The Grinch(es) take Seoul for Christmas

[bPeteb]

a couple more from Hocheon


We had planned to return to Haeundae a different way, potentially visiting BEXCO, the Museum of Art, but we ended up going back exactly the way we came due to very tired feet


We got off the subway at Haeundae instead of Jung-dong and walked through the streets behind the beach. Dumped our bags at the hotel and it was back to Gorilla Brewing. We gave their canned beverages a hit this time



another beautiful Busan sunset


back to the beers and the best beer we had on our trip and we n=both eckon one of the best we've ever had - KIMCHI BEER! Bloody amazing


Haeundae Beach by night


dinner was at a bbq restaurant under the hotel. It was ok, but not a patch on our experience in Jeju City


and of course makgeoli and icecream to finish the night


No intention to stay awake until midnight as we had a sunrise to see in the morning

 

[bPeteb]

No further updates until Tuesday when we’re back from CHC after our annual avoid invasion day trip.

BNE the quietest we’ve ever seen it. No one in security line when we walked in. Bizarre.

 

[bPeteb]

We had such a lovely relaxing time in Akaroa over the weekend. Weather was supposed to be pretty ordinary but it was beautiful Saturday. and Sunday up until late afternoon. We walked the full Children's Bay circuit that took nearly 2.5 hours. Foolishly we had no sunscreen and both of us ended up with very burnt necks, arms and faces

 

[bPeteb]

Up at a very respectable 6ish to have a hot drink then join the masses looking for that first sunrise of 2025.

Initially we walked along the road behind the hotel thinking we might get a view of the sunrise as the road went around a corner on the sea front, but we could tell that was no good, so we walked back to the steps up to Greenline Park and then started heading east on the path beside the railway.


We got to a point where we the path dipped lower and we had space against the fence. And there we stood to welcome the sun. Everyone was very respectful not to push into each other. There was the occasional group of joggers who seemed a little confused that there were 1000s of people blocking 'their' running track.

The sunrise


we're glad we didn't go onto Haeundae Beach. Look at the crowds!


we went back to the hotel to have breakfast and plan what to do for new years day, 2025.

There was another Australian couple staying at the hotel and at breakfast they recommended the walk at Igidae Park. From Haeundae it was straight across the bay, but to get there it was subway with one change and a 2km walk to get to the park. That's what we did.

On our way to Igidae

 

[bPeteb]

We stopped at a cafe the couple recommended - 쏘리낫쏘리 베이크샵 SORRY NOT SORRY BAKESHOP - and it was very good with a lovely outlook


Igidae Park was just up the hill from the cafe


so to our walk. Not many people out walking although it would have been crowded a few hours before with people there to see the sunrise. Great views back towards Busan and along the coastline


that's the block of our hotel in the centre of the photo down by the seafront


'road' closed?



we walked around out of the park and google mapped our way back to the subway

 

[bPeteb]

We got off at the Haeundae beach stop and wandered through the streets just off the beach that were full of small restuarants, many specialising in seafood


We also saw a standalone global ATM on the street leading to the beach


of course we stopped at Gorilla Brewing for our last Busan beers. More delicious Kimchi Beer


where we watched the first sunset of the year


had a very simple dinner of dumpling soup and steamed dumplings

and finished new year's day back in the room with makgeoli and icecreams

 

[bPeteb]

Our next destination was Gyeongju. Search for it on google and it sends you to a city on the ocean but we were heading to the the ancient Silla capital Gyeongju Historic Area [UNESCO World Heritage] (경주역사유적지구 [유네스코 세계문화유산]) : VISITKOREA

We'd planned to take public transport but it would have taken us half a day to get there via a couple of subways and then either a bus, or the KTX, then a bus. So we chose Uber taxi. The price range was 65,000 won to 85,000, pretty good for an hour door to door trip in a taxi.

Some scenery from the taxi ride


our first view of a burial mound in Gyeongju


we were watching our progress on google and could see the driver missed one turn but ended up getting us to the hotel. I should ahve used google translate to understand why he had to charge us another 10,000 won. $10 is not big deal but I was dissappointed that what might have been 65,000 somehow ended up costing over 100k whenj it landed on the cc bill.

It was easy and safe so whatevs.

Check in is a strictly enforced 3pm so we dumped our bags and got a Kakao to the Gyeongju National Museum 국립경주박물관 eng

Super interesting museum with beautiful displays


apples

 

[bPeteb]

more at the museum.


We had a delicious lunch at the onsite cafe


we then started back to the hotel. First stop was Donggung Palace & Wolji Pond that for us wasn't worth the admission price (after the museum was free!). It didn't help that there was a screaming child there that just didn't stop


then back across the road where we walked through the park


and past Wolseong Fortress

 

[bPeteb]

Seokbinggo (ice store)


Gyerim Forest




Cheomseongdae Observatory

 

[bPeteb]

wtf?


and into the fenced area that contains the Royal Tomb of King Michu and Daereungwon tomb complex



then out into a sea of shops and cafes and restuarants in what I'm not sure was an old village, or is a recreation of one

 

[bPeteb]

We stayed at Y Collection by Unboundi and loved it. Y COLLECTION BY UNBOUNDI GYEONGJU ≡ Gyeongju, South Korea ≡ Lowest Booking Rates For Y Collection By Unboundi Gyeongju in Gyeongju, Amenities


Quirky and odd with a bed pretty much on the floor and no lifts so definitely not for everyone. We were on the second floor that was more like one and a half floors up. The bed was super comfy and it had heated floors so the bed was also warm. Like with each hotel we stayed at we could also open the window so fresh air, very cold fresh air, was always available.


The fake stuff was so bizarre. A fake garden and fake books. Love it!


we had of course bought some beers from one of the local convenience stores. One a wit with tangerine again and one an ale. Both very good


a simple breakfast was included and served down on the ground floor in the morning


Dinner time. We wandered around and decided on a place in teh same street as the hotel that had an image of a stylised cow/steer on the door. We thought why not, we've tried the pork.

Yet again google translate came to our rescue. The owner came and typed into her phone that the specialty was raw beef. We love a bit of beef tartare so we were fine.

Here was the menu. Sadly translate does not give us the name in Englis. On my 28 degrees card it says 'Woo Raw Fish Jeon'. No fish was seen on the premises.

and translated


in handsight we chose the wrong set, or what we wanted was misunderstood. We wanted the stew, dumplings and raw beef and got raw beef and stew, a LOT of raw beef. It was delicious



it clearly wasn't cold or wintery enough outside. Lets bring that wintery feeling inside with a projection of snow!!


after diiner we walked back towards the hotel and stopped off at a place that was called craft beer bar or something similar. Craft beers on the whole meant foreign beers so we had a couple of whiskey highballs and then a couple more Terras or something similar


and then it was back to the hotel (room 202)



for some weird wrestling sumo kind of thing on tv

 

[bPeteb]

We were up earlyish for breakfast as we had a few more royal tombs to see before we KTXed it back to Seoul. Breakfast was a couple of different cereals, tea/coffee/juice, toast and boiled eggs. Perfectly adequate.

The ramp assist for wheeled bags


Out into the cold and gee was it cold! Out and about the town, burial mounds around most corners


beer makes me happy


then to the Geumgwanchong Gold Crown Tomb - Wikipedia. This is part actual tomb wall and part recreation. Amazing


then Gyerim-ro (I think that's the name) where the staff were super excited that we had come to visit


then back to the hotel

and a taxi to the KTX station that is quite a way out of the town


booking a train was a pain to be honest until I gave up and used RailNinja. There was just no way that I could work out how to book a train on Korail. Booked on RailNinja and they book as soon as the train becomes available. We were sent our tickets I think the week before we left.

Burger joint at the station. Nice, and cheap


Our KTX to Seoul. Cost was $220 for two economy seats. Based on TGV?


Main issue was luggage space. Lucky the staff onboard don't care about bags blocking the entire area around the luggage racks and into the connection between carriages! The overhead racks are pretty big and bAlt eventually moved his bag up over us

Snow on the way into Seoul. A big dump was forecast the day after we were to leave


bad news for the entire world


cool building as we approached Seoul

 

[bPeteb]

We stayed at Ibis Ambassador Seoul Insadong 이비스 앰배서더 서울 인사동. It was ridiculously cheap so we booked two nights as our J* flight home was late the next evening.

Of course we subwayed and walked to the hotel. The walk was right through the crazy alleys of Ikseon-dong Hanok Village 익선동 한옥마을 that was actually straight across the road from the hotel. Just a fab location.

Big room with amazing view and cougholla bathroom. The shower was just hopeless. Teeny tiny tv too in the scheme of hotel room tvs. I gave feedback and was told the hotel is about to receive a top to bottom refurb. It needs it.


the unused and maybe wasted rooftop space


down into Ikseon-dong in search of drinks, and dinner. It was our last full night in Korea after all

beautiful restaurants inbetween the bbq and stew joints


this place was much more our style




Korean sake


decided against the seagull and fist

 

[bPeteb]

we ended up here and had an excellent time. How could you not like Korean bbq? Lovely waitress from Nepal looked after us


yikes!! Imagine needing to use those tongs and those gloves!


back out into the restaurant and evidence of ongoing liking for Korean beer


then it was into the little bar across the road from the hotel called 1993. Lovely family owned bar. Nice Korean craft beers by Kabrew. We consumed too many



lucky we could sleep in!

 

[bPeteb]

The last sunrise of our fab short trip to Korea


Breakfast at the Ibis was unusual. I hadn't booked with breakfast but they had an offer that was I think 16,000 won pp if booked on the day you arrive. They were very confused that I didn't want to pay for two days as our booking was for two nights.

Breakfast finished at 9.30 and we got there at about 9. It had started at 6.30 and we both reckon some of hot food was the same stuff that had been put out then. Eveything just seemed like it had been out for hours. At 6.30 it would actually have been pretty good. Neither of us felt like much more than coffee, and bacon/egg/toast.


mascotagge?


imagine using this to go off the side of the building and down if there was a fire


It was so great to be able to just go out and not worry about packing until we got back. We need to do this more often not matter what the cost is.

We walked to Jongmyo Shrine 종묘 Jongmyo Shrine | Korea Heritage Service

Such a peaceful place right in the centre of Seoul



we decided we needed to each buy a warmer jacket for future travels. The Hyundai City Outlets Dongdaemun mall was closest so off we went. We ended up walking back through the Gwangjang Market where we'd gone for our night market food tour


lots of electric cars here, of course, and roadside charging points



The outlet store was crazy. SO many stores and so many choices and such variation of price. I'm not 100% sure either of us got the right jacket but we'd commited to buy something and we did!!
Koreans do great desserts


Ibis Seoul Ambassador Insadong. Our oom to the far left on level nine

 

[bPeteb]

So to our last evening and night. I hadn't managed to get our wlecome drinks that come with my lowly silver with Accor so I asked if we could have a beer and the answer was yes.


The flight was scheduled to depart at 9:50pm. We planned on departure formalities taking nearly as long as arrival so we planned our subway and all stops express to get us to Incheon just under 2.5 hours before departure. We breezed through much quicker than we expected and were through security and immigration with what was initially just under two hours to spare.

Dinner options inside departures were very limited. We ended up having a pho that was quite good, then got a beer from Taco Bell! I received an alert from TripIt Pro that the flight had been delayed. I think initially it was an hour. We wandered down to the overcrowded gate and the plane was there.


Eventually the crew arrived and we could see the flight crew prepping for thr trip. But we waited, and waited.

They made an announckent that we would soon start boarding but that the automated boarding system was briken so it would take some time to get us all boarded. After boarding business it was a free for all. No families with small children, no section/group boarding. It was a mess.

I'd booked exit row seats and when we finally got on the guy in the aisle had decided he needed to manspread into the centre seat. bAlt was too polite to ask him to move his invading elbow. I wouldn't have been.


we finally departed at 11:38 and not long after they served the first meal. This was ample, if anything not even necessary, but we'd bought them so we ate them


remarkably both of us got a significant sleep. We both think we got at least five hours.

Into Brisbane a couple fo hours late at 10:38am.

The crew back not as good as that going but I'm being a little harsh. A day flight is much easier to be seen. A night flight not so much. We also had someone in our section who was only on his sixth flight and he was a bit all over the place. The CSM, who I recognised from one of our Bali flights, came and checked on us a couple of times and after explaining his newness asked how he was doing. I said he was nervous and just needed to build his confidence. He was clearly rushing things that he shouldn't have.

Overall we enjoyed our Jetstar Y experience. We are not needy or entitled travellers. If we get somewhere safely without a drink being spilled on us and with something edible to consume we're just about ok. This was more than that. Seats were comfortable. Crew was really good. Food and beverage was exactly what we paid for. We won't hesitate to book Jetstar Y again if it's the right destination and price.

To South Korea.

We LOVED IT. It was such an unexpected joy. Transport, accommodation, food, drink, the people, what we saw. Every moment of that trip was excellent and we can't wait to go back, in either spring or autumn next time.

The day after we got home we settled on our new digs right in the centre of Brisbane. We moved in on Wednesday. It was quite a week!

Here's our new view


Since we got back we've been to Christchurch/Akaroa for the weekend and have a couple more wekekends away before we are back to Africa at the end of May. Well, that's if we haven't all died in a nuclear holocaust initiated by that orange fool across the Pacific.

 

[kookaburra75]

Thanks for making the effort to travel to South Korea, to entertain us with your exploits, and finding so many bars - it almost seems like an extension of the lunch we had with you two

And thank you for all the photos and information. It gives MrsK and I a lot of ideas about a place we haven't been to yet.

 

[bPeteb]

Thanks for making the effort to travel to South Korea, to entertain us with your exploits, and finding so many bars - it almost seems like an extension of the lunch we had with you two

And thank you for all the photos and information. It gives MrsK and I a lot of ideas about a place we haven't been to yet.

We're always ready to take a few dozen for the team. Say hi to M from us both

 

[Black Duck]

Thanks for the great report. I love Korea and hope to be back this year. It's very beautiful, great food and lovely people. I have yet to find a museum that is not really good. They cherish their heritage after having lost so much.

I haven't been to Jeju yet but you have inspired me. Now need to add extra time to this year's plan.

 

[VPS]

Thanks for another great TR - love that you always get your quota of beers in.

Your new apartment looks amazing. Enjoy