Lakwatserong Tsinelas: SOUTH KOREA

The arts and crafts of a particular city is mostly evident on the best buys for gifts and souvenirs. I had more than enough from Seoul, South Korea.

As a vibrant city, there are definitely a lot of places to wander and do the window shop, drink and loiter.

South Korea is made accessible to Filipinos with the regular and daily flight offerings from Manila, Cebu and Kalibo.

There are landmarks and places of interest that appeals most to Filipinos, being close to our culture and not to mention the costs attached to it, being reasonably affordable but not necessarily cheap.

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Conceptualized with the use of uncovered mass concrete, wood, metal and glass-interior finishing materials, Hotel Baroato provides the experience of a modern Korean living. Literally translated, it means upright (“baro”) gift (“ato”).

The hotel is strategically located, being a few distances only from the Hongik University subway station passing by artsy cafes and restaurants and no need for line transfers when going to and from the Incheon International Airport.

The challenge is, it is specifically situated in one narrow alley, although still manageable.

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The second most populous city of South Korea is now becoming a popular tourist destination. With direct flights from Manila to Busan through Cebu Pacific Air, a time-constrained discovery of the large port city of Busan becomes an easy feat.

This is my first time in Busan City and we will only be at the city for 2 full days.

Our focal point is the Haeundae. We arrived late at night from Manila and checked-in at our confirmed hotel booking at Haeundae. The area is lit by neon signboards with aligned bars and restaurants crowded by both locals and the sojourners.

Along the way, art installations are prominent in the main thoroughfare and side alleys with unique architectural designs of skyscrapers, bordered by the sea and the mountains at one end.

Judging from its topographical features, Busan City will be about mountains, beaches and the temples.

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INSTAGRAMMABLE FEATURES OF THE SEOUL TOWER

There is more of what to do than the self poses in front of the iconic landmark of Seoul – the Namsam Seoul Tower. As one of the tallest towers in the Orient, it is almost 480m above sea level and is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the city.

The tower was first established as a broadcast tower to send out TV and radio signals in 1969. Today, it also serves as a multi-cultural venue in the city and a place for relaxation for friends and families.

What makes the Namsam Seoul Tower interesting is apart from the restaurants and recreational centers that it offers, there are corners worthy to be immortalized in the form of Instagram-worthy pictures.

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Admittedly, the least that I would do when on a vacation abroad is to hike mountains. But if the mountain is snow-covered and of littered forest snow, it would be an exception. In South Korea, there is a mountain named Seorak, which literally translates “seol” (snow) and “ak” (big mountain). From that name, I was enticed to go up the mountains and witness the panoramic mountain range.

Was it worth the travel? Yes.

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UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES OF SOUTH KOREA

UNESCO-inscribed places of interest is my priority when visiting a country. South Korea is no exception to my feat, though a work in progress to complete. As of 2016, there are twelve world heritage sites in South Korea composed of eleven cultural sites and one natural site.

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I had no idea South Korea is dubbed as the Land of the Morning Calm until the billboards and tourism campaign materials distributed at downtown Seoul say so.

Standing at one corner of the Cheongpyeong Subway Station (Gyeonchon Line-Exit 1), specifically adjacent to the Tourism Office, we noticed an image of a vast garden illuminated. We asked the tourism officer of where the photo was taken and in a matter of minutes we spontaneously decided to hop on the Gapyeong City Tour Bus. An hour later, we are now at the famed Garden of the Morning Clam.

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GYEONGBUKGUNG PALACE: THE CHANGING OF ROYAL GUARDS CEREMONY

I never knew changing of guards can be festive.

There is one part of our South Korea trip that is certain to happen. That is, to witness the changing of the royal guards ceremony at the Gyeongbokgung Palace.

A walking distance from where we live, the winter breeze was such a comfort that it becomes a walk in the park. With concrete stone walls that surround and spectators gathered at the central gate, we knew we were at the right place.

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Palaces with the finest architectural details, hot and spicy cuisine matched with kimchi, cinematographic settings of Korean dramas, streams, traditional villages and drinking sprees at sidewalk tents set up at night are but some of the interesting features of South Korea.

Seoul is indeed a vibrant city. But for time and budget constraints, it is impossible to discover almost everything that one envisions it to be.

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I do watch Korean dramas but unfortunately, the famed Winter Sonata was not on my list. The cinematographic location of the said series is said to have been filmed in an island known as Nami.

I know the names of the lead characters but I don’t know the storyline. But whatever it is, the island sounds a must-go for hopeless romantics and curious travelers including myself. And so we heeded the call.

The experience of a snow fall sounds remote and close to impossible as of the moment. But to the last minute, I knew there must be something else in store at the island.

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UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE SUWON HWASEONG FORTRESS AND THE PALACE

In almost all my travels, I partially depended on the research of my travel buddy on the what’s and where-to when in a given destination. The bits and pieces of information is a puzzle until we arrive and estimate the time to be spent for each landmark inclusive of transits.

While in South Korea, the plans of skiing and going to a national park in the mountains were ditched. Fortunately, we had back-up plans and off we go to quite a distant area yet a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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For once in our lives, we were involuntarily hooked on Korean dramas and lifestyles mainly by the influence of mainstream media. I was reviewing for the Boards back then when the Korean series Lovers in Paris was such a hit and the list goes on. I honestly wasn’t able to watch the whole series. Most of my friends dreamt of going to South Korea to personally experience how it is to live in those cinematographic settings. And they did go.

I have never been to South Korea and there are no concrete or definite plans of going there anytime soon. A seat sale came and so I joined the bandwagon.

But it is never that easy to go there. A seat sale is not enough as we still need to secure a visa. There are different types of visas and as a corporate slave, I have to secure a tourist visa with specific requirements set for Filipino employees.

Fortunate that I have been granted visas on OECD member countries such as Japan, that processing of my application was shortened to 3 days and I finally got hold of the Single-Entry Korean Visa as first timer.

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