Seoul Review with cost calculator.
Lama dah plan nak buat entri pasal ni.
Even banyak dah entri pasal Seoul trip ni kat internet, still...nak share jugak.
Before went to Seoul, I did google many tips and read blogs to get information about Seoul. Most of the blogs will show the places of attraction and how getting there. It is very informative but still lack of something important. Cost. I mean detail for every expenses. We can at least estimate to the close amount if we know the price / cost isn't it?
I went to Seoul for 5D4N with another two friends of mine. 13-17 February 2014, end of winter. We booked via Air Asia Go (flight ticket + hotel). Seriously, Air Asia Go offer way cheaper compared to the real price to Seoul from Msia. I strongly recommend to use Air Asia Go if you want to go to Seoul. Many famous guesthouses listed in the package, so it is worthy choice.
We chose Limestay Guesthouse located somewhere in Jong-no area. Just nearby with Dongdaemun market (shopping area). We booked for triple room, 1 double bed and 1 single bed. Guesthouse is nice / cute but the room is little small I think. But they got bath tub in the bathroom! Very useful especially when the cold weather outside is trying to kill us. We got TV, fridge, floor with heating system and dressing table. Simple breakfast was included where they provide us with toast bread and coffee (Layan diri). Kitchen also open for all guest where we can actually use all the utensils and cook on our own. Just make sure to clean up after use it okay?
Air Ticket (return) + Accommodation (for 5D4N) : RM 841.00
Add-on luggage 20kg per person (return) : RM 130.00 (RM65 one-way)
Inflight meal (return) : RM 30.00 (RM15 one-way)
Cost : RM 1001.00
After arriving Incheon, we take AREX (airport railway) to the city of Seoul. I have downloaded subway apps (Jihachul) for android for our easy reference. Trust me, very useful. Try download it before you come to Seoul. It will show us time / cost from one station to another. T-money is a must! Same function like Touch n Go. You can buy at any mart there.The card cost us 2,500 won and we reload with 20,000 won. Reloading can be done at every station using machine provided.
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| Bought first drink. Too sweet. Tak boleh telan. |
We stop at Dongmyo station before walking down to the guesthouse. It takes around 5 to 10 minutes walking distance. (maps with pictures was provided by guesthouse through email). Check in time is 3pm but we arrived there around 12pm. So, we decided to take a look around the Dongmyo area and went to a small park nearby.There are a lot of street shops selling many kind of things around there. You can just kill the time by wandering around the street.
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| Serious sejuk! My hand was freezing. |
Once we done checked-in to our room, we all went to sleep to recharge our energy. -.-
6hours 20min journey. Super tired!
Woken up by phone alarm, its already 6pm.(local time). It start to dark outside there. Time difference Msia and Seoul is just 1 hour (Seoul is 1 hour faster). So, we decided to go out for dinner. We went to a restaurant recommended by my friend, Zarin somewhere in Sinchon. But I couldn't remember the restaurant name. We ate such a delicious meal (it is actually seafood ramyun with kimchi and rice cake). In cold weather, hot meal like ramyun is the best choice! Luckily we have Zarin for ordering the meals, or else we cant even read the menu or ask for order.hehe
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| Share 4 orang. Serious sedap!! 4 bintang! |
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| Tick what we want to eat..i couldn't understand any of it... |
Zarin pay for the meals so I dont know the exact price. Maybe around 20,000 won?
Then, we wander around to see the city. We went to Eunhwa university area where you can see a lot of teenagers/students hanging out there and a lot of shops selling cute accessories / cosmetics and many things. Good place to hang out.
Day 1
T-money : 22,500 won
Dinner : 20,000 won (5,000 won each)
Cost : 27,500 won
Next day, we went to Dongdaemun market (just 1 station from Dongmyo). There are shoes market where you can get better price for boots, sport shoes and even shoes for kids. The price is affordable and cheaper compared to other places in Seoul. After done take a look around, we move to Hongdae where actually the Trick Eye Museum located. The museum is worthy for money. A lot of unique paintings there and very funny to see.
The fees is 12,000 won per person for foreigner with the discount coupon. The fee is including for entrance to Ice Museum as well. There are also another famous place like Hello Kitty cafe, Coffee Prince cafe in this area. We bought some bread and coffee for energy booster after took heavy breakfast in the morning.
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| Ice Museum |
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We were then went to Itaewon for praying and dinner. Itaewon is famous for Muslim foods since Itaewon is a place for foreigner. So, there are a lot of Halal foods and also where the mosque is located.
We had korean food for dinner at Murree restaurant (recommended by bloggers). We ordered for bibimbap and other meal which cost us 36,000 won total. After dinner, we once again wandering around the city. We went to Myeong-dong, Namdaemun, and Cheonggyecheon stream.
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| Korean dish. (I'm not into korean food actually..) |
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| Cheonggyecheon Stream |
Day 2
Bread + Coffee : 8,000 won
Trick eye museum fee : 12,000 won per person
Dinner : 36,000 won (12,000 won each)
Cost : 32,000 won
Saturday morning! We going to Everland! Yes, the most exciting part is going to Everland.
We wake up in the morning, then take subway to Gangbyeon station where we can take bus (Bus 5700) to Everland. We also can take bus from Gangnam station, but it happened Gangbyeon is closer to us. I cant remember the bus fees but I think around 5,000 won one-way? Entrance fee to Everland cost us 35,000 won (for foreigner with discount coupon). We spent our day here till night and went back to guesthouse around 10pm. We ate shrimp burger (that is the only food we can eat..) and tried few rides there. Actually we were not able to cover even half of the whole rides, because of limited time (due to long queue) and time constraint. But, we managed to ride the most awesome roller coaster there! T-Express just a superb one!! Try this and you dont need to try other roller coaster..:P
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| Entrance door - Everland |
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| Skywalk to the downhill |
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| Snow Festival katanya..See the T-Express behind there! |
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| Baju putih belakang tu macam Kwang Soo kan? hehe |
Day 3
Bus fee : T-money
Everland fee : 35,000 won per person
Burger : 7,000 won per set (with drinks + fries)
Cost : 42,000 won
Sunday. A day before we going back to Msia, we went to Dongdaemun to buy shoes and shops a little bit. Spent quite some time here..before we went to Namdaemun for shopping again. And then, again to Myeong-dong for dinner, Yoogane (recommended by bloggers). We ate seafood fried rice where they actually cook the fried rice in front of you. The smell was very tempting and of course the taste is delicious. At least we have something good to eat. And that night, we were struggling packing up our luggage because my friends bought toooo many things!! Their luggage weighing around 25++kg each!
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| Berdiri jela dalam subway, it moves very fast. |
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I bought Running Man T-shirt (15,000 won) at Namdaemun and get this name tag for free. I chose Kwang Soo tag of course! The seller was laughing when I ask for Kwang Soo tag. Demm!
*The green sweater I bought for 10,000 won at Dongdaemun. |
Day 4
Shopping : .....
Dinner : 18,000 won (6,000 won each)
Cost : 6,000 won
Our last day here we did not go anywhere. Since we need to be at airport around 1pm, so we decided to check out at 11am after breakfast. From Dongmyo to airport will takes around 1 hour. I did reload for another 2,000 won for my T-money because I had insufficient amount to take the AREX.
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| Cakk! Breakfast DIY. |
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| Last day with Haha oppa |
Day 5
T-money reload : 2,000 won
Total cost for me for all (excluded shopping/souvenir) :
RM 1001.00
111,500.00 won (estimated around RM 356.80 with current exchange 312.5won=RM1.00)
Total : RM 1,357.80
We had limited choice for foods, so we did not spend much on foods. We ate DIY breakfast before going out (instant rice with cans food / maggi), and packed some biscuits/bread for lunch.
Actually we did not manage to cover most of the places of interest in Seoul. Namsan Tower, palace, outdoor ice skating, Han River...we did not have much time to go there..:(
Will plan for another visit, but not during winter I guess...too cold for me!
Extra information:
- For Limestay Guesthouse, you will need to pay 10,000 won for deposit key during check-in, but they will refund the deposit during check-out. Also, they will pay us 1,000 per day (depends how long we stay at Limestay) if we leave a review on Trip Advisor page for Limestay. I got 5,000 won for this!^^
- T-money can be used for subway / buses and for some shops as well. Total I spent 22,000 won which cost me around 1,100 won for one way journey using subway.
- Coffee is everywhere. The price is around 4,000 won to 10,000 won per cup depends on the cafe / coffee. I bought coffee at least twice a day for warming up my body.
- Winter in Seoul is very cold! The temperature at that time range 0oC to 5oC. It can turn to negative at night! My cheek is getting red and blistered a bit because of cold weather.
- Best place to shop for souvenir is Dongdaemun. You can wandering around Dongdaemun area and you will find many alleys which offer you cheaper price for fridge magnet, keychain, etc.
- Most of the restaurant in Seoul did not offer drinks, only plain water.
- We can buy instant rice at mart cost around 1,300 won per packet. Just heat it up using microwave.
- They not using water for their public toilet, got water only for the sink. So, please prepare necessary if going out.
- Bring can foods / own foods. Hard to get Halal foods here. We brought Rendang ayam / Kari / Meggi for our breakfast / supper. Microwave is provided, no worries.
- Their subway line is very big! And each station will consist of 4 to 6 exits. There are about 10 to 12 lines if not mistaken. So, make sure you understand properly how to read the maps, and ensure your exit way. Even it is the same station, but the distance for every exit is quite far. So, if you take the wrong exit, you may need to walk a bit to get to your destination. Most of the popular places will inform which exit you need to take. As first timer, wrong / lost in direction is forgiven..:P
- At Everland, there are praying room provided. Just beside the Mystery Mansion. If you find the door is locked, ask the key from the staff. They will open it for you. Got water pipe in the room so can take wudhu'.
- Just use broken English if you cant talk Korean language. They will understand you better.
- Incheon airport only allow 2 bags per person for hand-carry into cabin. 1 plastic consider 1 bag no matter how small the size. Same goes to handbag. So, if you have many plastic bag, combine it into 1 plastic or else they wont let you bring it in.
Overall, it was awesome trip!^^
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