Tag: travel blog

Let’s go back to Seoul!

Annyeong and welcome back, friends! Have you booked your tickets to Korea? Of course you have. You just don’t know it yet. Let’s continue our Seoul adventure and hope that this time, no one gets lost or left behind. Aja!

The rain came pouring down on our fourth day, so we decided to go somewhere indoors; we ended up at the National Museum of Korea. It was an impressive building on the inside because it was so bright. But apart from that, the museum houses the usual fare of artifacts enclosed in glass cases. The food at the food court was good though, and a lot of cute souvenirs could be found in the gift shop.

Speaking of cute, we headed to Insadong after our pseudo-cultural excursion. Now this place is “Cute Central.” Most of the trinkets being sold in shops lining the stretch of Insadong’s main road and its arteries were unique and handmade– things you won’t find anywhere else. And so the prices were understandably a bit steep. I went crazy over these handmade metal earrings because no two designs were the same. The earrings didn’t even have matching pairs, which was super cool. It wasn’t shopping day yet so I just feasted my eyes on them.

Umm…speaking of cute…

Hesed said he was tired and would rather go back to the hotel. And he did, of course. The rest of us decided to walk from Insadong to Namdaemun Night Market. It was the best worst decision we made during our trip. From Insadong we walked about half the length of Cheonggyecheon, where we spotted couples warming each other by using their bodies in the cold night, beside the cold stream. By the time we reached the east end of the stream, my bladder was already sending me “I need to pee” signals.

More canoodling couples along the Cheonggyecheon stream.

We weren’t sure where to go after Cheonggyecheon. We crossed over the road immediately before us, saw a police station, and asked for directions. It was of little help though since we couldn’t understand each other. The officers just kept pointing to the right. We followed their direction. We passed by Seoul City Hall and Daehanmun, the main entrance of Deoksugung Palace.

After a couple of minutes, we found ourselves in a hilly part of the city, all the while looking for a public restroom because my bladder was about to burst any minute. It was torture because I was thirsty from all the walking, and I wanted to drink water. But that would make the situation worse. It was almost midnight, so the air was colder than what we had been used to up until that point. Also, I was wearing a skirt so if the wind blew, the cold air would reach my nether regions. I remember screaming, “I need to pee so bad!” every so often. Miraculously, we eventually reached Namdaemun. However, all the stores were already closed.

Namdaemun is a little dingy. It has the vibe of Binondo, but much cleaner. And you don’t fear about getting stabbed or killed any minute. But for some reason, all of us enjoyed that failed excursion.

This lovely ahjumma found us–probably pitied us–and told us that there was no night market. She then clung to my arms, and dragged me to her food stall. We had dumplings, kimbap and eomuk guk again. We found a restroom at a closed gas station at the end of the road. I was so afraid that it would be locked. Luckily it wasn’t, and so I proceeded to have one of the best pees I’ve probably ever had.

The next day, Hesed still wasn’t feeling up to touring, and decided to stay in the hotel and eat his fried chickens. We just told him to meet us in Insadong at 7 p.m. for dinner. We didn’t have reliable means of communication, so that’s how we met up. We’d agree on a time and place, and if you weren’t there, we’d leave. We were basically Neanderthals.

The following day, we went to Namsangol Hanok Village which is a traditional Korean village. Again, we didn’t go for guided tours and just looked around. There were games, dancing and other traditional activities you can participate in. Our main goal at Namsangol was to wear a hanbok. We had a blast pretending to be kisaengs (it’s like the Korean version of a geisha), kings, princesses, emperors, slaves, peasants or scholars. We were also lucky enough to watch a traditional Korean wedding. If I’m not mistaken, they hold weddings during the weekends at around noon. We walked further uphill and found this grey circular stone that had congratulatory messages carved on it. The huge rock was a gift from different cities around the world to Seoul for its sixth centennial anniversary. For some reason we felt so comfortable there, and kept saying that that stone attracted positive energy. So we stayed there for a while, laughed and talked about how our trip was going so far. We went our separate ways after: I went with Matt to Dongdaemun and enjoyed a potato corn dog; the rest to Yongsan to buy gadgets.

Matt eating a potato corn dog at Dongdaemun.

The last day is always shopping day. We had different plans so we set off in pairs. I returned to Insadong, and then went to Dongdaemun with Matt. The guys went to Daehangno, Itaewon and Myeongdong. We didn’t plan on it, but we bumped into each other at Doota Mall in Dongdaemun. We checked each others’ shopping hauls and talked about how our day went.

We had our last meal in Korea at a Caffe Bene branch right across our hotel, and reflected on our trip. We had an informal discussion, where we aired our grievances to each other–what dramas and bloopers we won’t tolerate next time, and what attitudes that needed to be changed. Some of us (a.k.a. Matt) got annoyed at the weirdest things, like believing that uttering a specific word will cause bad luck. I for one knew that I need to stop losing my shit whenever I get tired and/or hungry.

We had fond memories of Korea, and we talk about it constantly. I’m definitely going back because I did miss out a lot. I want to go to Hongdae, Itaewon and Myeongdong, too. I want to push the DMZ tour. I want hole-in-the-wall experiences. I miss the weather. I want to shop just for myself this time. And if our original plan for next year doesn’t push through, I’m definitely going to Korea as Plan B.

Read the first part of our Seoul trip.

Annyeong! Let’s all go to Korea!

My friends and I occasionally talk about the places we want to visit. Japan is a dream. Most of us agree that a Europe tour would be amazing. Backpacking in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam is another option. We wanted to go somewhere we haven’t been to—preferably somewhere with a different climate, and one that doesn’t require a visa or impose stiff requirements. In early 2012, we decided to go to Seoul, South Korea. We agreed on the dates (October 24-30, autumn season) and waited for a seat sale.

One early morning in March, I read a text message from a friend saying that Cebu Pacific was offering ₱1 flights to all international destinations. So I grabbed my laptop and checked if the discounted airfare applied to our chosen dates. And while the return flight wasn’t on sale, I still decided to book seats. Our round trip ticket to Korea cost around PHP6000 which wasn’t so bad. But we didn’t celebrate fully because we still had to secure our visas.

Getting a Korean visa is easy as long as you submit all the requirements. There’s no need to set an appointment and no interviews either. And for Filipinos, visa application is free if you don’t intend to stay for more than two months. You can submit your application at the Korean Embassy from 9-11 am. They’ll ask you to come back after a week. And if there are no issues with your requirements, you’ll get your visa on that day too. I actually had to go back twice because they asked me to submit supporting documents. I was so stressed! But everything worked out.

We were psyched(!!!) when we saw the visa stamped on our passports. We were finally going to Korea for sure. We even intended to have a Korean appreciation/orientation day where we’ll watch Oldboy and talk about Korean culture and all that shit. But it didn’t happen because people got busy before the trip and we couldn’t match our schedules. So a few of us just noted the places we wanted to visit and made a very loose itinerary. For those concerned about budget, we allotted PHP40,000 for our seven-day trip. It was definitely more than enough. I spent PHP30,000 on food, accommodation, transportation, and all the entrance tickets and still had 10,000 left for shopping. First thing you need to do when you arrive in Korea is to get a transportation card at the airport. I suggest T-money because it has the least limitations and you can use it in convenience stores too.

Stepping out of the airport that night was the best (cold) feeling ever. There was a shuttle from Incheon International Airport to our hotel. We thought at first that the fare from the airport to Seongbuk was KRW1000 (PHP40) which was absolutely cheap because the airport was around 40km away from our hotel. We realized later on that the KRW1000 was the amount left in our T-money and that the fare was actually KRW14000. We stayed at Holiday Inn Seongbuk at a highly discounted price. (Thanks, Matt!) Still giddy, we walked around the neighborhood. We ate at Lotteria which is their version of McDonald’s/KFC combined. We saw a convenience store still open and I bought banana milk because of course.

On our second day, which was the official start of our tour, we had a problem with communication. I brought two phones, one is a Globe prepaid line and the other one was a Smart postpaid line. I had to request roaming services for my Globe prepaid. The Globe subscribers said that their lines were set to auto-roaming, but none of them could get a signal. Due to delayed visa application, one of my friends, Daivey, had to stay in a hostel in downtown Seoul. Before we went our own ways the night before, we agreed to meet at the Korea University train station at around 9am. That morning, Daivey wasn’t there. I texted her but she didn’t reply. Apparently, there was a 30 to 45-minute delay in receiving the messages. We learned that the easiest way around this is to send a text message to someone in the Philippines and have that person forward the message to Daivey. We eventually found each other at Lotte World.

Lotte World was fun. The two rides that made my day were the Gyro Drop and the Bungee Drop. Riding the Gyro Drop was a personal success. I was about to chicken out but my friends pushed me to do it and I’m so happy they did. Some of them rode the Gyro Swing too but I’ve had my fill of adventure that day so I begged off. Whatever you do, DO NOT RIDE THE SWING TREE. It’s like Enchanted Kingdom’s Flying Fiesta but THE WORST. We ended our day eating some amaze grilled chicken skewers (dakkochi) and sipping on fish cake soup (eomuk guk) from a paper cup in the streets of Apgujeong. It was so fucking good in that cold night.

The next day we went to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Our schedule was more synchronized this time with Daivey going to our hotel and all of us leaving together. Things were going great until one of us (Hesed) got left behind when we had to transfer lines at Dongdaemun station. Hesed’s one of those people who just goes with the flow. His mindset is, “I’ll just follow you wherever.”  So we were running down the stairs to catch the train and he was just behind us. The doors closed. We felt exhilarated in our little adventure and then someone asked, “Is everyone here?” And then we saw Hesed waving from the platform. We were worried because he had no idea where we were going AND we had to transfer again to a different line after two stations. Ruther and Isaac went back to claim Hesed at Jongno o-ga station which was the next station from Dongdaemun.

That’s Hesed on the left. And that’s me with the guys who found his lost soul.

We all made it to Gyeongbokgung. Our original plan was to visit at least two palaces but Gyeongbokgung was so vast and picturesque that we stayed there for the entire day.We walked, talked, took lots of photos, and basked in the fact we’re in this beautiful place in this perfect weather. We never participate in guided tours. We just made our own stories about Gyeongbokgung. Sometimes we’ll hear something interesting from the tour guides and we’ll relay it to the group. So we really didn’t learn much about the history of Gyeongbokgung. But that’s what Google and Wikipedia is for, guys.

We had grilled pig intestines for dinner. They were so good. After dinner, we went to N Seoul Tower. We had an inkling that Korea is a place for lovers because of all the couples we saw at Lotte World wearing matching shirts. But N Seoul Tower takes it to a higher level, literally and figuratively. There were dried grass formed to make a heart shape, seats made for two, trees made of padlocks symbolizing a wish or promise to your sweetheart, and tiles with love messages. As the night wore on, the number of couples canoodling increased. And I guess PDA is encouraged in N Seoul Tower because we saw benches in between the trees with little to no lighting. Have at it, lovers.

Everyone was tired from walking all day. We knew we had to walk 5 to 7 minutes more from the train station to our hotel so someone suggested that we take a bus instead. They said they saw some buses stopping near Holiday Inn. I wanted to just walk because we weren’t sure of the bus routes. But some of the guys wanted to push it and I was too tired to argue. Lo and behold, we rode the wrong bus. Or maybe it was the right bus but going the opposite direction. The driver then asked us to alight, trying his best to explain why in his limited English. All we understood was that we had to get out of the bus. Luckily, he let us off a bus station near a university. I was in no mood to ask for directions so I just sulked. We were able to ride a bus that dropped us to a different train station so we still ended up walking.

Read the next part of our trip to Seoul.

Bantayan Island Day 2: The Quest for Caves

Must eat: Bantayan danggit, a less salty yet more flavorful dried fish than the ones in Cebu City

Our goal on the second day of our Bantayan Island getaway was to visit Ogtong cave and swim in freshwater. It’s not that we were tired of swimming in the beach but more because of I want to experience swimming inside a cave. Sadly though, swimming in the cave is only allowed for checked in guests at the Ogtong Cave Resort. According to the receptionist, this is a DENR directive to preserve the quality of water inside the cave. Walk-in guests can still enter the cave for 100 pesos and take pictures inside. The entrance fee also includes swimming rights to the resort’s pool if you really want a dip in the water. We decided not to see the inside of Ogtong Cave anymore if we didn’t get to swim anyway since there’s one more cave in the island that’s said to be bigger than the one in Ogtong. This cave is located at Bantayan Island Nature Park and Resort which is 30 minutes away from the main beach area.

We had a hard time deciding whether we will push through visiting that other cave because we found the price a little steep (500 pesos round trip). One thing about Bantayan: getting around the island will burn your travel money fast. If you can avoid riding the tricycles to get to where you’re going, you can save a lot. For those who can ride a motorcycle, you can rent motorcycles in your hotel or at one of the stalls along the main road on an hourly or daily charging. They also rent out bicycles which is what we did. Bikes are 35 pesos per hour and 150 pesos per day, which is not bad considering a 10-minute tricycle ride will already cost you 80 pesos. If there’s one thing I regret in our trip, it’s not renting out bicycles from Day 1 not only because of the money we could’ve saved but also because it was so much fun and freeing getting around the island on a bike.

The road to Bantayan Island Nature Park and Resort is not paved so we were bouncing inside the sidecar throughout that ride. Very hard butt massage we experienced on that trip. We visited on a Monday and lucky for us, that’s when they rehabilitate the water so no one is allowed to swim. We were butt massaged for nothing. But since we were there anyway, we decided that we might as well see the cave for a 75 pesos entrance fee. And it was a letdown. I thought that there will be some spelunking involved but it was basically just a hole in the ground with some water in the bottom.

Cave at Bantayan Island Nature Park and Resort

We ended our day on a low note BUT I would definitely go back to Bantayan and next time I won’t stress about seeing and experiencing all the things the island has to offer. I will just stay on the beach, drink a cold mango smoothie, probably read a book and ride my bike out whenever I get hungry. Here’s a photo of Sisig-Stuffed Squid from Zubuchon to make us all happy:

YES.

Read the first part of our trip to Bantayan.

Welcoming summer at Bantayan Island

I have visited Cebu multiple times last year yet I only got to see its beaches this year. I went to Moalboal last January which is in the southern part of Cebu. But to start off the beginning of summer, I decided to go up north and visit Bantayan Island.

Bantayan is five hours away from Cebu City if you include the waiting time, so if you’re planning to go there, I suggest you wake up early and ready your butts for prolonged sitting. To get to Bantayan Island from Cebu City, go to the North Bus Terminal and take the bus bound for Hagnaya. The air-conditioned Ceres buses cost 150 pesos. I love riding provincial buses because you’re forced to listen to cheesy songs you wouldn’t willingly listen to like April Boy Regino, Air Supply and Freddie Aguilar. But for people with low tolerance for this, definitely bring something to entertain yourself because it is a long ride.

The bus ride takes almost three hours, the last stop of which is at Hagnaya port where you will purchase your ferry tickets to get you to Santa Fe port. Our bus which left at 6:20 am arrived just in time to catch the 9:30 am boarding for the Island Shipping Ferry. A ticket to Sante Fe port is 170 pesos plus 10 pesos terminal fee. This will not be first class accommodations so be prepared. Basically you’ll be sitting on long plastic chairs for an hour, hopefully not nursing sea sickness.

Once you get to Santa Fe port, you will be bombarded by porters and tricycle drivers offering their services to take you to your hotel or better yet suggest a hotel where you could stay in. We researched for hotels in Bantayan and liked these three based on pictures and reviews: Anika Island Resort, Ogtong Cave Resort and Cou Cou Bar, Hotel and Restaurant. We went to our first option Anika Island Resort because it’s the hotel directly in front of the beach. We were lucky and got their last available courtyard room which is 1500 pesos per night.

Beachfront of Anika Island Resort. Photo courtesy of Mr. Lopsided.

Anika Island Resort is one of the main reasons that I would want to go back to Bantayan. I was very impressed. Even though their courtyard room is tiny, it is still very comfy and cozy. I always love it when I get to stay at a hotel or resort that uses white bedsheets and they had that as well. Plus the room is very clean and all the appliances are working. I also love their attention to detail because they have showers outside and a faucet on the foot of the stairs so that you could wash off the sand before you climb up to your room. And there’s always a staff of Anika cleaning the beach from seagrass that washed up on the shore unlike the other resorts in that area.

Bantayan Island boasts of sand as fine as powder and they were not kidding. It is the kind of sand that you could easily wash off, sand that doesn’t hurt your feet or knees, sand that’s almost as soft as clay when it’s wet that you can attempt to make a ceramic mug out of it. I could just lie on that soft sand all day and bake under the sun. Just one thing though, the water smells a little like gasoline by late afternoon, probably because of the ferries that dock at the Santa Fe port.

Super fine and soft sand at Bantayan Island

We capped off our evening with dinner at Ogtong Cave Resort which is 20 minutes away from Anika by pedicab. A pedicab or padyak, as the locals call it, is just a bicycle with a sidecar attached to it. You can also take a tricycle to Ogtong Cave Resort for a faster trip but we decided on a pedicab for a change of pace. I really enjoyed this pedicab ride because it epitomized life at Bantayan – slow, relaxed and quiet. The night was cold but comforting, and the moon shone brightly, its light peeping every so often in between the leaves of coconut trees. The smell of grilled fish pervaded the island. And the road was quiet and dark broken only by the sounds of motorbikes driving by or the barking of dogs.

Anika Island Resort at night.

If you want a relaxing summer vacation, Bantayan Island should definitely be one of the places you should consider visiting.

Read Day 2 of our trip to Bantayan.