I spent 7 Days at South Korean.
4N at Seoul 2N at Jeju Island SG$1 = 835KWN 218 000won ÷ 835rate = SG$261.08 261.08+985.80 = SG$1241.88 (amount from the table below, not include shopping and food ) SG$1,530 pocket money + SG$1,241.88 = SG$2,771.88 total expenditure Won’s Ville @ MyeongdongAbove is the breakfast place cum cafe. The breakfast was decent. HongdaeIt was Saturday and I intended to visit the popular flea market near Hongik University, but it rained so most of the stalls were not set up for business Hence we decided to find a restaurant to have a early lunch. The restaurant we went was located along this lane, on the right hand side. It is a underground restaurant. I do recommend this restaurant My companion and I, total 4 of us, ordered a ''steamboat' for 2pax. The rice cakes are soft. The dish is spicy and very flavorful (not sure whether the spiciness can be adjust) I really like it. As you can see in the fifth picture, the ingredients includes rice cake, cellophane noodles, enokitake, mussels and etc. What's most important is that each of us paid little amount for a filling lunch! At night, as the rain got heavier, we decided to find a restaurant for shelter and had our dinner. and so we stumbled into this restaurant. I do not remember the names of the dishes. We ordered two dishes and a drink From my memory, the 'pizza' tasted good and the pan fried egg tasted so so. Total we spend 46,000won I do recommend the restaurant's beverage, Makgeolli If I am not wrong, it comes in two sizes, 500ml and 1 liter. From the last picture, the poster, you can see that the restaurant offered a few selections of Makgeolli. When I was in the restaurant, I noticed the two popular Makgeolli drinks are Purple and Green in colour (I do not know the names of the drinks) At first, I was not tempted to try out the drinks because the colour just reminds me of yam and honeydew. But eventually my friends decided to try the green beverage, i think it is call the Grapefruit. I was so taken aback by its taste! Who said green has to be honeydew? (yeah, me-.-) The green is actually the colour of grapes! The drink was really yummy. It is a little sour and smooth to drink. Just like smoothies but more refreshing! If I am not wrong it is a alcoholic drink, but we never tasted the bitterness. PS: When we reached the restaurant, it was already dark and the restaurant was very pack, hence it was not convenient for me to take quality pictures. More Picture at HongdaeWe had some snack in a moblie van (located next to the Metro station) The food are good and the sellers are very friendly. Note: The food reviews are my personal opinion. All of us have different preference, what I reviewed may be differ from others. Hence, my food reviews are only for reference. Some pictures credited to my travel companions
Tosokchon SamyetangTosokchon Samyetang is a popular dinning place. I think the main reason why people visited this place is because it has a long history and was frequently visited by the Late President Roh Moo-hyun. Secondly it is highly recommended by TripAdvisor and other bloggers. We were lucky that the queue was short when we reached the restaurant at about 12pm. Picture above: Long queue started to form when we were leaving the restaurant Direction You can find the direction of the restaurant on the standing map available in Gyeongbokgung Station We ordered two dishes, Tosokchon Samyetang and Haemul Pajeon I am disappointed to say the Samyetang is not as delicious as what others said. I am a person who prefer strong fragrance and seasoning dishes. To me this dish tasted blend. But to someone who perfer lightly seasoned food, this dish may suit your. The Pajeon is good. It is crispy. When you put the pajeon in your mouth, you can tasted the fragrant of the egg (that needs skill!) I also recommend its side dish, kimchi (free flow) It is delicious! Em...I don't know how to explain it. It just suits my preference;) FYI, the side dishes or taste of the side dishes may change from time to time. The interior design of the restaurant is like a korean traditional house. In the restaurant you can either sit on the floor or on the chair. But you have no choice on where to seat, the staffs will assign you. In my opinion, the service is not very good. We had some hard time getting the staffs to help us take order. Reason may be either
But I really appreciated one of the local, young male staff, who attempted to assist us despite not understanding what we said. Next Stop: Gyeongbokgung PalaceThis is my second time visiting this palace. I revisited this place because my companions have never visit this attraction before. A little different from the previous visit, this time I joined a tour guide. And I managed to take more presentable pictures to share with you guys. Note: You are able to rent a hanbok at a half day and full day price. You will get a discount on the admission fees if you enter the palace wearing a korean traditional clothes. An Alley in BuckonAfter exploring Gyeongbokgung Palace, my friends and I attempted to walk to Bukchon village and on the way we stumbled into this alley. We had some some food and drinks. Ewah UniversityIn the evening, we went to Ewah. I only took very few photo at there so I am not able to post the pictures at Ewah. But I did snap a picture of our dinner at Ewah. I do not remember which size we ordered, maybe small or medium size but is enough for all of us. Aren't you tempted by all the cheese? The dish is very cheesy, spicy and flavourful. I do highly recommend this restaurant Note: The food reviews are my personal opinion. All of us have different preference, what I reviewed may be differ from others. Hence, my food reviews are only for reference. Note: Some pictures credited to my travel companions
Note: If you are going Jeju from Seoul by air, please double check that you are at the correct terminal. Domestic and international flight are located at different terminal Before I start the Jeju Island trip below is a short explanation of my Jeju Island actual itinerary. Day 1 We reach Jeju at about 3pm+ (flight delayed) Reached O'Sulloc Tea Museum at about 4.30pm Visited Cheongjeyeon Fall Had our dinner And returned to the hotel at about 9pm+ Day 2 Woke up at 3.30am to prepare ourself Our driver fetched us at 5am. We reach Yeongsil Hike trail at about 6am. We finished our hike at 11.30am. Visited Oedolgae rock Had our lunch Visited Jeongbang Fall, Seongsan ilchulbong peak at 5.15pm Dinner: Black Pork BBQ at about 7.45pm Visited EMart at 9pm Return to our hotel at about 10.30pm O'Sulloc Tea MuseumOur first destination, Osulloc Tea Museum. The museum was crowded with groups of tourists. Long queue at the cashier to buy food and beverages. The popular matcha swiss roll was sold out. SI managed to try the cake when I was at Myeongdong. I am disappointed to say that the swiss roll is not as delicious as what I expected or as what it claimed on blogs' reviews. The drink tasted bland too. It tasted better after my companion requested for more matcha powder. My opinion, The ice cream tasted good. You can skip the swiss roll. For Matcha latte, it really depends on personal preference, If you like no sugar and less favourful drink, this may be your cup of drink. If I am not wrong, the hot beverage we drank at myeongdong was latte. In Jeju island's outlet, it only sell tea beverages. Sorry for the coffee lovers -.< Cheongjeyeon Fall The place was not crowded when we reached. The scenery is pretty. It is quiet and relaxing, prefect place to take a stroll. Dinner near Cheongjeyeon Fall I do not remember where exactly we had my dinner that day. I think it is outside the Cheongjeyeon Fall attraction or somewhere near there. W Shinjeju HotelI think I must share the hotel we stayed. The room and bath room are very spacious. In each room it has its own desktop and wifi. Its fridge is bigger than the normal squarish fridge we found in most hotel (Picture 1, the fridge is below the kettle) It has a dressing table, equipped with hair spry and hair gel! Two discredit Its hair dryer seems very dirty, it has a burnt smell (I think too many hair are sucked in the hairdryer) and you can see dust/mould on it. It has a see through glass right in front of the towel bowl! Although there is a blind, I still feel insecure whenever I use the bathroom. Why the hotel want to insert a see through glass in a quadruple room?! Ignoring the two discredit, I am quite satisfied with the space of the room. Note: The food reviews are my personal opinion. All of us have different preference, what I reviewed may be differ from others. Hence, my food reviews are only for reference. Some pictures credited to my travel companions
We slept for about 2-3 hours before we woke up and got prepared for the hike. Our driver fetched us at 5am and we started our hike at 6am. My advice If you intend to hike on a cold weather, remember to wear more clothes. My teeth were literally shattering once I alighted from the car. During the hike, it was very windy. It even dries out our contact lens. So you may want to a thick jacket/sweater, scarf, face mask and sunglasses Let the Challenge BeginI will divide the Hiking trail into 3 stages. Stage 1: Stairs Stage 2: Rocks Stage 3: Flat plains (the easiest) Stage 3: I like this stage the most as it is the easiest and most relaxing stage. The scenery was very pretty and I was literally walking in the cloud! Rest Point At the rest point, there is a seller selling instant noodle and hot drink. But the selection is very limited. There will be no dustbin for you to throw the rubbish. You will have to bring it down the mountain. Tips: If you want to find a place to get some warm, go to the washroom. I was surprised that the washroom has heater! Walking Down The Mountain Although we walked down the mountain on a different trail, Eorimok trial (which is said to be the easier trail as compared to yeongsil trial) but to me, it is not any easier neither. If climbing up the mountain goes according to Stairs, Rocks and Plains. Climbing down will be Plains, Rocks and Stairs. For Eorimok trial there is more rocks as compare to stairs. To me, rocks are more difficult to climb because of its irregular size and surface. We visited Hallasan on 19Apr2016 As you can see from the pictures, the mountain was mostly bald. To me, the hike was really tiring. Every time I had to rest after climbing a few steps. The hike, 2 ways, took us about 5.5hour. What I learnt from this hiking experience 1. If you are not a hiker, just choose yeongsil trail. 2. If you are hiking in a cold weather, wear more clothes to keep warm. 3. It is better to start early, to avoid the sun. 4. Wear sport shoes!! After the hike, we noticed that our legs cramped and had some hard time climbing the stairs (if you have been to Seoul, you will know there is a constant climbing of stairs) Some picture credited to my companions
Daepo Jusangjeolli Cliff, Oedolgae, Jeongbang waterfallSee picture's caption Seongeup Folk VillageWe decided to visit this folk village instead of the museum because in this village, they are actually people inhabiting in the old house. There is nothing much to see in this village. Most of the house are closed from outsiders. So we just took some pictures of the place Seongsan Ilchulbong peakWe did visit Seongsan Ilchulbong peak but we did not climb the hill. We just explored around the place and bought some food. There are many shops and food stalls around the area. Later we went to a beach. I do not know what is the name of the beach but I did manage to capture a picture of the sign board. The beach is pretty. There are many interesting cafeteria around the area. However as you can see from the picture, it is not a place to watch sunset Some picture credited to my companions
Our driver knew that during our trip to Jeju island, we wanted to try black pork so he was very kind to help us book this restaurant. Yes, in order to dine in this restaurant you need to make reservation. No walk in. From Mr Kim, we were informed that this is the best place to eat black pork in Jeju island So you guys should not miss out this place when you visit jeju island. Like its reputation, the food did not let us down. It is delicious! The barbecue costed 16,000won per pax. So in total we paid 88,000won in total (BBQ for 5pax, one kimchi/seafood stew and two bowl of rice) Side Story: Our Driver Our driver for this trip is call Simon (the one wearing blue jacket) His English is not very good, able to speak simple English. But he did try his best to communicate with us. My companions and I can clearly feel his sincerity. We really appreciate his effort trying to make our trip as memorable as possible. This could be seen through his action, calling the BBQ restaurant to make reservation for us and calling Yeongsil office to check the earliest time we can start hiking. He probably might have call other drivers for suggestions which we were unaware about. (I saw him made quite a few phone calls when he brought us around Jeju island) The night before Yeongsil hike, my companions and I slept very little, about 2-3hours. From what I know, after dropping us at the hotel, Simon has to drive for another hour back to his home and it was another one hour journey from his home to our hotel. So I think he only slept a few hours too. After we finished the hike, one of my companions asked him whether he did take a nap while we were hiking, He said no. And he did not take any rest for the rest of the day. As for us, we did nap in the car. I calculated, if he did not take any nap, he had been awake for about 20hours! I felt so pity for him. and I am very thankful that the day ended smoothly (I always want driver to have a good rest, so that he can concentrate when he drives.) Another incident, we only booked Simon for two days, but he agreed to drive us to the airport on our last day at Jeju Island without any additional cost (we saved some money on hiring a cab) He even intended to follow up into the airport which we kindly declined the offer. So who is the other elderly man in the picture? We call him Mr Kim. He was the driver who we booked initially (we read good reviews about him) His English is good, able to communicate well in English. But I not sure about reading and understanding English sentences. He was not able to reply correctly to our email and ignored our itinerary which we sent it him for review. We were informed at last minute (when we reached Jeju Island) that he was not able to be our driver. So he asked Simon to replace him. On our last day at Jeju Island, Mr Kim showed up at the BBQ restaurant. He apologised for the last minutes changes, gave each of us a small gift and he even stayed to help us barbecued the food. I have to say, his service recovery method was well done. How can I blame him or write negative review about him when he had done such a great service recovery? Just a note (my opinion) Mr Kim seems to have made himself a good portfolio. With many satisfying customers and good reviews wrote about him, if you want to book him, you may need to reserve him early. A Favour If you got Simon as your driver, do let him know that you read about him from my blog. I think it will give him a lot of confidence and satisfaction. Hire private driver http://www.ajeossitaxi.com/ Some picture credited to my companions
We left Jeju Island in the morning. Airport Express bus We took the Airport bus to and from Gimpo Airport (7,000won per way) There is a Airport bus stop near our hotel (it is also near to Myeongdong Station, but need to walk a little bit) Picture 1 Yellow: Route from Myeongdong Station to Gimpo Airport. Green: Return trip, we alighted at Nandaemum (journey ~30 minutes) If we were to take the bus back to Myeongdong station, the bus will have to drive a big circle and it will take about an hour. Explore MyeongdongAfter we checked in the hotel at about 1.30pm, we headed to Myeongdong for lunch and spent our day at there. Lunch: Myeongdong Kyojathis is a recommended eatery by many bloggers and it is also popular among the local. This restaurant has a long history and it has two level. At meal period, this place will be very crowded. My companions and I agreed that the food are alright. Nothing very fantasy. But still, I will revisit this restaurant. I just like this restaurant. Note: You will have to pay right after you order the food. Dinner @ MigaBonWe had our dinner at MigaBon. A porridge outlet highly recommended by Tripadvisor. We ordered Pine nuts porridge- tasted like oat King carb porridge Boil chicken with ginseng To me I think the 3 dishes we had, tasted alright. Edible but not fantastic enough to be highly recommended on media. In Conclusion All my companions agreed this restaurant is over rated. Note: The food reviews are my personal opinion. All of us have different preference, what I reviewed may be differ from others. Hence, my food reviews are only for reference. Some pictures credited by my travel companions
We booked our package (Nami Island and Petite France) from Funtastickorea. The company will arrange a tour bus and bring us to the two attractions at 40,000won per pax. All in, exclude meal. The bus has a few pickup points. We boarded the bus at Myeongdong at about 8.20am (weekday time) We returned to Myeongdong at about 4pm (earlier than expected) Note: If you intend to travel to these places by metro. It will be a super long journey. So lets start our journey....... Nami IslandThe bus drove us to the jetty and we took the ferry to Nami Island. It was a short ride. Ferries come and go every 20 minutes. As you can see most of the trees were bald, but I managed to captured some nice pictures. There are some restaurants available in the island. If you want to stay overnight in Nami Island, there is a hotel too. My Impression of Nami Island To me, it seems like a park. The island looks quite empty, with trees, flowers and some display. At one part of island, you can find some shops and restaurants which visitors can explore. From the map given to me, the island seem to pack with activities and shops. But i did not see that during my visit, maybe I missed out the places? We chose this restaurant to have our lunch. The food tasted not bad. The cold noodle does not tasted as good as I expected. I started to feel a little nauseous when I was half way through the dish. We ordered 4 dishes and it cost 38,000won in total. Petite FranceI do not think I need to do much explanation for this attraction. I will just show you guys the pictures. Dongdaemun: Kwangjang MarketSince it is still early when we returned to Myeongdong, we decided to head to Dongdaemun, to find some local food and do some shopping. My friends and I visited Kwangjang Market and tried some of their food. Out of all the food I tried, I recommend the dumpling stall (last 3 picture) The stall is run buy 3 Ajumma. We had some dumpling and cold noodle. One of the ajumma even helped us to order the fried pancake from another stall by phone (I felt like I was in some korean drama.) The cold noodle and fried pancake are delicious. Note: The food reviews are my personal opinion. All of us have different preference, what I reviewed may be differ from others. Hence, my food reviews are only for reference. Some picture credited by my travel companions
The last day of the trip was nothing very spacial. The only special thing was that 3 of my companions had a hair appointment at Hongdae Since I was not joining them, so I decided to visit places which I wanted to go. Twice, I visited Seoul and every time I walked past this restaurant, I suggested to my companions to try out this restaurant but sad to say they were not interested. I wanted to visit this restaurant not because the food are super delicious. The reason why I want to try this restaurant is because this restaurant served many popular korean food, like bibimbap, samgyetang, Gimbap, cold noodle etc. It is like a one stop food station. During this trip, my companions and I never got the chance to try Jajangmyeon So this time, with no others' objection, finally I was able to visit this restaurant to try its Jajangmyeon How does it taste like? Just tasted like paste with noodle. Neither sweet nor salty. Myeongdong Lotte MartIf you managed to visit this outlet, just head down to the basement, it is a food paradise. You are able to find lots of food at here. There is a supermarket. I do not think this is a good place to purchase local snacks. This place is crowded with tourists. And you know, when there are tourists, things will not be cheap. Passion 5This has been my must-go-bakery every time I visit Seoul. As usual, the cafe is very colourful, lined with savory pastry. Fyi Passion 5 and Paris Baguette are under the same company. Does it look appealing?
My word for this picture is, 'Only nice to see'. Yeah, this time I was really disappointed with Passion 5. The pastries and cakes I chose did not taste good at all. The eclair tasted alright, always a safe choice. The tiramisu puff tasted bad. It was very hard. If you eat it with your hand, the coco powder will fall all over your clothes (imagine if I wore white shirt on that day O.O) The strawberry puff/cake, I do not know what should I call it. It was neither puff or cake. It just consisted strawberry and whipped cream. The biscuit base was pressed down so tightly that it was impossible to slice it using the plastic fork provided by the cafe. The chocolate cake was worst. It has a taste which I dislike. If I am not wrong, passion fruit syrup is added into the cake. Passion fruit syrup has a tangy taste and it totally ruin the cake which is supposed to be sweet and chocolaty. Seriously that is the worst cake I have ever ate so far. Passion 5, I will still revisit . Maybe next time I should just pick to the cakes. I was so attracted by the colourful pastry, that I forgot that my main purpose was to try out its cake =P |