Diary of an Internet Addict

Itinerary

1. Arrival at Incheon Airport, transfer (Airport limousine bus 6030) and check-in at Hamilton Hotel
2. Line shop/cafe
3. Seoul Central Mosque
4. Explore Myeongdong area
5. Explore Namsan area – Namsan Seoul Tower
6. (optional) Hanbok Photoshoot at N Seoul Tower

1. Transfer to Hamilton Hotel

So, first day – the original itinerary was very ambitious. Half of the itinerary actually got slashed, because of time constraint. By the time we reached the hotel, it was going on 3pm.

The transfer from Incheon Airport to the hotel in Itaewon through the airport limousine bus is about 2 hours. The bus is seriously comfortable – it’s like flying business class.

The cost is KRW15,000 – 14,000 if you pay using Tmoney card. When you exit arrival immigration point and walk along the building, there are small stores – you can get or top up the T-money card there, or you can purchase limousine bus tickets near the exit. If you are using T-money card, you can tap multiple times for more than one persons.

There are two boarding points for the particular route we took – the 6030. It stops across Hamilton Shopping Centre. When you’re boarding, just let the person know where you’re stopping at, he will confirm if you are on the correct bus.

Talking of arrivals, I lament the e-system. Instead of getting passports like the good old romantic way, there’s just a slip of paper and we’re cleared for entry.

We stayed at Hamilton Hotel – which was pretty decent. If you are on the lower floors though, you’ll be quite bothered by the nightlife below. The music is pretty loud throughout the night.

There are two things I really like about the hotel:

1. 3 cable charger heads – 1 micro usb, 1 lightning and 1 usb c at the table with 2 power points to spare? I think this should be the hotel standard.
2. The bidet system – it took me a while to figure this out, but once I did…it was awesome. Seriously.

   https://flic.kr/p/NSMBCJ

3. Oh right, I liked that I had a view of the Namsan Tower. If I had a room facing Itaewon, it would have been really boring.

We had a short break – a bit of lunch and rest for about an hour and a half, before we headed out.

Itaewon is known for its nightlife, but that’s not all it has to it. Being a spot favoured by internationals, it boasts a lot of halal food, especially of the Malaysian and Mediterranean fare. My favourite? The Halal Guys. Why are you not in Singapore? Can I tag you to open a branch in Singapore? (I leave this blog for five minutes to find them on Twitter…tweeted my desperate tweet)

The Halal Guys shop is around 5 minutes from the Hamilton hotel, along the main road.

2. Line Store/Cafe

So aside from the plethora of bars, clubs and food, there’s also the Line Store. If I’ve been to The Halal Guys three times, I’ve been to the Line Store four times! I think of all my expenditures on this trip, most of them went to the Line Store.

The line store has 3 storeys –

First floor: Brown, Cony and gang (can’t remember the rest of the characters) merchandises. There are a number of BT21 items as well as huge statues of Brown and a photo corner.

Second floor: mainly dedicated to BT21 items, but there’s a photo corner as well.

Third floor: cafe – I didn’t go up because I don’t see people go up – so I didn’t know if I should…

3. Seoul Central Mosque

The Seoul Central Mosque was up a bit of ways at the top of a steep road. The whole place is just…steep. Don’t wear heels.

From the mosque side, you can see a bit of the town below. That’s how high the mosque was located.

And I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t take a photo of the sky from my room:

You can see reflection of the curtains because I couldn’t figure out how to switch off all the lights ^_^;