I just realized that the Mothercare gift voucher which I have got for Kaith’s July Babies photo on MomBaby magazine is expiring this 30^th Sept and hence we went to Pavilion to utilize the voucher yesterday.

We only brought Kaith along because Dillon was taking nap by the time we left; furthermore it’s been a while since we last took her to shopping malls.

When we reached Pavilion, we went to the Food Republic to have our meal first, we ate the chicken chop rice & spicy beef noodles at “Little Taiwan”, the food is good, environment is good but to our greatest disappointment, they don’t have high chairs there!! I almost don’t believe it after looking around and asked a few of the workers there, but that is true enough. Luckily we brought the stroller, otherwise, tell me how are we going to have our meal peacefully? Well maybe this Food Republic doesn’t cater for young children? Anyway, if your kids really must have a high chair so that you could eat peacefully, you might have to reconsider this place before ordering your food (which we didn’t coz I was so sure that a place like this definitely has high chairs, so we can’t switch to other restaurant since we’ve ordered & paid for our food)

Ok enough of grumbling, now back to shopping at Mothercare. The gift voucher we have got is only RM 50 so I really don’t know what I can to buy for Kaith. In the end I decided to buy her a long sleeveless top, I always think she looks nice wearing sleeveless….. It cost RM 53 so I only have to top up another RM 3 to get this beautiful top, that she can wear during Christmas or maybe Chinese New Year.

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Before this year’s Chinese New Year, hubby has decided to upgrade to a DSLR camera after we’ve been using our Canon Ixus 40 dgital camera since 2004. After much research, he has bought the Sony A200 DSLR which cost him about RM1800 at that time.

Although I do not know much about camera and photography, but after seeing all the quality of the photos that hubby captured with this DSLR, I know for sure that this is an “investment” that we will never regret.

Hubby has since developed a great interest in photography and has been practising a lot, well mostly with Dillon & Kaith being his favourite model (not Mummy because I don’t layan him, ) he is now doing this on freelance basis to actually start earning some pocket money to “subsidize” his hobby (i.e. buying new lenses, flash & other accessories).

His portfolio is available for viewing on my Gallery

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Myeong-dong
This is a popular shopping district for tourist, and even locals, it gets very busy and crowded in the evening. Major fashion designers have boutiques here and foreign brand name products and shoe stores can be found in abundance like Guess, CK and also many small boutiques and stalls along the street. Restaurants are mostly on the 2nd floor, and of course there are street food as well.

Things in Myeong-dong are very trendy and has a lot of varieties. Fashion accessories like earings, hair clips etc priced at KRW1,000 (approx RM3) per piece, in some shops, shoes & handbags are KRW10,000 (approx. RM33) across all designs.

Dongdaemun Market
Located in the downtown area, Dongdaemun is another famous wholesale & retail shopping district in Seoul, within the ten blocks of the market area, you can find silks, clothes, shoes, sporting goods, electronics, office supplies, toys and just about everything else imaginable, there’s also underground market near the subway station.

I personally didn’t enjoy shopping here very much, I just don’t seem to find anything that I want because the price is still on the high side for me, or maybe I was too tired on that evening to do shopping? Haha but anyway, it’s still good to look around how Dondaemun shopping area is like.

Namdaemun Market
Shopping in Namdaemun market is a different experience, although it is just nearby Myeong-dong. It has more than 10 department store, selling woman & man apparels, shoes, children clothing, and so on.

But what I like more is the street market, there are so many stalls crowded along the road and it is absolutely right to say that you can find almost anything you want in here. Children shoes, stocking & clothing are so nice, some are slightly expensive but if you are good at searching and bargaining (yes, I was using sign language & calculator as my tool, lol), you’ll be able to get some really nice stuff at unbelievably cheap price. *wink wink*

More photos in My Gallery

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When we were in KL, we always don’t know what to have for lunch because we were so bored with the food. Now that we are in Seoul, we also don’t know what to eat, because we can’t read the menu and don’t know what to order. LOL.

We were more relieved that there are also photos in there, so we just pointed at the photo and ordered our lunch.

While waiting for the food, we were being served some Kimchi, but I don’t really fancy the taste though. When our food came, it looks as per the menu and the taste is quite yummy too but don’t ask me what is it called, I really don’t know, haha. This lunch cost us KRW10,500 (approx. RM35)

During our conference, we normally have lunch at the COEX Mall food court in basement for convenience. A normal Dumpling noodles or Kimchi soup & rice set will cost about KRW 4,000 – 6,000 (approx. RM14 – 19). I noticed whatever Korean meal you have, they always serve you with complimentary Kinchi & drinking water, which is good, at least I don’t have to spend on drinks again.

 
Popular Korean dishes: Bulgogi, Bibimbab
There is a very popular restaurant nearby the Ellui hotel, probably just 500meters walking distance, recommended by the Korean clients we met in the conference. We have ordered the famous Korean dishes Bulgogi and Bibimbab.

Look at the well marinated beef slices, and the golden mushroom, “tang hoon” (its texture is different from the “tang hoon” we have here, theirs are more chewy) cooking on the hot pan, it’s sizzling hot and smells so good….. and the gravy is so yummy.

Next is the Bibimbab, that is warm white rice with namul (seasoned vegetables), gochujang (chili pepper paste) and beef tartare, stir all ingredients together thoroughly and just look at the colour combinations, it’s just so appetizing and the taste, I would say it’s delicious.

We also ordered the Hangover soup just because we think the name is cute, hahaha. It is a soup made of bean sprout, ox blood and etc and as the name suggest, it serves as a remedy to help people to recover from hangover quickly. We were not sure if it really works, because obviously none of us were drunk by having just a bottle of Cass beer. LOL

The Bulgogi cost us KRW 25,000 per portion (we ordered 2, that’s the minimum), Bibimbab at KRW 8,000, Hangover soup KRW 8,000, Cass beer KRW 4,000 and hence the total bill for a dinner for 3 of us is KRW 70,000 (approx. RM230). Perhaps eating at a Korean restaurant in KL is cheaper? I’m not sure, I have never been to one when I was in KL though. But I’m satisfied with the good food and their service, so no fuss about the price.

Korean Shabu Shabu
On the last day before my departure, I met up with my blog friend, MeiMei who has been married to Korea for almost 3 years and this is actually the 1st time we are meeting in person. She treated me for lunch at a restaurant in Shinsegae and we had Shabu Shabu, which I have always wanted to try.

As usual, they served us a nice array of Kimchis (I especially like the raddish kimchi) before the main meal comes. We can also ask to replenish the kimchis if we want to.

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I arrived home safely on Sunday morning around 2.00am and I got back to work on Monday 8th. Work has piled up and there’s just so much to do, but I still gotta blog about my trip first before I get lazier to do it.

Accommodation
I was staying at Ellui Hotel in Gangnam-gu, which is close to the COEX conference hall. The hotel room is clean, though it’s not very spacious and looks a bit old, but it’s still a comfortable environment to stay. The room cost about USD 115 per night incl breakfast.

Strange that there isn’t coffee & tea making facilities, but there are so many bottles of hard liquor lying at the minibar, I think Koreans must be very good at drinking?

Weather
The weather now is surprisingly hot during the day, a bit cooling at night. I think the better time to go might be in October.

Language
Communications with the locals was a challenge, because most of them are not able to speak & understand English, so we have to use a lot of sign & body language, lol, but the people are generally polite.

Food
Eating in Seoul is pretty pricey, if we convert it back to ringgit Malaysia, a normal lunch already cost about KRW 5,000 (approx. RM16.00) per person but this is consider very reasonable for the locals. The good thing is they will serve you free flow of drinking water and kimchi appetizer.

Transportation
Cab ride is another pricey expenses in Seoul, most people here would only travel by bus or subway but since my colleague & I were not too confident to take the subway, we settled with a cab, which cost us nearly KRW 9,000 (approx. RM30) one way to Myeong-dong (located 15 minutes away from our hotel). From the airport to our hotel (about 1 hour journey), we took a terminal bus that only cost us KRW 9,000 per person, while we heard from those who took a cab at the airport, it costs them KRW 70,000 (approx. RM230), what a huge difference!

Mobile phone
Another thing to take note when travelling to Seoul is your mobile phone, the network system are different and you can only use a CDMA phone there. That’s why they have a SK telecom counter at the airport to rent the phone and also a local sim card to you because you can’t buy a sim card in Korea (there is no prepaid service). I only rented the phone and used my own Maxis sim card, and it turn out to be so troublesome because whenever I wanted to call a Korean mobile number, I have to dial call back and I can’t call direct. So I really think the best option for us would be renting the phone & the local sim card together.

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Took the MAS flight at 1.00am & arrived safely in Seoul at 8.30am on Tuesday. The weather is good, meetings going on smoothly, and the food is nice too!

Stay tuned for photos and my travelogue when I’m back on Sunday morning.

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