the beautiful ones are all over 2MB, which I'm not able to upload here. I've tried to look again, and manage to find more of the < 2MB (but less sharp pic)
The scenary looks a bit gloomy coz it has been raining early in the morning, but I find the view in Nami Island quite spectacular.. Somebody warned me that Nami Island & Everland does not worth to spend time there, but I quite like the 2 places very much!



This post has been edited by rsralf: May 6 2011, 09:38 AM

Another batch of <2MB pictures that I can share..

Yeouido Park



Yeouido Hangang Park



Jeju - Cheonjiyeon waterfall



Jeju - Seongsan Ilchulbung (at the bottom)



Jeju - Seongsan Ilchulbung (view from the top)



Jeju - Oedolgae



Jeju - Jusangjeolli

More pics here..

Jeju - some random pics taken at the roadside



Busan - PIFF square, Book Street & Jagalchi Market



Gyeongju - have you ever seen a mobile ATM machine? I haven't



Gyeongju - Seochulji Pond



Gyeongju - Anapji Pond



The sea train from Gangneung to Samcheok



Mt Sorak

And some more pics here..

Yeoryang town where we stop for the Auraji Railbike.. This small town is so beautiful, peaceful & calming that I feel like wanting to stay there..



Everland



Namsan Park



(taken at night)

Deosukgung Palace - Guard Changing Procession



Gyeongbokgung Palace



Gwanghwamun Square - You can see the Gyeongbokgung Palace at the background.. In the middle of the Gwanghwamun square there is a field with some flowers planted at the corner.. saw lots of people 'picnic'ing there..




This post has been edited by rsralf: May 6 2011, 11:18 AM

Aigoo.. I came back already.. It has been exactly 1 week today..
I miss the fresh air there..

Hi Lexy, I did try it for free at Deoksugung Palace.. They had a promotional booth next to the entrance..
Look at the attached pic.. Originally i thought the girl who's taking pic with the guard, and the guard taking the pic are part of the palace personnel.. maybe it was the last day they were there, so they took pictures.. how silly of me, coz later i realised that they are also tourist when i saw them changing out of the dress.. lol!



This post has been edited by rsralf: May 8 2011, 10:52 AM

Gyeonggi-do is large.. which area specifically?
Yes, there is a guesthouse at Mt Sorak area, can't remember the name coz I didn't sleep there.
laily enelya slept at House Hostel which is located in Sokcho. Do check with her for full details.
As for myself, after my trip to Mt Sorak, I returned to Gangneung & slept at a guesthouse there..

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Added on May 9, 2011, 12:01 pmMy itinerary is quite tight.. I spent about RM2,700 (exclude shopping & food) for my 10 days there..
Yeah, it's quite expensive but looking at my choice of transportation, it is quite cheap, coz I choose the most fastest way to get to a destination..

My itinerary is as below:
Day 1: Flight touched down in Incheon. Overnight in Seoul.
Day 2: Walk around Yeouido & depart to Jeju. Walked to Cheonjiyeon Waterfall which is near to the guesthouse.
Day 3: Jeju (Jeongbang Waterfall + Trick Art Museum + Seongeup Folk Village + Seopjikoji + Seongsan Ilchulbung + Manjanggul Lava Cave)
Day 4: Jeju (Oedolgae Rock + Jusanggeolli + Teddy Bear Museum + Jeju Folklore & Natural History Museum) - Seoul - Busan (overnight)
Day 5: Busan (Jagalchi Market + PIFF Square + Book Street) - Gyeongju - Busan (overnight)
Day 6: Busan - Seoul - Gangneung to Jeongdojin (Sea Train) - Mt Sorak - Gangneung (overnight)
Day 7: Gangneung - Yeoryang (Auraji Railbike) - Jeongseon - DongSeoul + Myeongdong + Cheonggyecheon Stream
Day 8: Nami Island + Itaewon
Day 9: Everland + N Seoul Tower + Myeongdong + Namdaemun
Day 10: Namsan Park - (Deoksugung + Kyobo Bookstore + Gwanghwamun Square + Gyeongbokgung + National Folk Museum + Bukchon Hanok Village + Insadong--> These 7 places are within walking vicinity) & flight back to Malaysia.

But in all, I spent less than RM4,000 (inclusive shopping & food), maybe i'm not a shopper.. The only shop that make me broke is The Saem shop, which I contributed about RM600 to them.. lol!

This post has been edited by rsralf: May 9 2011, 12:01 PM

oh, be a bit careful when planning.. my itinerary is quite tight & a bit rush, so if you have concern about money & energy, need to check whether suitable or not to adopt my travel style.. you can pm me for more details.. otherwise you will be very tired and can or or a lot..

sfwong1, that means you should come back to Korea to go to Mt Sorak again.. haha..
so far, during the trip, the luck is on our side.. except for Day 3 when it was raining heavily in Jeju, and we had to cancel some of the planned location because it is outdoor.. and then when we reached airport in the afternoon, found out that our flight from Jeju to Busan was cancelled.. As we had plans in Busan & arrange accommodation there, we had to take flight to Seoul and take KTX to Busan as quickly as possible coz everybody was tired already.. without this glitch, our cost would be slightly lower..

This post has been edited by rsralf: May 9 2011, 03:35 PM

Shopaholic should love to stay at that area..
even I who don't like to shop, and stayed at Hongik area came to Myeongdong everyday for all the 3 days in Seoul kekeke..

by taxi it's about 1 hour, but by bus will take 1.5 hours

Digi prepaid is not able to roam in south korea, only digi postpaid can roam.. further info, can check in digi website..

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Added on May 11, 2011, 6:40 pmThe guesthouse that I stay in Gangneung is called Donghae Achim (동해의 아침) which means East Morning.. However, they can only communicate in Korean..
The guesthouse is about 10 - 15 minutes away from Gangneung Bus Station, but they provide pick-up services & can send us back to Gangneung with no additional charge. We took a room for 7 person - ondol style cost us KRW120,000 with complete facilities, you can even cook there..

here is the website East Morning

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Added on May 11, 2011, 6:51 pmFrom Seoul to Busan will take:
1) By express bus: 4.5 hours
2) By KTX: 2.5 hours - 3 hours (depend on the route)
3) By plane: 55 minutes



This post has been edited by rsralf: May 11 2011, 06:51 PM

The korean set meal onboard Kuala Lumpur - Incheon flight is delicious.. try that!
Cost RM25.

This post has been edited by rsralf: May 12 2011, 08:38 AM

Are you talking about air asia? coz basically they only served once during the flight (about 40 minutes after take off), and then if you want to order for tea or dinner, you will have to press the button to call them..but it will be based on the availability of the food

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Added on May 12, 2011, 3:07 pmmy friend smuggle a big kebab from itaewon.. the stewardess does not reprimand her at all even though they saw her eating it..


This post has been edited by rsralf: May 12 2011, 03:07 PM

You can rent iphone from Olleh KT at this website Olleh KT - Phone Rental

to use maybank atm, you need to activate for withdrawal in korea prior going there (call to maybank & inform the period of your travelling to Korea so they activate it for you) . if you don't activate it, then you won't be able to withdraw.
You can withdraw at the atm machine with "global atm" sign.. easy to find in Myeongdong area..

3G phone will be able to do roaming here.. but please turn off your data roaming function to prevent incurring high cost..

This post has been edited by rsralf: May 20 2011, 01:36 PM

they're using the 2 round pin plug.. it's best you buy the international adapter in Malaysia, coz my friend who forgot to bring it were unable to find the adapter in Korea, ended up borrowing mine to charge her phone everyday..

This post has been edited by rsralf: May 20 2011, 01:42 PM

hi there, you can take the bus (Seoul - Sokcho) from the Express Bus Terminal. You can get to the terminal using subway line 3, 7 or 9. Traveling from Seoul to Sokcho will take you about (plus minus) 2 hour 40 minutes and cost you 17K won.
And yes, you can take a local bus from Sokcho Terminal bound to Mount Sorak.

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Added on July 2, 2011, 1:10 pmThat's true, Listiani. That also happened to me when I went there , so i ended up looking for info on the net myself. The ability to read map plays an important role here..

As I was traveling to a few places outside Seoul, I am so thankful to come across a website created by foreigners living in South Korea. The website is still new, and there's not much info yet, but it does help me in my travel to Gangwon-do especially on the local bus travel time.

i share the link here so you can benefit from it as well: South Korea Travel Info

This post has been edited by rsralf: Jul 2 2011, 01:10 PM

the only medium of transportation to go to mt sorak is bus or taxi hehe (but taxi is expensive ler if you travel alone).. there is no train linked there, perhaps there might be one in 2020.. hehehe.. and do take note that the express bus terminal & the intercity bus terminal in sokcho are some distance of each other.

whether to stay a night there, it depends on your goodself & what you want to do in Mt Sorak. My friend took the first bus in the morning (6am), reached Mt Sorak at about 10.00am. She spent about 2 hours on the mountain, and then returned back to Seoul on the same day. Note: last express bus to seoul is at 23.30 and 22.30 (night rate is 18.7K won)

But if you like hiking & would like to explore the trails, you can sleep one night there. Or you can also sleep in Sokcho afterwards if you want to explore Sokcho town, Abai Village (filming location of Autumn in My Heart drama), DMZ etc..

As for me, I went up Mt Sorak using the cable car & just enjoy the view at the top which only took me 2 hours on the mountain as well. Later I went to Gangneung & sleep there as I were going to explore Jeongseon the next day.

This post has been edited by rsralf: Jul 3 2011, 08:02 AM

found out already? no problem.
Yeah, many people say it's awesome during autumn, but as I went there during spring I can't confirm ;p
Just seen it through the picture, it is beautiful.. next trip to korea i must go during autumn...