Been back from Korea about a month, I can't believe I'm missing the place so much! Well last year we girls have already planned for this trip since yy said she'll be back for vacation. Was lucky enough to get the sales ticket at around RM580. Supposedly we weren't interested to plan the trip and leave everything to agent,but about two mths before departure we try to search some agents and after everyone has confirm with the price n stuff, the agent doesn't really wanna layan us! Fine! It's perfect , because I hate to follow tours! So that time we did last minutes(1 mth) research n bookings etc. We distributed homework to each other so that we won't feel too burden about the planning. So I will share about our trip report below:
Day 1
Arrival at Seoul - take limo to hotel
Supper at Nanume (fishcake shop)
Day 2
Underestimate timing, use the subway to jongnol 3 ga and "ran" to our pre-book bus trip to Nami island.
It's a day trip which includes return bus ticket and ferry ride cost about rm70. Nami island was quite pretty, I think best season to go shud be autumn! Make sure u try the kimchi shake rice there!
Night time went to myeongdong for shopping, drizzle did not stop us!! Cosmetics n skincares are crazy there!! Found a very yummy BBQ shop there n drank soju!!!
Day 3
Got out early vsisiting lotte world as Carmen wanted to visit the shooting place of stairway to heaven. Three of them were unaware to disembark the train so we make a u-turn back to the station -_-|| . The shooting scene is located inside the lotte world themepark, we did not pay to get in as we have no time amusement. She was a lil disappointed though.
Next , we went to an underground shopping street recommended by pc. Had lunch n bought a pair of sandals, nothing much there. Decided to go for Namdaemun for more shopping but was disappointed with the auntie fashion street! Luckily yy was able to grab some child stuff for her kids.
Then we took train back to myeongdong again for more shopping. As it was about evening we decided to head to Seoul tower at namsan. It was a dreadful walk to the tower! To me the view is nothing much to see. The tower is kinda small too.. We waited for the nightview and it was the biggest mistake! The queue of taking the elevator to go down is massive! I guess we took an hr queuing!! Crazy place I will not recommend!!
As we were starving n exhausted, we decided to take a cab from the cable car station to myeongdong. 10k for this ride! We Cincai went to a ginseng chic shop and ordered two pots to try out. Taste bland !!! Cheh!!! And quite expensive !!! Continue our late night shopping at myeongdong. Found a clothes store name codi fashion, the clothes are freaking cheap there!
After being rejected a few times, finally we were able to get a taxi back to hostel. Our taxi ajusshi first called to hostel to locate the place and pass the phone to me! So kind!
Then along the way he was trying to use sign language n Korean to communicate with us!!! Haha super funny !! We all try to guess his meaning and try to answer his question in minimal Korean n sign!! When we talk about soju, he grab my arm and pretend a loveshot because I cannot understand his Korean " la-bu-shot" , which shocked me a little. We thank him and we went for supper at Nanume again. Nice seaweed soup :)
Day 4
Woke up and do final packing then drop our luggage at hostel. Did booking for a cab send to us to airport later ,cost about W60000 if I'm not mistaken. We bought buns at Bang Goom Teo bakery just outside the hostel. Funny name isn't ? Their bake fan shu is pretty good. Then we walk around the neighbourhood to find a coffee shop for breakfast. I need to make a note here, koreans doesn't really care for breakfast , because at 10am 90% of the cafes are still closed! Finally we settle down in a nicely design coffee shop while only one barista work there! It took about 30 min for our coffee to be served -_- bei !
After brekkie we straightly took a train to the dragonhill spa. It was the first time four of us seeing each other " clearly" hahaha.. Those who been to onsen will know.. We played with lotsa pools with diff temperature and different ingredients inside the water. There were many jacuzzi as well..after that we wore their clothing and proceed downstairs to explore more on their sauna. Enjoy sleeping inside the wood hanjeongmak. Had ice cold sikhye and boiled eggs just like the drama! Very relaxing! We spend two hours there, cost about rm50 per person. Its quite affordable because the entrance fee allow u to stay for 24 hrs.
Next we took a cab to myeongdong again for last minute shopping!!! Bought seaweed like crazy!! I remember ppl staring us in the train.. Haha! Reach hostel just in time, our van is already there, so without hesitation we just threw all the luggage n crap into the car then depart to Incheon. The reason why we go incheon first is because we need to store our luggage so that it's easier for us to retrieve and check in back to kl. We pack like crazy people on the floor -_-ll then from gate A we walk to gate M to store our luggage!! This walk took us almost 20 minutes!!! GOSH we were so exhausted. Storage cost about RM 60 for a bag two days. Then we start running like crazy to take an Arex to Gimpo. This freaking train station is situated in another terminal...MAD RUN!! Since time is running out we have came out with a plan in the train. YY will run first to the check in counter while us with luggage wil run at the back. So after we disembark the train we run like there's no tomorrow! From terminal to Check in counter <10 minutes ! Great we reach exactly 1 hour behind from check in time. Flight delayed for about 30 min...BABOBABOBABO!!!
The airline we flew to jeju was eastar jet. I find it the easiest airline to book online. Do take note it's definitely not easy for beginners :p they allow 15 kg free check bag for each passenger. Our ticket cost about RM300 return. The average price to jeju. Ok back to our flight. It was an evening flight around 6+ weather is terrible at jeju. I was so terrified of the sudden turbulence! At last we landed safely at jeju airport. It was drizzling and we felt the coldness in the air. We had dinner at the airport lotteria, beef burger was yummy! Later we proceed to Avis counter and did some registration, then we waited for their shuttle bus to bring us to their main office. Settled my rental stuff quite fast and we pick up our little atos a.k.a morning. Gosh my first right hand drive. A lovely staff help me to set up the gps into English "speaking", very kind of him. Everything feels so new to me, left signal ,right wiper, right gear.. Omg! I slowly drove out to the main road and the rest help me to watch for road and cars. It was very dark on the highway and the fog is crazy! This is the most difficult drive in my life seriously! Anyway we manage to drive an hr from jeju airport to the south town - Jungmun.
The very kind ajusshi -pension owner has waited for our arrival! He helped us with parking n guide us on attraction , showing us around the pension even he speak Korean! Felt great because through body language we manage to communicate well too! The apartment was Huge! There were two bedrooms, two kitchen, two bathrooms and a living room! It was just RM300 for a night. Extremely affordable! After Settling down, we drove out to the nearby Family Mart for supper. Then retired for the night. Day 5 Had breakfast further down the road from Jungmun, it was recommended by an Internet forumer. This shop is called Sukbong toast, they specialise in toast of course! We ordered different flavour to share out. The best was Carmen 's pork chop toast. As there were only one ajussi working, so it took quite some time for the toast to be ready. Next , we drove an hour to the famous Seongsan illchulbong, the landmark of jeju island. We hike up the stairs and enjoyed wonderful views! Tiring but worth it. Upon leaving we stop by to had some raw catch by the famous hanyol(women divers). They were all age over 60 n they are still strong to dive! Amazing popo! After spending most of the time there we decided to move on to another attraction which is call Seopjikoji , also the shooting place for the drama All in. Quite a beautiful place, nothing much about the All in House though.
As it was around evening , we just bought some snacks and skipped lunch =( Then drove all the way back to Jungmun and visited the another 'rock/stone' attraction. Forgot the name, but i remember Carmen able to sneak in with the koreans while three of us had to pay! LOL! We proceed to our last attraction which is the Teddy Bear Museum. Entrance was pretty expensive too. Not bad for 1st timers but definitely no re-visit! Went to the Duty free at the expo to have a look too, but sad case..it doesn't offer what we wanted to buy. At last we were hungry max, drove back n forth finally settle down for a BBQ restaurant that serves the famous Black Pork! Not very satisfying but ok meal..after that we drove to supermarket next to our pension for some souvenirs shopping..yy bought two 1.5L orange juice!! swt..Back to pension and have our supper together and enjoy watching 'city hunter' WITHOUT subtitle! CRAZY enough..hahhaha!
Day 6
Woke up very early today because it will be a pack schedule. Bought sandwich and coffee from familymart again. Why it seems like the tour I organise sure can't runaway from sandwich breakfast one??? Drove pass Hallasan towards jeju si. First stop is Loveland aka sex museum which is pc most anticipate attraction. The most expensive entrance we came across. Kns so sucky and baria. Nice souvenirs shop lady who gave us sample chocolate. About 100-200 mtr from the place , where the mystery road located. Spend about 15min there doing some "test". As it was quite early we visited a beach nearby and became models for safety video of the ocean police. What a funny scene!
Proceed to visit Yong duam rock, it was free but parking need to pay bleh! It went drizzling for a while. Decided to have lunch nearby but it was unlucky that we chose a shop which sells pig organ soup! Worst meal we had in Korea! After meal we drove back to shops near Yong duam to buy some buns. I'm not sure what wheat or flour they use but it's kinda good! Search for Avis to return our little car and took the shuttle back to airport. Delayed again..luckily i've reserved a lot of extra time to connect flight @@.. hang out in the airport and yum cha at lotteria again..there we go! Back to Gimpo and took Arex to Incheon. We were packing AGAIN for the check in..Returned my rental phone at the arrival..very expensive call rates here..but the unlimited 3G is very good! Note: girls if you wanna get tax refund, do some homework before you go..apparently there're many procedures here..damn mah fan..we have no luck to claim >
We'll be back!
Summary
Day 1 - Airport to hotel
Day 2 - Nami island + myeongdong
Day 3 - Jamsil + Namdaemun + Myeongdong + N tower + Myeongdong
Day 4 - Dragonhill spa + Myeongdong + Jeju (drive)
Day 5 - Seongsan illchulbong + Seopjikoji + Jungmun Daepo + Teddy
Day 6 - Loveland + mystery road + Iho beach? + Yong Duam rock
Accomodation
www.scountry.net (Email: wlwnsgh7@naver.com -Ji Jun Ho)
www.backpackersinside.com
www.hostelworld.com
Car Rental
www.avis.kr
Phone Rental
www.sroaming.com
