Last Days in South Korea

During our last days in South Korea, we were back again in Seoul. I didn’t take that many pictures during this time, but I’ll try my best to elaborate in this post.

South Korea

As far as I remember, early in the morning, me and Silvia flew back to Seoul from Jeju Island, and then both of us decided to go our separate ways for the day. Silvia wanted to go to the Gangnam area to do some luxury shopping, meanwhile, I wanted to go to Naminara Island.

BUT
Instead of heading to Naminara Island, I spent some time at the hostel and talked with Mr. Seung Beom Kim, the owner. He’s the one who runs the hostel where I stayed. At first, I asked him about how to reach Naminara Island from the hostel. He patiently explained it to me, and I could tell that he was a man with a passion for traveling as well.

Though he explained it perfectly, I suddenly don’t want to go to Naminara island anymore. If I’m being honest, not only do I feel uncomfortable going there alone–it’s quite a journey to get there and what if I got lost–but also because talking with Mr. Kim was so nice. He speaks English very well, which is rare for locals, so I took the opportunity to ask him about the culture and other things of interest in South Korea.

After some lengthy chat, he offered to take me out for dinner. I’m really looking forward to going native and eating like a local, so I said yes immediately. He took me to the Chicken Soup restaurant, where he knows the owner by name. We went there by bus, which was the first time ever for me to do so in South Korea. The chicken soup was really delicious and it was very kind of him to shout the meal for me.

We spent the evening chatting about both of our cultures while eating dinner, and lastly, he asked the chicken shop owner for a bottle of Soju. I’ve never had Soju before, so that was also a first! It was a lovely evening spent with Mr. Kim. Because creating friendships and memories like these is more precious to me, I didn’t regret not going to Naminara island.

Later that night, I took a stroll around the city, heading to Cheonggyeongcheon Stream. It’s a beautiful stream, quite popular at night, filled with a lot of young people and couples on a date. I wish we had one like this back in Surabaya, it would be a great place to hang out!

As I continued strolling around the city, I happened to come across the Korean Tourism Organization’s Office. I decided to go in and see what’s good in there, but apparently nothing interesting, lmao.

Seoul city at night is very lively. I’ve seen so many things happening out in the street. I just had no idea what they were doing, or who these people that were performing on stage. There was quite a crowd for them though. Did you know?

In the midst of a crowded Seoul night, I continued to walk. I went to Hongdae, where all of the youngsters like to hang out and have fun. There were a few young guys there who were attempting to pick me up at first but couldn’t because they didn’t speak English very well. I didn’t know that Korean people are so forward like that.

But I did like the atmosphere in Hongdae, it just feels very young and lively, so I came back for more and finally did make friends with a few of the locals who fortunately can speak English well. It was a fun night.

I spent the last day in South Korea at the hostel, catching up on sleep and packing. In the evening, I went out to buy some souvenirs for my friends back in Surabaya. I also took pictures wearing Hanbok ^^ And then I had dinner with Silvia. We ate fried chicken and drank soju while talking about our whole journey together in the past week.

And then we decided to have some fun together on our last night, went to a club until late, and hope that we would be able to catch our flight the next morning, haha..

In the morning, we hurried to the airport. I had to abandon the costly juice that I bought back on Jeju island as well as my expensive scissors; because I forgot to pack them into my suitcase, opting instead to carry them with me. Thankfully everything else was saved.

So that was my journey in South Korea last year. Apologise if it’s not too elaborate. I promise you after this, I would take more detailed pictures and also take notes everywhere I go.

Hope you all enjoy what I wrote. I’ll see you in my next post, xoxo.