I already had made
reservations prior to my arrival in one of the popular guesthouses in town. The
problem was that I came across a negative write up about a bad experience
there. I was ready to give it the benefit of a doubt but the tricycle driver
also only had bad things to say about the said place. If the place is getting so
much bad rep then there must be some truth to the rumors. So I decided to heed
the advice of the tricycle driver. He brought me to a place called Grand
Pensionne Plaza, which he said was fairly new.
Dumaguete is the
capital of Negros Oriental, a province in Central Visayas sharing the island of
Negros with Negros Occidental, which belongs to Ilonggo speaking Western
Visayas. The dominant language here is Bisaya. Crossing over to Cebu or
Siquijor could easily be done through ferry. The city is fondly called the City
of Gentle People.
Iloilo shares the island of Panay with Aklan, Antique, and Capiz. Together with Negros Occidental and the island province of Guimaras, they form the geographical region of Western Visayas. Aside from the various Eco-tourism sites scattered across the province, Iloilo is more popularly known for its churches.
Considered as the country’s largest municipality comprised by 119 baranggays, Miag-ao is popular mainly because of its church which is on the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list of Baroque Churches in the Philippines. The main campus of the University of the Philippines - Visayas can also be found here, with the entrance around ten minutes walking distance from the church and the plaza.
John told me with
his broken English that I was handsome. Well thank you, John. I like your sense
of humor. Either you have drunk too much of this spa water we are wading on or
you just have very poor taste. In any case, you are starting to annoy me, and
the maintenance guy is looking at us.
As
news of Ned’s fate spreads across the kingdoms, Robb mourns and vows revenge. The
northerners pledge allegiance and declare him King of the North. Cat breaks
down herself before taking out her anger on Jaime, who admits he’s the one who
pushed Bran off the tower. Jon Snow deserts the Wall to join Robb in avenging
their father’s death, but is persuaded by his comrades to come back and keep
his oath. Arya is taken by one his father’s men, passes her off as a boy, and
they escape north. Sansa is continuously tortured by Joffrey, even forcing her
to look at her father’s head on a pike. Acknowledging his son’s skills in
strategy, Tywin names Tyrion Hand of the King and sends him back to King’s
Landing in an effort to avoid any more crucial mistakes by both Cersei and
Joffrey. Daenerys wakes up childless, without a tribe, and with an alive but
catatonic Khal Drogo. The witch admits to tricking her as revenge against the
Dothraki who pillaged her homeland. The Khaleesi smothers her husband, and
later on joins him in his funeral pyre along with her three dragon eggs. But she
does not burn, and they find her the next morning unscathed, with a trio of
hatched dragons in tow.
Considered by many as Korea’s very own Disneyland, Everland offers a lot of thrills for both theme park enthusiast and plain wanderer alike. Located at the city of Yongin in the province of Gyeonggi, the park is just around an hour away by bus from Gangnam Metro Station. Another station in Southern Seoul where bus connections can be found is at Jamsil in Songpa, meaning you could combine your Lotte World and Everland tours for one day of jam-packed thrill, but I would suggest that you allot a day each for both. Inside the theme park are various gardens including a big rose garden, Mardi Gras inspired parades in the afternoon, an animal safari, various rides including a wooden roller coaster considered as the steepest in Asia and second worldwide, and lots more. Next door is a water park called Caribbean Bay, the entrance fee for which you have to pay for separately.
Directly north of
the Han River and right smack in the middle of Seoul, Yongsan could probably be referred to
as the “heart” of this city if based on location alone. Other than that this
district is popularly known for its Electronics market and that area of the
city notorious for its night life, party scene, and foreigner attendance. Yes,
I am referring to you, Itaewon. If it is night life you seek, in Itaewon it is
night life you get.
I was supposed to
be at Ganghwa County in Incheon that Saturday but due to a sudden wave of
depression and katamaran I thought, WTF, I’ll stay in Seoul and watch their
version of Jekyll and Hyde at the Charlotte Theater! The problem was that the
ticket for the said musical costs 100,000 won, which was roughly equivalent to
the hundred dollars left in my wallet that I was no longer planning to spend.
That’s for a VIP seat by the way. Another thing is that it was going to be in
Korean, but what the heck, I would love to hear “This is the Moment” in Korean!
Anyway, I decided not to go. Boo, me. Instead, I decided to spend my last day
in Seoul
touring the favorite sights I’ve seen during the week. That and a side trip to
a highly recommended bookstore called Kyobo.
My depression just
got worse at Kyobo because I wanted to shop for books. Their foreign language
book collection is huge. They have whole shelves dedicated for Spanish, French,
and German, from course books to popular and classic literature. The dilemma
was how to bring them back home. My 7-kilo backpack was already full as it was
and I still had a laptop and a paper bag full of souvenirs to carry. I’m not a
GMO, I only have two hands; and the plane only allows two hand carry items. And
again, I no longer wanted to spend. And so I settled for one book -- a comic
book offering a satiric yet honest view of Korean society. Perfect. It was thin
too, fit quite well in the laptop sack. We’ll meet again Kyobo, and my plastic
will be so ready for swiping when that time comes. And my backpack too!
What else did I
see at Kyobo? DVDs! I was eyeing a complete set of Queen Seon Deok which was selling
for more than a hundred thousand won. Suddenly a name flashed in my mind:
Yongsan. They say that electronics are cheap there. Maybe I’d find cheap DVDs! I
did, but only in two stalls. And I didn’t find anything Korean in there aside
from documentaries about Korean History. And some porn. Okay. But the rumors
are true; the place is an electronics haven! And that made me more depressed.
Why? Well, I saw
my laptop in there selling for almost half the price when I bought it a couple
of months ago in Manila. Damn that. The mall connected directly to Yongsan
station has more than five floors, each of which is dedicated to a certain
electronic item. There is a floor for laptops, a separate one for mobile
phones, and then another one for PC games. On the ground floor are various
stalls selling camera stuff with different kinds of lenses displayed in glass
compartments. There is also a Gundam Store in that building featuring various
types ranging from those expensive giant ones all the way down to those cute
Baby Gundam robots. I also saw musical instruments on one of the floors. There
is a directory there anyway so just look and take your pick.
I went out of the
building, crossed the overpass, and found myself in the middle of another block
of “malls” selling the same stuff. People who go gaga over electronics would die
of a heart attack in this place because of pure excitement. As for me I came
home empty handed! At least now I know where to go when I decide to upgrade my
repertoire of electronic gadgets.
I decided to make
Itaewon my last stop in Seoul.
I didn’t know that it was in the same district. Going there was a bit difficult
because I had to change trains in two or three stations just to connect to the
Itaewon stop in Seoul’s
Metro line. I think Yongsan-gu has its own subway system, with which I wasn’t
familiar. For that it took me quite a while to get there, despite being in the
same district, using the Seoul Metro that I’ve come to love.
It was already
dark when I reached Itaewon and it was just teeming with people, a lot of them
foreigners. I did nothing there aside from crossing streets and dodging cars.
The sparkling lights gave me a mild headache and the crowd did not help at all
to improve the situation. To add to my paranoia I came across a middle-aged man
while crossing an intersection. I almost bumped into him so I looked back. He
stopped and stared and started following me after that, attempting for eye
contact every time I looked back. Freaky. Don’t call me assuming. I know when
people follow people. I do that too. Sometimes. I don’t need a stalker’s
handbook for this one.
Anyway I could no
longer spot him when I arrived by the church area, so after snapping a photo I
decided to head back to the station. I was hungry so I decided to try one of
the eateries. I’m leaving the next day and I haven’t eaten Korean food yet. So
I sat in one of the eateries and ordered fried rice. What? Yes, I’ve been
craving for fried rice ever since I got here, which is really Chinese. Is it
just me or is it really hard to find Chinese food in Seoul? Anyway I only paid
5,000 won and that came with a Korean food sampler: plain rice, Kimchi, and two
more side dishes that I could no longer recall. What I could remember is that I
really did not like the taste. The Kimchi was cold but spicy, such a weird
combination. No offense to all Koreans out there but I really don’t like Korean
food. Sorry for that, just being honest.
I went home after
that and spent the night at Silloam again. I already had an adaptor so charging
my laptop and my phone was no longer a problem. What remained a dilemma though
was the WiFi access. Each time I tried connecting the page brings me to the
website of T-Mobile (or was it Olleh?), asking me for a username and a
password. There was a PC Bang inside anyway so it wasn’t really a problem.
I left after lunch
the next day to go back to Incheon. My flight wasn’t until the evening but I
wasn’t able to tour the place. I couldn’t find the lockers at the airport and
the storage fee on the third floor was a bit expensive. I just drained my
laptop and phone batteries surfing the net courtesy of the free airport WiFi.
When I got into the boarding area an hour or so before the flight I found a
power socket and I was still able to charge both laptop and phone to full
capacity. Good.
The flight back
was okay, with some turbulence along the way. We arrived back in Manila on time
and there were no hassles at customs and immigration. I loved Seoul, and my
feet are already itching to come back. I have promised myself that I will
really come back, whether it be through a short-term language course, a
government scholarship for a Master’s degree. It doesn’t matter. We’ll meet
again Seoul. We’ll meet again.
There is an island
in the middle of the Han River dubbed as Korea’s
Wall Street and is said to be one of the most affluent regions in Seoul. There you would
find the offices of Korean TV Network Giants MBC and KBS. There also is a tower
that goes by the alias “63 Building”, which houses the highest art gallery in
the world. I went there for that tower, and I got lost in that island.
Looking at a map
of Seoul you
would see how small Yeouido seems to be. Don’t be fooled. Two stations of the
Seoul Metro Line could be found here: Yeouido and Yeouinaru. All I could
remember was that after my Jung-gu excursion I decided to hop on the Metro and
go there to see this building that according to many had been popularized by
that Korean Drama My Geol, which is a personal favorite. I couldn’t recall
having seen the said building from the series given that it’s been years since
I’ve last seen it, but still it piqued my curiosity so why not visit, right?
All I could see
were buildings when I got out from the underground. If this building is as tall
as they claim it to be then it should dwarf the others around it! But I can’t
see such a tall building anywhere. Most of those in sight were almost of the
same size. And so I walked. Perhaps due to its popularity as a landmark you
could see road signs bearing its name and an arrow pointing to its direction. I
saw a park with a futuristic looking bridge. I went there to rest for a while.
The name of the
park is Hangang and it is located by the banks of the Han
River. I think it surrounds the whole island in that you could
tour its entirety and find yourself at the same spot after who knows how many
hours. I did not test that theory, by the way. No thanks. I love the bridge
because it looks so modern, and you could bring your bike up there because they
have a special gutter to guide your bike as you climb the steps. It was all
wandering around the city after that side trip.
The 63 Building is
actually the headquarters of Korea Life Insurance. “63” refers to the 60 floors
of the building above ground plus another three at the basement. On the 59th
floor is an art gallery which doubles as an observation deck. People don’t
really go there for art’s sake. They come for the view, which is awesome by the
way. Bring a 500-won coin with you to use the binoculars they have up there.
Are those even called “binoculars”? Whatever. Anyway the view is nice and they
also have information about the scenes on various stands around the floor. The
elevator trip takes more than a minute and at night it is said that there are
special elevators meant for couples to enjoy an exclusive one-minute ride.
Wonderful view of Seoul
as you go up!
There is a
“wishing wall” next to the cafeteria where you can post a wish and it would
come true, at least according to them. Well they better get ready to shed a few
million won for me because my wish doesn’t come cheap. Hahaha. I wrote it in
Tagalog, and for that I fear that they might remove it because they might think
I wrote something vulgar. Most of the wishes there are written in Hangul, but I
saw one in Russian, which gave me more reason to write mine in Tagalog, haha.
Anyway if you see a Tagalog wish there stating a desire to study Korean at SNU
for three weeks (but one year would be better), that wish is mine. My online
handle is there anyway so it will be pretty obvious. No, my dears, wishes don’t
come for free. You have to pay 3,000 won for the orange star. It does come with
a Hershey’s Bar though. Your sweet tooth be damned in the name of one wish.
It took me half an
hour wandering around that island to find a way back to the guest house. At
last I found the other subway station after passing by the MBC office. I don’t
know a lot of Korean stars so I am not sure if I saw one, although even the
security guard did look like a TV personality. Someone needs to review his
Korean Pop Culture, hehehe.
The N-Seoul Tower
a.k.a. the Namsan Tower is probably the most famous in Korea despite the existence of other more
interesting rivals such as the Jongno
Tower or the 63 Building in
Yeouido. However, although the last two might both have their own gimmicks to
lure tourists in, Namsan actually has more tricks up her sleeves: a Teddy Bear
Museum, a veranda full of
“love locks”, an observatory, and a revolving restaurant. Oops, I forgot the cable
car. The two skyscrapers suddenly became boring.
The tower was very
accessible for me because all my accommodations were located within Jongno-gu,
particularly in the Myeongdong area. I only had to walk to reach the elevator
going up the hill to the cable car station. Still, I reserved the tower within
the last few days of my stay. It’s weird like that, how one place so near has
to be visited last. The important thing was I was able to visit it, although I
limited myself to just some of its features, or perhaps just one: the Observatory.
I paid 9,000 won
for the admission to that observatory, which was as much as you would pay for
an admission ticket for a movie. A tandem ticket for the Teddy Bear Museum is available for 14,000 won, I
think. I wasn’t able to memorize the prices, okay. Sorry, just human. I decided
to no longer visit the said museum because from my experience at the Lotte Folk
Museum and at the
National Folk Museum of Korea, DIY museum tours take a lot of time, especially
for people who are very keen to details. It was already late when I arrived at
the tower via cable car, and I was very sleepy. What if I fell asleep there? It
would have been awkward since I don’t look like a Teddy Bear at all.
The observatory
was crowded with people. I actually enjoyed the elevator ride better. Why?
Since a lot of tourists flock there you have to wait for your turn at the
elevator. Perhaps anticipating this scenario, whoever built those elevators decided
to include a visual show for you to enjoy, just weird images of comets zooming,
a group of squares disintegrating, and a lot more abstract concepts turned into
colorful visual effects. And that’s just the elevator door. Once inside the
roof would give you a heart attack because it suddenly erupts into an array of
colors, again with various colorful displays.
The observatory is
small and on the walls you would see names of locations. I guess what this
means is that if you look straight with a powerful telescope you would be
staring directly at the said destinations. I took a picture of the portion of
the glass wall saying, “Manila, Philippines” of course, but all I could see
outside were tiny dots of light coming from urban Seoul below. At the center are various
souvenir items that are obviously overpriced. Go splurge.
One floor down is a
wall filled with square wooden tiles with messages of undying love and
admiration from various tourists. Some of them express their grief for not
being able to do the trip with someone they left back home. Some shower Seoul with well-deserved
raves. Take your pick. Some even have drawings. Well you would have to buy the
wooden tiles. You really thought they were for free? Naive much? You take the
elevator down from there, and then you either go to the Teddy
Bear Museum
or eat very expensive steak on the topmost floor so you could experience eating
in a revolving restaurant with a splendid view of Seoul’s skyline after dark. Obviously I
didn’t do that. Who am I, Bill Gates? Instead I went back to the lobby and saw
a flight of stairs behind the ticket booth. I followed the path and it led to a
balcony whose railings could no longer be seen because of the locks locked on
them. Padlocks.
That, ladies and
gentlemen, is the popular story regarding the tower that you often hear about.
Lock a padlock at Namsan
Tower and you are
guaranteed eternal love. If it doesn’t, could I get a refund? I no longer
bothered buying an unnecessarily expensive padlock from the souvenir store, not
because I’m a cheapskate but because there is no one to offer the lock to. Or
maybe both. Fvck whoever it was who thought of this pesky gimmick. I’m not
bitter! I’m not bitter! I’m not bitter! Hahahahaha.
There is an oddly
placed pavilion next to the tower by the way, used by many as a resting place
before riding the cable car back down to the city. Seoul is really proving to be a city of
contrasts, huh. There are various restaurants cum bars within the vicinity. I’d
bet they are also overpriced. Well
nobody said that being a tourist comes cheap, being a traveler maybe. Anyway
let’s leave the tower alone for now and let me introduce you to one palace that
went astray in another district, the Deoksugung.
“-gung” already
means “Palace” so saying “Deoksugung Palace” would be like saying “Deoksu Palace
Palace.” You know, not that
different from people saying “TIN Number” or “ATM Machine”. Funny. Haha. Hahaha.
As always, I digress. Haha. Back to topic! Deoksu Palace
Palace is rather small,
but this is mainly because most of the area it used to cover has fallen victim
to the urban sprawl around it. There are considerably fewer palaces and two modern
looking buildings inside, one of which has something to do with American Art.
Yes, separate entrance fee.
The palace is
pretty good-looking as a park and I enjoyed just sitting there on one of the benches
while watching the people do their thing. I forgot that there is also some sort
of party venue used for events nowadays. At least it still serves its purpose
because according to the info stand the said “pavilion” has always been used to
entertain guests and hold functions even before.
Cross the street
from Deoksugung and you’d find yourself in a huge patch of green grass with a
stage and an ongoing construction in front of it. That building being renovated
is the namesake of the Metro station you find in front of the palace. Yes, the Seoul City
Hall. The grassy area is aptly called the Seoul Plaza.
A lot of skyscrapers surround them, by the way. Head south from there and you
end up in yet another ongoing construction: The Namdaemun Gate. The said gate
is a victim of an arson attack from some random Korean citizen who decided to take
out his frustrations over the government on the helpless gate. Hmmm, someone’s
confusing nation for state.
Across the gate is
the Namdaemun Market, which is pretty much like Divisoria except that you could
eat Kimchi from some random stall and then buy winter clothes made of faux fur
from another. Shopping is not my thing so I only passed by the said market en
route to the nearest Metro station. Myeongdong Cathedral is also located in
Jung-gu’s Myeongdong area but I never visited it despite staying there for
almost a week, haha.
