Third Time: Korea (part 1)

Yeahey! Finally I have time to write about my steps to Korea! Well, I was not that busy actually recently :p

As you can see the title, yes, last February was my third time visiting Korea. I consider it as a luck and a bless! Really. Never imagined I will have the chance to go to Korea, not even once.

I will give a little bit throwback, so you could understand my term.

2013

It was all started at this year. My second sister (Agnes) was chosen to be an exchange student to Korea. She was not into Korea at all at that time. She chose Korea because the technology of her major (Biotechnology) is quite good in Korea.

Until this year, my family and I have never had overseas holiday further than Singapore. Except for my dad, I think he had travelled almost around the world as he got bonus from his company (Toyota). So you can understand why I never imagined to have overseas holiday, right?

Then, after around 6 months my sister stayed in Korea, surprisingly my dad and mom decided we would have holiday to Korea. WOW. WOW. WOW. It was summer in Korea. (we all go except my first sister because she haven't had the right to take leave holiday)

The preparation went well. My mom and I also have Korean Class level 1 in Korean Cultural Center Jakarta because we knew Korean people could not really understand English. So, we thought it would be better if we could read or speak Korean a little bit. hahaha, quite too much effort for a holiday yea?

All went well.............until the day of the flight. My dad got message from Air Asia that our flight was delayed for about 5-hour. HMMM, actually it was fine, but sadly we have bought flight as well from Seoul to Jeju just after this flight.

We transited at KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) in the MIDNIGHT. HAHA, we could do nothing, except ate and slept. All I could remember was we felt like a homeless, because the boarding room was really small and crowded. The food tasted not really good as well.

We arrived in Incheon Airport, Korea at 2pm. You know what? Our next flight to Jeju was at 3.20pm from Gimpo Airport (different airport). What a "nice" day. We straightly took the subway head to Gimpo. When we arrived at Gimpo, my dad, mom, Ed (brother) and I went to check in. Cag (short name for my second sister) went to the airport locker to drop our big baggage from Jakarta. Because there was no way for us to bring all these big baggage all around in Jeju. (Our plan before: after arrived at Incheon, we dropped our baggage at my sister dorm first, then continue to Gimpo, but everything changed because of the delay). We reaaaalllyy REALLY went in hurry as fast as we can. But it was just our first time here and cag's Korean was not really fluent at that time (I say at that time), so you could imagined the rempong I faced.

Sadly we couldn't check in without cag, the staff asked for a complete people because the flight was about to take off. ERRRR, so my dad went looking for cag. I was really panic!! Then after 5-10 minutes, I decided to go looking for dad and cag as well, because I could not just wait there. Maybe after 10 minutes, I saw them and we went in hurry back to the check in point. I still remember at that moment, my mom and Ed already sat down and said the flight already took off. hahaha, funny day, wasn't it?

Shock. Sad. Tired. All at once. Then we looked for another flight to Jeju, and we got the flight on the day after tomorrow. By the way, the tickets were 80% refunded, kinda fair. At that time, I felt bad. But by the time went by, I just knew that it happened for a reason. YES, if we went to Jeju just like our plan before, the weather was really bad there, rainy all day long, but the weather in Seoul was good. Then, when we went to Jeju with the reschedule plan, the weather was so good with the sunshine, so we could enjoy our trip that mostly outdoor. On the contrary, the weather in Seoul was bad. See? Even in the worst situation, God was in control without us noticing :)

It was our first time to Korea and overseas, we were a bit "norak". First time try Korean food (ODENG MY FAV MY LUV, tteokbokki, kimbab, korean ramyun that tasted just like indomie with less salt, mandu, korean bbq, sam gye tang), Korean tourism place (Dong Dae Mun, Myeong Dong, Insadong, Nam Dae Mun, Bu Pyeong, Pororo Theme Park, Mount Seorak, Seoul Tower, Teddy Bear Museum, Ripley's Believe it or not museum, mysterious road Jeju). Until now, I am so in love with Don Chicken (Korean fried chicken) in JEJU. IT TASTED SO SO SO GOOD. :3

While we were at Korea, Cag was not able to always accompany us everyday and everywhere. So, there come the times when we have to go by OURSELVES. OURSELVES. WKWKWK modal les bahasa korea cuma 3 bulan. I know I do not need to explain it, because you already can guess we lost most of the time and could not really speak with the native because most of them just understand Korean, we rely on the body language. Especially when we wanted to go shopping in the traditional market without cag. wkwkwk. But at the end we make it and enjoy it!

In the airport, before went to Jeju.

In Jeju, with hareubang statue.

2014

I thought in 2013 was my first and last time went to Korea. But the fact was different. In 2014 around my mom's birthday, my family and I had another chance to go to Korea completely all of us, with my first sister as well, grandma and my dad's brother and his wife.

This time, the trip was more organised than the first one wkwkwk. Most of the places were the same (Seoul Tower, Mount Seorak, Myeongdong, Jeju, etc.). But we also went to some new places, such as Jeonju, where we could live and feel the Korean culture. There was no hotel there (if I am not mistaken), we slept at Korean Traditional House (Hanok). (Read more about my experience in Jeonju)

Nothing really shocking in this trip, luckily :D But my mom were having birthday there! wew so fancy wkwkwk.

We went there on winter season with the hope to see SNOW. YEAH, I wanted to see my first snow. But I didn't really see snow, just a very very soft and light snow blended with ice in Mount Seorak. I still remember the very first time went out from the apartment by foot, I felt like electrocution (kesetrum) because it was tooooooooooooo cold and I did not really wear proper outfit (considering this was my first time having winter).

I am getting used to with Korea this time. Oh btw, learned from the first trip with miserable transit, this time we took a direct flight from Jakarta to Korea with Garuda Indonesia. It was so comfy.

Don Chicken <3<3<3

Don Chicken with cheese <3<3<3 MISS YOU

2015

This year, my mom and sister Angel went to Korea in December in Cag's birthday. I was still in the UK, so I did not join. My dad and Ed also did not join, they stayed at home because Ed still have final exam.

Okay, so these are the highlight of my first and second trip to Korea, I will continue with my third time experience in the next blog because I will give some reviews about some tourism places or foods that I hope will be useful for the readers who are K-POP lovers or plan to go to Korea. Btw I think I need to say it now that I am not a K-POP lovers. I just watch some good movies (W, Master Sun, Playful Kiss because there is Kim Hyun Joong, Winter Sonata before I went to Nami Island) and listen to their soundtrack. That's all.

See you in my next blog!

Amelia Stephanie