[Part 2 - Jeju] My 1-month graduation trip to South Korea with Char!

On my previous post, i talked about how we planned our 1-month journey. We travelled across 6 cities and our first stop was...

Jeju!~

Now, i shall try to re-cap what happened while we were on our way to Jeju! and while we were in Jeju! It's going to be a little bit draggy but you can skim this through if you don't want to know any details.

We spent 4 days & 3 nights in Jeju (2 ~ 5 March), free & easy with no guide. We would love to rent a car but we couldn't though the both of us have driving license. But because it was left-hand drive, we couldn't as we do not have the international licence that was required (and no budget for it). I would say accessibility was not much of a problem in Jeju because it was convenient taking the bus. The bus terminal/bus stops provides map in both Korean and English. The only thing is, timing. Obviously by renting a car, it'll be much easier. It saves time, you get to explore more places in a day and get to go to those ulu places. (Places where you can find the Jeju divers, have seafood by the sea.) Yeah, we missed out on such ulu places. But it's okay, there's always next time when i make more new Korean friends. :)

By the way, our whole trip costs us about SGD$3500 for a month excluding personal expenses. This amount include our air tickets, accommodations, attractions, transportation, food & beverage and other necessities!

So, let's get started!  

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Day 0 -  Changi > Incheon [인천] > Gimpo [김포] > Jeju-do [제주도]

The night before our flight, obviously i was anxious and excited. I couldn't sleep well and that's the point! because then i can sleep well on the plane. Our flight was at 8:00AM and we had to reach the airport 2 1/2 hours in advance for check-in. So we were there at the airport at about 6:00AM. Somehow i feel that time passes by really quickly at the airport. In no time, we were already seated in the plane. I'll always remember what Char say,

"We just need to get on that plane and everything will be fine."

Because we were so freaking anxious! 1-month seemed like a pretty long time! Moreover, somewhere that's 6 hours+ away by plane from home. I will never forget that anxious feeling while i walk through that departure gate after saying goodbye to my parents. For the first time, i'll be away from them for a month by myself. Well, okay, with my classmate. But still!~

Charmaine kind of looking anxious 

Here i am with my no-makeup shag face

So eggcited~~~!!

We arrived at Incheon at about 3:00PM/KST and our next flight to Jeju was at 8:25PM/KST (last flight to Jeju) at Gimpo Airport. You may think that there's so much time in between but no! Korea's immigration is crazy. You have to queue nearly up to 40 mins before it's your turn to get your passport chopped. We couldn't take things for granted so that's why we gave ourselves so much time. I can't imagine missing our flight to Jeju. We'll be done for, seriously.

I realized that upon arrival in Korea, tourists will usually purchase a Wifi Egg router but to be honest, i'll recommend the EG SIM card. I was lucky i didn't had to re-purchase a new card because i had one from my previous trip that haven't expired. All i had to do was to reload credit into it which i did while i was on my way to Changi. I think Charmaine got hers from Korea's 7-Eleven. Guys, get the EG SIM card. It's so much better than the wifi egg because you have to return and if you lose it, game over.

We passed through immigration and the moment we got into the arrival hall, we die die had to step outside to breathe in Korea's fresh cold air! Hahah! (We had time to kill anyway and Singapore can never have such air.) And we were trying to get smoke out of our mouths. Like Suagus (mountain tortoise) that never experienced winter. We kind of wasted a bit of time at Incheon before heading to Gimpo. We caught the AREX train from Incheon Airport itself to Gimpo Airport that took us roughly about 30 ~ 40 mins. I remembered the train was really crowded at some point of time and it was really uncomfortable because we had to hold on to our luggages as well. But thankfully we had seats.

We arrived quite early at Gimpo Airport. It was my first time there, pretty small and we had dinner at Paris Baguette and then proceeded on to check-in. Thankfully, the lady could speak English. I wasn't confident in my Korean yet thus i didn't dare to hold a conversation in Korean. We had to wait about 5 ~ 10 mins before we can roam around the airport because apparently, they needed to scan our luggages to see if there's any dangerous items whatsoever. We passed it and went to chill at some seating area where i remembered waiting for a text that didn't came. My memories in Jeju was the worst, i swear. But okay moving on. We went into the departure gate and waited to board the plane. Then came the lady who checked us in. She said that one of our luggages had a lighter. I was like, "WHATTTT?" in my mind and i gave Charmaine the "wtf?" stare. So weird. I wonder if she went to the correct person. We obviously don't smoke so why would we have a lighter in our luggage. -.-

But we managed to fly to Jeju anyways. Keke!

Paris Baguette for dinner but ... no appetite. WASTED!

That's the Jeju Air plane.

By this time, everything felt so surreal. Everything was in Korean. Everybody around me was Korean. I hear Korean language. Everything is just... KOREAN. The feeling's different because in Singapore, we have many races and everyday we hear many languages when we're out. Different skin-colored people. Over here it's just... different.

In the plane...

Super tired faces

Arrived at Jeju pretty late at night, caught a direct bus to 'Four Seasons Hotel' which was located in Jeju City. It was about 15 ~ 20 mins ride to our hotel's bus stop. The receptionist was really nice. He could speak English but was super shy. Made us felt so awkward and that's the thing about Koreans. When they try to speak in English, they get really shy and not look into your eye when they speak.

We settled down and i think we actually had supper from GS25 (convenient store) just down the road from the hotel. Everything was convenient. Not to mention, there was even a Mcdonalds nearby! Oh! And an E-Mart as well! E-Mart is something like Giant Supermarket. This hotel very much offers everything you need for winter. Heater, hot shower, hair dryer, thick blankets, a fridge, kettle, 3-in-1 coffee, mineral water etc and breakfast at 3,000KRW per person. I wouldn't say the breakfast was good but there was kimbap! to fill our stomachs and toasts, ham, eggs, fruits, drinks and some Korean pumpkin porridge which was meh~ Overall, it was great!      

Our first Korean convenient food meal

The room's quite small. There's a single size bed beside this queen sized bed and a toilet.

FINALLY!

Day 1 - Jeju-do [제주도] > Jeju Folk Village [제주민속촌박물관] > Cheonjeyeon Falls [천제연 폭포]

We started our day with Isaac Toast. If you haven't tried Issac Toast, it means you haven't been to S.Korea. I'm still figuring out whats that special sauce they use. So yumyums~ 냠냠~

First on our list was to hike the Hallasan but failed to do so because firstly, we woke up late, secondly, we walked the wrong way to catch a bus that could have brought us to Hallasan. Wasted so much time and we ended up asking a Korean granny how we can get to Hallasan and she told us that we can take this certain bus to a bus terminal and from there we can take another bus to our destination. It was really nice of her because she was actually heading there as well and she even told us when to alight. 감사합나다 할머니~

Jeju bus terminal

We decided to save Hallasan for the next day since our stamina wasn't really there yet. Fortunately, we had a list of places we want to go, we kind of juggle around and see which fits which timing. On Day 1! we went to the Jeju Folk Village Museum! which was located at the eastern side of Jeju Island. It took us probably about an hour to arrive there. The bus fare costs less than 3,000KRW each. Don't forget to get yourself a T-Money card because it helps to pay for bus, train, taxi fares. (Ah! We met another granny on the bus, she was talking to us like as if we were Koreans, and i was trying my best to catch keywords from her Jeju accent. LOL! But she was really nice as well. I remembered her asking where we're from, what are we doing here in jeju, where we're going and all that. Really cute.)

We arrived at the village, walked around and saw many old huts. There were figurines in those houses but wasn't really made to life scale. We could see the olden day Korean kitchen, workspaces, living room, bedroom, toilet! and prison too! Apparently, that (prison) was where they filmed one of the scenes from 'Da Chang Jin'. (대장금) There was even an old fishing village where they displayed the old sampan (what we call in Singapore). Well, an old boat with fishing nets and all. We could even experience playing the Korean traditional games such as the Tuho (투호), Korean swings etc. What i remembered was going into a maze at the end and then leaving the village. If it's your first time in Jeju, i would recommend this place because you get to see and understand the living standards of Koreans in the past. It may be boring to some but it's up to individual at the end of the day.

[Note: I did not upload all the pictures. Only uploaded a few. The rest of them are on my Facebook. If you're my friend, you can view them. If not, i apologise. :( ]

You guys can slowly read about the village so i don't have to explain. 

Char doing her business

They're real!

They talk about how black pig eat their owner's waste.

Playing the baduk

Fishing hut

Swing

I'm a pro in this

Prison

Stairway to the pavilion

Pavilion which oversees the village. There were farms.

Couldn't really capture the farms. Too short. 

Char trying to be one of the stone man.

The maze is behind.

Just outside the village

The road that led us to the bus stop

So beautiful~

We spent about 2 hours at the village and decided to head off to Cheonjeyeon Falls. In Jeju, there are 3 waterfalls, Cheonjeyeon (in the woods), Cheonjiyeon (in the woods) and Jeongbang Falls (by the sea). We couldn't visit all 3 of them thus we decided on the one which was most convenient to get to. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived there, at about 6PM, it was closed. Meh!~ But we managed to get a glimpse of the Fairies Bridge!

Memory flashback// Before that, while on our way to Cheonjeyeon Falls, we actually took the wrong bus which led us to this other bus terminal. We were actually lost and it was raining that day. But thankfully, there was a tourist information counter. In fact, we weren't actually on our way to Cheonjeyeon Falls. We didn't know where to go and only wanted to find dinner. So this lady at the counter was so nice to recommend places. She spoke very little English but still managed to lead us to the Cheonjeyeon Falls where conveniently, there were many restaurants. So yeap! This was our first #GetLostInKorea. More to come, stay tuned.

There was suppose to be a water fall here but apparently it was dry. The red bridge is the Fairies Bridge.

Just opposite this waterfall, there were a row of restaurants, mostly all selling the same kind of foods. Hairtail Fish, Abalone Porridge, Raw Fish, Black Pork etc. We were spoilt for choices thus ended up a restaurant with more patrons. I forgot the restaurant's name but this was what we ordered.

머리카락 꼬리 물고기ㅋㅋ (갈치) Too much fish bones.

Abalone porridge

After dinner, we wanted to visit the Jeju fire festival since the bus was on the way back to our hotel. However, we didn't go in the end even though we passed it because it looked kind of dangerous. Like it was dark and all, there were police patrolling everywhere. Haha! It was a little intimidating thus we decided to head back to the hotel to chill since we had to wake up early the next day.

On a side note// I remembered this was the night that practically ruined my whole trip. At the back of my mind, i thought to myself, "Wtf!? It's only my 2nd night in Korea, how could such a thing happen? Like hello? Do you even have a heart or something?" BUT! i decided to embrace myself because what's life?? when i'm in my favourite country for a whole freaking month, drowned in delicious Korean food and have great friends by my side. I should be enjoying myself! Isn't it? 바보야 진짜... 

Day 2 - Hallasan [한라산] > Innisfree/O'sulloc

We learnt our lesson and decided to head to the bus terminal and then to Hallasan. There was a bus which takes us to the entrance of Eorimok Trail. It was the trail which we decided to tackle on since it was the shortest & easiest trail (stated that it's for beginners) and it links to the Yeongsil Trail. There are about 6 hiking trails on Hallasan. You guys can check them out here. This was the day where we were determined to at least reach the connecting trail of Eorimok and Yeongsil but...

We alighted at our stop and no, the bus didn't stopped us at the entrance of the Hallasan. We had to walk probably about 400 ~ 500 meters up to the entrance. I told Char that it was a warm-up for us.

Can you imagine this road in Spring? It'll be much more beautiful!

It's endless walking here in Korea. That's why you'll never gain weight even though you eat more. There was a group of people we met, a few muslims and a Korean family. We also saw them while hiking the Hallasan. Oh yeah, not to worry, hiking Hallasan is FREE! unless you want to rent gears which we didn't, thats why! we didn't made it up to the peak. We didn't expect that the floors will be super slippery and since it was already March, shouldn't winter be over? But yeah, we kind of underestimated it and decided to climb back down after about 1.1KM? I'm not too sure. (Char, did we climb halfway through that red zone? Keke!) It sounds like a very short distance right? but wait till you see the stairs. It's stairs after stairs. Literally stairway to heaven okay.

This was the entrance! Look at the clouds.

There were still ice

Map

As you can see from the map, we started off at the yellow zone which means that the difficulty level is mild. And from the point where that human stand was where i captured this picture. We have already walked 0.5KM into Hallasan. Here comes the red zone! Difficulty level? HIGH! We could have reached the green zone but because of the slippery roads, we really couldn't. I fell down twice! And i remembered there was this Korean uncle that warned us of the icicles. I don't know if i listened correctly but yeah, we decided not to take the risk and climbed back down.

This was where we reached to take a breather. We were supposed to go all the way up! then take that blue trail down.

Yellow Zone

Still got the energy to take some pictures
img cre: Char

Beginning of the red zone

In the red zone

Stairway to heaven

Dangerous~

And the reason is..................... this
img cre: Char

Looking at the view
img cre: Char

Some of you might have seen this already. yeah, i pooped.

And guess what guys? Climbing down was the most difficult. I didn't fell climbing up but i fell climbing down. Never again in winter. The next time i come to Hallasan, it will be in Spring or maybe late summer. Will definitely try to climb all the way up to that peak! 

The most epic thing of the day? We wanted to take the bus back to the city but the bus had a 1-hour interval which means that we had to wait. We walked back and forth that 400 ~ 500 meter road and finally decided to catch a taxi back to the hotel to get changed and rest for abit. We walked an extra mile~

The next place we visited was the Innisfree Jeju House and the O'Sulloc Museum! This place is situated at the Seogwipo city. We took a bus there that took us less than an hour from the bus terminal. The bus stopped right outside the carpark of the attraction. We visited the Innisfree Cafe first since we didn't had any lunch and then followed by O'Sulloc that was just beside each other. We shared a set of Omok Noodle Soup with a few Jumokbap (10,000KRW). Char ordered a cup of warm latte (5,000KRW) while i had an organic carrot juice (7,000KRW).

That's the Innisfree Jeju House/Cafe

Just beside the cafe

Not a clear shot but you at least have an idea. :)

In the cafe itself, there's an Innisfree boutique with a DIY corner where you can make your own organic soap. The both of us decided not to get anything because we had to travel to a few places and we won't want to be dragging our heavy luggages around suffering. We took pictures at the green tea plantation like how the other Koreans were doing before heading off to next door.

The work benches where patrons can make their own soap at 15,000KRW if i'm not wrong.

Cute molds

Char being artistic

Innisfree's toilet. Fascinated by the architecture.

The O'Sulloc building consist of a small museum, shop and a cafe. The museum showcases about the history of Korean Tea. Nothing much that interest the both of us. The only thing that interest us was the Matcha soft-serve! It was so so delicious! You'll never taste anything like this anywhere else. So if you head to O'Sulloc, please try it. I'm sure their Matcha drinks are awesome as well. We didn't buy any tea leaves as we're not into teas. Moreover, like i've mentioned before, it was just the beginning of our trip, don't want to overspend and over-weigh our lugggs. Anyways, you can get it from any departmental stores in town.

That's where the O'Sulloc cafe is...

Matcha soft serve! Yummy~

Texting boys

There were other attractions around the area such as the Jeju Glass Castle but because we didn't have a car, it was a little bit inconvenient to be walking along the streets. So, we walked across the O'Sulloc Musuem to the other tea plantation before heading back to Jeju City.

Took this as if the whole road was mine

This was taken opposite O'Sulloc in another tea plantation.

THERE WERE CHERRY BLOSSOMS!! 

Since the day was still young, we decided to explore some area that we always pass by while on our way to the bus terminal. I don't know what is that place called but it seemed so lively. We had Dwae-ji-guk-bap (돼지국밥 - Pork soup with rice, something like our Bak Kut Teh but doesn't really taste the same. Just the idea itself is similar.) for dinner before heading back to our hotel as we needed to catch an early flight the next day to Busan. I think we visited the E-Mart but i can't remember when. Such a huge supermarket that sells almost everything you need to survive for a day. I remember we bought mouthwash and wanted detergent but everything was big in size.

Oink Oink Gukbap! Wasn't as delicious as the one i had in my previous trip.

Day 3 - Morning flight to Busan

img cre: Char

Our flight was at 9:50AM and we arrived at the airport an hour and a half early since it was so near. We asked the hotel receptionist to call a taxi for us. We check-in and headed to the food court where we had Kimbap for breakfast! It was amazing to see Koreans actually having Ramyeon with a roll of Kimbap in the morning. I don't think i can have that much for breakfast especially before flying. We didn't capture any pictures because it was too early in the morning. Managed to nap before arriving in Busan that took about an hour.

Jeju is really a beautiful island. Slightly bigger than Singapore. Filled with so much nature! I will recommend this place to anyone who plan to travel to S.Korea. The best season to visit Jeju island? It's definitely Spring/Autumn! Now i understand why many Korean couples go there for their honeymoon. It was a pity that we couldn't visit many other places. I would love to walk along the Olle Trail if i have a chance next time. Since there are 13 routes, i'll probably need to stay there for about 2 weeks then! Hahaha! There's so so so much to see along those numerous trails! I would love to visit the Jeongbang Falls (정방폭포)& Jusangjeolli Cliff (주상절리) as well! (Supposed to go but due to time and accessibility constraints) Also, to visit the female divers and have seafood along the beach. Not forgetting a visit to Udo Island (우도해양도립공원)! And last but not least, to enjoy a cup of warm coffee in some cafes with the view of the sea. I heard G-Dragon/Big Bang have their own cafe called the 'Cafe Aewol Monsant' (카페 애월 드 몽상). I would love to go to 'Hey Brother' (헤이브라더) cafe as well!

Till next time, Jeju~

In Part 3, i will talk about our trip in Dynamic Busan! xD

On a side note// It's not easy typing this out because i haven't been writing but i'll try my best. I may take a few days to upload the other parts. Pardon my grammatical errors. Please be understanding and stay tune for more! If you have any questions, please leave a comment below! :D