Korea Travelogue: Rain Rain Go Away

DAY 6: BUSAN - JALGACHI FISH MARKET

Woke up early in the morning to just so to avoid the rain... There's a convenient mart just below our airbnb apartment. So we got the Cookie O ice cream which is so yummy! #favourite 💓

Some fish for lunch? #jalgachimarket

We wanted to go Gamcheon cultural village but it was raining in afternoon -.-

Had some early dinner at a shopping mall nearby

Day 6 ended quite relaxing I think! We toured around this huge ass mall lol

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DAY 7: GAMCHEON CULTURAL VILLAGE

We just got to wefie abit lol #withoutpeng

Had our early lunch at a little restaurant at GamCheon Cultural Village. And yep, it's raining -.-

So foggy :(

Had some coffee break while waiting for the fog to clear...

Better view now!

Dinner near our accommodation! I think this is the Busan notable must eat food. some pork soup if I recall..

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DAY 8: TAITAI LIFE AT BUSAN SPALAND

don't ever take cab to somewhere far in Korea. If it's short distance, cab fare might work out just right. But the fare climbs exponentially after it hit a certain distance mark.

Spaland at Shinsegae mall! Slightly more expensive than the one we went in Seoul, but the facilities are great here...

Lunch inside Spaland! We lugged our luggage into Spaland, and stored our barangs with them

It's really shiok to bathe in the hot waters in the open air. It was cold in the afternoon but after the spa, my body is so warmed up that I didn't need to wear my jacket!

Took the shuttle bus from a bus stop near Shinsegae to Busan Airport

My dinner at the foodcourt! Cheap cheap and good good!

We took Jejuair from Busan to Jeju. And here, 2 other Gakkai couple joined us 😍🙌

Korea Travelogue: A trip to Ulsan - NEAR MISS!

DAY 5: A TRIP TO ULSAN - NEAR MISS

When planning for this trip to Korea, we wanted to explore somewhere different. In sought of that, we looked through the map and I happened to chance upon one blogger's post where she went to GanJeolGot so I suggested Ulsan as a potential place since its near Busan!

Upon confirming Ulsan, we then looked into Car Rental shop where we can possibly depart from Point A and return car at Point B. But nope, not possible... 

So we did a one day road trip at Ulsan and bought a day Korail Pass which allows us to travel multiple times on Korail within a day; something like Seoul --> Ulsan (self drive) --> Busan

 Early in the morning, we packed our luggage to be brought over to Ulsan then Busan.

A selfie and my hair after I went Juno Hair!

Rented car from Hertz near Ulsan Station. We put our luggage inside the car and went travelling!

First stop: Tae Hwa Gang Grand Park

Tadah the white car

Pengpeng's eye is in a bad state since the start of the trip and it didn't get better... Cos it was rather bad, we traveled around to search for Hospital where she can get her eye treatment done.

So apparently, in Korea, they name carpark repair shop, dental, vet as blah blah byeonwon... Byeongwon means clinic/hospital... we being Singaporeans didn't know our search for a proper hospital needs to be super specific so we ended up in many other different types of hospital...

But lastly, we managed to find one legit hospital after conversing with the Vet hospital valet ahjussi when we were parking the car...

Happy faces after the tedious search and tedious conversation with the nurse and doctor... Peng Peng finally got her medicine :)

Then we continued to hit the road. We headed to the seonam lake park thereafter cos it was supposed to be filled with beautiful flowers... But ok maybe wrong season lol

After this, we headed to the Gan Jeon Got which was the farthest of the three. You know what? Somehow we clicked onto the GPS (Korean language only) wrongly and travelled a super long way back to the Hertz Car Rental store at Ulsan station. WALAO EHHHHH 😱😱😱😱

So now, we took a longer distance from Hertz Rental to Gan Jeol Got.......... and the skies are turning dark......

We drove till a connecting lane and accidentally went into the opposite lane without knowing. Few seconds after, we saw an oncoming vehicle and the lady driver gave us the loudest honk ever then we realised that we drove into the wrong lane... 🙉😱

I guess that was cos we are so accustomed to Singapore right hand driving while Korea left hand driving is our first experience...

Thankfully no one is hurt, thankfully the oncoming vehicle isn't those huge trucks... #nmhrgk 🙏🙏🙏

Happy faces when we reached the ultimate destination lol the sea wind is crazy...

Glass house Starbucks at Gan Jeol Got. We rested awhile after a long day out in the cold...

The craziest nightmare happen to us again, after our rest at the Starbucks... We rushed into the car (cos the wind is damn strong and cold) and wanted to leave this place. Engine stalled. Poh tried to start the car again. Engine stalled again. Tried all sorts of method to get it going. Cant.

Can you imagine we were damn anxious and worried liao cos technically Gan Jeol Got is like the ulu-est place near the sea where there are no lamp post along the road.. not even on the highway.. they use road reflectors...

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

We calm our hearts and mind. Pohpoh tried again, and finally it worked!!! Not sure if it's cos the weather is too cold that the car needed sometime to warm up.

Along the way back, the fuel bar is signalling low fuel... remember? cos we made a wrong detour back to the Hertz Rental cos of the GPS...

But anyway, happy face after all these scary encounters while filling up the tank.

Reached our Busan apartment at night! It's also walking distance from the Busan station :)

Till the next day!

Summary of #316inKorea

I am actually contemplating if I should start writing the journey/travel guide to Korea this time round... And, I have decided that I should especially so that this shall serve me well in the future if I happen to revisit Korea :) Just like how my previous entries did, when I am preparing for the travel this year.

Buying stage.

I have been pestering my friends to travel to Korea together ever since 2014, probably due to the good experience I had in 2013 Summer exchange lol

And so, the trip has not been fulfilled until 3 weeks ago.

It happened that, SIA was having a super good deal flight promotions, and Korea is one of the included destination. Woots!!!!

So, I got pengpeng to ride on this super-good-must-buy deal, ends up we only paid SGD710 for a premium flight to Korea, economy class of course. :D But, that would also mean, the travel time and day is really bad... We flew on a Monday afternoon, arrived in Korea on Monday near midnight.

Preparation stage

As the travel date draws closer, pohpoh has decided to join us in this trip too! But, the deal has ended. Nonetheless, that didn't stop her from joining the jiemeis ^^ She purchased the flight from Koreanair I think for about SGD800+ which was pretty ok too

And so, we met up a few times to tie down the places where we want to go in Korea (Seoul, Busan, Jeju and... Ulsan - Try somewhere different!), the method of traveling, the accommodation.

Accommodation

For all our accoms, except for Jeju, we purchased from Airbnb! And the apartments are really amazing :) and cheap, and near the station! We got ourselves duplex apartment (double floors)

Our accommodation goes like this:
Seoul Part 1 - Seoul Station
Ulsan 1 day trip (self drive)
Busan - Busan station
Jeju - Good Inn Hotel (booked via booking.com)
Seoul Part 2 (Shopping spree) - Hong Dae station (easier to return to the airport)

SIM Card/Free Wifi

Given that we have 3 people, and its shorter than a month stay. I originally wanted to get the pocket wifi, so that the cost can be divided into 3.

SIM Card - I suggest perhaps you can get EG SIM Card. It's still the best option in my opinion...

Pocket wifi - mobilepop! It's quite cheap I feel! Compared it to most of the providers in Korea, Olleh, KT etc... 70,000won in total for 14 days, 3 pax.

However, on the day of collection in the airport (they do delivery to the apartment too! So, you don't have to collect at the airport if your flight timing is as strewed as mine), we decided to call off the booking. Because it is highly wired in Korea, especially Seoul, there are wifi available in most cafes. (No wifi in the subway, unless you are using SIM Card that allows you to tap on either Olleh or KT wifi)

Mode of Transportation

Traveling in Seoul is easy peasy, just take Subway train! If the distance is short, and you have 3 to 4 people, take a cab might be an easier and cheaper option! For example, a few days we were so exhausted by the walking, shopping, carrying heavy things and its raining, we took cab from Hong Dae shopping district, to our apartment in Hong Dae near the subway station. That's like about 15mins walk. It costs us 3,000won in total.

The starting rate is usually 2,800won or 3,000won. The cab rate will increase exponentially. Hence, not recommended to take cab for long distance... it can be quite expensive.

To travel from Seoul to Busan or Ulsan, as foreigners, we bought the Korail One Day Pass for I think about 53,000won per person! We traveled to 2 places for that price. Damn cheap ok...

Traveling in Ulsan was a little problem, but thank goodness for pohpoh knows how to drive lol and teohteoh (which is myself lol) knows a tiny bit of Korean.

We booked the car for a day from Hertz Lotte car rental. Collect at a small store about 300m away from the Ulsan KTX Station. We lugged our luggage over... and return the car at the stipulated time opted by us at night, at the same place. We were looking for car rentals that allows us to collect car in Ulsan, and return in Busan... But, to our dismay, no such service available...

GPS was provided by default, however in Korean... It was easy to understand by just looking at the directions illustration given. We wont be able to understand the Korean audio though... which is a pity... So, I assisted on translating the audio to Pohpoh (who's driving) in English. Ulsan, or rather Korea as a whole, has a lot of small roads/alleys... So, got to be careful of where the GPS is pointing towards.

We have been cabbing around in Busan lol... We are taitai like that. FYI you can use Tmoney in Busan subway :) however, you cant use that for Busan internal city bus rides

Then, we took Jejuair to Jeju from Busan! The flight is damn cheap... 1/3 the price in Summer.

We flew from Busan to Jeju. And, Jeju to Seoul. Costs us about 75,000won in total.

We self-drive in Jeju, cos 1 couple joined us and that makes 5 people sharing a rented car! the costs isn't too expensive in fact. Probably cheaper than renting a cab driver for 8 hours, and having to pay for the petrol and his meals.

FYI, Jeju car rental GPS goes by telephone number of the places of interest. Usually, we will key in the postal code, but for Jeju, please key in the telephone number!

Rough itinerary which we didn't really abide to

Day 1 - Seoul - Arrival (sleep in airport T.T we later figured out that we should just take the last airport limousine at midnight to the city, and sleep in Jimjilbang instead... no lounge once you exit the custom in ICN)

Day 2 - Rest, Hangang, Gangnam, Garosugil, SM Town, COEX Mall

Day 3 - Nami Island, Gangchon Rail Park

Day 4 - DMZ, JimJilBang

Day 5 - Ulsan - Ganjeolgot, Seonam Lake Park, Tae Hwa Gang Grand Park

Day 6 - Busan - Jalgachi Fish Market, Gam Chon, Da Dae Po (fountain of dream)

Day 7 - Haeundae, Taejongdae, Gwangalli Beach

Day 8 - Lotte Premium Outlet

Day 9 - Jeju - Sunrise peak, Seopjikoji, Maze Park, Manjanggul Cave, Miniland, Stone Park, Black Sand Beach, Dongmun Traditional Market, Yongduam Rock, Mysterious Road, Love land

Day 10 - Junbang waterfall, Cheonjiyeon falls, Oedolgae rock, Daepo Jusangjeolli Cliff, Chocolate Museum and Osulloc Green Tea Museum

Day 11 - Seoul - KSGI, Dong Dae Mun

Day 12 - Hong Dae, Edae

Day 13 - Lotte Mart, Ice Rink, Ssamziegil

Day 14 - Singapore

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So I guess that's about it for now. At a later part, I shall start throwing in photos, and specific guides for the 14 days journey in Korea!

I am back from Korea!

Tadah!

After so much drama in Korea lol... Too much to share to be honest... From incidents that happened when we self-drive in Ulsan and Jeju to people whom we meet when we are unsure of their intentions. Thankful to have people who helped us along the way that was out of our expectation.

This trip, I have gained much more experience. As to traveling and be courageous alone (im a noob lol), to open my mind and to enjoy what there is to enjoy.

Some little sharings!

1) Got to adapt to the left hand driving... that includes you having to multi-task with the usual driving and deciphering the Korean GPS... and the little roads branching by the side! Some little incidents happened, but we were glad that those did not result to injuries etc

2) Missing the spot to U-turn, driving safe may result in something you didn't expect! Well, if its me, I will just drive like a haphazard road driver lol
My friend drove safely in Jeju, so perhaps because of this it resulted in good fortune that we spotted the KSGI Jeju center! And eventually, as a result of this visit, we managed to drop by the KSGI Jeju Training Center too! Really grand and huge. Amazing...

3) We tried the gangchon railway bike! During autumn. Damn cold can but fun!

4) I finally went to Nami Island and Jeju!!! Wanted to visit these 2 places back in 2013 summer but... it was the monsoon season so it is not so safe... was raining throughout during that summer I went

5) I exercised! Climbed the SeongSan Ilchubong! and I was out of breath... There are proper steps though :) the view at the peak is amazing... a pity that the breaking dawn has been covered by the clouds and minimal fog... But nonetheless, we stayed on a while more and we spotted the sun peeking through the clouds! and it went hiding a few seconds later lol (Sunrise and Sunset are really fast! Catch it, record it before you missed the moment)

6) We went on road trip in Ulsan! Something different from the usual Gyeonggi-Do, Busan, Jeju, Seoul! Ulsan is not so tourist friendly even though it does have tourism website to guide all of us... You can opt for the Ulsan bus tour but we have decided to go for self-drive! This is so that we can visit places where we would like to visit! Went to 3 places I think! Gan Jeol Got, Taehwanggang and Seonam Lake Park

7) We attended the local KSGI meeting too! and to my surprise I saw a friend whom I met in Korea in 2013!! Really pure hearted group of members

8) I think the sales persons in Seoul whether it is in Ehwa, Myeong Dong, Express Bus etc they seem to be really angsty this season... Much less to talk about negotiating the price and requesting for more samples lol and by the way, not sure if it is indeed the season... there isn't much sales for cosmetic products -.- and I didn't even get samples for things that I buy... for your reference, I bought like at least a total of SGD500 on those products in different stores... haiz :(

For sure, never shop for cosmetics in Ehwa. Confirm no samples.

9) Tax refund procedure changed a bit...

Check in first. You may deposit your luggage when you check in if the sum you gonna refund is lesser than 30,000won.

For tax refunds lesser than KRW30,000 accumulatively, just proceed to the kiosks near D and J at the departure hall. The officer will assist you with scanning of the forms/receipts. Remember to standby your passport. It is required. After which, they will direct you to either Gate 27 (kiosk refund) or Gate 28 (manual refund. normal opening hours) after you cleared the immigration.

For tax refunds more than KRW30,000 please proceed to the manual tax refund counter at D and J. Here, the officer may check on the goods that you have bought. I guess it is also dependent on the length of the queue... After which, I believe it works the same way as the guide even above. Remember to deposit the lugagges at the Oversize Baggage counter beside.

E.g.
My friend and I checked in our luggages. Then we proceed to the kiosk. The person directed us to Gate 27, when we realized after we cleared the immigration that, is refund kiosks... which we are unsure if we will be able to get the refund on the spot... or credited to our cards which may take up to 2 months... So, we just proceeded to Gate 28 since its tax refund anyways. And yep! Gotten the refund on the spot (you may choose to receive the refund in USD, KRW or RMB)

Korea Day 7 to BUSAN!

We took the KTX to busan from Seoul Station. Ticket can get from the ticketing counter at Seoul Station. They can speak simple English so no worries :) from KTX, there are KTX speedy train, there's slower ones that stop at more stations... and it takes 5hours to reach Busan from Seoul via the slower one... Otherwise its just 2+ to 3hours journey via fast KTX. As you can see... The cost of the 2 tickets (to and fro) totals up to around 100,000won... quite pricey la The slower train is cheaper though

Do buy tickets in advance!! Otherwise, if the train at the timing is crowded, you might have to buy the ticket for the standing cabin.. i.e. you have to stand throughout the whole journey of about nearly 3hours! of cos you can find place to seat when no officer walking by...

on our way to the Seoul Station early in the morning... *yawns*

hahahahahha!

The timings!

Railway tracks!

this is not our train! haha

 and... reached!

went up to the platform and found the exit!

Korean pigeon lol

outside the station!

we walked a little distance to the subway! it accepts Tmoney!

Towards Gamcheon Village! at Exit 6

walk along this stretch towards a Hospital bus stop... should have buses that go towards the village

Bus does not accept T Money if Im not wrong... You can use coins or notes but best if you can give exact... so you dont have to ask for the change... 900won-1200won depending the destination.

reached the Village! The road up is steep and winding! and very narrow... you will see lots of cutesy houses beside the windows.

we wanted to go over to the observatory that has an overview of the colourful village... but no idea where exactly to walk towards... neither did we see the sign board hanging above... ill show you later... so we went to the wrong direction lol

we went up the overhead bridge...

we decided that we totally have no idea where... so we sought help at a church nearby the bus stop... and an info uncle helped us! haha totally cute please

this uncle! he wasnt wearing the red singlet earlier... but after we asked for info he wore it on and brought us around! hahah like our tour guide!

 This is the stairs towards the observatory. So... after you alight the bus stop.. You will see the map as attached above... back face the elementary school, you should see a lane... look up for some sign board... as shown later... you should see Gamcheon Village signage. then just walk straight till u see this stairs.

its pretty steep... and no railings... they have walls though... so if u are worried, wear proper shoes and hold on to the walls

yay!!

Got to know 2 new friends from HK!

came down the observatory to find my sg friends! wow so coincidental!

exercising area! hahha

tada! this is the sign board you should find!!

this is the overhead bridge we went up wrongly lol

next stop: HAEUNDAE BEACH!

thats how the Haeundae beach stn looks like

Paranomic view!

 dark clouds looming......

this is the lighthouse you can go and take photos! its some touristy place as well... but quite far from the beach ah... the walking distance may take quite long...

NEXT STOP/LAST: GWANGAN's GWANGALLI BEACH!

best seen at night I heard... due to the lightings :)

and back to Busan ktx station! thats our dinner/lunch i forgot hahah I think Lunch ba... we had fast food as Dinner at Seoul station...

my tteok filled and mandu soup! that causes me go indigestion for an entire week and more :(

Bye busan! we headed over from 10am- around 5pm. No toilets in the KTX