Day 2: Stepping on to the land of KPOP (Jeju)

So I reached Incheon Airport on Day 2 at 8.30am KST. Korean time is an hour ahead of Singapore time, so it's still fine, manageable when I need to skype back. Shan and I booked a flight on Easterjet to Jeju Island earlier, and our flight was at 11.30am from Gimpo Airport. So technically, we have 2.5 hours to travel there, and also settle breakfast. (You need to be there 40 minutes or so earlier only because it is a domestic flight.) Seems pretty possible huh.

So, the first thing I did, was to collect my EG SIM Card. For Singaporeans who will be travelling to Korea, please do take note of this SIM card, website here: http://air.koreaphone.net/join/join.asp. From what I see, they have actually stopped this free EG SIM card thing already, but who knows, they might start it next year or a few months later, so no harm bookmarking this place. Anyway, EG SIM card has a value of 2,000won inside, and it can be collected at K Books at Incheon Airport. And if your Korean is as elementary as I am, do not assume they will understand a bit of English, just print everything you need, pass it to them, they understand way betterrrrrrrrrrrr. I have learnt my lessons, Koreans have such varying English standards.

Otherwise, you can also purchase your SIM card from GS25 in Incheon Airport. SIM cards are at 30,000won, 40,000won or 50,000won, which isn't very cheap. It translates to say $33, $44, $55 in Singapore dollars. Well, if you are here only for a few days, I would advise to just not get any card. It is possible to survive - tried and tested, which will be discussed somewhere towards the end.

Even though Gimpo Airport operates mainly domestic flights, please do not belittle their security system. Just try to get through security as soon as possible, because dear Shan was stuck at security for 15-20minutes, because her belt has some small metal pieces. And because of communication problem, you don't really know what they are finding. Well, I don't blame them honestly. Her belt had like 5 or 6 metal pieces aligned horizontally and on second look, it does look like a string of gun bullets or something.

We soon boarded Easterjet to Jeju!! Well Easterjet, and Jejuair are two most common airlines to and fro Jeju. They have really similar prices too but we chose Easterjet because somehow, Jejuair website failed on us. Also note that free tangerine juice is served on Easterjet. ((:

We booked Jeju Backpackers for 2 nights in Jeju. The room was simple and nice, with no TV though, but if you are only looking for a rest place, it suffices very well. Except that... the toilet "door" was just a piece of curtain. I feel really insecure using it, and also the fear of unpleasant smell and sound spreading all over.

To get to Jeju Backpackersfind bus #500 (Jeju University direction) and take the bus to City Hall ("Si-jong"). I wouldn't say it is rather easy, because you have to know some Korean to read the hangul or hear the announcements over the bus. The steps on the buses are really high though, so beware if you are carrying bulky luggages. But Jeju has really friendly Koreans and they go all the way to help you even if they could not understand much. If you are not confident, I suggest you take a cab and show the taxi driver the address. Please try to find address in hangul/korean because not everyone can read English and it is not of much use to give them English addresses. You can also try to get your guesthouse's number because I heard they can input it into their GPS to find the address and even if they don't, at least they can help to call the guesthouse to ask for directions for you.

So, ending off with a picture from the guesthouse. If you realise, I may have one day broken into various blog entries, because sometimes, there were just too many things to discuss. Hopefully it hasn't been too wordy!

Day 1: Plane rides + What's in the luggage.

I'm so sorry for the lack of updates. I was planning to update my blog everyday dilligently while in Korea but sadly, I lack the discipline. Also because I realise that my days were so limited there I should just treasure the time. And also because of lessons, I have to sleep early. (Actually most of the time 12-1am, not that early)

So here I am blogging about Day 1 of Korea. It has nothing much to do with Korea yet because Day 1 was just plane rides.

Well, as mentioned previously, it was a transit flight, so together with my best travel partner Shan, we stepped on the 9.20pm flight to KL. There was a 1 hour plus transit in Kuala Lumpur, in their LCCT airport, please please please prepare something for you to kill your time. Even though it was an one-hour transit, it was SO boring there. Literally. There were so little facilities there, probably 2-3 cafes, one currency exchanger, a few duty free stores, one Dunkin' Donuts, that's about it. And yeah many uncomfortable seats that creak. From my knowledge, only AirAsia planes will transit at LCCT, so take note if you are ever taking AirAsia, even if you're not flying to Korea.

And may I add on that my stomach was churning all the way. Something was wrong (maybe nervous? hahah) but my stomach couldn't stop churning despite not eating much, and throughout the 6.5 hours flight to Seoul, I couldn't sleep a wink. Not to mention that I was also hungry after the churning stops. I've been on both AirAsia and Tiger, and to me, Tiger's seats were much comfortable. I have no idea why.

And shall I also list some important items to bring if you were to head to Seoul for quite a while:
- Clothes (But not too much, Korea is a shopping heaven, unless you are not into their style or your size might not fit theirs)
- Usual medicine (Half of the Korean dishes were spicy and the first few days, my stomach wasn't very comfortable because I wasn't used to eating spicy food for EVERY MEAL)
- Umbrella (Their monsoon season is crazy, but then again, you might want to buy an umbrella there, because theirs look really sturdy. Most of my friends have umbrellas that gave way in the rain, but mine was fine 'cause I bought mine in Taiwan which has crazy monsoon rains too!)
- An open mind (Korea has a very different culture from Singapore, and I believe most countries too maybe except Japan. Generally, Koreans are friendly though there are always exceptions.)
- Lots of cash (There is no worry that you will bring more than you need, because somehow somewhat, you can spend it away. Cosmetics, clothes, shoes. I strongly recommend shoes, Korean shoes/heels are the most comfortable I have ever worn.)