Ochen Priyatna

11. BEST IMPROMPTU IRRATIONAL HOLIDAY SPLURGE

Those who have been following me on Instagram would have knew about our virgin Baseball match in Jamsil stadium, Seoul. So the story goes like this: we were in Busan (at Haeundae, to be specific) and we saw throngs of LG Twins, Samsung Giants and Lotte Giants fans all dressed in their team's jerseys. We kinda guessed that they had a match then in Busan and we were right as tuning in to the baseball channel later in the day, we caught the game, which Lotte Giants won against Samsung Lions. We were quite sad that we missed this opportunity to watch as 1. we like to watch sports live and 2. Lotte Giants was apparently the most hyped up Baseball team in terms of audience cheers. thought it would be fun to cheer along with everyone. So...we tracked down the schedule of the baseball matches and seeing that we were visiting Jeju and then Seoul next, the only way we could catch a game was in Seoul.

Watching Baseball in Korea was pretty cool as each player in the teams get their own specialised cheers and we could follow along, even though we were in the cheapo seating area. There was a player called Yoo Gangnam and they re-lyricised the Gangnam Style song into his cheer hahaha Anyhow the best takeaway was that Beer is really cheap in there (1l goes for $4, comes with cups) and chicken should be bought from KFC or Lotteria. We bought from Nene and they weren't very nice as the chicken was cold by the time we got in.

12. BEST STAY


For the most part of our accoms in Korea, we stayed in Airbnb or boutique hotels (otherwise known as sleazy Motels in Korea) so there was not much to comment since we were on the budget side and we did not exactly look for really awesome houses. We stayed in 7 different accoms across the 4 cities and by evaluating them based on their location, view and level of comfort, we concluded that our best stay was...




Our Hanok stay in Jeonju! Yes this is the actual view from our room and we sat at the table to have one of the best Haemul Pajeon we tasted, cooked by the mother of our airbnb host. Although he wasn't there physically to welcome us, his mum was really welcoming and even gave us the biggest room despite us only reserving the small room. The two layers of blankets weren't sufficiently comfortable so we got 2 more and wala! we had a well-padded bed for 5 whole days in Jeonju! Located in the middle of the Jeonju Hanok Village, food was not an issue as the place was just a minute walk to the main road of the village, where food stores lined the street. 

13. BEST WALK AFTER A HEAVY MEAL



Naturally, after one ingests a large amount of food, a walk is necessary to hit off any occurrences of food coma. Due to the heavy meals we often have, we usually find ourselves taking a walk off course to burn some calories before heading to our next destination.

In Seoul, we usually leave out those walks as taking the train, shopping or walking to our apartments does the trick too. Jeonju and Busan saw us exploring various cultural villages that have numerous murals on them to attract tourists to these old towns. Alright, the topic could have been better named to "Best muralled village" hahaha







Apologies for being touristy and uncreative but the Busan Gamcheon Cultural Village fared better than the one in Jeonju purely because it was more touristy and hence, more art exhibits available. The observation deck was also built with the purpose of admiring this view dubbed the "Santorini of the East" although I still very much want to visit the original Santorini.

14. BEST WALLET-FRIENDLY FOOD


I used to have the impression that food in Korea is rather affordable, perhaps about the same stanards of living as Singapore but seeing that 1000W = USD$1 instead of SGD$1, perhaps food prices are pretty steep in Korea since the cheapest meals we ate are probably 5000-6000W which is about SGD$6.50. However, being extremely budget and cheapo, we definitely found food of pretty impossible prices in Korea! Mostly snacks but some of them can equate to a light meal too!

All these yummy food, for only 1,000W each?!?!?!




At 1,000W per piece, this dakgalbi was an incredible find and we were so won over by the flavours (and the price) we went back for a second piece on the day! We bought 5 of these for our budget meal in Jeonju and it was more than sufficient to fill both of us up, together with some 2,500W dumplings. The owners, a Korean couple, were really friendly too! As they were cooking those yummy DakGalbi, the husband was asking me how I picked up Korean and how he made his patties.

Directions: walk to the end of the main street of Jeonju Hanok Village (the side that has a church) and turn right. Follow the street for about 1km and you should chance upon a bus stop. The Dakgalbi shop is just beside the bus stop! Great snack for commuters waiting for buses.

15. BEST SCENERY FIND DRIVING ABOUT JEJU
Anyone going travelling around Jeju should rent a car to enjoy all the offerings in Jeju at your own time. Although the public transport system is pretty robust with buses to various tourist spots, having a car means you're able to enjoy this spot without keeping track of the arrival times of the buses. In addition, you can find great eateries located in ulu spots without having to flag a taxi everytime. Always a good idea~

So although we are huge fans of food, unfortunately, our stomach has limited capacity which means we always have trouble finding places to go in between meal times. Since we had a car rental, we decided to check out the coastal areas for scenery and wala, we found a gem. (okay besides the fact that there were a thousand sea cockroaches there freaking me out every second)



And this was after we located a restaurant selling seafood ramen which was not opened for dining yet so it was a silver lining to our otherwise, dark clouds.

16. BEST FORM OF TRANSPORTATION

As I've mentioned in the previous point, rental car is the way to go in Jeju. However, elsewhere in mainland Korea, rental car may not be the best options since 1) the roads are more jam packed so if you're not familiar with left hand drive, it may be dangerous, and 2) the public transport is pretty decent to get around. In Seoul and Busan, the train lines are comparable with that of Singapore's (in fact, Seoul has way more lines and, ahem, less hiccups) and are extensive enough to ensure you can get around most attractions easily. Although i would question the layout of some Busan train stations where the train platforms going different directions do not connect. Once, we entered the wrong platform and we had to pay for the ticket, twice.

Jeonju does not have a city train but grabbing a taxi is pretty convenient as well. Taxis in Korea are generally reasonably priced even when they quote their prices. We had to grab a cab once when the train ended service and the driver quoted us 15,000W for a 20 minutes ride. Pretty reasonable, I would say, comparing to all the midnight charges we encounter in Singapore.

Between cities, KTX seemed like a comfortable choice and probably the speediest one but we opted for a more budget option - inter-city buses. We took these buses from Seoul to Jeonju as well as from Jeonju to Busan and we found them to be decently comfortable. Each ride was 3 hours and we would stop by a rest stop for 15 minutes, every 1.5 hours. The rest stop was an additional benefit since I had always seen them in reality shows when the hosts stop by them to play games and drop people off so it was pretty interesting seeing one in reality.

Finally, we flew Busan Air from Busan to Jeju, and Jeju to Seoul since it was about the same price as the KTX but only 1/3 the time spent. Flying was definitely the fastest mode of transport but do note that not all cities have a domestic airport so flying is not an option always available. 

17. BEST UNESCO SITE

Hmmm reading up to here you may have kinda realise I'm sort off using my pictures to drive my stories because, honestly, who wants to read a blogposts filled with words and minimal pictures. Not many out there, since most of us are visual creatures who prefer to take in information through sights, without the need to digest heavy content. (looking at all the uni profs out there, more visuals, less content please)

So...the entire Jeju island is technically a UNESCO preservation site but I'm gonna skip this since it would be lame to simply pinpoint the entire island as the best (even though it seems to be the case since Jeju was really lepak and beautiful).




Okay, this was pretty cool if you're a geologist or someone interested in the wonders of nature. We visited the Manjang lava tubes for 1500Won (i think) and I felt like I was in a visual Geography lesson hahaha the actual tube walk itself was very dark and cold so an outerwear is recommended but otherwise, it's really cool to trod through the passageway that lava once flowed through. Picture quality is kinda poor due to the low light.

In short, these tubes were caused by lava from volcanic explosions and there break through the ground, layer by layer, which results in the layered tubes that the Koreans adorably named "intestines". The last picture shows the lava tracks that supposedly showed the speed of the lava while flowing through and proves that these tubes were naturally formed.

When we were at the peak of Seongsanilchulbong, we saw quite a few mountains and we kinda guessed that one of them was Hallasan but turns out we were so wrong since the two peaks were pretty far apart and there are many such peaks in Jeju that are still actively volcanic.

18. BEST THEME PARK RIDE





The last time I went to Seoul, we missed the theme parks out entirely and my friends went "So what did you actually do in Seoul?!" Well, lots then. But since that was two years ago and times have since changed, I felt that visiting a theme park since necessary to burn a day in Seoul. We chose Lotte World and overall, it was pretty kiddish with lots of safe and kid-friendly rides. The outdoor, more exciting rides had queues that mirror those you see in USS so it was pretty frustrating to take all the rides we want in the limited time we have. (We entered the park at a After 3pm promotion on Lotte's Facebook where the tickets only cost 15,000Won! A Steal since the usual price was 32,000Won per adult)

So....being adults, our favourite ride is definitely the roller coaster! There was one spinning pirate ship ride that we took and that was crazy for people with motion sickness hahaha I came out feeling green and wanting to throw up all the food we ate. The roller coaster had like a pitch dark section and that was really cool since we couldn't see where the tracks were and the sharp twists and turns were excitingggggg. Although I think if you were a rides person, you would prefer Everland (recommended by all my rides-crazy friends) since Lotte is more family-friendly and has more museums to walk around (pretty interesting Korean History museum).

18 BESTS OF SOUTH KOREA

Disclaimer: these "bests" rankings are selected based on the places I've visited in South Korea (Seoul, Busan, Jeonju, Jeju) and is not exhaustive since I couldn't possibly have visited every single place in each of this towns in 18 days.

So... here goes nothing!

1. BEST FRIED CHICKEN

We tried 4 fried chicken places because we are a sucker for chimaek - chicken and beer so we often find ourselves navigating towards a hof restaurant before we know it. We tried 4 places in total (in Amsa, Seoul, Busan, Jeju and finally in Jamsil Yagoochang) and hands down we both agreed we had the best fried chicken in Amsa. It was just an ordinary shop 30 seconds from our airbnb lodging but in a span of 4 days, we ordered their takeaway chicken menu twice. What sorcery. All that yummy into our tummy. A pity we did not take pictures on both our takeaways since we were too quick gobbling them up as we watched movies in the comforts of our airbnb home.

Address: alight at Amsa station, after you exit, you should see Paris Baguette on the opposite. Continue walking and you should encounter a Lotteria and a Caffe bene. The shop is located in Amsa 1-dong and (i think) you can take a turn at Olympic-ro 100-gil and beside a family mart, the chimaek restaurant lies.

We also tried a decent Chimaek restaurant in Jeju but we felt that the texture of the chicken still lost to the one at Amsa.

Jeju Chimaek Address: Hidden Place (955-7 Hamdeok-ri, Jocheon-eup) 

Phone: 064-782-1579

Enter their phone number into your GPS to find their exact location.

2. BEST BBQ

Having so many korean bbq restaurants in Singapore meant we easily drew the link between South Korea and its BBQ offerings and were determined to find good ones to satisfy our cravings. The above Samgyupsal was at a random store we chance upon in Jeju while searching for another shop. Our policy of good food in Jeju was if 1. There were no tour buses around and 2. Its popular amongst the locals.

While driving around one night desperately looking for a dinner spot, we found a beef bbq place (i think it's a chain) that was located near a Tous Les Jours. (While looking through the pictures, I GOT THE NAME OF THE SHOP FROM A PICTURE! tried to Google it but there were no results for the romanised words. If you're searching for this place, type the name into the gps!) It was a really lucky find and the restaurant was having a sale where 900g of beef was going at 40,000W. We wanted a 2-people set for about 30,000W but the shopkeeper convinced us to get the value set instead so we found ourselves facing almost 1kg of beef with 1.5 hours to their closing time. Mad experience but this place was a gem as the meat was really well marinated and the galbis were the length of my arm.

Address: Nope, we didn't take it down but the name is Bulso Sikdang and I think it is a chain since there were namecards at the cashier area.

3 & 4. BEST FOOD FINDS

okay sorry the first 3 were all about food. This would be the last consecutive ranking of food, I promise. We relied on reviews and abit of chance in finding food that we would eat throughout the 18 days and both of these places were recommended by reviews! torn between both because these are food places that I would definitely visit if i'm back and whose food I still crave for!

Red elephant in Jeju-do (064-712-8825)

THE BEST TONKATSU I'VE TRIED. I haven't eaten much tonkatsu before red elephant but having it there really got my cravings for tonkatsu appearing so frequently. The nicely-fried, thick tonkatsu was moist on the inside, crispy on the outside but I would say the sauce sealed the deal. Tangy and sweet with a spark of something special I cannot put a name to it. Paired with side dishes and rice. I actually ordered kalguksu at red elephant instead and I TOTALLY REGRETTED and found myself going for more of the tonkatsu and sulking after the meal because...i should have ordered the tonkatsu instead.

Veteran in Jeonju Hanok Village

This place sells the best Kalguksu and Soba omg I ate it twice in 4 days despite all that yummy food available both inside and outside the Hanok Village. The Kalguksu tastes like Youmian tang you would get from the ban mian store in Singapore but something about the chilly weather makes the experience in Jeonju far better than having ban mian in a hawker centre in sg. I actually prefer the soba over the Kalguksu. The soup was some sweet-salty mix and the noodles were so chewy I tried to replicate them in SG and I failed. I blame that on those daiso soba that are likely to lose out on those handmade soba in Veteran. Service was fast (a little overstaffed) and the offerings were relatively affordable in the Hanok Village.

5. BEST MUSEUM

We went to several museums throughout the trip, being tourists, and we learnt quite abit about Korean history and culture as a result. Not as much as a local Korean being educated in the History of Korea but the rough idea, like how a Korean imperial officer looks like in the Joseon Dynasty or How black pork got its name, yes we can. 

The best museums were actually in museumland, Jeju. Why museumland? Jeju is splattered with over 30 museums all over the small island and there are duplicates of each type of museum on the North (Jeju-do) and South (Seokgwi-po). We didn't visit all since we were short of time in Jeju but main ones were the Jeju folk museum, the trick eye museum and Loveland.



    

We've been wanting to visit trick eye or the longest time in Singapore but the expensive tickets and huge crowds are a major turn-off since you need ample space to take a cool picture with the exhibits and you don't want people staring at you to speed up (like at hawker centres). Interesting exhibits, but I found myself throwing my body around trying to take pictures with everything. Squatting, lying down, sitting, crawling, half-squats - kinda tired after touring the entire museum hahahaha

The best museum experience have got to be Loveland, hands down. Not just because the exhibits were intriguing but wow, where else do you get such open display of various positions that are often taboo in Asian culture. (okay i'm being very conservative right here) Anyhow, for 6000W, you get a whole garden of various exhibits depicting various aspects of Sex - sex toys, positions, parts. Treat yourself to some boobs or penis waffles at the u-turn and you're off to the other half of the park. Pretty interesting.

6. BEST SHOPPING EXPERIENCE (FOR FEMALES)

I have read many blogs prior to my trip to Korea and so many bloggers have raved about shopping in Myungdong or Dongdaemun. My previous trip to Korea (before the exchange) saw us only touching foot on Myungdong due to lack of time so I was determine to visit other shopping-worthy places. Sharmaine recommended me express bus terminal and since its near where I was staying, we decided to meet straight at the metro station.

So after all the drama (because I didn't have a data sim card and I mistook the meeting place...) we got on to exploring EBT and omo, so much shops there and most were priced at 10,000W - 20,000W. The designs were all pretty simplistic - meaning lots of t-shirts, denim, parka and culottes on racks. Many cosmetic shops were there as well so no need to hop over to touristy areas like Myungdong or Hongdae! Spent almost 200,000W there so you can predict how much awesome stuffs there was to purchase there~

7. BEST SHOPPING EXPERIENCE (FOR MALES)

You must be thinking, why must I be so gender-specific in the shopping places??? Nope, I'm not sexist but its a natural phenomenon that some shopping places offer 99.9% female clothing and only 1 store for males and there is a high chance that the one store sells clothes that do not appeal to you. EBT is one of them. 

Hence, the best shopping experience for guys, in our opinion, is at Edae! Just outside the Ewha University station, many stores are setup to cater to the university students and prices are affordable too! Bought 8 bags that night and only 2 were women bags. Food offerings were generally at 5000-6000W as well. As usual, cosmetics shops are aplenty in the shopping district. After touring Korea, I kinda get a feeling cosmetic shops are everywhere and you don't exactly need to head down to Myungdong or DDM to get your favourite brands.

8. BEST BEACH

When one mention beaches in Korea, surely Busan comes to mind first. Being a coastal town and boasting the ever-popular Haeundae and Gwangali beaches, the best beach has got to come from Busan. oh nonono, we are hipster like that (there we just lost our hippiness). Didn't really favour the crowds at those beaches. The sand was fine and the weather makes the beach less of a tanning solution and more of a phototaking location. However, the large throngs of crowd makes it hard to take a picture without photobombing occuring. 

The best beach we encountered was when we were driving around Jeju (aimlessly). Since Jeju was an island, it has plenty of beaches and coastal areas and we were pleasantly surprised when we chanced upon a relatively unknown beach. Skipped the popular Hyeopjae beach and Hamdeok beach and this beach has a isolated appeal to it but sadly the only thing I can remember about the place was that there was a bridge to connect between small islands and that there was a Caffe Bene there.

9. BEST KOREAN EXPERIENCE

This is a highly recommended activity if you ever visit Jeonju - rent a Hanbok and walk around the village like Koreans from the Joseon Dynasty! In the Jeonju Hanok Village, there are countless Hanbok rental shops that rents Hanboks for a reasonable price for 1 or 3 hours. Then and there, explore the village (comprising over 200 Hanok shops and houses) and do a photoshoot in the area! If you're afraid you'd be the standout, no worries. More often than not, there are more people in hanboks than those in modern clothing - and this is the charm of the traditional Hanok village!

Head to the highest point of the village, a cafe located on level 4, to enjoy the view of the sunset while overlooking the Hanok village!

10. BEST HIKE

We hiked 2 mountains in total: the ChimYongJaSan Holy Ground in Jeonju and SeongSanIlChulBong in Jeju. Nope, we're not catholics but we climbed the mountain on our free day in Jeonju and it was so steep we panted heavily as we took the steep steps winding up the hill (with the peak nowhere to be seen). Along the way there were crosses with Hangul on it (seen above), couldn't really understand since we were neither well versed in Korean nor in the Catholic religion. anyhow we reached the peak and the information board there stated the tough climb was to gave pilgrims an experience into the hard life of the first Catholics in Korea. No wonder.

Anyhow, our best hike was not in Jeonju, but in Jeju. Seongsanilchulbong is in every tourist's must-do list in Jeju and since our airbnb was a 10min drive from the peak, we count ourselves lucky as we only woke up at 5am (reaching at 5.30am) compared to many others who had had to wake up at 4am. Though we did not manage to catch the sunrise as it was a cloudy morning, being on the peak overlooking the entire Jeju island as well as catching a sight of the seamless sea was (rather) worth our sleep time.