Travel tips to South Korea

Brww...

After a week of freezing winter in Korea, I'm back to Malaysia. (It was average at 2 degree Celsius, but hey, it's freezing for me already!)

Photos will be posted later, so be patient.

What I want to blog in this entry are some handy travel tips/guides to Korea (based on my itsy-bitsy tiny weeny experience).

So, here goes.

Tips #1

As mentioned in my previous post, handphones from Malaysia and nearly the rest of the world are not compatible to the network in Korea (and Japan, so I heard). The only exception to this is a 3G enabled phone, with of course, a 3G SIM card. Therefore, if you want uninterrupt connectivity while travelling to Korea, please get yourself a 3G handphone before departure.


Tips #2

Language is a huge problem in South Korea. Expect a lot of confusion when using English with the locals. Some stores in tourist area may know rudimentary English and Mandarin. (I found out that Mandarin is more widely used than English, due to employment of local Chinese descendant). Be prepared to use hand signal/language for communicating.

The solution?

Before departure, take pictures using your phone. Like this.

Take pictures of thing/location/service that you will need and store them in your phone. Example, for toilet, take the toilet sign or the WC itself. When the need to relieve yourself arises, but the nearest toilet is nowhere to be found, just show the photo from your phone to the nearest person. This will solve a lot of embarassing moments trying to act out the toilet "action" in front of total strangers.

Take pictures of mineral water, taxi, hotel, McDonalds, food, police, etc. This list could go on. Use your creativity.

Tips #3

Stemming from the language problem, remember to bring a calculator. (I know most handphone has the calculator function, but it's more convenient to use an actual calculator). When asking for price, point to the stuff and pass the calculator to the vendor. If the price is right, then pay up. If not, punch some numbers in the calculator to bargain. Clear a lot of confusion.

Tips #4

Bring more cash. While shops in Seoul do accept credit cards, they don't like the small plastic card. Vendors will frown (yes, they did) when you use credit card. In fact, you will unlikely to get any discount when you pay by card.

Tips #5

Get an empty water bottle (or buy a bottle of mineral water). There are a lot of water dispensers available on the streets or in restaurants. Refill your empty bottle with filtered water for free.

Tips #6

Do NOT wear rings or other jewelry like necklace during winter. Mrs Banana lost her diamond engagement ring when slipping off her gloves. (Thank God it dropped into the luggage bag!) We had a lot of putting on/off of gloves, scarf, jacket etc, and it is very easy for these jewelry to tangle and come off unnoticed.

That's all folks. Can't think of anymore now. I will post more if I could remember additional tips.