I'm back with another travel post! Been so busy with full-time work and my part-time masters that I really didn't have time to complete many shows, but planned to go to Korea straight after the semester ended.
Always wanted to go to Jeju due to the various shows set there and especially after Hyori's B&B, and headed to Seoul as well since we were already heading to Korea. And actually it was really my parents who wanted to go since they've watched a ton of kdramas after getting netflix. Scoot also just started direct flights from Singapore to Jeju this June, which really increased the incentive. We took Scoot from Singapore to Jeju, Jejuair from Jeju to Seoul, and Scoot back from Seoul to Singapore. There are many options for Seoul to Singapore but as I booked pretty early, there was a really good deal for Scootplus, which includes wider seats, food and baggage which is really all we need. I also added baggage for my flight to Jeju, so my Scoot flights cost about $580 per person, while the Jejuair flight which also included baggage cost $64. The price of Jejuair flights change a lot depending on the timing - if I recall correctly, if the flight was at some weird timing like 8am, it was only $15.
Day 1
Our flight was at 5am so we arrived at the airport at 3am to check in. We landed at around 12pm korean time, and headed to Gate 2 of Jeju Airport where all the rental car booths are located. I decided on Lotte Rent-a-car since it was the most reputable. We had to show the driver's passport, international driving permit, as well as a credit card, and there will be a short note telling you where to go to board the bus. It's opposite the airport, so just follow the crowd since everyone is going the same way. The bus ride was a short 10-15min ride to the HQ, where we got a ticket for foreigners and waited for our turn. We had to make payment (credit card only), then got a little slip which showed where our car was parked, and we headed to the location to collect the car. Full excess waiver was included so no need to check for scratches - there were a few already when we collected the car.
And off we went to our first stop which was lunch! I wanted to try Jamae Guksu but it was already 215pm and the place closes at 230pm, so I searched for other recommended noodle stores and ended up at Samdae Guksu Hoegwan, which is located along Jeju City's noodle street. We got the pork noodle broth, bibim guksu and the dumplings. I was amazed our party of 3 could finish that huge serving of dumplings. Super yummy, especially as we were all pretty hungry.
Next, a 1h drive to Seogwipo! It's left hand drive so it may be a little challenging for Singaporeans. We definitely kept to the right too much and got a scratch within the first 30 minutes oops.
We headed to our first accommodation, Jeju Bom Museum Stay. It's kinda out of the way but I really didn't want to stay in an ordinary hotel in Jeju and I liked the room and views. We got the Seopseom which is for 3 people so really spacious. And look at those views!!! The only downside is that the bathroom doors are translucent. The place is also a museum and room guests get free tickets but I think the tour was only at 10am so we couldn't make it.
It was nearly 5pm by the time we checked-in and settled down. So we quickly went to our first real tourist stop which was Cheonjiyeon waterfalls. A small 2000 krw entrance fee, and there's a short walk before the waterfalls. It was pretty nice at night before it became completely dark.
Day 2
There aren't that many eateries open in the morning so we decided on Anna's Brunch Soup Cafe which had pretty good reviews online. We got the set which has a full breakfast plate and a soup of the day (potato soup) with a drink, a chicken sandwich, and one hot chocolate. All super yums. I was pleasantly surprised by the hot chocolate which was rich and thick.
There's also a really nice park nearby, with the Seobok Exhibition Hall at the end which talks about this guy named Seobok who came to Jeju on Qin Shi Huang's orders to find the Elixir of life. Love the blue skies!!
Our next stop was Camellia Hill. This entrance fee was 9000 krw which was the most expensive entrance fee of all the places we visited. I think November is the start of the camellia bloom season so we managed to see the bright pink flowers! It's quite a large place, with various plant and flower varieties. We also had a short tea break at the cafe there with really nice pastry and vanilla latte.
And then our final waterfall, Cheonjeyeon. This place has 3 falls and the Seonimgyo bridge. The first fall is dry when it's not rainy, and the second one is fairly easy to get to, albeit with some steps. But boy is it a walk to get to the third fall. But it was good exercise! The Seonimgyo bridge is also reallyyy pretty.
Finally, dinner time! Google told me Sukseongdo serves one of the best black pork bbqs, and luckily there was an outlet just 10min away from Cheonjeyeon falls. We reached around 515am and there was already a long queue in front. So for the matjibs or famous eateries in Korea, they utilise an automated system where you get a ticket number and input your phone number and they'll contact you once the table is almost ready. Unfortunately I didn't have a Korean number so the staff told me to just put all 0s and gave me the estimated waiting time. But luckily, I was kind of the only foreigner there so they knew to look for me when it was my turn. We waited in our car for close to 1.5h (because the waiting area outside the store is tiny) before it was finally our turn. I think it was worth the wait because the food was just amazing. Kimchi jjigae is "service" i.e free. We got one serving of pork collar, one serving of samgyupsal, hairtail fried rice and another bowl of rice for three people. I didn't want to order three servings of meat because I think we wouldn't have been able to finish. The meat was soooo good, especially when paired with the various sauces. And I have to say the food in Jeju is really quite affordable. We ate SO much and it was about 57000krw which is a steal in Singapore.
Day 3
This was the day I wanted to try and catch sunrise at Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak), so we got up super early and left at about 5.45am to make the 1h drive towards the east. When we arrived, it was about 6.40am and apparently the climb to the top takes 30min so I didn't think we could make it in time for sunrise which was 705am. So we ended up at this observatory thing and still got a fairly good view without having to climb. It was a little cloudy but there was still so much excitement when the fiery red ball started appearing.
Then, without the time pressure, we headed up the peak. And I thought it was a great idea because it wasn't so crowded and we could take our time to make the extremely tiring climb. I am not fit haha. Just continuous steps throughout. Anyway, we finally made it up to see this!
It was only about 10am when we descended and I wanted to catch the Haenyeo (women diver) performance at 1.30pm so we headed for lunch first. I decided on Matna Sikdang which is an eatery about 10min away by car that is famous for spicy fish stew. Once again, there was a 1h wait so we just waited in the car until it was our turn. They only had a limited menu, and I was told that only the mixed stew (cutlassfish/hair tail + mackerel) was available which was ok with me since I wanted to try both anyway. And the serving is strictly by person - so 3 servings for 3 people. Honestly it's something I've never tried and the redness of the dish looked intimidating but it really wasn't spicy. The soup was soooo goood and there is so much fish. Eating the fish was quite some work though as hairtail fish has lots of tiny bones. But it was super soft and yummy.
And then we went back to the Seongsan area to walk around and kill time while waiting for the diver performance. Ended up having drinks at Off Coffee.
Finally, 1.30pm and we headed to the performance area. I thought they were really going to dive but it was really a performance i.e they were dancing and singing lol. The main attraction is really the fresh seafood they catch and sell at a little house next to the sea.
And so after half a day in Seongsan, it was time to head west. We went through Jeju City to go to the Gyulhyanggi tangerine farm to do some tangerine picking first. Luckily, I can understand some basic Korean so I could follow the instructions. It's an affordable 5000krw per person, and we could eat an unlimited amount while there and bring home up to 1kg. We ate sooo many tangerines there - some sweet, some not so. And then decided on 7 tangerines per person which was about 700+g, so safely within the 1kg limit and honestly we didn't want to lug around that many tangerines. After the picking, they also served some crackers and tangerine jam for us to try and it was really good so we bought 2 bottles.
I planned to go to Halla Arboretum Night Market for dinner which was actually super near the tangerine farm, but it was only about 5pm at this time (and the market opens at 6pm), so we drove on to Aewol where our airbnb was located to drop off our luggage. I LOVE this accommodation. Super gorgeously furnished, super spacious, and those VIEWS. It was the most pricey of our accoms at about $300+ per night.
After settling down, we headed back to Jeju City for dinner at the Halla Arboretum night market. It's a really nice place with food trucks and not that many people. We ended up getting garlic butter prawns with rice, pork raclette, and fried chicken with fries.
Day 4
Our final full day in Jeju. We started the morning with a long drive to Cafe Delmoondo, which consistently shows up as one of the top cafes to try because it's situated next to the sea so the views are just gorgeous. The things were indeed slightly pricier but honestly, standard Sg price. They have a wide selection of bakes, and we got a peanut latte and vanilla latte. Yummy food and drinks.
Hamdeok beach is just next to the cafe. Beautiful views! Gosh I love Jeju so much.
And then we headed eastward again to the Manjanggul Lava Cave, because we needed an activity to do before heading for lunch haha. But it was quite a nice visit. It's a 1h walk to the end and back, with some informative signs throughout to educate us on lava tubes and the various features, and it ends at the lava column. We also went in to the mini exhibition area to learn a bit more about Jeju and its various volcanic formations.
And then finally, lunch at Myeongjin Abalone. I purposely decided to head there a bit late (it was about 2.30pm) so the wait was only 10 minutes. Again, the menu was really short and we got the abalone porridge, abalone stone pot rice and the grilled abalones. They also provide lots of side dishes, even a mackerel. So much food for about 50000krw again! The abalone porridge is just amazing, and the stone pot rice was even nicer after pouring in the water. And the eatery is just next to the sea so we went for a stroll after eating. Definite must come.
Finally, we headed all the way back west to Geum Oreum, which was where Hyori brought IU in the show haha. It's apparently a nice place to view sunset, and I thought we should head up to at least one of the gazillion oreums (volcanic cones) and apparently this was one of the easiest with only a 10min hike up. Okay, the 10minute hike was pretty steep and tiring (especially for unfit me), but it wasn't too bad. We barely managed to catch sunset, but even then, the views were still beautiful. It's also a place for paragliders to take off from so that was fun to watch. Honestly I had a very brief itinerary before I left and only decided on stuff the day before we actually did them, otherwise I would totally have signed up for paragliding.
We headed down and back to Jeju City for shopping and dinner at Dongmun Traditional Market. It's huge but most of the action is where the food carts are located, where they blast music and dance to it. Makes for quite a spectacle. I bought hotteok, some pork skewer, and then a half lobster, crab rice and this pork wrapped around kimchi. And also peanut ice cream. They don't provide seats and lobster isn't easy to eat standing so we brought our food back to our airbnb. Suuuuper yummy again. We also did all our souvenir shopping here and bought so much food.
Day 5
Last morning in Jeju :( Headed to Gwakji beach in the morning just for views.
Then to Aewol Cafe Street. Bomnal cafe is the famous one which has appeared in kdramas, but the reviews weren't that good haha.
So I headed to Lazy Pump instead which is a 10min walk away. Menu was limited - we got the garlic baguette, french pie and banana cake as well as two drinks. But the food was super yummy, we had fantastic views, and best of all, we managed to catch the haenyeos doing their diving!
And then it was back to Lotte AutoHouse to return the car...where we found out we got a speeding ticket while rushing to Seongsan Ilchulbong for sunrise haha. It was 70000krw so not too bad. And then the bus brought us back to the airport to check in. It's a domestic flight but because we were foreigners, they still checked our passports and we had to go through the foreigner customs area. The flight got delayed by 40min (not sure if related to the Korean SAT which was held that day), but we eventually landed in Seoul at about 3pm...and proceeded to make the biggest tourist mistake by hopping into a deluxe taxi!! So our 1h ride to our hotel in Gangnam cost us more than 50k krw instead of the estimated 35k krw. Oh wells.
I chose L7 Gangnam by Lotte because it's located near a station and walkable to Coex so I thought if we really needed anything, Coex would definitely have it.
So first stop was to Coex, to visit the famous library. I've been here on my previous trip 8 years ago but I think it was under renovation at that time.
We went to the Hyundai Department Store just next door, and ended up eating at the food court to try a variety of food. We ordered jjajjangmyeon and tangsuyuk, soondubu jjigae as well as this pork dish. The food was pretty good, but obviously not matjib standard.
We did some shopping around, and bought a present for my nephew. My last trip to Korea was in summer so I bought tons of clothes, but this time it's almost winter so there was nothing much for me to buy.
Day 6
Breakfast was at Ediya Coffee Lab! A short train ride away, and a short walk to this gorgeous and huge cafe which is the Ediya HQ. We got a salad and panini, a foccacia, and 2 drinks. And they gave a cold brew and a pastry as "service". Gosh I love koreans and their service haha. The food was super tasty, and once again the hot chocolate surpassed my expectations. The ambience was also super nice cos it was very spacious and not that crowded. And they sold lots of stuff so we bought a box of mocha sachets back.
And then headed to Garosugil which I remember from my previous trip as being pretty good for shopping. Unfortunately it changed quite a lot (maybe it's just not peak tourist season), so we ended up doing our shopping at Artbox and Uniqlo lol.
Next, headed over to Apgujeong, which is full of plastic surgery clinics haha. Again, not much shopping to be done, but we headed to Dosan Park. The autumn leaves are sooo pretty.
And happened to pass by Kyochon chicken which is apparently one of the most famous fried chicken chains so headed in to try. The food was good but service was probably the worst I experienced in Korea.
We then headed north to Bukchon Hanok village which was a place I didn't go last trip. We also visited one of the houses open for exhibition.
And then finally to Insadong. Again, it was my favourite place last trip, and I'm not sure if my shopping sensibilities have changed but I didn't buy anything this time. I still liked walking up Ssamzigil though, which is a super unique spiral mall.
Our dinner place was called Doma, which is famous for its doenjang jjigae. We went at about 515pm and there were 2 groups ahead of us so we waited for about 30min. And while we were waiting, the queue increased to about 20+ groups. So yeah, for these matjibs, definitely be strategic about when you want to go - either super early or super late. And be prepared to wait anyway. They ran out of shabushabu so we had to order one set per person. We ended up ordering 2 pork and 1 chicken, but really the main thing was the stew. And I have to say - it lived up to expectations. The meat was okay (definitely not as good as the bbq one we had in Jeju), but I liked that there was veg on the side. It was a huge portion so I was struggling to finish though. But damn the stew was definitely worth it. Again, not expensive! I think it was about 18000krw for each set.
Also realised there was an Osulloc store around the Bukchon area which we missed so ended up walking there to buy some of the snacks and green tea spread.
Day 7
Last full day in Korea. I didn't manage to visit Yeouido, Han River and Hongdae on my previous trip so these were the places I really wanted to go this time. We headed out early to take the train to Yeouido and ended up at IFC mall. Breakfast at Paul Bassett, which is famous for their nata tarts - super yummy!! And there was a Knotted store right next to it so I tried a donut too. I think there's a donut craze currently because the Knotted store at at the Bukchon/Insadong area was packed and I see so many people carrying around boxes of donuts from various brands.
We did some shopping, but again no summer clothes, so we ended up at YP bookstore buying toys for my nephews/niece and other nonsense haha. Then headed over to Yeouido Park to walk towards Han River, which appears in every kdrama ever. Everything is so pretty in the fall, and we were blessed with super nice weather and blue skies!
Next stop was to go north to Gwanghwamun, and lol we caught some political rally as well. I went to Gyeongbokgung in the previous trip so I skipped it - where I really wanted to visit was Cheonggyecheon stream, and we walked along the stream to end up in Myeongdong.
Tried A Twosome Place at Myeongdong since it was time from a tea break and it was everywhere. The cafe chains in Korea are somehow are all really good haha.
And then it was time to do the usual Myeongdong shopping. We went into Nature Republic and spent a hundred bucks on face masks and other products lol.
And final stop of the day was Hongdae. It was a Saturday evening, which I purposely planned for as that's when they have street performances! We saw some dance performances as well as 2 guys singing. Also tried some of the street food - corndog, bunggeoppang and egg bread.
I also found a cafe called Hoho Myoll that had good reviews and was famous for tiramisu so we headed there (about a 5-10min walk from the main Hongdae area, through all the clubs), and it was such a nice, and quiet place away from the noise. The tiramisu was indeed very nice, as was my mocha.
Day 8
Last day in Korea! It was just breakfast - and we headed to Eggdrop which is everywhere, including one conveniently located just 10min from our hotel. We bought 3 different types and the bread was soooo good.
And then it was time to take the taxi to Incheon Airport, and it cost us 70k krw, which I think is a decent price. Of course, bought more stuff at the airport! And then a nice, comfy ride on ScootPlus back.
Honestly, if I were to go to Korea again, I would probably skip Seoul but go to Jeju again. I love the peacefulness of the place, and even touristy places are not overrun by tourists (for now..). The weather is great, food is amazing, people are friendly, views to-die-for. And so many other sights we didn't manage to see this time.