South Korea

1

Certified Traveler

August 12, 2012

I’d like to consider myself a traveler. One may not agree if to consider the limited number of places I have been to but then again I have my own fair share of travel tales and I have experienced several cultures apart from my own. Not only that, there are a lot of travel magazines that could broaden my limited knowledge about an interesting place, there are TV travel shows and yes a lot blogs are only for travel just like this one.

So bear with me when I declare, “I am a certified travel enthusiast.”

Seoul, South Korea visit in 2010

Every time I get to visit a place, I am always fascinated with the unique culture that the place has. I’d like to say that the culture of any place or country is directly related to their religious beliefs. Take Thailand for example, the tenets of Buddhism has greatly influenced how Thai people live their daily life just as how Islam governs the way of life to so many people here in Malaysia.

If there is one country that stirs up my interest these days, that would be Mauritius. Wikipedia by this time cannot provide statistics of their religious beliefs because it has been removed from their census to promote Mauritianism. This is an interesting challenge for any traveler like me to experience their culture first hand once I get there and make my own definitions and descriptions according to my own observations.

If I’d get the chance to go there, I’d surely grab it but as to when should I book my flights to Mauritius still remains uncertain.

Here’s hoping that would be sooner.

: Seoul, South Korea, Uncategorized
25

A Quick Trip to Seoul, South Korea

January 24, 2011

This is the continuation of my travel tale on my trip with my husband to the US in the early year of 2010. Wow. Took me a year to finally write the finale. My apologies.

We took the Delta Airlines from LAX (Los Angeles Airport) in California. It was such a long wait at the counter as the security was very tight due to the failed bombing plan of the Delta Airlines in Detroit a few weeks before that. Good thing we went there early.

Our flight was connecting from LA to South Korea and from South Korea to Kuala Lumpur. We realized we had 10 hours of transit time in South Korea. My husband checked on the transit tour packages and we asked around whether we could go inside the country (go out of the airport). We were not sure if we could or I would need a visa to enter South Korea. But they said as long as it was a tansit and I had a US Visa, it was okay. And so, we lined up at the Immigration counter to find out more about the transit tour. One of the immigration officers helped us with it. That was a blessings.

When we finally passed the Immigration department, The first thing we noticed was, outside was very cold. And when we looked further, there were flakes… yes, flakes, falling on the ground. Snow! There were snows all over. I could jump for joy at the sight of snow. I almost did.

You know when you read my travel  tale in Atlanta, I was hoping to see a real snow. I only saw some streaks of snow on the rooftops. And that’s all. I was a bit disappointed. It didn’t help that we learned it started snowing in Atlanta the day after we left. I was in despair, you see. It was my first time to be in the US and I was really hoping to see snow.. but oh well…

And then, in South Korea, there it was, snowing heavily.

I was ecstatic.

Good thing I was hand carrying my coat. (It didn’t fit into our luggage). And so it helped keep me warm. My husband had only sweaters so the girl at the tour company lent him a thick coat.

Me, feeling cold and cool to be doing a 5-hour transit tour in Seoul, South Korea

Visited the Palace. These are the palace guards.

South Korean foo was in the package. My husband ordered Bibimbap.

I ordered Korean barbecue

Starbucks – direct translation of Starbucks in South Korean.

After our 5-hour transit tour, we still had time to rest at Incheon Airport. But really, I could never stop thanking God for making our trip complete with an experience of  snow in South Korea.

And you know how much we paid for the 5-hour transit tour inclusive of lunch? It cost us 25$/pax to do it. So cheap, yeah?

So just in case you have enough time while at the Incheon Airport for transit, check out their transit tour. It’s worth doing it.

And now me wonders… when can I go for trips like these again?

Hopefully this year.

This time, with the whole family.

: asia, Seoul, South Korea, travel tips, travels, visa