DAY 1 in SEOUL: Transforming in kpop stars, maybe?

Day 1: 
• Take International Taxi to apartment
• Visit Cecica Hair Salon @ Edae
• Shop around Edae
• Watch Banpodaegyo Bridge Moonlight rainbow fountain (Too tired to head down, guess I will have to go next time I go Korea >.<)
• Go to Lotte Mart

 We headed to Changi Airport on Friday night for our Asiana flight at 1.30am. It is a direct flight and we will reach Incheon Airport at 9.05am. Read my detailed flight review >>here<<

Breakfast on flight

Needed to queue a bit to clear the customs. Once we collected our luggage, we went off to collect our portable wifi. It was a looong walk to counter A. When we took the escalator up, we came out nearer to counter J. Anyways, you just need to provide the staff with your pick up number and the staff will pass the package to you. The package comes with the return package for you to put the wifi into to pass back to Hanjin Express counter. Read about my reservation from wifi-korea >>here<<

Place to collect & return our portable wifi

Then we headed take a taxi to our apartment. We went to the International Taxi counter between gate 4 and 5. The staff then told us to take a seat while we wait for the taxi to arrive. It took us around 50mins to reach our apartment. So I guess the trip duration using a taxi is around the same as taking the train; however, without us needing to pull our luggages around.

When we reached the apartment, we cannot check in yet. I have checked with our host if we can drop our luggage earlier and she has told us during cleaning time, we can put our luggages in. At the apartment, the host's husband was cleaning the room and he helped us put in our luggages and also passed us the building's security card and portable wifi. Yeah! Since we will need the security card to enter the building after 7pm and we won't be returning to the apartment before that, it was nice!

Then we head off to our 1st stop! Ewha women's university station! We headed to Bonjuk (본죽) for our brunch! For detailed directions & review, read >>here<<

Store front

Menu

Abalone Porridge

Mushroom Oyster Porridge

Hot Seafood & Vegetable Porridge

Crabmeat Porridge

Then it's time to spend a few hours in Cecica Hair! Read my short review >>here<<

Store front

After doing our hair, we walking around Edae to shop! We bought this to snack on along the way! It is not bad!

After shopping, it's time to eat again! We had dinner at Alchon (알촌 이화여대점). It's time for bibimbap! Their bibimbap are all spicy ones though! >.< For detailed directions & review, read >>here<<

Store front

Bibimbap!

Then, it's dessert time at Homilpat (호밀밭)! :D Our first patbingsu in Korea! For detailed directions & review, read >>here<<

Store front

Watermelon bingsu & original patbingsu

We then went to Lotte Mart to buy banana milk & some other drinks as well as breakfast for the next day! Didn't remember to take a photo of our purchases though, I was having a headache by then; most likely due to lack of sleep! >.< Remember t bring your own plastic bag or carrier when we visit Lotte Mart since you need to pay for carrier. They do provide recycled cardboard for you to put your things into boxes though.

Finally, we head back to our apartment! More picture of the Seoul apartment at airbnb >>here<< For my detailed review of my stay, click >>here<<

Picture given by host

And... that's the end of Day 1!

*Continue to Day 2!~

Cecica Hair Salon at Edae

Seems that I am always doing my hair when I am overseas.. This time I did magic volume curl in Seoul. I read about Cecica >>here<< You can read her posts for more details and directions. Also, visit Cecica's website >>here<<

On the day we reached Korea, we headed to Edae to do our hair! It was a good time to do our hair since we can rest while doing or hair! We did take a midnight flight and this time, I didn't really get much sleep >.<

Cecica Hair

 

Before and after photo 

*not sure you can really see the curls cos my shirt is too dark*

Basically, magic volume is supposed to make your hair look less limp and give your hair more volume. I did magic volume curl + treatment + cut.

I had made a reservation before going to Korea from their website. Once we arrived, we told them we wanted to do magic volume. My hair stylist recommended to straighten the top part of my hair and curl my hair from mid-length down. I agreed.

Anyways, I was too tired to take pictures and was just struggling not to fall asleep. So do read  >>here<< for more details. I think her post is very detailed and with pictures! What I definitely would recommend people to do when in Korea is to do their hair treatment! I think the treatment is good and lasts for quite some time! I do like my curls as well :D They are surviving my laziness the time I post this >.<

Address: 양하빈헤어센스, 37-22 Daehyeon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Opening hours: 11am to 9pm (Weekdays) / 11am to 8pm (Weekends)

Getting there: Ewha Womans Univ. station Exit 2
Contact/Reservation: Fill in your details here and they will respond

pre-KOREA [PART 2]: Other reservations & Itinerary

-continued from previous post-

Other reservations made in advance
Airport transfer
Early September, I booked an International Taxi to head to Incheon airport from our apartment. I booked a large taxi since there are 6 of us. We will be using this taxi to go to our apartment from the airport; without booking. No reservation is needed if you want to ride the international taxi from the airport. The rates seems reasonable since the cost will be shared among 6 of us and we do not need to drag our luggage to and fro the airport!

Changdeokgung Palace Guided Secret Garden Tour
I have booked the guided secret garden tour >>here<< The only way to visit secret garden is by guided tour. No payment is made online; you pay when you are at Changdeokgung Palace. They have specific time frame for different languages, so it would be good to know and plan the timings you want to visit the palace.

ITX to Gapyeong (To Nami Island)
You can booked your ITX tickets in advance from korail Japanese site / English site to reserve seats! ITX trains departs from Yongsan station and Cheongnyangni station to Gapyeong station. Reservation can be made up to one month in advance. You need to key in your credit card number to confirm the reservation. It costs 4,000 won per person for departure from Cheongnyangni station.

Steps for online reservation
1. From the English site, click on "Korail Pass Reservation"

2. You will be guided to their booking site. Go to "Rail Tickets" and click on "Booking Online".

3. You will be at the booking page. Select your dates and station; whether  departing from Yongsan or Cheongnyangni station. Alighting station will be at Gapyeong. From Cheongnyangni station, it takes 40 minutes to reach Gapyeong.

4. Select your preferred timing and complete your details and credit card number. A confirmation page will appear and we need to print out this confirmation page as well as bring your passport to any Korail station to collect the ITX tickets 

Additional portable wifi from WiFi-Korea
I reserved for an additional portable wifi from wifi-korea. We will have 1 portable wifi provided by our airbnb host in Seoul. However, since there are 6 of us and we will split our groups into 2 occasionally, we figured out it will be better to have wifi for each group to stay connected to one another.

A deposit of USD100 is charged to the credit card on top of the daily rental rate. The deposit will be returned once the wifi is returned to them in proper condition and no data is exceeded. You can choose to collect and/or return the wifi from Incheon airport or your hotel at an additional charged on 5 USD each.

Wifi-korea has 2 types of portable wifi. A comparison between them available from their site below.
1.  Everywhere Speed Pack (ESP)

Price: USD $3.99 & 700MB per day
Connectivity: Everywhere in South Korea including Jeju & DMZ
Speed: up to 100 Mbps
Battery: 8 to 10 hours

2. Urban Data Pack (UDP)

Price: USD $2.99 per day & Unlimited data
Connectivity: Seoul, Busan and Metropolitan Cities. No coverage in Jeju, Sokcho, Gyeongju, Nami island and ski resorts. UDP signal gets weak in buildings, and very poor in COEX and Lotte World. Network speed gets slower after 1 GB per day
Speed: up to 10 Mbps
Battery: 5 to 7 hrs

Since we will be going to Nami island and Lotte World, we decided to go for the former; i.e. Everywhere Speed Pack (ESP). We should have enough data usage per day since we have another portable wifi and when we are in the apartment, there is internet as well. Will do a review on this once I'm back from Korea :)

Cecica Hair Salon
This was a rather last minute plan to do our hair in Korea. After some research, we decided to make a reservation with Cecica(Korean site). The price seems reasonable and the reviews seem quite good. Basically, you fill in your request under 'Reservation' and  wait for their response.

Moving on.... This is a sample on my planned itinerary. As usual, it's quite packed, so the actual trip will most likely vary from this plan slightly.

Planned Itinerary
Day 1: 
• Take International Taxi to apartment
• Visit Cecica Hair Salon @ Edae
• Watch Banpodaegyo Bridge Moonlight rainbow fountain
• Go to Lotte Mart

Day 2:
• Visit Changgyeonggung Palace
• Guided Secret Garden Tour at Changdeokgung Palace
• Walk around Bukchon Hanok Village
• Check in Bukchon Maru (Hanok)

Day 3:
• Eat home-made traditional korean breakfast in hanok
• Explore Samcheongdong
• Visit Gyeongbokgung Palace
• Eat Ginseng Chicken at Tosokchon
• Head to Bangsan Market
• Shop at Insadong & take hanbok neoprints at Ssamzie-gil complex

Day 4:
• Visit Lotte World
• Shop at Lotte Duty Free Department Store

Day 5:
• Shop at Ehwa Women’s University
• Visit Trickeye museum
• More shopping at Hongdae

Day 6:
• Take ITX to Nami Island
• Go to Gangnam

Day 7:
• Visit Everland

Day 8:
• Explore Sinsa-dong Garosu-gil Road
• Head to N Seoul Tower
• Shop at Myeongdong

Day 9:
• Relax at Siloam Spa
• Visit Lotte Mart
• Free time

Day 10:
• Head to Incheon Airport
• Last minute shopping in airport

And now~ all that's left is to go to Korea!! WE ARE 17 DAYS AWAY!!! CAN'T WAIT!!
Then it will be time for me to slowly update my blog about my trip! :D