Korea - Free & Easy (Part 1) - Jeju

9:59:00 PM Unknown 5 Comments

Annyong ha se yo!! ^_^

I just came back from Korea last month, having stayed there for a total of 11 days. Long, rite? =p

I went to Korea 10+ years ago with tour group. The impression then was not fantastic, as communication was really difficult. I still remember I tried to buy a T-shirt at the international airport, however because the staff did not understand the size that I wanted, eventually I gave up on the purchase.

So frankly speaking, I was a little uncertain of going Korea again, and 'worse', on a free & easy trip. But the temptation of super cheap beauty products, accessories and dresses was really too overwhelming, whack lor. Not to mention that the Cathay Pacific air tickets were a steal, just $600+ (inclusive taxes) and with a little top up (less than $50), I even extended my trip to Hongkong. Remember to check out zuji.com for the cheapest airfares!

I spent the first night at Hotel Sky, which is near the Incheon & Gimpo airport, coz we were gonna catch the early flight to Jeju. And hor, the hotel provides free airport pickup. Just need to ask the airport information counter to call them, and they will come and pick you in no time (probably just 10 - 15 minutes waiting time).

My first impression - the koreans are super supportive of Samsung! Samsung TV, Samung fridge, Samung aircon and most impressive? One remote control to control everything - lights, aircon, tv! No more multiple remote controls! I always cant find the remote controls in my room, not that my room is big but seriously, the remote controls are always missing. Dun you agree that this is such a wonderful idea!

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Hotel Sky
Address: Incheon-si Jung-gu Unseo-dong 2790-2
Contact: 82-32-752-1101
Room rate: KW 95000 per night

Our first dinner in Korea - pork cutlet rice and Kimchi maggie mee

Breakfast next day before our flight @ Angel-In-Us

Drool over their coffee & dessert here! *_^

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For those who are not familiar with Korea and thinking of travelling to Jeju...

First, there are 2 airports in Seoul:

1) Incheon International Airport

From here, there are limited flight to Jeju. So depending on what time is your arrival in Seoul, you may want to choose to fly from the international airport or gimpo airport (approximately 30mins train ride apart)

Airline available:

It's much more convenient to fly direct from here since all (or at least most) of the international flights will arrive here. However, as the flight from Incheon to Jeju is really limited (like once a day?), so it's really depend on your arrival time in Seoul.

2) Gimpo Airport

There are more timing (almost once in every hour) and airlines flying from Gimpo Airport to Jeju.

Airline available:

Eastarjet

(Eastarjet: If you encounter problem when you key in the passenger detail, try to remove '+' before your country code in the contact field. Payment wise, they dont seem to accept Mastercard, try VISA, AMEX or Diners.)

(Tway: I couldnt find the membership under the chinese version (only jap & chinese is available), but thankfully I found a step-by-step how to register under the korean version here and step-by-step how to buy the ticket here )

Points to note:

1) Air tickets are cheaper if you sign up the membership. It's free so why not?

2) Most of the websites only work with Internet Explorer. Even that, you need a certain level of patience to do the transaction online. I couldn't made the payment online for Tway and therefore I booked from Eastarjet.

Boy, was I glad that we had flew via Eastarjet ~ the aircraft was so cute! If only, all the planes have wallpaper.. hehe. They also served orange juice on the plane and we only paid approximately KW 87,200 for a round trip per pax.

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Hotel December
Address: 260-58 Yeon-dong, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, South Korea
Contact: 82 64-745-7800
Room rate: KW 60000 per night

We took a cab from airport to the hotel & the cab fare was approximately 3000+ won. It is highly recommended to print out the address & map of the hotel in Korean, coz the taxi uncle may not understand English.

If you are going to Jeju, I highly recommend Hotel December! It's near to the airport (10 - 15mins), big kawaii room (look at that teddy bear toilet bowl..keke) and super friendly receptionist! All our 3 dinners in jeju were recommended by the receptionist (who speaks pretty well english). He super helpful, you just need to tell him what you wanna eat (e.g. abalone), he will google the map and print out for you.

Our first stop @ Paris Baguette (walking distance from the hotel)

Hmmm... the royal pudding here not so nice. I still prefer the one at Wisma!

We took a cab to the Dongmum Market Place (제주시 동문시장, Ido 1-dong, Jeju-si), lots of tangerines and tangerine-by product (e.g. chocolates). Not a fan of orange chocolate, so we only bought some tangerines and strawberries. Alas, all sour.. =_= Guess not the best season to eat the fruits..

Across the market is the underground mall - Jungang Shopping Mall (제주 중앙지하상가, 60, Jungang-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do) . Lots of clothes, kid wears and of coz, beauty products. But since, I was going to Seoul, I didnt do much shopping there.

Grilled pork @ Black Pork Street

Recommended by our friendly receptionist, the first black pork restaurant at the street. For all the food we had - grilled black pork (served raw for grill), cooked pork belly, spicy tofu & seafood soup, steamed egg and of coz, lots of side dishes, we paid KW 60,000 ( cant remember this was before or after tax though).

The pork seemed little when it was served, but with all the side dishes & everything, it was still filling & satisfying.

Dombaedon
Address: 1399-3, Geonip-dong, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, South Korea
Website: www.dombaedon.co.kr

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We lost our way while trying to made our way to the Black Pork Street from the underground mall. Anyway, the staff from the museum (in the picture above) actually accompanied us to the Black Pork Street, led us to an empty table and made sure the restaurant staff gave us the menu before he finally returned to the museum. Super paiseh yet grateful to him! Super nice lor!