[2023] Travelling to Jeju and Busan via Korean Air

Had an opportunity to travel to Jeju and Busan with my foodie buddies and it was cast in stone sometime in May 2023 when we bought the Korean Air flight tickets in mid-May 2023 with flight out from Singapore to Incheon, Incheon to Gimpo and Gimpo to Jeju. And then Jeju to Busan and Busan to Incheon and finally Incheon to SG. The dates were from 31 Aug to 10 Sep 2023 for our 10 nights trip.

The flight out was at 1.30am and it was around 2am when we started the journey.

in the airplane at 1.30am

nearing Incheon

There was some turbulence experienced but luckily, breakfast service was still possible after that. On the flight out, there were 2 options; eggs or noodles. I chose eggs.

omelette breakfast on Korean Air (SG to Incheon)

served with healthy dose of veggies and a baby potato

egg burger, anyone?

The omelette were rather dense but the bread was dry. So I put two together with the veggies for a complete meal. Easier to eat too. The potato was nice and the entire meal was super filling. Coffee was nice too.

Due to the delayed take-off, we landed later at Incheon. Before we land, the stewardess came round to inform affected passenger (me), that I will be scheduled to a later flight from Gimpo to Jeju as we still needed to get from Incheon to Gimpo which takes about 35 minutes by car/taxi excluding the waiting time for the land transport. Initially scheduled for the 1125am flight and now, rescheduled to the next available flight at 1pm flight to Jeju. 

Landed in Incheon at about 9.35am and was met at the gate by the Korean Air flight representative. She explained the situation and laid out our options with the assurance that there are next available flight and if we want, we could still try for the original scheduled flight if we hurry. She escorted us in the long walk towards the baggage claim area. We decided to go for the initial scheduled 1125am flight and if it fails, oh well, then to the later flight out to Jeju then. We made a mad dash once we've gotten our bags and immediately went to the taxi stand. Luckily we found a cab big enough for 4 pax with one luggage each. Unfortunately, the driver explained that he was there because there was an issue with his vehicle. However, he offered to call his counterpart to pick us up. We agreed and he made the call. The taxi arrived 10 minutes later and off we went. Reached Gimpo at about 1040am. Rushed to the check-in area and our bags made it to the plane at about 1050am. Taxi fare was ₩100,000 (~SGD105).

Fortunately, boarding for the flight was delayed till 11am. Phew!

And, we made it to Jeju safely after all that adventure.

arrived at Jeju

Next, we needed to get to the rental car shop from the airport. So off we went to the shuttle bus for rental car area after exiting from the Arrival Hall. The rental car company would have informed which bus bay number for the guest to wait for the shuttle to come to pick-up from the airport. Ours was at Bay 5 for Angel Car.

queuing up for the shuttle bus

Waited for about 10 minutes for the shuttle bus to arrive. Luckily it was a school bus kind of shuttle as I saw the others were using smaller vans/bus.

Angel Car

Hence and Ivan settled the paperwork for the vehicle and after 20 minutes, we got one. Proceeded to the car collection area (which looked like a big carpark), only to discover that someone else had taken the assigned car. Gosh!

Hence and Ivan went back to the office to inform them.

After 10 more minutes, the said car came back. Turned out, another family had mistakenly took our car. Faints.

After we checked the vehicle and loaded all our luggage into the SUV, we needed to pump petrol first. Little did we know, the petrol station that we came across, does not have English signages. Oops! Lucky us, the attendant there helped us and finally, we have gotten $100 worth of diesel into the car for a full tank. In reality, that was an overkill as we didn't clock that much mileage during our 7 days and 6 nights stay in Jeju. Only used up half that amount. Good for the next customer though. Hehe.

It was close to 240pm when we reached a restaurant of our choice (yes we researched prior to the trip on where to eat) and it was almost nearing their mid-day break time at 3pm. Luckily, the owner allowed us to dine-in if we could finish our meal within 45 minutes. 

Samseonghyeol Haemultang 삼성혈해물탕 본점

Read more about our late lunch here. 

South Korea 2017 - Seoul (Hongdae/Hapjeong)

After Busan, it was back to Seoul again. This time round, my friends would be staying at the Hongdae area but am not in favour of the crowds. Searched for a while prior to the trip and decided on ROinhome, one of the many guesthouses available in the quieter side of Hapjeong, which was just a station or two away from the vibrant Hongdae.

Read more about my review of ROinhome in Tripadvisor.

ROinhome

outdoor patio

lobby

double bed

daily breakfast

The place was comfortable and quiet and the simple breakfast were mainly sweet stuff like muffin or a cake with a sweet drink. Along the way to the hotel, there's a convenience store. So I'd always stock up with my favourite banana milk drink.

banana milk

Worth trying is the mandu shop that one will pass by when getting to the Hapjeong MRT to/from guest house. Inexpensive and tasty.

Mapo Mandu shop

steamed beef dumplings

galbi mandu

We spent a day at Ewha and was trying to look for lunch around that area but unfortunately, many restaurants or food shops were closed for Chuseok. We had our Isaac Toast and street food but was still in need of something more substantial.

Found a dakgalbi shop and it looked like it was closed for the afternoon (since we only found this place at about 230pm). Fortunately, the lady re-opened her shop and let us in. It was empty and we got a bit worried if they have prepared any food for the diners since this was not their usual time for a meal.

dakgalbi shop nearby Ewha shopping street

stir-frying in progress

here comes the rice

almost ready

dakgalbi with rice topped with cheese

ginseng chicken

The meal re-energized our souls and back to Ewha for sightseeing and walking. There were some first-timers in the group so we explored quite a bit the University grounds.

EWHA

up close

familiar view

After that we headed back to the hotel to rest up before meeting up for dinner. Diner venue shall be in Myeongdong.

Myeongdong Cathedral

streetfood

gyeran bbang

We decided to get some grill meats for dinner but didn't know which restaurant to go to. Was just walking around and looking at makan places when a man called out to us. He suggested his restaurant and we thought why not.

Korean BBQ

our table

let's get the fire going

beef slice

beef shortribs

makgeolli

beef soup

Korean pancakes (jeon)

South Korea 2017 - Busan Gamcheon Culture Village 부산 감천문화마을

Gamcheon Village began as a refugee village in the 1950s. In 2015, local artists and villagers gathered began to revive the historical value of Gamcheon "Village Art Project" and soon this attracted various attention of businesses and tourists. As we know it today, Gamcheon is Korea's Santorini.

We had our hotel concierge write down the name of Gamcheon in hangul as we are taking the cab there from Haeundae. Thankfully, it was easily understood and we arrived there safely. There are also buses going up to the vilage but we were just too lazy to figure that out. It was pretty amazing on how the transports were able to manouvre up the steep slopes towards the village.

entrance to Gamcheon Cultural Village

Entrance is free. To get an English map of the area, simply walk into the tourist information centre located right at the entrance of the village. The price of ₩2000 will get you a map and a postcard. There are toilets located at the entrance as well as within the village. The map has demarkation for these as well. But do note that some of the toilets are located at quite a steep slope!

bus stop near the entrance

if you don't want to get the map...

What do foodies do when they go sight-seeing? Inevitably, we gravitated towards the food. We know we've been watching too many kdramas so much so that corn dog became one of our to-try items.

corn dogs and skewers

Corn dog is American food, similar to budae jigae which is also a remnants of that era and has become part of the food culture in South Korea. Corn dog is sausage battered with lotsa bread crumbs and flour and deep fried. After which it is drizzled with ketchup. I think kids would like this more.

corn dog with ketchup

steamed octopus

The village was easily walkable and plenty to see. Outside of the toilet, there was an elderly lady with a Ppopgi cart. 뽑기 (ppopgi) is an old-fashioned sugar korean candy. You'll get a pin to draw on the sides of the melted sugar and if you are able to do it without breaking the candy, then you can have another candy for free.

Ppopgi 뽑기 seller

As with any other tourist attractions, there are plenty of photo-op spots for Instagram worthy shots. We were there around noon, and while there are many tourists, the place was still quite comfortable to walk around.

behind-the-scenes

cafe with art installation at its rooftop

There are many nooks and corners to be explored as well but do watch your steps.

downwards

Soon, we came by a small cafe and decided to have some snacks. Downstairs sells knick-knacks and handmade accessories. It was more of a dessert cafe with traditional desserts such as red bean or pumpkin porridge, mochi and cold drinks.

cafe cum retail

It is semi self-service styled so order at the cashier and make payment. For items that needed to wait, the staff will bring it to you. There are seatings both downstairs and upstairs. Washroom is at the rooftop though.

souvenirs

lemonades, red bean porridge and choco-pie

so huge!

The rooftop view was superb. One could see those colourful houses from this cafe.

rooftop view

For the dessert, I'd recommend the hoobak juk or pumpkin porridge. So yums. Didn't like the red bean one because there is gui-pi in it.

very nice pumpkin porridge (dessert)

After resting our feet, we walked somemore to find The Little Prince.

ice-cream looks good but we've had our dessert

poop bread?

OOTD spot

ahh, we are getting near

There is a photography spot to take your photo with Little Prince. But it actually look kinda dangerous as one would dangle their feet while sitting one the edge.

queuing up for Little Prince photo-op

Here is what the people are queuing up for:

one could sit beside the figurines and take photo

taken near Little Prince photo spot

Was actually feeling quite famished by the time we stop for lunch. Had our food at a place called 'The Plate'. A British-esque place. More about that in the food blog.

Then, of course, we needed to exit the Village before everyone else starts to leave as well. But before that, some snacks, again!

물방울 떡 raindrop cake

물방울 떡 strawberry and mango flavour

All in all, Gamcheon Culture Village is worth a visit if you're in Busan! Allocate about 2 to 3 hours for sightseeing in the village.

Gamcheon Culture Village

Website: http://www.gamcheon.or.kr/