Sabah, Sarawak journalists discover Seoul
Now is an opportune time for the people in Sabah to visit South Korea.
The recent installation of AirAsia’s direct flight from Kota Kinabalu to Incheon, South Korea and vice versa on 4 March 2024, means extra choices and convenience for the people in Sabah and in South Korea, to visit one another.
To celebrate the inaugural flight, eight journalists from Sabah and Sarawak were presented with the opportunity to tour Seoul and Incheon in a familiarisation trip from March 5 to 9 organised by AirAsia and Korean Tourism Organization (KTO).
Malaysians travelling to South Korea must have the following documents in order: a valid passport, the Korean Electronic Travel Authorisation (K-ETA) approval, and QR code generated by the Q-Code system. At the same time, it is also advisable to have printouts of your K-ETA, QR code, your travel itineraries and your hotel address in your carry-in luggage, just in case they are needed by the South Korean immigration.
Since the visit was in early March, the weather was still cold, with South Koreans still reminiscing about warmer days. The journalists were often reminded by their tour guide, Lisa Hong, to layer up during the trip.
They spent the first two nights in Seoul and stayed at G3 Hotel. The hotel is located just a few blocks away from the bustling tourist attraction, Myeongdong shopping district.
The two days were spent visiting interesting places in Seoul.
Their first stop was the Blue House, known as Cheong Wa Dae by the Koreans. The Blue House opened its doors as a public park on 10 May 2022. Prior to that, it served as South Korea’s presidential residence and diplomatic reception hall. One of the interesting facts the writer discovered at the Blue House was that the first woman to become South Korea’s first lady was not a Korean woman but an Austrian named Francesca Maria Barbara Donner, the wife of Syngman Rhee, South Korea’s first president.
Just behind the Blue House is the Bugaksan mountain which has also been opened to the public just a few years ago and is popular among trekkers. North Korea lies just beyond the Bugaksan mountain.
The journalists also visited the Hansik Space E:eum, a Korean food cultural space, at Jongno district, which teaches Korean food preparation. They learned how to make stuffed dried persimmons with candied nuts called “Gotgam-danji”.
They also stopped by Gyeongbokgung Palace, which is famous and used in many Korean dramas. Visitors wearing the Korean traditional attire, the ‘Hanbok’, do not have to purchase a ticket to enter the palace grounds, so a lot of people were wearing them. The ‘Hanbok’ are available for rent at nearby shops.
For the younger generation, the HiKR Ground is a must visit. Located in Jung, by the Cheonggyecheon stream, visitors can enjoy an immersive tourism experience at the centre. They can also gain access to travel brochures of all tourism destinations in South Korea at the centre.
A trip to Seoul would be incomplete without a visit to the Cheonggyecheon Stream, which was made world famous thanks to the massive project undertaken by Seoul’s former Mayor, Lee Myung-bak, to remove a highway and restore the stream.
And also a necessary visit is the Seoul Sky Observatory on floors 117 to 123 of the Lotte World Tower, the fifth tallest building in the world at 555 meters. It is South Korea’s tallest building. To get to the observatory tower, the journalists took the Sky Shuttle, which travelled at a speed of 600 meters per minute. They got to enjoy a 360 degree bird eye view of the city of Seoul from the observation deck. As part of their visit to the Lotte World Tower, they also visited the prayer room for Muslims on the sixth floor of the building.
After that, they enjoyed a trip to the Mangwon market to get a taste of Korean street food as well as enjoy the ‘market’ ambiance, with its crowd of buyers and sellers, and the colourful variety of goods being sold. Among the must eat is the delicious croquette, which is sold for less than RM5.