A few weeks before your trip the someone close to you has a medical issue that is not dissipating, who also happens to be your travel buddy/hubby. What do you do - should you cancel the trip or not. Thankfully we made the trip, armed with a bagful of medication which we did not use.
We flew Emirates. We went with Save Travel and the package was R21 850 pp. As we had a long stopover in Dubai, we were provided with free accommodation, meals and transfers by Emirates. Navigating our way to the Dubai Connect desk proved to be very daunting as we were not sure in which direction to go. Normally if we were catching a flight we could check the boards for our gate. We were booked into the Copthorne Airport Hotel. The meals were so delicious here. The next morning we had to leave the hotel at 1am to depart for our early flight to Seoul.
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| Copthorne Airport Hotel |
Seoul is such an amazing place, so vibrant and full of activity. We were so glad to stay in the Myeongdong area, as there was so much to do. The Ibis Styles Ambassador was the hotel we stayed in. It was close to shopping and the subway. We had to learn how to use the subway, which was very confusing at first, and it was an adventure all of its own. It was such a convenient way of getting from one place to another. We bought a T- money card and kept on topping it up. We also bought KTX train tickets for our trip to Busan and back. We were worried that we were not going to get tickets, as we did not book in advance, but we managed to get tickets. These were the places that we visited in Seoul:
N Seoul Tower
Gyeongbukgung Palace
Changdeokgung Palace
Jogyesa Temple
Gwangjung Market
Dongdaemun Design Plaza
Namdaemun Market
Insadong
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| Delicious street food |
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| Myeongdong |
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| One of the palaces |
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| Gwangung Market |
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| Namdaemun Market |
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| Ibis Styles Ambassador Hotel |
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| Dongdaemun Design Plaza |
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| Insadong |
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| Jongyesa Temple |
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| N Tower area |
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| Inside the subway train |
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| DMZ site |
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| North Korea |
We also did the DMZ tour, and this we booked through the hotel. It was a bit pricey, but we caught a small glimpse of the North Korean side. We savoured the street food from the tteokbokkie (spicy rice cakes) to the dumplings. We also bought food from the 7-eleven. I enjoyed the kimbap (fillings squashed firmly into rice and wrapped in a sheet of dried seaweed) At night Myeongdong came alive with the street food stalls. We did a lot of walking, and there were a lot of money changers everywhere. It was also starting to get hot, and I had issues with bloating and water retention. Also I had to take my glasses everywhere especially to read the maps and the stops at the train station (the joys of getting older)
We took the bullet train to Busan. It was a 2.5 hour journey. Busan was more laid back. We stayed at the Ibis Ambassador Busan City Centre Hotel, which was a little further away from the shopping and restaurants, but the subway was right next door. The breakfast was so yummy.
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| KTX |
Jagalchi Fish Market
Gukje Market
Gamcheon Cultural Village
Biff Square
Taejongdae Park
We
used to take the subway in the evening to partake in the street food
and explore Biff Square and Gukje Market. We couldn't get enough of
hotteok (delicious pancakes). The Jagalchi fish market was lined with an
assortment of fish and octopus. Taejongdae Park was the most beautiful
park we have ever seen. All I can say is that it is heaven on earth.
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| Taejongdae Park |
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| Taejongdae Park |
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| Jagalchi Fish Market |
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| Biff Square |
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| Delicious pancake |
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| Gamcheon Cultural Village |
It was time to head home. When I was at Busan station I realised that I had left my favourite red scarf at the hotel breakfast room, and I was so tempted to take the train back to fetch it. When we got home we realised that the seaweed that we had taken from breakfast was missing. Our thoughts led us back to the airport where security had emptied our back pack, as I had packed some kitchen stuff that I was not supposed to. The security forgot to put back the seaweed.
We boarded the All Stop Train to Incheon airport. When a friendly guy told us that the train was not going to take us directly to the airport we almost panicked. We jumped off and transferred to another train that took us to Terminal 1. Travelling can take you away from your comfort zone, and will land you in very unpredictable situations. But one also realises ones strength and weaknesses, and more so on this trip.
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