Good evening all. I'm now sitting in the comfort of my individual hostel room which I booked for KRW20,000 - that's about HKD140 or MYR56 in case you're wondering. I've got my own attached bathroom, a TV, air-conditioning, in-room internet and a great view. Good combo. Tomorrow I move to a slightly more upmarket 'hostel' as this one is booked up. Let's see how that one turns out.
From five star hotel to hostel albeit a comfortable one
The day started with nothing but rain, rain, rain and rain in Seoul. I had to catch a cab with a very bemused taxi driver because we travelled all of 250m down the hill and to the train station entrance. But he took one look at the sky and understood - no questions asked or any grumbles.
I caught the newly opened airport line to Gimpo airport. Actually, the Incheon airport line has been open for a while but it was only from Incheon to Gimpo which isn't very useful for most people. The line must have been tough to build because I went down something like five long escalators before I reached the platform. That's deep! I can also see it's not very popular yet. I was the only person in my entire carriage. I read somewhere that the original company AREX was in deep financial trouble and was taken over by Korail. It explains why I couldn't find an AREX website anymore.
Almost completely empty airport train
So on to Gimpo airport I went. The train is fast and only costs KRW1,200. That's better than paying around KRW50,000 to catch a cab from the hotel. Gimpo airport used to be the main international and domestic airport before Incheon airport was built. The airport is very, very busy even though it's only serving domestic flights and a select few international flights. I found a bunch of fast food joints but that's not for me so I continued searching and found a typical Korean restaurant with all their hot pot stuff and noodles. I settled on a beef stew something with rice. However all I could find was about three bites of tablespoon size meat. The meal wasn't too bad and I had sweated a bucket by the time I finished!
Love the tall coke cans they have here. The soup was literally boiling in the stone bowl.
I had my meal and since I was early at the airport, I went to the Asiana lounge, which was outside the secured area which is unusual. I guess domestic isn't as profitable because all the lounge had was some soft drinks and cookies. About 40 mins before my flight I decided not to risk it and left for the security checks. I got to my gate and lo and behold, flight delayed! All that rain, rain, rain...bugger...
Very heavy downpour reduced the visibility significantly. There's actually a very busy runway out there with planes taking off every few minutes but you can't see any of them!
The plane finally got in about 35 minutes late and by that time another two Asiana flights had left for Jeju. This island is popular! We left Gimpo not long after and it was one heck of a bumpy ride as the plane climbed to a higher altitude. I bet you it's still raining in Seoul right now.
After arriving at Jeju Airport, I walked out, spoke to someone at the tourism desk, got my map and headed for bus no. 600 to go to Seogwipo. My local friends told me to stay on the south side of the island. They told me Jeju city is just like any other city and not much fun. The trip to Seogwipo took another 2 hours (zzz...) with some interesting scenery and the bus stopped at all the major hotels. It felt a little bit like Las Vegas with very large complexes sprawled all over the place. There was also an ironman event which stopped traffic everywhere. Go go guys!
Anyways, I arrived at Seogwipo city with instructions I gathered on the internet on how to get to the hostel. I wrote "ask the driver to stop at Sunbeach Hotel, walk towards Cheonjiyeon Falls and the place is on the right". Right...only one slight problem. No signage! So are the falls uphill (ugh) or downhill (yay)? Then these two German guys that were on the bus helped me out. They had a Lonely Planet book which contained a map that showed where my hostel was. Whew!
Hokay...where do I go? Uphill or downhill?
I checked-in, dropped my bags and headed out before the sun disappeared. I decided to walk around the neighborhood and check things out. Since NOW there was a sign that said where the waterfalls were, I decided to follow it. When I reached the place, there was a ticket office. I guess nature is not free nowadays. I decided not to pay because my tummy was starting to tell me it was hungry. I saw a Korean restaurant with lots of pictures. I like pictures since I speak zero Korean (hello and thank you doesn't cut it) so I walked in.
They gave me a menu. It had four choices - boiled pork, grilled fish, abalone soup or all three of the above. Guess which one I ordered? *grin* They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here are a few!
If you can see the words up the top, they were a joy to my eyes and hungry tummy!
The menu with four choices
So I went the Guboo and when it came I almost fainted...15 dishes including rice!
I tried my best but...
I better sign off now. It's getting late. I'm planning to see a few things tomorrow I found on the travel Korea website which sound very interesting. They have a real-life submarine tour here in Seogwipo! I've never been in a submarine before. Jeju also has some super cool volcano structures. One place I'd like to visit is called "Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak". It's a Unesco World Heritage site but it's a long trip there - about 2hr 30mins according to the website. *shudder* At least the sub is only a few minutes away at the port. Here are some links if you're curious.
We'll see how my 'plan' pans out. I might just sleep in again. Hahaha. Weather dependent, Tuesday will be walking up Mt Halla!
Eug.
P.S. I'll admit it here - you know what's different for me this trip? I actually wish my wife was with me to share the adventure (don't tell her that!) Probably explains my slightly less than normal enthusiasm to see and do loads of things. Or is it a sign of aging??
1 comment:
Hmmm... looks delicious! That would have been a wonderful birthday meal! Instead, we had a customer who stayed so late that time had passed all last orders at all restaurants so we went home to cook maggi with spam :(
Birthday dinner postponed but now we may do it in KL because we are thinking of going to KL tomorrow or Wed to visit your aunt in Damansara Specialist Hospital.
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