South Korea Trip: Tips and Trick (Part 1)

Hah! empat bulan tak tulis blog ni, Perangai malas makin menjadi jadi eh sekarang ni :P Dah sebulan balik Korea, tetap mood nak menulis takde. Takpelah, try lah jugak tulis...

So nak jadi cerita, actually our initial plan was to go to Japan again (weii, Japan best gila okay tak terkata, but unfortunately i couldn't update about my trip there due to personal reason .. and actually that's one of the reasons why i wanna go there again, so that i can make new memories there) tapi tunggu punya tunggu promotion Airasia semua gebang je, memang ada but we know that we could get much cheaper than what they offered. So macam frust gila terus click pergi Korea je la, dah itu yang paling murah time tu, Haha. And since aku sukehati je change the destination, most of the friends tak nak join sebab still nak tunggu Japan yang tak murah murah tu, so i ended up with my other possum, Elya je. Haha.

So thats how the story started. We bought the ticket on September 2015, started to work out on the itinerary since November 2015, and flew to Busan on March 2016.

Accommodations

if you know me, i am not those hardcore backpacker style pon, but i wont go for a luxury hotel. I usually opt for hostel but i avoid sharing bed with stranger as i prefer to have my own privacy. Usually the hostel comes with private room and private toilets too. And as a Muslim traveller, i dont always eat outside, i cooked to save budget and also confirm halal Toyibban bawak Brahim Malaysia terus, so i will choose the hostel yang provide comfortable kitchen facilities. So go for this type of hostel la, if you only going with your friends. Kalau pergi dengan family, you can choose airbnb  or kalau dah bapak kau bayar, duduk hotel sudah hahaha. Since its just the two of us, airbnb pon will cost a lot for us. 

Frankly speaking, hostel in Korea is just okay - okay la because; 

• Mostly all the hostel did not have any lift. MOSTLY! Thats the thing i realised even before i went there, susah sangat nak cari hostel yang ade lift even building tu 5tingkat sekalipon. 
•  Towel provided by some of the hostels adalah sebesar face towel je haha, as they said it was one of their culture / way of living something like that.. hmm tau la kurus, kecik je towel kau bagi eh?

But other than, everything else okay je.

But the important thing before you choose the hostel kan, makesure the nearby subway station have lift facilities. FYI, Korea punya subway tak semua ada lift apetahlagi escalator. Yes, menapaklah kau even the central one pon mostly tak ada, kalau ade pon certain exit je. So siapa siapa yang bawak luggage heret tu, makesure la pastikan nearby exit to your hostel tu ada lift sebab tangga dia rendah sikit je dari Batu Caves, luls.

Applications (smart phone)

Since Korea tak guna English sangat, so downloadlah siap siap beberapa applications ni which for me, sangat sangat membantu. 

Waygo - apps ni boleh detect font korea/chinese/japan, so kau macam snap picture then dia translate kan. Kadang kadang mengarut jugakla dia keluar, tapi aku guna kadang kadang dekat Bus Station sebab nak tahu mana dia stop, and for menu kau nak tahu dia tulis apa.

terherot herot mulut guna Waygo

gigih nak hidup bro, takyah nak segan sangat lah. haha

Busan Metro & Subway - Since aku pergi Busan and Seoul, aku guna this both map, Subway tu dulu apps tu nama dia Jagalchi tapi dah tukar jadi Subway je, Actually for yang prefer guna kertas, bolehlah print out siap siap, macam dekat Busan kitaorang guna jugak map kertas tapi kat Seoul, better guna apps (boleh guna offline jugak) sebabnya dia boleh tunjuk exit mana ade lift, berapa minit korang sampai, tukar train dekat mana. Lagi time efficient lah kalau ikutkan. Godek godek dulu how to use, sebab masa dekat sana kitaorang siap ajar orang Malaysia sana camne nak guna sebab tak faham, siap dah sesat bagai baru tahu senang je guna apps tu.

berpinar kitaorang study, last2 guna apps gak senang

As for pedestrian walk punya map, aku download a few apps jugak tapi at the end semua tak membantu sangat sebab orang Korea prefer guna Naver (google map version Korea) so macam other apps even google map tak membantu sangat. Selalunye kitaorang mintak tolong tanya orang and then dorang tolong guna Naver tunjuk jalan dekat kita. Naver tu 100% in Hangul so tak payah la download apps tu kalau tak reti baca keh.

Google Translate - Ni download je lah kan kot kot nak bercakap ayam dengan itik, kau type in english then tunjuk je la dekat ahjuma ahjumaa yang tak paham English tu apa google translatekan. Senang cerita.

VisitKorea - apps ni membantu masa korang tengah buat itienerary la. Dah sampai sana tak berguna sangat, dia punya information sangat details, macam nak turun subway station mana for each POI, pastu operation hours, berguna jugak la bagi aku. Semua city dia covered. 

Travelling Way
So, untuk sepanjang masa nak hidup dekat Korea ni, kitaorang memang naik public transport je. So kitaorang beli T-Money, benda ni ala ala kad touch n go kita la. Korang sampai je any airport, korang beli je dekat 7-eleven ke or any convenience store berlambak. And top up siap siap. Aku tak dapat nak estimate berapa tapi just sebagai guidance, anggapla 10,000won tu korang boleh hidup 3hari campur korang sesat pon takdela risau tak cukup duit ke apa. T-Money ni boleh guna naik subway, naik bas, naik teksi and beli barang dekat kedai, and covered most of the cities. Macam aku gi Busan and Seoul semua aku guna T-Money tu. And andaikata ada duit baki, korang boleh refund or kalau tak nak, bole beli air pisang kat 7-eleven. Haha. And selalunya aku simpan all travel card tu sebagai souvenir tuk aku, cheapskate tak aku, tu je souvenir aku, ala ala macam orang simpan poskad la tapi aku simpan kad.

As for inter-city pulak, ada banyak transportation korang boleh guna. Paling mahal is naik flight lah, or boleh naik KTX, pastu ada V-Rail, bus and others. KTX harga dia tak fixed actually and hanya boleh start beli online one month before departure date, so masa nak pergi Seoul, kitaorang naik KTX sebab sajelah nak try bullet train dia kan, around 2h 30mins dah sampai Seoul and since banyak tempat nak explore Seoul, so baiklah sampai awal kan. Kalau nak walk in beli pon okay je, KTX operator mostly boleh cakap english, tapi tengoklah musim apa korang beli kalau musim cuti, eloklah beli awal je. Boleh refer blog ni, lengkap camne nak beli.

http://jarimanistravel.blogspot.my/2014/11/autumn-at-seoul-busan-how-to-book-your.html

redeem ticket KTX

eh sedap duduk, abg Jung In Song buat apa tu?

Arah balik dari Seoul, kitaorang naik bas biasa biasa je, ala ala Transnasional camtu tapi selesa lah, 3seaters punya bus. Murah and sebab kitaorng dah tak rush, just nak balik Busan untuk naik flight je, so kitaorang naik overnight bus. Ni pon kalau walk in pon no problem, mula mula ingat nak walk in jugak tapi last2 aku mintak tolong receptionist kat hostel tu tolong belikan sebab website die in Hangul. Boleh usha blog ni camne nak beli kalau walk in, tapi aku turun station dekat dengan airport Busan dah, xsama station dengan owner blog ni.

http://tincowashere.blogspot.my/2014/08/how-to-commute-from-seoul-to-busan-via.html

Internet (wifi)
Ok, aku admit lah aku memang tak boleh hidup tanpa internet. Bukan sebab instagram or facebooking pon tapi aku rasa tak secure tak boleh google benda ecehhh, ye lah kat negara orang ni, tak gune english pulak as 2nd language so ape apa jadi camne kan? kan? haha banyak alasan. So, aku rent egg sepanjang 9hari dekat Korea ni. Ade empat provider tak silap aku, tapi aku pilih Olleh sebab aku tengok kat Busan and Seoul semua dia covered. Ok, kat sini ada pro and cons sikit, masa nak sewa korang boleh walk in je kat airport tapi ade possibility egg tu dah habis, and rental fee dia a bit tinggi (9,000won per day) dari korang booked online (5,000won per day). Tapi pro nya ialah korang tak payah bayar deposit fee which is 200,000 won (i find it a bit leceh if tak ada credit card), but since aku guna credit card soh tak rasa lah sebab if pulang in good condition dia tak charge lah credit card kita. So up to korang nak booked online atau walk in. Selain tu, ada je offer sim card for internet only tapi aku tak study sangat bab ni sebab aku xsuka bukak2 sim card nanti hilang simcard Msia and dia ada quota so aku malas nak pikir. Kalau egg tu dia unlimited.

cenggini rupa dia, dia bagi egg tu dengan charger sekali

Tapi dont worry kalau rasa mahal sangat, actually tak payah ambik internet package pon takpe sebab mostly semua tempat kat Korea ade Public Wifi cuma tahap kelajuan dia takat nak whatsapp tu lepas la, nak facetime or whatsapp call tak best sangatlah. Kalau nak laju sikit, pergi any cafe and buy something and get the wifi password. Ok jugak kan? So dont worry pasal internet, kalau sesat tanya orang je..

http://koreafreeandeasy.blogspot.my/2015/07/korea-travel-tips-how-to-rent-wifi-egg-in-korea.html

Haa ape lagi tips nak?? Tips makan??? Tungggu, tu entry special punya .. skang ni aku bagi teaser jeee dulu haha.

muahahahahaha

For the time being, enjoy prepare your itinerary guyss, need any helps just drop a comment keh.