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Monday, August 12, 2013

Grad Trip to Korea (Day 1 - Jeju)

hey all~ I'll be attempting to blog about my graduation trip to Korea last May 2012. I'll try my best to recall all details since it's more than a year ago o.O...

21 May 2012

We took our flight from Singapore to Seoul on China Eastern Airlines. Not the best service, but do-able. The air tickets were the cheapest on China Eastern. Met at the airport at around 10pm plus to embark on our first trip to Seoul ~ :D

Point to note about booking air tickets on Jeju Air - use Internet Explorer browser to minimise any disruptions to booking and payment. Korean websites are more user-friendly on IE.

At Incheon, long custom queue. Really appreciate Singapore's efficiency!



Had Mcdonalds (nothing much to eat at the "World's Best Airport" by Skytrax..
and we headed to take a train to Gimpo airport. **There is actually an easier way and that is to catch the airport transfer bus outside the airport. About 7000 won and brings you straight to Gimpo :D

Quite a long walk to the train station. 


Alighted at Gimpo and proceeded to the Jeju Air counter. the airport is smaller compared to Incheon.


at that time Big Bang was the ambassadors for Jeju Air :D


Walked around, got to the gate and realised.. flight was delayed!

woots!

Had delicious orange juice in a paper cup with GD's sign

 

took a cab down to our hostel (HKJeju) .. about 5 mins ride?
settled down and had our meals...


awesome free flow kimchi


pork noodles :D

went to the EMart supermarket just opposite our hostel to stock up on some food for tomorrow's road trip. noticed the overwhelming endorsement by IU...

22 May 2013

signing the guestbook in the pantry.. spoken to someone who is an avid biker. gonna cycle around Korea..

took a cab to the bus terminal.
actually a better way is to reserve a cab for the whole day.. you can tell the taxi driver where you wanna go etc. but due to budget constraints we opted for bus. (for my next trip to Korea we actually drove - the best option in my opinion.)



 

Our first stop: Manjanggul

This is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Don't underestimate the distance from the main road to the cave! It's at least 1 km I would say. Take a cab in if possible. I would say any amount under 5,000won is okay? Because it's quite a distance.




it's pretty cold inside!!

 



 

it's really dark inside so not many pictures ><

 

 

Taking shuttle bus out to the main road again. We met a very friendly Busan girl who helped us with directions to Seongsan Ilchubong !


Appreciating the beautiful sky and flowers while waiting for the bus =) that's the advantage of taking the bus!


The Seongsan Ilchubong bus stop. Alight and walk towards the mountain, you can't miss it!



Climbing Seongsan slow and steady - rewarded with beautiful view!

 

 

  
 


Went back to the bus stop and took a bus to Seopjikoji. It drops you off at the main road again and you have to walk. I won't advise anyone to do this because the distance is very long!!! You might take about an hour or more to just reach Seopjikoji.


Mr and Mrs Kim/Seopjikoji

This, has to be the most heartwarming travel story to date!!

We took the bus to the main road outside Seopjikoji and ambitiously wanted to walk our way there. You see, it's our first time so we didn't know the way (it's actually very farrrr to walk).

 

It wasn't long before we realised we were lost. I think we looked lost enough for a car filled with guys to pull up beside us.. okkk this is kind of dangerous. We kindly rejected their offer for directions and luckily we managed to find a white car parked by the road with a lady inside. In incomplete Korean we managed to get some directions from the kind soul, and we continued our journey.


It must have been 20 mins or so? of walking when the same white car pulled up beside us and offered us a ride to Seopjikoji where they were heading to too!!! The couple was identified as Mr and Mrs Kim :D

Mr Kim spoke quite a bit of English, so he was the translator for Mrs Kim. Mrs Kim was worried about us 4 ladies walking all the way to Seopjikoji, that's why when Mr Kim came back to the car she told him about it and they decided to bring us there!! so nice right???? We spoke about a lot of things about Korea and Singapore before we finally reached Seopjikoji.

 

 

   

 


The rest of the tour was led by Mr and Mrs Kim, who were on holiday from Gwangju. We walked around and chatted, grateful for all these that had happened.

 

Just before we left, we somehow disturbed the horses on the grass with our loud laughter and running. The horses began to neigh and made funny noises, making us very scared! Our kind motherly figure Mrs Kim then tried to protect us and get us to a safer ground. So touched :')

When we were safe, we saw that group of guys (who pulled up beside us) sitting on the grass, watching and laughing at us!!! that's not very nice :(

 

Before we left, the sunset :')

 


Mr and Mrs Kim offered to drive us back to the city which I am eternally grateful for. How would we have made it back in the dark like that?!

On the way back we munched on snacks and cuttlefish, talking about our families and music. We also exchanged email addresses to keep in contact.

It was a tearful sight when we had to part, but I will never forget the kindness of Mr and Mrs Kim :') l want to be like them when I grow old!!

Follow-up story:
My friend who held to their email address actually lost it -_-
So I had an ingenious idea to look through the photos and spot their car plate number, and email all the car rental operators I know of in Jeju, hoping they would be able to track Mr and Mrs Kim for me.

Very luckily, Mr and Mrs Kim emailed us first!! We could have lost contact :O must be more careful next time.

Till now I still keep in contact with them, email and also greeting card. They almost came to Singapore for a holiday but was cancelled.

I would love to meet them once again... Thank you Mr and Mrs Kim :')


***

Ended our day at an eatery whose food was soooooooooooo spicy. and we were so stressed to eat fast because the ahjuuma was closing for the day...

 

 
undescribable spiciness.....


Hung out with hostel friends..


and a drink at night:


Yakult or Makgoli? hahhhaa


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