not give you direction but just a mere information of what happened on to this travel. So we just ask the driver to take us somewhere specific like Garden’s by the bay.

As we get to the entrance, there’s a shelves of map that offers free to simply guide the tourists jump in one place to another as this garden is big, spanning 101 hectares of Nature Park with a lot of different attractions. Visit www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en.html so you can plan ahead, budget and choose your desired attractions.

After hundreds of pictures taken, we ate dinner at the Peach Garden. This restaurant is quite expensive so I’m not going to give details on that. I was craving for soup that night so I get Ramen but surprisingly, john ordered white rice with pork toppings. Usually his choice of food revolves only to pizza, pasta, burger and fries. Hehe..

Back to Manila!

We checked out from hotel early and headed to Changi airport to just wander around the world’s best airport. There are lot of attractions on its 4 terminals. It’s an experience you should not be missed as this airport is so huge that you have lot of something to do like shop, dine and try the spa massage while waiting for your flight.