31 Mar (Day 1)
It was an exciting morning as we awoke in the early morning of the day at 4.30am. It was the day we were to begin our 10-day South Korea tour. With the final packing all done, we set off at 5.30am in a chartered taxi to Changi Airport with 2 big luggages. The check in was smooth and we soon found our way to some basic breakfast in the terminal. Our A330 took off without much delay and we were offered the quality service that Singapore Airlines could offer, though in this flight they replaced the dessert from a mini Hagen Daz tub to a Magnolia cone. Nonetheless, we landed on time at Incheon Internation Airport, Seoul, welcomed by the cold weather.
Our first immediate impression of the airport was a straight copy of Changi Airport, albeit more spacious. We collected our luggages and headed to McDonald's for a quick bite, given the lack of budget food options. After our early dinner, we walked a few hundred metres to collect our KTX rail tickets to take us to our first stop, the dynamic city of Busan. We were once again hugely impressed with the beauty of South Korea and their effective, fast and free wifi at public spaces.
All these traveling and transit though, began to wear us out. Our KTX train took us an additional 4 hours to Busan and we reached the station at just past ten at night. The weather was harsh, with drizzling rain and a possibly 12 degrees Celsius. Tired and exhausted, and hampered by the cold and wet weather, we took a taxi to our hotel. Thankfully, our taxi driver in his broken English engaged us in a friendly conversation while introducing us to popular and 'must-see' attractions, one of which was the beautifully lit up Gwangwon bridge.
We checked into Seacloud Hotel, and satisfied with the hotel room, bathed and retired for the night.
1 Apr (Day 2)
We slept in a little late today, but we forced ourselves to the buffet breakfast at the hotel which the concierge recommended before 9am. Breakfast was pretty much American style with Korea spread, which worked out well for me. A while later, we ran into another friendly taxi driver who took a detour without our knowledge, and took us to Oryukdo Island, a southern part of Busan, where five or six islands or stone-like monuments lie, before sending us to Gamcheong Cultural Village. A friendly taxi driver he was indeed, he also stopped by a park to let us take some photos with the beautiful cherry blossoms.
Gamcheong Cultural Village turned out to be a huge stunner for us. Iris and I were awed by the fantastic view and artistic impressions shown all around, somewhat similar to Penang's street art in Malaysia. We also had their famous deep fried biscuits with bird seeds inside. However, we ran into a bit of problem trying to figure out where and how to take the bus, which worked out to be 1,200 won per person. The bus ride was also took some time before we reach Busan metro station.
Hungry, Iris and I headed into a Korean restaurant near the station for an authentic local bite. The food was satisfying at around 8,000 won per person. Language, however, remained a problem at many places we went to. We took the metro to Jangjeon station and transferred to bus 1008 to Busan Premium Outlets. However, this journey took us 3 hours to and fro, which really tired the both of us out. Furthermore, the premium outlet was not easily sighted and we missed our stop and ended up elsewhere a couple of kilometres away.
Heading back, we took the metro train (which we discovered was 1,500 won per person for most journeys) back to Haeundae station and walked back to our hotel in the thrilling, windy weather. Feeling adventurous, we went out again in the cold and tried their street food before indulging in a banana ice cream crepe while surviving the weather outside at nearly 3 degrees Celsius!
2 Apr (Day 3)
We awoke to our third day of our trip with our initial plan to travel to Jinhae cancelled for fear of a too-packed schedule. Instead, we slowly enjoyed our breakfast and headed down for a morning walk around the vicinity with the cold windy weather remaining very much the same. A while later, we took off to the airport in the metro train which issued us finger-sized paper tickets while the train transfer at Sasang station was accessible but not entirely convenient. We had to exit the metro line to take the Busan Gimhae Light Rail line, which issued us coin-shaped tickets, somewhat similar to Hong Kong's rail tickets.
We arrived at Gimhae International Airport after navigating through a series of not-so-convenient metro and airport rail transfers. At first impression, Gimhae International Airport seemed a bit undersized to handle sizable air traffic volumes. Even their duty-free was poorly organized and located. Our domestic flight, handled by Air Busan, a subsidiary of Korean Air, was a small A321-200 and there were probably less than a hundred passengers. The domestic transit experience, though, was very different encounter with that at the Incheon's--the boarding was not organized, the in-flight service was minimal, and worst of all, we experienced a bad turbulence while preparing to land at Jeju International Airport, which left me a terrible bad after taste of South Korea's domestic transit.
We did not really check out as we were domestically flown from one city to another, and immediately after exiting the airport, we were greeted by Jeju's strong windy weather. The huge strong wind was probably more than 30kmh as we could feel the taxi trying to counter the strong force against it.
It took us a while to get to our pension at Hallim district due to the language problem in Jeju. We were, however, treated to a surprise home stay which was the size of a hotel room but featured underground heating, kitchen and an outdoor BBQ/dining area. We were warned by our host though that without a rented car we would encounter difficulties traveling around Jeju. And that would prove to be so.
By the time we've reached our pension, it was near dinner time and we decided to have the Korean BBQ grill and try out the black pork. That turned out a pretty filling sumptuous dinner for about $32,000 won in total. We walked by along Hyeopjae beach back to our pension which by the the weather dropped even further. Furthermore, the breeze (or should I say strong wind) at the seaside made it even more chilling. Iris and I held dearly to each other's hand for fear of being blown away!
We stopped by a coffee cafe to seek shelter after a hearty meal. We had a chocolate, honey toast which was surprisingly very appetizing. Having free wifi at most public and private places really did help as well, as it was at this kind of pit stops that we were able to connect socially and get away from the cold, windy weather.
3 Apr (Day 4)
Our initial impression of the pension began to fade as we awoke to a new morning. The pillows were too hard that Iris could not have a good sleep while I was equally physically exhausted. Nonetheless, we woke up to the nice cool breeze and had our cup noodles before venturing out to the main road to hail a taxi to the famous yet popular Teddy Bear Museum.
We were enticed by the different bears, big and small, furry and otherwise. We were, however, disappointed with the lack of food options and had Lotteria burgers for lunch. From there, we walked to the Chocolate Factory which was just beside but we decided it was not worth the visit. Hence, we headed across to Ridley's Believe or Not Museum which featured very interesting and out-of-this-world stories and artifacts.
Most of these places of interests were conveniently located around this cluster, and we took a 15-min walk to the Alive Museum, which we had a lot of fun posing and creating photography illusions with our smart phones. By the time we had finished, it was near dinner and we hailed a taxi back to our place near Hyeopjae beach. Unfortunately, the taxi driver stopped us at the far end of the beach and we struggled in the cold, windy weather back to our pension.
We stopped by an area which featured many shops in containers, one of which was a cafe where we had hot buglogi soup and fried squids. It was an unusual and unexpected way of having retail and F&B shops in containers that brought about a fun and unique feel to the area. Dinner was at the Italian restaurant just further down the BBQ grill restaurant we had our dinner two nights ago at the recommendations of an online blog. Amazingly, the oven-baked pizza the chef cooked up was superb, though possibly for the Koreans it might come across as pricey at around $28,000 won. Being the only customers, we spoke briefly with the chef and his wife before another family of three came by.
4 Apr (Day 5)
We awoke to another new day to find the weather more comfortable and breezy instead of cold and windy. We again stepped out of the pension after 10am and walked down to the beach area where we thought we could better chances of hailing a taxi there. It was only beginning to drizzle slightly and we decided to have an early breakfast before heading down the glass museum, stone park and the tea museum.
We went into a local Korean restaurant and ordered an abalone porridge and a seafood rice pancake. Once done, we hailed down a taxi and with the language remaining a barrier, the taxi driver spoke to a translator who helped arranged our day's tour of glass museum, botanical garden, and tea museum instead.
The glass museum was an interesting sight, with Iris personally making a glass pendant for memory keeping. We were then driven to the botanical garden, which we had fun with a 3D wooden piece puzzle and a traditional Korean wooden house. At the tea museum, the crowds were buzzing that it was almost impossible to find a seat at the cafe inside. Hence, we walked over to the Innisfree tea house which was a short 50 metres away where Iris went free with her shopping instinct.
The Innisfree tea house also featured a simple tea farm that sat beautifully to the side of the building. Iris and I were awed by the sight that we spent quite a bit of time doing photography there. With that, it was almost the end of the day for us, and the taxi driver, whom I had observed had his last three fingers gone on his left hand, sent us back to the pension after arranging a pick up to the airport on our last day the next day.
Dinner was a simple and hot instant noodles, which was cooked using a rice cooker! Well, the pension was not fully furnished with a pot hence we had to use creative means to cook our instant noodles. After all, the weather that evening was threatening and true enough, it drizzled as we had our hot bowl of noodles.
5 Apr (Day 6)
Today marked the last day of our time in Jeju. We felt wasted as we were only able to cover a part of Jeju while missing out on the Hallasan National Park and the trip to the Seongsan park which featured a beautiful scenery at the peak of the hill, overlooking the scenic Udo island. Nevertheless, Iris and I planned to visit Korea again in the near future if time and financial means permit.
We checked out of the pension and drove to the airport. Again, the airport was not so well organized and we had lunch at the airport cafeteria before checking in. To our distress, the A321-200 plane was delayed again for about 15-20 minutes and the waiting area was in a chaos. Unorganized queues began to form and we waited in the line for about 15 minutes before we were allowed to board. Thankfully, the flight was only less than an hour and before long, we reached Gimpo International Airport, Seoul, which was far more organized and relieved us of our stress at the domestic airport.
After checking out, Iris and I made our way to the metro station but were hugely confused by the complex metro train system. A helpful, English-speaking Korean came to our aid and directed us to take the correct blue line to Eujiro 1 station. Similar to Busan, tickets issued here were about $3,300 won for two of us, with a refund of $1,000 won when you return the tickets at your destination.
Maps were not entirely very helpful, as we went around in bits here and there before we reached our hotel, the Seoul Royal Hotel. We were already feeling very cold by the chilly weather here, which was nearing 1 degree Celsius. Thankfully, the check in and the hotel room was smooth and satisfying though the hotel floor could hardly fit our two luggages in open position!
By then, it was near dinner time and we ventured to the streets just around our hotel. To our surprise, Iris discovered that this was the popular cosmetic streets where many would flock here to get their cosmetic supplies. True enough, we soon discovered that tourists from all over stopped by here to get their facial needs, sometimes in bulk purchases! Street food was aplenty too, but we decided to try out this stir fry food in this Korean restaurant which was full of the locals. It turned out a pretty good and wise decision!
After dinner, we took to the streets and tried some street food, which was mostly satisfying. The weather, however, did fall to 1 degree Celsius and we returned to the hotel for a nice hot bath and a nice bed.
6 Apr (Day 7)
We started the day searching the streets for breakfast. We ended up at Paris Baguette which served up my favourite bread and buns with a hot cappuccino. We headed to Gyeongbok-gung Palace via metro at Gyeongbokgung station and was immediately captured by its vast size and huge crowds. We walked around and finished off at the National Folk Museum, before deciding to skip the metro and walk to City Hall station, which was probably 1 kilometre away.
Ewha Women's University was our next stop and instantly, we were caught by the grand beauty of this university which sat at the corner of this shopping district. Retail shops, cafes and small restaurants and F&B stalls were plenty here, and we began to stroll the streets one by one, spending the afternoon away care freely. Iris shopped till her heart's content, and we headed off back to our hotel before spending our nights at the streets just at our hotel's doorsteps.
Our hopes of catching the popular Nanta performance on a Monday evening turned out disappointed as we had earlier missed our Sunday evening chances. However, we made the decision to purchase the tickets as early as the booth was opened on Tuesday early afternoon.
We had our dinner at a Korean restaurant which was not quite to our expectations. Soon after, we strolled the streets again for Iris' facial supplies and were greeted much by the crowds and tourists, particularly the Chinese nationals. Iris shared that one group of them had actually purchased practically all the eye liners that there was hardly any ones left for sale!
Later in the evening we would head to Dongdaemun shopping district, where we discovered shopping malls such as Hello apm, Good Morning City and the more fashionable Doota. In the cold weather, we shopped from one mall to the other, and feeling adventurous again, we walked over to the other side where we discovered a huge wholesale district! However, they were much in business here and tourists like us were not much entertained. At nearing midnight, tired and exhausted, we hailed a taxi back for an extorted price of $10,000 won.
7 Apr (Day 8)
We had planned in our amended itinerary to head to the Nagwon music district followed by the Hongik University and the Hongdae night shopping there after. After strolling around unsuccessfully for a breakfast option, we went to a nearby supermarket and did some shopping there before returning to the hotel with a bag-full of snacks and local products to bring back to Singapore. Undeterred by the previous day, we returned to purchase the Nanta performance tickets for the night before we set off to find my guitar at the Nagwon Arcade.
Jungno 3 station was easy to transit at, though it could not be said the same if you were looking for a particular exit. It took us about 10-15 minutes to walk out of the right exit which we later had discovered that the station was an interchange and the two different platforms were a few hundred metres apart!
Further to that, I got lost trying to find Nagwon Arcade, given the poor instructions taken from an online blog. We would later end up entering the building from the side of it and found ourselves in the midst of many musical and sound instruments shops. I briefly walked about, and decided to try out a Cort guitar at one of the shops. About 15 minutes later, I was trying a Parkwood concert guitar which I would buy for $260,000 won. I was certainly delighted with my purchase, given that it had a solid top and a low action.
With the new guitar on my back, Iris and I went on to Hongik station where another shopping district awaited us. On one side, there were small streets that featured unique and classy accessories and fashion. Walk across the street, the roads were closed for more beauty and clothes shops that were a far cry from their neighbours over the main roads. Iris and I walked till we were tired, and we headed back to our hotel before we unloaded our purchases and attended our Nanta musical.
The Nanta performance turned out to be a delight and a different one from most musicals we had gone to. In fact, I did not think that it was a musical as there was no accompanying music pieces, but it was more of a STOMP-like performance featuring rhythmic beats and funny moments at certain junctures of the show. Generally, it is much of a delightful performance to watch while you are in Seoul.
8 Apr (Day 9)
It was pretty much an unusual start of the day with a KFC brunch, but that was what we opted for. Drizzle came upon Seoul and we took a small hilly walk to the Nansam cable car station. The cable car ride gave us a good view of the city and we soon found ourselves soaking in the beautiful view of the city and the attractions of the N Seoul Tower, such as the viewing platform that featured many padlocks, and the viewing area with couple seats to admire the beautiful view of the city.
It was after noon time when we headed again to Doota for a quick lunch at their food court. Shopping was up on Iris' agenda and we were at Hello apm and Good Morning City one after another. We could not finish all the shopping there and hence we decided to visit Changdeok-gung Palace before it closes. Time was on our side and we arrived with one hour to go before the palace would close. We were instantly awed by the grand beauty and walked around until we were ushered to the door.
We walked to Anguk station feeling accomplished and fulfilled with our visit, and soon we were back at Hello apm and Good Morning City for our last shopping. We then headed back to the hotel and decided to have chicken for dinner. We found this oven-baked and grill chicken place inside the ibis hotel and it was indeed a dinner not to be forgotten as the grilled chicken was superbly done, even better than Four Fingers!
9 Apr (Day 10)
Time passed by fast when you least expect it. Our ten days in Korea was coming to an end, and after breakfast at Paris Baguette, we made our final packing and took a taxi to Seoul station where we were to take the KTX Express to Incheon International Airport, Seoul. Later would we found out that there was a Lotte Outlet but all was too late. The KTX Express took us to the airport in under an hour and with a short traveling distance we were at the departure platform at the airport.
Iris went ahead to claim her tax refund which took us quite a while. For all its effectiveness, I would had thought that they could ease and make the process more convenient for tourists. When we were about to check in, a kind-hearted guy came up to me and explained that I could get my guitar packed up as he had. It would cost me $22,000 won but it was worth it as with a guitar I would not have been able to carry it on board the plane.
Inside the Incheon International Airport, we were however dismayed at a lack of signages. We were walking in rounds trying to find a food court or a cafeteria for a quick lunch before we board the plane, but there was none. The interactive map, though useful, was insufficient for the many lost. Directions were also unclear before we finally stumbled upon a food court on the next level. We took a hasty lunch, and off we went to take the sky train to the departure terminal. Thankfully, we made in just in time as the people were queuing up to board the plane.
Summary
Iris and I talked positively about this Korea trip, and even after two days of our trip, we were adamant that South Korea was our preferred destination over Taiwan or even Hong Kong, for its shopping, culture, food and weather. For me, though I had rashes and developed a cough towards the end of the trip, would still prefer the weather in South Korea though we had expected a kinder and more comfortable weather at our trip. Food-wise, Taiwan and Hong Kong may offer more food options but Korea isn't losing out. Shopping-wise, Iris commented that they are more fashionable and their clothes are of a more superior quality than those in Taiwan or Hong Kong.
Nonetheless, South Korea has so much more attractions and places to visit that Iris and I would make a trip back again in the near future, hopefully.
