Solo Korea Trip DAY 2 (part 1) – Gyeongbokgung Palace, Samcheongdong

Since I went to so many places on the second day, I will divide the itinerary for this day into 2 posts so that I can write more detailed information on this one. Here we go!

For the second day, I went to several historical places that I’ve been eye-ing for, with the main target was Gyeongbokgung Palace. After grabbing quick breakfast (read: good bread and milk) from nearby convenience store, I went directly to the palace by subway from my the nearest station from my stay and start strolling around. Here's roughly how's the palace looks like:

Quite amazed at how I can see the mountain as a background for the whole picture!

Just when I reached the place, the guard changing ceremony is being held. It’s just one simple and short ceremony, however what makes it attractive was the appearances of the troops, with traditional Korean hanbok which everyone adores. Managed to take several photos of them too.

Such a perfect timing for me to arrive there!

Anyway, back to the main spot for the day and a short intro, Gyeongbokgung Palace was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. It is the largest of the Five Grand Palaces built by the Joseon dynasty, which served as the home of Kings of the Joseon dynasty, the Kings' households, as well as the government of Joseon. In short, it was a must visit place when you're in Seoul and I would say it can’t be more true than that.

Now I can say I’m officially in Seoul!

The Palace details itself were quite fascinating, a total change of nuance for me here since what I am used to see were always Japanese Style Palaces and temples after all this time.

It took me around good 1.5 hour to totally enjoy the view with a rather slow pace. I noticed that some of the area need pre-reservation before visits.

When I finished with all the views and areas inside the palace, I went to go lunch and off to search for a place called Tosokchon Samgyetang that was recommended by my Airbnb host; which she said that it sells the best samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) in town. 

Here's a brief photo of how the restaurant looks like:

She said it was always crowded when its lunch time but LUCKY me, when I reached the place even around lunch time, there’s still no crowd there and I can directly go in and get seated!

It was indeed the best samgyetang that I ever had in my life! Rumors said that even the president of Seoul itself (dunno which generation though) have been here to eat the samgyetang too.

Heres what it looks like,

Yum.

And they even provide instruction how to eat the samgyetang the right way. That’s what I call creative and helpful!

The meat was just so soft and melts in my mouth. Would definitely order the 2nd one if my stomach capacity allows it..

After I finished my meal, I decided to go as soon as possible since I knew that the place were getting more and more crowded and there must be some queue outside (and I was right!) waiting to be seated.

From Tosokchon with wholly full stomach, I took a turn on a nearby market which unfortunately I forgot it’s name. It was quite interesting to see so I just went impulsively there for a while.

The food that the aunties selling were quite nice and appetizing! Too bad I'm so full already I didn't have the chance to try them at all.. Just look at those kimbap that are waiting to be eaten. Too bad.

From there I continued to make a walk route circling outside of Gyeongbokgung Palace’s back area directly to Samcheongdong area, passing several government area I guess, since it was somehow strictly guided everywhere.

So scary since the environment were suddenly became so official.. and every guards there look at me like I'm a threat to their government. haha. At least they did their job wholeheartedly.

Samcheongdong area itself was a more of a stylish area one, with some indie brand stores scattered all over the place. 

Since I didn’t have any intention to shop around here, I just did some window shopping and keep walking towards Bukchon Hanok Village, second main target of the day. I just knew it when I reached that area since the village itself is very distinctive, it starts when you see several old style traditional Korean house here and there.

For the first part, I will cut it here and definitely will post more of the photos including closing of day 2 on my next post!

And here are 2 bonus photos, several cute cafes and traditional houses which I found during my search of the samgyetang restaurant.

Please click links below to see which day you want to browse! (Will update the link one by one with every new post that I’ve uploaded)

See you on the next posts!

Solo Korea Trip DAY 1 – Myeongdong, N Seoul Tower

Continued from the previous post, my first day in Korea is literally cut to half day since the other half was spent transporting myself from Narita to Incheon to my Airbnb house. However I didn’t wait any longer as I’m very curious about this place called Myeongdong, which all shopper’s must-to-go place, and so here I am! 

Got some pictures of it too.

Actually what awed me is that:

1. So many (cosmetic) stores that even one brand can have 2 stores at the same time in a separated yet very near area,
2. So many food stalls to be tried, which stole my attention second after the stores haha.

Some food that I’ve tried was this Sundae (blood sausage) and Tteobokki (rice cake) sticks,

fish shaped croissant,

Ggyeranbang (Egg pancake?), and other stuff such as some rice drinks and so on that I didn’t even take picture of.

So much food that I ate it sums up my lunch and dinner.. And sorry for my misspelling on some food’s names, I don’t even know what they are till I take photos and googled it.

After finished munching and strolling around (and holding myself up to not shop right there at that spot) I decided to just walk towards N Seoul Tower which is not far away from Myeongdong area, around 15-20 minutes slow walk. To get to the top, I bought the round ticket for its railway that took me directly to the tower.

After reaching the end of the cable car (?), it was just a simple walk following the crowd until I found the road to the tower itself, and soon I saw the famous place where love locks were hanged here and there. Some of them were very creative on how they showcase their relationship with real weird stuffs.

Once I reached the N Seoul Tower, I bought the packaged ticket which consists of the tower entrance itself, additional Hello Kitty Museum and Toy Museum that temporarily available to be seen on that period. Not a real fan of Hello Kitty and Toy stuff, but went there anyway since I got the chance and time too, so why not?

Some of their display were very cute and cool though.

Quite amazed with their collection of action figures. Not my kind of tea but still, it was awesome.

Finished with the museum, its getting dark and finally went to the main spot of the day, the N Seoul tower. Here’s the famous spot to take photos of (taken after I get back down from the tower):

Scattered all over internet.

The view itself was like this:

It was nice however since it was quite foggy at that time, the view was not as clear as I expected it will be. And not trying to be rude here but I still prefer views from Tokyo Tower or Tokyo Skytree haha.

Stayed there a little bit longer for darker views.

Finish enjoying the view and contemplating about life, I finally decided to go back home after bought several snacks on the stall in Myeongdong (again) as my final dinner. 

Wrongly bought this spicy bomb chicken skin, dunno what it’s name, and it burns maan. 

Anyone know what is this?

Never again. 

Bonus photo, Myeongdong at night.

I didn’t shop at all on my first day for the sake of it was the first day (at least for me, shop at first day means zero self control), don’t want to spend my money yet, and note to myself that the earlier I shop, the harder it will took me to move to Busan later (but in the end I shop quite a bit too though..)

Well, with that chicken skin trap, I close up my first day in Korea and can’t wait to do it all over again with different itineraries the next day!

Please click links below to see which day you want to browse! (Will update the link one by one with every new post that I’ve uploaded)

See you on the next posts!

Solo Korea Trip DAY 0 – The Beginning

A quick long time no see!

I’ve promised you guys (and myself) that I will write series of my last year’s Korea solo trip which I will separate into several posts.

Since I went there for 8 days 7 nights, Maybe I will try to cover this within 8-10 posts to make this one a relaxed travel posts series. I will try to remember every single thing that I’ve experienced. However, since it was my last year’s August trip, I’m not sure if I can cover every single details of my trip. But hopefully this will be as fun and as informative as we would like it to be!

So excited for my first flight with Korean Air.

First thing first, here’s my itinerary for 8 days in Korea which covers Seoul and Busan:

1. N Seoul Tower, Myeongdong
2. Gyeongbokgung Palace, ate at Tosokchon Samgyetang, Samcheongdong, Bukchon Hanok Village, Changdeokgung Palace, Insadong
3. Garden of Morning Calm, Le Petite France, Nami Island, Dongdaemun
4. Off to Busan, Haedong Yonggung Temple, Haeundae Beach
5. Taejeongdae, Gamcheon Cultural Village, Gwangalli Beach
6. Centum City, back to Seoul - Hongdae
7. Karosukil, Sinsa-dong, Myeongdong (again!)
8.  Stroll around Ehwa University and go back home

I went with this itinerary after consulting with a friend that have lived in Seoul once; he said that 8 days 7 night only in Seoul will be very boring (And I found that it was sooo true) so I decided to include Busan on my travel itinerary. However please note that my main purpose for going to Seoul was to shop (those makeup price though… so cheap af) that’s why I’ve made several repeat visits to shopping areas to write off my shopping list. So if you won’t be shopping that much in Korea, within 8 days maybe you can go to other places beside Seoul and Busan too!

At the end of the post I will try to make lists of my expense; I hope you’ll get the image of how I spend my days in Korea for one week back then.

I remember that my first day were spent transporting myself from Narita to Incheon with morning flight, and went to my Airbnb house around Jongno. 

Incheon, yeay!

I spent quite some time in the airport, getting my pre-booked wifi-egg and trying to figure out how to buy subway card, get confused, and finally decided to just bought anything that the convenience store sells.

I read from the internet somewhere that I can get a train card with special packages for tourist, went to search for that card and it seems nobody knows about that one, finally I decided to get just the standard one in a convenience store inside the airport. Its just like this:

Me not getting the special card was kind of tolerable, since I realize that transport by train in Seoul was much cheaper than in Japan! I will try to write the details in the last post later!

So, after a long day figuring which way is which (which is the hardest part of every trip), and put my stuff at my room (it was 3 p.m at that time), I’ve decided to peek on Myeongdong, the famous shopping area; and nearby that, N Seoul Tower, since I thought the time will be just right to see beautiful sceneries on the top of the tower.

Before that, I managed to take photos of my Airbnb house! 

I picked the Korean traditional house style for the sake of the experience, and it was a great one indeed! The hosts were so kind too, and they have 2 fat cats (I didn’t take photos of them though). It was not as big as I expected it would be however it was just right for a solo short stay.

Glad with my room, I went off directly to see how my shopping spree area would be!

However just let me write the rest of my day one in Korea on the next post since this one is already too long imo…

Please click links below to see which day you want to browse! (Will update the link one by one with every new post that I’ve uploaded)

See you on the next posts!

My First Post Back in JA-KAR-TA

I remember every time I try to update my blog, the first thing that popped on my mind was about how I should consider writing more regularly, as I knew deep within that I’ll be updating my blog with longer and longer span between each post. I tried to promise myself but somehow updating a blog is as difficult as tidying up my life!

Such a long time since my last post on my blog. Reviewed it again and the last post that I uploaded was early of July last year! OMG. It has been 7 months ago and so much have been happening on the last 7 month, definitely. Several significant events happened on that period that I can share were:

1. Finally fully resign from my company in Japan and managed to pass all of those good-bye parties safe and sound (it was quite tiring for an introvert like me), while I
2. Manage to clear out my moving process from Japan to Indonesia too. It was such an exhausting process as so many steps have to be done such as selling stuffs, clearing my bank account, unregistering my utilities, packing and sending boxes, make reports on ward office, and everything else even I still couldn’t believe I passed all of those stuff alone.
3. While in the meantime before I went back Jakarta, I managed to travel to Seoul for around 10 days alone,
4. And checking my list for visiting Hokkaido too, alone!! And then I finally
5. Move back for good to Jakarta and adapt quite well; still hate the traffic jam though,
6. Manage to settle my tiny nail business, well, even though so far open for close families and friends,
7. Manage to get a job here in Jakarta; which I’m not sure yet whether it’s the one that I want to do for the rest of my career, but  it gave me a good chance to learn and grow,, and finally,
8. Passed 2016 safe and sound (since my hectic period on moving and resignation stuff, all I want to do at that time do is only get to pass 2016 peacefully in my apartment balcony back home in Jakarta, and it came true naturally. Hahaha.

I have to admit 2016 was not my best year and it was the most exhausting year of my life hands down, however I’m very grateful for it. It was exhausting, but it was fulfilling. I knew how far my limit is, and I learn to be grateful and feel content of what I already have.

However, adapting back to Jakarta’s lifestyle is no joke.

At first it was so nice, all of the friends and family, no more lonely times, everyone was there for you, and it’s like happily ever after. It’s like everything that I ever wanted when I’m in Japan came true in a flash.  However there will always be times when I’m missing what I had in Japan that I miss the most: the freedom of doing everything alone; the way I want, anytime.

I miss my freedom to do everything alone. I miss traveling alone. It was so easy to go just everywhere on my off day. I can go museums alone, go aquarium alone, exhibitions alone. I can go out of town alone, came back late alone, or maybe drink with one best friend until late, and it was safe for me to go back home very late. I miss all of that.

In Jakarta?? Nahhh. When I went out with my friends even just a little bit late, everyone as in my family will tell me to go home asap. I knew they are worried about my safety and I realize that too, since Jakarta’s safety is quite bad, but sometimes it provoke my annoyance, however on the other hand I can’t complain much about that. IT WAS SO HARD FOR ME TO HAVE MY OWN TIME HERE.

Actually the longing of freedom was so bad until at one point I realize that there will be no end to what I want unless I feel content about it. When you had freedom, you want a connection to people around you. When you got people protecting you, you miss your freedom. I went to Japan, but I wanted to go back to Jakarta, but when I’m in Jakarta, I really wanted to go back Japan. There will be no end of this unless I can sit down, try to pause a while and stop thinking about moving forward.

Sometimes I feel that that maaaybe what I really need was only a looong holiday for me from all of the accumulated stress in Japan? But I’m already here anyway. And I believe everything happen for a reason too.

What I can and have to do right now is just to live, enjoy the presence, and be content of what I have. I knew I’m still adapting, but I believe I can make it somehow, and everything will be better onward.

And I have to catch up with some friends that I haven’t met too for several years... (I’m running away from socializing too long already!)

To perk things up a little bit, maybe I will post about my trip to Korea and Hokkaido last time… For the sake of lighting up my travel spirit and routine blog post too!!

See you on my next post!!

Viva Character Nails!

I love love love character nails! However it was not a secret that I kinda hate to make them as it usually requires detail and comparability to what kind of character are you drawing. One slight miss (eyes too big, nose too small, et cetera) will ruin the whole balance and you're done for.

I've tried to practice my character nail art several times, some turn out quite good, some were ok.. some were a total mess hahaha. Well, I guess practice makes perfect?

So here I am showing you guys several of the characters that I've been trying to make (and worth to be posted) in the span of 3 years. Most of them were gel polish however I've tried to experiment with acrylic paint too in some of the designs. 

Nighmare before Christmas Series, and Sasaki from Tokyo Ghoul which once I'm obsessed with. On the very right was the super failure Daenerys from Game of Thrones. I think I should try to make it once again in the near time, see how much I have improved in drawing still life...

Lilo 3 years ago, Lilo 2 years ago, Lilo 1 year ago. Not so much improvement.. But glad I can make the line thinner in the Tinkerbell one!

Just some random character.. Moomin, the once-hyped Minions (I don't quite like them though).

Sailormoon nails!!! I've made this recently when I'm in a full nostalgic mode back from my visit to Sailormoon Exhibition which you can see the post here. Quite proud of these pieces :)

And this one is a very random character nails that I've tried to create myself as a requirement for a small nail design challenge online. Haven'y get the result yet, didn't expect to win too as long as I'm having fun with it.

And I think that's all with my character nail journey which definitely were not finished yet.

I realize that character nails is one of the nail art type which everybody likes for sure, and wanted to do even just once in their whole lifetime. So will definitely practice harder to make it perfect so that I can bring an ear-to-ear smile for my future customers later!

See you on my next post!