In a nutshell
Jeju – Island of Nature
Assalamualaikum hello people=)
Seoul is the capital city of South Korea and this is
where K-Pop fans would die for to meet their favourite bands or actress or
singers or so. The so-called ‘hallyu’. Anyway, I’m not a big fan of them though
I watch some of the dramas =p
Luckily, on September 2013, I got to visit Jeju
Island and Seoul after years of dreaming of becoming like Han Ji Eun in ‘Full
House’ or meeting Gu Jun Pyo of ‘Boys over Flower’. LOL. Okay, cross that part
puh-leaseee. It’s just me and my sista since everybody else was busy. We tried
to have a budget trip and so we had it finally. That’s the advantage of
planning your own tour without using any agents.
We boarded an Airasia flight in the morning of 1st
Sept flying to Busan. Why Busan? Because it was cheaper to land in Busan
instead of Incheon as we’re heading to Jeju next. So, we took the flight by
Jeju Air to Jeju Island. Well, actually there are few other airlines that you
could choose from and one of them is T’way airline but it doesn’t operate in
English. So, I think Jeju Air would be good enough BUT it’s very damn hard and
difficult to book a flight with Jeju Air because you’ll need a special browser
or so. Quite troublesome like you need window VISTA and IE8 only plus you need
to register first. As an alternative, you can just drop an email to Jeju Air
and ask them to book a ticket for you, which means you’ve to reveal your card
number bla3 to them and I doubt the safety.
Oh, by the way, when we arrived in Busan kitorang
menggelabah kot time tu because we had less than 45 minutes before departure
and we hadn’t check in yet not to mention we couldn’t even find the counter for
domestic departure. Luckily an officer helped us.
Us: Hello, do you know where is the domestic departure?
Us: Hello, do you know where is the domestic departure?
Officer: Oh, it’s at the other building.
We were like ?#!!?@#! Takkanlah nak kene naik train
kot. Dalam hati dah pasrah kalau terlepas flight.
Us: Oh my! How do we get there? By train?
Officer : No no no! It’s just 5 mins walk from here.
Maka bermulalah amazing race kami di South Korea,
dgn hand luggage yang diseret sana sini. HAHA. well, actually, it does not even
reach 5 mins
So, nak dijadikan cerita, we all sempat board on
time and finally arrived at Jeju Airport. Ade tourist information at the
arrival so no worries. Tanya je orang tu everything.
We stayed at Goodstay Nulsong Parktel Hotel, area
around Nohyung-dong. Bus 500 from airport to Halla Hospital bus stop. I
searched this hotel from Agoda and so far it has good review from customers
around the world and I never had regrets about it. Free WiFi in the room
including TV, computer, hot water, clean bathroom and the best part was we took
Ondol room which is kind of Korean style, yang tidur atas lantai without beds.
Konon2 nak experience like pure Korean. HEHE. The owner can speak Indonesia too.
What a long journey we had on the first day. And
finally boleh rest! Oh yes, we had dinner at this one seafood restaurant nearby
the hotel. The food was quite good. We ate Sundubu
Jiggae, a hot and spicy stew containing tofu, seafood and veges. Served
with rice and side dishes. You know how many side dishes they have for each
meal. They believe it’ll give you a balanced diet. Portion die cukup untuk 2
orang. So we just bought one pot of stew and ask the ahjumma for another bowl
of rice.
We drop by dekat convenience store GS25 sebelah restaurant tu je, to buy T-money card. This is like ‘Touch n go’ card for transportation ie: bus or railway or metro and it can be used in Seoul also other few provinces. For those yang penah jalan2 kat London, this card is exactly macam Oyster card which you can topup anytime.
2nd Sept
The hotel is very near to a bus stop. So, this
morning we started our journey to Jungmun Tourist Resort Complex by Jungmun
Express Way bus. It took around 1hr 45 mins. Before that, let me tell you Jeju
Island is divided into Jeju-si and Seongwipo-si (please bear with all these
Korean names) and the attractions are divided into eastern and western parts.
So, most people will spend one full day in the east and another day to the
west. Just because we had mistakenly planned our trip to Jeju for only a day
and half, we tried to squeeze our utmost choice of attractions in one full day including the
western and eastern part.
Jungmun Tourist Complex is located in Seongwipo-si
and you can stop at Jungmun Tourist Resort Complex bus stop. It’s kind of a big resort that you can enjoy
many attractions such as Teddy Bear museum, Chocolate Factory, Ripley’s museum
and lots more. Too much to mention.
There’s a small tourist information booth near the
bus stop if you’re unclear about anything or to get the maps. One thing about
Korea is the tourist information centre is most probably everywhere and they
are all very helpful =) First, we headed off to Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls. There
are 3 waterfalls spot overall but we just had a look at this one. Up and down
the stairs we climbed. The most perfect view is of course from the observatory
deck.
We went across the bridge (I couldn’t recall the
name of the bridge but it’s just the opposite way of the waterfall and you can
see the signboard clearly) before we went out of the waterfalls through another
exit. From there we wandered around passing through Ripleys museum, Teddy Bear
museum, Starbucks and at last we stop at Chocolate Factory. Okay, here’s the
deal, you pay 3000 Won (around RM10 at that time) for the entrance fee and you’ll
be given a discount voucher cost 3000 Won to buy anything in the museum.
Therefore lastly, we bought boxes of chocolate and got 3000 Won off the regular
price. Doesn’t that mean we actually got into the museum for free? Hehe. Unless
you don’t buy anything la, it’s a waste.
So from the museum we took a taxi to Jusangjeolli
Cliff because it might take 40 mins walking. So, we might as well take a taxi
sebab taxi muraahhh sangaatt dekat South Korea ni and this fact is very well
known. You have to pay around 1000-2000 Won for entrance fee. I’ll just let the
pictures describe the view.
At the entrance, there were ahjummas selling
tangerines. God! Mouth-watering tangerines! Just like in My Girl drama.HAHA.
Tangerines are Jeju’s specialty I guess.
Me: igeo olmayaeyo?
Ahjumma : wo cheon ( showing high-5 means 5000W,
already put in the tangerines in plastic bag. I didn’t say I wanna buy it, did
i?)
Me: (dengan muka mengharap, tunjuk 3 jari) Sam
cheon, chebal?
Ahjumma: Annio2. Aigoo~ aigoo~ (and dia cakap amende
ntah lagi which I didn’t understand).
At last we got tangerines for 3000W from ahjumma
beside her.KAHKAH.
Next heading to Seopjikoji, filming area of All In drama (I’ve never watched before tough). We took a bus to Seongwipo Bus Terminal and ride on Eastern Line bus, stop at Gosung Sungsan Nonhyup Entrance. Around 2 hours jugaklah. If you’re not really sure where to stop, you just tell the bus driver where do you wanna go and he will inform you when the bus arrive at the right bus stop. From the bus stop, you need to take a taxi to Seopjikoji because it’s located macam kat pedalaman sikit. The taxi cost us around 5000 Won.
********
It was almost 5 o’clock in the evening when we reached at the bottom of Seopjikoji. We grabbed a taxi to Seongsan Ilchulbong. You can take a bus but it’s just around 5 mins and taking a taxi really wouldn’t cost you much and it’s waaayy more easier. Entrance fee for Seongsan Ilchulbong around 1000-2000 Won jugak. See? Entrance fee diorang ni murah sangatt so you don’t have to worry if you off budget.
Anyway, this place
is under UNESCO World Heritage. Actually banyak tempat kat Jeju ni memang under
UNESCO and mostly pasal nature. People usually climb up to the top to see the
sunrise. So, if you get to plan your trip well, you can have a night at hotel
nearby Seongsan so you can see the sunrise first thing in the next morning. One
round trip to the top might take you around 1 hour or more. But every single
step is worth because view from the top is very amazing! We didn’t have the
chance nak tgk sunrise yet I’m sure kalau ade sunrise mesti lagi lawa. On the
way nak sampai top tu, you can also see area from higher level. Masa tu angin
bertiup hush hush hush!! Rasa diolak-tolak angina kencang!
We reached at the bottom at 6.30pm and have a drink
kejap before heading back. Actually we planned to go to Sarabong ‘Sabongnakjo’
untuk tengok sunset but you know, sunset pon pukul 7 lebih, memang tak
sempatlah nak sampai sana. Sarabong pulak is located on the way nak balik
Jeju-si. If you can imagine or you look at the map, we actually go circle the
Jeju Island, from Jeju-si to west then east than balik to Jeju-si again.
Since tak jadi nak pergi Sarabong, we walked to
nearest bus stop and naik bus to Jeju Intercity Bus Terminal. From there, we
took another bus to our hotel. And sebab dah penat sangat we had our dinner at
yesterday’s seafood restaurant.
End of day 2.
3rd Sept
Woke up today and realize we’re going to leave Jeju
very soon T.T Our flight is at 12.15pm.
Anyway, last destination before boarding the plane
to Seoul, Yongduam Rock. It’s located near to the airport and therefore we
brought along our luggage and simpan dekat airport (luggage storage at the
airport cost us 10000 Won for one small and one medium luggage for 2 hours,
harga ikut size bag and how many hours). When we asked the information counter,
they said the most convenient way to get to Yongduam Rock is by taxi, cost
5000W one way.
Yongduam rock ni is just rock dekat cliff yang
bentuk macam dragon head and of course ada history di sebalik dragon head tu.
So, our journey in Jeju had really came to an end
and I swear I will come here again someday because I still have a lot to
treasure in Jeju. Don’t let the language barrier to stop you from coming here
because the information centres are always helpful and easy to find.
P/s: Jeju susah nak dapat makanan halal, and so far
I read only 2 restaurant je yang serve halal food. So, for your survival,
please bring some instant maggi or Brahim or soups. Brahim tu you can eat with
rice because most convenience stores sell ready-cook rice (well, it’s my first
time seeing this also). Kalau tengok chocolates die tak faham tulis ape, just
bring some snacks and chocolate bars from your country. Safer that way.
For iPhone users, you
can download from Apps store, something called ‘Jeju Tour’ or you can just search
Jeju Island Tour.
To know more about Jeju
bus, feel free to visit this website : http://bus.jeju.go.kr/internet_eng/
0 comments:
Post a Comment