Korea Day 3: Jeju

After breakfast, we went to check out mysterious road (Dokkaebi Road), it is located right opposite Love land. After 10 mins of walking up and down and placing a bottle on the road (failed), we finally saw that the rain water on the road was slowly streaming up hill! It is actually quite tough to notice as compared to feeling it while sitting in the car and putting it into neutral gear. To find out more: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=1373714

On the way to Jeomul Natural Recreation Forest.. The sky looked so gloomy since yesterday, have been raining on and off..   

Address: 584 Myeongnim-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do

Opening Hours: 9AM - 6PM

Admission Fee: 1000won (Adult) 300won (Children)

http://jeolmul-english.jejusi.go.kr/index.asp

I read that walking through the woods helps to enhance cardiovascular functions and to prevent asthma and other respiratory issues. It is known to be Jeju's most famous forest and the spring is said to relieve gastro problems and muscle aches.

 

 

 

 

We love this place a lot and surprisingly the entrance fee is really cheap. The air is super clean and fresh especially after the rain and the place is very pretty and well-maintained. Plus the wooden sculptures are very well-craved and interesting. Felt very relaxed after walking through the forest for an hour :) I promise you wouldn't regret coming here! Great place for an outdoor date haha..

Next stop: Jeju Mini Land

Address: San 56-4 Gyore-ri, Jocheon-eup, Jeju, Jeju-do South Korea

Opening Hours: 8.30AM - 6PM

Admission Fee: 9000won (Adult) 5000won (Children)

http://minilanden.jejur.net/index.php

 

We walked around and had our lunch at one of their "restaurants". Upon reaching the restaurant, we noticed that the menu shows different western meals but when we wanted to order, the ahjumma said that they only sell mandu (dumplings) and instant noodles!! Geez! We were starving, so didn't want to head somewhere else to eat thus we ordered 1 portion of mandu and an instant noodle for each of us. Total Cost: 13500won.

Fairytale and Fantasy Land



Statue of Liberty, USA

St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow

Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy

Taj Mahal, India

Arc de Triomphe, France





Osaka Castle, Japan






Fontana di Trevi, Italy

Eiffel Tower, France

Indoor Exhibits

 

If you do not have much time (less than 4D 3N) on Jeju-do, I would advise to give this place a miss.

Dropped by Seongsan Ilchubong (Seongsan sunrise peak) before dinner. Actually, we wanted to hike up to see the sunrise in the morning but it was raining since we arrived yesterday, thus we just walk around the area. Very dissappointed, I will definitely be back for the hike, heard that it's an awesome experience.

 

But the night view around the peak was also very pretty and romantic :)

 

Opening Hours: 1 hour before sunrise - 8PM

Admission: 2000won 

 

Some photos without any filters: 



 

Managed to rush to Dongmun traditional market to purchase some souvenirs before it closes. We bought some jeju orange sweet, jelly and chocolate as souvenirs. While I bought a medium size dol hareubang couple figurine for myself, which cost only 2000won (S$2.40)! I love it! It's so cute :)

 

Had late dinner at Manse Noodles Samseonghyeol located in noodle street (guksu geori). Was too hungry and tired to take any photo. But the noodle prices starts from 6000won.

 

Address: 29 Samseong-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do

Opening Hours: 9AM - 5AM

 

PetiteFreckles ♥

Korea Day 2: Jeju

Continuing from my previous Korea post, after 1 night in Seoul, we flew to Jeju for a 3D 2N trip.

J's artistic shot of my arm

We flew via t'way, since we travelled during the Korea's peak period, the flight ticket per pax cost 132,000won (~$158) which comes with 15kg of hand-carry.

 

t'way website only have 3 languages- Korean, Japanese and Chinese. So if you can't read either, do let me know, I will do up a step by step post with translation on how to purchase the tickets :)

 

 

Decor at the entrance of the washroom

We arrived in Jeju at 3.15pm. To travel around Jeju, we rented a KIA morning from AJ rent-a-car at a price of S$101 for 2 full days. I booked it online so as to enjoy the discount and to reserve the English GPS (but sadly when we collected the car, they are left with only the Korean GPS). When you arrive at the airport, look for the AJ counter, they provide free shuttle bus service to their office which is about 5 minutes drive from the airport. The best part about the rental is that they provide the Olleh egg for free, so we get to have access to unlimited wifi throughout our road trip! :)

 

You can make your reservation here: http://www.ajrentacar.co.kr/en/index.do 

 

To drive around Jeju, in addition to your normal driving license, you will need to apply for the international driving permit, without it, you will not be allowed to drive. J collected his IDP at AAS centre at River Valley- upon submission, it takes about 3 to 5 working days for them to process. You can get them to send it to your home at a fee of S$4. The permit costs S$25 and it is valid for a year.

 

For more details and for the application form, please visit http://www.aas.com.sg/

 

 

After settling the paperwork and payment which took about 15mins, we drove to Manjanggul Cave, one of UNESCO's world natural heritage, about 50 minutes drive from the airport and 40 mins drive from the car collection centre.

Opening hours: 9AM to 6PM

Admission Fee: 2000won (adult) 1000won (children)

 

You will get to see the formation of flowlines, lava stalacites, lava columns and other lava fomations. It's cold and damp inside the cave, you have to walk carefully as it is slightly slippery especially the 2 flight of stairs on the way down to the cave. 

 

 

 

 

 

As we arrived at the cave about 5.15pm, we only managed to walk 1/3 through the tube, so didn't get to see the famous lava columns and the turtle. The othe visitors were starting to walk back to the entrance and we were the only ones left, it was too eerie to continue and walking back required some time as we needed to get out of the cave before they close at 6pm. If I ever visit Jeju again, I would go back to the cave to complete the walk :)

As the sun was setting, we hurriedly drove to the next destination - Gimnyeong maze park which was only 5 mins drive away.

 

Opening hours: 8.30AM to 7.30PM

Admission Fee: 3300won (adult) 880won (children)

 

Couldn't take a proper picture, as there were lots of tiny flies flying everywhere, too afraid to stand still to take a photo, and the whole time we had to keep our mouths close, in fear that they will fly in haha.

We took about 15-20 mins to find the end point.

 

It was so dark! Very scary especially when there were no one else and the surrounding was just filled with sound of tonnes of insects! I will advise all to try the maze only in the day hahaha..



 

 

Had late dinner at black pork street, there were at least 6 shops selling black pork, the prices were pretty similar.

 

Entrance of Black Pork Street

 

 

 

The total cost of dinner after discount was 41800won (S$50) for 3 pax- discount was given for those who are staying at The Forest Hostel. After the sumptuous dinner, we went back to rest. We stayed at The Forest Hostel, I booked the deluxe twin room (1 double and 1 single bed) via Agoda, S$137 for 2 nights and breakfast is provided- S$23/pax/night.

Address: The Forest Hostel 1331-1, Ildo 1-dong, Jeju-si  관덕로 15길 7-1, Jeju City 690

http://www.theforesthostel.com/

Here's my review of the hostel:

Pros:
♥ Spacious room
♥ Room was relatively clean- cleanliness level 3.5/5
♥ Only 5 minutes walk to black pork street
♥ 8 minutes drive to noodle street and dongmun traditional market
♥ Very near the airport, about 15 minutes drive away
♥ Fast check-in and -out
♥ Friendly staff
♥ Quiet
♥ Cheap - ~$23/pax/night
♥  Free parking

Cons:

x Wifi was free but the network was pretty bad
x Breakfast was limited- bread with strawberry jam plus coffee and tea (but can't complain given the price we paid :))

  

PetiteFreckles ♥

Korea Day 1: Seoul

안녕하세요 Guys!!!

 

The Korea trip is a backdated event but I thought I should still write about it just in case some of you might find it useful :)

 

Background Info

My younger sister was studying in Korea for a year and my boyfriend (aka J) have always wanted to visit Korea. Thus after much persuasion from J (I was contemplating as we had already been to Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Bangkok since the beginning of the year), I decided to do some read-up on Korea and to search for the cheapest flight available.

 

Vietnam Airlines was having promotion and I bought it at $500 per pax, inclusive of 2 full meals and 7Kg hand carry and 20Kg check-in allowances with a stop-over at Ho Chi Minh City.

 

But after planning the itinerary, J thought it would be too short to go for only 9 Days thus I called to extend it to 12 Days 11 Nights (to be exact it was only 11 days and 11 nights- the last day, we had to wake up at 5.30am to catch our flight). We had to pay additional US$30 for the change of date, thus our airfare became $542/pax.

 Here's the flight itinerary:

In-flight meal- Singapore to Vietnam

In-flight meal- Vietnam to Korea

J woke me up to catch the sunrise and I thought it was sooo romantic to witness it together butttttt he went back to sleep after waking me up, Geez!

 

Pretty colours

After half an hour.....

Blazing sun

Once we arrived in Seoul, we headed straight to my sis's hostel to check in. We stayed there for 2 nights (1st and 4th day of the trip).

Address:

Lohas Livinghome, 8 minutes walk from Sinchon station

The room looks some sort like the photo below but in replacement of the single bed, it's a double decker bed and the room is slightly smaller. It comes with an ensuite bathroom.

Credits: Lohas Livinghome website

In Korea, it is very convenient and cost effective to travel around via their subway, especially when you are travelling on your own or in small groups (2-3 pax).




Credits: Seoul SMRT website

While waiting for my sis to get back from school, we went to Namdaemun market (Hoehyeon station Line 4 Exit 5) to change money. We found a money changer that offered a better rate near Shinsegae Department Store. Exchange rate was S$1 = 846won. Unlike what I read online, those ahjumma with make-shift booth, did not offer very rates :(

 

 

J saw this ddeokbokki shop and he was sooo excited hahaha, so we ordered a portion to share. It costs 2500won (~S$3) and it came with 2 small cups of soup. The salty soup went very well with the spicy sweet ddeokbokki!

Visted the Sungnyemun Gate (aka Namdeamun Gate).

29, Namdaemunno 4-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul 100-094, South Korea  

Entrance of Namdaemun Gate

 

Once sis is done with school, we headed out for lunch, just 5 minutes away from the guesthouse:

Dakgalbi HaneulBornDak 하늘본닭

31-86 Changcheon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea (Near Sinchon station)

          

We ordered 3 portions of chicken galbi fried rice. 4500won per pax, 13,500won (~S$16). It tasted so delicious! It wasn't very spicy and the good thing is that the staff will cook it for you and you can just focus on eating! A must try!

 

 

After lunch we took a nap and got up around 5pm for dinner, Ahjumma (owner of the guesthouse) cooked Kimchi Jigae, omg so spicy, I felt like i was having a sore throat immediately after dinner.

Went to Hongdae to walk a bit before Sis brought us to her regular hang out at The Pie Hole @ Sinchon. It is pretty near Yonsei University.
Located at: 70-39 Changcheon-dong (36 Seongsan-ro 22-gil) 서대문구 창천동 70-39

Below are the directions from Uplex mall to the cafe, it takes about 15 - 20 mins of casual walking. Hopefully my directions are clear, if not, do feel free to drop me a text.

 

 

 

We ordered 1 peppermint latte and an iced early grey latte for 10,500 won (~S$12.40). They gave each of us 1 cherry tomato, hahaha that's so intersting. The drinks tasted pretty good and the ambience is very suitable for those who would like to enjoy a quiet evening with some friends or for a conducive study environment.

 

After supper, we headed back to pack for our Jeju trip!!!

 

That's all for Day 1 in Seoul, stay tune for my next post on our 3 Days 2 Nights trip to Jeju!

 

PetiteFreckles ♥