Blogs from South Korea, Asia - page 4

Tuesday, 15th October 2019 Since I had no intention to do a self-drive adventure in Jeju, I decided to follow one of the daily tours which would bring me to various scenic spots on the island. First up for today is the Eastern Jeju Discovery Program organised by Yeha Tour. The tour was easily arranged online a few days prior to my arrival in Korea. One of the highlights of the tour must be the horse riding experience in the morning. This was my first time on a horse back and easily one of the most memorable moments for me in Jeju (and probably in my life). The skies started to drizzle as we proceeded to our next stop, the Seongeup Folk Village where I learnt a great deal about traditional Jeju architecture including the rock ... read more

Sunday, 13th October 2019 After breakfast at Toyoko Inn this morning, I embarked on a half day East Busan Exploration Tour with Klook to bring me to places that were not easily accessible via the Busan Metro. Our tour group today was small comprising of two ladies from Malaysia and another three visitors from South Africa. From the pick-up point at Busan Station, the six of us proceeded straight to the Oryukdo Skywalk, one of the many cantilever glass bottom skywalks scattered along the rugged coast of Busan. It was extremely windy when we arrived so we should count ourselves really lucky that the attraction had remained opened despite the bad weather. After spending about 30 minutes at the Skywalk, our mini-bus proceeded further along the coast to the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. This is a very ... read more

Saturday, 12th October 2019 There are a couple of options to get to downtown Busan from Gimhae International Airport. One convenient way is via the airport buses that run straight to the Busan Station where my hotel is located. Another slightly cheaper and longer route is via the Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit which connects to the Busan Metro at the popular Seomyeon Station. Since I had arrived really early and had plenty of time to burn before the hotel standard check-in timing, I decided to opt for the latter. After an udon breakfast at Mido Fishcake, I was soon making my way out of the terminal building to the Gimhae Transit Station. Along the way, I dropped by at the airport information centre and helped myself with a copy of the tourist map of Busan. The ... read more

Friday, 11th October 2019 Silkair $398 launch fares between Singapore and Busan caught my attention while doing my travel research in early 2019. The offer was simply "too-good-to-be-missed". With a good-price motivation factor, I booked my tickets for another trip to South Korea after a hiatus of 9 years. My impression of Korea was rather neutral prior to this trip having spent some 6 days in Seoul in April 2010. Things had changed for the better in October 2019. While I still don't comprehend the Korean language, the avail of modern technology like Wifi, Naver Map as well as day tours from Klook meant that I was definitely much prepared for this trip compared to my maiden attempt. And with some luck, I might be able to witness the autumn foliage towards the end of my ... read more

The Gwanjung markets is an undercover clothes by day/food by night market. The Netflix series ‘street food', the Seoul episode, focused on this market and one proprietor in particular. We had a snack of kimchi + meat dumplings there, washed down with a cold Cass beer, before heading off to another stall to have Toppoki (rice cakes with chilli pepper sauce) and Gimbap, a Korean type of nori roll filled with beatle leaf, rice and vegetables. While we were eating, we noticed photos of British chef Gordon Ramsay , and as we left, the owner insisted on feeding us more gimbap like she did to Gordon! Afterward, we stopped by a really nice craft brew pub near our hotel which was blasting K pop videos! The next day, we headed off early to wander around the ... read more