BUsan - Jeju, Korea Day 4

With the help of a dear friend, we managed to get tickets for a domestic flight from Busan to Jeju. Our flight was in the late afternoon, so we had some time to bid farewell to the neighbourhood.

For farewell lunch, we had "road side yong tau foo". It's what we always see in Korean dramas! It's rice cakes and fish cakes and others, and you just have to pick what you want and cook it in the soup. The little red bowl-cups are for drinking soup. I had about 3-4 sticks, which added up to around 2,400won (~S$2.70).

And for farewell drink, coffee from one of the many lovely cafes in Busan. The motel owner called a cab for us, and the trip to Busan domestic airport cost 13,300won (~S$14,.80)

Jeju

From Busan to Jeju takes less then an hour by flight. Upon reaching the airport, we boarded the Airport Limousine #600 to get to Seogwipo, which took about 1hour 20min.

I divided Jeju into 2 parts - Jeju City and Seogwipo. Jeju City is where the airport is located, however, most places of attractions are in Seogwipo. So to save time travelling (and it already takes up a lot of time to travel within Seogwipo by public transport), we booked the guesthouse in Seogwipo where we spent the whole of our 4 days 3 nights. 

Jeju City

The Guesthouse we stayed in Jeju is "Tae Gong Gak Inn and Guesthouse".  And it's the best stay I had in Korea. For more information, read - Tripadvisor and Korea Tourism Org.

To get to the guesthouse, alight opposite New Gyeongnam Hotel. Facing the hotel and walking towards the right, at 50m ahead, you would see this sign board across the road.

Yeh! Which would mean you have reached the place.

There are only 50 rooms and no elevators. It's around 3 storeys high.

I love the place because I love how clean it is!

The room is small but very cosy and comfortable. And depending on the type of view you want (the Harbour, the Mountain or the orchard) as well as the level, the room rates differ accordingly. We chose a room with a Harbour View (the view is very small, and the window has grills, so not exactly a perfect view) and it costs 230,000won (S$258.30) because we stayed at level 2 first the first 2 nights (75,000won ~S$84.20/night) and at level 3 for the last night (80,000won).

The guesthouse is run by Slyvia and Peter, the loveliest guesthouse owners I get to know in Korea. :)

And I will forever be grateful to Peter for recommending us dinner at this place - for the famous black pork bbq. Black pork will never taste the same anywhere else.  It's just a short walk from the guesthouse, prob around 15min, I can't remember the directions now, but Peter had photos on his computer at the lobby, where it's almost like a step by step snapshots of how to get there!

Dimly lit, with newspaper and pages from magazines on the walls of the restaurant. Looks kinda shady, which we might not have venture in on our own.

 

BUT. never judge a book by its cover. They serve truly, the best black pork bbq ever. Peter wrote us some orders (on different parts of the poor pig) in Korean which we showed to the waiters.

  

 The whole meal costs us 20,000won (~S$22.40), not very filling though. We had limited budget, so we didn't dare to eat a lot. But it was totally worth it. I think the shop is closed on a Monday?... We tried to go there on our last night in Jeju (and it was a Monday), and the shop was closed :(

Cheongjiyeon Waterfalls

After dinner,we made our way to Cheonjiyeon Waterfalls (meaning connecting the sky and the earth), which is one of the 3 most famous waterfalls in Jeju. It is within walking distance, but we lost our way a little and manage to find the right path back fortunately. Not a lot of local can speak English even though Jeju is a rather touristy place. So it's always good to have the contact of your hotel staff or guesthouse owners on hand just in case some translation is needed.

 

Entrance fees at 2,000won/pax (~S$2.20). And it closes earlier during winter season at around 10.00pm. 

The famous Dolharubang, or better known as Stone Grandfather can be seen almost everywhere in Jeju. He's considered the guardian diety of Jeju Island that wards off evil spirits.

Follow a trail that leads you to the waterfall. Lovely to walk at night because of it's cooling and less crowded, but to capture the many beautiful floral and fauna, go in the day! :)

Night time seems to come earlier during winter, so we made our way back after the waterfalls, which was only about 9+pm. And here's what we see on our way back to our guesthouse. It's beautiful at night and lovely in the day as well. Within walking distance from our guesthouse and the waterfalls! We'll be heading there on our last day in Jeju :)

And the start of my trilogy fresh milk tasting. The original is still my favourite! Look out for more flavours to come!

Busan, Korea Day 3

On our third day in Busan, we asked the Motel owner recommend us an eatery where we can have some real traditional Korean food and he directed us to a restaurant in Busan Hotel just down the road.

We had bibimbap for brunch 10,000won (~S$11.60) each. I just want to say again how much I love having meals in Korea. We only ordered bibimbap and the rest are all side dishes that came along with it. :D

40 Steps (Culture & Tourists Theme Street)

About 10-15min walk away from our Motel is the 40 steps Culture and Tourist Theme Street (if taking the subway, it's subway line 1 at Jungang-dong Station, exit 13)

I read that along the street, statues depicting the early lives and culture of the 1950s can be seen. We didn't really explore the street, but only climbed up the 40 steps. This is a well known gathering place for refugees during the Korean War where they try to find out news about their loved ones at a time when communication systems were not as well developed.


Behind the status of the man sitting in the middle of the 40 steps, playing the accordion is a sound box that plays a Korean song, back in the 1950s, which was about the 40 steps.

What it was like during the olden times...

A little random shop, on the slope beside the 40 steps.

View from the top of the 40 steps.

Wedding gowns in the back alley.

Bosu-Dong Book Street

A short walk away from the forty steps is the Bosu Dong Book street. Well you guessed it, it's a narrow street filled with book stores at both sides.

comes in piles like this

I love places with books and I love this place even though it takes only a few minutes to the end of the book street and most of the books are in Korean.

or nicely stacked

It would be nice if we could spend more time here, I'm pretty sure we should be able to find some gems (in English) somewhere.

Gukje Market

Out of the Book Alley, Gukje Market is just across the street.

One of the best places to have a feel of the country's culture, is to visit the market where locals frequent. Gukje Market could be segregated into around 6 sections, where they sell items ranging from bags, second hand goods, clothes etc to foodstuff. And there were so many kind of foods, it's so colourful.

If you are ready for a good walk in Busan, try these places - PIFF Square -> 40 steps -> Bosudong Book Street -> Gukje Market. I'm sure there are other interesting places within walking distance for exploration. We got a map from our Motel owner in this area and it was definitely helpful. now... I just need to find where I place that map...


Haeundae Beach - PIFF Pavillion/ Busan Aquarium/ Beach

We next took a subway and headed to Haeundae Beach. (Alight at Haeundae Beach station and the beach is just 150m away).

As the Pusan International Film Festival was just around the corner, a makeshift pavilion was set up where photos of Korean actors/ actresses and films were on display.

There were also a number of laptops available for visitors to find out more about the films there will be screening during the festival.

I was rather hung up on visiting Busan because of the PIFF and my infatuation with various Korean celebrities (male & Females, no discrimination here). But here's the closest I got to meet a Korean celebrity. (-o-)

I don't usually fancy visiting aquariums when I'm overseas but since we have a lot of spare time on hand (Did I mention that we totally forgot about making a trip to Beomosa temple (-o-) Anyway, we only remembered at the end of the day, and Busan Aquarium was just right at Haeundae Beach, we decided to make some friends with the aquatic animals.

So it's a lot of fishes and of course crabbies and well, you get it..

The aquarium is quite big, and not very crowded. So we could take all the time we want to take pictures, stroll through the aquarium and press our faces against the display windows.

Here's my absolute favourite and something very special - Jelly Fish! Watch the videos below to find out what I mean.

Very calming :)

Many Nemos.

Erm, big fishes

After the aquarium, we spent some time on the beach. It was cool and the weather was perfect in the late afternoon. The sky and the sea made a beautiful picture.


Back to PIFF Square

3 level Coffee Bean! - A first for me!

For dinner, we went back to a restaurant in PIFF square for some BBQ goodness. We ordered some pork and beef and it all adds up to 36,000won (~S$42.10) for 2 peeps. I later come to know that beef is much more expensive in Korea's bbq, pork would be a much cheaper choice of meat.

Quiet street at night, back to our motel.

For our last night in Busan, we changed our room from the ondoh to the normal room instead. There are some fish design on the ceiling, well, up to you to decide if it's nice or not. lol.