Having read up a fair bit in preparation for my travel, everyone says Busan is a lot better than Seoul.

I guess it would be like KL vs Kuantan.

Perhaps I could try and target an assignment in Korea hahahaha.....

Well the same in Vietnam. I believe their teachers or instructors are either American or they are using language materials from the US hence the accent.

The accent we (both SG and MY) use is rather flat and as far as I can tell it only exists in these 2 countries.

Yeah standing in line at immigration. Changi seems a nicer airport compared to Inc he on.

Damn, the railway workers strike is still ongoing. The truck drivers are now joining the strike as well.

Fatty Kim is doing heavy saber rattling too.

This post has been edited by joytest: Oct 17 2016, 09:53 AM

Had some really nice sujebi today for 3900 won while walking around near KwangJang market, and blew a bit on a very nice fancy dinner at one of the top rated restaurants as a one-time treat since my birthday is coming up hehe.

Weather isn't very cold now, around 20 degrees.

Do you have any recommendations for good, really local local food in Busan? I'm heading there this weekend for a few days. Will be staying near Gwangalli beach but willing to travel for good food.


koonghx thank you very much for the dinner recommendation it was fantastic and a good opportunity to meet up and make a new friend.


About data, I bought a 30 day unlimited sim from funtastickorea.com for 60k won. I guess it is the same as what Scarfe said but with a discount.

Yes it is rushed but if you are constrained by your time then make the best of it.

However, March will be too early for cherry blossoms and I suspect most of the foliage will still be bate.

A joint I had hanwoo at Daesin market in Busan

I asked for cheguwey hanwoo....so he gave me the 19k/100g portion.

Had 200g of it. Good but more chewy than wagyu.

Also had rhe best damned pork I've ever tasted from the samgyeopsal. Post later.

This post has been edited by joytest: Oct 26 2016, 05:04 PM

Some explosion happened in a chemical storage facility a few days ago but I didn't understand what they were saying or where it was. I haven't seen any news of any explosions in the last 24hrs.

I'm still in Korea now.

Ok update on an "explosion". Some reckless minivan drove and hit another car, skidded inside the traffic tunnel and burst into flames.

Traffic got stopped and everyone evacuated from the tunnel.

Don't know the location though.

Finally back after 13.5days.

Arrived on 17 Oct morning and left on 30 Oct.

Couldn't really sleep well on the night flight there, and the inflight food from KL was bad, to put it mildly. The inflight food from Incheon was miles ahead of the KL one.

I managed to get good weather for my entire trip. The focus of the trip was on nature sightseeing and food.

4 nights Seoul (one day on G-Train), then the K-Shuttle tour for 3d2n along the west coast ending in Busan.

4 nights in Busan with travelling to Ulsan, Gyeongju, Geoje and Tongyeong, then back to Seoul for another 3 nights.

I originally wanted to get on the O and V Trains but had to change to the G-Train which was the only one available. The train started at 08:27 and we arrived back in Seoul at around 7pm.
The train ends in Iksan city but we decided to get off at Gunsan city, one stop before. Turned out to be a good choice.
Had some really nice local-only specialty Tteokgalbi and managed to get some pastries at Korea's oldest bakery, Lee Sung Dang, which has been in operation since 1945.
Visited the local museum and took a taxi trip to the Saemangeum Seawall, which is currently the longest dyke in the world. No foreigners apart from us

The K-Shuttle West Coast tour (KS201) was quite worth it (USD399/pax) as it took us to cover quite a few of the inner west coast cities showcasing UNESCO and cultural/historical sites. The focus of the tour was more on seeing the rest of Korea instead of the usual shopping and major touristy areas.
We got to stay in 2 nice hotels (Holiday Inn and The Ocean Resort) and understand a bit more of Korean culture and history from the tour guide.

We ended up in Busan and booked a daytrip taxi to Ulsan and Gyeongje.
We visited the Bangudae Petroglyph site and the guide took us to a famous kimbap restaurant featured on Korean TV.
After that we went to Daewangam beach which had fantastic views of the sea and coastal outcrops.
We also spent 1 day going to Geoje + Oedo Botania, and the Tongyeong Hallyuseudo cable car.

Back in Seoul we went to Petite France and Nami island. The fall colors were in full force there and it was so beautiful.
Sanmotoonge cafe was also a very good experience with breathtaking views from the northern part of Seoul.

An incredible trip with many fond memories.


As for my "to eat" bucket list, I managed to do most of it:

1. hoe of various fishes - Jagalchi, Noryangjin and a sushi joint in Seoul.
2. yukhoe - part of dinner package in Seokparang + a dinner in Jeonju
3. samgyetang - Seoul random place in Myeongdong
4. jokbal - Seoul Jokbal street
5. gopchang and its relatives - Busan
6. seafood jeon - Nami
7. sannakji and related raw seafood (abalone etc) - Noryangjin
9. various meat type soups (maeuntang + beef and pork) - seollontang seems good - had seollontang only
10. soy sauce crab - missed this
11. various galbi - Tteokgalbi was fantastic in Gunsan
12. various guksu, plus perhaps sujebi - great Sujebi at a place just beside Gwangjang market
13. various dubu hotpots - missed this

You could take a 1 day bus tour with hop on and hop off of various nice places around Busan.
Day 2 you could go around a couple of the places which interest you from the bus tour.

Myeongdong is like downtime Bukit Bintang.

Some of the smaller hotels are REALLY SMALL and the rooms are just large enough for a bed and very small toilet.

Putting in a large luggage will give you claustrophobia. Stayed at one once.

After that, I checked that it was about 16m2 or such size. I recommend you find a hotel that provides a room at least 20m2 in size.

The Myeongdong area is surrounded by MRT stations. At most it will take a 10 minute walk for a hotel that isn't beside a station.

You could ping forumer koonghx

He is in Seoul and you can bank in to his Maybank acct here and he will pass you Won. His rate supposed to be the best.

I met up with him for dinner while I was there. Nice fellow.

If you travel light, you can reach anywhere in the country via bus and train.
Google Maps doesn't work very well there, you will need to brush up some basic Korean and use Naver Maps or similar, at least recognize the words for food

English proficiency among taxi drivers is generally very poor.
It will be best to print out the destination in Korean and show it to the cabbie.

did airbnb in Seoul and Busan. Good experience. Nice, central location and owner didn't even need to show up. All comms via email and kakaotalk, and no keys needed either coz they are all using electronic locks.

I think it was about RM250/day. Nice apartment with kitchenette, washing machine, fridge, aircon/heater.

Korean food generally doesn't have the grandness of Chinese (or Japanese) cuisine, but they do have a lot of pretty good common foods.

What kind of food are you looking for?