Home

Reminiscing Korea - A Journey made a year ago Part 1

Monday, September 9, 2013 |Comment(s)

Fredfredtan says...

I think perhaps it will be good for me to jot down my Korea memories here as well. It was a trip made 1 year ago, and the first overseas trip together with B. I actually jotted them down in another personal space, but as friends are asking me where were the places I traveled to in Jeju and in Seoul, I decided that it will be good to have the posts up here as well. Hope it will be useful to all who are intending to travel to Korea soon.

July 2 - July 15, 2012 Korea (Jeju-Seoul)

On July 2, we embarked on a trip to Korea. It was B’s grad trip and he chose to go to my dream destination Korea. <3 So sweet of him, because I intended to go Korea after my exchange in Shanghai and so he decided to make that his Grad trip so we could both go to Korea together.

It was our first overseas trip out together. I was initially apprehensive about it, because overseas trips are usually a worrisome and tiring affair and I fear that tension could result and tempers would flare. Well, there were definitely some down moments but the UP moments more than made up for it.

And I would not trade anything that happened during the trip for anything else, especially not my travel companion. B proved himself to be someone I can really depend on, who complemented well with me and who could tolerate my mood swings during the trip. Was so glad he was so experimental as well, just going with me to all the Korea attractions I want to go so badly and going the unconventional travelling way.

Korea was a beautiful country and I would very much love to go back there again, with B of course.

Our excited faces at the start of the journey.

July 2-July 3, 2012 Korea- Jeju

It was a very long journey to Jeju. To save on transportation cost, we decided to take Air Asia. So we took a flight at 2045 to KL. We reached KL Low Cost Carrier (LCC) Terminal at about 2150. Our next flight on Air Asia X would only be at midnight 0050.

There was initially only one counter operating and the check-in line for connecting flights was moving really slowly. Initially we had about 3 groups of 2s waiting, but when it was our turn, there was at least another 20 people waiting for their turn. Fortunately, they decided to open another counter to ease the crowd. The LCC terminal didn’t have much to see/shop/do while waiting for our connecting flight so we went to Dunkin’ Donuts. It was no where impressive as the store had flies in their donut display cabinets and their selection of sandwiches were really limited. But beggars are no choosers, we chose budget, we get budget. So we chose a sandwich, a donut and a cup of coffee to fill our tummies in the meantime.

As LCC terminal is dedicated solely for Air Asia connecting flights, so if you intend to take Air Asia in future, please take note. Get a book or some form of entertainment during the transit time. If not, there are actually some TV around that you can watch.

Took off at 0050 on Air Asia X, the bigger airplane for long haul flight and off we were to KOREA! The Air Asia X was surprisingly comfortable. Bunny slept through majority of journey. We had our breakfast on flight. Air Asia flights do not offer free meals on-board, so if you think you will be hungry especially for long-haul flight, you can pre-order your meals when you are booking your ticket. If not, you can purchase directly on flight, but pre-order offers more choices and it will be at a discounted price.

We arrived at Incheon International Airport at about 8am in the morning. It was pretty cloudy but we were both really excited, so despite the long journey, we were still full of energy! We rented a phone at the airport on the advice of a friend who been to Korea before. The rental of the phone wasn’t very cheap, but we reckoned it would be better for us to have a local number as we had some bookings to make. Then we took the subway from Incheon to Gimpo airport to catch our flight to Jeju via Korea Air. It was a direct line to Gimpo so we got there pretty fast. Washed up and brushed our teeth straight after we got off the station. :D Clean teeth *shine. We were rather early when we checked in for our flight so we were asked if we wanted to switch to an earlier flight. All the better, more time for exploration when we reached Jeju.

As we still had some time before our flight, we decided to head to Lotte Mart. It was a pretty long walk as we need to head back to the subway station to another exit. But we wanted to get some snacks to Jeju as we feared that the area we would be staying might not be very accessible to get snacks. We gotten Market O Brownies, Dr. You Energy bars, Lotte Pepero Almond Sticks and Lotte Butter Waffle Biscuits.

Market O Brownies - Probably the best I've ever eater

Prior to the trip, I had tried Market O Brownies, Lotte Pepero Almond Sticks and Crowne Butter Waffle Biscuits. Decided to get the Lotte Butter Waffle Biscuits this time because it was a housebrand and was on offer. The Dr. You was a surprised buy and I must say, it was such an awesome buy!

Initially, I just wanted to get something for energy as our planned itinerary for Jeju were full of hiking expedition. Those energy bars turned out to be real lifesavers during our Jeju trip, especially at times when we were really hungry and there wasn't any eatery nearby. We also had our first meal in Korea at Lotte Mart. There were some communication problem as the menu were all in Korean and there wasn’t any pictures for us to look at. We ended up pointed at what she was cooking and tried to convey the message. Thankfully we got the message through and had a bowl of ramen and a teokbokki- traditional spicy rice cakes.

Off to Jeju after the buys. This time round, it was my turn to sleep. I fell almost instantaneously to sleep. I guess the travelling and shopping really drained my energy. Arrived in Jeju after about an hour flight, and another hour of journey awaits. Our accommodation was at Jeju Hiking Inn, located at Seogwipo City, so it was pretty far from the airport but was nearer to the nature part of Jeju. Transportation was easy as we just have to take the airport limousine bus line 600 from the airport to our destination and it cost about 5000won. Pretty worth it for a comfortable 1hour bus ride.

Jeju Hiking Inn was better than I expected. The boss was rather friendly and he spoke English as well. He actually provided us maps of Jeju and explained to us the bus routes and what attractions would be worth it to see. Free international call back home and laundry service as well. It was only about 30,000won for a double bed room per night. So worth it. I will most probably return back to stay if I were to return to Jeju.

After checking in, we left to do some exploration around the hotel vicinity. We wondered pretty far off, but Jeju was simply too beautiful! The Ahjussis (uncles) that we met along the way were all very friendly as well, pointing us to attractions and trying to strike a friendly conversation, but sadly we couldn’t speak Korea so it ended pretty fast with smiles exchanged.

We tried Soju (19%) and a Fruity wine (16%) to celebrate our first day in Korea. (Photo credits to B)

As we had them with a rather empty stomach (only a bag of chips shared), we got high pretty fast and we could only finished the Fruity wine and had to take the Soju with us back. I preferred the Fruity wine as I think the Soju was a tad too overpowering. We ended the day with a BBQ meal near our hotel, but I was too tired to eat by then, or probably a little drunk, so B ate practically the whole plate of meat we ordered.

Back to hotel, washed up and off to bed. We were both so smelly by the end of the day. Exhausted but happy us. <3

Labels: Air Asia X, Couple, Dr You, Grad Trip, Jeju, Jeju Hiking Inn, Korea, Market O, Nature, Soju

Older | Newer