En Route to Seoul: No More Passport Ripping. Itaewon, You're Lovely!

The thing I remembered about riding Seoul's subway back in Fall 2014 was the kind help offered by a random guy as I was dragging my almost-retired suitcase at the station closest to the Seoul Palace Hotel -where hubby and I stayed. I was impressed with the Korean hospitality!

Now.. that whole suitcase carrying and dragging thing sounds rather painful, doesn't it? Little did I learn from the experience, I came back the second time to Seoul bringing a suitcase again. Ouch!

I must say, though, despite some rough turbulence on the way from YVR to INC my travel so far has been running smoothly.

First of all.. See the title? What's that 'No More Passport Ripping'?? So.. The thing I found annoying about having my passport checked at airports is the way airport personnels ripped off (not literally, but more like removing it in a forceful manner) my passport cover.

As you see, my passport cover is quite cute. It says "Korea, The Land of Morning Calm". I bought it at the curio shop of the National Museum of Korea on my first Korea trip in 2014 (I know, I still owe you a few postings about it). For a while I didn't use it due to being annoyed that it kept being removed every time I handed my passport to immigration checkpoint personnel at airports. Well.  Since I was coming back to Seoul this time I decided to use it. And guess what? Surprisingly it has not even once been removed! Scored!

Arrived around 4:40 PM at Incheon airport. Immigration line was huge, and by the time I was sitting on the subway it was already 6:15 PM. It took the sub about one hour before it finally hit Gongdeok station, where I transferred to line number 6 then got off at Itaewon. The whole ride only cost 4650 Won -amazing! Subway in Seoul is fast, easy to navigate, convenient, and clean.

On my way to the guesthouse, I stumbled into a chicken place inside Gongdeok station that I was very tempted to try (for dinner or snack I guess). But I was determined that I needed to check in first since it was kind of late already. Hey, who knows there are a lot of Chimaek places (place where Koreans have their fried chicken and beer) in Itaewon. Well as for me, it will just be the fried chicken without beer.

Little did I know, the guest house's owner pointed out KFC when I asked him of nearby Chimaek places -Sir! *Or maybe Haraboji* - a word for grandpa to address someone that's about as old as your gramps- that I can get anytime back home! Ended up not eating chicken last night. I guess I would not have finished half a chicken by myself anyway -Most chimaek places only offer big shared chicken portions as opposed to a portion to be enjoyed by 1 person. Well unless you're determined to finish a whole bucket of chicken by yourself then go ahead do it, no one's gonna stop you :D

Again, my mind wandered to the first night hubby and I were in Seoul in 2014. We took a stroll to the nearby neighborhood in Banpo, Central Seoul (where our hotel was) and found this chic little restaurant that also offered fried chicken on their menu. That was our first meal in Seoul. Didn't expect the portion of the fried chicken to be quite ample, BTW. It would have been enough for both of us without the second chicken dish we ordered.

Back to Itaewon! 

I was super ecstatic to find a Gongcha along the busy main Street in Itaewon last night. Guess my daily boba fix will be taken care of quite nicely here LOL.

There are so many places to eat in Itaewon, BTW.. But I really want to keep my body reasonably fed by not overeating on a first night. After grabbing some oolong milk tea drink, I headed to GS25 (yayy my favorite Korean convenience store!) for some snacks. Got tuna musubi packs, a box of drinkable yogurt, an apple, a gum, all for about $6. My bubble tea itself cost about $4 . Yeah.. that's about the same price I pay back in the US for a cup of boba.

Almost 5 AM local time (it is 1 PM Pacific time) and I find myself still adjusting to the time zone.