Korea - Here i come! 9 Days of Seoul, Busan, Gyongju, Sokcho

I’ve got a trip coming up and I’ve been researching a lot. There is a lack of information on the places I was interested in and some of the blog entries are quite dated and I am concerned that the public transport information ( we are not driving this time) may no longer be valid. Using the Korean tourism board information also mind boggling as they disclaim the information shown on their website (WTH?)

My usual to go to research tool TripAdvisor reviews on food is also failing. Looks like not a lot of people reviewed on Korean food compared to trips in new Zealand and Australia.

To top it off, there is a language barrier! The google browser is not working as effectively as Koreans effectively uses their own browser (naver) for information and its all in KOREAN! Google translate helps but not a lot. My google map also seems to be failing and then I found out that Koreans uses their own maps naver or daum maps which is more accurate for their public transport. The catch to using it is typing the destinations in Korean.

I finally got my itinerary mapped out and I hope that it works as I planned it out to be.

I was really obsessed with getting the locations right and have it in both Korean and English. In case, I got lost and needed help. I hope that I’m not too ambitious with my itinerary due to time constraints I axed out travelling to Jeju this time.

Day 1: Seoul: Namsan Tower and Lotte world shopping mart

Day 2: Seoul: Hanbok dress experience, Gyeongbokgung Palace and Yeouido Spring flower festival

Day 3: Seoul: Changdeokgung (UNESCO World Heritage), Jongmyo Shrine (UNESCO World Heritage) and Buchon Hanok Village

Day 4: Busan: Busan Gamcheon Culture Village, Jagalchi Market

Day 5: Bulguksa Temple and  Seokguram Grotto (UNESCO World Heritage)

Day 6:  Haedong Yonggungsa, Gijang Market and Haeundae Beach

Day 7: Gangchon rail park

Day 8: Seoraksan

Day 9: Shopping and hair salon at Ewha Womans University Station

All the information is from many blogs but the ones that I referred extensively is from the following blogs:

Iamontheroad, Seoulistic (korean food and interesting things to do), Peonykiss (make up) and boundforbusan (busan travels)

I discovered that I can add layers to my map and I’ve divided my locations by layers namely Sokcho, Seoul and Busan. Totally new to this function but I’m not optimistic of the effectiveness of google map in korea.  

I googled obsessively on things to buy from korea and ended up with a pretty long list, mainly food and cosmetics. 

Now is just waiting for the day to arrive and to book my KTX tickets. Yippee! Korea here i come