Korea - Jeju Island PART 4

Continuing on our recent trip to Seoul Korea, we have heard so much on Jeju Island. So, we booked ourselves with one of the local tours for a 3 days 2 nights tour to this island.

The flight was only an hour away but the trip was pretty expensive. Our tour includes a two way Korean Air air ticket from Seoul to Jeju, 2 nights stay at a 4 star hotel (breakfast inclusive) and a private English speaking tour guide.

On arrival, we told our guide, Peter, that we had not taken our lunch and he took us to have the best black pork BBQ ever. Apparently Jeju is famous for their black pork which came from the domestic black pigs. The pork was so juicy and tender even after we BBQ them unlike those we had back in Malaysia. (They were so delicious that we insisted that he took us back to the same restaurant for lunch before we board our flight back to Seoul).



After lunch, we were brought to this stretch of road known as the Mysterious Road as cars or buses are known to apparently `roll' uphills magically when their engines were switched off. Well, our car did `roll' up the hill and the explanation were pretty interesting.

The road `looked' like it is going downhill but our car has just `rolled' all the way up from the `bottom'. If you look carefully, all the traces of water actually ran `uphill' and not `downhill'.

Next, we were taken to visit the Dragonhead Rock also known as Yongdu-Am located at the western end of Jeju. Because we touched down at Jeju Island at around 2pm, by the time we arrived at Yongdu-Am, it was almost dusk, yet the place was still packed with tourists, all trying to get the best spot to have their picture taken. I'm not sure though which part of the rock resembles a dragon head but the structure does look interesting.

With the fast fading light, it was rather difficult to grab any good shots and without my tripod, all I could do was to support my camera on some rocks and took 3 shots at different exposure and using an HDR software to produce the shot above.

By the time we arrived at the hotel it was almost 8:30pm and we were dead tired but eagerly looking forward to the following morning.

Korea - Seoul PART 3 (Mount Seoraksan)

Mount Seoraksan is located approximately 3 hours drive from Seoul. After a visit to the Daepohang fish market, we continue our journey and finally arrived at the foot hill of this mountain after a hearty lunch (pictures of which I will post later). Being early autumn, the leaves have not change colours much in Seoul but one can see the green, yellow, orange and red leaves at the foot of the hill. The view is simply spectacular.

The place was totally crowded and according to our guide is one of the favourite tourist destination not only for foreigners but locals as well. Many will attempt to trek up the mountain and visit the many old temples located up on the mountains.

Mount Seoraksan has many peaks, some of which will be shown in the pictures below. Seoraksan is the third highest mountain in Korea.

We arrived at about 12:30pm and had to wait till 2:30pm for our cable car ride to the top. While waiting, we walked the grounds of the Seoraksan National Park which offered a spectacular view of hundred years old temple in clear running streams and trees in their midst of changing their leaves colours.

The ride to the top was merely 5 minutes. Once there, we tracked down to a small temple supposed to have been there for the last 1200 years!

Next it was a 20 minutes track up the highest peak, the Daechongbong Peak which is 1708 meters or 5603 feet above sea level. Once there, the view was simply breathtaking.

This is one destination that everyone who visit Seoul or Korea should try to explore.

Korea - Seoul PART 2

We had the pleasure to stay at the Grand Intercontinental Hotel near COEX where the G20 Summit was to be held. The hotel service and room is superb and is near to the subway which made it easy for us to catch a subway to go downtown, not to mention that there is also a huge underground shopping mall at COEX itself. (where wifey did most of her last minute shopping).




I've visited Seoul before and this round I was determined to discover Korea outside Seoul. So, I booked myself for a day trip to one of their most famous mountain - Mount Seoraksan. The cost is about USD170 and it will take 3 hours drive to get there and back.

I was lucky that there were already 2 other Singaporeans who have booked the same tour and hence I merely joined them (they required a minimum 2 pax for each tour). The tour operator picked me up from my hotel at 6:45 am the next morning and we were on our way.

It was a cold 6 degress morning. I was a little worried when the van that we were travelling stopped a couple of times by the road side when the tour guide told us that they were having some mechanical issues with the van. I was just hoping that we could get back to Seoul in one piece, especially when we are supposed to be going up and down the mountain roads!

On the way to Seoraksan, we stopped by a traditional fresh fish market at Daepohang (apparently one of the fast disappearing scene with rapid commercialisation). It was simply breathtaking looking at their way of life and the sheer numbers of fresh sea food available!

After a quick tour at the fish market, we went on our way to the summit of Mount Seoraksan ....

Korea - Seoul PART 1

I was rather busy with my work recently and desperately needed a break. So, when my wife had to go to Seoul Korea for a 3 days meeting, I gladly tag along. Seoul or Korea did not give me a lasting impression when I was there 7 years ago. I was determined to rediscover Seoul and Korea now that I am there for the second time.

My mother in law has been very gracious to come over to take care of Ryan with the help of the maid for the week. (Thank God for mother in law!!) And we have installed CCTVs at home where we could log in from the web to look at him whenever we want.

We left on late Saturday night via Korean Airlines. The journey took approximately 7 hours. I could not sleep much and was really tired when we touched down at 6:50 a.m. in Seoul. Took a cab to our hotel (Hotel Grand Intercontinental) located at COEX (where the G20 Submit was held recently). While waiting for our room, we walked around our hotel, grab our breakfast and took some pictures.


View of our hotel. It's autumn now in Korea and the leaves had just started to change colors. I was hopeful for more dramatic pictures of red, orange, yellow and green leaves. The morning temperature ranged from 2 to 6 degrees, hitting 12 to 18 degrees in the afternoon.

After checking in, we took a nap (which ended up to be a pretty long one!). Since it is autumn, the day is rather short and the sun set by 4 to 4:30pm.

We went for a relaxing walk at a typical Korean temple near our hotel.

Some of the pictures captured at the temple.

A view of some modern skyscrapers from the traditional Korean Temple grounds.

I have the entire following day to myself. A quick check with the daily tour brochures and I decided to book myself for a day trip to Mount Seoraksan located 3 hours away from Seoul and it turned out to be a trip which totally changed my perception of Korea. Watch out for the pictures coming next .....