Showing posts with label korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label korea. Show all posts

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Korea 2016: T-Money or M-Pass Card

3:27 PM 2016 travel , korea 11 Comments
So while researching and planning our travel itinerary, part of it was deciding if we should get T-money or the M-pass card.

 

To know a more detailed difference between the two - better go here the Official Site of Korea Tourism. 







Deciding will actually depend on where you want to go, how do you plan to go there, and how many days are you planning to stay in South Korea. In our case, we spent 6 days in Korea and our mode of transportation there was mostly walking, train, little bus and cab rides. We used this site: https://www.smrt.co.kr/program/cyberStation/main2.jsp?lang=e to compute and get a rough estimate of fare we will be needing when riding the subway.

In our 6 day journey, choosing T-Money we initially loaded 35,000 won which lasted for 5 days and on the 6th day - we reloaded another 15,000 won for the airport bus ride. Overall total we spent for the card is 54,000 won (around Php 2,200).

T-money

  1. Where you can purchase: at any Convenience store where T-money is available( common spots are 7-11, Ministop & GS25 convenience stores). Ours we bought at the 7-11 store at Incheon Airport. 
  2. Cost: the card itself is 4,000 won. The cashier would ask you first to pay for the card and then after you can pay for the amount you want to reload it.
  3. Refundable: Yes but only the remaining load balance after the 500 won charge. However, you can keep the card and use it the next time you go to Korea :)
  4. Transfer Discount: Yes. During our stay, we noticed that some of transfers we made was actually free :)
  5. You can use the balance to purchase food and other stuff in convenience stores.
  6. Airport Bus: Yes

M-Pass

  1. Where you can purchase: Seoul Travel Information Centers located at the Incheon airport. 
  2. Cost: A 4,500 deposit is required when purchasing; minimum is 10,000 won for a 1-day pass and maximum is 59,500 pass for a 7-day pass 
  3. Refundable: Yes. 4,500 won deposit plus the remaining load balance after the 500 won charge. 
  4. Discount: 10-20% discount to popular tourist spots
  5. You need to return the card upon refunding. So M-pass is a good option you don't have plans of going back.
  6. It can act as a T-money too so you can use the balance to purchase food and other stuff in convenience stores. Note that you can & need to reload a separate T-money balance should you wish to use the card to purchase stuff at convenience stores. 
  7. It has an allotted 20 subway rides per day. After that, you can re-load T-money balance if you need to ride more than 20 on the subway (which I don't think is possible unless you get totally lost & went back and forth on the subway lines all day lol!)

Getting the T-money was more practical on our end as we are mostly walking and our average rides per day was just 4-6 tops. The subway though was only until 12 MN so in two occasions when we realized it was already past 12 and we were still outside - we had no choice but to take the bus. It was a good thing too that our airbnb place was literally in front of a subway entrance so at times when we are feeling energetic, we just actually walk (underground) instead of riding the train. 


In summary, I would highly recommend using T-money instead of the M-pass.

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Saturday, December 12, 2015

Korea 2016: How to Apply for a Korean Visa

9:33 AM korea , korean embassy 0 Comments
Korea trip is getting near (yay!) - we got our plane tickets and AirBnB booked so next step now is to get our visa filed & approved so we can officially enter their beloved country.

 Searching through b/vlogs & forums really helped a LOT to prep us for this task. And as a way of giving back, I'd like to create my own post on how we got our visa to contribute & help those who are planning to visit Korea as well.

Prepare your documents

Get legit information. Visit the Korean Embassy (Manila) Official Site to get the updated list of requirements for the visa application. A friend and I was lucky enough to have visited an OECD member country - ergo our requirements were much less than those who are first time travelers or have not been to any of the OECD countries. For first time travelers or have not been to any of the OECD member countries, please visit the site for the complete set of requirements.

 1. Original COE which must include the following:
  •  Applicant's position
  • Date Hired
  • Compensation
  • Office Address
  • Office HR Email Address
  • Office HR Landline Number (mobile number not allowed)
2.  Original and True Copy of Bank Statement
3. Original and True Copy of Personal Bank Certificate which must include the following
  • Account type
  • Current Balance
  • Account Opening Date
  • Average Daily Balance (ADB)
Note: For BDO, Bank Cert cost Php 100.00 and usually can be claimed the next day. However, if you have bargaining skills - you can humbly & kindly ask the bank personnel to process it immediately so you can get it within the day (or even in minutes). Bank Statements can be processed immediately but will cost you Php 300.00 for the first 3 pages then Php 10.00 on the succeeding pages. 

 4. ITR (exempted for travelers to any OECD countries but if you have one available, no harm bringing it too)
5. Application Form (to be download from their site). Answers must be handwritten and place N/A for fields not applicable for you. No blank spaces - if it does not apply then place N/A.
6. Passport size photo to be pasted on the form. Before going to the embassy, make sure you have already pasted the photo on your form but if you forgot, they have paste available inside the embassy.
7. Photocopy of the passport bio page. Passport should be valid from more than 6 months.
8. Photocopy of the OECD Visa & arrival stamps. Visa must be valid and used.
9. As of this posting, the embassy currently offers multiple entry visa for BDO Gold clients - just provide them your current billing statement.

Submit your Docs

 Go to the Korean Embassy to submit your requirements. The embassy is located in Taguig:

 122 Upper McKinley Road, McKinley Town Center, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City 


  • Upon entering the embassy, you have to log your name & number to the guard on duty before you can enter. They might require an ID or not - but just be prepared to have one handy.
  • Give your requirements to the officers on your right (you'll see them once you enter) - they will check your documents, give your queue number & which Visa window you need to go to.
  • No interviews required (or unless the person on the other side of the window needs clarification) so no need to get nervous :P 
  • You will then get a paper that you'd need to keep as that is needed when its time to claim your passport. The paper also indicates the date & time you can go back to claim your passport. No need to call the embassy - they are true to their word. If they say you can claim it on Dec. 12 - then Dec 12 it is.
Claim the prize 

Go back to the embassy and give the claim paper thingy to the officer to your right to get your queue number. Note that embassy will just give you back the passport - and you will just pray to the heavens above that you will find your Korean visa on one of the pages of your passport :)

Now remember, aside from regulary google-ing posts, blogs, vlogs, etc.; much recommended is to just visit the embassy's official site to get the updated requirements for filing a visa. 

 Here one can get the latest announcements of requirements, forms and promos even about the visa application. Better to get the official information - be safe than sorry right?

I hope this lengthy post helps. 
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