Busan & Seoul Mar 27 - Apr 6 '16 - Part 3

Hello again....

Our next destination is a place which was famous in one of South Korean TV drama series, Winter Sonata. No trip to Seoul would be completed without a visit to Nami Island or Namiseom, half-moon shaped island located in Chuncheon, South Korea which has their own republic referred to as Naminara Republic.

There are 3 methods to go to Nami Island as stated via this LINK including the bus schedule departure/arrival. You may opt by using shuttle bus, subway or car. We had selected to travel by shuttle bus to Nami Island before taking ferry to the island. We had spent 46000₩ for 2 tickets for the return bus ticket (15000₩/each) & Nami Island entry pass (8000₩/each). Other than taking ferry, if you're an adventurous person & not fear of height you may use flying fox to landed on the island.


Nami Island has a lot of beautiful scenery. The view of this island is changing depends to the season. By the way we had our lunch at Asian Family Restaurant Dongmoon which serving Halal Asian cuisine. We had tried Korean food this round, it was Spicy Stir Fried Octopus Bibimbap & Korean Beef Stew. Check out below picture for more details!!

How To Go There:

• If you're travel by bus, you need to purchase your bus ticket at Nami Island Culture & Tour Information located at 3rd floor of Gallery Sang 157 (near to the Little India Restaurant). Do confirm on the bus schedule by checking with the officer during purchasing the ticket as it's depending to the season.
• The bus going to Nami Island will fetch you at Tapgol Park (if you're from Insa-dong) & Sungnyemun Square bus stop at Namdaemun Market (if you're from Namdaemun).

Naminara Republic

Gallery Sang 157

Nami Island - Bus Ticket

West Gate of Tapgol Park, Insa-dong

Gapyeong Bus Terminal - Parking Area for Shuttle Bus

Namiseom Zip Wire - The Flying Fox Tower

Gapyeong Wharf - The Route to the Ferry

Gapyeong Wharf - The Ferry to Nami Island

Nami Island - The Entrance

Nami Island - The Map

Nami Island - The Welcoming Signage of Naminara Republic

Nami Island - The Winter Sonata Statue

Asian Family Restaurant Dongmoon

Asian Family Restaurant Dongmoon - Spicy Stir Fried Octopus Bibimbap & Korean Beed Stew

Our Dessert @ Nami Island

The Red Bean Steamed Bun @ Nami Island

Cheonggyecheon Stream, Seoul

Our next destination was to Cheonggyecheon Stream. This stream which was restored in 2005 is about 11km long that runs through downtown Seoul. It starts from Cheonggye Plaza, popular location for cultural arts venue, and if you're walking along the stream you will pass under a total of 22 bridges with many attractions along the way such as Deoksugung Palace, Seoul Plaza, Sejong Center, Insa-dong Street, Changdeokgung Palace & Changgyeonggung Palace.

How To Go There:

• You need to stop at City Hall station by using Line #1 subway & proceed to Exit #4. 
• Walking for about 250m north to Cheonggye Plaza.

Travel Tips/Hints:

• Ensure to purchase your bus ticket a day earlier if plan to travel by bus to Nami Island. 
• Survey the destination 1st before you're going to Cheonggyecheon Stream including other tourist attraction. Cheonggyecheon Stream is more attractive if you're arriving by evening/night.

Photographed by: Irwan

Narrated by: Jaja

Part 1 : Part 2 : Part 3 : Part 4 : Part 5 : Part 6 : Part 7 : Part 8

*All pictures & illustrations in this blog are copyrighted. Please contact the Blog Administrator for permission.

Busan & Seoul Mar 27 - Apr 6 '16 - Part 2

Hello again!!!

We had reached Seoul early in the morning on our 2nd day. With the sleepy panda eyes & the chilly weather, we had check-in to Beewon Guest House during our 6-days trip in Seoul. Due to the tiredness sleeping in the train from Busan to Seoul including joining a food bazaar during the weekends as a result of insufficient rest, we had slept the whole day after check-in. 

We only went out to have Indian style dinner at 1 of the Halal restaurant nearby Beewon guest house which was at Little India Cafe. We were ordering Chicken Masala & we were really like it!!
  

Directions to Beewon Guest House - The Landmark

How To Go There (Beewon Guest House):

• You need to stop at Jongno 3(sam)-ga station by using Line #1 or Line #3 or Line #5 subway. 
• Go to the next station which is Anguk station by using Line #3 subway (you may need to change the subway line if you're using Line #1 or Line #5), proceed to Exit #4. 
• Just walk straight & you will pass through Unhyeon Palace at your left (as in 2nd picture).
• Walk straight until you see a building as in 3rd picture, turn left at that junction.
• Continue straight until you see the landmark as in 4th-6th picture, turn left at the junction as in picture #6.
• You will see the next landmark as in picture #7 after turning left & continue straight again.
• Turn right at the 1st junction you see at your right & you will reach Beewon Guest House which in blue building.

Notes: 

The Little India Cafe is using the same subway station as Beewon Guest House. This cafe also nearby to Gallery Sang 157 building in order for you to purchase the ticket to Nami Island.

The Little India Cafe - Chicken Masala for the Dinner

Our next location on the next day was to go to Hard Rock Cafe at Lotte World Mall. We were collecting Hard Rock Cafe merchandise especially the T-shirt & the official fridge magnet in the country that we had visited as one of the souvenir to bring home later.


How To Go There (Hard Rock Cafe @ Lotte World Mall):

• You need to stop at Jamsil station by using Line #2 subway.
• Then, proceed to Exit #1 (Lotte World Mall). 

Lotte World Mall - Hard Rock Cafe at 5th Floor

Hard Rock Cafe - The Merchandise

Hard Rock Cafe - The Signature T-shirt

We were having our lunch at Kitchen of India Restaurant nearby to Lotte World Mall. This round we had tried a different set of Indian meal which was Prawn Jhinga Curry with Saffron Rice as in below picture. Frankly speaking it's a bit tricky to go to this restaurant as we had went to the wrong direction even thought it just nearby. Check-out their Facebook page via this LINK. 

How To Go There (Kitchen of India Restaurant):

• You may use this  LINK to get the direction. From Lotte World Mall entrance at your back, turn right & you need to across to the other side of the building.
• Just go straight along the main road & look for the important landmark which is Daewoo Utopia at your right, go inside it & you'll meet a security guard. You may need to use the staircase nearby the security guard location to go to the basement level to look for this restaurant.

Daewoo Utopia - The Landmark to the Kitchen of India Restaurant

Travel Tips/Hints:

• If you're a budget traveler, you may opt to install offline map for example, maps.me apps which can be downloaded via a smartphone instead of buying a sim card for data usage for GPS navigation.
• To avoid gastric during the trip causing from having late lunch/dinner, pack along energy bar / chocolate / fruits in your backpack & consume it whenever you're hungry.

Photographed by: Irwan

Narrated by: Jaja

Part 1 : Part 2 : Part 3 : Part 4 : Part 5 : Part 6 : Part 7 : Part 8

*All pictures & illustrations in this blog are copyrighted. Please contact the Blog Administrator for permission.

Busan & Seoul Mar 27 - Apr 6 '16 - Part 1

안녕하세요 @ Annyeong Haseyo @ Hello readers!! 
It's nice to be back sharing our travel experience again. As in our bucket list we were heading to Busan, South Korea from KLIA2, Kuala Lumpur from Mar 27 - Apr 6. Yup, it's SPRING SEASON in South Korea during our trip! As usual, we had parked our car at Putrajaya & Cyberjaya Sentral & using KLIA transit train to the KLIA2 airport. If anyone interested to know more on how to go to Putrajaya & Cyberjaya Sentral, you may refer to this LINK. I would like to help the readers as much as I can therefore, do watch out at the end of each part for more tips / hints which might be useful during your trip in South Korea.

Sunrise view from the cabin

Flight from KLIA2, Kuala Lumpur was at 0115am & after 6 hours we had reached Busan, South Korea at 0730am in the morning. The first things that we thought when we arrived at Busan airport was to refresh ourselves with hot coffee & looked for the Tourist Information Centre for the direction to go to Busan station by using subway. Yup, public transport by using train in South Korea called as subway while in Malaysia, we referred it as LRT/MRT/commuter.

Busan, South Korea International Airport

Free brochures for the tourists

Before we went to the Tourist Information Centre counter, we had reload our T-money card for 20000₩/each at 7-11 convenience store. Your T-money card can be used widely for bus/subway payment including all purchasing at the convenience store. The 7-11 convenience store is nearby to the exit of the arrival gate. To go to the Tourist Information Centre, you may need to walk straight from 7-11 convenience store until you reached Gate 2. The Tourist Information Centre is between of Gate 2 & Gate 3. Not forget to mention that we had also tried the Banana Uyu a.k.a Banana Milk bought from the 7-11 convenience store & for those who visiting South Korea you should give it a try!! It's yummy!! That's the 1st item you should try after touch down in South Korea.

Tourist Information Centre @ Busan Airport

The Famous Banana Uyu a.k.a Banana Milk

From Busan Airport, we had used the subway to the Busan Station. The subway rail is  at the opposite side of Gate #3, Busan Airport. Seriously, the temperature was really chiller in the morning during spring!!  

Busan Station

While we were at Busan station, we would like to confirm with the KORAIL officer related to our online train return ticket purchasing from Busan to Seoul as a result there were no payment deduction by KORAIL even though the credit card details had been provided. Actually the reason we were booking the ticket earlier is to avoid the ticket sold out which may interrupt our travel schedule. 

By using the print out details from the status of the KORAIL website, we managed to get our return train ticket without any problem for the cheapest train fare by using Mugunghwa train. According to the officer, payment only be deducted after the ticket had been collected by the passengers. Hooray!! 1 out of 3 of my concerns has been solved! Stay tune for another 2 concerns...

KORAIL Train Ticket Counter @ Busan Station

The View of Mugunghwa Train

We had our lunch at Cappadocia Restaurant in Busan before heading to Seoul. It's Turkish restaurant. On our 1st day we had our Turkish meal for about 19000₩ including with the appetizer as well as the dessert with special Turkish tea. The meals were really delicious & we were satisfied with the service & the warm welcoming waiters including the cooks of the restaurant. Thumbs up to Cappadocia!!

Another option of nearby Halal restaurant at this area is Morocco Casablanca Restaurant. We never got the chance to go inside this restaurant as we were rushing to catch the train to Seoul.

Morocco Casablanca Restaurant

How To Go There:

• You need to stop at Dusil station by using Line #1 subway & proceed to Exit #8. 
• Just walk straight & you may pass through 1 shop to change car tyre, Hankook at your right. 
• If you're standing in front of the shop at the corner of the junction, there is signboard "Islam Centre" which pointing to your right.
• Turn right & the 1st Halal restaurant that you see is Cappadocia. Beside the restaurant is Masjid Al-Fatah.

Landmark to Cappadocia Restaurant

Cappadocia Restaurant

The View of Cappadocia Restaurant

The Appetiser @ Cappadocia Restaurant

The Main Dish @ Cappadocia Restaurant

The Dessert @ Cappadocia Restaurant

Masjid Al-Fatah

The View of Masjid Al-Fatah

Our next stop after having lunch was to go to Busan Tower. We would like to see the sunset of Busan city from Busan Tower. Even though it was really tiring as we need to use staircase to go up to arrive at  Busan Tower but it was paid off after seeing Busan city.

How To Go There:

• You need to stop at Nampo station by using Line #1 subway & proceed to Exit #7. 
• Upon exiting the station, turn left to Gwangbok-ro Street heading to Yongdusan Park.

Busan Tower

The Sunset @ Busan Tower

Travel Tips/Hints:

• To book KORAIL pass/ticket online, you may refer to this LINK.
• Understanding of subway maps is very useful if you're travel by using subway. You may install "Subway Korea" apps in your phone & this may avoid you from getting lost looking for the correct station or inter-change station for another subway line. 

Photographed by: Irwan

Narrated by: Jaja

Part 1 : Part 2 : Part 3 : Part 4 : Part 5 : Part 6 : Part 7 : Part 8

*All pictures & illustrations in this blog are copyrighted. Please contact the Blog Administrator for permission.