Busy Busan: Some Pictures

View of Busan city from Lotte Department Store Gwangbok

 Gwangandaegyo Bridge

Lotte Department Store Centum City

I asked the shop assistant at Nature Republic (she speaks fluent English) to write this for me. It’s supposed to say I can eat seafood and vegetables but not meat

The crazy queues for the Vietnam Airlines check-in counters at Gimhae International Airport on my morning of departure

Busy Busan: Part II

Sunday, 29 April 2018

I woke up at 03:30 local time to perform morning prayers. The girl in the bed below was snoring and the Vietnamese girl across was not happy about it. I felt like telling her that her grumbles were as noisy as the snores.

I woke again at 07:15 and there was a queue for the bathroom. I didn’t fancy going out to find another bathroom so I packed my things while I waited. I went down at 08:45 with my bags and had a light breakfast. I left just after 09:00 and walked to Inside Busan (I had searched for it the previous evening) and it was only 5 minutes away. I had booked via Airbnb to stay there for the next two nights. I left my bags in the double ensuite room I would be staying in (the previous guests had just checked out), keyed in my door code then walked to Busan metro station.

I rode the metro to Toseong station, exited the station at exit 8 and walked to the bus stop at Cancer Hospital about 100 metres away. While it is possible to walk to Gamcheon Culture Village, the village is built on the foothills of a coastal mountain so it’ll be a steep walk up. You can take bus numbers 1-1, 2 or 2-2 to Gamcheon Culture Village.

We arrived at the bus stop at the entrance of the village and alighted. I went to the left to admire the scenery and even went down some steps to explore the nearby area before retracing my steps and making my way to the main entrance. There was a festive feeling in the air and I walked along the main thoroughfare around the village. A bit of history on the village: it used to house the city’s poorest people, but during the Korean War, refugees fled their homes for Busan (known as Pusan until year 2000), which was the only area which was free from fighting. The North Korean People’s Army had pushed back UN forces to a 230-km line near the south-eastern tip of the Korea Peninsula known as the ‘Pusan Perimeter’. This was the only part of the peninsula the North never held. These refugees fled to Busan, but the areas near Jagalchi quickly became overcrowded and the refugees eventually flooded Gamcheon as well. Many quickly built shanty homes along the hillside (which is why Gamcheon should remind you of the favelas and slum areas in Brazil and the Medellin slums in Colombia). At the same time, or slightly before the influx of refugees, a person called Cho Cholje, the founder of a new religion called Taegukdo that believes in yin and yang, had moved his religious headquarters to Gamcheon. Interesting fact: Gamcheon is also known as Taegukdo Village. Cho told the refugees that he would help them if they believed in Taegukdo, and the refugees did. Together with the Taegukdo followers, the refugees rebuilt their shanty homes into concrete homes which we see today.

I spent two hours at Gamcheon then made my way to the bus stop for the bus back to Toseong station. The small bus was full this time. I stood close to the door and driver (even the driver was young and handsome! Probably a university student working part-time as he really looked young).

I took the metro to Jagalchi station one stop away and walked to Gukje Market (in hindsight, I could have just walked from Teseong station). I was looking for street food for lunch and when I finally found the street food stalls, I had to wait until I could find someone who could speak English to translate for me. In the end, I asked loudly if anyone could speak English and to my surprise, one of the street food hawker aunties actually knew English and helped me pick my lunch. Fancy that!

After that, I crossed over to Jagalchi Market, the largest seafood market in Busan. Fresh seafood is sold at ground level while dry seafood is sold upstairs. There are many food stalls on the upper level too but most seemed to be selling some kind of seafood stew for at least four people. I left and walked along the market towards Yeongdodaegyo Bridge and Lotte Department Store Gwangbok and passed a few seafood restaurants along the way. I was tempted to try some noodles but was still full from the street food and besides, it was nearing 2 p.m., where part of Yeongdodaegyo Bridge would lift up for 15 minutes to allow ships to pass between the south and north ports. There were already many people waiting at the waterfront. I stayed until the part of the bridge that lifted started coming down before leaving for Lotte Department Store Gwangbok.

At Lotte Department Store, I took the lift up to the eleventh floor where the petting zoo is. From here, I went up the stairs to the observation deck for a view over Busan. You can also go to Busan Tower but you have to go up Yongdusan Park and then to the tower itself and you have to pay for the entrance fee.

After going around the observation deck, I went down and walked out of Lotte. I decided to skip the metro (nearest station to Lotte is Nampo) and walked back. Along the way, I stopped at 40-step Culture & Tourism Theme Street near Jungang Station (if you take the metro, take exit 11). The 40-step stairway embodies the joys and sorrows of refugees and those displaced by the Korean War and I was a bit surprised when I arrived in the area and found it deserted. I did meet three uncles at the steps and we helped take pictures of each other. After we parted company, I walked along Donggwang-gil which is somewhat parallel to the main road of Jungang-daero all the way back to Inside Busan. Busan is a pretty hilly city and Donggwang-gil is at an elevation over Jungang-daero.

Back in my room, I performed prayers. I tried switching on the air-conditioner but it didn’t work. After some snack, I went out again and took the train to Geumnyeonsan station. It was a nice area of Busan but alas I was too late to catch any cherry blossoms. I walked along the waterfront for a bit to see the Gwangandaegyo Bridge before returning to the station. I took the train to Dongbaek to view the skycrapers and decided to call it a day after a stroll around the neighbourhood.

I rode the metro back to Busan station and walked back to Inside Busan. I had a light dinner before returning to my room. It may be hot during the day but the nights were cool and pleasant.

Monday, 30 April 2018

This morning, I decided to try the city bus so after breakfast, I walked to Busan Train Station and after asking for directions, took the exit for the bus stop. I waited about 10 minutes for bus 1003 and rode the bus to Suyeong metro station. To my pleasant surprise, the ride took less than 25 minutes and definitely shorter than getting there by metro (I would need to change trains at Seomyeon and climb up and down stairs from one platform to another)! From Suyeong, I took the metro to Centum City. Shinsegae Centum City is the largest shopping mall in the world but I only went to Lotte Department Store. I spent about an hour there before taking the train to Seomyeon. You exit the station to Seomyeon Underground Shopping Centre and it’s a huge sprawl of shops located underground. It even made me wonder why we are keen to build cities below ground as if space is already limited above ground. Or are we just greedy for space? There are clothes shops, cosmetics shops (and Korea produces a lot of cosmetic and skincare), vintage shops, shops selling curios etc. There are multiple shops of the same brand (The Face Shop, Nature Republic, Etude House...all skincare shops). I walked around and around and finally went up Lotte and above ground to find some street food but nothing caught my fancy. I then returned to Lotte and went up to the top floor where the duty free is. I was tempted but after a quick online check, found that things cost less in Europe.

I rode the train back and returned to Inside Busan. After lunch and prayers, I rested a bit before venturing out for dinner to the restaurant where I had my first dinner in Busan. After dinner, I went to Top Mart to buy some seaweed to bring back. I had come prepared with my foldable duffel bag to store the packets of seweed. Heh.

Tuesday, 1 May 2018

While you can take airport bus to/fro the airport and city, I decided to take the train instead. I left at 07:15 after a quick breakfast and walked to the Busan metro station. There’s a lift to bring me down to the station and another lift to get to the platform and the lift reached the platform just as the train arrived. Alhamdulillah. I changed trains at Seomyeon (there were a few other fellow travellers also bound for the airport) and rode the train to Sasang. At Sasang, I exited the metro and walked to Sasang LRT station (LRT there is above ground). The train was already waiting when I reached the platform and I quickly ran to board it and a good thing too for the doors closed twenty seconds later. We reached Gimhae International Airport three stations later and all in all, it took only 45 minutes from Busan metro station to reach the airport. Fantastic! I quickly made my way to the counter and was shocked to see the long queues for Vietnam Airlines snaking across the hall. I was the third at the web check-in counter so ladies and gentlemen, do check in online prior to your flight unless you enjoy queuing. The lady at the counter asked if I wanted to change to an aisle seat two rows further up and I accepted happily.

After dropping off my bags and getting my boarding passes, I took the escalator down to arrivals level to return my Cash Bee card. The chap at the counter explained that there would be 500 wons charge as administrative fee and deducted from the card balance. That was fine with me. After getting my refund, I went through security and passport control. The duty-free area was not too big and after browsing, I headed for my gate. We boarded about 30 minutes before departure and took off just slightly later than scheduled.

We landed at Saigon Airport at 12:44. I went through transfer process and was browsing the duty-free shortly after. The duty-free here was different as it had a lot of Vietnamese products – jewellery, clothes, handbags from exotic skins (crocodile, snake). I happily browsed them all (and almost tempted to buy one bag but wasn’t sure of CITES) before sitting down to catch up on social media and my book. We were fed too soon after taking off from Busan so it was a good thing I had some bread and chocolates to eat while waiting.

We boarded at 14:30 and landed at KLIA at 17:53. My bags were out by 18:25 (record! This had never happened before!) but I was asked to place my bags on the belt before exiting. I asked why but received no answer. I got the 18:40 train to KL Sentral, reached KL Sentral at 19:08, got the Grab car and was home by 19:45. Alhamdulillah. This was the first time that I arrived home in less than two hours after I landed.

Busy Busan: Part I

I usually go to Europe in May but had to change my plans this time around as my new boss wanted me to handle a major event in the second week of May. However, as it turned out, I needn’t handle the event anymore as it became part of my colleague’s portfolio. It was too near to May to plan for a trip so I decided to look elsewhere instead.

I had finally decided on a destination but when I checked again a couple of days later (on Kayak and Expedia, the ticket price had increased. I was not happy and kept checking every few days. Finally I decided to try PYO Travel (as I did for my Macau hotel booking and second trip to Taiwan) and guess what, while the price was higher than when I first searched for the flight, it was nowhere as high as those quoted on Kayak and Expedia (Kayak did suggest using Budget Air but the reviews put me off and anyway, it turned out to cost more than what PYO Travel quoted). So I decided to purchase my return ticket using PYO Travel. The only snag is the different price structure if you pay for the ticket immediately (no charge if you use CIMB Clicks but you need to pay an additional amount for using Maybank2U) and if you pay using your credit card (you need to pay a higher amount for using credit card). As I absolutely hate paying more when I can pay less, I decided to pay for the ticket in full using my colleague’s CIMB Clicks. Of course this led me to being broke in February (and March when I utilised PYO Travel again to buy ticket for my long break but that’s another story for another time, insyaAllah).

Friday, 27 April 2018

I was woken up ridiculously early but the bloody evil bloodsuckers and as much as I tried to reclaim sleep, it eluded me. I finally gave up and got up to get ready for work (even watered the plants at 06:00 a.m. after morning prayers!). I left home with my suitcase as I was planning to go to KLIA from the office. I had initially applied for leave in the afternoon as my flight was at 19:10 but decided to cancel it after discussing with my boss. I didn’t want to be at the airport too long and was debating if I should kill time at Nu Sentral or take the shuttle from KLIA to Mitsui Outlet Park. Logic prevailed and I decided I would do neither. I would not be tempted to window shop (I might end up buying something and it’d be pretty silly to haul it to my destination and back). I should not be spending money unnecessarily! So I discussed with my boss and she agreed for me to clock in early and leave slightly early. I told her I would make up for leaving 15 minutes early by working half an hour during lunchtime so I wouldn’t be short-changing my employer. It’s better for me to save my leave in case I need to use to utilise them later what with dad’s condition.

It was a battle getting to work that morning as the buses were late and filled to the rafters. I only managed to push myself (and bag) onto the sixth or seventh bus. I ended up arriving 5 minutes late to work... (made up for it by working during lunch).

CT came to send me to KL Sentral and despite a wrong turn, we reached KL Sentral in time for me to board the 17:15 train to KLIA. There was hardly any queue and as I’d checked in online the evening before, I went to drop off my bag before going to buy bread.

I was a bit surprised that I had to take the aerotrain to the gate as it was a regional flight. Anyway, I was lucky as the aerotrain arrived as I got to the platform. I arrived at the boarding gate around 18:30 and we were called to board about 15 minutes later.

We landed at Hanoi International Airport before 21:30 local time and I went through the transit process. It was a bit difficult trying to find a power outlet to charge my devices and finally I used the outlet behind the TV screen near my gate.

Saturday, 28 April 2018

We were called to board just after midnight. I probably dozed off during take-off but woke up soon after. The crew then served us late dinner and I wondered why they couldn’t serve early breakfast instead about 90 minutes before landing. Anyway, despite my earlier meal, I was hungry.

I tried sleeping but sleep was not surprisingly elusive (not helped by the Korean aunties sitting near me who kept yakking at each other). Finally I got up and went to perform ablutions for morning prayers.

We landed at Gimhae International Airport just after 06:00 and it was already very bright. We had to fill in landing form; I did try getting it on board the plane but was given one in Vietnamese (well, I flew Vietnam Airlines anyway). It was a slow process at the passport control with only two counters opened for non-Koreans. Even then, there were still a lot of people at the bag carousel waiting for our bags. My bag emerged just as I came out from the bathroom. After freshening up, I went to 7-11 to buy Cash Bee card for transportation within Busan. I only realised that I could not use the card for the bus to Gyeongju and had to buy another ticket. The card itself costs KRW5,000 and you can top up as much as you want; I chose to top up KRW40,000 into the card.

After buying the card, I dropped by the Information counter where I was directed to the bus stop for the bus to Gyeongju. The fare cost KRW9,000 and you can pay by cash or card. The bus arrived shortly after at 08:20 (you can find the schedule here) and after a brief stop at the nearby domestic terminal, we were on our way.

I managed to doze off and woke up just as we reached Gyeongju almost an hour later. After storing my suitcase into the small locker (it fit just nicely! The small locker at the bus station cost KRW1,000 while the bigger one cost KRW1,500), I went to change a KRW1,000 note into coins for the locker. After a quick check at the bus schedule for the bus back to Busan (08:30, 10:00, and every 90 minutes thereafter), I went out to get the bus to Bulguksa Temple. You can ride buses no. 10, 11 or 700 to Bulguksa and bus no. 12 from Bulguksa to Seokguram Grotto. I used my newly purchased Cash Bee card to pay for my bus fare and settled down. There were a few American travellers in the bus too.

We reached Bulguksa Temple bus stop at 10:20 and I dithered if I should wait for the 10:40 bus to Seokguram or head for the temple first. I finally decided to head for the temple rather than waste 20 minutes so I went up across the park and up the road leading to the temple. It was starting to be a very hot day by then so much so I quickly shed my cardigan off.

After paying the entrance fee of KRW5,000, I went into the temple grounds. We were greeted by a gorgeous garden with a lotus pond. There are willow trees and shrubs with giant carp weaving through the lotus stems. It was so very peaceful and serene that I was almost reluctant to leave the pond but I finally walked up to the temple complex. There were already a lot of people around. Well, it was a fine spring Saturday anyway. I spent about an hour there before returning to the bus stop for the 11:40 bus no. 12 to Seokguram. There were more people arriving as I was leaving.

It was a 20-minute uphill winding bus ride to Seokguram. I read that it’s part of the Bulguksa temple complex and that it’s possible to hike there from Bulguksa although if you’re thinking of doing so, I would strongly suggest you visit Seokguram first before going down to Bulguksa because it’s a mighty climb up to Seokguram. I followed the other visitors along a winding path to the grotto. Photography is not allowed in the grotto. The centrepiece of the granite sanctuary is a Buddha statue seated in the main chamber on a lotus throne with legs crossed. The Buddha is surrounded by panels of ancient Indian gods in the rotunda. I thought the KRW5,000 entrance fee was very steep compared to what I experienced. By the way, Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

I walked back along the path back towards the bus stop and waited for the 13:05 bus no. 12 back to Bulguksa. From the Bulguksa bus stop, I joined many other visitors for the bus back to Gyeongju. Bus no. 10 finally arrived at close to 13:30 and I was back at Gyeongju Intercity/Express Bus Terminal at 14:21. I had enough time to buy the ticket for the 14:30 bus to Busan (cost KRW4,800), retrieve my suitcase from the locker and use the facilities before boarding the bus. We reached the Central Bus Terminal almost an hour later and I followed the signs to Nopo metro station. I rode the metro from Nopo (station no. 134) to Busan station (station no. 113).

From the station, I took the elevator up and went to find Kimchee Busan Station Guesthouse where I would spend my first night. It may have guesthouse in the name but it’s a hostel. I was surprised to find a Malay family of six at the lobby (I never met Malaysians at the hostels I’d stayed before!). I checked in and found two other Malay girls were in my dormitory room. In fact, there was a Malaysian student there working at the guesthouse (the guesthouse provided complimentary accommodation in exchange for two hours of work in the hostel; I thought it was a very good offer). There was no key needed; you just need to place your palm on the keypad on the door to activate it and key in your code which you set when you get to the room with the help of the hostel staff. It’s a very good idea for people like me who don’t want to carry around heavy keys and risk losing them.

After settling down and performing prayers, I went to explore the surrounding area. The guesthouse is in Chinatown so I was surprised to find a lot of Russians and Russian businesses invading into and overtaking Chinatown. There was a small neighbourhood market and the larger Choryang Market. I had dinner at a small noodle shop a few steps away from Choryang Market and very near Top Mart, the neighbourhood supermarket. The woman didn’t understand English and I don’t speak Korean so I had to draw poor representations of fish, cow, pig and chicken to tell her my dietary requirements.

After dinner, I browsed Top Mart before returning to the guesthouse. I had to wait to use the bathroom. The two Malay girls returned after 10:00 p.m. and I went to sleep just after 11:00 p.m. It had been a long day which followed a sleepless night the evening before and the unplanned ridiculously early start on Friday.

To be continued

The Land Of The Morning Calm: Part IV

Monday, 28 December 2014

Today was our penultimate day in Korea and boy, did we have a lot of places to still visit! We left at 7 and headed across the city for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed to Gyeongbukgung Palace, passing the Blue House on our walk. We walked around the grounds of the palace, noting the king’s library and Hyangwonjeong Pavilion before dropping by the National Folk Museum which showcases the history of the Koreans and their way of life. We spent about 40 minutes in the museum before resuming our exploration of the palace grounds. We passed Gangnyeongjeon (King’s Quarters), Gyotaejeon (Queen’s Quarters), Jagyeongjeon (King’s Mother’s Quarters), concubine quarters and servant quarters before coming upon Geunjeongjeon (Throne Hall) and Sajeongjeon (Executive Office).

We went on a whirlwind tour of a ginseng factory and herbs shop after that. Lunch was seafood hotpot and after lunch, we went to a cosmetic shop (I’m sure you all notice the proliferation of Korean cosmetic shops even in KL). One word of advice though: DO NOT buy any of the products at the shops you stop at because you will always get them at a lower price elsewhere. The tub of aloe vera gel that el niño and I bought cost more than the one at the airport and we all know that despite being duty-free, items always cost more at airports so that’s really saying something.

We then drove to board a cruise ferry. We arrived half an hour early and had to wait to board it. On board the first static boat, we were given a lively bread-making demonstration and then we all had the chance and raw materials to make our own bread. We had to label the baking tray accordingly so that the bread could be packed and returned to us. While waiting for the bread to be cooked, we boarded another boat and went on a cruise along the Han River. The Pang Pang cruise with the Pang Show lasted about 40 minutes and we collected our packed bread on our way out.

Dinner was next and tonight, we had it at Todai Restaurant in Myeongdong. It’s a restaurant serving seafood buffet plus a few others so we ate quite a lot. After dinner, we had two hours to spend window-shopping. I finally bought a pair of sport shoes at ABC Mart while my nieces went crazy with stuff with EXO on them. Yup, they were shopping all right.

We met up at 10 pm and drove back to the hotel. The four of us had an early start the following morning.

Tuesday, 29 December 2014

Our transfer to the airport would pick us at 06:30 so this morning we woke up early. Mr Piao was already waiting at the lobby when we went down with bags of shrimp burgers, fries and soft drink from KFC for our breakfast. There was still some time to run over to 7-11 to buy some titbits and that was what we did. We finally left at 06:35 after saying goodbye and thanking Mr Piao and Yen (Yen would only depart Seoul with the rest of the group in the afternoon). We reached the airport 50 minutes later and immediately checked in. After checking in our bags, we ate the burgers before going in to clear security check and immigration.

There are many boutiques inside the terminal including Hermes, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Gucci...unfortunately, LV items cost more over there as they are quoted in USD (and MYR is very weak against the greenback now). So I left Seoul without doing much shopping (not many things appealed to me and I didn’t have the luxury of time to shop for those that do like ginseng, pomegranate tea etc).

We landed safely at KLIA at 16:50 and I rushed off to perform prayers. Our bags took a while to appear so it was a good thing I decided to perform prayers first. Akak was already waiting for us and the kids were super excited to see their parents again.

Will there be another trip with them? We’ll see.

The Land Of The Morning Calm: Part III

Friday, 26 December 2014

We were told that we would get a late wake-up call today and that we would check out of the hotel an hour after the wake-up call at 10:30 a.m. The kids and I rose early and after finishing our packing, ventured out. We went to E-Mart but it only opens at 10 so we walked to Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast. I bought my food at 7-11 and joined them. We hurried over to E-Mart and were among the first shoppers of the day before returning to the hotel to bring our luggage down.

We checked out and left and drove a bit before stopping for a buffet brunch. We then headed to the airport for our 13:10 flight back to Gimpo. We were all assigned seats to the rear of the plane.

Back at Gimpo, we collected our bags and followed Mr Piao to the coach for our long trip ahead. We had all dressed warmly today in anticipation of the colder weather and were glad to have done so for it was absolutely freezing when we arrived at Namiseom parking lot. After using the facilities, we joined the queue to board the ferry across to Namiseom.

I don’t know why it was possible to feel even colder on the island. We took the obligatory group photo before venturing to explore the island, well, a small part of it anyway. At the risk of repeating myself, it was a freezing day and we could hardly feel our feet. I was still wearing my Converse then too! We walked along the corridor of trees, detoured to visit the ostriches then walked to the restaurants. Then we saw a fire and like a moth drawn to the flame, we went to warm ourselves there. Finally I could feel my toes! We sat there for a few minutes, reluctant to depart from the comforting heat. We then turned and walked back to the gathering place. We sought warmth at the nearby tourist centre before meeting the rest of our party and queuing to board the ferry back.

Dinner was held at a restaurant close to Namiseom parking lot. The restaurant had halal signs and even a sign saying that it could provide a prayer room upon request.

After dinner, we drove for three hours before reaching our hotel at almost 10 pm. I liked the hotel but alas, it was a very short stay there as we were checking out early the next morning.

Saturday, 26 December 2014

The morning wake-up call was at 6 today and as usual, we were to assemble at the lobby with our bags an hour later. However, we had to wait as the restaurant was only open at 07:30. We had a good leisurely breakfast at the hotel before leaving the hotel. However, we had to stop and wait while a member of our party rushed back to his room to find his pair of spectacles which he left behind. We left fifteen minutes later and drove to Seoraksan National Park. We got down and walked to the cable car station, rode the car up and walked the few hundred metres up to admire the view. We stayed there for half an hour before making our way back to the cable car station. There were already quite a few other tourists there and we had to stop and give way as the trail was narrow and didn’t allow a two-way foot traffic.

We turned left after exiting the cable car station and Mr Piao led us to the gigantic Buddha (Great Unification Buddha). We left after ten minutes.

We drove for two hours to Pyeongchang where we stopped to have lunch. Pyeongchang has been elected host city of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in 2018. After lunch, we drove to the nearby Yongpyong Ski Resort and checked into the Dragon Valley Hotel of the resort. We met up again at the lobby as Yen wanted to take us to see the skiers. (Akak had explicitly forbidden the kids from skiing so we were the only ones who weren’t skiing in our group.) As the skiing area was exclusively for skiers and those without skiing gears are not allowed in, we left after a while and went to another part of the resort as the kids wanted to play with the snow. A snow fight quickly ensued between the three of them. We also walked along the semi-frozen river and then I left them and walked to The Tower to browse the shops and restaurants there. I left after a while and returned to the room.

We met up at the lobby again at 16:30 and after a long wait, left for a sheep farm. We were given the opportunity to feed the hungry sheep and after exhausting the food supply, we went into a big hall where we were shown how to make cheese. We also made our own cheese and later ate it sandwiched in between crisps dipped in jam. Man, it was de-li-cious.

We left after finishing up our cheese and drove to a restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we drove back to the resort and were dropped off at Peak Island, the resort’s water park. El niño and niña chiquita wanted to go swimming, but la niña and I didn’t so we returned to our rooms.

Sunday, 27 December 2014

We checked out of the hotel this morning and had breakfast at The Tower. We left after breakfast and headed back to Seoul, stopping en route at Yeoju Premium Outlets just after 10 am. We were given two hours to shop. It was a bitterly cold day today and the stores’ warmth couldn’t have been more welcomed. I browsed the boutiques before deciding to look for a pair of sport shoes but as I couldn’t decide then, I left empty-handed.

We drove on and reached Lotte World after 1 pm. We were given 3.5 hours to explore the theme park (there’s an indoor park and there’s also the outdoor park) but as much as I love theme parks, I found it a tad disappointing. The kids didn’t want to ride any rollercoasters (!) so we made do with some of the milder rides. It being a Sunday, the queues at some attractions were quite long. Yen had already informed us beforehand that no lunch would be provided; instead we were each given KRW7K to buy our own lunch.

We met up again at a quarter to 5 and rode the coach to Dongdaemun. We had dinner at a restaurant in a building and then were given 90 minutes to shop. Dongdaemun has many wholesale shops and some of them open until 2 a.m. We walked in and out of malls and even crossed over to Lotte Fitin before turning back. We checked into Hotel Capital near Itaewon at 8. El niño, niña chiquita and I went out again at 9 to Itaewon.

To be continued

The Land Of The Morning Calm: Part II

Thursday, 25 December 2014

We were given a morning call at 6 am and were at the lobby before 7. We drove to a restaurant for a simple Korean breakfast (porridge for me) before continuing on to a small shop selling orange produce (sweets and bottled vitamin capsules in orange flavour). Jeju has a very fertile land and a balmy weather and the islanders take advantage of this by planting a lot of citrus fruits. Then we continued on to Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak (Sunrise Peak). After Mr Piao had paid for admission, we walked up, wait, struggled up the trail but the strong sea wind made it very challenging. The peak was once an island before it was connected to Jeju-do from the washed sand and gravel.

We didn’t go all the way to the top and turned back half-way. We followed the trail and went down to where the women sea divers were (I’m not sure if there’s any diving in winter! Surely not!) and spent about fifteen minutes before climbing up again and admiring the view from another area. Then we returned to the bus.

We drove on to Seongeup Folk Village for a close-up of the traditional Jeju life back then. Among the few that I recall is that Jeju is abundant with three things: rocks, wind and women. Back then, womenfolk did all the work while the menfolk did absolutely nothing. Outrageous huh. We also looked at the traditional gate (three bars and each bar can be removed to indicate if there was anyone at home, who were at home etc), traditional dwelling, the millstones pulled by horses... We were then given a brief info on the local produce: horse bone grains and honey. I didn’t care to be ripped off so left empty-handed.

We then had lunch at a restaurant and the four of us were given two plates of vegetarian rice and two bowls of seafood ramen. The rest had meat I suppose.

After lunch, we drove off to Seopjikoji, the filming location for the mini series All In (I believe I missed this drama). Anyway, the church in the drama had been destroyed by a typhoon and in its place is now a newly constructed colourful gingerbread house (admission applicable). We walked to the gingerbread house but didn’t enter. Then we turned back and hurried back to the bus. It was a blustery afternoon alright.

After that we drove to Jeju Glass Castle, a large art glass park with glass arts produced by professional glass artists/sculptors from the Czech Republic and Italy. We were first greeted with a large beanstalk of the Jack and the Beanstalk tale before walking along the outdoor glass corridor. We also entered the Magic Mirror Room where you can see images of yourself from the various mirrors. Then we continued our tour of the outdoor park with its glass Cinderella pumpkin coach, giant teddy bear, flower beds, bridge... it’s amazing how ingenious they are at attracting tourists. On my previous trip with Mummy, we visited more natural outdoor attractions.

We left after about 40 minutes and drove to The Teddy Bear Museum, passing Dokkaebi Road (mysterious road) en route. Vehicles passing this road can seemingly roll uphill when the engines are switched off when in reality this phenomenon is due to an optical illusion. We reached The Teddy Bear Museum barely half an hour later and as its name suggests, is home to hundreds of teddy bears and friends. There’s a safari area with tigers and rhinos, an overhead aquarium with floating teddy bears and friends (even a mer-teddy!), framed teddies, teddy bears in portraits... At the end of it, we emerged into the gift shop and yup, you guess it, the prices are eye-watering. Anyway, Mr Piao had already told us that seeing it was Christmas Day, we would be getting a complimentary gift from the museum. We left after almost an hour there.

The Jeju Ice Gallery, an indoor ice sculpture gallery with various ice sculptures, was our next stop. The most popular attraction there is the Ice Slide – even I took two turns there! After the tour, we also tried our hands at ice sculpting. The instructor showed us how to make a drinking glass with stem. He must have taken all of three minutes to knock the ice off the edges and smoothing the surface and moulding the ice to the shape. Ha, it always looked so much easier than doing it! After that, we washed our finished products and drank some orange juice from our self-made products. We left after an hour there.

The packed day continued with a stop at the Trick Art Museum with its optical illusion art. It reminds me of Penang 3D Trick Art Museum. We spent half an hour there before proceeding up to the 5D theatre at the next level for the Poseidon show. Well, it was Korean so I couldn’t understand head or tail of it.

We finished off the day with dinner before we returned to the hotel. Some in our group ventured out later with Yen to do some window shopping. The kids went; I stayed in.

To be continued

The Land Of The Morning Calm: Part I

I had promised to bring my niece, la niña, to Korea as a reward for her PMR results last year but the trip didn’t materialise last year. Subsequently, I promised to bring her youngest sister, niña chiquita, also to Korea if she aced her UPSR. Since I was already bringing the two of them, I decided to include my nephew, el niño, along. It would make room sharing arrangement easier for sure. So I spent a long time at the MATTA Fair in September trying to find a good package. In the end, I settled for a Mandarin-speaking package because (i) we would be flying MAS; (ii) it would include a trip to Jeju unlike most Muslim tours; and (iii) I feel more comfortable travelling with non-Malays. I requested seafood and vegetarian menu for the four of us. There aren’t many Muslims in Korea that can cater halal food for Muslims anyway so to me, it didn’t really matter if we joined a Mandarin-speaking group and travelled with non-Malays.

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

I went to do some last-minute shopping among others for the trip and when I returned home, dad told me that my uncle (by marriage) had passed early that morning in Johore. It was too late to pay our respects so we just performed prayers for him. I tried to get some rest in the afternoon but I had only just drifted into a nap when my brother and family from Johore arrived. There went my kip.

I had a late lunch after showering. Dad sent me to Ampang LRT station (I decided against Ampang Park as I suspected the traffic would have built up by then) and I rode the train to Bandar Tasik Selatan before switching to KLIA Transit. I detoured to TBS but didn’t really explore it as my bags were too heavy to lug around. That’s the downside of travelling during winter: you have to pack winter coat, boots, mufflers, gloves, thick socks etc. I also had to bring over Akak’s winter coat for la niña as she forgot to bring it when she last came over. And then there’s the food for the hungry kids: Snickers, Oreos and Mamee Monsters. Heh.

I rode the train to Salak Tinggi (it was crowded) and met up with ZS there. We had an early dinner before returning to the station to perform prayers. We caught the 20:00 train to KLIA and sat waiting for Akak et al to arrive.

They finally arrived at 20:45 and Yen, our tour leader, helped us check in. Oh, before I forget: in October, the travel agent called and asked if we wanted to change our flight and fly Korean Air instead, citing it was better to fly Korean Air. I refused and asked what she meant by that. Did she mean because two of MAS planes encountered tragedy this year? She didn’t admit it but said that the departure back from Incheon would be later than MAS so we would have more time to shop. I told her that she shouldn’t assume that everyone wanted a later departure time. I for one don’t care to reach KLIA too late and besides, there’s only so much shopping one can do. After a couple of calls, we finally agreed that the four of us would fly MAS while the rest would fly Korean Air. I checked between the two airlines online and guess what? It cost less to fly MAS than Korean Air so I’m not sure why the travel agent decided to fly Korean Air when the profit margin would be less. The departure time between the two airlines from KUL is only 25 minutes.

We went through the usual rigmarole. The kids were unhappy that they had to take off their belts and shoes for the security check at the gate. Me? I skipped over to the next queue. Heh.

Wednesday, 24 December 2014

I didn’t manage to sleep much as usual bar the occasional brief nodding off. I performed prayers just before we landed in the dark cold morning. We had to walk to the terminal train station and board the train (frequency is every five minutes) to get to immigration. After collecting our bags, freshening up and donning the winter gear, we walked over to the carousel for Korean Air from KUL to meet up with the rest. We didn’t have to wait too long.

We then left the arrival hall and followed Yen who led us to Peter, a part-time photographer who would follow us on the trip except to Jeju, and our tour guide, Mr. Piao. They then led us to the bus but we had to wait before we could approach our bus. We finally had our bags loaded and boarded the bus.

We drove away from the airport heading to the waterfront and as it was still early, we got down from the bus to take in the morning chill. After ten minutes, we re-boarded the bus and it went down the ramp and onto the waiting ferry. I went to the bathroom and when I exited, saw that the others were taking some shrimp crackers to feed the seagulls (though el niño was also helping himself to some!). We crossed over to Wolmido which used to be an island a hundred years ago before the Koreans built embankments and connected it to the mainland.

After that, we went for an early lunch which was tosokchon or ginseng chicken soup. I was happy to see the restaurant had a halal sign although we quickly discovered ginseng chicken soup got rather bland after a while.

Lunch over, we drove over to a kimchi school and learnt how to prepare kimchi. Yen helped to translate as the instruction for this (and henceforth) was in Mandarin. After the instruction, we prepared our portion of kimchi (all ingredients were already on the long table in front of us). We had to don an apron and plastic gloves. The instructor also taught us how to fold the cabbages and then roll up our plastic gloves and the plastic covering for the plate for disposal. Apparently our kimchi would be given to an orphanage. And of course, there was a promotion for the various kimchi produced by the school for us to purchase and some sample for us to taste. As we didn’t plan on buying, we went downstairs and put on hanbok, the traditional Korean dress. We then posed for pictures and had a good laugh.

Shamelessly nicked from here

After all the poses had been done and the photos shot, we returned the hanbok and made our way back to the bus. Before long, we had reached Gimpo Airport. Group check-in took a while though. Mr Piao went to the counter and after ten minutes, brought us to another counter to drop off our bags. Eh? I told Yen that we wanted to perform prayers first and would make our own way to the gate. In the end, we performed prayers in the baby care room. It was spacious and no one disturbed us. Actually, we probably disturbed a nursing mother opps. After prayers, we rushed to clear security. The queue was oh so long and we made it to the gate a couple of minutes before they closed the door. Phew!

We took off at 15:35 and landed an hour later. There were a lot of people travelling to Jeju. Maybe because it was Christmas Eve and they wanted to return to their hometown or take a holiday in Jeju. It was almost dark when we finally emerged into the Jeju cold and made our way to the bus.

We stopped for about 15 minutes at Yongduam (Dragon Head Rock) before continuing on to dinner. There’s one thing I hate about Korean restaurants: the grill smell lingers on your clothes for ages. Ugh! We checked into Jeju Ocean Suites Hotel (good thing we had adjoining rooms) and were informed to assemble at the lobby at 7 the following morning.

El niño and I ventured out into the freezing evening to check out the nearby E-Mart. There were three levels to it and there were a lot of frenzied last-minute shoppers there so we left empty-handed.

To be continued