Travel

감천문화마을 Gamcheon Culture Village 甘川洞文化村 @ Busan, South Korea

Posted on 3 April 2017 by lendeliz

IMG_2273From 태종대유원지 Taejongdae Recreation Area 太宗臺遊園區, we took Bus 8 at 1:34pm to Nampo Station 南浦站, and flagged a cab to 감천문화마을 Gamcheon Culture Village 甘川洞文化村.

Six minutes (and ₩3,700) later,  we arrived at the pretty Gamcheon Culture Village, aka the “Machu Picchu of Korea”, or “Santorini of Korea”!

Our first stop was to get a guide map (₩2,000) at the community centre, so that it would be easier to navigate the area. Plus, we would get to collect stamps around the village and exchange for postcards at some stations, thus ensuring that we would not miss the must-see sights (check out The Little Prince in the feature photo above!).

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Categories: Busan, South Korea, Travel | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

태종대유원지 Taejongdae Recreation Area 太宗臺遊園區@ Busan, South Korea

Posted on 3 April 2017 by lendeliz

IMG_2235It was a sunny morning and we were all set to go to 태종대 Taejongdae 太宗臺!

We had obtained a map from the hotel, and Bus 88 along the main road where Seomyeon Subway Station 西面站 Exit 1 leads to, goes direct to Taejongdae. It is the main road where underpasses are available for crossing, and the Bus Stop Number is 05-240.

We got off to an exciting start, when the bus door malfunctioned after Ms. V and I got up the bus… And the door closed on Ms. W, ouch!! The driver was unable to force open the door, and drove off,  leaving hubby and Ms. W stranded.. And the rest of the passengers could not get off too.  It was a scary moment for we could not understand what the driver was saying. Thankfully, we knew that we just need to get off at the terminal stop, and both pairs had 4G data connection so we were able to keep in contact.

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Categories: Busan, South Korea, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

해운대 Haeundae 海雲台 @Busan, South Korea

Posted on 2 April 2017 by lendeliz

IMG_2199After visiting the gorgeous 해동용궁사 Haedong Yonggungsa Temple 海東龍宮寺, we decided to head to 해운대전통시장 Haeundae Traditional Market 海雲台傳統市場 for lunch. It was a 25-minute cab ride (₩9,800).

We reached before 12 noon, and the area was still quite empty. We checked out the market to see what fresh produce the locals were selling, as well as some shops selling cutesy items (socks!!!).

There were a lot of seafood eateries, and we had originally wanted to try the 곰장어 hagfish/blind eel 盲鰻, but the eateries seemed to be all empty, and we were not sure which one to choose.

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Categories: Busan, South Korea, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

해동 용궁사 Haedong Yonggungsa Temple 海東龍宮寺 @Busan, South Korea

Posted on 2 April 2017 by lendeliz

2017-04-02 09.21.05We left our hotel early to visit the beautiful 해동 용궁사 Haedong Yonggungsa Temple 海東龍宮寺 located by the gorgeous coastline (see the feature image above).

It was a 30-minute subway ride to 해운대 Haeundae Station 海雲臺站, followed by a 10-minute cab ride. It was already quite crowded when we arrived at 9am (the temple opens at 5am till sunset and there’s no admission charges).

We made our way through the stalls selling snacks, souvenirs, and even vegetables, before reaching the entrance. We were greeted by the stone statues of the 12 zodiac signs, plus many other stone figurines (some were seats!). There were also some beautiful cherry blossoms, and it was really pleasant 🙂

Despite the crowd, things were quite orderly. There were many statues and small figurines within the temple, and we found the visit quite interesting. The ocean view was really gorgeous, and we spent a fair bit of time enjoying the scenery. We’ll let the pictures do the talking 🙂

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Categories: Busan, Travel | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

유가네닭갈비 Yoogane Dak-Galbi @Busan, South Korea

Posted on 1 April 2017 by lendeliz

IMG_2163While we have yet to try out the 유가네닭갈비 Yoogane Dak-Galbi 柳氏家鐵板雞專門店 in Singapore, it is certainly not to be missed when in Busan, since this is where this popular Chicken Galbi brand first started out.

We got ourselves a medium 치즈퐁~닭 Fresh Cheese Chicken Galbi 新鮮的芝士雞排 (₩19,500) and a side order of 라면사라 Ramyeon 拉麵 (₩1,500).

Though the medium Chicken Galbi was meant for 2 to 3 pax, and the large Chicken Galbi  (₩28,500) was meant for 3 to 4 pax, 4 of us could barely finish the medium portion, probably because we had eaten so much at Jinhae 😛

It was really thoughtful of them to give us aprons, so that we did not have to worry about getting our clothes dirty. We were almost about to attack our food after the staff brought the ingredients over and left our table, but the lady at the next table quickly stopped us, and gestured that the staff would help us with the cooking. How nice of her! Shortly after, the staff returned and did the cooking for us, while we tried to control our excitement.

Once ready, we picked up our chopsticks and attacked! The cheese was gooey and stretchy, and definitely enhanced the flavours of the spicy and tender chicken pieces. All I could say was that it was really quite addictive, and of course we were all fighting over the ramen too 😛

It was truly a fun and filling meal!

Contact:

  • Location: 부산광역시 부산진구 부전2동 242-21 242-21, Bujeon 2-dong, Busanjin-gu, Busan
  • Website: www.yoogane.co.kr/en/
  • Directions: Walk along Seomyeon-ro at Exit 7 of Seomyeon Station
  • Hrs: 11am – 12am
Categories: Busan, Dinner, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Day trip to 진해 Jinhae (Cherry Blossom Festival) @Changwon, South Korea

Posted on 1 April 2017 by lendeliz

2017-04-01 06.18.03We woke up at 4+ in the morning for the main highlight of our trip, cherry blossom viewing at 진해 Jinhae 镇海!

This year, the 진해군항제 Jinhae Gunhangje Festival 镇海军港祭 (aka Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival) would be held from 1st to 10th April 2017. When we started planning for this trip, the cherry blossom forecast dates were not quite out yet, so we had buffered close to a week in 부산 Busan 釜山, and listed a few things to do in Busan, while keeping things flexible so that we could do a day trip to Jinhae, and hopefully catch the cherry blossoms in their full glory.

We had originally planned to go on a weekday so that it would not be not so crowded, but it appeared that the flowers were approaching full bloom earlier, and the weather forecast for today was rainy all day, which meant that that was a chance that the fragile flowers might be blown away! Today was a Saturday, and also the first day of Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival, so we figured that it was better to be earlier than late.

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Categories: Busan, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 4 Comments

송정3대국밥 Songjung Third-generation Pork Soup 松亭3代豬肉湯飯 @Busan, South Korea

Posted on 31 March 2017 by lendeliz

2017-03-31 18.17.00Located in the Dwaeji Gukbap Alley 豬肉湯飯街 at 서면 Seomyeon 西面, this was a popular restaurant famous for its pork soup with rice, which is a must-eat when one is in Busan. The staff were very friendly to the many tourists, and through the English mixed with Mandarin explanations, we were able to place our orders.

We got the 순대국밥 (Sundae-gukbap) Korean Blood Sausage Soup with Rice 血腸湯飯 (₩6,500 nett),  내장국밥 (Naejang-gukbap) Pork Tripe and Intestine with Rice 內臟湯飯 (₩6,500), and instead of the 돼지국밥 (Dwaeji-gukbap) Pork Soup with Rice 豬肉湯泡飯 version (₩6,500 nett) where the sliced pork, rice and soup were all mixed together, we opted for the other version 수육백반 (Suyuk Baekba) Set Menu with Pork Slices 白切肉白飯 (₩8,500). In this version, sliced pork was served separate, along with an array of mee sua (rice vermicelli), kimchi, and other condiments, such as marinated chives, green chilli, garlic, onion, shrimp paste, soybean paste, soy sauce, etc.

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Categories: Busan, Dinner, Travel | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

Overnight stay at 실로암불가마사우나 Siloam Fire Pot Sauna @Seoul, South Korea

Posted on 31 March 2017 by lendeliz

2017-03-30 13.17.22Our first trip in 2017 and we are going Korea!!

We have watched enough Korean dramas to know that visiting a 찜질방 (Jjimjilbang) 汗蒸幕, (aka Korean public bathhouse), should be part of our itinerary, and since we were scheduled to touch down at Incheon Airport around 22:15 local time (GMT+7), we figured that an overnight stay in a Jjimjilbang would be an unique experience, and a cheaper alternative to a hotel stay, especially since we wanted to leave for Busan the very next morning.

Initially, we wanted to take the overnight bus from the airport to Busan directly, but the online booking of the very popular tickets was too difficult, especially when we had to figure things out in Korean.

The next thing we did was to source for a suitable Jjimjilbang, and the 2 most readily available in English were Dragon Hill Spa, and Siloam Fire Pot Sauna. Eventually, we decided on Siloam (also spelt as Silloam), because it seemed less touristy and crowded.

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Categories: Seoul, South Korea, Travel | 1 Comment

Hong Kong 2016 Itinerary

Posted on 14 December 2016 by lendeliz

2016-12-13 15.18.26We had initially planned to visit Hong Kong in May for the Cheung Chau Bao Festival, but unfortunately, we had to cancel the trip at the last minute. 😦

Nonetheless, we found time (and excuse) to visit Hong Kong in December 😀

In order to eat more, we had to burn more calories, so this was a trip which we walked a lot in between destinations (Hong Kong Island is filled with steps and slopes, our poor knees!).

We also took tram and ferry rides quite often during this trip, which can be a cheaper alternative than the MTR sometimes.

Our 6 days itinerary were as followed:

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​Day trip to 大澳 Tai O, Hong Kong

Posted on 13 December 2016 by lendeliz

2016-12-13 13.30.00We had wanted to visit Tai O 大澳 for the longest time, but somehow we never made it in our past trips. This time, we made a special effort to visit!

After dropping our bags at the Regal Airport Hotel, we took its complimentary bus shuttle to 東薈城 Tung Chung Citygate, made our way past the queue for 昂坪纜車 Ngong Ping Cable Car (which will be closed for approximately 5 months from Jan 2017), before finding the other bus terminal for 新大嶼山巴士 New Lantao Bus (Tung Chung -> Tai-O, Tai-O -> Tung Chung).

The bus frequency was roughly every 15 minutes, and the queue for Bus No. 11 was rather long at noon time. Note that depending on the type of bus, not all had standing space. Hubby was the last who got up the bus but there were no longer any seats available, and he had to explain to the next bus driver that he had already tapped his Octopus card in the previous bus. Thankfully, he did not have to pay twice. We dozed off almost immediately and 55 minutes later, we reached the Tai O terminus!

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Categories: Hong Kong, Travel | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

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