In April, together with 2 other friends, we went to South Korea for around 2 weeks and we managed to cover Seoul, Jeju and Busan. It was a really great trip, came home with 0 korean won left on me HAHA.
This blog post is more of a summary of the highlights of the trip kind of post and I may blog about certain part of the trip in detail next time, but for now, here's a glance at my 2017 korea trip! ☟☟☟
Hanbok experiences
While planning for the trip, we really wanted to try on the hanbok and take a lot of pretty photos because why not??
We actually managed to try on the traditional hanbok twice during our trip to Korea, both in Seoul. The first time we tried was at the Seoul Global Cultural Centre in Myeongdong for free, and the second time was at Bukchon Hanok Village for around 10000 won, which is really worth it as we got to wear it for a longer time and go outside to take photos. The hanbok selections is greater as well, and you can pay more for prettier and detailed hanboks, which I didn't because I was broke by then -cries- ☹
Namsam Tower
We went up the Namsam Tower and the view was amazing. Besides the view and the locks, it was SOOOO COLD. It didn't helped that I was wearing a loosly knitted top which did nothing in blocking the wind.
People usually lock their love at the tower but there are also people who wrote blessings for their family. I did both on either side of my lock LOL and I locked it at the new metal structures outside the gift shop, which was quite empty at that point of time because most people lock their locks at the metal railings upstairs which is where you usually see in pictures.
Nami Island
It's a really pretty place but it is also a place that is really troublesome to get to. After a long journey on the train, you still need to take a bus and boat to get to Nami Island itself so I suggest you to put aside half a day for this place if you plan to go.
Also, while the place is huge (well its an island), the scenary is kind of repetitive after awhile because it's always a pathway between 2 rows of trees HAHA. And there's soooo many people that it is hard to get a nice photo with no one photo bombing you. ☹
Cherry blossom
Even though it was the cherry blossom season when we went to Korea, we didn't get to see much cherry blossom. Most of the time, it is just one or two trees out of the entire row that had cherry blossoms.
The one in the photo above is actually found outside Ewha Womans University when we were shopping at the Ewha shopping streets. You can't really see from the photo because I've cropped it, but there was quite a number of people taking photo of and with the tree HAHA. I think it's one of the prettiest cherry blossom tree I've seen in my entire Korea trip!!
Live octopus dish
This is something that was on the top of my must-try list when I go to Korea because I keep seeing people eating this whenever they go to Korea and I was really curious about how it will taste and feel like, given that it looks a little intimidating as it moves.
Honestly, it's a little underwhelming HAHA because after you put it in your mouth and bite it, it stops moving. Taste wise its good, even though we couldn't finish the dish because only 2 of us were eating it and I think it's meant for like 4 people.
Bingsu
On the second last day of our trip, we decided to go to the bingsu place at the second floor of our apartment block because car's friend said it was nice and it was still open at 12am.
& OMG the green tea/matcha bingsu IS SO FREAKING GOOD!!
We went back on the next day, which is also the last day of our trip, because the bingsu is so damn good?? This time round we got a chocolate bingsu instead and while its good, the green tea/matcha bingsu is still the best.
Osulloc Green Tea Museum
Honestly we did not go to the tea museum itself and we just spent time taking photos at the green tea plantation outside because it's like the perfect place to take pretty photos HAHA. We did go to the shop to get their products and I LOVE THEIR GREEN TEA CHOCO BARS SO MUCH that I bought more when I saw an Osulloc shop in Busan.
Soap making @ Innisfree Jeju House
Besides the fact that the Innisfree Jeju House sells products exclusive to Jeju Island, you can also make soaps there which is one of the main reason why we went there.
To be honest, the soap making was only fun at the start when we were trying to figure out the steps and it got quite tiring and messy towards the end. The soap making kit allows you to make 3 soap and my advise is to just make one and bring the rest of the materials back to make if you still want to HAHA. If not you will be wasting quite some time trying to kneed and mold the soap which is the tiring part. Instead, take the time to shop at the store!
Mazeland
So our driver told us that it will take us 1 hour + to finish the 3 main mazes and we might get lost at the third maze which is the most difficult maze, but it turns out that by chance, we took the route that skips the maze and got out of the maze in like 10 minutes??
It's really cool to see the life size mazes from the top, and they have other puzzles and games you can play indoors. We spent most of our time on those since we skipped the life size maze by accident HAHA.
Teddy Bear Safari
Even though I am not a huge teddy bear fan, it was nice to take photos with all the cute teddy bear characters.
No face
So there was this guy that cosplay as No Face and when he entered the train, he was like face-palming the door. He then turned around and I was laughing at him and I looked like I was going to take a photo of him so he did a peace sign for me omg. I was a little taken aback and abit embarassed so I turned back to my friend, but he was still doing the peace sign so I turned back to take a photo and bowed slightly to express my thanks and he nodded back at me HAHA.
When we got down the train and walked past the door he was facing, I waved to him and he waved back at me omg HAHA this actually made my day better than it already was because the entire thing was so cute!!
Geumnyeonsan
We tried to get a taxi to drive us to the peak of Geumnyeonsan for the night view as recommended because the walk is 20 to 30 minutes long, but all the taxi refused us saying that they cannot drive up etc. ☹ We ended up walking up since we were there already. On our way up, we saw so many cars and we wanted to hitch a ride but since it's up slope, it's kind of hard to do so.
We stopped halfway since there was an observatory deck and we were pretty tired. Honestly, the view from that observatory deck was nothing spectacular as compared to the effort we took to get up there, but I think if you actually reached the peak, the view would be much nicer?
Our plan was to hitch a ride back down and I thought it would be quite hard since it we were still on a slope (the entire journey is a slope) but a car actually stopped for us!! There were two Korean guys on the car and they were really friendly, making the effort to talk to us. The radio was playing the globin ost and car was like "omg this song" so the guy increased the volume for us HAHA it was a short and memorable ride.
Busan Gamcheon Culture Village
We bought flower hair clips and it made our photos for the rest of the day so much cuter! There are plenty of shops there that sells these kind of hair clips in many different designs, as well as flower hairbands. It's quite cheap so do get one for yourself to look cute in photos HAHA.
Oryukdo Skywalk
As a geography student, this place made me quite excited because of all the rocks HAHA.
For the skywalk itself, there was a queue for it which moves quite fast and when we were on the skywalk, we had to take our photos, videos and selfies quickly because you cannot stop at a spot for too long. I mean you can, but I would feel really bad because everyone behind will be stuck since it's quite crowded, which explains why there is a queue.
We took so many photos not just on the skywalk but around the area as well because no matter where you are standing, the view is really pretty! We also wore our flower hair clips there and I think we were the only ones sporting those HAHA.
Haedong Yonggungsa Temple
There is a lot of walking to do, for getting to this place as well as in the place itself. We also had to take a 20-30 minutes bus ride which sounds normal but we did not get to sit and the ride was really jerky so it was really tiring.
I thought the Yonggungsa temple would be like any other Buddhist temples but no, it is situated next to the ocean so it is quite unique and the view of the sea is really nice! The entire place is also really big and there are quite a lot of pagodas and statues located at different parts of the temple.
Starbucks
Me and kheng wanted to try their cherry blossom drink because Singapore obviously doesn't have it. It's pretty good and I think kheng likes it, but its abit too sweet for me?
KTX experience
Unlike everyone who trained to Busan, we trained from Busan HAHA. KTX is great man, the seats are comfortable with a lot of leg room and there's even usb charging ports at the side.
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Typing and editing this post makes me really want to travel again so badly!! ☃ The next time I can travel again will probably be during my uni break next year and hopefully by then, I still have the money to do so? HAHA omg university is expensive!!
I bought A LOT of beauty products in Korea and I spent like more than SGD$600 on them? I'm thinking of doing a haul or review in the next few posts so do check back!
Cheers. ♡
