Korea - Day 9

The end of these series of travel posts from November 2013 is near! Am terrible procrastinator.

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Day 9 was my last full day in Korea. I hadn't really spent too much time in Seoul since I was mostly travelling to visit friends in other parts of Korea. As my last full day in Korean and also Seoul I aimed to visit the major tourist attractions. Miraculously not hungover, I had cup ramen and instant coffee for breakfast and headed to Changgyeonggung Palace.









My feet hurt a lot from walking around the palace and its gardens and thus a coffee break was deserved. Also, I needed to find a power point to recharge all the things. I found an actual Korean Tom N Toms and had another subpar coffee. Ah, well.



On the way back to the train station I spotted some Australian faves.




My next stop was actual Seoul metro to see Gyeongbokgung Palace which, from my experience there, one of the most popular tourist destinations.



By this time of the day I was tired and just felt obligated to see the palace because it's what a tourist should do. As such, I was so tired of taking photos of anything.







I was so tired after this and I had a fail attempt to see Namsan Tower. The line to get up to it was very long and it wasn't going to happen. My friend who was with me who came up to Seoul for my last night booked a hotel. I had to catch an airport bus and I was worried the bus from my friend's apartment where I was staying would make me late for my flight. Hence the hotel booked closer-ish to the airport. I decided to pull an all nighter which in hindsight was terrible. I was brain dead on the way to the airport and wrecked for the next day.

I made my friend go on a middle of the night trip to the Han River, Seoul's main river. It was close to 0 degrees Celsius and I was not wearing enough clothes but I hadn't seen the river yet and despite it being the middle of the night I wanted to see it.



Totally worth it, right? Totally visible.




We ate some snacks by the river and tried not to freeze to death. Took the taxi back to the hotel before the early morning, I think 5am-ish, bus. FYI, if you catch this bus have the correct money because they do not have change. I didn't have enough on my T-Money either. The Japanese lady waiting in line behind me was nice enough to give me smaller bills for my money. Lucky I was so tired and out of my mind to be embarrassed about it. I had other things to be embarrassed about. At the airport I dropped my strawberry milk (while waiting in the incorrect line and place to return my Wi-Fi device) and it made a mess everywhere and I just quickly left the area.



Last photo from Korea is the plane! I took a Japan Airlines flight from Seoul to Tokyo.

Overall, I really enjoyed my trip to Korea. Next time I go I hope to go for a longer time and if not a longer time just to be in one city longer. I definitely didn't see everything I wanted to see in Seoul and I didn't get to hang out with the friend I stayed with in Seoul for that long either. I did get quite lonely when I was by myself but also, I was pretty chuffed that even when I was by myself I could somehow manage to get around pretty well.

And after 2 years, the Korea part of these series of posts is done! Up next my short trip to Tokyo!

To Be Continued!

Korea - Day 7

It is with renewed enthusiasm that I start to put together this post! Day 7! Over halfway there!

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As you've probably gathered I have, or had in 2013, a few friends who taught English in Korea. One of them lives and teaches in Cheongju which is a couple of hours bus ride from Seoul. I think, from memory. It's not close.

I was planning just to make a day trip of it because it was a weekday and I didn't want him to have to put up with me when he had work the next day but he didn't he mind so overnight trip!

To get to Cheongju required catching the train to the bus terminal in Seoul then a bus from Seoul to Cheongju. It cost 8, 800 won which is about maybe 10 bucks for an over 100 kilometre trip.

But first, breakfast! Or lunch. It was midday when I got to the bus terminal.




You can't by the photo but that is pretty awesome soup on a cold day.



My ticket to ride.



I arrived at Cheongju at 3:30pm. Caught a taxi to his school. I told the taxi driver in Korean where I wanted to go but he tried to talk to me and I had no idea what was going on. He got me there and helpfully pointed out where the school was.

The view of the school's playground from my friend's classroom.




This is the rewards chart my friend made for his classes. Designed like didgeridoos.



The school. Seriously, out of KDrama. (Well, I suppose obviously, this is what schools look like in Korea.)



Before we went out for dinner, my friend had to take his cat to the vet. What a nice looking place.





And of course there's a Starbucks.



A sweet potato vendor.



It took until Day 7 of the trip to have Korean BBQ in Korea. My other friends after a year and bit in Korea were sick of Korean food. But not this guy!



Also, how good is it to have meat at Korean BBQ that is not frozen. So good.



What I also liked about this BBQ place, which is apparently common in Korean, is they have complementary Febreze you can use so your clothes don't stink. That kind of thoughtfulness was awesome.

My friend then took me to a batting range in which I failed to hit any balls.



Afterwards we went to this pretty cool cafe (I guess you would call it that?) where they had random snacks and hookah. I was later informed that shisa is apparently like having hundreds of cigarettes, which is a shame because I liked it. But I care about my lungs and health and so never again, which is a shame because it was nice.




Dropped by a convenience store to pick up snacks and drinks. All that leftover, discounted Pocky after Pocky day (11 November). Pocky Day is sort of like Valentine's Day for whatever reason.



Then dropped by an arcade to take sticker photos and do karaoke in a tiny little booth, which was awesome. We so should have these. One person karaoke wouldn't feel so bad in a room like this.


Then walked back to friend's place while drinking beer. Oh, if we could only drink in the streets here.



One thing that surprised me that despite Cheongju being a relatively small town there was so much to do. Sydney, get your shizz together. There is nothing to do in my area at night. Like, nothing. Not even vending machines if I was peckish at some random time of night.

To Be Continued!

Korea - Day 5

Long time, no blog! Soon it'll be a year since this trip and I won't even have posted everything! My motivation comes in waves. XD

You may or may not recall that Day 4 in Korea, I travelled to Busan. On Day 5, we start in Busan again. I woke up at a reasonably early time because I was going visit a pretty famous temple in Busan. I had to check out of the hostel which meant I had my Sportsgirl duffle bag (if you're Australian or been to Australia you know what bag I'm talking about), which held my clothes and other essentials that didn't fit into my backpack with me, being all large and heavy.

First stop was Paris Baguette for breakfast. Paris Baguette is similar I guess to Breadtop, basically. Except they also have, well at this one at least, coffee and other drinks and a place to sit to eat.




That chef's hat. Fancy.



My breakfast and my favourite item on their menu. I was using my 50mm f/1.8mm lens, hence all the blur.



And a cafe latte. I think I've mentioned this before, but Korea doesn't do coffee well, in my opinion.



I then made my way to the train station and I love that they have lockers there. I shoved my Sportsgirl bag in there, and attempted to remember where this set of lockers was. I was headed to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple (해동 용궁사), a temple that overlooks the ocean.

To get to Yongkung Temple I had to go back to Haeundae and catch a bus from there. You can use your T-Money on the bus to the temple. For some reason, I was a little unsure whether you could. I read that sometimes some areas of Korea don't accept T-Money and they have their own version of it. In my time in Korea I could the same T-Money on all transport. I got on this bus and I got a seat but then these older ladies got on the bus and with my rudimentary Korean I gave them my seat and told them to sit down. Someone soon vacated the seen and this older lady and I were trying to outdo each other with politeness, I guess. I was headed for the seat and then I saw the older lady and I was like "No, you sit down" and she was all like "No, you sit down" and this continued until she had to gently push me into the seat. I think she was being super nice because I was a tourist. And when I got off the bus and started walking the wrong way towards the temple and she nicely told me (I assumed, I couldn't understand and she pointed as well) that it was the other way.

It's a little bit of an uphill walk from the bus stop to the temple. I was basically following other people who I assumed were headed in the same direction.



Stone statues line the path on your way into the temple.






I don't know what these are but I like them.



I like this photo but I'm a little upset that I didn't take the photo straight on.



I love all that intricate detail in the painting.






Look at that ocean. I love the ocean. I can barely swim but I love the ocean.







Look how cute that bench is!



This was my last day in Busan and I felt like I hadn't explore as much as I should. I think, if I ever travel to Korea again I would spend a longer time there. Apparently, summer in Busan is a lot of fun. Anyway, the last thing I decided to see while in Busan was Busan Tower. Because I love towers too.

To get to the tower you have to either walk up the stairs or take the narrow escalator. At this point, my feet were killing me. Still in pain from the previous day so the less walking, the better.



And the tower!


Surrounding the tour, anywhere there was space, were all these love locks and placards. It made everything look so pretty. So much colour!







Inside there were these awesome tiles with messages on them. I assume messages are in the same vein of the love locks and placards




And the view from the tower. The city looks like Lego and miniature!






Then back to the station to head back to Daegu. And remember those lockers? I barely did. I did laps of the station looking at the numbers of almost every set of lockers before I could find mine. Took the KTX back to Daegu and was a little late to meet my friends in Daegu because I got off the wrong exit! Yay for Google Maps on phone.

Then it was dinner time and we had samgyetang, ginseng chicken soup. Perfect for a cold night.



And then giant tubs of ice-cream because we could.



I was staying the night at my friend's apartment in Daegu. Right near her apartment is a E-Mart, which is just an everything shopping centre.

They had a wide selection of beer.



And soju, for roughing $2 or less a bottle. What in the even.



And then giant, plastic bottles of soju, for like 4 bucks.



Then back to my friend's apartment where she took me to the roof of her building. So dark and so late, we were a little freaked out.




To Be Continued!