About 3 months ago I finally decided that I wanna travel to South Korea this year. It has been almost 4 years since I have been to Asia last time. I was really excited to finally go to South Korea but still hadn’t fully realized it. I already decided on where I wanted to go but would check out what I’m going to do in these cities once I’m there.
Getting ready for my trip#
My trip would last 16 days. On the 31st of August, my flight will take off and I’ll land on the 1st of September at Incheon International Airport. From there I would take the metro to Seoul. I would reunite with two friends from my city and we would spend time together until the 5th. They would then fly back to Germany whereas I would fly to Jeju Island. On the 8th I then fly to Busan and stay there until the 11th. From Busan, I’ll take the train to Gyeongju, and finally, on the 13th I’ll head back to Seoul. My flight back would be on the 16th from Incheon International Airport.
I had a nice sleep that day before. In the past, I often was too excited to sleep before my trips. I stayed at my parent’s place as it was closer to the airport. We arrived at the airport about 3 hours early such that I could swiftly check in my luggage and go through the security. I walked around the departure area and eventually went to my gate. I spent the rest of the time reading my Lonely Planet guide to see what I wanted to see on the first day.
It was finally time to board the flight. I booked a seat at the window. There were 3 seats in my aisle and none of them were occupied so far. After a while a German guy came and sat down at the seat next to the corridor. Therefore we had an empty seat in between us. He turned to me and said that if we were lucky we might have no one sitting between us. - He was right - Therefore we used the spare seat to place our stuff.
We started a conversation, it turned out he was a graduated saxophone player and a teacher. I am pretty interested in music without ever having had some theoretical training. We talked a lot about Jazz composition and how to develop your own style while being inspired and evolving by consuming other artists. During our conversation, we got some food and drinks. We had the choice between a Korean and a German dish. Unfortunately when the steward came to us only the German dishes were left.
He told me he was going to Seoul to play some gigs in Seoul together with some other Germans and Koreans for a few days before going back to Germany again. Afterward, each of us decided to watch something before taking a rest.
Day 1 - Arriving in Incheon#
The plane landed at around 10 a.m. South Korean time at Incheon International Airport. I was super tired as I hadn’t slept much. The seats were uncomfortable and the provided earphones started hurting in my ear after a while therefore I was super exhausted when I finally got off the plane. The first thing I had to do after grabbing my luggage was to get the Korean SIM card that I had ordered beforehand. The German saxophonist also had ordered a SIM card therefore we were looking together for the SIM card stand. The next thing I had to get was a T-money card. This card can be used to pay for public transportation and in some convenience stores. So I asked the guy working at the SIM card store where I could buy the T-money card. He pointed me to a CU store. These stores are convenience stores that are all over South Korea. When I asked for a T-money card I got a CU card instead. From my understanding, they are very similar to T-money cards and so far I had no problem when using public transportation.
Then I said goodbye to the German musician and went to the subway. I took the metro to Seoul station and then tried to reach the hotel by walking. It was very hot, around 29 degrees. For some reason, Kakao Maps couldn’t tell me the way afoot, so I had to walk to my hotel by checking the map. It wasn’t a big problem and I managed to find it. On my way to the hotel was a street market with many small souvenir shops and cafés. I had to wait an hour before I could check it, so I found a nearby café and had a chocolate drink and some delicious cheesecake with frozen cream. Here was the first time I tried to practice my Korean. I tried to order the cheesecake and coffee in Korean, however I wasn’t able to understand the waiters reponse so I had to switch to english to understand her answer.
I was finally able to check in and took a short nap. When I woke up I felt even more tired than before. I took a shower and then talked with my parents. The hotel was spacious enough to fit me and my two friends. There was one single and a double bed. The bathroom consisted of a modern toilet and a shower. There were also shower slippers, first I wondered why we needed shower slippers but it was apparent to me after I took a shower because the whole bathroom was completely wet. The toilet was interesting as there were several buttons to control water, blow dryer, and deo.
I then got contacted by these friends who had already traveling in Japan for the past 2 weeks. They were about to take the plane to Incheon Airport as well. So I got ready and headed back to Incheon Airport. On my way back I recognized a bus stop of the airport bus near our hotel. When I arrived at the airport I had to wait for another hour before I finally reunited with my friends. We then took a while to find that bus line that I’d seen before. We finally found the right bus and rode this bus for about an hour back to our hotel.
Since none of us had had dinner yet, we explored the neighborhood and found several restaurants that still served food around 11 p.m. We had a nice chicken dinner consisting of a bowl of fried chicken and another bowl of garlic chicken each served together with some 떡볶이 (Tteokbokki). After the late dinner, we went back to the hotel to take a good rest.
Day 2 - Walking around Seoul#
I woke up refreshed and energetic after a good night’s sleep. We got up slowly and left the hotel to grab some food. Nearby the hotel there was an underground market. We walked through there and saw many shops that sold either glasses or souvenirs. One guy wanted to sell us these portable fans but we kindly declined.
Then we went into a street of the street market I had passed through the day before with many small shops and street food. We found a nice small café with two floors where we decided to have some breakfast. The café had a traditional small table on the second floor where we had our breakfast.
After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to get the suncream and then decided to see the Bukchon Hanok village. We passed by many people on the way and found out that there was some event going on. It seemed they celebrated the 70th anniversary of the American-Korean alliance. We passed by a memorial for the people who passed away during the Halloween tragedy in Itaewon last year. On the main road, we saw a big statue of King 세종 (Sejong), the inventor of Hangeul which is the Korean alphabet.
We spotted a big traditional gate and our interest was sparked. As it turned out it was the entrance to the 경복궁 (Gyeongbokgung) palace. We went inside and walked around the big palace area. Many people were wearing a hanbok the traditional dress in ancient times.
From Gyeongbokgung we headed to the Bukchon Hanok village which is a small area with traditional houses. Before we arrived there, we saw some kind of park that had some small arcade machines as well as some markings on the ground where you could play 오징어 (Ojingo) which is a game that was made famous through the Netflix show Squid Game. We then arrived at Bukchon Hanok village. Some houses were inhabited by people while others were turned into souvenir shops or shops where you could buy snacks. I found a store that sold juice made out of 한라봉 (Hallabong), a citrus fruit from Jeju island similar to an orange that has a shape similar to a pear.
Besides the Hanok village, Bukchon also contains many different restaurants. We wanted to find some Bibimbap there but first, we wanted to withdraw some cash. To our dismay, the ATMs that we’ve found didn’t accept our cards. It took us a while and some asking to find a bank that finally accepted my card and I was able to withdraw some money. By then many shops were already closing so we withdrew the idea of eating Bibimbap and instead had some Japanese curry, which was very delicious as well.
After dinner, we took a walk to our hotel and enjoyed the fresh evening breeze. What was quite remarkable is that we passed by a lot of 노래방 (Noraebang) Korean karaoke shops. Close to our hotel, we saw a cool park-like lane with an artificial creek that was a bit lower than the streets and passed underneath some of the main roads. We took a short break and watched some people walking along that lane while some tried to cross the creek over some big stone. We eventually continued walking to the hotel and it took us around 50 minutes until we got there.
Upon arrival, we relaxed a bit and then got ready for bed since we would head to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) in the early morning. We had booked a tour that was scheduled for 7 a.m. at a pickup point 15 minutes from our hotel, so we had to get up around 6.
Day 3 - DMZ tour#
We had to get up at 6 a.m. and get ready to head to the Koreana Hotel. On the way, we stopped by a convenience store and picked up some drinks and snacks for the day. The Koreana Hotel was the pickup spot for the DMZ tour. We were a quite diverse group, even some other Germans were among the participants. We noticed that most participants were young.
The tour consisted of three parts. First, we went to 임진각 (Imjingak) station. There were two bridges one bridge called the Freedom Bridge was built to exchange prisoners between the North and South. The bridge got its name because the returning South Korean prisoners screamed for freedom when they crossed the bridge.
The other bridge called Dokgae Bridge is a train bridge built over the Imjin River. This bridge connected the south to Pyongyang and even reached Berlin. Unfortunately, the train and the bridge were destroyed during the Korean War.
We also had the chance to get some North Korean money which we did. Afterward, we took the bus to the next stop. We crossed the Cow Bridge over the river that originates from North Korea. The bridge was built by the founder of Hyundai. He himself is a North Korean who went to the South. he built the company from money that he was given by his father. Feeling guilt that he wasn’t able to repay him he built the bridge and brought 1001 cows, 1000 for the North Korean people, and 1 for his father. That’s how the bridge got its name.
We then reached the Dora observatory a 3-storey building where it’s possible to look over to the North Korean side. We saw a few small moving dots afar that must have been either soldiers or farmers. This was an odd experience as it felt a bit like going to the Zoo.
The second last stop of the tour was the 3rd infiltration tunnel that was dug from the North Korean side below the DMZ to attack Seoul. Several tunnels were prematurely found such that no invasion could have taken place. However, there might be many more infiltration tunnels that haven’t been discovered yet.
The last stop was the South Korean village in the DMZ. We were given around 15 minutes to shop in a small supermarket. One of the popular products is ginseng from the DMZ. Here I finally had the Samanko ice cream that I wanted to eat since I learned about it. The ice cream was very delicious.
We were dropped off at the Koreana Hotel and walked back to our hotel. We rested for a bit and then got ready again to go out and look for a small brunch and have some nice dinner later. We had some cake and drink at Starbucks.
Afterward, we wanted to walk around Mount 남산 (Namsan) and see the N-Seoul Tower, a famous landmark of Seoul. The mountain was quite close to the hotel but climbing the hotel took about an hour to reach the top. At the top were some shops and food stalls that even served German beer. The view from Mount Namsan was really great.
We went back to the hotel once more and then wanted to have some halal chicken that had very good reviews on Google Maps. It was somewhere southeast of Mount Namsan and at first, it seemed quite close such that we decided to go there by foot. On the way, we found several small streets that invited us to explore the area a bit but after consulting the map again we realized that the restaurant was too far from our current position. So we took the bus instead.
We reached the restaurant but at first, the owner seemed a bit tired or surprised to see us. We asked her if the restaurant was open and she said yes. We ordered and she started cooking for us. When we were eating she tried to have some small conversation with us and we talked for a while with her, her mood had shifted from maybe tired to interested and happy. All in all the food was very delicious.
At some point we decided to go back. We walked to the bus stop were we got dropped off before and took the same bus line back home and eventually went to rest.
Day 4 - Shopping in Dongdaemun#
Day 4 was the last full day together with my friends. We got up relatively late to compensate for the last few days. We started the day by having breakfast at a local bakery.
Then we wanted to find a self-service ramen shop that my colleagues had seen in some documentary. We started in the general direction and passed by a Lotte department store. We decided to enter the department store. There were several clothing and toy stores as well as a restaurant in it. At the rooftop was a small park-like area where we rested for a few minutes before we continued on with our trip.
In order to get to the Ramen shop we walked through a big shopping district. There were hundreds and hundreds of small shops, some of them in an area of \(1 m^2\). What I’ve noticed is that each of these shops was hyper-specialized in one single thing. Like a shop that only sold zippers or another shop that only sold small motors.
We finally found the self-service Ramen shop. It was a small 2-story shop with several options to choose from. All over the walls were post-its from customers leaving wholesome or funny messages. One had to select which ramen flavor to buy. Afterward, you could take out the ramen package and put it in a bowl. You then could add toppings and seasoning to the bowl and pour in the hot water. In addition, you were able to eat some Kimchi as a side dish. Next, we were ready to enjoy the ramen. All in all, it had been a fun experience and I also left a message on the wall.
We then continued exploring the shopping area some more and waited for the night This was because we wanted to wait until the evening to see the Seoul City wall by night.
I went to a 교보 (Kyobo) book store and bought some simple books to practice my Korean. Eventually, it started to get dark. We looked for a place to sit near the tower of the Seoul City wall and the lights turned on eventually. We took some photos and then walked up along the city wall to get a better view.
We eventually passed by some café bars with jazz music reverberating in the air. The cafés had some balcony seats where you could have a nice view of Seoul. we ordered some drinks, chatted, and enjoyed the last evening together.
Around 10 p.m. we decided to walk back to the hotel afoot. The temperature was very comfortable around that time. We walked down the stairs and then walked along the lane with the creek - that we had seen a day before - until we reached the hotel.
After arriving back at the hotel my colleagues already started packing as they would have to leave early for Incheon International Airport.
Day 5 - Flight to Jeju Island#
Today was an odd day. I woke up early since I wanted to bring my colleagues to the bus and say goodbye to them. I then went back to the hotel got myself ready and packed everything. I had to go to the airport to catch the flight to Jeju at the 김포 (Gimpo) International Airport. Since the flight was at half past 6 p.m. and I had to check out at 12 a.m., I still had some time in between. Therefore I placed my luggage in a locker in the hotel after checking out and walked around to find a restaurant. Most restaurants were crowded as it was time for lunch. I managed to find a restaurant in a small side street that wasn’t crowded and had my lunch there.
Afterward, I decided to get my luggage and go to the airport early since I wasn’t sure how the check-in works and therefore it’s better to be early than late. I arrived at the airport around 2 p.m. and spent the time there grabbing some drinks and reading. At 3:30 p.m. I decided to check in my baggage and go through the security check-in. The Gimpo International Airport was a bit smaller than the one in Incheon. therefore everything was done quite quickly, so I spent the remaining time at the gate.
The flight itself took around 1hr 10 mins and I slept through most of it. I landed and everything went smoothly. Then I had to take the bus to the hostel. At the bus stop, I met Jacob, a guy from the Netherlands. He also was about to board the bus and go to his accommodation in 서귀포시 (Seogwipo City) which is the second largest city south of Jeju Island. He also told me that he would head to Busan and Gyeongju afterward. He quickly walked to his bus stop and I tried to find the right bus to get to my hostel. The hostel mentioned that there were several buses to take and that one of them goes in two opposite directions. I wanted to ask the bus driver if he stopped at the bus stop where I needed to get out but he just gesticulated that I should sit down, he seemed in a hurry. Luckily a girl who took the bus with her mother asked me where I wanted to get off and confirmed that this was the right bus. However, as it turned out I took the bus in the wrong direction. I saw my bus going farther and farther away from the hostel, so I decided to get off and walk a bit. However, I was so far away that it would take a while to get there. Thus I decided to try taking another bus. This time I used Kakao Maps and found one that headed to the hostel. I eventually arrived at around 9 p.m. at the hostel.
The owner Vincent was a funny guy who showed me how everything works. Tonight I would sleep alone. There was a common room outside of the bedrooms. There I met Lea, a girl from Germany who was just traveling around. She told me that if I wanted to hike to 한라산 (mount Hallasan), I would need to reserve a ticket as it’s only possible to climb Hallsan within a certain time frame. There were several trails up Mount Hallasan, but only two trails - Gwaneumsa Trail and Seongpanak Trail - that would go all the way up to the summit of the mountain. I wasn’t sure if I should take one of the tougher trails that went all up to the summit as they were quite challenging. Since I had been walking a lot the past few days I thought that I should be able to make it to the top. In case I would feel overwhelmed I could simply turn around and go back.
After a while three girls came back to the hostel, they were from the US, Australia, and Germany. We chitchatted a bit. Then I decided to go to bed a bit earlier as I had to wake up early the next day in order to climb Hallasan.
Day 6 - Climbing Hallasan#
I woke up by the alarm at 6 a.m. I got ready and went down to the breakfast hall. I was the first one. The host Vincent just came a few minutes later and started making breakfast. I had some fruit plus toast with scrambled eggs and ham. I was checking how to get to the beginning of the hiking trail to the summit of Hallasan. Busses here were a bit inconvenient as they were slow and I had to switch buses. Therefore Vincent suggested to me to install Kakao T an app similar to Uber. He then showed me how to order a taxi to the beginning of the trail and I started waiting for the driver.
The driver arrived 5 minutes later and took me to the trail entrance. I arrived there around half past 7 p.m. A woman at the entrance gate scanned my ticket and then my ascend began.
The trail that I took is called the 관음사 (Gwaneumsa) Trail. Which is the shorter but steeper trail that goes to the summit. Besides that are a few trails that don’t go to the summit and are shorter. The only other trail that goes to the summit is the 성판악 (Seongpanak) Trail. It is longer but not as steep. My plan was to ascend the Gwaneumsa trail and then descend the Seongpanak trail.
The start of the Gwaneumsa trail was relaxing. It was mostly either dirt road or bridges. I was walking mostly through the forest and therfore the temperatures were quite comfortable. It wasn’t very steep in the beginning.
Then after 3.2 km, it became steeper. There were less shallow roads and more stairs.
I reached a part of the trail that was mostly flat, I took a short video to capture the beautiful landscape.
Most of the time the trail was in a forest thus it wasn’t very warm, but the higher I climbed the fewer roads were overcast by trees. Before reaching the checkpoint which is around the halfway point to the summit a girl from my hostel passed by me. We had some short rest at the checkpoint and she then carried on at a fast pace while I hiked slowly.
Eventually, I reached a point that oversaw a beautiful landscape. Some trees already left their leaves here. I met a Korean dad who climbed the mountain by himself. He was also very exhausted similar to me. I tried to cheer him up by saying 화이팅 하세요 (hwaiting hasaeyo) to him. He thanked me and said something to me that I unfortunately couldn’t understand. He realized that I couldn’t understand him and stopped talking. I then indicated that I was pretty exhausted by saying 피곤해요 (pigonhaeyo). He started laughing and agreed with me.
When I got closer to the summit I passed through the clouds. By now the road was only stairs. I was super tired at that point but I slowly climbed the stairs one by one. Finally, I reached the summit by 11:40 a.m. The tough hike was definitely worth the view.
I stayed there until 12 a.m., rested a bit, and had some snacks and water. Next would be the descent which would be even longer than the ascend. However, going down would be far less taxing. Nevertheless, the stony road made it still challenging.
The first view meters I still had a nice few. after that, I hiked mostly through the woods. It was a mix of wooden bridges, dirt roads, and stoney roads. I passed by the checkpoint of the Seongpanak Trail and continued on. Finally, at around 3 p.m. I reached the exit of the trail.
I then took the bus back. This time it was a direct connection. I almost fell asleep on the bus. I reached the hostel, took a shower, and took a nap. After waking up I grabbed some food and planned for the next day. I talked with Lea and we decided to head to the Manjanggul cave and Udo Island. The night before I had the hostel room for myself but this day 3 Korean guys moved into the shared room. I eventually got ready for bed so that I could wake up early the next day.
Day 7 - Visiting Udo Island#
I got woken up by my roommates who got up at 5 to climb Mount Halasan. I continued sleeping until 6:20 a.m. I got up and got ready to have some lunch prepared by Vincent.
After lunch, I got some drinks and snacks and then took the bus together with Lea. The first destination was the Manjanggul cave. To get there we would need to switch the bus line. The stop where we had to switch was in a small village. We had around 40 minutes before the next bus would come so we walked around the village. It seemed as if this village would rarely be visited by any foreigners. We passed by a small hotel. An older man greeted us and asked where we were from. We said we were from Germany. He replied that he had been there before. We continued walking through a small side road and found the only café (송당빌레) that was open at that time. The café looked very nice compared to the other houses in the village. The café owner was a middle-aged woman, and a young boy was behind the counter. The owner greeted us and was surprised to see foreigners there. We ordered some drinks and I also ordered the Basquet cheese cake. The cake was good but the peanut latte was one of the most delicious things I had during my whole trip. We saw that the owner made small elephants out of leather. There was a small room beside the main room in the café that hosted some tools for sewing. The owner returned to the sewing table while we were eating.
In case you are curious where the café is located I marked it on the map below.
After we finished everything we talked a little with the owner and decided to buy some leather elephants as a gift. The owner seemed very happy that we showed interest in her work. She mentioned that she had been to Europe and Germany before. We said goodbye and left to go to the bus stop. At the bus stop we met the guy from the hotel again, he said he was going to Jeju City which is the capital of Jeju. We took a small bus to Manjanggul Cave. Apart from the driver was only one other passenger. It was an American woman named Sarah maybe around my age. She introduced herself to us. She was heading to the Manjanggul Cave as well. She had been an English teacher in Korea for about 4 years. We finally reached the Manjanggul Cave and went in there all together. The cave was very high and 1km was exploreable by us. The temperatures in the cave are very very comfortable compared to the burning hot weather outside.
The next stop was 성산일출봉 (Seongsan Ilchulbong), an inactive shield volcano. It is located near the port city that has ferries to Udo Island. But before climbing Seongsan Ilchulbong, the three of us had some lunch in a small restaurant. I ate some ramen while the others had Gimbab.
After that Sarah went back to her hotel and we continued to Seongsan Ilchulbong. Compared to Hallasan this climb was very easy. It took around 15 to 20 minutes to walk the stairs up to the summit of the Shield Vulcano. The view was very awesome. It was even possible to see a bit of Udo village.
Next to Seongsan Ilchulbong was a small beach with black stone. The waves were quite strong due to the strong wind. We then took the ferry to Udo Island. The ride took around 15 minutes. Udo Island itself was quite small. A local said that it takes around 1 hour to cycle around the island. However, the last ferry would depart at 5 p.m. When we arrived it was already 3 p.m. Therefore we didn’t have much time. We rented electric bikes and cycled a bit around to explore the island. We stopped at the beach and had peanut ice cream as well as Hallabong ice cream. Hallabong is a citrus fruit similar to an orange but in a shape similar to a pear. The ice cream was very delicious.
We then had to go back to catch the last Ferry. We arrived 10 minutes before 5 p.m. just to return our bikes and to make it on the ferry. Some kids brought some snacks and let the seagulls grab the snacks from their hands.
When arriving in Jeju, we went to a souvenir shop and bought some small souvenirs and then took a 1.5 hrs bus back to Jeju city. I was quite exhausted when I came back. I took a shower and then spent some time researching what I wanted to do in Busan and then went to bed afterward.
Day 8 - Train Airplane to Busan#
I got up at 8 a.m. and had a last breakfast in this accommodation and then took a Kakao T to the airport. I arrived 4 hours early so I had some time to check in my luggage and then spend some time in a café before going through the security.
I arrived in Busan and took the metro to the hostel. I checked in my room and then decided to wash my clothes. Then I explored the area around my hostel. There was a street market around my hotel. They sold all sorts of seafood and also other things. After the washing machine was done I went back to the hostel and hung my clothes on a drying rack on the rooftop of the hostel.
Apart from the street food market was also an area with restaurants and cafés. 8 walked around there to see if I could find some delicious food. I settled for a chicken restaurant and tried to talk a little bit with the waitress. I ordered two kinds of chicken, one fried one spicy, and also 떡볶이 (Tteokbokki) and a beer.
The food was way too much but I was able to almost finish it. When I was done it was already dark. So I decided to go back to the hotel and sleep early since the last two days in Jeju had been quite exhausting.
Day 9 - Gamcheon Cultural Village#
I woke up around 9 a.m. and slowly got ready. I picked up my clothes from the drying rack on the rooftop of the hostel. I then walked out in search of a café. I eventually settled for Starbucks and had my lunch there.
Then I went back to the hotel to plan what I would do for the next two days in Busan. As going to Gamcheon Cultural Village was recommended I took the metro there and followed the crowd. I climbed up a hill to realize that Gamcheon Cultural Village was in the other direction. Nevertheless, I have a nice view from the hill.
The view from that hill was great. I loved the sound of the cicadas and therefore decided to take a short video to capture the soothing atmosphere.
I then walked again down the hill and went to Gamcheon Cultural Village. The houses there were pointed in all colors of the rainbow and there were paintings and statues everywhere.
I had some Black pink ice cream which was not bad and decided to buy some souvenirs. I passed by some kind of Gacha machines with Chinese zodiac animals on them. There was a group of Chinese that I talked to because I was curious about what’s in these gacha machines. They were really friendly and helped me to get one. It turns out that it was a horoscope of some sort with some text for each month of the year. Since it was all in Korean I haven’t yet figured out what it says, but try to read it once I have time. I chatted a bit with the Chinese guys and we then parted our ways. I was about to leave the area but then I was contacted by Jacob that I’ve met at the airport in Jeju Island. He also wanted to go to Gamcheon Cultural Village. So I waited for him and we walked around another path.
We then settled for some lunch and found a small restaurant nearby. We talked for a while and he told me that he was also learning Chinese for over a year.
Afterward, we continued walking towards the ocean. Jacob tried to read a sign of a restaurant. Suddenly a Korean guy approached us and started talking quickly in Korean with us. He wanted us to enter the restaurant for some soju. We agreed and entered the restaurant. We ordered some 소주 (Soju) and 맥주 (Maekju) and the guy showed us how to properly mix 소맥 (Somaek). We tried to communicate more with him but unfortunately, it was a bit hard to understand what he meant. I think he wanted to tell us that the world expo would take place in Busan. He then wanted to leave and said he would pay for us. we tried to insist that he doesn’t need to pay for us but he wanted to do it anyway. The atmosphere here is really friendly and open. We ate some octopus pancakes and then finally went to the water. We looked for a bar there, drank a beer, and afterward called it a day.
Day 10 - Eastern Busan#
I woke up with a headache from the day before, so I didn’t mind that Jacob suggested to meet up at around 10 a.m. As getting there by public transportation was a bit inconvenient, we instead took a Kakao T directly to the 해동 용궁사 (Haedong Yonggungsa) temple. It took us around half an hour by taxi and we arrived at the parking spot close to the temple. There were some food stalls and merchandise. I bought some kind of pancake at one of the food stalls since I hadn’t had breakfast by that time. It was filled with red bean paste which was pretty tasty.
After looking around the stalls we then went to the Haedong Yonggungsa temple. The road towards the temple was guarded by the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. The area was pretty crowded with tourists from all over the world. I heard some people speaking Chinese and even heard some germans.
This temple is among the few temples that are directly at the sea. Therefore the view was very amazing. On the way there I also accidentally ran into Lea whom I had traveled with to Udo island. We had a short chitchat and then walked around the temple area. Another interesting fact about this temple is that it’s built to worship Buddha which seems to be quite uncommon for temples to do. Around noon we suddenly saw many people eating some kind of noodle dish. we figured out that it was actually a free dish that was handed out to the visitors which was a nice surprise. Even though it looked simple it was never the less tasty.
We then walked up some stairs and saw another goddess. From my understanding it could be the female Goddess of Buddha.
We walked a bit closer to the sea and found the spot where most promotional photos must have been shot.
Afterward, we walked back and then took a bus to 해운대해수욕장 (Haeundae Beach) which was relatively close to the temple. We might have looked a bit lost since two aunties from Australia asked us where we wanted to go. They told us where to get off and when we came to the stop where we had to drop off they told us to get off here. Haeundae Beach seemed to be a very popular spot with many Western restaurants and cafés. There was a street directly leading towards the beach. It was quite warm therefore we tried to stay in the shade.
The beach itself wasn’t crowded as much as I had expected. In Europe, it would have been totally overcrowded but here were only a few people hanging around and a few of them actually went swimming.
We sat down at a small restaurant and had some beer with chips there.
Later, we took the metro to 자갈치시장 (Jagalchi fish market). It was a huge market with so many different fish and seafood. Many of them I couldn’t even name. It was quite crowded compared to Haeundae Beach. There were stands for living and already processed seafood. There were even some small restaurants that might hold around 8 people and serve some kind of seafood soup. We just looked around as we couldn’t buy raw food.
Next to Jagalchi fish market was BIFF Square. There was a street food market with many different delicious snacks and proper food. We tried some Japanese dish consisting of cabbage, fried fish some vegetable and different sauces. Afterwards I grabbed some Tteokbokki and a pancake with red bean filling.
We tried to find a bar to grab some beer but it turned out that it’s not that easy to find bars there. We walked around for a while until we found an area with several small bars. The bar had a Western appearance and they served many kinds of alcohol and cocktails. We actually wanted to drink some Somaek but they didn’t serve Soju therefore we just had a beer and then went back to the hotel.
Day 11 - Train ride to Gyeongju#
Jacob also planned to go to Gyeongju for a night while I would stay there for 2 nights. We therefore took the same train to Gyeongju. We first had to go to Busan station by metro. There we were able to buy tickets for the train. We had to stay in a queue and wait while we were a bit in a hurry to get the right train. In the end, everything turned out well and we got onto the train in time. The train was very neat and the ride was quite smooth. We drove through many tunnels therefore I didn’t see much of the landscape. We arrived at Singyeongju station and from there we took a bus to the Gyeongju city center.
I deposited my luggage at the hotel but was too early to check in. As the Dutch guy had less time to explore the city we decided to have a coffee and afterward head to Yangdong cultural village, which was around 15km outside of Gyeongju.
We then went to the bus stop to take the bus to Yangdong village. By now I still hadn’t really figured out how Kakao Maps worked. Some buses had some information on when they would depart while some, in this case, the bus we should take, didn’t have any information attached to them. So at first, we were a bit confused but eventually our bus showed up and took us to the Yangdong cultural village.
When we arrived we were greeted by an older man who was working at the car border control. He was very eager to explain to us that we had to be back at a specific time as the bus would only arrive once per hour he also explained us to where we should go to get the tickets for Yangdong village. We found the ticket office and they gave us a map and a ticket. We were never asked for a ticket which was a bit odd but I think many things here work on a trust basis. We walked around the village and took some photos of the old-style houses. Some of these were inhabited by citizens while others were Airbnb-rented houses. The house on a hill was actually an Airbnb rented house but the Korean man who was renting the house saw us taking photos and he allowed us to go in the atrium and take photos there.
We continued on and then saw an older Western lady taking in Korean with an older Korean lady who might actually been living in the village. The Western lady started a chat with us. She is an artist from France and traveled with her husband to this village to make an exhibition of Korean-inspired art or motives. She explained to us how traditional Korean houses work. They have rooms that are multipurpose they can either be a bedroom, a dining room, or a living room depending on the likes of the owner. Therefore these rooms tended to be quite empty to allow for an easy transformation. We said goodbye to the lady and then headed back to the bus.
We drove back to the Gyeongju city center and I was finally able to check in. My hotel room was fairly large for one person but it seemed that these hotels were intended for families or lovers. I even had a proper bath tub which was pretty cool. After taking a shower I was good to go for dinner.
I met up again with Jacob and we had some Korean dinner. What’s quite fun is that we have a small fireplace at the table where we have to grill our beef to our liking. Then you would take some cabbage the meat and some other ingredients like garlic and some sauces and then fold the cabbage and eat it. It was a very fun experience. Alongside the BBQ I also got some 냉면 (Naegmyeon) as I’ve heard that it’s a popular dish. And we finally got some Somaek this time.
The last stop for this day was 경주 동궁과 월지 (Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond). We wanted to take the bus again but again couldn’t figure out how to use it. As the attraction would close in an hour we decided to take a Kakao T to get there. We arrived within 10 minutes and then had just barely enough time to walk around the pond once.
We decided to walk back afoot as it seemed that we could have actually walked there in a reasonable time. There was a park with Tumile which are graves from the Silla kingdom. By chance, we passed by another popular attraction which was the 첨성대 (Cheomseongdae) astronomical observatory. It just looks like a small stone tower but the way it was illuminated gave it almost a mysterious look.
Before arriving at the hotel we passed through an area with traditional-looking houses that must have been built recently as they looked fairly new. These buildings housed Airbnb as well as restaurants and shops. At that time most of them were closed. I finally arrived at my hotel and quickly fell asleep as I was super exhausted from the long day.
Day 12 - Taking a break#
I got up early to catch the breakfast at 8:40 a.m. Then I would get ready and meet up with Jacob before he left for Seoul. We had a coffee in a Café nearby and said goodbye.
I walked back to the hotel. It was already day 12 of my travel. I felt a bit exhausted from all the activities in the past days so I decided to rest a bit in the hotel and go out in the evening. I started writing the blog entry that you are reading now and relaxed a bit. I started to get hungry around 5 pm so I went out. I walked to the place nearby with the shops in the traditional-looking houses. I bought some souvenirs and started looking for dinner.
A group of high-school students approached me and asked me where I was from then we had a talk about football players. However I’m probably the least suitable person talking about that topic as I’m not particularly interested in it. Nevertheless, it was a fun chat. One of them was eating some sugar-coated fruits. It looked good so I asked him where he got it and bought it myself.
As a next step, I found a restaurant where I would have my dinner. The restaurant looked very fancy and the food was great.
I then walked back to the hotel and continued writing my blog entry. Around 10 I decided to relax and took a bath in the big bathtub. It was super relaxing after the last 1.5 weeks. I got out of the bath and then went to bed.
Day 13 - Back to Seoul#
I slept too long and therefore missed breakfast at 9:40 a.m. I packed everything as I would go back to Seoul via KTX (bullet train) today. I checked out around 11 a.m. and then took a Kakao T to Singyeongju station. There you had over an hour before the train would come. I went to a Café and ordered some coffee. Unfortunately, they had no food so I just had a coffee.
I then would wait in the station until it was 25 minutes before departure. I then went to the platform and tried to find where my wagon would stop. In contrast to Germany, the trains seemed to be generally on time. I found my seat and confirmed with my seat neighbor that it was indeed the right seat and wagon. I then relaxed for around 1.5 hours until I arrived in Seoul. The train ride was very pleasant, between Gyeongju and Seoul we maybe stopped 4 times.
It was raining heavily in Seoul. Since the beginning of my trip, it may have rained once and only for a few minutes. Therefore I haven’t had the need to get an umbrella. But in Seoul, it would have been great to have one. I had to hurry to the metro through the rain and then to my hostel. In contrast to the huge hotel room in Gyeongju, this hostel room was super small. The bed filled out most of the room. Luckily below the bed were shelves to organize my clothes.
My clothes were quite wet from the rain so I took a quick shower and then got ready to meet up with Subin and her colleagues. I met her in 2022 at a conference in Rome together with her bf and her professor. When I told her that I would head to South Korea she suggested having a Korean BBQ with her colleagues. Her professor was also supposed to join for the BBQ but he had an important appointment and thus couldn’t join. As I was a bit late for the meeting I decided to take a Kakao T which turned out to be a bad idea since we got into the rush hour. It would have been much faster if I’d taken the metro. Subin rescheduled the BBQ for 6:30 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. Therefore I had enough time to visit them and the professor in their institute. I had a short chat with the professor and we then headed together with Subin’s colleagues to the Korean BBQ restaurant which was near the institute. All of her colleagues were super nice and I had a great time. They taught me how to properly eat 삼겹살 (Samgyeopsal). You take a cabbage or mint-looking leaf, put the meat on the leaf, add other toppings and sauce, fold the leaf, and eat it. I really liked the experience and the BBQ tasted great.
After dinner, I had to head back since I had an appointment with my friend Amy. Subin gave me an umbrella from her institute that I was allowed to keep - by now the umbrella is in Germany -. I took the metro with one of Subin’s colleagues and then went to a CGV cinema near my hotel where I would meet Amy. I met Amy at a conference in Berlin in 2018 and we haven’t met since, so it was great to meet up again after such a long time.
Before my trip, my Korean teacher and friend had suggested going to a Korean cinema and having 짜파게티 (Jjapagaeti) flavored popcorn if I have the chance. That’s why Amy and I decided to watch a movie together. The movie that we watched was A Hunting in Venice. To my dismay, there was no 짜파게티 flavoured popcorn but instead, we had Heinz Ketchup flavored popcorn which sounded odd but was surprisingly tasty. The way to order the popcorn was fun. You have to order the snacks at a self-service monitor. Next to it were several shelves with transparent doors. After ordering the snacks you get a receipt with a QR code. Once the snacks are ready they will be put into one of the shelves. Afterwards, you can scan your receipt and then you are prompted to knock at the respective door in order to open it.
The movie was pretty nice. It was a detective movie a la Sherlock Holmes that mostly took place in some sort of Villa in Venice. Once we finished the movie and headed out of the building it was already pretty empty. It was quite odd for me to be in an empty building like that it gave me the vibe of a liminal space. Before we parted for the day we went to a Selfie shop to take a photo together. By then I’ve seen many of these shops but I haven’t been to one before. It was a pretty funny experience and is a good memory. We then decided to head home as we would meet again the next day.
Day 14 - Hanging out in Seoul#
That day I woke up late since I had nothing to do in the morning. I got ready around 10 a.m. and then went out to find a café. I had a Chocolate Chip Latte and some Tiramisu for breakfast. While eating I checked out what I would like to do with Amy. We eventually decided to meet in a district with many shops and restaurants. We agreed on meeting around 5 p.m.
Before that, I decided to walk around 명동 (Myeongdong) which was close to where my hotel was. There were many souvenir shops and therefore many foreigners. I bought some souvenirs for my colleagues and got some drinks for the day. I stumbled upon the Myeongdong Cathedral and headed inside. It looked pretty similar to german cathedrals.
I went back to my hotel and wrote some more on this blog entry before I eventually took the metro to the meeting point with Amy. We met up at the exit of the metro station and then walked around to find a proper restaurant. We probably checked out all the restaurants in the vicinity before we found a Shabu Shabu restaurant. The food was a bit similar to Chinese Hot pot in the sense that you cooked your meet at your place. The food was very delicious, would like to have it again.
After dinner, we walked around and explored the area. There were many cool and creative cafés and shops. One of them offered food that was modeled after objects like a lamb, a face, or a tomato.
Amy had found a cool café that we should try. Therefore we walked a while. The area was quite odd since it mostly looked like a residence area. We first walked past the café since it looked like some private park. It was pretty cool. Upon entering the area there was a pond with a ferry that would lead to a restaurant.
On the left of the pond was the café. In front of the café was an artificial waterfall. The café had fancy pastries like rainbow croissants with cream. We had some drinks and some of the pastries. We chatted there for a while.
Lastly, we went to a Selfie shop once more and had some funny selfies together. We then took the same metro and then said goodbye.
I came back to my hostel and fell into the bed.
Day 15 - Last day in Seoul#
On my last full day, I decided to walk once more to Gamcheon Cultural Village to buy my last batch of souvenirs for my friends. It took me about half an hour to walk there. The weather was cloudy and it rained a little bit but in a way that it felt fresh. The cultural village is very nice but also full of many tourists. I got some nice souvenirs and then walked a bit more around to enjoy my last day here.
I saw a nice small café and had a delicious hazelnut latte with a chocolate peanut cupcake.
I took the metro back home and started packing for the next day. In the evening I went out to the supermarket and got some drinks and snacks. When heading back to the hostel I met an American from Seattle that still stayed for a couple of days longer in Seoul. I ate my snacks and then decided to sleep early as I would need to get up early.
Day 16 - Bye bye South Korea#
I got up at 6:30 a.m. I took a shower and got ready. Around 7:30 a.m. I checked out of the hotel and took the metro back to Incheon International Airport. It took around 1.5 hours to get there. I checked in my luggage and then decided to spend my remaining money at the airport. I got a plain bagel for 2300 won and only had 1100 won left in my pocket. I walked a bit around the airport to see if I could see Amy as she was also supposed to be at the airport but when I saw the huge queue at the security check I decided to queue there as well. I walked to my gate and took a seat. I was surprised to get a video call from Amy, we chatted a bit and said goodbye once more. Then it was time to board the plane.
This time I sat almost at the back of the plane in the isle between a Korean and a German guy. This time I managed to sleep for a while after having had my lunch in the airplane. When I woke up I watched Free Guy followed by the whole first season of The Lazarus Project. I timed it quite perfectly such that I almost finished the last episode of the series when we began to land.
I went straight to the baggage claim and waited there for around 20 minutes until I saw my suitcase. I received a warm welcome from my parents and we all drove home together. We came home at 10 p.m. German time. I was very happy to finally sleep in my bed again.
Final thoughts#
I really enjoyed my South Korea trip. My first week felt like ages while the last days passed by in the blink of an eye. I really enjoyed the food but still have many more dishes to try in the future. During my trip, I wanted to get an impression of different locations in South Korea to get a better understanding of Korean culture. While it was fun to see so many places it was a little stressful to travel around with my suitcase every 3 days. In the future, I’d rather spend more time exploring one city as there is so much to see and I could explore the city at my own pace. At this point in time, I studied Korean for almost 2 years but I felt that I still needed to study much more to get around more comfortable. I often found myself not being able to understand the answer of the waiter and having to ask again in English. Apart from that people seemed positively impressed when I spoke some Korean. I hope that when I come again I can better communicate with the locals. I really enjoyed my 16 days in Korea but I’m also happy to be back in Germany. I’m thankful for all the people I met on the way and all my friends that I could see again after a long time. See you again next time!
