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. :)