Korea- Seoul, Jeju, Busan {Part 1 JEJU}

So here I am, waiting for the graduation ceremony in April, being officially unemployed.. but some things are still good, like having a long well-deserved break after all these years of studying.
Right before 2015 ended, I decided to go on a 3-weeks-long graduation trip to Korea and Japan with my sister-from-another-mister, Sunny! Initially, we had thoughts about going to the States (which is still a good idea) but Korea was an even better idea!!! Idk how we ended up throwing in a trip to Japan (I'll do another post) as well but mannnn was it the best decision we've ever made together!

Short side story about Sunny and I: We only met each other last year (in 2015) during the first hospital rotation where she came to Malaysia, we clicked instantaneously, became best friends sisters, she spent Chinese New Year with my family, I flew to Australia, got to spend even more time with her during my three rotations there, went out a lot and yep, incredible story that we tell everyone else when they ask "so how did you meet?" Sounds very much like a love story, I know. Haha

Back to the topic on Korea.
I've been to Korea once, when I was like, 12? So that's waaaay too long ago. The only memories still left in my limited brain storage space now is just GyeongBokGung (the palace), Lotte World, Nami Island (Winter Sonata filming set! Classic) and Skiing in some ski resort somewhere. Undoubtedly it was fun, but it was about time to create more memories there! We were both busy bees before the trip but intense planning was going on the whole time. Looking up on where to go, what to do, where to stay and the best sceneries, all these were necessary to ensure that we made full use of the time there. I'm splitting this into a few posts - Jeju, Busan, Seoul.

Jeju-do - Day 1

We both flew separately from our own homes, and met up in Incheon International Airport thanks to airport wifi. After some hugs and catching up, we took the train to Gimpo International Airport for our flight to Jeju Island. Upon reaching Jeju, it was around evening time and we quickly got our rental car (there are lots of counters for it and even easier if you pre-book it online). In South Korea, cars are left-hand drive and an International Driving License is required to rent a car there. Thanks to the extensive planning, Sunny bought her IDL in Australia and it cost 40AU$ which we divided equally, or we wouldn't have been able to drive there and taking public transport in Jeju as tourists is not recommended because the tourist spots are scattered all around the island. I was also happy to test my skills in left-hand driving for 4 days, fun fun fun ;) We stayed in BK Jeju Hotel - Seogwipo, a super comfortable room with an amazing view, which made us felt so at home.

Our precious car for Jeju - and my amazing left-hand drive parallel parking wheeee :P

Tip: When travelling in Jeju, it's best to check and plan the order of places you wanna visit, as the places are kinda scattered in different directions, and even on the same coast, driving from one tourist attraction to another typically ranges from 30 mins to an hour or more. Let me tell you - we were SO GRATEFUL that we had a car, apart from having the heater in car, there was a side benefit of being able to just leave our unnecessary stuff in the car. It really does make a huge difference. Of course, get your International Driving License ready early too, depending on the country you're from.

That very night, we asked the car rental people for advice and got recommended to visit Heuk Dwaeji Street (literally means Black Pork Street) for dinner. Till now, I still regard this very dinner the BEST one we had in our whole Korea trip. It costed a bomb too. Worth it.

We ordered a mixed grill set so we had black pork and fresh abalone too! A great variety of side dishes too and the owner ahjumma even came over to teach us what ingredients we should include in our lettuce wrap (you gotta ask and learn!). Oh and this is also where I fell in love with some pink colored pickled radish slices.

Since both of us enjoy drinking once in awhile, we decided to do it the korean way, which is to have soju with our BBQ! It was here we learnt that soju was actually REALLY REALLY cheap so sometimes in restaurants, rather than ordering plain water that still costs us maybe 1AU$ we go for soju instead, which would be around 2300Krw I think? A fun thing about the Korean culture is that they take the matter of respect depending on the age very seriously. So in the matter of drinking, we had a lot of fun following the culture whereby it is considered rude to pour drinks for yourself. The younger one has to pour drinks for the older one and there are different rules about how many hands to use when pouring/accepting a drink. Sunny was the Unnie (older sister) even though it was only by a few months LOL but we still did it all the time! x)

Jeju-do - Day 2

Early the next day, JENG JENG JENG - It was raining. The first thing on our itinerary, we went to the Jeju Folk Village (admission: 9000krw) in the Southeast area. Weather was actually pretty much perfect for us the whole 2 weeks we were there.. with a few exceptions, one being the first day. As tourists with limited time to spend, we carried on with the plans after getting ourselves raincoats. This place tries to provide the feeling of travelling to the past, where the landscape and houses mimic the exact traditional Jeju folk houses in the olden days, so it gives you a feeling that you've stepped into a time portal. Due to the rain, there were not many other tourists around and we couldn't play with some of the tools or games lying around because it was just too troublesome too move around in our raincoats. There were a few traditional korean drama filming locations in the area as well, you can catch some posters indicating so. Generally a recommended place to visit, getting to see and learn some history of Jeju.

The weather turned well for us so quickly! Had a wonderful 1.5 hour-ish drive to Seongsan Ilchulbong Sunrise Peak (admission 2000krw) at the East of Jeju. There is a parking area right next to the entrance to the ~30-40 minute walk up to the peak. It's not a crazy climb, but does consist of many steps so be ready for a some exercise. At the end of the climb, there is a magnificent crater shaped like a crown and a wonderful 360 degree view where on one side, looking down you will be able to see the Seongsan town area.

This is where the women divers of Jeju brave the biting cold and catch the abalone. There is a performance but we missed it. You can get fresh abalone too, or get it cooked for you on the spot for a decent price. We chose to have abalone porridge and stew at night during our dinner though. AND IT WAS HEAVENLY.

Just something that I had to include because I went like "What?? There is a single WHOLE building for Innisfree?!" (but actually it was only one floor) in the shopping/eatery streets near Seongsan Ilchulbong. This is also the area we had the abalone porridge in. There are heaps of shops with abalone so just pick one you like!

Jeju-do - Day 3

The plan for the day was Hallim Park - west of Jeju-do.  We didn't go for Manjanggul Cave (Which I think was okay to miss anyway) and Hallasan National Park (would've loved to go but had time constraints since it's on the wrong side of the island we were visiting). Love land was probably another unique place to visit but we decided to skip it anyway.

On the way to Hallim Park, we made a quick stop at Hyeopjae Beach area. There was nothing very special apart from the vast sea view in front of us, but it was still a nice beach area to relax. I imagine it must be much better if it was summer :)

Sculptures depicting the strong characteristics of Jeju women -- diver on the left

Was distracted by a sign that said "Hello Kitty Island" and decided to stop for awhile. We went to the entrance but didn't enter. It's basically a building with everything Hello Kitty inside. CUTENESS overload but we decided that we were too old for it now haha

I think Hallim Park was a place to just take it slow, relax and enjoy looking at the sceneries, plants, caves and some animals. At a few locations, there were a sea of yellow gingko leaves perfect for photos with a touch of autumn feel. 

My AMAZING pumpkin pancake and her fish cakes! We always love our street food.

After that we went to Soingook Miniature Theme Park, where the place was filled with miniature built-to-scale world wide significant buildings/heritage sites and a part of it had a fake 70-80s streets of Korea with retro objects. I LOVE this kinda things! Walking in it while listening to the old songs they played gave it quite a feel, although some may find it creepy. :P

At night, since we had time to spare, we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not exhibition and Teddy Bear Museum (well known in the korean drama Goong many years ago). We tried going one night before but didn't make it, check the closing time before going! Both of it are just one road apart, so we rushed to finish both before they close within 2 hours, then went to shop in E-mart nearby. Each admission cost around 9500KRW if I remember correctly.

The Teddies for Goong drama! Oh I miss watching that one...

Jeju-do - Day 4

Jeongbang Waterfalls - the only waterfall in Asia to flow straight into the sea. It took us only 30 minutes to stop, look around, take some photos, and leave to the next destination.

Before we left Jeju for Busan, we managed to drop by Dongmun Traditional Market, just 20 minutes away from Jeju International Airport. Walking in their markets definitely gives you a feel of how it's like being a local.

I miss Korea sooo much!

No matter where we went, everyone was super friendly and accommodating. Upon returning home, I realised how much I miss greeting "Anyeonghaseyo" with a bow everywhere; or repeating kamsahamnida with even more bows after every interaction.

Personally, I used to be very interested in the Korean language so learning Hangul back in those days helped a bit. Not in terms of interaction, but when we got lost, it sometimes helped that I could read the words so at least we can identify places. Also, because the pronounciation sometimes resembles the chinese language (for example haengbok would be happy), or even english (for example christmas would be keuliseumasu), it was fun to speak it while learning new words/phrases.

Stay tuned for the next post: Where we had THE SWEETEST AND BIGGEST CRAB EVER IN BUSAN!!!