The preparation for Seoul trip started officially last November when I booked my air ticket from Taipei to Seoul. For such an early job, I was being rewarded by a good promo fare at USD208 for the 2.5hours flight via Korean Air.
The next to do is to settle accomodation. As Seoul Tower Ville is a very popular guest house among the Taiwanese and Japanese, I decided to book early as I do not want to be disappointed. The owner got back to me within two days confirming the reservation.
The next step is itinerary. I only started planning the itinerary after February. What I always do when I plan for a trip is get a map of the subway first and to work around the stations. I have heard that all the sights in Seoul are around the train stations, making it easily accessible for tourists. With that in mind, I googled for one of the most user-friendly map and found this:
source: http://travel.pomosa.com/Korea2007/blog%20images%202/map_korea&eng.jpg
When looking for stations, look out for the numbers at each station. Each first digit represent the line and they have from line 1 to 9. Once you get that right, it's easier for you to find what you want in the map.
You can start planning your trip using this map. Travelling along on the same line on the same day can save you a lot of time and money.
HANGUL - KOREAN CHARACTERS
I am sure when you are doing your research, you'll chance upon some places you want to go with Korean characters in the page you are looking at. My advise is to copy those down and you might not know if you will need it. Well, it certainly saved us a few times.
When we want to go to the Jjimjimbang, we got the restaurant waitress to write it on a piece of serviette and we simply showed that to the taxi driver! That was my first time doing this and I think it's such a brilliant idea!
KOREAN WON - SO MANY ZEROS
The many many zeros behind the korean currency threw me into confusion during the first few days of my trips. It didn't help that I am very poor in my maths. On the first night when I was buying some skin care products, thinking that 100,000 won which converts to SGD10, I simply grab and pay only to realize that it costs SGD100!!
And thereafter I learnt the smart way of calculating, you just take away the last 3 zeros (for Singaporeans). The answer will be the currency for SGD.
In actual fact, SGD1 = 886 won
which means 1000 won = SGD1
WEATHER
I know that it'll be cold during our time there but I didn't expect the cold to be so bad. During the day it was bearable but at night we can hardly feel our face and it's actually only about 5 degrees. I have been to Hokkaido's sub zero temperature and Beijing's winter and my verdict is, Korea's winter is more harsh.
So, dress up as warm as possible if you are visiting during the winter.
TAXI DRIVERS
Most of them are friendly. But be warned that when you are shopping in Myeongdong after midnight, most of the taxis will not turn on their meter. You can try your luck by finding the one that is willing to turn on meter but after a while we just stopped trying and paid their asking price. For a 15mins journey it should cost you around SGD10, we were being conned on the first night and gladly paid SGD20 for it.
BLACK TAXIS
The taxis in black are generally more expensive. Most of the locals avoid them. But they are the safest as all of the drivers are properly licensed. Apparently some of the taxi drivers do not have a taxi license. They can be borrowing the cars from friends or whatsoever and just picking up passengers on the street. And because of this, sometimes it's better, cheaper and safer to take the black taxis (especially at midnight) than the ones who refused to turn on the meter.
MULTIPLUG
Korea uses 2 pin plug but it has to be on a circular plug! I brought my 2 pin plug but it couldn't be used because it didn't fit into the 'circle' on the wall...
MOBILE PHONE
Is available for rent in Incheon Airport. I have my iphone with 3G which is also usable in Seoul. What I did was I activated my data plan and use skype to make outgoing calls. It is a lot cheaper than roaming in Seoul.
That's about all you should know about travelling in Seoul. Enjoy your trip if you are heading there :)
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