Solo Day 6 South Korea - 26th Nov 2014 (Jeju + Changdaekgung Palace + Sinchon)

Day 6

Mr boo sent me off to the airport and I feel so sad to leave him. I know he is very busy. I just pray that god bless him and save him and his family from any harm, grant him good health and wealth and insha allah to give him hidayah. AMIN.

my last picture in Yeha.

 

This was taken at the airport in 2013
 

This was taken recently. He certainly looks handsome at his age.

Jade The Yeha Guesthouse staff and me!
Gomawo Jade for waking up early that morning just to say goodbye to me! =)
 

Bid goodbye and took flight from Jeju to Seoul with Tways airline. It is cheap and 20kg free luggage included. I really need those free luggage. My flight from Jeju boarded at 7.55am and I safely arrived Gimpo International Airport at 9.00 am.
 

Tways Counter

 

I took bus no 6002 from Gimpo to Jongno 3 ga and checked in at Jongno Sunshine Guesthouse. If you take subway, it is at Exit 4, Jongno-3-ga Station.  I choose to stay at this hostel because it was located really at the city center, a walking distance to almost all attraction places especially the palace and it just a meters away from the shopping district, Insadong. In terms of the  room cleanliness, I would say that it is pretty ok.. clean and tidy but the lobby was a little poor. Maybe due to the fact that they are changing owner and revamping the hostel.  Therea are so many boxes and un kept food on the guest table.. i think this only happened during their revamping time je kot... (hopefully). The hostel will be more convenient if they arrange things accordingly. However, I like my single ondol traditional room thou it was located at 5^th floor (no lift). With bathroom attached and tender-thick-warm bed, that was all I need after all. The staffs are friendly and nice. They helped to bring my heavy luggage upstairs.

 

Sunshine Guesthouse will be known as Dengba Hostel

the area of sunshine guesthouse aka dengba guesthouse

Dengba Gusthouse. The last photo was taken from my room =)

              After placed my backpack at the hostel lobby, I went out to the Changdaekgung Palace. It’s a walking distance from hostel and I planned to visit the Secret Garden. It’s was indeed a very beautiful palace and the garden was really huge. Fyi, you are prohibited from walking by yourself in the secret garden. Just pay for the tour fees at the entrance of the palace and you will know the great history behind the palace. The tour took about 1 hour 30 minutes and available in either English or Korean. There is another area that you can visit besides the secret garden. Its for free and you can walk anywhere you wish. No good thing is that, no map provided for the free area. So, you kind a lost a little while.

 

The leaves are still red!!

This is the open area. Its is so mesmerizing.

The Secret Garden of Changdaekgung Palace. A must visit palace

I truly fall in love with autumn because of you

The Team A tour

So beautiful..i love it to the max. The brightful colours of autumn was so hypnotizing!

The pavilion for the king to rest after a busy hunting days.

 

 

The tree colors was so amazing!!!

me and the selfie stick.. cant help myself either.

After the palace. I went back to hostel for pray and clean up and off again to Ewha University ( IDAE / Ewha Uni station exit 4) to meet my friend, Fido. She’s postgraduate student and study at Ewha Woman University . We had our dinner and story things out while walking around Ewha and Sinchon area.

7 pm waiting for Fido at the entrance of her school, Ewha Women University.

 



Its really reminds me of my alma mater, Convent School.

 

i dont know what i am eating..
 

Walking around Sinchon. Smiling with my eye shut

If you see this sign, you might as well linger around the area for arts performance

 that took place all over the boulevard.

Variety of stockings sell at Sinchon area.

 

               Ewha shops closed at 9.00pm while Sinchon area goes live till early morning. For cosmetic shoppers, this is truly your heaven. I would say, this area is perfectly for youngsters like me..no oldiess...only youngsterss.. hehe..  After walking for quite sometimes and i cant help myself from stop yawning, we bid goodbye.. i went back to hostel at around 11 sth and seriously, It was a super hectic day.

 

The bed in my Ondol Room..so warm!!



Solo Day 2 South Korea - 22st Nov 2014 (Busan + Jeju)

Day 2, 22nd November 2014

Woke up early and went to Taejongdae. Plan to spend my whole day in Taejongdae Resort Park before I had to catch up flight to Jeju-Do.

How to go to Taejongdae Park :
From Busan Station (line 1, Exit 9)  Take intra-city bus No 88 or No 101   OR
From Nampo Dong (Line 1, Exit 6) Take intra-city bus No 8 / No 30 / No 88

But for me, I took took bus no 88 / 88-1 / 66 from Jungang Station Exit 1 Bus Stop, and disembarked at the last station, Taejongdae. By bus, it tooks about 20-30 minutes ride.

In the bus on the way to Taejongdae

 For the tour, you may walk to all the attractions spot (if you are fit enough and have a day free time) or get on the Danubi train just like i did. The train will cost you 2000KRW per ticket and it is one-way. Which means to say, you can hop on and off the train in one direction only. You cannot turn back to previous pit stop (unless by walking), thus be sure where do you want to stop. There are 5-6 major pit stops (as shown in the brochure below) and if you don’t have enough time, I would recommend you to stop at the red spot.

This is the Danubi Train Map

Yellow spot : Taejongdae bus stop

Green spot : Taejongdae entrance and ticket booth

Red 1 : Taewon Pebble Yard (i didnt go here)

Red 2 : Observation Deck (Statue of Mother and Children)

Red 3 : Sinseon Rock, Mangbu Rock + Yeongdo Lighthouse + Lighthouse Pebble Yard

The Danubi Train

Red Spot 2 : Observation Deck

Red Spot 2 : Observation Deck, Taejongdae

 

Red Spot 3: Yeongdo Lighthouse, Taejongdae

Red Spot 3: Yeongdo Lighthouse, Taejongdae

Joined the ahjuma, ajusshi and haimonie (white hair). Dapat kuih kacang free. Ajusshi offer soju katanya untuk panaskan badan. heh??

Red Spot 3: Yeongdo Lighthouse, Taejongdae

Red Spot 3 : Mangbu Rock, Taejongdae

Red Spot 3 : Mangbu or Sinseon Rock, Taejongdae

Red Sopt 3 : Lighthouse Pebble Yard, Taejongdae

Taejongdae nih kawasan yang sangat soothing and very calm sesuai sangat untuk slow walk. I wish that i could have enough time to walk around that area. Just nak bagitau, kawasan red spot no 3 adalah sangat bertangga - tangga..dari atas gunung sampai the rocky cliff was all about ascending and descending stairs..memang akan semput jugak la kepada mereka yang kurang bersenam atau menaiki tangga.. tapi jgn risau, korunk boleh buat gaya seolah olah nak ambil gmbr kat memana pit stop untuk cover korunk punya semput atau dapat nyawa balik. hehe.. semua org kat situ faham.. alah, diorang pun semput gak...
tapi one thing i was so amazed, the elders kat korea boleh buat activity sporty nih lebih dari anak muda kat malaysia boleh buat.. aku salute giler la kat haimonie yang bagi kuih tuh..korunk rasa umur dia bape?? 70++ kot tapi dia gigih la nak picnic dgn family dia kat cliff tuh kan? klu mak bapak kita, ada?? takdo jep.. dlm hati macam tak percaya yang haimonie tuh panjat turun tangga yang boleh tahan tinggi, tapi takkan la dia naik helicopter atau naik boat nak sampai ke cliff tuh kan??  fuhh, tabik spring toink toink.

 

After spend 4 hours at Taejongdae, I took the same bus back to Jungang Station, picked up my bag and went to Gimhae International Airport Station via subway to board for Jeju-Do. I choose to fly with Jeju Air and the tix price include 20kg of luggage, very convenient and cheap. My departure time was 5.00 pm and I arrived Jeju-do at 5.45 pm. It took only 45-60 mins.

@ Gimhae International Aiport - Jeju Air Plane

Jeju Island 

Jeju International Airport

I took bus from Jeju International Airport to Jeju City Hall Bus Station and checked in at Yeha Guesthouse City Hall branch. To get to Yeha City Hall, I was suppose to take bus No 100 so that it stopped right in front of my hostel, but since I was stubborn to ask unneeded question to the information center, I got onto other bus that stop at other blocks away. I have to walked and asked people for direction then. Sigh. Should have follow the direction inside the web.

Yeha Guesthouse, City Hall, Jeju Island

2nd Night. During happy hour at Yeha Guesthouse

Yeha is super cute guesthouse with "thumbs up" service! The staff (Lyndon + Jade and others) were really friendly and seriously know how to joke around especially Jade, the stamped-forehead guy. He is my favorite staff. We can talk about random ridiculous things till latenight. I also miss those fantastic cheerful night we had in Community Room. Everyone was happy sharing their travelling experience, apart from the free drinks the guesthouse gives away during happy hour for everyone to enjoy. =)

End of my 2nd day

Solo Day 1 South Korea - 21st Nov 2014 (Busan)

             Unbelievable that post korea yang sebelum nih pun tak habes tulis, aku dah repeat trip korea sekali lagi. Agak memalukan sikit di situ.. =P tapi kali ini aku bersemangat nak tulis sebab aku ingt in details all my expenses masa kat sana sebab trip kali ini aku bergerak secara solo..yup, solo.. =) so aku nak la share serba sedikit my one and only experience kat sana. aku rasa happy and fortunate giler sebab still dapat catch up the autumn foliage (thou they said it was the leftover but doesnt matter).. travel date from 21st Nov 2014 to 30th Nov 2014.. Walaupun ada sedikit frust sebab the next day after aku arrived KL,the first snow falls in Seoul which is on 1st Dec 2014), tapi takpe la..dapat tengok autumn pun dah rasa bersyukur...
I wanna make my post short, simple and informative. I hope you guys gain something out of these.

Day 1- 21st Nov 2014

Arrived at Gimhae International Airport. It is just a small airport. Nothing much can you do here. Not many shop lots. I purchase T money and took subway to Busan City.

Upon arrival, I headed straight to Mr Egg Original Hostel, Nampo. Jungang Station Exit 5 to place my backpack. From train tracks to the exit is quite far. Walking underground will takes about 10 minutes. Refer to the map below. B is the train tracks and A is the Exit 5. I choose to stay here again because of its great location apart from the 20% discounts they give for every travelers with second visit. Since the place is clean, comfortable with cute egg-gy design, no doubt that I choose to stay again.

A is location for Mr Egg Original Hostel Nampo

That guy is Mr Egg, Sean. The owner

Strategic location. Attraction places around Mr Egg Hostel and Nampo Dong Area

First place, I went to Baemosa Temple (Baemosa Station,Exit 7). Thou it was late November, I'm glad that i can still catch the autumn foliage . Fyi, you cannot walk to Baemosa Temple. You have to take bus No 90. Map below shows how can you get to the bus station for Baemosa Temple.

Baemosa Station, Exit 7 and walk thru the diagonal lane. The purple square is the bus station.

Beautiful, isnt it?

Autumn Foliage at Baemosa Temple, Busan

Walkway to the top temple

Surrounding area

In the bus No 90

After Baemosa, I went to Al Fatah Mosque. To get to this mosque, you need to stop at Dusil Station Exit 8. The direction is as per below.

Dusil Station. Exit 8. Walk straight until you see a gas station + mechanic, turn right and the green square is Al Fattah Mosque

 The Turkish Halal Kebab next to the mosque

And the side walkway to the Al Fattah Mosque, Busan

After visited the mosques, I went to Haeundae Station by subway. Thought that I want to go to Yonggungsa Temple but it was too late. It was closed at 6.00 pm hence I had to turn back and spend my night around Haeundae.

For Yonggungsa Temple, take bus at  Exit 7 bus stop

If you want to go to Haeundae Beach, take exit 3/5 and walk down the road until you see the beach at the end.

The romantico Haeundae Beach, Busan

I got back to hostel around 8.00 pm, took shower and sleep. End my day 1