Here's a little map found on google for your ref. Arrived in Incheon on the night of Day 1 and spent the next half day exploring the little town.
Woke up to a rather chilly weather at this quaint little guesthouse called "Lazybird Guesthouse". It was recommended by a friend who stayed there last year. Pretty nice place really. Love it. The funny story was, when I booked it early this year, it was located somewhere else. Only to find out they have moved house prior to our trip but our rsvp still stands. Like that also can...
Breakfast is serve from 7:00 - 10:00am in its' cute little kitchen that leads out to a cozy patio. All are DIY. There were breads, coffee & tea all spread out. Just help yourself to it. :) I don't know if I am weird or something. I like it like this. Simple. Bread and coffee just nice. I dislike those international buffet spread out in hotels. Too overwhelming. Seriously, most of the time is more of greed than just breakfast. :p
Had my breakfast out in the patio. Lovely. I wish we have lovely weather like this too here in Malaysia. With out weather, I can already imagine a totally under utilize patio in the future.... Lols... Who would wanna sit and baked in those heat here? Definitely not me. Don't get me wrong. I love the sun, yes. But I don't like feeling sticky from the heat. Not only were the patio is nice, the orange deco sorta add some zest to the entire place! I like that! Happy colour!
Little pots of colourful blooms filled a corner of my breakfast place. Pretty isn't it? If only our flowers blooms like that too.
Gathered some info from our host and off we ventured out to Incheon leaving our luggage all packed up in the guesthouse. We both got so excited when we came upon our first cherry blossom tree, right outside our guesthouse and spent a good 10 minutes oooh-ing and ahhh-ing snapping away. The ajumas working away on their farm nearby must be wondering where these two jakuns come from....hahahahahha.......
There was really no doubt about the prettiness of cherry blossoms. They simply took our breath away. Mine for sure (I am the jakun-er between the two of us). It still does whenever I see this picture! Total beauty. Some friends told me that the cherry blossoms in Korea are lighter in shade. I noticed that too. they were not as pinky as those we always seen on postcards/poster/tv. More like a much faded kind of pink. Pretty in it's own away. Did spotted one or two really pink trees or white. But majority are just really light pink.
As we walked out to the bus stand, both sides of the road are all lined with cherry blossom trees. I can imagine the entire place will be really pretty come next spring. Anyway, we walked out to the main road (there were hardly any cars in this part of Incheon), hopped on to Bus #202 from a bus stand in front of a church.
The plan was to get to Incheon ferry harbour and from there, get on a ferry to Wolmi Park, then Chinatown, then BuPyeong (underground market), and finally back to the guesthouse to pick up our luggage before heading to Gimpo Airport for our flight to Jeju in the evening.
The public bus ride was good. It took us through the more remote part of Incheon where we get to see villages, farms & etc. Along the way, old ladies and men hopped on and off the bus. I took a picture of this particular ajuma cause she is wearing Paul Frank's socks. One of the many favourite thing of mine. Lols.... I combed the entire Jeju & Seoul after that for it but found none. I concluded that it might have all been bought by her. Lols.. seriously, of hundreds of socks shop/stall, there were none. Plenty of monkey but non Paul Frank. Unbelievable.
We got to the harbour with a public transport! *thumbs up*
While waiting for the ferry to arrive, I bought a packet of tasteless prawn crackers from a little stall next to the ticket counter. As I was munching away feeling all disatisfied (cause tasteless), the lady who sold me the crakers came out and start shouting to the direction of the sea as if she was calling out for someone or something before looking at my direction and started talking about something which I have zero clue. After awhile, she gave up, went back into her stall and came right back out with a packet of crackers in hand before starting to shout again. I really thought she might be crazy or something before I seen her opening the packet and throwing handful of crackers out to the sea. Only then I realised she was trying to tell me I can feed the seagulls with it. Lols.... I turned to the husband with my eyes bout to pop out, "Shit.. this is bird food! No wonder it's tasteless!"....hahahahahahahah
He laughed and I quickly recheck out the packaging. THere were illustration of human cartoon eating it and we caught sight of the ajuma eating them. I guess it was also human food. Lols.... In the end, I just fed them all to the birds anyway. It was tasteless.
The ferry arrived on the dot. One thing we learned in Korea is, they are really punctual. If the schedule says it will arrived at 11:18, it WILL arrive at 11:18. So good! Wish Malaysia is the same too. Whenever I travelled, I always cant help but noticed so many things I wish my country could adopt. SImply can't see anything from us they can adopt. Sigh.... I love my country so much. Lols..
It was my first time getting on a ferry like this. Where they use to transport vehicle. Interesting. We stayed on the deck throughout enjoying the cool breeze and sun while watching some passengers feeding more seagulls with the tasteless crackers we bought earlier. Hahahaha...
I am glad we actually decided to stay a night in Incheon and spent half a day there before departing for Jeju. It was in Incheon that we get to see the plenty of cherry blossoms in full bloom. Really a sight to behold. It is like the entire town is planted with cherry blossom trees as if they are turning the town to a cherry blossom town! Felt really lucky to get to experience it. I believe it would have all been gone if we arrive a week later. There were no more blooming trees in Jeju when we were there and only one or two trees still in full bloom in Seoul. Nothing like Incheon.
Arrived in Wolmi Park some 20 minutes later, got into a seafood restaurant, pointed to a picture and here come our lunch. Something something guksu. Guksu actually means noodle. It was yummy just a little plain. Only noodle with clams. But I love their noodle. Very different from what we have here. Their's is soft and taste natural. Preservativeless. Unlike our's - yellow & hard. This noodle cost us approximately 25,000W (RM60+).
Generally, I finds the cost of food in Korea is on the higher side as compared to Malaysia. A simple meal would cost about RM60+ for two on average. Street food like chicken skewer or sausage roll or corn crackers would start at 3000W (RM8.40).
Our first taste of Korean kimchi that was served prior to our guksu. How does it taste? Well, for a non-kimchi lover, it tasted just like our kimchi! Hahahahaha..... I don't hate kimchi, but I don't love them either. I can eat them but they are not one of my favourite food. :) Like that la... so I really can't tell the difference between the Malaysian & the Korean's kimchi. THey taste the same.
Check out the rows of cherry blossoms. A pretty sight isnt it? It was sort of exciting at first but after awhile, everything just got stale. Turn left, cherry blossom. Right, cherry blossom. Look up, still cherry blossoms. Lols..... The entire stretch from Wolmi Park to Chinatown (about 10km long), are covered in cherry blossoms. Wolmi Park is just a fun fair kinda park with kids' rides. More like a park catered for the locals in Incheon. It was not in our initial plan. Since our host recommended the ferry ride across, might as well cause it docks here.
The stretch from Wolmi to Chinatown was a really looonggg.... walk. Not only that... lack of signage too.
This is really funny. We met him at one stretch of the road where he stopped by the road to take picture of those lovely flowers. We asked for direction towards Chinatown. He pointed us to the correct direction and off we went. We walked for a really long time and we met him again resting in his truck parked on the shoulder of the road. He kept pointing to the direction we were to go. As we walked past, he kept waving us back and said a whole lot of Korean while walking to the back of his truck. I thought he was going to give us a lift. Yay! Seriously, it was a really long walk. We felt as if we are walking in circle...lols...
Instead, he gave us two packet of this "Andong Bellflower Extract". Hillarious...! The first thing that came to my mind was... "my god... it's gonna be a really long walk...". He gave us ginseng tea! Lols... (I didn't know what bellflower was anyway and just assumed everything is ginseng!) lols... Tasted a packet on the second night we were in Jeju and it taste... ermm... overwhelming. It's like some kind of very strong herb extract. Concentrated herb juice or something. And, I got sick the next day! I had a feeling that it must be really super duper heaty.
It was indeed a really long walk. At one point, we asked two old Korean ladies on our path. Instead of telling us how to get to Chinatown, she just hold my hand and pull me along. Meaning... to follow her. Lols...
We got to Chinatown alright... but didnt get to explore. Just had a glimpse and decided that all Chinatown in the world are the same. We spent too much time walking and enjoying the flowers. Hahaha... Got ourselves a cash card each and hopped into a subway. Got off at Bupyeong and did a quick round of it's underground shopping before getting back on heading for Unseo for our luggage.
We underestimated the distance between Bupyeong and Unseo. More like 'me' underestimated the distance since I am the one who planned our itinerary. Believe you me, we almost missed our flight to Jeju. I've never ran like that! For a moment I thought I was in the Amazing Race! Lols... seriously, I don't think I am cut out for Amazing Race after this. Hahahahahaha..... Just for your easy planning if you are heading for Kimchi Land, the distance between Incheon Airport and Gimpo Airport would take approximately 40 minutes by subway. Just allocate an hour travelling time to be safe.
We practically ran out of Unseo station, grabbed our luggage which we have arranged for our host to deliver, ran back into the station and headed for Gimpo Airport! Our flight was scheduled to depart at 6:10pm and we are suppose to check it at least 40 minutes prior to departure (5:30pm). FYI, there were no web check-in for Jeju Air. We only arrived at Gimpo Airport station at 5:50pm!!! I ran all the way to the airline counter while the husband manage our luggage. It was crazy.
When I arrived at the counter, I just kept saying that we are late! We are late! The officer at the counter told me that it's ok. The departure time has been changed to 6:30pm instead. Cause when we bought the ticket, it was still winter. Now that it is towards summer, the departure time has been changed. I was still panting away while mumbling I've luggage on the way... please wait. The officer must have felt sorry for me. He told me not to worry. We have plenty of time! Lols...
And so, thanks to changing of season, we didn't missed our flights! :) There are few airlines that serve the route but I found Jeju Air offer the cheapest fare during that time. We got our's for just about RM175 per person. Return flights.
If you are keen, you can purchase the tickets via their web at Jeju Air. The earlier you book, the cheaper they are. It is something like our Air Asia except it is much better.
1) You don't need to walk to the plane. There are shuttle buses that drive you right up to the plane.
2) You don't need to buy luggage space. The fare include a maximum of 15kg per passenger.
3) You don't need to pay for drink on board. They will served you their famous Jeju's Hallabang Orange Juice which I am sure they would oblige a few more serving if you ask.
After 'Jeju Air', I sort of feel cheated by Air Asia. :p Everything also need to pay! Even for plain water.
Arrived in Jeju one hour later.
Exited at Gate 5, got onto one of the red & white airport limousine bus #600 headed for Seogwipo. The journey took about an hour and cost us just
W5000 (RM14/person). It will stopped at a few larger hotels around Jungmun area before it end in Seogwipo. It will announced each stop in English/Mandarin/Japanese. It's hard to miss your stop. Worst worst, just get off at the last stop and grab a cab. But be sure to have your destination written in Korean. For more info on buses in Jeju, you can check out their website
HERE. I am honestly impressed with the works of the Korean Tourism Authority. They really did a great job to assist tourists! Information are abundant!
Anyway, our cab couldn't locate our hotel even with a gps. He took us to a place which was not our hotel and kept saying that this is what the address said (I think cause all I heard was bunch of hangul). Lols... We decided to take matters into our own hand. Reckoned that the hotel would not be too far away judging from the maps in our phone. And so, we paid the driver, got off the cab, lugging our luggage into the night, drizzling and cold, on a strange land, looking for our hotel. Sounds kinda pitiful hor...hahahahah... We found it in the end ok. It was in fact very near to where we were.
The owner of the restaurant (picture above) saw us, again a bunch of hangul coming out of his mouth like bullets which we can't make any sense of, before he decided to try japanese instead. Lols.... Really, we realized that Japanese is more useful than English in Korea. Lols...Finally a common language. Hahaha... Though we don't speak much Japanease, I've learned enough Japanese vocabulary to understand what he is trying to tell us. Hahahaha...
In the end, we just called the hotel and get the Korean guy to speak to them. And guess what, our hotel is just at the next turn behind the restaurant. Lols... so near!
To repay his kindness, we had dinner at his restaurant after that. We told him to serve us anything that is yummy. When the food arrived, to our horror, it was all some kind of internal organs. Not sure if it was from pig/cow/chicken. Yucks. None of us a fan of internal stuff. To be polite, we just TRY our best to eat as much as possible. Until a moment ago, while I was updating this, the husband saw this picture and went..."Yucks.....! Why you put this picture....eeeeiiii....!"... hahahahahhaa....
Seriously, after a long day, this kind of dinner?!? Lols.... 10km of walk, 1km of run (it was a long run from the station to the airport), 1 hour of bus ride and we came to this kind of dinner...? Lols.... After that first night in Jeju, on all subsequent night, whenever we walked past the restaurant, we would just look straight ahead and walk as fast as possible to avoid having the need to oblige. Hahahahahaha.... I know we dont need to... but it's fun doing it anyway!
Useful sites:-
