Instantly Charmed by Seoul

Finally my dream of setting my footprints in South Korea came true.

With her beautiful weather, great historical places, wide roads, smoke-belch free vehicles, beautiful people with great fashion sense I’m totally charmed by Seoul.

Honestly I never thought that I would ever go to Korea. About 4 years ago, I only thought of traveling to Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, China, Australia and US. Never in my imagination had I dreamt of going to Korea until I got hooked to k-dramas and k-pop. What k-drama got me hooked? You’re absolutely correct, Winter Love Song. And who’s the k-pop singer? Se7en ^^

I’ve done 2 trips this year. Amongst these trips, this trip to Korea is the best. I love the weather, the food, the children who gets awed whenever they hear us speak in English, and the Korean people who recognized us as Filipino by our language and the cute little guesthouse where we stayed for 10 nights 9 days.

Like what i have written earlier, my interest in Korea started while watching Winter Sonata which starred no other than but my no. 1 korean man Bae Yong Joon [read more about him in my blog which is dedicated to him].

A little about 4 years ago, I only had a very little knowledge about Korea. Few that i can remember are: their boxers are known head butters, the people love spicy food, and that during the one Olympics the north and south Korea Olympians marched together in the oval.

See? That's how I was uninterested in Korean then. But now? Geez, it's so funny that I even want to learn their language and culture. What is even ironic is that, I’m not only interested in entertainment news but as well as weather and politics. Isn't it amazing how one drama and a famous actor can lead me to be so much interested in Korea now?

Well honestly, some laugh at me and some are amazed on how I talk much about Korea, its people and culture. And from these people who I talked to, they only have one thing to say, they admire how the South Koreans were able to place their country in the rapid economy race in the world. The South Koreans advanced technology and digitally-connected country have helped them to be amongst the global leader in digital games, displays and phones.

Put aside the digital thingy, I think that the Hallyu Wave has put South Korea in the tourist map. Agree? I bet you do! Because this is how my 10-days and 9-nights vacation with my 6 friends with common denominator started.

First Night in Seoul

I arrived at Incheon Airport (via Cathay) 15 minutes ahead of my friends who took the PAL flight. We agreed to meet at the immigration area. I was surprised to see Incheon with only few people at the counter [well actually after alighting the plane I went to the washroom and probably most passengers have already been cleared…but still not that quite a busy airport]. After waiting for a few minutes my friends, Rica, Anne, Elle and Nimfa arrived. Then we did the usual stuff upon arrival.

4 of 7 buddies…all first-timer in S Korea.
Rica was the one taking the photo.

At 9pm our pickup service from Seoul Backpackers Guesthouse (SeBP) will be at the Bus No. 5 waiting area. Two of our friends, Elle and Anne will take the Airport Bus and will just meet them at the guesthouse. So off we go to Bus No. 5 waiting area.

When we set our foot at the door to go out to meet our pick-up, we were greeted by cool air. Oh, I love how the wind hugged and welcomed me to S Korea. Only a few minutes of waiting a tall guy approached us and he happened to be the staff from SeBP. His name is Jong [cute and nice fella] and whew, he speaks English. After a few introductions we then walked to the parking area. Btw, he might have been a little worried when he saw our big sets of luggage. But when he stuffed everything at the back of the van, all bags perfectly fit the van. Geez, but we all guessed the he might have hurt his arms carrying all our heavy suitcases. Poor Jong.

Seeing Seoul for the very first time, at night time, upon our arrival, I was really awed. With its huge highways, road structures, flyovers, bridges and still many vehicles on the road I was like “ohs” and “ahs” for about 1 hour from Incheon Airport. I love to try driving around Seou (hope to fulfill this dream ^^). All the way to SeBP, Jong must have been listening to us because I sometimes would see him smile. He must have been thinking that these Filipinas are crazy.

After an hour of ohs and ahs, we finally arrived at Seoul Backpackers. A cute little homey guesthouse near Insadong which is run by Mr Han with help from Jong, Min, Sang Min, Sang and the very very cute KC.

I’ve been mentioning Seoul Backpackers. Where is Seoul Backpackers Hostel?

Seoul Backpackers Hostel
30-1, Iksun-dong, Jongno-gu
Seoul, Korea

Tel. No. =82.2.3672 to 1972

Homepage : www.seoulbackpackers.com

The building with the yellow signage is SeBP.
The big van is the one that was used to pick us up
at the airport.

Ok, before I continue to go on with my story, let me tell you first a little about SeBP’s location. It’s a walking distance from 3 palaces namely Unghyeongung Palace where some scenes in Goong (Princess Hours) were shot (check episode 3), Changdeokgung Palance and Changgyeonggung Palace. It’s also very near the Japanese Embassy, Insadong market and few meters walk to Anguk station.

For breakfast from 8 to 9:30am, they serve (at the kitchen) toast, butter, jam, peanut butter and macaroni salad (I miss the salad which I believe is being prepared by Min). The kitchen every morning is always full of guests from different countries. It’s actually the time to get to know the other guests in the house.

SeBP's living room

cute decorations on top of the fireplace

shoeshelf at the entrance and beside it are brochures
and public pay phones

computer area that can be accessed 24 hours daily
except weekends

cute decor at the hallway of 2nd floor.
i hope that they'll relocate that fire extinguisher ^^

another cute set-up at the middle of the stairs
to the 2nd floor.

view of the stairs from the 2nd floor

wall decorations at the hallway of the 2nd floor

decoration at the wall in the entrance of our room

Hee, btw, I mentioned very very cute KC. Who the hell is KC? This is KC ~

I think KC knows that i love dogs. On the 2nd day of our stay, he would go to me for greetings, go to the entrance and fetch a slipper, he will then bring it to me and i would get it from him and throw for him to fetch again. He would do that until we leave the guesthouse or one of the staff stops him. Btw, we can't talk to KC in english so he have to learn few korean words just for him like "iriwa". Of course we can use too him words that we picked up from dramas like "anjo", "kah" and "annyeong kshie" ^^.

After settling our stuff and a few picture taking inside our room, at around 11pm we then decided to have a very late dinner. Oh btw, when we arrived at SeBP we were greeted by Min [another young staff of SeBP] and helped Jong bring our bags inside. But it was Jong again who brought our entire luggage all the way to the 2nd floor.

the very few photos that we are all together.

l-r : me, rica, anne, nimfa & elle

We found a small place to eat along Jongno 3-ga. There were several police officers eating so we thought that the food must be good there. Btw, while looking for a place to eat, we saw many tents along the street with many patrons. One of us said, “It’s for real, it’s not only in the drama.” Hee, I guess most of you would know the feeling when seeing the real thing than in the tube.

Because we are too hungry we forgot to take a photo of the bibimbap and only took a shot of the kimbap.


This is the place where we had our very late dinner.


A little over 1am we were back at the guesthouse, we took a bath/shower, arranged our schedule for tomorrow, then had our first good night sleep in Seoul. I’m pretty sure that every one of us slept with cute little smile on our face thinking that in the next few hours; little by little we will be discovering Seoul.

Day one will be next ^^