Sorry that this post is a week late but the past week has just been a hectic week and I've just been feeling rundown so I wasn't able to write the posts that I needed to. Also sorry for the lack of photos and abundance of text.
This week marked the entry into 2014 and a bit of moving as I travelled to Busan and Japan :)
For New Year's, we couldn't really find anything that was special to Korea except for ringing on a bell that is located in Insadong. Tradition was that the bell would be rung at New Year's for 30 or so times, I believe, back when Korea had a Royal family. As we weren't feeling up for crowds after the Christmas Day shopping, we opted to stay in our hotel room and just watch it on the telly. Our hotel gifted us with a bottle of wine, which was nice, but we weren't really wine drinkers but decided to try it out - solidified my belief that I am not a wine drinker. On the actual day, we didn't do much but just decided to explore more of our area and get anything that we wanted to get that we thought we wouldn't be able to get in Busan.
On the 2nd, we made our way to Seoul Station to catch the KTX train to Busan. Travelling to Busan via the KTX is really easy with the option of booking online. There is luggage storage in majority of the carriages but you can double check where they are by checking the train layout located on the side of every carriage. We had quite a bit of luggage and us being us, we struggled a bit but there were some really nice ladies in our carriage who helped us. Thank you ladies yet again. If you do have quite a bit of luggage, I do suggest that you arrive early so that you can place your luggage there before the crowd comes. There is also overhead luggage storage if you are just bringing a backpack or small carryon, above your seat. The whole trip took about 3-4 hours and you barely feel the train move so perfect for that little nap. We checked into our hotel which was located just by Haeundae beach YAY! Seeing the beach just made me miss home that little bit more but it was beautiful as we came just as the sun was setting. The weather was a lot warmer than in Seoul and Busan has such a relaxed feel that it made us just want to laze around all day LOL.
On the 3rd, I visited my first every aquarium - Busan Aquarium. My favourite part would have to be the jellyfish - so many species and I realised just how beautiful they could be. Overall, it was a great first experience and relatively affordable with entry and a 3D ride costing us about $14. They had a rock pool where you could hold starfishes and
The next day, one of my friends was attending a concert, so my other friend and myself decided to explore the area around Haeundae beach. We decided to eat one of the Busan specialties - spicy beef broth which was absolutely amazing, cheap and really fulfilling. Unfortunately, we also did a bit of shopping as they had quite a good shopping centre.
On our last day in Busan, we went back to the Haeundae beach for the final time then took a KTX train back to Seoul in the afternoon. That night, one of my friends left to go back to Sydney due to work commitments and myself and other friend went to the underground shopping centre near our hotel and subway station (these underground shopping centres are absolutely amazing and can be found at pretty much almost all subway stations) after dropping her off at the airport. We had a lovely dinner where our server turned out to be a Korean who lived in Perth for 2 years and had a great conversation about Japan, Australia and Korean food/drinks.
The 6th of January marked the start of our Japan leg with an early morning flight from Incheon, Seoul to Tokyo, Japan. Obviously I fell asleep on the plane LOL. We took the subway to our hotel which took about 1.5 hours. Our hotel room was quite small but I expected that due to reading other people's comments about their hotel experience. I had my experience of a toilet with a seat warmer - a very weird experience but can definitely see the perks with the cold weather though not as cold as Seoul. We went exploring in the Tokyo department store area later that night where I first experience BIC CAMERA - the massive electronic store in Japan.
I loved my Korea leg with the great, cheap food and mix of historical aspects with the technological aspects. I would highly recommend Korea as a holiday destination whether you are with friends, family or your significant other. Korea is sort of a girl's best friend in the sense that the make-up, skincare and clothing that you get is of great quality and really affordable. Shoes wise, if you have wide feet or your shoe size is above 7.5/8, you will find it more difficult as their shoes tend to run a bit narrow hence smaller than in Western countries. But seriously the food is AMAZING! Thinking about it seriously makes me want to go back :(
Until next time, stay safe and hope Uni isn't killing you if you are returning to Uni this week in Australia.
This week marked the entry into 2014 and a bit of moving as I travelled to Busan and Japan :)
For New Year's, we couldn't really find anything that was special to Korea except for ringing on a bell that is located in Insadong. Tradition was that the bell would be rung at New Year's for 30 or so times, I believe, back when Korea had a Royal family. As we weren't feeling up for crowds after the Christmas Day shopping, we opted to stay in our hotel room and just watch it on the telly. Our hotel gifted us with a bottle of wine, which was nice, but we weren't really wine drinkers but decided to try it out - solidified my belief that I am not a wine drinker. On the actual day, we didn't do much but just decided to explore more of our area and get anything that we wanted to get that we thought we wouldn't be able to get in Busan.
On the 2nd, we made our way to Seoul Station to catch the KTX train to Busan. Travelling to Busan via the KTX is really easy with the option of booking online. There is luggage storage in majority of the carriages but you can double check where they are by checking the train layout located on the side of every carriage. We had quite a bit of luggage and us being us, we struggled a bit but there were some really nice ladies in our carriage who helped us. Thank you ladies yet again. If you do have quite a bit of luggage, I do suggest that you arrive early so that you can place your luggage there before the crowd comes. There is also overhead luggage storage if you are just bringing a backpack or small carryon, above your seat. The whole trip took about 3-4 hours and you barely feel the train move so perfect for that little nap. We checked into our hotel which was located just by Haeundae beach YAY! Seeing the beach just made me miss home that little bit more but it was beautiful as we came just as the sun was setting. The weather was a lot warmer than in Seoul and Busan has such a relaxed feel that it made us just want to laze around all day LOL.
On the 3rd, I visited my first every aquarium - Busan Aquarium. My favourite part would have to be the jellyfish - so many species and I realised just how beautiful they could be. Overall, it was a great first experience and relatively affordable with entry and a 3D ride costing us about $14. They had a rock pool where you could hold starfishes and
The next day, one of my friends was attending a concert, so my other friend and myself decided to explore the area around Haeundae beach. We decided to eat one of the Busan specialties - spicy beef broth which was absolutely amazing, cheap and really fulfilling. Unfortunately, we also did a bit of shopping as they had quite a good shopping centre.
On our last day in Busan, we went back to the Haeundae beach for the final time then took a KTX train back to Seoul in the afternoon. That night, one of my friends left to go back to Sydney due to work commitments and myself and other friend went to the underground shopping centre near our hotel and subway station (these underground shopping centres are absolutely amazing and can be found at pretty much almost all subway stations) after dropping her off at the airport. We had a lovely dinner where our server turned out to be a Korean who lived in Perth for 2 years and had a great conversation about Japan, Australia and Korean food/drinks.
The 6th of January marked the start of our Japan leg with an early morning flight from Incheon, Seoul to Tokyo, Japan. Obviously I fell asleep on the plane LOL. We took the subway to our hotel which took about 1.5 hours. Our hotel room was quite small but I expected that due to reading other people's comments about their hotel experience. I had my experience of a toilet with a seat warmer - a very weird experience but can definitely see the perks with the cold weather though not as cold as Seoul. We went exploring in the Tokyo department store area later that night where I first experience BIC CAMERA - the massive electronic store in Japan.
I loved my Korea leg with the great, cheap food and mix of historical aspects with the technological aspects. I would highly recommend Korea as a holiday destination whether you are with friends, family or your significant other. Korea is sort of a girl's best friend in the sense that the make-up, skincare and clothing that you get is of great quality and really affordable. Shoes wise, if you have wide feet or your shoe size is above 7.5/8, you will find it more difficult as their shoes tend to run a bit narrow hence smaller than in Western countries. But seriously the food is AMAZING! Thinking about it seriously makes me want to go back :(
Until next time, stay safe and hope Uni isn't killing you if you are returning to Uni this week in Australia.
