Yeah exactly! Korean language is the polar opposite of English. Different sentence structures. I don't know mandarin either (which is the easiest language to transition from to Korean due to the many similarities).

But lately there are more and more loan words from English into Konglish. Won't be surprising in a decade or so time, the Korean language will be very rojak like our "malay" language now a days.


No offense to guesthouses, but tried once, never again. It was a regretful experience.

guesthouses are like what we get mostly on airbnb? private rooms with private bathroom..its like smaller scale and cheaper version of hotel..while on the other side hostels are like few beds in a room that allow sharing?..thats how i differentiate lol..

but yeah, wondering whats so bad experience for the guestshouses

Hotels, not hostels. I'll never stay in a hostel...

The guesthouse I stayed at was the popular Namsan guesthouse back in 2012 I think? Everyone was harping about how good this guesthouse is for the price, blah blah blah. Beds were not comfy at all for me, I had sores all over my back every day and yes I slept in the most optimal position too. I could hear the rooms next door at night very clearly too, which I didn't like. Cleanliness was just so-so, though there were still pubic hairs on the bedsheets so... yeah. Toilet had some stains of pee, but was easily washed off.
Then when it came to eating or cleaning, well... I know it's called a guesthouse for a reason and not a hotel, but to me I felt I wasted time doing unnecessary things where I could spend it touring outside instead.

Then of course they once had a curfew time of coming back at a certain time (11pm I think?). I found that really stupid. That was the only 1 time I stayed in a guesthouse.

Ever since then, every time I go S.Korea, I'll stay in a hotel or a serviced apartment. Yeah ultimately is you pay for what you get. But I get the extras I appreciate like free parking for my car, actually clean rooms that are pre-inspected, the same no hassle check ins even if most hotels only allow check-ins at 3pm (really, sometimes people just need to learn how to ask politely, many foreigners don't) and of course privacy.

The way I see it, if I'm going to walk so much, going from places to places, covering many areas, coming back late  at whatever time I wish, and just like freaking relax without "rules" so I can recharge my batteries for the next day, that's what I like.

I'm sure there are a lot of good guesthouses, otherwise they won't remain popular until today. My experience was a one-off, so I'm absolutely not generalizing. No one should take my word that guesthouses are bad. But for me since then, I'd gladly pay more for my own sake of convenience basically.

Boring as in not much things to do? That I agree. But I've been living in gangnam since I was transfering from Busan to Seoul when I was still working there. So it's very convenient for me as I know the place quite well.
Nothing about being boring or not, I honestly don't think anywhere is really boring if you know where to look for things and what to do.

But let's not digress further as this is a travel thread.

Where can I buy "I love Seoul" or Hangul words t-shirt with good quality in Seoul?
What types of snack shoul I buy in Seoul that not available in KL?

Hi guys. How is Korea's public transport? If I want to go to cities outside of Korea, can I just take a bus/train? And is Korea easy to navigate around? Map/GPS will do? I thought of planning a diy short trip there, but knowing that I'm quite a timid person, I'm scared I'll get lost and end up going nowhere.

Im going to Seoul end of this month and i've yet to book any accommodation in Seoul.
Are those guesthouses (around RM150 ish) recommended?

And how much pocket money for transportation (should be mostly train) and 3 meals in an inexpensive restaurant do you recommend? Is 30,000KRW a day enough?

Guys, is 30k spending money daily enough?
Im not buying anything much and its for transport (bus/train), food and entrance fees (if any).

Thanks but are the street or lower end restaurant food priced like that?

  whenever i go the currency rate only go up, not even once go down. i still remember i went that time the rate haven't reach 3. miss those days    hence now going to korea ain't cheap anymore 

guys, what is the average return flight price to seoul in aug? AA now about 1.3k per person, is that considered cheap?

On the subject of KRW, the won is expected to strengthen even more against the ringgit after the election in May.

Damn.