Paju Premium Outlets Review and Directions

Decided to do up this post on Paju Premium Outlets because I really feel the trip to Paju was really worth it!! Especially to big brand names like Adidas and Nike! They have very good deals at the outlet and the items aren't exactly very off season! 

Went on a day trip to Paju although our main goal was to only visit the Premium Outlets as we were short of time, Paju has many other attractions were you can enjoy your day at! Places of interest like Provence Village ( where Produce 101 was filmed at) and the Hyeri Art Gallery for really pretty photo spots

Directions:

• Hapjeong Station (Subway Line 2 or 6), Exit 2. 
• Bus 2200 and Get off at Paju Premium Outlets Back Gate Bus Stop

The Bus Stop Map at the station was all in Korean but when I had boarded the bus, there was a screen displaying the names of the next stop in English. Do remember to keep a look out for the station names and to alight as the ride can be rather long

The queue that greeted us at Hapjeong Station where there is the bus number marking on the ground and not like a typical bus stop.

While on the bus to Paju sit on the left and you will get a small glimpse of North Korea and it was really cool to open our maps to see just a sea separating where we were located to North Korea! The whole area was fenced up thoroughly with lookout towers. Cheap thrills for non-DMZ visitors!

Arrived at the Paju Premium Outlet stop after almost and hour of bus ride and realised we had to walk a whole round to get to the main entrance sigh

For the full store listing: https://www.premiumoutlets.co.kr/paju/store_centermap

Got this pair of superstars because I had seen it at an ABC Mart in Myeongdong and fell in love with the colour omg. He did not even allow me to get it in Seoul because it was on sale for 109,000 won but it was only around 50,000+ won at the Premium Outlet!!! This item was still considered a new item in Seoul and I had gone around multiple stores to compare prices but they never fell below 100,000!!!

So imagine when we saw this pair and it was available in so many sizes!!!

Was so tempted to get a pair of Stan Smiths as well because the price is so irresistible!!! and the the colour was pretty unique as well

When NMDs were still all in the trend this pair was only selling for 89,000 won but in Singapore a pair of NMDs easily sold for $200 and above. Really good deal then but I guess the trend has already died down drastically.

Some other shoes that I spotted. The one below is really unique!

The best deals we got were these pairs of Ultraboost! They did not have many designs available but these were definitely better than nothing! Shoe sizes run rather limited for more popular models like these but there were still quite a few popular sizes available.

Went out of the store with these in hand! Oh and the best part? You still get tax free on the items so it is even cheaper!

Hoped into a few other shops but the sales weren't as drastic until Nike! This pair of full white was on sale for less than SGD$50! Really really tempting. My friend even scored a pair of Janoskis for around SGD$30

Our loots for the day where you can obviously tell majority of them are from a single store. But that shows you how good the deals are there!!! Premium Outlets definitely do change their items as season passes but it is great that on my visit, they also had some of the in trend items on sale.

Definitely worth the trip down to Paju and also do give the other Paju attractions a try while you are there!

The Korean Sauna Experience

A sauna experience is one that you cannot miss when you visit South Korea! It is so uniquely korean and always featured in various dramas and shows!

Return of Superman's Daebak 

Siloam Sauna is relatively one of the more popular outlets with tourists alongside Dragon Hill! For my visit I have always visited Siloam Sauna because of convenience! This outlet is located at a walking distance from Seoul Station and a great way to spend some spare time here.

From Korean dramas, it’s a known fact that these saunas operate on a 24/7 basis and usually the best spot for a runaway or when u want to avoid your family after a big fight (k-dramas pls) but also great ways for the elderly to just come here and lounge!

Especially when the entrance fee is relatively affordable for the facilities available! Budget travelers can honestly consider visiting a sauna as their lodging! Have seen a couple of backpackers visit this place as well.

This is the counter for payment when you first enter and split according to gender for this level but from this level onwards, it’s towards a common area

Basically this is what’s on the 6 levels of this place! (including basement) Have not been to the basement where it’s the nude baths but honestly don’t think every facility here is top notch so don’t be expecting too much from it! Although I have to say for the price you are paying, it is very much worth it

As my friends were coming in from their trip from Busan and we had 3 hours wait before heading for our AirBnb, we decided on spending that few hours at the sauna where we could store our luggage’s at the same time! Especially when our airbnb does not offer those baggage storage services! The sauna here has a huge room where you can store your huge luggage and mind u my luggage is extremely huge HAHAHA

The ahjummas will ask you to take whatever you need from ur bags and label ur bags for you to collect it later!

Each of us got the sauna uniform and a key to our locker to store our valuables and off we went!

Food which you can have here! But of course it comes with extra charges

Oh but my friends did get those hard boiled eggs from the higher level to try! Don’t really fancy these eggs but these are the type which the koreans love to crack by knocking it on their heads

Got a Fruit Bingsu to share but was majorly disappointing because it tasted more like the local ice kacang when we were anticipating more fine and milky ice like the bingsu we have in singapore! Oh wells but still a pretty refreshing treat after sweating ourselves out in the sauna

The same level encompasses various sauna rooms and even an ice room! Really enjoyed just chilling in the rooms where many of them actually sleep inside. English descriptions are also written outside each room to tell you what benefits the rooms are for and it was pretty informative! We targetted at those for pains because we were all exhausted from the few days of travel and shopping and just needed a good relaxation!

The rooms are relatively quiet and serene and just a good place to take a nap and enjoy yourself

This was one of the rooms which I felt the heat was pretty unbearable! The balls were heated and I couldn’t stand the amount of heat just with a pile of it over my toes. But these two guys really enjoyed it!

The open areas outside the rooms are full of people lounging or sleeping as they do have some blocks to be used as pillows!

And of course! What’s a trip to the Korean Jimjilbang without making the sheep head! Had to google on how to do it HAHAH although we did take a peek at how the group that sat beside us did it and we copied >_<

Address for Seoul Station Outlet: Siloam Sauna - 실로암사우나찜질방
49, Jungnim-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea (Jungnim-dong) 서울특별시 중구 중림로 49 (중림동)

Map from siloamsauna.com

Directions

• Exit Seoul Station exit 1
• Exit Lotte Mart on the other side after entering it / dont enter and just walk the gap between Lotte Mart and Mall all the way
• Turn right and walk straight for around 50m to the traffic light
• Cross the traffic light, turn left and you should be able to see this slope in the photo below

It is actually a really steep slope which I had struggled so badly with my luggage!!!! And the sauna sign should be relatively big which you can spot at Lotte Mart!



Through your walk over, you should be able to spot the new Seoullo 7017!

SR was really amazed by this bridge which is the new Seoullo 7017! Because he actually did a research on this before during his internship and was amazed that he was able to see it in real life! Really cool bridge which has retail outlets and cafes on it as well!

Went to read up more about it and found the story behind the name of it very cool! The name is derived from how it was first erected in the 1970s to connect the eastern and western sides of Seoul Station and instead of tearing this structure which was closed for years, it was made into this new pedestrian walking experience in 2017 so 7017! But 17 can also because of how it is divided into 17 sections and being 17m above ground.

Budget Travels to Seoul, South Korea

Decided to do up a recommendation post on how to maximize your savings on plane tickets and accommodations for your next trip to Seoul! These will be great for budget travelers because plane tickets and accommodation will definitely take up a bulk of your spending for the trip!

Disclaimer: I am not in anyway sponsored by any company to write this as this post will most likely contain several brands but PLS SPONSOR THIS BROKE TRAVELER (lmao desperate)

Plane tickets

Simplest way in booking tickets would definitely to look at the various ticket comparison sites! I still do book my tickets with the original flight websites but these comparison sites give you a good gauge on which airlines you should narrow your search to!

And of course it definitely pays to book your tickets early to get those early bird deals! As well as to keep a lookout for plane ticket deals as even premium brands like Singapore Airlines do periodically have your 2 to go / early bird deals! Still remember a few years back where their offer was as low as $499 for a return flight to Seoul! (But that is incredibly rare now)

These kind of rates that I will be mentioning will most likely not be available during your peak periods like school holidays and stuff so do not be too delusional/happy ;; well as a uni/poly student who is broke as heck, this is perfect because loads of sem breaks dont end up in that same period as the mass holidays!

Simple comparison would be like this! A deal of below $600 for tickets to Seoul is incredibly affordable for Singapore Airlines because their usual price would be easily above $600! 

What I find aggravating sometimes is how budget flights may actually turn out to be more expensive than normal commercial planes which offer baggage + entertainment + food!!! Especially if they both do encompass a transit. 

For my previous trip to Seoul, I had gone aboard Thai Airways at an incredibly reasonable $460++ with 30kg baggage + meals + in flight entertainment! Super great deal in my opinion as budget flights can actually sometimes set you back easily to $400+ with no baggage / meals / entertainment! Vietnam Airlines is also a great contender for such flights at affordable pricing but do take note these flights generally do include a long transit depending! As you do not want to end up having too short of a transit and missing your flight! And well, these airports may not be the best to end up in for more than 10 hours.

Accommodation

Airbnbs in Seoul have gained immense popularity with travelers as there are plenty of aesthetic houses! What I love about Airbnbs is that it allows you to have the various amenities a house has! Especially like a washing machine if you are staying for longer periods and a kitchen where you can maybe cook! 

Airbnbs are also way more affordable than hotels in popular areas and some being extremely convenient as well! 

Locations recommendation to stay in would definitely be Hongdae (Hong Ik University) / Edae (Ehwa Women's University) for the younger travelers and Myeongdong / Dongdaemun if you love shopping and Seoul Station! Definitely stations near these locations are also desirable along with those that are an interchange station for the trains because that would mean it would be easier to get around.

Areas like Edae, Hongdae and Sinchon are also extremely near each other where it is actually possible for you to walk to each station from the other

Well for my previous trip to Seoul, our airbnb wasn't in the best condition so it was pretty disappointing!!! Another reason why Airbnb would be if you are travelling in a big group and everyone wants to stay together! Our trip consisted of 9 people and the Airbnb we booked had 4 rooms! Would do up another posts on my whole trip soon and will link it here!

But for the most part, I did enjoy my Airbnb the previous previous time I was in Seoul as it was clean and up to expectations! Guess we were just unlucky

Other options for cheap accommodation would be to check out hotel comparison sites! Similar to Airbnb, majority of such sites can put a price limit on your search results! Hotel comparison sites sometimes do have apartments and a wide variety of guesthouses and hostels!

Guesthouses will be great if you would like to interact with the owners and tourists from all over the world! These places would be a great way to meet new friends!

I personally would like to recommend a hostel I stayed in on my previous trip! The AN Hostel

The place was beyond expectations because of how it was priced at $49 SGD a night! Super affordable stay as breakfast was provided and super clean and cosy rooms!!!! Location was also super convenient because it had two lines at the nearest station! Will do up a post for this soon as well because I only have praises for this place even though I only stayed for 2 nights

Some random photos taken by those who have stayed here on Instagram! Me and SR love this place so much that we wish to head back the next time we visit Seoul!

Attractions

Alright, for attractions we had generally booked our tickets on other sites as they are usually at a discounted rate and the 3 major providers we compared were Klook, KKday, Changi Recommends.

We also did pick up some coupons from KTO (Korean Tourism Organisation) in Singapore for Nami Island/ Petite France!

These sites do sometimes have packages like for example Everland + Shuttle (Since for everland, you will need to travel out of Seoul to YongIn) And for different ticket providers, there are various pick up locations so do keep notice of those!

KKDAY

KLOOK

Changi Recommends

Each of these websites differ in prices but do look at the fine print! For Klook wise it comes with Free Churros for visits during certain periods and Changi Recommends comes with some other free admission along with the Everland ticket so do look carefully to decide which you would like to purchase! These sites usually do also have various promo and referral codes! (Okay I shall go make an account and put my referral codes here HAHAHA or sponsor me pls!!!!111!!!)

Prices also differ for various locations and does not necessarily mean Changi Recommends usually have a higher price and Kkday the cheapest! 

These sites do also offer Wifi Egg packages which are mostly essential in my opinion! Internet is always recommended la! They do have those prepaid cards too so whichever floats your boat!

WiFi Eggs would be recommended for large groups and definitely a life saver for my group because the Airbnb's WiFi was a failure and we were too tired of calling the owner's employee to come fix it.

Special Tip for my K-pop fans out there in Singapore, Singapore's Korea Tourism Organisation does give out music show tickets for SG fans travelling to Korea and tbh I feel it is super worth!!! Because SM does tours for Mcountdown and it can cost more than $100 for that when you can stand a chance to get free admission courtesy of KTO! Especially when these music shows requires balloting/queuing!!!

Example of their posts

Link to their FB: https://www.facebook.com/Koreatourismorganizationsingaporeoffice/?ref=page_internal

Even for non-kpop fans, KTO does periodically have free T-money, coupons and various perks if you are travelling to Korea! Worth checking out their FB to see if there are any freebies you can get to lessen your spending!

Hopefully this post was informative and helpful enough! 

Seung Ri Won - Traditional Korean Chinese Food (Featured in Big Bang's MV)

Staple Korean Delivery Food will definitely include an order of Ja Jang Myeon which is a black bean based noodle dish and you will even encounter shows asking celebs if they prefer Jjampong or the other. These are staple chinese korean dishes and usually being delivered to anywhere you request it to be!

Okay, so obviously I do not know how to order such meals on the phone or through any delivery apps in Korea, we decided to have our meals at the original store which does deliveries.

In this post, I would like to recommend this Korean-Chinese Restaurant which was really unassuming when I had visited as we were hungry and decided to just settle on this place since we havent had authentic Korean Chinese noodles.

Seung Ri Won 승리원

02-464-9900

78 Wangsimni-ro, Seongsu-dong 1(il)-ga, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, South Korea 

서울특별시 성동구 왕십리로 78 매연빌딩

Exit 1 of Seoul Forest Station

They do have the Ban-Ban version which is korean for half-half! So you can try different types of noodles at half portions! Super cool imo! Singapore should def try to have this! I had the jjampong + jjm combo and I loved the noodle texture so much because it was incredibly springy!!! The seafood broth in the jjampong was also extremely good.

Got a plate of Sweet and Sour Pork to share and the sauce was very unique! Not the same as Singapore's one and imo a must try when you visit Korea! The sauce is clear and they provide it at the side for you to choose between dousing the whole pork in sauce or to dip it. 

Didn't take a photo but the ahjumma gave us service by giving a giant plate of dumplings which we could barely finish because we were stuffed!!!!

Had to use my limited korean skills to order for everyone because this is those true blue korean joints where the ahjumma is totally not trained in any foreign language!!! 

Surprising because this place was actually featured in a Big Bang MV! 

Try to spot it yourself!

Well it was featured in Seungri's part as the MV did indeed feature places which had the members names in them and this place was featured in the background! Super cool because it was so unassuming and there were only a bunch of local uncle and aunties in this place when we patronized and the ahjumma even offered us a VIP room because there were so many of us!

KL 3D2N: ICAEW Regional Business Challenge (Aloft KL Sentral)

This is a trip which happened quite a while back in May, where me and my team managed to head over to KL to participate in a business challenge organised by ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales). We had emerged as champions in the Singapore round unexpectedly!!! Me and Kelvin had even forgone bringing our laptops along because we thought we would not make it into the finals and would not require our heavy laptops but then we got in and had to desperately borrow laptops from other friends which didn't make it.

The trip to KL would bring us to compete with other teams from Southeast Asia and also along with a team from NUS. We were able to choose our flight times from a list of timings and departed on a Thursday and ultimately missing 2 days of school.

Went to check in through the self check in counter and there were so many other counters available but we ended up queueing quite a while for the ones in front not knowing the other machines can be utilised.

Did our self drop for our check in baggage where we had gotten 20kg purchased for us but turns out we didn't have sufficient and had an excess of 11kg where we had to purchase 15kg for SGD60 on the spot omg

Thank god, WL the staff from ICAEW was still checking in and helped us settle the baggage weight issue. And it was a pity that he had exceeded his weight by 3kg and had to pay SGD69 for his??? Outrageous. When he could have checked in that extra weight with us instead.

Decided to go check out Charles and Keith for this pair of heels which Ive been eyeing on as I had tried it and it was pretty comfortable and formal enough for internship and any formal event. Decided to wait till I am in the airport for my 7% off for tax. Kelvin kept making me hesitate because GSS was coming soon but I was determined the price won't change much since its a new item. And the other day, I went again to check and wew thank god I made the purchase because it is still on original price at the normal outlets. This pair was at $49.90 originally so saved around $3? XY said its like minnie mouse shoes though! Because of the block heels. But I feel like the thin ones make my thighs look extra fat.

Managed to get a window seat and its 100% Perfect lighting although it was majorly hot.

We flew pretty low and over Singapore and I managed to spot my house since its near the Yishun Dam and that bridge across is that!

Really short flight of less than an hour and not sure why my time was automatically adjusted to Indonesia and I was confused when the pilot had said we will arrive at 3:15pm when I was still at 2:15pm 

Could tell the air stewardess on this flight wasn't really on her best mood but I can't blame her because Im sure this flight to work on is so not worth her money.

First time in KLIA2 and it is pretty empty. Immediately logged onto Free WiFi but there were a whole bunch of information to be filled up.

Would recommend the purchase of SIM cards for data inside the transit area!!! They are all located side by side and it would be best to compare! They offer quite good deals for data especially. I think we saw one which was RM40 for 25GB say whaaaat.

But we ended up not purchasing and heading out but regretted because the shops outside were having their systems refreshed and couldn't process the SIM cards for us.

We had taken the same flight with the NUS team but they had troubles searching for their baggage so we decided to go have a bite at KFC!

Forgot to take a photo but I got the 1 piece chicken at RM5 and it was so good!!! Cannot compare to SG one. The rest got other sides and they said the salted caramel ice cream is really good.

Met up with the NUS team and went to get tickets for our train ride into the city! First time taking this train because honestly think a cab is still relatively cheaper. But our hotel is situated right at KL Sentral so it is perfect to just take the KLIA Ekspres.

Dragged our stuff over and wew the hotel is really closeby. There is a mall situated right next to it so super convenient to shop! We stayed at ALOFT and it seems relatively new and has very youthful vibes.

Snakes and ladder on the floor where they actually do have a giant dice.

Got our room keys and its me XY and Trista sharing a room while the guys share one!

The toilets are separated into the shower area and toilet bowl area. Funny thing is the door is a sliding one and can only cover either side at the same time. But we still shared it nevertheless.

Toiletries are your usual not including XY's toothbrush and toothpaste HAHAHA.

Pretty standard drinks set up. 

Think our room was a double queen bed room meant for 4 and the beds were pretty comfy! Although I felt the pillows were abit too soft. Maybe I am too used to my memory foam pillow.

Our view which isnt very magnificent since we are only at the 7th floor.

Grabbed our dinner at the mall beside (Nusentral) and settled on the Korean restaurant after we saw the two girls in front of us search it on the directory. 

The place smelled funky like a wet market smell though. Not pleasant at all. Got a seafood pancake because the rest didn't look really appetizing. The pancake was alright! Not the best but pretty value for money.

Of course we had to go supermarket shopping. To stock up on some instant ramyeon and random snacks.

EXO on pepero. (At that point in time EXO wasn't on pepero packaging in SG so dont mind me)

Kelvin being Kelvin and going to spend his bucks at Starbucks. Ended up getting a free cake as he did up a survey for him and look at the note they left for him at his drink.

Day 2. Competition Day! Totally didn't prepare because we are too chill. Oops!!! Think the other team was prepping real hard while we had fun shopping.

Room came with complimentary breakfast buffet. Under XY's name heh. Wore our formal attire down but went in hotel slippers until we realised the guys wore full formal with blazer and shoes so we went back up. Looked ridiculous and definitely being judged but oh wells.

Super creative set up for the donuts and cakes??? Quite aesthetic in my opinion but tastewise, dont think they fared really well.

Favourite part of any buffet!!! the egg station oooooo. got scrambled eggs and they were pretty good!

Got a few more items at the buffet and the crepe station had salted caramel sauce! Didn't get to try the laksa because I was afraid of staining my top

Off to the competition venue at the hotel and collected our name tags

Brief intro of the competition would be that we would have to work on a business case study within the time limit, answering all the questions and present them to a panel of judges. It can get pretty stressful because there isn't a lot of time to actually prepare and memorise your script! Hoped we weren't the first group because that would mean 0 prep time for presentation.

Thankfully we weren't and were lucky to be in the middle

After briefing was our lunch and off we had our competition and it was so tough trying to discuss and cover everything in that short timing. Our group as usual preferred to discuss on the floor bc we would be able to talk to each other at a closer proximity than the giant banquet table lmao

Dinner and yesss strawberry shortcake! Had a bowl of soup too and it was pretty good! Dinner was surprisingly filled w good food huehue

Three awards for the night and although we didn't get the Champion Prize to head to UK, we managed to get the Most collaborative Team Award! We had to share a table w a Malaysia Team to get to network with them and they got the Most Agile Team Award.

Photo with the NUS Team!

Headed to the rooftop to have some juice while the others had alcohol. School trip so no alcohol although I wouldn't have drank either way

Breakfast once again and tried more exotic food this time round but didn't exactly like it as much. 

Left the hotel early so we could have more time to shop since our flight was on the same day. This was when Pablo wasn't available in SG yet so we had to visit Pablo in KL to get our cheese tart fix.

Grabbed over to 1Utama and have never been here!!! Never knew it was like one of the biggest malls in the world

One of their first few customers I would suppose! Managed to redeem a free latte because of the event they were doing. Had a piping hot cheese tart on the spot and it was so molten and hot that I dropped it and it got onto my hair

Tragic

After our Pablo haul, we headed to Times Sq to meet Clemz and XY. And of course whenever there is Nature Republic there is EXO.

Asked Kelv to help take a photo and this is what he takes

Walked over to Pavilion and SPAO!!!! But obviously didn't get anything because it was pretty pricey. 

Went to Padini to try out these two dresses because intern was approaching but didn't get it in the end. Kind of regret not getting the one on top bc think it is actually really pretty! and it was at a steal of RM50. oh wells ;; tried spotting it in JB outlets but never ever spotted this again sigh

Stuck at Pavilion bc there was a major jam and our grab would take forever to reach us so we had no choice but head with those taxi uncles situated outside Pavilion who will definitely overcharge.

And yep he definitely did and purposely went a longer route. Think he would have gone an even longer route if we didn't mention we needed to rush for a plane ride. And kept trying to push us to take his cab to the airport

YIKES

Got our luggages and packed our buys and rushed to the train station.

All checked in for our short ride back and of course we had to have KFC again here