Mengganti SIM A Indonesia ke SIM Korea Tipe 2 General

Berhubung SIM(A) Indonesia saya akan "mati"  bulan depan, dan ga mungkin untuk pulang ke Indonesia untuk perpanjang SIM di masa corona ini 😢, kudu buru-buru untuk ngurus SIM Korea. Ternyata tidak terlalu sulit untuk pengurusannya, cuman butuh sedikit effort saja 😅

WNI yang masih memiliki SIM Indonesia yang berlaku bisa apply untuk tukar SIM Korea Selatan hanya dengan tes kesehatan (hanya cek mata doang) dan ujian tertulis di 운전면허시험장(tempat ujian mengemudi), setelah itu ga sampe 2 jam SIM Korea sudah di tangan (dengan syarat ujian tertulisnya lulus ya. Jika ujian tertulisnya tidak lulus, maka besoknya bisa ujian lagi)

Persyaratan dokumen: 

1. Paspor asli
2. Alien Registration Card asli
3. SIM Indonesia asli
4. Pas foto ukuran 3.5x4.5  sebanyak 3 lembar 
5. Surat Pengantar SIM RI
6. Certificate of the Facts Concerning Entry and Exit /출입국사실 증명서  

Biaya: 

• Mengurus Surat Pengantar SIM RI  - USD 20
• Tes kesehatan - 6000 won
• Ujian tertulis - 10000 won
• SIM Korea dalam bahasa Inggris - 10000 won / bahasa Korea 8000 won

( dianjurkan untuk bikin yang bahasa inggris karena sudah otomatis berlaku sebagai SIM International yang diakui lebih dari 30 negara seperti Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Canada etc) 

Note:

Setelah SIM Korea terbit, SIM Indonesia kita akan ditahan (tidak dikembalikan ke kita). Namun tidak perlu khawatir, karena kita masih bisa mengambil kembali SIM kita ketika kita akan pulang ke Indonesia baik sementara ataupun selamanya dengan menunjukkan tiket pesawat.

Langkah Mengurus Surat Pengantar SIM RI

1. Lapor diri di website kemlu - peduli.wni.kemlu.go.id 
2. Menyiapkan dokumen persyaratan untuk dikirim via pos ke kedubes
1. SIM Asli yang masih berlaku
2. Fotokopi SIM depan dan belakang dalam 1 halaman
3. Fotokopi Paspor
4. Fotokopi Alien Registration Card depan dan belakang dalam 1 halaman
5. Formulir pemohonan - format bisa dowload dari website kedubes
6. 1 Lembar amplop balasan yang sudah ditempel dengan Sonab Denggi Label (서납등기라벨)
3. Tambahan: kebetulan nama saya di paspor dan KTP beda, download surat peryataan di website kemlu, diisi terus upload kembali di website kemlu. Aslinya dikirim ke kedubes RI di Seoul. Katanya jika tidak ada surat pernyataan ini maka Surat Pengantar SIM RI tidak akan diterbit padahal tidak ada keterangan di website, untungnya saya inisiatif untuk isi 😎
4. Bayar USD 20 di bank yang ditentukan oleh kedubes ( waktu saya bayar persyaratannya transfer via Hanabank, sekarang sudah berubah menjadi WooriBank. Untuk nomor rekening bisa cek di website kedubes ya), bukti transfer juga perlu dikirim ke kedubes.
5. Kirim semua persyaratan dokumen ke alamat Kedubes dan telpon kedubes untuk memastikan kalo dokumen sudah diterima. 
6. Pengalaman saya, Surat Pengantar SIM RI saya terima dalam waktu kurang dari 1 minggu.

Certificate of the Facts Concerning Entry and Exit /출입국사실 증명서

Untuk mendapatkan certificate ini, orang Korea bisa langsung apply online dan gratis. Tapi kalo orang asing tidak bisa apply online, jadi kita harus ke 주민센터,구청etc atau ke kantor imigrasi untuk mengurusnya. Cukup bawa Alien Registration Card dan bayar 2000 won, certificate ini bisa langsung diterima di saat itu juga.

Latihan Ujian Tertulis

Selanjutnya menyiapkan diri untuk ujian tertulis. Soal ujiannya ada 40 pertanyaan dan cukup bisa jawab 60 poin kita sudah bisa lulus. Ujiannya bisa pilih bahasa Korea, English, Vietnam & China (katanya dulu ada soal bahasa Indonesia tapi sekarang sudah dihapus)

Aplikasi yang oke banget untuk latihan ujian tertulis ini bisa download di http://www.drivingplus.me/Service/Info/ 

Setelah install, bisa setting bahasa untuk soal ujiannya ke bahasa english (mau pilih bahasa China atau Vietnam juga bisa, jika mau hehe) 

Soal yang keluar di ujian nanti sama persis dengan soal yang ada di aplikasi ini, sampai urutan pilihan jawabannya pun sama persis. Jadi cukup latihan dari sini saja sudah pasti bisa lulus.

Contoh soalnya cukup banyak, ada 1000 soal kalo ga salah, padahal ujiannya hanya 40 soal. Jadi saya juga tidak latihan semuanya, lebih fokus ke soal dengan gambar dan marka jalan. Setelah random test dengan 40 soal dan bisa dapat poin 70 ke atas, saya langsung ke TKP untuk ngurus SIM :)

Untuk details bisa cek di website masing-masing instasi ya😁

Persyaratan Tukar SIM (외국면허 교환발급)

https://www.safedriving.or.kr/guide/rerGuideEng02.do

https://www.safedriving.or.kr/guide/larGuide031.do?menuCode=MN-PO-1213#

Penjelasan mengenai SIM Korea versi English (영문운전면허증)

https://www.safedriving.or.kr/guide/larGuide09.do?menuCode=MN-PO-1219

Persyaratan Surat Pengantar SIM RI

https://kemlu.go.id/seoul/id/pages/surat_pengantar_sim_ri/778/about-service 

  

Visa F6 Approved!

Akhirnya setelah menunggu 3 bulan lebih, di-approve visa F6 saya.

Tadinya yakin bisa dapatin kurang dari 3 bulan karena :

- persyaratan suami lengkap

- saya pernah kursus bahasa korea di seoul

- certificate TOPIC punya dari bertahun2 yang lalu + kursus sejong di KCc

- punya multiple visa korea

- tahun lalu sudah 4x bolak balik Korea

- secara financial saya juga ga ada masalah

Entah karena lagi corona atau memang prosesnya lama. Masukin visa tgl 27 Jan, akhirnya suami di Korea ditelpon oleh pihak kedutaan tgl 24 Apr.

Ternyata ada permintaan dokumen:

- 신용정보조회서

  Ini adalah semacam surat pernyataan kredit yang dimiliki suami di Korea. Tadinya suami juga bingung dengan surat ini. Ternyata cek di website kedutaan Korea di Philippines ada persyaratan ini dan harus diterbitkan dari www.credit4u.or.kr  jadi kita ikutin saja

- Penjelasan dari kita kenal sampai menikah

Sebenarnya sudah ditulis singkat di formulir dan kita tambahkan foto2 beserta penjelasan singkat di bawah foto. Ternyata kurang juga. Katanya perlu nulis 1-2 lembar seperti membuat karangan 😅

Dua hal ini mungkin celah dari kami yang menghambat proses visa. Buat yg mau apply mungkin bisa diperhatikan.

Setelah penambahn dokumen di tgl 28 Apr, suami ditelpon lagi kedutaan tgl 29 Apr sore, minta saya untuk menyerahkan 3 dokumen persyaratan tambahan berhubungan dengan pandemic corona saat ini:

- Health Condition Report Form

- Consent to Quarantine

- Medical Certificate yg dikeluarkan oleh rumah sakit

*semua form bisa download dari website kedutaan

Tgl 30 Apr segera saya ke RS Medistra paginya untuk urus Medical Certificate, jam 8-an nyampe, jam 10 kurang selesai langsung submit ke kedutaan. 

Dan taraaa, tgl 4 Mei pagi saya dapat telpon dari kedutaan kalo visa saya sudah diapproved 👏👏👏

Restoran & Cafe @ Korea

Wajib dikunjung kalo jalan-jalan ke Seoul

BBQ yang pualing eunak yang pernah gw makan.
Apalagi bawang putihnya yang dimasak bareng saus cabenya, uenak tenan!!
Sangking terkenalnya, restoran ini selalu penuh n banyak turis dari jepang juga yang makan di sini.

마포진짜원조최대포 본점
서울 마포구 공덕2동 673-3번지 2층
02-719-9292
Stasiun terdekat: Line 5 ato Line 6 Stasiun Gongdoek Exit No. 5

Yang satu ini BBQ yang paling sering saya kunjungi selama sekolah di Seoul soale dekat banget ama kost. Cukup jalan kaki 1 menit juga nyampe :P
Selalu ngatri panjang kalo mau makan di sini.
Menu yang paling terkenal di sini "7 minutes pork kimchi" (kira2 gitu kali yach kalo diterjemahin heheheh) Hampir tiap meja ada mesen menu satu ini.
Terus, biasanya kalo BBQ pasti samgyopsal ato kalbi khan?
Nah, di sini kita bisa nyobain BBQ dengan daging yang super tipis yg juga merupakan menu andalan di sini "yolthan bulgogi"

새마을식당
서울 서대문구 창천덩
02-365-3284
Stasiun terdekat: Line 2 Stasiun Sinchon Exit No 3

Yang satu ini bukan karena rasanya, tapi karena atmosfir di cafenya.
Cafe ini selain menyajikan kopi dan kue, tapi juga menjual bunga.
So begitu masuk ke cafenya langsung kecium wangi bunga yang semerbak~~
Cocok banget buat melepas lelah sehabis jalan-jalan di karosukil (shinsadong)

bloom & goute
서울 강남구 신사동 545-24
02-545-6659
Stasiun terdekat: Line 3 Stasiun Shinsa Exit No 8

Categories: food, korea, travel

Kelasku, HP n Bank di Korea

Setelah pindah ke level 2, baru rada semangat belajarnya. Waktu di level 1 bener2 mulai dari cara baca hangul bo! Tapi ada bagusnya juga awal gw masuk level 1 dulu, so gw bisa belajar pelafalan hangul yg benar seperti 오,어/ㅈ,ㅊ/ㄷ,ㅌ/ㅂ,ㅍ etc soale dulu khan belajar sendiri, so tadinya juga ga bisa bedain pelafalannya ^^;

Pelajarannya lebih ke percakapan, jadi waktu belajar kita lebih banyak berdiri untuk latihan percakapan ama teman sekelas, so partnernya juga bergantian, kadang malah kita ke kelas lain untuk latihan percakapan juga. Ini cukup seru karena kita khan ga kenal anak kelas laen, so bisa sekalian kenalan. Cara ini dulu waktu gw sekolah di jepang ga ada, so lumayan interesting buat gw.

Sogang memang terkenal dengan banyak PR, so ga salah lagi gw juga kebagian PR yg seabrek. Dalam seminggu ini rutinitas gw tuh jam 9 sekolah, jam 1 selesai trus makan siang, ngobrol ama teman or ketemu ama teman korea gw, sore pulang tidur bentar, malam abis makan bikin PR sampe jam 12 or jam 1 gitu.

Kelas baru gw total 15 orang, Jepang paling banyak 6 org, USA 4, Taiwan 1, China 1, Vietnam 1, Jerman 1, Indonesia 1 (gw).

　
yg hitam HP Korea, yg pink HP Jepang yg selama ini gw pake

So gw juga udah beli HP disini, HP bekas hehehe. Di sini kalo cuman short term, ga bisa sign contract setaon or 2 taon gitu, mesti beli HP bekas, trus pake sistem prepaid. Trus gara2 gw ga punya alien card, hanya punya passport, gw cuman bisa pilih LGTelecom. Selaen LGT, ada SKT n KTF. Sistem prepaid lebih mahal dikit dibanding sistem normal yg mesti kontrak itu.

Awalnya gw minta bantuan teman korea gw, nanya 2 org, dua2nya ga tau kalo di korea ada prepaid phone. Trus gw ditemenin ke toko HP, tetep aja ga bisa beli, karena toko yg kita pergi itu ga jual HP bekas.

Karena teman korea gw itu sibuk, akhirnya gw pergi ama teman sekelas yg kebetulan juga mau beli HP. Denger2 di Technomart banyak jual HP bekas, n di sono ada yg bisa ngomong japanese, so kita sengaja ke sono. Padahal rada jauh juga dari sekolah kita. Tempatnya kayak Roxy gitu, 1 lantai semua jualan HP. Eh, udh sampe sono yg bisa ngomong japanese lagi ga ada di toko, so akhirnya tetep aja mesti pake korean. So berusaha pake korean, campur2 english, jadi deh kita beli HP :D

HP yg gw beli kayaknya keluaran th 2006, tadinya 40rb won, gw tawar 35rb won. Charger mesti beli lagi 5000won. Padahal HP gw sama2 samsung n gw khan udah punya charger, tapi pin-nya beda, so mau ga mau mesti beli charger or beli pin coverternya. pin converternya juga 5000won. Daripada pusing, gw beli chargernya aja. Rata2 di sini jualan HP bekas dari 30rb won sampe 150rb won gitu. Teman gw yg bakal lama di sini beli HP yg 100rb won, kalo gw sih cuman 3 bulan, beli yg murah meriah aja :)

LGTelecom prepaid per 10 detik 66 won kalo ga salah, tapi kalo dengan bayar 4500won per bulan, jadi 33 won per 10 detik. Banyak plannya, gw denger pun jadi pusing. Pokoknya punya gw, 4500won/bulan langsung potong dari uang prepaid, telpon 33won/10 dtk, sms 30won. Kalo mo charge bisa lewat ATM. Sayangnya dg sistem prepaid, kita ga bisa internetan pake HP, so fungsi internet yg ada di HP gw ini ga terpakai. Trus software HPnya juga kayaknya ga cocok ama komputer gw, so mau tranfer foto or mp3 juga ga bisa :(

　Walau cuman 3 bulan, gw tetep buka account di bank. Teman gw ada yg cuman simpan di kost. Apa ga serem tuh ya? Tadinya gw ke Woori Bank, bank yg cukup gede n popular di sini, tapi gara2 KTP gw udah expired n ga punya credit card yg dibikin di Indo, gw ditolak. Credit card japan sih banyak gw hehehe Tapi katanya mesti credit card "home country"... reseh lah pokoknya. So gw ke Hana Bank, rada ga begitu popular di sini, tapi karena dia bisa buka rekening hanya dg passport, so chinchai aja lah, iya gak?^^ Kartu ATMnya baru selesai seminggu kemudian, padahal katanya kalo di Woori Bank langsung dapat kartu ATM. Payah juga nih bank :P Trus ATM-nya lumayan oke, selaen bhs korea, bisa juga english, japanese n chinese so waktu pake kita juga ga bingung dg hangul yg kotak2 bulet2 itu heheheh

Categories: korea

Gw dapat Level 2 !!

Pagi ini kita dapat hasil level test. Gw sih udah pasti ga bisa dapat nilai 80. Ternyata gw cuman dapat 69 hehehhe Tapi tetep aja gw ngotot minta dimasukin ke level 2 :P

So gw tanya ke guru gw, "kalo tes biasa 69 juga bisa naik ke level 2 khan, kenapa mesti 80?? grammer saya ga banyak salah khan?" Eh, malah dijawab kalo sogang univ tuh lebih penting ke percakapan. Wah, gw percakapan lebih pede malah, so gw bilang lagi, "kalo gitu percakapan saya juga ga masalah khan? level 2 segitu susahnya kah? saya pasti ga bisa kah?" hehehe pokoknya ngotot abis deh:P

Akhirnya dibilang sama guru gw itu, kalo gw emang ngotot, mesti ngomong ke coordinator gurunya. Tapi karena udah jam masuk, so mau ga mau gw mesti kembali ke kelas gw semula yg level 1 itu.

Waktu jam istirahat, gw balik lagi ke ruang coordinator guru. Ternyata gw udah di-oke-in ama guru menulis ama guru percakapan gw, gw dikasih masuk level 2 bo!!! Yippiee!!! Ga sia2 gw ngotot hahahahahah

So setelah istirahat, gw pindah kelas ke kelas level 2 heheheh tapi buku level 1 ga boleh diganti ke buku level 2, mesti beli lagi. Sial, padahal buku level 1 belum gw buka sama sekali, gara2 gw tadinya dikasih yg version chinese, padahal gw mintanya yg japanese. Tetep aja ga boleh ganti. Reseh!! So mau ga mau, mesti ngeluarin duit 28.800won lagi buat beli buku baru --"

Categories: korea

Belajar bhs Korea di Seoul

Setelah meninggalkan Jepang, skrg gw pindah ke Korea untuk belajar bahasa Korea hehehe Cuman 3 bulan seh, kalo asik mungkin perpanjang 1 bulan lagi :P So let me share my life in here :)

■　Sekolah
Sogang University (서강대) 3 months course termasuk buku 1.615.000won
Kenapa saya pilih Sogang? Karena Sogang lebih menitikberatkan di percakapan dibanding sekolah2 laennya yg lebih ke penulisan/grammer. Rencana gw cuman 3 bulan so mending lebih ke percakapan dong. Kalo cuman nulis mah pulang juga masih belum bisa ngomong kali.

Gw ga sempat ikut level test di Korea, so cuman nerima telpon interview dari sekolah di Indo. Singkat banget, paling 10 menit. Hasilnya gw cuman dapat level 1, level yg paling bawah. Setelah liat isi kurikulumnya, gw udah pernah belajar semua, walau hanya self study. Setelah ngomong ke gurunya, kita dikasih tes ulang (ternyata banyak juga yg ga sudi ditempatkan di level 1 juga), kalo bisa bener 80% dari test, kita boleh pindah ke level 2. Tapi hanya 50 soal, kita mesti bener 40 soal, ga mungkin lah yaw!!

Kelas gw ada 14 orang, dari amerika 5, jepang 4, taiwan 2, jerman 1, norway 1 dan dari indonesia gw 1. Yg gw heran, ternyata orang cina yg banyak begitu, ga ada satu pun di kelas gw. Baguslah :P


■　Kost　termasuk makan pagi n malam　450.000won per bulan
Gw tinggal di kost sekitar kampus, kira2 15 menit jalan kaki dari kampus. Di kost gw ada orang jepang 2, campuran jepang cina 1, orang korea 1, n orang indonesia gw 1. Ajuhma n ajuhsi-nya juga tinggal bareng.

Di kamar kost semuanya udah ada, ranjang, meja, lemari baju, container, kulkas, tv semua ada. N yg paling penting, internet 24 jam gratis hehehe Lumayan lah.

Makanannya ya enak2 aja lah, makanan korea pastinya. Cuman makan malam ama makan pagi berikutnya ga beda. Cuman plus telor mata sapi satu. Tau kan kalo makanan korea tuh banyak lauk2 yg ditaruh di piring kecil itu? Nah, itu tiap hari sama, paling ditambah satu lauk utama lagi plus soup yg tiap hari diganti. Lama2 bosan juga....

Kata baru pertama yg gw ingat di sini tuh pongthu (붕투), yg artinya kantong plastik. Gara2 disini kalo belanja mesti beli kantong plastik (50won). Jadi setiap gw belanja pasti ditanya, "mau pongthu?" Lama2 jadi ingat lah hehehehe
Trus setelah ditanya mau pongthu apa ga, pasti ditanya lagi sesuatu yg ga gw ngerti. Setelah tanya ke teman korea gw, ternyata mereka kasih tau nomor HP mereka ke kasir, supaya pengeluaran dia dicatat. Ini berguna nanti pas penyesuaian pajak. So jika ternyata memang pengeluaran mereka lebih gede, ntar ada pemotongan pajak. Wah bagus juga yach.

Namanya korea, apa juga boleh. Waktu gw ketemu ama teman gw orang korea, kita tunggu di Mcdonald tanpa beli apapun. Cuman duduk doang sambil nunggu teman yg satu lagi. Trus gw liat Mcdonald di Korea kok kotor banget ya. Apa karena orang korea makannya emang kotor ato emang staff Mcdonaldnya ga pernah bersihin. Dua tempat Mc'd yg gw kunjungi kotor semua....

Terus kalo mo ke toilet, dengan antengnya masuk toilet cafe or restoran, lagi, tanpa beli apapun. Ngomong mau pinjam toilet pun kagak. Yg lebih gw kaget lagi, teman gw tanya gw haus apa ga. Ternyata dia bukan mau beli minum, tapi minum air putih yg ada di cafe, lagi, tanpa beli kopi or teh hahahah

Apa saja bisa di Korea :P

Categories: korea

Visa Korea

kapan?
th 2006

di mana?
Osaka

berapa duit?
JPY 3600

berapa lama?
aplikasi - 4 hari
visa berlaku - 3 bulan
period of stay - 15 hari

gimana?
lumayan gampang dan tidak ribet, tidak perlu lampirin bukti keuangan segala.

dokumen?
Passport
Pas Foto
Tiket atau bukti pemesanan tiket
Alien Registration Card
Re-entry Permit

Hanya untuk yg berdomisili di Jepang, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, US bisa masuk ke Korea tanpa visa dengan alasan transit dan memiliki tiket kembali ke negara tempat berdomisili.

link:
http://www.mofat.go.kr/japan
http://www.immigration.go.kr/indeximmeng.html

Categories: travel, visa, korea

Last Day in Seoul

Although there was breakfast prepared at the guest house, we didn't have it as we always wake up on 9 or 10 hehe So we never had breakfast at Seoul but brunch everyday hehehe We had brunch in Insadong in this day. It was Konggugsu (콩국수), cold noodle with soy milk and Mandu (만두). Konggugsu is special dishes at summer. Quite surprise that we could have it in autumn.

The restaurant only have 3 menu, Konggugsu, Kalgugsu and Mandu. All is 5000 won each. Simple is the best :) Most of the local were having Kalgugsu, cause it is a hot noodle. I think no one will eat cold noodle in such cold weather except me. I saw Konggugsu before in tv and it looks delicious for me as i like soy milk very much. But after having it, I found it was not like as i expected. The soy milk/soup have the soy bean powder in it. I though it just like soy milk that we drink, no powder with it. And the soup was tasteless. Mix kimchi with it will make the konggugsu tastier.



There was an auction in Insangdong in this day. It was very interesting. The participants were asked to scoop the rice, and it must be as much as requested correctly. Then it will be weighed. If you can scoop the rice correctly, then you can bring home 10kgs rice. Of course i didn't try my luck at there. What I am going to do with the 10 kgs rice hahah (I think i can't scoop it correctly though :p)

We spent the whole day for shopping in Dongdaemun and Myeongdong. Although we came to Dongdaemun with my parents before, we didn't have enough time at that time. So this day we can explore more. After shopped a bit, we felt hungry so we ate in the food court in Doota. We had a korean style mixed fried rice.




Shopped enough in Dongdaemun, we move to Myeongdong. We went to Myeongdong almost everyday hahah. Yeah we like Myeongdong very much. I like to shop at the street stall in here. There are many cute accessories sold in here. And also the food stall. We found a stall with many ppls were in line to buy the snack. It called Hotteok (호떡), kinda chinese pancake with melted brown sugar inside. It was very delicious, especially have it in this cold weather.

We ate the hotteok at the corner of street nearby the stall, and met 2 obasan who came from Japan. Have a nice talk with them. There are many japanese tourist coming to Seoul nowdays. Most of the seller in Myeongdong can speak some japanese. Even I didn't say any japanese with them, they always reply me in Japanese (some of them reply me in chinese tho- )
I think I will very very surprised if they can reply me in Indonesian hahaha

In Korea, Japanese is usable than English. One of the shop attendant in duty free shop in Myeongdong tried very hard to speak english with me, and I didn't expect that she would asked me "mousiwake gozaimasen ga, okyaku-sama wa nihongjin desuka " which mean, i am sorry, may I know if you are a japanese? Yes, she asked me in japanese directly, not in english! I told her that I can understand japanese, and then! You know what?!! Her japanese is very fluently!!! : )

Anyway, our main purpose back to Myeongdong in this day was for shopping in Duty Free Shop. I only know DFS in Myeongdong and I afraid we wouldn't have enough time to shop in airport. We bought in DFS Myeongdong and then we have to redeem it in the airport. Quite troublesome though.

We ended our journey in one nice street stall in Myeongdong. Most of my travel, I will ended my last dinner in a nice restaurant. But not in Korea, I will more like to eat in street stall. Will prefer to order some "anju" and have "soju" hehehe We ordered Pajon ( 파전) , the green onion pancake which more popular called Chijimi. And fried egg, and also the mussel, just like the one we ate at the first day. And of course with soju :) Surprisingly, we could pay the bill by credit card. Thumb up!! hehe



The next morning, for the first time we had the simple breakfast at the guest house. Then check-out and took the airport bus to Incheon airport. We had our lunch at airport. I had kimbap and my brother had a chige. I always wanted to eat kimbab while in the city, but always ended by order another food that i never tried before.... too bad, the kimbab in airport is not as delicious as I ate before in city. Wouldn't order kimbab in airport again! :P

If you read my Seoul travelogue from the first day, you will find that we were not doing any sightseeing activity in Seoul. Yes, we just shopping and eating and eating hehehe And for me, plus for practice my korean ;) Although I can't speak korean fluently, my bad korean still usable when buy something, ask for bargain, ask the direction when we get lost etc. I think my korean will improve if I stay longer : ) Sure will visit korea again!!




Categories: travel, english, korea

3rd Day in Seoul

Left Riviera Hotel at 7AM. That's why I hate a tour pack. You have to wake up early!!.... Then my parents continue their tour to Mt. Sorak and we continue our Seoul journey hehe

Bringing the hostel map which show in my camera display, we asked some peoples for the hostel location. There was a kind ajuma who run a groceries shop nearby. She is very kind to call the hostel for me. But too bad no one picked up the phone. Ajuma can speak korean and spannish but no english. She always spoke spannish to me although i always tried to speak korean with her hahaha I think i can understand korean more than spannish though....

The hostel was Beewon Guest House. The room is ok. Only differs 3000won with the hostel at first night, we can have a private ensuite room + tv + refrigerator + breakfast. But only can score this hostel 70 from 100 cause the bathroom was too stinky :P I have to spray my perfume everyday at the toilet --; It was a new perfume and i did like the smell. But after stayed at this hostel, every time i smelled my perfume, it will remind me back to toilet smell.... gosh! I think i will not use this new perfume for one year, maybe... haha

For brunch in this day, I had a Sundubu Chige (순두부 찌게), a tofu chige and my brother had a Cheyugdopbap ( 재육덮밥 ), spicy pork mixed with vegetable and rice. We just order by picture and asked the name after ate it. My brother quite disappointed that he ordered cheyugdopbap because his korean friend always make this kind of food for him. All the pictures looked same on the menu as all is red heheh He should order another dishes that he never eat.

As it was too early, the shops in Insadong had not open. So we went to Namdaemong directly. Found nothing interest in there, we bought a fish cake stick (don't know what is the name) and walked to Myeongdong. We tried Jimjilbang ( 찜질방 ), a korean style sauna in here. If you ever watched korean drama, I bet you know what kind of sauna it is. There are many facilities in here such as game center, internet, nail-art, massage etc. You can sleep all day in here or even stay a night at here. We stayed 4 hours in here. It should be a refresh station for me from tiredness but dun know why after i had the sport massage in here, i suddenly got a terrible headache. Couldn't sleep well in Jimjilbang.... but it seems like a great refresh for my brother though. Lucky him!

We met my friend, Heesun-shi after out from Jiljimbang. While waiting for her, we had a korean style sausages which they call "Sunde" (순대). There are really many kind of foods we can try in Seoul. Although we had promised to Heesun-shi that we will have dinner together, we still couldn't reject the sunde charm hehehe

We had a nice nice barbecue and Kalbeechim (갈비찜), korean steamed beef ribs for dinner. My first time to have Kalbeechim. It was spicy and a little bit sweet. I am so sorry to Heesun-shi that I couldn't had a nice drink with here due to my headache. So she drank with my brother . Seems like every korean can drink very well ^^;

After dinner, we went to karaoke which the koreans will call it Norebang (노래방). I saw many norebang in seoul, and i think it much more than in Japan. Koreanese must be very like to sing more than japanese, i think hehe. Karaoke in korea is much cheaper than japan, as the fee is per room not per person. More ppls then more reasonable the price will be. Same as Indonesian system.





Categories: travel, english, korea

Everland

Check-out the hotel at the next morning and had brunch around Daehanong. I had a Manduguk (만두국) and my brother had a Bibimbap (비빔밥), one of the famous dish in Korea. At first I ordered Manduguk cause i wanted to eat porridge but it was not a porridge!! I had forgot porridge is "cuk" not "guk" hehehe Btw, "guk" means soup. The Mandugug was ok anyway. There is only dumpling and soup with egg, but one manduguk can make you full enough. The portion quite big.

Then we move to Riviera Hotel at Kangnam area. My parents will stay at this hotel with their tour group so we joined them in here. As the tour group will arrive at night after back from Everland, we left our luggage at the front office. I didn't know if they will give us such service as i didn't book the hotel at there. Thanks to the japanese girl that I met in guest house. She taught me this brilliant idea. I don't need to left my luggage at station :P

But too bad, she also gave me a not-so-good idea. She said the bus stop from the hotel is not so far so we can take taxi instead of subway. But it was sunday, the road quite crowded, so our taxi driver took us by another route through high-way. And know what, the cost was 15,800 won!!! And the worst thing is the driver took us to wrong bus terminal.... then we still have to take subway to the bus stop.

And the result, we arrived in Everland at 3 PM ... raining... bad time bad condition. Met my parents and sister with her family in here. Just took some pictures in here. Didn't enter any attraction. Enter fee was 26,000 won (Free pass ticket is 33,000won)

From Everland, the tour group will going to Dongdaemun so we left first to take public bus and meet them later at Dongdaemun. From Dongdamun, was planning to visit Myeongdong but cause the rain, the tour had canceled the plan and back to hotel directly. I handed my luggage ticket to my father so that he can redeem my luggage first when he arrived at hotel. Of course, I have wrote my father's name on the ticket :) We didn't join the tour group bus as the guide said she will feel bad to another customer.

The bus stopped at Kangnam so that we still have to take subway to Dongdaemun. Still raining... we were thinking to buy a umbrella so we went to convenience store. But we didn't buy it (too expensive) and turned to buy beer instead haha Since we have beer, we stop at a dalk gochi stall and eat. Dalk gochi with beer. hmm good combination :p We had odeng as well. My parents were having samgyetang, the ginseng chicken soup at the restaurant at that time ^^;

We searched hostel for next day at subway station (free internet) and found a hostel at Insadong area. Called and booked directly to the hostel. We also took the picture of the hostel map on the monitor ^^; So fond of this korean station service. Almost all big station have computer inside the staion. You can browse internet, transfer your memory card to computer and simply send to your email. And also you can recharge your mobile's battery. Feel secure for the next day things, we back to Riviera hotel to join our parents. At last, we met our parents only on this day. We supposed to be can meet one more day when they back from Mt. Sorak, but too bad the tour had changed the schedule.....



Categories: travel, english, korea

Seoul First Day

Already one month past since after I went to Seoul. Too busy..hmm or must I say, too lazy, honestly hehehe. Went to Seoul on Oct 21~25 with my younger brother (3 days after back from Hongkong!). Our main purpose going there was for meeting my parents and sister who were joining tour in Korea but at last we only met them 1 day in Everland due their tour schedule suddenly had been changed T_T.
Our ticket quite cheap. Only 23,200yen + tax 9250yen. We would not be informed what flight and what time will we have until 10 days before the departure. Well, since it is not my first trip to korea, it was ok for me. Cheaper ticket is better. Quite lucky we had Asiana Airline and could earn 1000 more mileage on this low fare (I thought I can't earn miles from this kind of budget ticket). Flight time was not bad too!

We supposed to arrive at the guest house on 5 PM but we didn't notice when the bus driver asked if anyone getting off at the stop that we would like to go. How could we understand what he talking about as he spoke korean!!! (-_-); Feeling fishy so I went to ask the driver but he dun understand english at all.... Thank God that there are 2 ajuma in the bus who are working as a tour guide. They don't speak english but japanese ^^; As the result, we keep stay at the bus till the last stop and turn back again to our bus stop and arrive at guest house at 6 PM! (_-_)

First night stayed at Daehangno (대학로). We had booked a room in a guest house nearby (Windroad Guest House). The peoples in there very friendly. We have a nice talk at there. But too bad, we don't like the room. We got a private room as we requested but we had to enter the dormitory before enter our room. When we coming back at night and going out at early morning, it makes us feel like we are disturbing another guest who are sleeping in the dormitory. We don't like that feeling. And the room that we saw in web is different! The room was as big as shown, but not 2 single bed in the room. It was 2 single beds place closely and 1 bunk bed. You can imagine how narrow the room is. So that, we decided to check-out at the next day. It was 34,000won per room per day.

We just explore around Daehangno and Myeongdong at first day. Quite funny in first day as we didn't know how to order in the food stall. We saw an odeng (fish cake) stall which full with customers. It must be delicious, we think. But at the end, we left the stall cause after standing at there for a while, as no body told us how to order!! hahaha Too stupid :P Everything goes well when we visit another stall. Become cleverer after explore more stall hehe (anyway, we still stupid when we take the cold tempura just like that and didn't know that we can ask ajuma to warm it up hahaha stupid! stupid!) Then we also had dalg gochi (kinda chicken satay or japanese will say it yakitori) at Myeongdong.

Okay, that was a small stall and we just stand at the front of stall while we are eating. Next we went to bigger stall, so we just sit down and order soju. They brought us a bowl of mussel with soup. Hmm.. we didn't order mussel... maybe everyone will eat mussel so every guest coming they will serve mussel, we think... after waiting a while, still... our soju haven't coming. We asked them again to bring us soju. "Anju! Anju!" the ajuma replied us. Hmm? Is she asking us to sit down and wait? gee.. what must we do??!!

Seeing we confused, there were 3 kind girls helped us. One of them can speak english a bit. She told us that we can't order only soju. We must order the food as well. And the mussel, it was free! No wonder they serve us the mussel even though we didn't order it :)
Then the kind girls helped us to order a bowl of snail, same as the mussel, it come with the soup. All the dishes very tasty especially had it with the soju hehehe

Back to the guest house, a japanese girl who is a friend of the guest house owner told me "anju" means snack and "anjo" means sit down. OOOoooo I thought the ajuma told me to sit-down, but actually she were asking me to order a snack hehehe Must learn korean more ^^;
She also told me that almost every stall have different system. Just like the stall we visited, the customer have to order the original food from the stall first before order a drink. :)

Although we had some problems in a short day, we found it was a splendid day. Found that the koreans really helpful :)




Categories: travel, english, korea

In Seoul

Lagi di Seoul neh ;) Habis makan di Myeongdong, kerennya makan di kaki lima bisa bayar pake credit card. Jempol dah hahahah Nulis blog sambil mabok2, habis minum soju hehehe Kali ini jalan2 di Seoul 5 hari cuman makan shopping tidur makan shopping tidur. Sama sekali ga ada acara "sightseeing" Sekarang lagi online dari guest house di area Insadong. Pas baru datang seh nginap di area Daehano, tapi rada kecewa ternyata kamar yg kita nginap beda ama yg kita lihat di website, so kita pindah. Keren deh di Seoul, tiap stasiun subway ada internet so kita bisa ngecek guest house di stasiun n kita ketemu guest house Beewon, n kita rasa tidak beda jauh ama yg di website, cuman itu loh...wc di kamar tuh rada bau --; sampe gw semprot2 parfum gw yg baru dibeli di "The Face Shop" :p
Well, udah foto lumayan banyak, ntar di-post deh (^o^) See ya~~~

Categories: travel

Transit in Seoul

Sesampe di Incheon, beli tiket bus 8000won menuju Sejong Hotel. Trus telpon ke tempat penginapan minta dijemput nantinya di Sejong Hotel. Tempat penginapannya Seoul Tower Ville
Ini tempatnya seperti weekly manshion, kamarnya udah termasuk dapur segala. Sebenarnya teman gw udah datang duluan ke Korea sejak 3 hari yg lalu, so gw datang bergabung ama dia.
Begitu sampe, tuker baju yg hangatan kita menuju ke Seoul Tower. Trus lanjut ke Myeong Dong nyari makan. Karena udah malam, toko2 rata2 udah tutup. Kita makan oden di warung dekat jalan n beli kimbab, sambil makan sambil jalan ^^;
Besok paginya makan bubur di Myeong Dong trus jalan2 (baca: shopping) sekitar sini. Yg di borong sih rata2 make-up titipan soalnya murah2 banget disini. Ada Missha, The Face Shop, Etude yg bisa 2 kali lipat harganya baek di Indo maupun di Jepang.... Pokoknya borong dah di sini hahaha
Pulangnya tas2 kita udah dibawain ama orang penginapan ke Sejong Hotel, so kita ga perlu balek lagi ke penginapan. Gila tuh kalo pulang ke penginapan mesti manjat2 tangga lagi, cape bo!Trus dari Sejong Hotel naek bus menuju airport.
So this is my end journey for new year and will write again my next journey for golden week hehehe

Incheon Airport

Lagi transit neh di Seoul. Geblek banget tadi, bayar internet di lantai 3 sejam 3000 won, padahal ada internet gratis di lantai 4 huhuhuuuu~~~ Dah tau deh laen kali kalo mau transit di Incheon hehehe.
And satu lagi, buat teman2 dari indo yg punya visa jepang, dan transit di Incheon (dalam arti punya tiket inbound/outbound ke negara laen selaen jepang) bisa masuk korea tanpa visa selama 30 hari. lumayan khan~~
Ini pertama kali gw naek Asiana Airline dari Jepang. Dulu pas ke korea dr spore juga Asiana seh. Sebelum masuk ke pesawat, gw penasaran juga, apa gw disambut pake bhs jepang ato bahasa korea hihihi
Ternyata!!! gw lebih mirip orang korea LOL!!! Ga ada satupun yg nyambut gw dengan bhs jepang pas dari awal. Maen sambet pake bhs korea aja hahahah Begitu juga di Incheon Airport.
5 jam di Incheon Airport ternyata singkat buat gw :P Masalahnya udah bbrp hari ini ga balas e-mail2 yg dah bertumpuk gara2 belakangan ini bener2 sibuk >_< So gw beresin semua di sini hihihi

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 良いお年を～