Gangnam Style

A week in South Korea

Taking the boat from Cheju to Udo

Pidempien reissujen sarjan kruunasi matka karaoken ja mielenkiintoisten villitysten mekkaan, Etelä-Koreaan. Tällä kertaa reissuun lähdettiin lentämällä suht. koht. tuntemattomaan kohteeseen eli Jejun saarelle. Jossain täällä Hong Kongissa oli ollut mainoksia kyseisestä mestasta ja Cathay Pacificin fanfares tarjous iski silmään plänätessämme viimeistä matkaa. Saarelta löytyy mm. Etelä-Korean korkein vuori Mt. Halla sekä paljon muuta mukavaa. Reissun ainoana kohteena ei kuitenkaan ollut Jeju, vaan päädyimme myös Souliin muutamaksi päiväksi. Tällä tavalla maksimoitiin taas nuppineulojen määrä maailmanvalloituskartassa. Hienon lukukauden yliopistossa päätti suhteellisen messevä matka! Tässäpä raporttia.

Oppan!

Rural-Urban-Rural Korea tour

The semester got an awesome ending with a trip to South Korea. We had booked flights to go to Cheju Island because there was a good deal from Cathay Pacific Fanfares. Without too much knowledge about this island the first Google images that appear once you type the name of the island convinced us to choose this place as our destination. To maximize the experience we also made an excursion to Seoul, the capital.

Mt.Halla 

Day 1:

The first thing I have to mention is the epic landing to Cheju island with 3-yeard old kids singing Gangnam style next to us in the plane non stop for 10 minutes. Can’t really think of a better way to start a vacation in Korea. Once we got out of the terminal (Quite an airport!) it was time to confuse the taxi drivers completely. We didn’t have success in trying to describe where we wanted to go but a very friendly local person called our hostel and gave instructions to the taxi driver. It wasn’t hard to spot the entrance after getting to the right street since the hostel played music as loud as a nightclub in front of the building. Very stereotypical but fun…Hostel Korea. The check-in was followed by a quick planning session and rest for the coming set of activities.

Hostel Korea II

WON

Day 2:

The second day was the only one without sun so we decided to explore the lava tube caves. This experience reminded me a little bit of Guilin, China. It was more down to earth without the super extravaganza lights and music that we had in Guilin. A very impressive sight. The cave was not the only thing we saw, as there was a very touristy maze attraction nearby. We also literally ran into an amusement park when getting back downtown. There are two major cities on the island and they are located at the southern and northern coasts. Mt. Halla, the tallest mountain in South-Korea, is located in the middle of the island.

The Maze

The lava tube caves

Not too much LED

Day 3:

One of the things an active traveller is able to do is a hike up to Mt. Halla. We really wanted to do this during good weather and a sunny morning meant we headed to the beginning of the trail with a bus. Exploring the island by bus was surprisingly easy and the prices were not high. The currency in Korea is won and it is not so hard to become a millionaire since a bottle of water can easily cost a thousand won. During the bus ride we noticed that some people had prepared for the hike a little better than we had. It seemed that this task was not going to be as easy as we thought. The trail up to the mountain has a length of 9,6km and the level of terrain is between easy and hard. Most of the trail was lava rocks and quite steep slope. The end of the trail is at 1950 meters. This hike provided us amazing views and sweat, a lot of it. Once reaching the top the feeling was as if we had just climbed a higher mountain than Mt. Halla. We were on top of the clouds with a bottle of water and a banana for lunch. From this moment it took 4 hours to get back down to the bus stop. The terrain makes your feet really remember that you’ve been on that mountain…at least with our ‘’professional’’ gear. The view must be cool in the winter with ice and snow but I would prepare for that hike a little better if going there in January. The dinner decision was quick and simple since everyone was quite exhausted of the hike. We headed to a black pig restaurant located across the street from our hostel. Black pig seemed to be a local specialty and there was even a street devoted only to restaurants with Korean BBQ feat. black pig. To make sure that we believed that our pork really had had black hair they left the hair in the meat. In Korean BBQ you wrap all kinds of things to a big lettuce leaf like a fajita.

Jalkaa toisen eteen

Almost there

1950 meters

Black pig in the grill

Day 4:

The fourth day started with a bus ride to sunrise peak. This volcano is a UNESCO heritage sight and so is Mt. Halla. The hike was not very long this time and we reached the top in 20 minutes. Sunrise peak is more than 180 meters high. There are various ways to see the volcano, for example a speedboat ride around it. We chose to spend the rest of the day on Udo Island that is just a 15-minute ride from Cheju with a ferry. Udo is a very rural place with some white sand and coral beaches. This day was devoted more for chilling out at the beach than the Mt.Halla day so we didn’t go around Udo that much. In the evening we familiarized ourselves with the downtown area and shopping arcade. We managed to find a very nice reggae bar and that was the start of the ‘’hipster’’ Korea serious. There is an endless amount of theme cafes/bars/nightclubs…or anything in this country.

Speedboat 

Sunrise peak

Seoul subway map

Day 5:

In the middle of the vacation it was time to do an excursion to Seoul. The flight is only about 55 minutes from Cheju so almost like flying from Helsinki to Oulu in Finland. I was amazed by the amount of planes flying between Cheju and Seoul…two jumbo jets waiting in the line behind us to take off for Seoul?!? Our home in Seoul was a hostel apartment but as we opened the MTR or Subway map we noticed that we really have to pay attention what stops to use. The subway in Seoul hasn’t got the most lines or stops in the world but it impressed me still. Those who have been to Tokyo probably think that this one is for kids. The first day in Seoul included some exploring of the ‘’hip’’ city. The old school buildings really do meet the modern style and even some future. The amount of K-pop played everywhere is also impressive. Who would have thought that techno and body shop go together in Korea? We also tried some local dishes..bibimbap, kimbap etc. The evening included a ride to Gangnam to see the area…the nightlife excursion was saved for a later part of the trip though. A perfect arrival to Gangnam took place as we got Psy from huge LCD screens with a massive amount of people crossing the roads of this worldwide known area.

Seoul

Gangnam

More Gangnam

Day 6:

The second day of the Seoul part began with a trip to Hanok Village. This is a place in Seoul that has kept the architecture and atmosphere very traditional…but with some little hipster elements included of course. The main thing is though that there aren’t any skyscrapers etc. here. Hanok Village is a very trendy and probably expensive area. Even the dentist’s office looked like something that would be a monastery in Hong Kong. A coffee here with sunshine will make you feel great! Another cool sight (not on a day like we had) is the Seoul Tower. The tickets to get up to the tower are ridiculously priced but we took the cable car to visit the top of the peak where the tower is located. There was too much fog/smog/dust in the air to see anything though even though it was sunny. This tower looked more awesome from our hostel balcony at night. A trip to Seoul is nothing without some of the clubs in Gangnam so that is where we went in the evening and it was not a disappointment. There is an endless variety of places to choose from and the one we visited (Noise Box) had good music and fun atmosphere. Yes…Gangnam style was played but of course it was a remix, Noise Box Style.

Seoul Tower at night

Cheju Stone man

Day 7:

We spent the last full day in Cheju. This was a complete beach day. The water at these beaches was extremely clear and the view was like one of those pre-installed desktop pictures. The Cheju stone man was here as well…like in many other places during the vacation. They like this character so much that many yards in Seoul had it as well!

Cheju beaches

                                                         SOUTH KOREA VIDEO

- NIKLAS -