[Travel] Experience Taking Vietnam Airlines to Seoul, Incheon Airport from Singapore, Changi International Airport

Hi all,

I'm back with travel reviews! This time round for my flight experience with Vietnam Airlines. I booked my tickets in May 2015 for my summer school in July 2015. I booked a return trip and paid SGD529.10. I agree that this is really cheap for an air ticket to South Korea, the land of Kpop and amazing Korean dishes. However, I was utterly disgusted at their sales tactics.

I booked the flight in the evening at 5pm on a Saturday over my laptop, extremely delighted to get my tickets at just SGD100 which was the Special deal tickets. However, after I attempted payment via VISA, the screen indicated an "Invalid action, payment unsuccessful", and then I refreshed the page as saw that the Special Deal tickets were sold out. I was worried I had to spent SGD1K on SQ kind of tickets so I reluctantly bought the SGD150 tickets, spending SGD100 more instead.

To my horror, the next day from morning to night, when I looked through the fares, the Special Deal tickets were back again at the price of 100SGD! Not only the next day, even in Mid July when I checked through the webpage, the SGD100 air tickets were still available. I WAS SO PISSED, because when I emailed the sales management team, they said strictly no refunds, but "you can choose to cancel your reservation and pay the administration fee for cancelation".

I was just too pissed to reply him, because it was totally stupid. I already had keyed in payment information and everything, but payment was rejected just because I was a few seconds late, but yet the sale tickets were continually available at the same price for 1 month?! Not too sure if I was just unlucky or what.

Remember, when choosing your flight timings, always make sure transit timing is as short as possible, as there are connecting flights that make you transit for 12 hours or even up to one whole day. Unless you intend to tour Vietnam then please see the date and time of transit arrival and departure carefully.

I took the 8.30pm flight and we reached Vietnam local time 10pm, it was a 1 hour plus flight. Note that the airplanes are not linked to a gate, so you basically need to climb down the stairs and enter the airport bus shutte to bring you to the terminal. The flight to Ho Chi Minh came with food and beverages plus wet wipes upon boarding the plane. It was a really small and old plane, but decent and worth for the price paid. After landing, there would be a long queue for transit because most of the passengers are transiting to Korea too. You just need to go through a customs check, and you can head to the gate. There's wifi at the Ho Chi Minh airport, which made the transit of 2h 25min bearable.

Dinner part 1

Amazing skyline of HCM

Upon arrival at HCM

 Similarly, to board the next Vietnam Airlines plane, you will need to board the gate which is at the ground floor for you to board the shuttle bus that brings you to the airplane itself. This was an old Boeing too, but it was an even older, smaller, more crammed and air conditioning which was equivalent to Sauna. It was really hot, so my plane buddy and I had a hard time falling asleep. Thank god I managed to sleep for 2 hours, but without any blanket on since it was really too warm. My buddy on the other hand, was fiddling with her MacBook the entire time, editing videos. Kudos to her for not sleeping. The food was good too, with beverages like alcoholic drinks served. For some tips on booking, you can check the plane model on the VN website to see if its a big or small plane. The big plane I took from Seoul back to HCM to SG was super luxurious and comfortable. So you can actually plan beforehand if you are very particular about space and comfort.

Dinner part 2 aka Supper

First sign upon waking up after a 2 hour nap

Upon landing, thank god the plane was connected to a gate although our gate was the extreme last gate of the terminal (which means a lot of walking). The travelators made it much better, thankfully.

 

All in all, it was a good experience. I find that it was worth the money to travel with VN, however, if you ever see the Special Deal tickets ever sold out, wait for the next day to check back. Chances are it will be available the next day. The transit was good as I got to experience climbing down the airplane, and being able to capture photos of yourself standing on the ground with the airplane in the background.

On my return flight from SG to HCM, I met this really cute baby who was fed milk every single time she cried. (Pardon my bare face without make up, my skin condition got really bad when I was in Korea)

Let me know if you need more info on the flight experience(:

Cheers,
Rachel

[Travel] Tips for fashion shopping in Korea

Hey readers!

I'm back with some tips for fashion shopping in Seoul, Korea!

You must be thinking, the usual shopping places must be like Myeongdong, Dongdaemun (and that's about it right?) 

There are really many other places to shop for cheap and yet fashionable but of good quality clothing! I can only list places for female clothing but for guys, I would think the best place with the most number of guy clothing stalls (although all sells similar shirt designs) would be Ewha University Street!

Tips for shopping (Guys):
1. Always walk around and explore all the shopping streets. Most of the clothing store are homogenous amongst the stalls.
2. Remember which stall you first saw it
3. Note down the price and if possible, get a picture as a reference for the design.
4. Continue shopping cos most likely you would be able to find a stall (in a more secluded and quieter street) at least 5,000won cheaper (which means you get to save SGD6!!)

I almost bought a shirt from this stall which was nicely lighted and the shop even invested in plastic covers for their shirts, but their tee costs 10,000won each! I decided to look for other designs and came across another shop which sold the exact same shirt at only 5,000won! It's a guy's tee! Not even kidding!

You must be thinking, "It's damn hard to go shopping in Korea for guys since it's a women paradise". While I must agree to the 2nd part of the sentence, the first part is totally an incorrect statement!!! Ewha and Myeongdong are both great places for shopping for guys! (Although honestly, Myeongdong tends to sell them at a slightly higher price; or they make you buy a minimum quantity (eg. 2 for 10,000won, 1 for 8,000won) In that case, just buy two!!! You wouldn't know if you realize you need to get a gift for a friend(: )

Ok for ladies and teenager girls, my recommended areas are: all underground shopping centers located in subway stations, Dongdaemun, Ewha, Hongdae, and Sinchon!

These places are listed according to my preference!

1. Underground shopping centres

They are simply amazing places to shop at. From 2,900won you can get nice blouse and occasionally dresses, while I doubt they are brand new, the quality is as good as new! I got THREE 2,900won blouse on the first day i touched down in Korea and they look perfectly new! The best underground shopping centre would be at Express Bus Terminal followed by Gangnam which I visited at least 5 times throughout my 1.5 months there. The good thing about Express bus terminal is that it's a good place for wet weather plans cos you can spend at least 2 hours there shopping! The clothes there are really nice, although I wasn't able to get discounts at any of the shops since they were already priced really cheaply.

Everything I bought there (dress, dungaree, oversized tee, casual tee including shoes) ranged from 5,000won to 10,000won. Average spent per piece of fashion clothing would be 8,000won. And I have to mention the clothes in Korea are super comfy! There are 2-3 shoe shops in Express Bus Terminal which all shoes are sold at 5,000won. If you see a big sign in their shop and you're not sure, if everything is 5,000won, get a design you're interested in getting and act like a Korean and ask "wu cheon won isseoyo? (Is this 5,000won?)" If the shop keeper says "ne" means yes!

They sell really cheap fashionable caps and hats (very k-fashion designs) and sunglasses at 4,900won. So many designs, and they are of really good material!! Grab some home with no regrets. I managed to get cheaper sunglasses at Forever 21's summer clearance sale so I didn't get any from these shopping centers.

These underground shopping centers usually have some small food eateries at the end of the shopping street (so if you're hungry you can just get something to eat at the ends of the streets, no worries at all!)

2. Dongdaemun 

With so many malls around at Dongdaemun, it's just a shopping heaven. Knowing me, I'm the typical budget shopping queen. I mainly got stuff at Migliore and HelloAPM  ladies area since they have 5,000-10,000won clothing. I love this shop on the 3rd floor of HelloAPM  in a corner cos they have really nice designs on sale at 5,000won. The same design I got over there was selling in a local blog shop brand at SGD23! 

Although there are many malls, the others malls besides the 2 I've mentioned above are relatively more expensive. Notably, Doota mall! But when you get there, try to go to the tourist centres and see if they have a sale booklet with different vouchers for different boutiques. Doota normally will have a small coupon cut out in the booklet for you to redeem a free gift. During the 2015 summer period the gift was a really nice multipurpose pouch. 

3. Ewha Women's University street

Great for shopping from noon onwards! Perfect place for good and cheap food and for nice and fashionable clothing. Fashionable clothings can be found in almost every lane. My best buy from Ewha is plait tartan long outerwear of a good and comfy material for only 10,000won! The locals there are really friendly. Can always attempt to get discounts when you're purchasing more than one item! I would suggest to get there at 11am, explore the Ewha campus, lunch, then do your shopping after. Get street snacks while shopping cos they are really cheap there, as compared to other places like Myeongdong and Dongdaemun.  Then settle your dinner here too: I would recommend Alchon flying fish roe rice!

4. Hongdae!!

The amazing place for shopping in the evening! Best time would be to reach at 4-5pm! Cos shops close by 9pm except the clubs (obviously). Lots of shopping here, but I find that it's generally more expensive than the other 3 areas I've listed above. Except for one shop, which was having a clearance sale, he had a rack outside with loads of clothes for just 1,000won! Yes you didn't read wrongly! 1,000won! Only SGD1.20! I bought almost 20 pieces of clothing there, from blouse to dress to denim shorts! No words can explain my joy when I got such a good deal!(:

5. Sinchon

This is mainly a place for food and cosmetics shopping. I love the Etude house at Sinchon cos it's a cute little pink house at a very prominent location opposite Sulbing! Clothings and fashion stuff are similar to everywhere else!(: It is a good for evening shopping as shops here closes pretty late! They have really nice food here and I would recommend the 8 flavour BBQ pork which is a lot cheaper in Korea than in SG! 30,000won for a set that can feed 2-3pax.

Ok that's all for shopping in Seoul for now! If I have any updates I'll edit this post!(: If I missed out anything feel free to comment below too! 😀 Thank you for reading I hope this will be useful! Sorry if the last 2 locations have really short descriptions. I will try editing them to include more info!

Cheers,

Rachel

[Travel] Korea, Annyeong-hasaeyo

Annyeong readers,

I'm finally back with a new blog post. Just gonna briefly describe my 1.5 months journey in Korea from July to August and what to do, eat and see.

Why is Korea such a popular travel destination?

The K-pop faze has definitely contributed to that (EXO!!), and definitely good food (TTEOKBOKKI!! SAMGYETANG!! BIBIMBAP!!), desserts (BINGSOO!!), and shopping (COSMETICS!!).

Where should you visit in Korea?

Shopping:

• All the university streets especially Hongdae have great fashionable clothings at reasonable prices! (5,000-20,000 won for really good quality ones though the 5,000 won ones were quite rare)

• Fashion Shopping: All the Underground Shopping attached to the subway stations!! Definitely I feel the Express Bus Terminal Underground Shopping at Express Bus Terminal Station (brown line) is the best!! The main shopping area with 2 long lanes of fashion shops is apparently quite hard to find (even though I gave my friends pretty detailed instructions on how to get there). Will be posting more about it in later posts.

• Cosmetics and Fashion shopping: Dongdaemun. I stayed around this district for 2 weeks, and it was a great choice. There is also a wholesale shoe market which sells really cheap and fashionable shoes for 5,000-10,000 won, which I found elsewhere selling at 15,000-20,000 won! My friends were so envious cos I bought a similar designed as theirs for 1/3 the price they bought it at (hehe)

• Cosmetics Shopping: MYEONGDONG! HONGDAE! Myeongdong is definitely the best place to go for cosmetics shopping because they are really generous with free gifts and with great bargaining skills, you'll bring back an entire bag of samples. What more, act like you're not interested in going into their shops, and they will try to lure you in with FREE facial masks! (IMPORTANT TIP: Make sure you grab them before heading in, and have a bag conveniently placed at waist level to throw them in, or else the staff might take it back if you don't purchase anything- esp. The Face Shop and certain Nature Republic stores) My favourite brands: The Saem (which can't be found in Singapore), Innisfree and Missha. Regarding price range, all are definitely cheaper than Singapore! Catch them during the sale periods (best sales during Summer Sale!) to get ridiculously cheap cosmetics of great quality. I managed to get BB cushions at a wonderful price: SGD14 for 1 casing with 3 refills (woohoo!)

Food:

• University streets again, for sure! They have affordable food for the university students who are sick of their canteen food! My favourite: Alchon Flying Fish Roe Rice (IT IS A MUST TRY- tastes so good and so cheap that I want to bring a Franchise over to Singapore) Specific university street I would recommend is: Edae (aka Ewha), Kondae (aka Konkuk Uni), Hongdae and Wangsimni (Hanyang University shopping area)

• Sinchon, Hongdae, Edae area has many famous food. In this area I would recommend the 8 flavoured BBQ pork in Sinchon. More about this place in later posts!

• Everywhere has good food in Korea, I'm not kidding. But the must try food are: Bibimbap, Jjajangmyeon, Samgyetang, Jjamppong (Seafood noodles- I love the broth omg), Tonkatsu (Pork Cutlet, they even have cheese pork cutlet specially catered for cheese lovers!) There are just too many to list all! 

• Must try the Self Serve bars (aka Korean BBQ buffet). I was quite upset cos I couldn't find the 9,900 won one in Hongdae/Sinchon area cos they all closed down. But I ate the one near Hanyang University at Wangsimni Station which had a good flow of Beef, Chicken, Pork, Squid, fried food (chicken, seafood, etc.) and cup noodles (Yes, all free flow!)

• Street food! DEFINITELY SOMETHING YOU CAN'T FORGO! The fish cakes (eomuk) are my favourite street snacks, and they are so cheap and good! To be honest, you can find it for 500 won per stick at Sinchon, but other areas like Myeongdong and Dongdaemun sells it for 1,000 won. Hongdae and Edae has it for about 700 won. Egg bun (Gyeran-bang) is a unique street food which may not suit the taste of many cos it's a little sweet and has no fillings (occasionally sprinkled with nuts over it) Can be bought at 1,000- 2000 won. More on street snacks in later posts.

Places of Interests:

• All the palaces. During the period I went in, there was free admission into all the palaces in the month of July. To be honest, the palaces all look pretty alike. I find that Changdeokgong is the prettiest of them all. Gyeongbokgung was just TOO CROWDED, although it is the biggest palace.

• Gwanghwamun Square. The two statues here are famous statues of King Sejong and Admiral Yi Sun Shin. It is beautiful place for photo taking with the Gwanghwamun in the background. What's more, you can visit the peaceful Chonggyecheon Stream just 2 minutes walk away. At the stream, feel free to dip your legs into the clear and cool water to relieve stress and tired legs. Do not eat by the stream though, there will be security to chase you away!

• Iwha Mural Village (a lot of walking and climbing, but once you reach the peak, the view is simply amazing) Great place for those that enjoy picturesque views and for those who loves to take pictures.

• Many many other places, but due to time constraints and I don't want to bore readers with extremely long posts, I'll post it in later posts. Stay tuned!(:

Lastly,

Accommodation:

• Best areas to live in according to personal preferences (with the criteria chosen as easy convenience to shopping and tourist attractions) and in ascending order as listed: 

1. Dongdaemun 
2. Myeongdong 
3. Hongdae
4. Wangsimni
5. Sinchon
6. Ewha

• If you are on a budget trip, stay in hostels. I personally find that the cheapest prices can be found on Hotels.com and by booking through them, they actually provides a Best Price Guarantee thing that makes sure you have the cheapest price for that same dates and same room types! It really works, cos I found a cheaper price on another site, and they matched the price by refunding me the difference. 

• The areas I've mentioned are good and convenient for shopping but if you want cheaper accomodations for budget trips, I would recommend Star Hostel Dongdaemun. (Gentle reminder: I am not sponsored for any of my blog posts, and it is all voluntarily written to help netizens with their plannings.) 

• Each night cost about $45 for a twin room and comes with ensuite bathroom. Rooms are fully air-conditioned, comes with soap in a dispenser in the toilets (shampoo and shower gel), bedroom slippers and towels (which were facial towels- would recommend to pack along a usual-sized towel cos the towels they provided were way too small for me to dry myself). Free breakfast was provided too (daily till 10am and self service), although simple: toast with jam or butter and cornflakes every morning, it was a nice gesture and can save a meal's cost (:

• The downside was that the room had no windows so we tend to oversleep since the room was just completely dark: no indication of the time of the day and it was as if we slept in a shed, separated from the world. Also, room was really crammed. I had 3 big luggage and 3 smaller ones, which made it impossible for me to maneuver around the room whenever I had to pack my stuff or get my clothes out (they had no cupboard too, just a couple of hangers below the drawer which served as a dressing table for me too). I had to do broad jumps over all my luggage, sometimes resorting to climbing on the bed to get to the door. 

• All in all, pretty worth it for the price I paid. Would recommend you guys to stay there if you're visiting Seoul!(:

Interested to know more about my Korea Trip, stay tuned~