Busan and Seoul, South Korea Autumn Holidays: 5 days Itinerary

I am finally going to write up our itinarary during our South Korean holiday. I'm sure this will give an idea how much we spent on our stay. Because we went there almost end of November which is sort of autumn and winter season, I suppose prices could get a bit different during other seasons.

Hope this helps!

Click on the photo below for the itinerary and expenses table!

Notes:
1. Most of my shopping expenses are not included. Stuff like pasalubong and personal effects :)
2. We didn't have any expenses for accommodation because we basically did it the Couchsurfing way
3. The expenses for food, transpo and miscellaneous is just a rough approximation. These includes a min of 10000 KRW for transpo per day, 10000 KRW for every meal and 2000 KRW for Misc.

A Farewell lunch and Shopping in Seomyeon

On our last day of stay in Busan, we decided to spend half of the day for shopping in Seomyeon and then meet our host for a farewell lunch. It was a lovely day and we are just so pumped up for making the most our remaining time in Korea.

I actually just plan to check out some more pasalubong I could take back home.

Seomyeon is a few stops from Millak and it quite a busy area full of shops and a nearby mall.

We first took some snacks and then went straight into finding stuff like the well known BB Cream! But time flew so fast that we realise it was time for lunch and we'll be meeting up Kath near where she works.

We had a nice lunch and chit-chat again. Until it was time to say goodbye. We really enjoyed her company and she was very warm and helpful. She had to leave us since she still got classes in the afternoon.

We continued with some more shopping and then had to go back to the apartment to pick up our things and get ready to head to the airport.

It was a very nice trip. I loved the fact that our hosts both in Busan and Seoul were very wonderful people.

There's so much more places we haven't explored and I'm sure I will have to be back. South Korea is such a lovely place and the people are really nice and amazing.

Korail and my first time ride on a Bullet Train

Like many others I'm one of those dreaming of getting that experience of riding a bullet train. Finally, that dream is no longer just a wish.

Going back from Seoul to Busan, we decided to take the Korail or bullet train.

We got our tickets quick and easy by booking the night before thru their website. It's very convenient you just need to check the schedules and pay thru credit card. I didn't even have to print as we didn't have a printer available, so I just took note of the confirmation number.

To book and check for the Korail train schedules, here's the website. http://www.korail.com/. More information are also available in the website.

The one way ticket from Seoul to Busan costed us 46,700 won. It was a discounted fare if you book online instead of buying right from the ticket counter.

So on our third day in Seoul, we went for a morning walk with our host in the nearby market to do some shopping and sight seeing as well. After that, we headed and took our quick lunch before leaving and going back to Busan.

Like what I have been saying, the three days in Seoul is just not enough, we all want to stay longer! It was sad to leave Seoul knowing we haven't seen everything yet.

Anyway, so our train leave at around 3pm we left around 1:30pm to give us enough time for travel. There's a bus from our host's place that stops directly at the Korail terminal.

The train seats are quite spacious. I loved it except that we are seated opposite the train's direction. It might have felt weird but we didn't notice because of the smooth ride. There are also food offered during the duration of our travel. I got coffee and bread for myself.

I also had the chance to take some nap on the way.

Overall, the bullet train was a comfortable ride. It's the quickest way to travel from Seoul to Busan unless you are not too concerned bout the price. :)

The trip back to Busan took only 2 and a half hours. We're back to lovely Busan and we are staying again with our the same hosts the first time we arrived! Can't wait to explore more of Busan!

Free Shuttle from Busan to Seoul

A few weeks after I have booked our ticket, we started to research about our plans for the trip and got the information about their free shuttle. This is a great help for us since we don't want to spend too much on transpo.

So we checked the website and it was very easy to reserve a seat. There's a catch though. You may reserve but the seat will not be confirmed until two weeks before your trip and passengers are actually chosen by drawing lots. A few months passed and lucky enough we got the confirmation.

For more information on the free shuttle and other treats from South Korea's Visit Korea Year, go to the following site: Free Shuttle - VISIT Korea Year

After our quick tour around Busan on our first day, we head to Seomyon to grab a quick lunch at the mall's food court.

 

After that fulfilling lunch we walked to Lotte World Hotel's lobby to wait for the shuttle bus. We waited a few minutes and the bus arrived. It was time to leave Busan for a while.

I'd say the getting the shuttle bus was very convenient. It was our quick chance at getting some rest after a day of wandering in Busan.

We had one stop over to get some food and toilet-break. After around five hours we then arrived in a rather colder Seoul.

From central Seoul, we need to get to the train and head to our host's place.

 

We got to meet another CS'er named, Paul, near Cheolsan station. He brought us to a nice Korean place to have dinner.

It was a great night. We had fun with the Soju game. We also tried some shooting game and the 3D ride.

After dinner we head to his place to take some rest. We definitely can't wait for the next day to explore Seoul.

Haedong Younggungsa Temple

Since we are very pressed for time, we just chose to head to this temple found in a cliff as recommended by our tour guide friends.

It's the Haedong Younggungsa Temple. It's definitely a must to go to this beautiful temple. The view is really amazing.

It's a mysterious-looking temple established on rocks and stones near the sea. According to the guide it's famous for the glorious sunrise lighting up over the East Sea.

From early in the morning, the temple is crowed with people wanting to see the beautiful sunrise.

We got there by taking a train and taxi. It was almost lunch we arrived. There were also a number of tourists and students taking their field trip, I suppose.

At the entrance there are some food stands and souvenir shops. I was tempted to buy some but I thought I'll just buy them at the shopping center when we come back to Busan.

We went walking down the stairs going to the temple. There was even this area where I dropped a coin to wish!

It was nice walking around the area. There were cute little buddhas on display. I wanted to get one!

There was a also a room full of buddhas where I think people enclose their wishes. I was also tempted to adopt one buddha for my wish. Anyway, maybe I'll do it next time.

We get the chance to drink water from this area. It's probably a miracle water? So I took it.

Gwangalli Beach and Gwangan Bridge

On our officially first day of stay in Busan, we met Kath's wonderful friends/students who have offered to take us around. It was really a cool bunch and we definitely enjoyed their company.

Our first stop was to get something to eat as we haven't eaten anything yet for breakfast. We walked to the Gwangalli Beach. The view is really amazing. Plus, the weather is fairly better than last night and sun is up but still with that chilly feeling.

I forgot the name of the place, but I remember it's just right on the great spot to check out the Gwangan Bridge. We then ordered our food.

I had a rice porridge with bean sprouts. It's an interesting dish as it has nice soup (I love soups!) although it's not too salty for me. The lady gave us this fish paste to put onto it if we want to put some flavor. I liked the fish paste because I kinda like salty foods.

After the nice breakfast we went walking along the beach and took many beautiful photos until it's time we headed to our next stop. You'll notice nobody's swimming in the beach. Yeah, it's too cold!

Busan: Our First Surprise

We left for Busan on the afternoon of 23rd November. Donned our semi-winter clothes, we boarded the Cebu Pacific plane and traveled for almost 2 and a half hours.

We arrived in the chilly Gimhae International Airport at around 9pm. We went through the usual immigration and took a cab to our hosts' place. Oh but before that, we need to get some cash so there were a few ATMs available near the exit.

TIP: If travelling overseas and plans to withdraw money thru ATM, make sure that you're ATMs are suited to be used internationally. I believe you can tell by the logo of Cirrus or MasterCard or Visa on your ATM. But to be 100% sure, drop by your nearest bank to confirm it'll work before you head off.

I actually did most of the planning which is REALLY, a bit of a challenge. I had to spend sleepless nights balancing my busy work and researching all the stuff about this trip. I did enjoy it though but it's still not easy.

We actually planned to take a bus rather than a taxi to get to our hosts' place. But we decided to take the offer of a taxi driver to take us to the place to avoid getting lost on our first night in Korea.

We were then welcomed by our very nice and warm hosts, Kath and Sandy. We know it was late at night and the two ladies should be off to bed, but they were up for a quick chat and gave us helpful directions in getting around. We also met some CS friends who dropped by to say hi.

Kath was very nice to offer us to take us to a Korean restaurant just some walking distance from their place since we are a bit hungry. We haven't had dinner since we we left Manila. We had a really nice serving of Samgyeopsal ( I hope that's correct!) for the five of us. That meal was really cheap and we were really happy and stuffed!

After the meal we head to take a walk near the bridge. Across the bridge is one of the largest malls in the world which is Shinsegae Centum City. Amazingly, we didn't have the chance to enter this mall during our stay in Busan. That is why we really have to go back.

It was getting really cold that night so the four of us decided to go back and take a rest. The next day's going to be more fun. We are going around Busan with Kath's friends.

The Surprise that is South Korea

The first and foremost reason I wanted to go to South Korea is to catch the winter season! I suppose it is the closest country I could get to to fulfill this wish. It's been a long time dream to finally see, feel and experience winter and snow. When I learned that South Korea is also one of Cebu Pacific's destination, I promised myself I'd find a way to book a promo fare when I get that chance.

And the chance came last February of 2011. Cebu Pacific offered 70% off on limited international destinations. What's cool is that, I'm not travelling alone and I got a bunch of travel hippies with me from CS Manila. It was another long wait, I tell you. But as I always say, the wait is definitely worth it!

Ok, so we booked and I realised we've booked it a few days early for their winter season. Anyhow, it didn't break my excitement. South Korea is still South Korea and I'm heading there with or without snow!

The big trip happened on the 23rd of November. We arrived in Busan and then to headed to Seoul too.

Well, it took a while to put up and prepare everything.

Firstly, we need the visa. It is good that South Korea do not charge fee for Filipinos applying for tourist visa. You only need to pass the required documents, wait for a few days and then claim it at the embassy. Easy! I'll get a separate post about the visa application for you curious kiddos! But the best bet of course is to head to their website for latest information.

As I mentioned, I travelled with my CS friends. And yes we all decided, we went CouchSurfing in Busan and Seoul. This is my second time CouchSurfing overseas. It's definitely a great experience.

In summary, we almost spent 2 days in Busan and 3 days in Seoul. BUT, it wasn't really enough! I have made another promise to myself I will go back! :)

Follow through the next posts for the details of my trip in Busan and Seoul.