Annyeong haseyo from South Korea! I am writing this on the last leg of my Korea trip. From the beautiful Jeju Island, to be exact.
Our Coffee Fueled South Korea Trip
We flew into Seoul a week ago, where I experienced my first snowfall. It was as magical as shown in the TV scenes. This time Hollywood didn’t exaggerate. I also made my best friend, Yiwen, take tons of videos of me dancing in the snow and eating the snow. I sent those clips to my parents, who were super proud of my “snowy achievement”.
The rest of our days in Seoul were spent eating delicious Korean food, shopping for beauty products, visiting the fish market and roaming around the city’s famous art and cultural hotspots.
We also drank copious amounts of coffee thanks to the new and upcoming coffee culture in South Korea. It’s where one can satisfy all the kinks they have for coffee. A tip: Don’t go for your regular iced latte, which you can get back home. Unusual choices include pumpkin, sweet potato or black bean latte. All are very yummy, trust me!
Train to Busan
Taking KTX from Seoul to Busan was one of the highlights of the Korea trip for me (train nerd alert). The 3-hour journey, with winter wonderland scenes, was one of the best train rides I have ever taken. Also, KTX has a high-speed wifi connection, which wasn’t available on Shinkansen during our first Japan trip. Also, KTX gets extra brownie points for having a vending machine inside. So it got the train-nerd seal of approval from me.
Jeju
Jeju is our last stop. It’s a volcanic island that lies in the Korea Strait. We chose Jeju because of the hit Korean drama Boys over Flowers, which was shot there. Also, to eat their famous black pig, which we had yesterday. It was glorious. We are going back to eat it again tonight. By the way, this beautiful island also is a little piece of caffeinated heaven. So far, we have been to five coffee shops, and it’s only our second day here.
Hostel Life
We stayed in hostels during the entire Korea trip because of the budget. Also, we prefer to spend money feasting on Korean Anju and getting drunk on Shoju every night. So hostels are pretty much happening in Korea. And I have been having more fun staying in these Korean hostels compared to the past hotels I had stayed in—# HostelLife.
In short, our Korea trip has been great so far!
The Bad and The Ugly Parts of The Korea Trip
Aside from the mini culture shock I experienced here (from makeup-wearing men to bath towels that can’t even cover one-third of my body), I don’t have anything I hate during this trip.
I do wish we had gone to the cat cafe in Seoul. And Busan turned out to be pretty boring, though the time we spent in SpaLand made up for it. Lastly, contrary to what I thought it would be, the heated floor wasn’t all that great, especially if one sleeps on a futon.
What’s Next?
We are flying to China tomorrow night. I will celebrate the Chinese New Year in Beijing and hang out with Yiwen and her family in Shanghai. I am beyond excited!
Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.
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