We are a group of students from Temasek Polytechnic, Diploma in Business.
We recently just went on an Overseas Study Trip to South Korea and we would like to share with you our adventures through this blog.
Hope you'll have fun reading our adventures!
entries
Day 3 in Korea
written on April 16, 2017
ANNYEONG!!! I'm Zakirah and I'll walk you through our DAY 3 korea adventures. It was actually a really hectic and rushing start to the day because our wake up call was at 5am korean time (which was 4AM singapore time! Guess whose roommates had troubles waking their roommate up despite the countless alarms she had set for herself but ended up snoozing them instead🙋 HEH). We had to be down for breakfast by 6AM korea time and call time was at 6.30AM (none of us wanted to be late because the teachers had set the punishment for those who are late AND WE'D HAVE TO SING IN THE BUS IF WE'RE LATE HAHAHHA). It was the earliest call time we had throughout our 7D6N korea trip because we had a flight to catch to Busan. Anyways before I go on about what we did for the day, here's the itinerary we had for the day:
Breakfast @hotel
FLIGHT TO BUSAN
Lunch (Bibimbap)
Bulguksa Temple
Seokkuram Grotto
Posco Musuem
Dinner & Hotel Check-in
It was indeed a rushed morning because we had to leave the hotel by 6.30AM korea time to make it to Gimpo Domestic Airport in time for our flight. It was so cold the moment we stepped out of the hotel building with a temperature of 4°C and most of us were fascinated by the mist coming out of our mouths (you can never experience that in SG and you'll never have the same feeling stepping out of a building in SG because ITS SO HOT IN SG HALP). It was a short 30 mins bus ride to Gimpo Domestic Airport and I was kinda surprised by the amount of people in the domestic airport (there were more people in the domestic airport as compared to the international airport).
"Boarding the plane to Busan"
"Arrival at Gimhae Airport (Busan)
Upon arrival atGimhae Airportafter getting our luggages, we headed for our bus to start our Busan adventures. We headed for lunch and it was a long 1.5 hrs bus ride (more or less AND YES WE MANAGED TO CATCH UP ON OUR SLEEP). But the 3rd day was actually tiring because of the long bus rides, we spent longer time on the bus than on our destinations. So, our lunch place looks very countryside-ish (sadly there's no photos on that) but our lunch was bibimbap and soup stew with vegetables and mushrooms?? Most people won't really like the bibimbap cause its 90% vegetables except for the egg yolk and rice but personally I kinda feel that its actually not that bad BUT THE KIMCHI WAS REALLY GOOD (tbh once you've tasted the legit kimchi in Korea you'll never look at kimchis in Singapore the same way).
The six yalams all ready to eat vegetables 💆
After lunch we were given time to take photos and enjoy the scenic views of the cherry blossoms opposite the restaurant. (The streets in Busan are really pretty because the cherry blossoms are 💯, you wont really be able to see it much along the streets in Seoul).
Tbh no photos could do justice to how beautiful the cherry blossoms were 😍😍😍
Alongside the cherry blossoms, there were these hills which are actually tombstones of the kings
Afterwards, we returned to our bus for a 2hrs ride to our next destination which was the Seokguram Grotto. The journey reaching to the temple was quite dizzy cause its uphill and the bus had to go round and round to get to the temple.
FYI: TheSeokguram Grotto is classified asNational Treasure No. 24by the South Korean government and is located at 994, Jinhyeon-dong, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsanbuk-do. The grotto overlooks the East Sea and rests 750 meters above sea level. It is recognised as the world's cultural asset by UNESCO and it examplifies some of the best Buddhist sculptures in the world. (Source: Wikipedia) Once we got off the bus we had to walk up to the temple (more like trekking cause its like a slope going up and there were neverending steep staircases to get us to the temple but we were accompanied by the cold wind so that kinda made up to the tiredness from the "trek"). The tour to the temple was actually beneficial to many of us because we were able to learn about the history of it and there were so many historic monuments. We were also able to witness the huge Buddha statue in the temple.
This was the huge Buddha statue in the
Seokguram Grotto
(Source: Wikipedia)
The view from the Seokguram Grotto which is 750m above
level
People who visit the temple are willing to pay
a few hundred dollars for these lanterns to hang
along with their written wishes.
There was a spring water well and it is believed that if you drink the water from the well, it makes you younger. (It was really refreshing AND HAIKAL'S REACTION SAYS IT ALL HAHAHHAHAHA)
We had to descend back to return to our bus for the next destination which was the Bulguksa Temple which was just a 10 minutes drive from the Seokguram Grotto. FYI: Bulguksa Temple is recognised as one of the world's cultural asset by UNESCO in 1995. It is a head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhismand encompasses seven National Treasures of South Korea: Dabotapand Seokgatapstone pagodas, Cheongun-gyo (Blue Cloud Bridge), and two gilt-bronze statues of Buddha. The temple is considered as a masterpiece of the golden age of Buddhist art in the Sillakingdom and it is currently the head temple of the 11th district of the Jogye Orderof Korean Buddhism. (Source: Wikipedia)
Seokgatap Dabotap
Bulguksa Temple didn't require us to trek up to the temple (THANK GOD but we had to walk quite a distance and THERE WERE STILL NEVERENDING STEEP STAIRS). Bulguksa Temple had more monuments as compared to Seokguram Grotto.
The stairs to the entrance of the temple
Group photo before we left the temple
After the Bulguksa Temple, we headed for Posco Museum which was about 1hr++ bus ride from the temple. (and yes we slept again because the temple tours were so draining)
Posco museum was located in Pohang. It is a museum which tells us the history, achievements and vision of Posco which is a steel producing company. It represents the efforts and pride of Posco workers and community for their projects around the world. Personally, I feel that they deserve such recognition for their accomplishments because it's really not easy to master plan every major projects especially the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and to be able to maintain their projects and achievements for years, it is indeed a great accomplishment. What really caught my attention in the Posco Museum was when they showed in detailed how the steels were made.
Group picture at Posco Museum
After a long and tiring day, WE FINALLY HEADED FOR DINNER (yass I was excited because we were gonna eat fish. Ok its worth getting excited for the muslims because we've been eating vegetables for days 😏 You can see how excited and glad we were to finally have fish from Haikal's expression on behalf of the yalams and yes the fish was really good. We were given a whole saba fish and it was SO SATISFYING)
After dinner (i was especially looking forward to this because...) WE WERE FINALLY HEADING TO OUR HOTEL after a super long day. I forgot how long the bus ride was but I think it wasn't that long. BUT the hotel was so comfy I had to admit. Its more like a home I was kinda surprised to see washing machines, a mini kitchen and stove because you hardly see hotels like that but I think its common in Korea?? But the first thing which caught my attention was the fact that there was a beach right in front of our hotel. We went for a walk by the beach and I JUST LOVE THE COLD WIND💓.
Yes.. a beach right in front of our hotel
I was kinda surprised to see so many high rise buildings in Busan. I thought Busan would be very countryside-like based on all the korean variety shows I've watched. I didn't expect Busan to be more city-like. From the beach, we walked to the street market which sells mainly live seafood. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to roam around more due to the room checks and most of us were already DEAD TIRED knowing we'd have to wake up early the next day.
