Thinking about where next to go after Seoul, I narrowed down the options to BUSAN (2nd biggest city on the South East coast) or JEJU (most southern island). The hostel owner mentioned that JEJU is the most popular domestic destination for Koreans as it’s a beautiful Korean tropical island (similar to Okinawa for Japanese & Hainan for Chinese). Unfortunately, I was right in the middle of the peak season due to some national holidays starting in the end of July; so after looking at the overpriced plane tickets for JEJU; I decided I’ll be better off taking a train to Busan + I would have the option there to eventually take a ferry to Japan.
South Korea has a really modern infrastructure so its territory is mainly covered by high speed train called KTX but I was looking for a bargain so I struggled to get a ticket for an old slow train taking 5h00 to go to Busan (about 500km) for about £15 :)
In the train, I was sitting next to a 13 year old Korean boy who had a decent English (at his age, I was barely able to pronounce a sentence in English)!! and was curious about my whereabouts & background. I showed him some pictures of my trip and told him how wonderful his country is. He was quite interested by the pictures of North Korean soldiers as South Koreans are not allowed to go to the Joint Security Area.
The train stations along the way were all really modern and around the South of the country, some beautiful mountains were surrounding the tracks.
After I finally arrived at my destination; as it was late and my hostel far from the subway lines, I took (attempted) a taxi which threw me out as the driver visibly did not seem interested to ride me over there. After some hurdles, I was happy to make it to the hostel right in front of the beach through the public transport.
Spent the next day soaking the atmosphere of this sea side city, visiting a Buddhist temple in the mountains + a Santini like village. In the evening, went out clubbing. I got drunk there really quickly as being the only foreigner around; many young Koreans kept inviting me to sit at their tables and share their drinks. Wearing Harry Potter like glasses in Korea is really trendy at the moment and that’s what half of the Koreans were wearing in the club, hilarious!
On Saturday was my first typhoon experience, Typhoon Nakri was sweeping through all of South Korea and from the moment I stepped outside at 8AM and came back at 23H00 heavy rain was pouring non-stop. That’s when I decided to visit a traditional Korean spa, also called jjimjilbang. I went to the most fancy in Busan (about £8 for 4 hours).The baths/hot springs are segregated by gender while the jjimjilbang floor is for everyone and contains amenities such as sauna, sleeping area, hairdresser, O2 capsules, PC room, karaoke room, Cinema room, massage, restaurant, bar, etc… Many Koreans use Jjimjilbang as a cheap hotel where whole families would be just sleeping on the heated floor. In the baths, locals are naked (compulsory) and being a foreigner is not a good excuse. Coming from a Latin country, I had a hard time convincing myself to do it the Korean way but that’s another example when travelling alone can be really handy as it did not have to do it around people I knew J It was actually to my surprise a really good experience and I wonder why these establishments are not more widespread. The level of service offered in these establishments is absolutely outstanding and many Koreans are going there on a daily basis after work to relax.
Thinking about a way to escape the ongoing typhoon in South Korea, I decided to move on to Japan. I had no idea when starting my Trans-Siberian trip that I would go to South Korea and Japan. I’m now just making up my travels plan as I go! Going by ferry and by plane was about the same price, but since I’m not in a hurry and it’s been years I haven’t stayed on a ferry; I felt a 19 hours ferry trip to Osaka was a good adventure. Unfortunately, the website of the company operating these tours was only in Korean & Japan but with the help of a friendly girl at the hotel; I was put through an English speaking operator over the phone to book my ticket. I just had to provide my passport details and come to pick up (and so pay later ?!!) my ticket. On the next day, at the ferry terminal I met an old Korean “English interpreter volunteer” who I befriend and started to tell me some interesting stories about the Korean war (1950-1953). He learned English via the American marines during and after the war. He recalled how afraid he was when he saw for the first time a black American soldier.
South Korea on the contrary of China have really good relationship with USA as they are grateful that thanks to the American contribution to the war, they are not now on the “wrong side” of the border.
Trying now on the ferry to sort out what to do and see in Osaka :)
Some random videos of South Korea :
