Last full day in Korea.
*cue ugly crying*
I always say time passes by way too fast, but my time in Korea honestly felt like it was going by way too quickly. On our last day, it felt like it was only yesterday we arrived Incheon Airport!
Thankfully, we got to see almost all the things we planned on seeing in Seoul,
and we got to meet Shinee.. so....
The last day was pretty chill,
we re-visited our favorite place in the entire city, Hongdae, and also made a stop at Ehwa Woman's University, which was 2 stops from Hongdae and about 5 minutes away.
But first thing's first, before going back we had to have our Indian food.
Seriously lah people, it's so good ok!
If you do get to visit Seoul one day, please just come here. I know the idea of eating at an Indian restaurant in Korea is stupid, but really.. It tasted better than anything we had on the trip.
After eating our can-feed-a-whole-family feast, we headed to Ehwa.
Ehwa is similar to Hongdae in the sense that it had a youthful vibe because of the university there. Ehwa Woman's University is an all-girls private university, and takes up probably half of the entire Ehwa area. Located right in front of the university are rows and rows of..yup, you guessed it..shops!
These shops are incredibly affordable, the cheapest option you'll get around Seoul. It's catered for the students at the university, so you'll find clothes that Korean women in their early 20s would be wearing, you'll find heaps of affordable (quality!) cosmetics, affordable places to eat, toooons of beauty & hair salons, everything!
It's also more on the feminine side, although you do get men's clothing here and there, but nothing compared to the variety for women.
When you exit the train station, you'll immediately see the rows of shops.
After a 5-10 minute walk through the shops, you'll find yourself at the gates of the campus grounds.
I am not exaggerating right now, it is THE most beautiful campus I've ever seen in my entire life..and I've seen freaking Cambridge ok.
Ok we've got to stop the peace sign hahahaha
Beautiful, right????
And I'm telling you, the pictures don't do justice to the actual campus. Like, it is at least a thousand times nicer in person. Stunning!
Oh, and the campus is also open to the public, it wasn't like we broke into the area or anything..
Though, I would have if I had to, it was that pretty!
After touring the campus, we decided to go back and do a little packing (a.k.a freak out at the amount of things we have and figure out how the hell we were suppose to fit everything in four bags with 30kg allowance).
That night, we went around Hongdae for the last time *sobs*
It was a Friday night, so Hongdae was as lively as ever. As usual, we spent a million years deciding what to have for dinner. I don't remember what we had, but it was probably an "Ah screw it lah" decision, as per all our meal choices were in Seoul.
The streets of Hongdae were filled with buskers all along the road with their own circle of audience.
The larger circles were usually a bunch of girls surrounding (read: gawking over) a group of guys dancing to k-pop songs. That particular circle may or may not consist of Nadia and I....
Not admitting, not denying anything....
Warning:
next few pictures are filled with peace signs.
It started to become a habit there.
Nadia didn't take a picture of it, but I had Always tattooed on my wrist by an artist at one of the stalls along the streets. Temporary, but lasted me for a good week.
Nadia didn't want one, but later found a henna stall and did hers there. Hers lasted 2 seconds before it started fading away.
*cue evil laugh*
After that, we literally dragged ourselves back to the apartment. Our last day in Seoul was just filled with walking, we wanted to take in every last inch of the city before we bid adieu.
As tired as we were, we had to continue packing and stuff our last minute shopping we got from Hongdae into our luggages.
"Err.. If we wink at the dude at the counter, do you think he'll not make us pay for our extra 60kgs?"
Yeah.. You thought I was exaggerating, huh..
This whole suitcase was filled with only my k-pop merch, and this was before my mini heart attack when I found more in the closet.
So after we settled packing, we literally took 2 seconds to fall asleep, which was a good thing because we had a busy morning the next day.
Of course, we planned a busy morning, but I ended getting up early the next morning and lil miss Nadia was happily sleeping on the bed. Shook her a couple of times but I gave up and woke her up the hard way by cleaning the place really loudly. Worked for a while, then she fell back to sleep.
But since I've always been one to get extra worked up about being at the airport early and refuse to let my inner Malaysian "ala lek ah lambat lagi" get to me (result of staying in a Palli palli! environment for a week), I started early with running down to get breakfast.
When I got back, Nadia was up and we started cleaning the place.
In Seoul, it's super important that you recycle that they even have different plastic bag colors for different wastes, like green for food waste, yellow for paper, etc. They also had designated bins to throw them into, so our first hour was just sorting that out and throwing trash. Fun.
But no, really. It was actually quite fascinating, and the fact that every. single. household. in Seoul did it is beyond me. They are so disciplined.
I think if it were to be implemented here in Malaysia, everyone would spend the first year complaining to the government about how burdensome it is and how much money they're "wasting", and then spend the rest of the coming years not bothered by that law.
Don't you dare tell me that isn't true, because that would just be sad lying.
We couldn't meet up with our Airbnb host, Jenny, before we left the apartment because we had to leave the apartment at 11am to catch an hour train ride to the airport.
Hongdae was directly linked to the airport AREX so it was pretty easy for us to get to Incheon Airport. In the train, I remember just staring out the window with suuuuuch a heavy heart and determination in my eyes that I would return to Seoul next year.
We were early when we reached the airport, so we had something to eat before we queued up at the check-in counter. There was an international food court (Thank you, God!) so we just had a small meal to lapis perut since we already had something to eat for breakfast.
Then we made our way to the counters.
Did you know Incheon Airport was awarded Best Airport in the World for consecutive years?
When Nadia and I saw that, we were like yeah oh wow cool. But dude, really. Yeah oh wow cool.
Even though our counter was the AirAsia counter, we were served by the most courteous group of staff I have ever encountered in my entire existence. I never knew a bunch of people who you've never met could be so helpful and kind. Ha macam tu.
Like, you've got to be a big deal to freaking beat the Japs, right? Like, how the freak do you top Narita airport??
Dude.. I've never been to Japan but I don't have to go anywhere else in the World to know that Incheon Airport is simply the best airport in the World. So, so efficient.
When we were queueing, the digital clock showed 12.58pm and the counters were suppose to open at 1pm, and being so used to Malaysian timing I expected the counters to open in 30 minutes.
Yeah nope no such thing in Incheon. At exactly 12:58:40, there was a 20-second announcement in 4 different languages announcing the opening of the Seoul-KL AirAsia counter. At exactly 12:59:58, the announcement ended and the whole row of staff behind (ALL) the counters stood up and bowed.
At exactly 13:00:00, all counters were open and the line that consisted of at least 3/4 of an aircraft disappeared by 13:08:00.
It's stupid but I got freaking goosebumps just queuing in line at a bloody airport.
These Koreans.. sigh..
Jinjja daebak.
KLIA2, jangan harap lah masuk sama category as the Koreans lah please stay in your lane and remain in your own World of rude staff and horrible customer service.
As much as I love my city and my country, and as much as I complain about it I really do love it a lot and am incredibly grateful at how less problematic it is compared to so many other countries, I just wish all of us (yup, me included) would pick up some of these praise-worthy traits these Koreans have. It really isn't difficult at all.
We're just.. too relaxed. Everything is "Takpe lah!" "Later lah!" "No need lah!" "Lambat lagi lah!".
I don't know what we lose if we just put that extra effort into things and go that extra mile, just 'cause. And not wanting anything in exchange, just living it as a lifestyle.
In Korea, if you tip a waiter it's seen as an insult because good service isn't suppose to be paid for. Which totally makes sense, you don't owe them for being nice to you..
In Malaysia, not only are you already charged with service charge, you'll get a displeased look if you keep your change so you feel obliged to.
It's not that I'm advocating a worked up lifestyle and getting stressed about every little thing, but to just be a bit more disciplined and considerate towards people who don't plan on leading such a low paced life (yes, I'm looking at you, families who take leisurely walks in IKEA and blocks the entire World from walking pass them, what is your purpose in life!!!!)
Surprisingly, even to me, there are things that Malaysia has that Korea doesn't, and I value them very dearly. Every country is unique to it's own, and Malaysia is different than many countries I've been to. I don't think I can live anywhere else but here, and I can't travel out of this country more than three weeks without missing it like crazy.
For example, we don't have crazy neighboring countries living every day of their lives planning to take us down, let's just put that out of the way.
We also have food that taste..like something. I get so fed up eating when I travel and have everything taste like paper or sand. It is also incredible comforting to be in a place where you understand everything everyone is saying.
See? I don't hate Malaysia that much.
This trip has been everything I thought I wanted and needed. Seoul is so beautiful and I cannot wait to go back very very soon, Insha Allah. Perhaps even bring my parents along.
I also want to work in Korea in the future. I'm taking up Korean for my core module in my undergraduate studies and am studying really hard to master the language.
Once I get language barrier out of the way, I hope to make more Korean friends and live out my Seoul dream working in a Korean fashion firm.
Next step: Korean boyfriend.
Ok bring it on!
Annyeong!
Tania
