South Korea: Backpacking things to bring

Coming back from a recent backpacking trip at Seoul, i thought it will be nice to list down some little things that we seem to miss if we didn't spend enough time to think through our to-bring list. 

One of the gates at Changdeok-gung (palace)

I hope those that are planning to visit Seoul during autumn will find the list below useful:

Backpacks..so many to choose from.

a) Backpack - This is a backpacker's main storage. A decent sized-one will do to carry a small water bottle, camera kits/lenses, maps ,papers and all sorts of rubbish you collect on your journey and some other supplies below you will find handy during your journey.

Backpack keeps your hands free for important task such as photography...


and peeing. Just kidding lolz
(Illustration source: http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/6726/1/1/how-to-draw-peeing-calvin.htm ) 

b) Handphone - Even if you don't turn on roaming for overseas usage, a handphone nowadays can still serve as a watch, calculator, instant notepad. That's what i use my humble Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic for.
If you have fancy andriod/iphone then that opens up access to tons of apps out there you can use. Here are some apps such as below:

Illustration from KTO

Visit Korea 2.0 by KTO
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/FU/FU_EN_15.jsp?cid=1697323
Seoul Bus 2
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/seoul-bus-2-metropolitan-bus/id340701877?mt=8
Subway Korea
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jihachul/id325924444?mt=8


c) Umbrella - Essential tool when going backpacking since we'll hit the road most of the time. We were lucky to bring an umbrella as it rained 2 days out of our 6 days of trip. Just make sure it's big enough for two if you are not travelling solo!

Rainy day @ Namsan Folk Village

d) Spare chopstick/spoon - You never know when you will need one. Sometimes you want to get a quick breakfast at your guesthouse (assuming you are backpacking on low budget)

Disposable fork/spoon for making drinks/eating packed food

e) Tissue/ wet tissue - Clean,clean,clean. Be it after you eat, or when your camera lens need cleaning or even  runny nose from the cold weather. Always good to have clean tissue around.

f) Food/snacks - Basic common sense. Keep your energy level high during your backpacking mission. As you walk around snapping happily you might find yourself starving in a park/musuem/palace with only expensive food/drinks for sale. It's not fun to look for places to eat while you are starving. Just hit the convenience store like CVS (family mart) or GS25 for some local snacks or drinks and enjoy

Korean snacks, local flavors for your taste buds

g) Spare plastic bags - Trash bin is a rarity in Seoul for some reason. If you are like me who likes snacking while travelling, the bags will be your temporary trash storage while looking for one. You will stumble upon one quite soon (I hope). The spare bags can also double as insulation for your camera in case of heavy rain. Umbrella may keep you dry,but not neccesarily your backpack =)

h) Nailclipper - This one serves as both nail clipper (duh), and as a scissor. It can easily help open plastic wrappers and also be useful if you buy those drinks that doesn't have a tear to aid opening it.

Stopped by Beansbin Coffee @ Samcheong-dong 

i) Empty coffee cup - For people who can't stand cold, this is a great tip. Have a cup of coffee, be it Starbucks, Beansbin or Holly Coffee and keep the cup in your backpack. It comes in handy to keep warm when you chance upon a hot water dispenser. Great to hold it and sip hot water when the temperature is low out there. This happened when i passed by Ssamzigil washroom at Insadong and happily took some hot water from the water dispenser to keep warm ^_^. Alternatively you can bring a thermos but the downside is its weigh that you need to schlep along while you explore around.

Map showing places of interest to explore in downtown Seoul.

h) Korea city map / Subway map - I keep these in my front pocket most of time. I find it relatively easy to travel using Subway in Seoul. The names can be quite confusing and don't let the colorful subway lines intimidate you. Keep maps even though you remember the stations since the exits are important to make your trip convenient.Each station is about 10-15 minutes away by walking if you are up to it.

One of my trusty companion during the trip. Found its resting place at Hong guesthouse brochure rack now :P

These are just some essentials while you are on the move. Most importantly go with an open mind, be friendly, smile and don't hesitate to ask for directions or just about anything. Koreans seem very shy if we speak English since they are not proficient with the language but that doesn't mean they are not helpful.

Biwon aka Secret garden awaiting you guys.

With this, i wish those that are reading this post good luck on your backpacking and happy travelling =)

Our backpacking choice: Hong guesthouse @ Seoul

It's been a chaotic week after my marriage dinner & traditional ceremony on 13th and 14th Oct. This is a real milestone in my life. Well, actually our lives since now me and my wife are now officially united as one :)

Here is a photo of our prewedding photoshoot. Sorry it's not showing our face hehe (yes, i do this on purpose)

Been a hectic time since i last blogged, however, for our backpacking trip this time to Seoul in 2 weeks time, our choice of guest house will be Hong guesthouse www.hongguesthouse.com.

There are quite a few reasons why.

1. Location: location, location location...it's all about location for most people. Especially for us first time newbies to Seoul. One of the biggest concern for us is mobility when backpacking. Wifey wants to be able to visit the famous underground Dongdaemun night market and not get stranded in middle of nowhere in middle of night. This guest house seems close enough and we are up to the challenge moonlight walk for ~500m to the market.

2. Price: The price is kind of fair to me. There are many guesthouse / hostel that we can opt for. And probably cheaper love motels in Seoul. At <50 USD per night for ensuite double room it's quite a competitive price.

3. Availability: This one is kind of a no brainer. Still available now. Hopefully i manage to book on time after this blog post.

4. Surveys: Most backpackers do surveys through various sites. I'm happy enough with mostly positive review from many fellow backpackers around the world. Went through hostelworld.com, tripadvisor.com, agoda.com and hostelsclub.com. See one of the snapshot, so many smiley faces.

5. Security: I think Seoul's hostel security are on quite a good level. Maybe because i live in Malaysia or KL for the matter. We locked ourselves silly, our houses are grilled and equipped with security alarms if we can afford it..Well, this is a different topic from current post and i will skip for now. 

6. Discount: Hong guesthouse actually give discount for those promoting their site. Well, that's an opportunity to kill two birds with a stone- flex my blog-scle after such a long time and also request for discount at the same time.. 

So dear manager and staff of Hong Guesthouse , please give me discount for my stay there :D

We hope to have a great stay there.

Will update again once we're back from our trip. Another service from yours sincerely to our fellow bloggers, in case you   are interested like me to promote the guesthouse, here is the link again of the guesthouse here www.hongguesthouse.com. 

*Source of photos: from www.hongguesthouse.com & of course the first one is from my own collection :)

29 life lessons learned in travelling the world for 8 straight days

This article is a good read. Found it floating around facebook, i'm gonna keep it and share it here.

Kinda reminds me of a quote from Saiyuki anime, one of my all time favourite:

One of my edits during my bachelor degree's days :p

epsxe 1.7.0 setup for PS1 on your PC

Recently just setup the epsxe on my Vista laptop. So i'll just put down some summary for those who are interested.

Here is the link to download page.
BIOS file are the so-called files you get from purchasing actual sony Playstation game.

Tips: Just do a Google and its everywhere in the net. Here is a list of the file name you should have in the "bios" folder:
DTLH3000, DTLH3002, SCPH101, SCPH1001, SCPH5000, SCPH5500, SCPH5502, SCPH7000, SCPH7001, SCPH7003, SCPH7502

Depending on which video plugins you use, you can try Pete's video plugin.
Here is another list of the more popular video plugins:
Lewpy's 3dfx/Glideł GPU 1.40
P.E.Op.S. Soft Driver 1.16
Pete's D3D Driver 1.75
Pete's DX6 D3D Driver 1.75
Pete's OpenGL Driver 1.75
Pete's OpenGL2 Driver 2.6
Just google one of those according to your OS and pop them into your "Plugin" folder.

Here is a look on the Wizard setup. This is a one time setup.

And then of course the setup for video settings. You can experiment which resolutions are to your liking, find out which one works best...and setup your keyboard config of course.

My keyboard config:

Well, if you are that hardcore enough, try to buy a DualShock PS2/3 USB controller. Well, mine works as soon as I plug it into my laptop via auto driver installation. Of course, you need to configure the keys.

Now its time to enjoy your PS times :)

A song per day

Just finished watching a Cantonese movie that was i my harddrive for quite some time. The title is "2 become 1", and then this acapella by Justin Lo got stuck in my head.

The guy has good voice and is brilliant. Here is it.
Enjoy!



側田 Jusitn Lo - A Song Per Day (Clear Version)

LYRICS:
everytime when i'm thinking of you
i just don't know what to do
pinch myself when i'm dreaming of you
making sure that you could love me too
how it slipped away, all my happy days

though i'm acting cool, when i'm feeling blue
just to show you that i'm through with you
while i never wanted to

how can the love so beautiful ever slip away
when i get to the place
i swear i'll write you a song each and everyday
ooh god i'm missing you it's driving me so insane
standing all alone in pouring rain
can't explain can't explain all my pain