We had just completed our 11 days South Korean family vacation and I would like to use this week’s blog as a travelogue diary before I forget the details. It is also to help me reminisce on the good moments during the trip for future personal review of the wonderful quality family time we had.
This vacation planning was kickstarted when our younger son began his uni holidays after his 3rd year in Med school. He has always been interested in dance and hip-hop. A K-Pop dance immersion trip to Seoul was something he and 4 other good friends decided to embark on. We the parents decided to tag along at the end of their 2 weeks program to extend it to make it into a Seoul family vacation which also include Jeju.
The last time I was in Seoul was in Sep 2019 with my wife and older son, pre-Covid. I had signed up for an overseas Skillsfuture Blockchain program and they had decided to tag along. It was great fun and I was looking forward to visiting Korea again.
27 May, Sat: Wife and I landed in Seoul in the late afternoon. It was raining and we took the AREX train to Hongsik University station (KRW 4,500) as we had booked L7 Hongdae for 3 nights. First meal of the trip had to be KBBQ and we had it at a place called Piggy along the famous Hongdae shopping stretch. Like the last trip in 2019, we signed up for a Hongdae Pub crawl (USD20) to check out the night life with a large group of tourists (50+). We visited 3 night spots with a free shot at every location.
28 May, Sun: Weather was still wet and raining today. We decided to walk around the Hongdae area towards the Han River and chance upon a Korean beef soup place for brunch. The warm soup was a welcomed antidote for a wet weather day. Visited the Mangwon traditional market on the way back to Hongdae for my wife’s haircut and treatment appointment at 4 pm. I decided to join in to cut my hair and added a scalp treatment too. We had a late dinner at a Korea Hwae Sashimi place called Badaae. Lots of fresh fish and abalone with Somaek (beer + soju).
29 May, Mon: The sky cleared and we finally had wonderful weather that turned sunny in the afternoon. Set out to the Bukchon Hanok village in the late morning to check out the quaint traditional houses of old Korea. Then we had a slow walk towards the Gwangjang market through the shopping alleys and had 2 separate lunches along the way. Next was a taxi to Gangnam to do some shopping and we came across the amazing Starfield library at COEX. Then finally took the train and walked to the Bangpo Hangang Park to watch the Han River bridge night water show that started at 8 pm. Finally took a cab back to Hongdae. Dinner was the famous BHC (Better Health Chicken) fried chicken with beer “Chimaek”. Really wonderful and long fruitful day.
30 May, Tue: Finally met younger son at the AREX station at 8 am to head to the Gimpo domestic airport. His group of friends have also just left their AirBnb for their flight back to S’pore. We took a one hour JejuAir flight to the southern island. It was raining again when we picked up our rental car at Lotte. It was my first EV rental and I chose a Genesis GV70 which had a mileage of 480 km for one full charge. Pretty impressive car with the new electronics and a smooth ride. We reached the Ventimo hotel to drop off our luggage before heading for a late lunch recommended by the hotel. It was a cutlass (ribbon) fish stew that is famous in Jeju/Korea. It was raining the whole day and we decided to chill in the room till dinner time at a black pork KBBQ place near the hotel.
31 May, Wed: Small world, met a parent from our Pat’s schoolhouse days at the hotel lobby. She shared with us her Jeju schedule as her group has already been there for 5 days. We had decided to explore the southern parts of the island today. Jeju plans to go all EV by 2030 and traffic is an average of 50 km/h or less throughout the island. First destination was Jeongbang waterfall that faced the sea. Nice morning walk before heading to the next one – Jeongbangpokpo falls that was on the river flowing into the sea.
This was followed by the Cheonjiyeon falls for another scenic walk. Then it was lunch time and we heading to the nearby Seogwipo central market to catch some bites and a simple lunch. We then headed to the Daepo Jusangjeolli cliff for a walk before going to the Camellia hill attraction to visit the flower garden.
For the evening, we went to the Jeju city Dongmun market to check out the eating street before deciding to drive to another KBBQ place to try authentic black pork again.
01 Jun, Thur: We explored western Jeju today. First stop was at Aewol to checkout the scenic cafes overlooking the sea. Heavy rain started after noon time and we ducked into a ramen place for lunch where I had seafood noodles with a whole boiled octopus on top which I had been dreaming about for a while. As it rained for the rest of the afternoon, we drove around trying to look for sheltered places to visit before finally deceding to head back to Lotte to charge the car for an hour. Night time was an Italian meal near the hotel at the main food street area.
02 Jun, Fri: Younger son decided that he had to climb the highest mountain in Korea at Hallasan National Park at an altitude of 1,950 m. It is also known as Yeongjusan, which translates to “Mountain high enough to pull the galaxy”. We parents took up his challenge as we did not want him to do it alone. Little did I know that he chose the longest path because it will reach the most scenic part of the top of the mountain. It will be almost 20 km of walking up and down LOL…
The climb up via the Seongpanak trail was 9.6 km and we started at 0830, reaching the top after 3.5 hours around noon time. We then spent about an hour at the top taking photos before heading down on a seperate trail called Gwaneumsa (8.7 km). The climb down was slower as it is tough on the knees. We had finished all our water by the time we reached the last 1/3 of the trail. We finally reached the bottom around 5+ and took a cab back to Seongpanak to collect our car and drank water like crazy as the trails and toilets there do not provide running water at all!
By the time we reached the hotel, my legs felt like lead weights and knees aching. We decided to do another Black Pork KBBQ within walking distance since it was our last night in Jeju.
03 Jun, Sat: Flew back to Seoul and checked into a lovely hotel for our last 3 nights in Korea. Le Meridien Myeongdong had a nice room overlooking the shopping district and it was easy to walk around.
In the evening, we went to Mingles, the 2 Michelin stars restuarant we had booked a few weeks ago. It is currently rated as number 28 in the top 50 Asia restaurants for 2023. Lovely Korean fusion and I particularly was amazed at the dessert that combined soya sauce and sesame oil which tasted great. Then back to Myeongdong for night shopping and to load up on skincare products.
04 Jun, Sun: Tried the hotel gym in the morning and had a lazy late morning start for brunch to try the Korean raw marinated crab. Then off to Hongdae in the late afternoon for more shopping and also for younger son’s haircut appointment. We also had to try the Korean ice Bingsu dessert there. Dinner was more Chimaek (fried chicken and beer) at the most famous chain called BBQ.
05 Jun, Mon: Our last day in Seoul before our early morning flight home the next day. I went for morning swim at the hotel indoor pool. We then had lunch at the Lotte food court and did some more shopping. Had a minor scare when wife discovered that she lost her passport and our flight home was 9 am the next day. We immediately did a police report and went to the S’pore embassy to get a temporary letter to allow her to board the plane. Last dinner of the vacation was to try the authentic Hanwoo beef that is only available in Korea and cannot be exported. It was quite flavourful and similar to Wagyu beef but less marbling. We went to a famous cafe for dessert that we at our hotel. The concept is interesting and maybe we can do it as a business in S’pore too?
06 Jun, Tues: we had a 9 am flight and reached S’pore by mid afternoon. Home Sweet home…
Overall, a very pleasant and memorable family vacation that was better than expected. It will be remembered for years to come, especially the crazy mountain climbing we completed!!
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