this time around, i managed to coax my sister a.k.a my brother-in-law since he's the one that's driving to send hawa and me to lcct. our flight departure time is 1am. we arrived at lcct around 10:30pm. by the time we got there, we could already check in. as usual, i already checked in online. so, we just need to drop our luggage and passport checked. we had a little trouble here since our luggage exceeded the weight bought. we only bought 20kg under my name since we'll not be bringing a lot of things there. alhamdulillah, we managed to reduce the weight by transferring few items into our hand luggage. our flight departed as schedule.
we also arrived as schedule. but it took some time through the immigration and getting our luggage. once we got our luggage, we went to the K-Books store to get the SIM card i bought online from EG SIM CARD website. since the roaming charges are expensive, i bought the local SIM in order to stay connected. unfortunately, the SIM i bought couldn't make any outgoing calls or sending text messages. so, i just used in for data purpose alone but still it was worth the money. after retrieving the card, we bought T-Money from 7-11 store nearby. may i emphasized again here, as a tourist with no transportation, T-Money is a MUST!!! this card will save you time and money while using the public transportation.
we took several trains to get to our hotel, girl's generation hostel (all girls, dormitory style). the ride took about one and a half hour. the subway here in seoul is very effective but a little bit confusing if you are new and unfamiliar to it. they got many line, many stations and many exits. sometimes, you could just walk underground, while looking at the interesting shops there (there are A LOT), and you'll find yourself already at another station. beside T-Money, the SUBWAY MAP is a must. you could get them easily at any of the station. and if you have a smartphone, which i'm pretty sure you do, just visit this Cyber Station site. no need to worry about the connection, there are almost free wifi everywhere, here in seoul.
we got off at the right station but exited through the wrong exit. we crossed the same road almost five times. luckily, there were not many people around. otherwise, they may think that we're crazy. our hotel is located behind an alley. that's why we couldn't find them in the first place. and then out of nowhere, well maybe from behind us, a kind ajussi showed us the way. he just kept pointing his finger to our hotel direction without uttering a single word. i think, he saw us crossing and re-crossing the road, with big luggage and such and knew that we need help. when we arrived, our landlady was nowhere to be found. a few nice girls even helped us to call her but still couldn't get through.
while waiting, we did something a little bit crazy! hehe, we painted our nails... oh, in this hostel, we shared bathrooms. it also got a kitchen, a laundry room and a cyberroom. we met a lot of nice girls from different countries. there is this one korean girl who could speak malay since she learned indonesia language. the walls here are full of the korean boyband posters. once the landlady arrived, she showed us our room. the room is very small but we need it only for sleeping, right? fortunately, our room is directly in front of the bathroom, easy access..
once done, we took a train to seoul global culture and tourism center which is located in the myeongdong area. initially, we wanted to makea reservation for hanbok wearing experience for tomorrow, but it turned out that reservation could only be made on the same day basis. we rushed to the olympic hall, where the concert is being held afterwards. the place was already crowded when we reached there. a lot of fans wearing orange (orange is the official color for shinhwa fans, they called themselves 'shinhwa changjo.') colored clothes with orange accessories. by the way, hawa is the real die hard fan, and i'm just a so-so fan. for me personally, i preferred jpop (exile, kinki kids, arashi) to kpop...
we sat at the back cause it's obviously cheaper. we met a fellow malaysian there and she must be more hardcore fan since she'll be coming again on sunday to watch the concert. and that sunday ticket is a VIP ticket. she just bought it here, at a lower price, for those tickets were unclaimed/unpaid by the original buyers. i felt very excited and i knew hawa must also feel the same, maybe more. this is her main objective after all, hehe.. overall, we REALLY enjoyed ourselves! we sang and even dance to the songs! the crowd was wild!!! i felt like i'm a teenager once again.. oh, we did bought head scarves with the light before we went it.. the name on mine was dong wan, while hawa was jun jin...
the concert started around 6pm and finished around 10pm.. like i said, we really enjoyed it and had the time of our lives! we took train back to our hostel and turning in early. we are tired and tomorrow we must wake up early for another new experience.. if you guys are wondering what we have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, here are the answer.. breakfast: in flight, lunch: rice and kimchi (courtesy from the hostel kitchen), dinner: bought onigiri, bibimbap, and bread from the convenient store.. me and hawa are not so choosy about food as long as they are halal and edible.. so, that's all for this entry.. hope to write on later days soon..
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