Besides Learning to Love Kimchi, I Learned That:

Note: I’m supposed to write this when all of my travel stories about each places that we went to have already been posted. But since I just simply know that it would take quite some time to finish all of those, I just decided to write this when I can still have the grasp of the words that relate to all the things that I’ve learned in a four-month duration---from the visa processing, itinerary planning, up to our four-day stay in Seoul. Sure, this might be a bit anti-climactic in relation to the loads of travel stories and snapshots that I have been posting but you may take away all of those and what would remain in me for years and years to come are these: lessons that can only be learned when one travels in an unfamiliar place.

1. The entries in your bucket list (even the ones which you think are the craziest) have actually the possibility of being crossed out one day.

2. In relation to the processing of our needed documents for the visa, I’ve learned that nothing that is of great value is easy. 

3. I might be scared to death inside, but I can actually do things for the first time, alone.

4. Even if I am perfectly capable of doing things, it helps to have people who are willing to make things a whole lot lighter for you.

5. If your train is travelling in the opposite direction in relation to the place where you’re actually going to, just laugh it off. There’s no use beating yourself of how dense you can be at times. Go down in one station and just buy another token. By then, you’ll never get lost even if you try.

6. The best way to kill time when the soles of your feet are screaming for surrender is to sit in a corner of a busy and crowded place and do people watching. It never fails.

7. Always bring a roll of fresh socks and a handy scarf when travelling. These are must haves especially for cold-sensitive persons (Like me!)

8. A very long travel by night in a bus while being alone is a must have experience.

9. Follow the advice of people older than you are when they say that you start traveling while young. You can never enjoy travelling as much as when your knees are still on their proper gear.

10. Travelling into a new place requires more courage than expenses.

11. Studying the road and subway system of the place wouldn’t guarantee that you wouldn’t get lost. A map is way different from the actual place. Be prepared to get lost and for a little adventure.

12. When lost, the ancient practice in order to be found still holds true: Ask for directions. 

13. Always read signboards and road signages. They will be part of your support system in a foreign place.

14. Being in a foreign place requires vigilance. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t smile or say hello to strangers.

15. Filipinos are everywhere.

16. No matter how discouraged we could be about our country, you will be surprised at how many foreigners will express their love for ‘pinas upon mentioning that you are a Filipino.

17. When you order unfamiliar dishes, be prepared to be served with wriggling creatures. So, think of strategies to be able to eat these living creatures.

18. Soju is an alcoholic drink no matter if it’s one of your great desires to drink it. So, if it tastes like ethyl alcohol, swallow it anyway, and smile your sweetest in the camera.

19. Take a lot of snapshots, no matter how narcissistic others may think about you. Many years from now, when you have forgotten the details of your travel stories , a glimpse of these photographs may just be what you need to ignite your memory. 

20. Don’t box a certain race unless you’ve been to their home country. 

21. When the plane finally takes off, no matter how cynical you may be or how short was your stay in a certain place , you will definitely feel the pang of separation anxiety. Just smile and realize that you can always come back. Or if not, just put in mind that there are unfamiliar places that are still waiting.

22. I’ve read once that if you want to know a certain person, travel with him/her. Then, you will know how they would react to challenging situations, long hours of waiting and walking, and unexpected circumstances along the way. And I must say that Ahne is one of the most awesome travel buddies that I’ve been with. I haven’t heard a single complaint when we had to wait or walk or when we got lost several times---we just laughed everything off. Nor did she threaten to just leave me (Ahahahahahaha!) when I had one of my scatter-brained episodes.

But,the most important of all these lessons is: Amidst all the unfamiliar faces in an unfamiliar place, God will be traveling with you.

SEOULful Trip, Day 2: 2nd Destination, Gyeongbukgong Palace

We originally planned to spend our second day in Seoul to have palace hopping. There are five grand palaces located in Seoul, but we narrowed down our destination into two----the Gyeongbukgong Palace and the Changdeokgung Palace.

After about several minutes of looking for the city subway and failed, our poor tired feet were screaming for surrender that we just decided to take a taxi going to the Gyeongbukgong Palace.The Gyeongbukgong Palace which is the biggest among the five palaces, means “A Palace Greatly Blessed By Heaven”.

When Japan invaded Korea in the 20th century, this walled palace was destroyed by fire but was later on restored in 1867. It took about 40 years to fully complete the restoration of the palace.

We arrived in the Palace at around 9:00, just in time for its opening. We decided to buy the integrated ticket which would allow us to enter into the 5 palaces. Here’s my Dora-epic-fail-story again: since I was the finance officer (In Filipino, tagahawak ng pera. Ahahaha!) during the trip, I immediately went into one of the ticket booths without reading the signages. All normal and rational people know that signages should be read for they are like guidelines most especially if one is in a foreign country. But I’ve long accepted the fact that there seems to be a misconnection in some specific neurons in my brain that makes me let’s just say, different . So after like a litany of my inquiries about the integrated ticket and some other essential questions a tourist would basically ask, the woman just stared at me weirdly with crossed eyebrows and was trying to tell me something. Pasalamat ako that I was a teacher in a Chinese school before and I recognized right away that she was speaking in Chinese. Then I looked up at the signage which says, “For Chinese Tourists”----and the assistance in English was just in the booth right beside me. Plus, what was embarrassing was that, the signage was not small, it was humungous! O ‘di ba, misconnections in the neurons, wouldn’t you agree?

Oh, think whatever you would like to think alright. Yes, you’re seeing it correctly. I am hugging the Gyeongbukgong Palace Gates. In one of my posts in this blog, I have mentioned how I went through a “Rooftop Prince” insanity period and I was smitten in love with its lead character played by Mickey Y oochun. In one of the scenes in the Korean Drama, the Joseon Prince (Played by my 2nd great love, next in line to Lee Min Ho. Ahahaha!) who was caught unaware that he time traveled to the future, knocked in the gates of the Gyeongbukgong Palace thinking that the royal family still exists. Since I couldn’t remember exactly if it was the middle or the side gates that Mickey knocked into in the drama, nilubos-lubos ko na ang pag-hug sa gates. I definitely looked like a half-crazed young lady to the other tourists while Ahne was taking this picture but that was all for the chance of being where Mickey’s fist was while shooting the knocking scene. And how many can actually live and tell the story that they were able to hug Gyeongbukgong Palace’s gates, huh? Ahahaha….

The Gyeongbukgong Palace is a well preserved 600 years worth of South Korean history but it is located in the middle of a buzzling, overly modernized city. For me, this is such an interesting contrast---the melding of the past and the present.

This is also known as the Geunjeongjeon Hall where the royal throne is located and where the king formally granted audience to his officials and gave declarations of national importance.

Happily waiting with Ahne, my travel buddy, for the start of the changing of guards by 10:00 am.

The changing of the royal guards started at exactly 10:00 am. The banging of a gong signified the start of the activity. In the midst of a sea of people and with the rhythmic beating of the gong while the royal guards marched in their measured steps, I was just too amazed with the realization that I am witnessing a 600 year-old, well-preserved Korean tradition.

I always had a soft spot for everything that is old----old traditions, old books, old friends, old places, old people. That’s the reason why the changing of the guards just melted my hopeless romantic heart and my old soul into slush.

Howd’ya sir? If I had just enough guts, I would have displayed my funny antics and would have clowned in front of these guards just to see them smile. As in, aral na aral talaga ang expression nila na mukha na tuloy silang magkakamukha lahat! But poor me----as much as I would have wanted to see a fragment of a smile from one of these guards, I still love my life so dearly. Baka bigla nalang sumigaw si kapitan (Another koreanovela vocabulary, ahahaha!): “Off with this young lady’s head!” In korean, of course.

This line of stones in the palace’s courtyard is called pumgyeseoks. There are two lines of these stones where the officials once stood beside each, according to their ranks. The backdrop of the palace is Mount Bugaksan.

The hall at my back is called the Gyeonghoeru. This was where official banquets were held back then.

We were too giddy like 8-year old kids who were handed with an ice cream on a summer afternoon when we tried their traditional costume called hanbok. Ahne kept on telling me that she felt like a Joseon era princess. As in automatic na lang na mapapabagal ka ng lakad at ingat na ingat ka sa pagkagalaw pagkasuot mo ng Hanbok. It’s as if the integrity of that piece of clothing has somehow affected our senses . If you notice in the pictures, my hands were demurely placed in front of the dress, that wasn’t a carefully studied pose. That was an automatic reaction upon wearing the hanbok. I am not kidding!

SEOULful Trip Day One----1st Destination, Bukchon Hanok Village

Good Morning Seoul! :)

Unmindful of our only four-hour sleep, I and Ahne woke up at about 6:00 to a chilly but sunny Seoul morning.

I was so cozy-confident because I was wrapped up in my wool shirtdress and bundled up in my bright, yellow scarf. However, the moment we stepped out of our guesthouse, my just-awhile-ago-warm-cozy-outfit was nothing compared to the suuuuuupeeeerrrrrr cold autumn morning. However, you have to move heaven and earth to stop an ultimate lakwatsera.

Here’s the funny thing however: We actually had no idea where to go at that time! Sure, we had a list of places where we wanted to go to but what we had in our hands were only an (un)detailed map of Seoul and our painfully poor sense of direction. Kita niyo na kung gaano kalakas ang loob namin? But despite this, I strongly felt that we were guided for the whole duration of our trip. Maybe Papa God was thinking, “Sige na nga, sa kakulitan ng dalawang ito, lulubos-lubusin ko na nga.”

The first anecdote of the day was, while walking towards our yet again, assumed direction of Bukchon Hanok Village, we decided to just ask a policeman to shorten our agony. Imagine us opening a very humungous Seoul map in the middle of the sidewalk while the locals passed by us---we looked like lost, big versions of Dora! So, upon asking a policeman, he told us to just cross the street and we will be finding the village. Imagine, the village is just right across the street from where we were standing! But I didn’t lose hope for Ahne and I---we still had two days by that time, surely there was still hope that our map reading skills might improve.

Upon reaching the opening of the street which says, “Bukchon Hanok Village”, we were quite disappointed when what we saw were just scattered houses with mixed traditional and modern Korean designs. We just kept mum while we continued walking in the unfamiliar streets. We walked for about 15 minutes or so, and just when we were about to decide to just leave the area and proceed to Gyeongbukgong Palace, we turned into another block and what greeted us was a whole stretch of street, lined with authentic traditional Korean houses called hanok. Newly learned lesson: Huwag tumigil sa paglalakad!

From there on, the koreanovela addict in me replaced my normally rational self (Rational? Talaga lang ha? Ahahaha!). Forgive my next ramblings. Just remember, on normal days, I am not altogether like this. Ahahaha! Okay, from what I was telling, the moment we saw the whole stretch of street, I was catatonic for about several seconds. Imagine? This was the very same street where several scenes from different Korean dramas and movies were shot, including one that starred Lee Min Ho. Again, let me reiterate, that’s including a drama series that starred my first great love, The Lee Min Ho!

I have to switch to my normal self or else, I’ll be ending this post sounding like a love-struck 12-year old.

The Bukchon Hanok Village is found near the Changdeokgung Palace and the Gyeongbukgong Palace. More than a hundred traditional Korean houses built during Korea’s Joseon Era (about 600 years ago) are still preserved in this area. This was once a place for the people who were affluent in the society, including noblemen and those which were in close association with the royal family. “Hanok” means traditional house and “Bukchon” means located at the north, as this area is found in the north of the central point of Seoul. At the moment, the hanoks are turned into guesthouses, restaurants, and cultural museums.

After taking a lot (As in a lot of pictures!), off we went to our next destination!

P.S. In my next posts about our Korean trip, forgive me if I would forget momentarily the rules of writing or that I was once committed into developmental journalism. I don’t care if these posts about the trip would sound mushy or too high schoolish---because that’s exactly what I want them to sound, a personal account of the trip. I would really want to look at this many years from now and laugh or cringe from all the funny and embarrassing anecdotes and ideas that I had on the whole duration of the trip. I don’t want these posts to appear objective and measured or overly thought of and edited. Plus, bear with the fact that this blog will be flooding with my face again. I may sound rationalizing my seeming narcissism, but I just want to remember that I was that happy on this trip (A dream come true!).

But I assure you, it wasn’t all about picture-taking galore. I had moments of silence, solitude, and oneness with the place during the trip---and I will be writing about it soon. :)

Seoul Searching (literally), the (almost) cruel autumn chill, and the ‘2 am stroll----(Forgive the bland title, but these are all this post is about.)

Maybe I’ve been watching too much Korean dramas and movies for the past two years now.

Maybe, God must have gotten tired of my kakulitan of including “to visit Korea” everytime I am asked to 
write down my bucket list, or the fact that I would openly talk about what I would do if ever I would be given the chance to visit the country, or much more because there are moments when I would be too trying hard to mumble incomprehensible phrases in Korean accent.

So, probably when God was fed up with my antics, He just granted my dream without warning me beforehand while I was left awed and humbled with His blessing.

While we were waiting for our 3:45 flight to Incheon last October 10, I kept on telling Ahne: “Ahne pigilan mo ako mamaya ha? Baka tumalon talon ako paglapag natin sa Incheon.” I was all geared up for Korea looking every bit like a jaded, seasoned tourist (Which of course, I’m not. Ahahahaha!). But my “oh-so-cool-turista” front was exposed by my dopey-eyed look on the whole duration of the 4-hour trip and my creepish smile when the captain informed the passengers that we will be landing in Incheon in a few minutes, coupled with the sideward flipping of the plane to get a better view of Korea from a distance which I tell you, looks like a multicolored internal workings of a microchip.

Follow where the crowd goes----that’s the ultimate rule in any unfamiliar airports. So, after riding the airport train to take us to the next building, we queued up in the immigration to have our passports stamped. In my case, I was still in my dopey-brained state because I was still processing that this very same airport is the site of many heartbreaking scenes in the countless koreanovelas that I watched! Spell a-d-d-i-c-t-i-o-n, sheesh!

After the almost 10-minute changing-of-strategy-to-be-able-to-successfully-withdraw-Korean-money in a machine inside the airport (I’m not techie-smart, okay?) I sheepishly smiled when I successfully did so, only to find out that the queue behind me has grown in length. Good thing those people were patient, or probably they were mumbling how lame I was only that I wasn’t able to understand them because it was in Korean! Ahahahaha….

The moment we stepped out of the airport to take a 60-minute bus ride to Seoul, we were greeted with the almost cruel whip of 11°C autumn wind! While on the bus, Ahne and I were having a conversation of how blessed we are to be able to have this opportunity. Then our discussion went into how ‘pinas seems to be so left behind when we’ve been blessed with resources and we’ve got some of the best people on planet earth 
(Ako ay Pilipino OST, enter! Ahahahaha!)  Though the Philippine map and flag is deeply imprinted in my heart, traveling outside its territory, I couldn’t help but wonder, "What really happened to us?"

When we stopped at Anguk Station in Seoul where our hotel is nearly located, our Dora-act started. We were so confident of the direction that we were going to, which will lead us to Beewon Guesthouse, where we will be staying for the next three days. We wholeheartedly committed a big portion of our time in the past months studying the Seoul map including its subways, hellooooooooo? But just like every trying-hard map-experts, we just kept on moving around the area without reaching our “assumed” location of the guesthouse. It didn’t occur to us that the map that we were studying was the map of a big city of a foreign country and not just a map of a small town or a barangay. Akala naming ang galing-galing naming magbasa nang mapa kaya ayan tuloy binigyan kami ni God ng humbling moment. Hindi man lang pumasok sa isip namin that a place is not only consist of highways but there would also be eskinitas. See how clueless we were? Ahahaha!

So even though it did hurt our pride (Ahahahahaha!), we accepted the fact that we have to ask help or else we would be looking for the place ‘till the wee hours of the morning, and it was already several minutes past eleven and it was awfully freezing cold! God must have answered our silent prayers when we asked a Korean couple for directions only to find out that they are tourism officers in Seoul and our guesthouse is just along their way going home. Furthermore, they’ve stayed in the Philippines for several years to learn English and they kept on mumbling how they love the Philippines. At that time, I felt like we were very much welcome in this foreign place. On second thought, this foreign place is too familiar that it’s not too foreign to me at all. Naks!

Beewon Guesthouse, which we reserved through the net, is just right in the perfect location because it is in the central district of Seoul. The place is a cozy guesthouse with free wifi for guests, a tv room, a laundry room, and a kitchen that serves free breakfast every morning. During the chilly autumn and winter months, it provides the traditional Korean floor heating system called ondol. The site suggested by my favorite celebrity/travel blogger Miss Patty Laurel which is roomarama.com, was very helpful in locating this place (This reminds me to send her a thank you message on her fb site. Is that creepy and too fan-girlish? Ahahahaha!) The son of the owner who manages the place also happened to stay in the Philippines and he kept on saying mahal kita and mahal din kita to us.

When we were already settled, we decided to walk around the city (In the wee hours of the morning, really!?) just to get a feel of its life at night. This walk was too surreal for me because it felt like I walked right into a series of koreanovela scenes, minus the subtitles------the line of trees along the highways, the dim-lit walkways, the people walking on the sidewalks without any fear of danger, the tents filled with people drinking their soju coupled with spicy rice cakes----all of these felt so surreal! With Korean love songs faintly playing from a distance, I could have just sat on a corner and watched all of these and I would have been entertained for hours (Which of course I can’t do or else Ahne would get an instant mini heart attack with my astute idea . Ahahaha!)

But you couldn’t expect so much in a 2 am walk while the temperature was almost freezing that we decided to go back to Beewon so that we can rest for the next day’s itinerary. However, we stopped by McDonald’s first because we were already starving and we were giggling while ordering because their menu has a corresponding calorie-count on every meal. But who counts calories while on vacation? Certainly, not this girl! Mahiya naman ako sa mga buto ko, oi! Ahahaha….

Before I drifted off to sleep in my bed right in the middle of Seoul (Ahahahaha!), I kept on mumbling my “thank you” to God. I didn’t have any other more apt words to say, just “thank you”.

And just right before my consciousness was gone, I smiled sheepishly with the thought that maybe, it’s about time to hit on Japanese dramas, or Chinese films perhaps. :)   

Dreams Do Come True: South Korea, Here I Come!

See that? I’ve got my South Korean visa stamped! That only means I have to control myself from doing my kilig dance moves.

Last February of this year, we were just so blessed to be able to find a SUPER cheap two-way ticket to South Korea, the price of which is way too cheaper compared to a roundtrip ticket to Palawan or some other Philippine destination. Anyway, at that time, we were just too ecstatic that it didn’t occur into our minds that we still have to prepare a lot of things to have our visa stamped. Nor did the accommodations and the itinerary when we will be there bothered us. We are going to South Korea (imagine that?), and that was that.

When the cloud of excitement somehow settled, that was when piling dilemmas started to hound us but we were never discouraged. This is a lifetime dream of self-confessed koreanovela addicts, hellooooooo? 


We have tons of documents to prepare, extra money to spare for processing, itinerary to plan, and accommodation to think about. But we were definitely guided and blessed for we were able to accomplish everything just in time.

I have listed down here the requirements for visa processing in the hope that this might be of help to others who would happen to open this blog: 

(Note: This is subject to change so it would be better if one would visit the official site of South Korean Embassy of their designated country.)

*Application Form
*Bank Certificate (Not Passbook)
*Certificate of employment
*Work Permit
*Employment Certificate
*Income Tax Return
*Plane Ticket
*2 passport IDs
*Certificate of Accommodation
*Reentry (to those who work in abroad)

For those who plan to go there in less than 30 days, there is definitely no fee. If you have submitted all the necessary requirements, they will be stamping your visa for free. The processing actually takes 3-4 days to a week. We were just so happy that the people in the embassy located in Bangkok were so accommodating despite our hearsays that processing of the Korean visa is more difficult compared to processing of a US visa.

It took us about 4 months to prepare everything for this trip and that’s not without obstacles and moments of wavering to pursue the trip. But if there are things which I learned, these are: (1) I am capable of doing things for the first time no matter how I’m actually scared inside, (2) No matter how capable you seem to be, you would always need other people to make things just a bit lighter than they are, (3) No great things can be done easily, (3) The processing period is part of the exhilaration of the whole adventure, and (4) Dreams do come true!

So there, I’ve got my visa stamped.Yay!!!!!!!

  

This blog should be preparing by now for an overload of travel stories and anecdotes and loads and loads of pictures. 

For now, annyeong haseyo Korea!