Korea 2014 Spring time - Yeongdeok

Having completed my travelling in Taiwan, I guess it is time to talk about Korea. A late post but better late than never. Right from the time we stepped in Korea, the number of encounters we had really trigger our minds to make rational decisions. We reached Incheon airport late at night by Scoot  and have to rush for the airport shuttle bus to our hotel in Dongseoul. Let me divert abit, this is my first time travelling with Scoot and I am very impressed with the airline. It is a budget airline and yet the plane is definitely more spacious than the rest, sufficient amount of legroom. There was a long queue at the immigrations and when we reached the travel information service, we were informed the shuttle service 6705 costing 16000won 

(https://www.airport.kr/airport/traffic/bus/busList.iia?flag=E) that is leaving in about 10mins is the last bus. Stress! Cos I wanted to apply for the mobile data SIM card first, mskmouse told me it would be better to rush for the bus first and we think of ways to get the card later. When we reached the hotel, I start reading up on this blog,

 (http://koreasimblog.blogspot.kr/2013/04/buying-prepaid-eg-sim-card-at-incheon.html and http://www.egsimcard.co.kr)

We woke up the next morning to get the EGsim card from the main office in Gangnam area. Taking the green line to Seolleung, we turned right before the starbucks and actually got pretty lost inside, asked quite a number of people, and this cafe lady who was very kind showed me how to go. It is actually in a big government building on the first floor beside this very grand and expensive hotel. We took awhile to register both our details and the cost of applying the sim card and 1GB data costs around 35000 plus...cannot really remember the exact amout now.

Going back to Dong Seoul, we checked out our stuff and was almost in time for our bus 

ride to Yeongdeok at 1110. However, when i asked to buy the tickets, i was told they are all sold out. ( I thought Yeongdeok is quite an ulu place, how can it be sold out on a Monday morning!!) Having no choice, we bought the 1pm tickets and settled our lunch there.

I was quite worried going there as when i called to book my room, the guy on the other side is like totally Korean, so i book with my broken Korean and prayed hard he would understand. I even got the KTO people to call him and confirmed my booking. 

We reached Yeongdeok after 4hours 20mins and needed to take another bus to Ganggu bus terminal, it was a very fast trip, 10-15mins at most. This is where we mingle with the Ajumas and Ajushis on the bus. However, something that got me really disturbed was on the way to Yeongdeok, there was this uncle who was sitting behind us and he actually "kiao kah" means he stretched his leg and put his feet in between our seats, so from the front, we can actually see his socks!!! Disgusted!

The motel which i booked was called Motel Prada. It was quite near to Ganggu bus terminal, we took a cab which just cost us 4000 KRW and we reached in about 5mins. (Do always remember to write the address in Korean as most cab drivers might not be able to read in English) It was a big and confortable room that costs just 50000 KRW for a night and it overlooks the east sea. 

Motel Prada
Yeongdeok-gun Ganggu-myeon Samsa-ri 493-5 경북 영덕군 강구면 삼사리 493-5
- Korea Travel Phone +82-54-1330 (Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese)
- For more info +82-54-733-6411~3 (Korean)

As most shops served only seafood, we decided to eat simple, instant noodles and apple.

We were quite fortunate, that the peak season is over so we are like one of the few guests in the motel. The motel manager or boss is very nice to send us to the sunrise peak where we can see this wonderful scenery of the sea. There was a young boy working at the motel who can speak mandarin so our intentions were easily understood. 

I felt that i never regretted coming to Yeongdeok, this place is far from the busy city and i can really immerse in the local way of life. Apart from the beautiful daffodils, the hills and sea make one feels younger and happier.

This place is called the snow crab city so you would see icons of crabs everywhere.

Showing you what the powerful Ajumas and Hamonis can do...they fish for the seaweeds using this long stick, standing on the rocks waiting for the seaweeds to be brought along with the waves, arranged them and then finally dry them along the streets. You can also see fishes hanged dry on wires or left to dry on big wooden trays. Everywhere you would see the seagulls flying around and last but not least, lots of rejected snow crabs with thin pincers and big body left on the roads.

That day, we walked for almost more than 10km, enjoying the sea breeze and scenery along the way, half way through, there is this one and only coffee place and we decided to rest awhile. Coffee seemed to be the in thing in Korea and it seemed that getting a nice cup of coffee here is relatively cheaper than in Taiwan. ( I do not drink coffee, heard from mskmouse)

As we walked towards the Snow crab city, lots of restaurants tried to sell us their snow crabs...btw the crabs advertised looked really good, but in real life most have big bodies and thin pincers. The bulk of the weight is in the main shell and both of us do not eat that. We decided to give all these crabs a miss. Heard that some restaurants can charge you for more than 100000 KRW for a crab, of course you can go around and ask each restaurant but I think i prefer the black crabs from Long Beach in Singapore instead. :P 

We went for a simple dinner at a local eatery, seriously, the local eateries serve cheaper food in bigger amounts. It is such a joy to have food there before walking back to our motel.

One thing to our disadvantage is that, our room does not have free wifi, the wifi is only available in the ground floor lobby. As i need to use the internet, i brought my laptop to the lobby and sat on the stairs to use. (there were no chairs around) One of the staff, a young guy with curly permed hair saw me, told me that it is cold sitting on the stairs and to follow him, he took something in his hand and asked me to go with him to a room in the second floor. At first, i was like, what was he trying to do, and later came to realise, there is lan point in the rooms on the second floor and the wifi there is very strong. So the motel do have wifi, just that they are situated in the second level. It was really really nice of him!!!

The next day, before we check out of the motel, we went to Samsa Marine Park. So glad that we went because the roads are actually almost full of cherry blossoms, though some are almost gone, it was still a beautiful sight. After that, we went ahead to Gyeongju, a bigger city in Korea. 

Ok time to go to the airport and head back to Singapore...
To be continued...