Life in Korea: Meeting New People - The Taiwanese Ladies!

Since I traveled alone to Korea this time, if I wanted to have someone to talk to, I would actually have to take the first step in talking to other people. So this would be a series of stories of people I met at Kimchi Hostel and where I went with these people. I have to emphasize that they are not necessarily in the order I met them.

SO! I think this occurred after David moved me back to Kimchi Hostel. There were 3 ladies from Taiwan and I got to know them when they first arrived. Since I spoke Chinese and they spoke Chinese, I became the bridging gap when they can't really speak English to the staff or when they don't really understand the staff. But we only got closer when they had to buy tickets for Park Jung Min's birthday fan meeting and they got Daniel to help them with it since it's all in Korean.

Introducing my traveling partners from Taiwan: Xiao Mi, Yu Yun and Si Ying

I tagged along for the last few days of their trip here. To be honest, without them, I probably won't have visited some of the places myself. While I acted as the guide on some occasions, they were the ones with the guidebooks. The two boys from Singapore, Shi Hao and Jason came along as well.

I shall talk about our trip to Myeong Dong-Seoul Tower. Basically we decide to go to Myeong Dong because the CD shop that I know of sells CD at cheaper and more reasonable prices than the other shops we saw. We went on the day the Big Bang Special Edition came out.

Here's a tip on getting to Myeong Dong. Because Kimchi and Hong Guesthouse are both located near Hong Dae area, we are on Line 2 of the Seoul Metro. By right, if we want to go to Myeong Dong, we would have to transfer to Line 4 at Seoul Station. That's a VERY LONG walk. So from Hongik Univ. Station, take the subway to Euljiro 1-ga, walk towards Exit 5. You will see a shop selling socks/accessories. Climb the staircase that's next to the store. When you exit, you should see Starbucks to your left and Outback Steakhouse in front of you. Make a right turn and walk straight. After probably 3 minutes, you would probably see Coffee Beans. Continue walking straight, you should see MLB. Once you reach MLB, you are in Myeong Dong. :)

Anyway, since our main motive for going to Myeong Dong was to get the albums and then take the bus to the Seoul Tower, we didn't spend a lot of time in Myeong Dong itself. To put it very simply, Myeong Dong is the mecca of Korean cosmetic brands. You can find probably every Korean brands there, with more than one outlets most of the time.

Getting to Seoul Tower by bus. I know most people would want to do the cable car because it looked so romantic in dramas. I have not tried it myself but I have people telling me that they have to walk quite a distance. So to me, taking the bus is 1. cheaper (900won) and 2. it takes me to the foot of the tower. I have to climb up a very steep slope to reach the tower but that's fine.

To get to the bus, get out at Exit 4 of Myeong Dong Station. Walk towards the bus stop. You should walk past Paris Baguette. Wait for Bus no. 5. It's a special bus that travels from Myeong Dong to Seoul Tower. If you have T-Money card, just tap. If you have to pay cash, it should not be more than 1000won.

I have gone to the Seoul Tower on my own during the day but the view at night was really great. So my advice if you want to go to the Seoul Tower would be to do it when the sun is setting. The setting sun view is gorgeous as well. And then when the city landscape is lit up by the lights, it is really nice!

The highlight of Seoul Tower, other than the observatory is the locks left behind by lovers. We have seen it done on We Got Married (Khuntoria) and Si Ying was actually going to try looking for the Khuntoria lock. No, she was not successful.

I think more than the scenary, it was the company that matters. People who likes the same things as you, people who opened their arms to a stranger when there isn't a need to. So I really have to thank the 3 lovely ladies for a lovely time I had with them.