Jeju to Seoul - Valentine's Week in Korea 2014 Day 3

Day 3: 17 Feb 2014

It's our last 0.5 day in Jeju. =( We got a flight to catch at 2pm and had to return our car, with full tank, by noon. There were still so many places that we planned to visit but failed so due to time constraint. Places that we didn't manage go are Manjanggul Cave, Jeongbang Falls, Jusangjeolli Cliffs, Seonimgyo Bridge and Horse Riding. On a brighter side, this thus made it a valid reason for us to come back to Jeju again.

We were too late for a short hike at Hallasan as we checked out of our hotel ten minutes after 9am. It was raining heavily. =( There are 7 different trails stated on their main website (you can find directions to Hallasan via any means of transport via the website too):
1) Eoseungsaengak Trail (1.3km, 30min one way)
2) Seokgulam Trail (1.5km, 50min one way)
3) Yeongsil Trail (5.8km, 2.5hours one way) +82-64-747-9950
4) Eorimok Trail (6.8km, 3hours one way) +82-64-713-9953
5) Donnaeko Trail (7km, 3.5hours one way) +82-710-6920~3
6) Seongpanak Trail (9.6km, 4.5hours one way) +82-64-725-9950
7) Gwaneumsa Trail (8.7Km, 5hours one way) +82-64-756-9950

As we were running out of time, we picked the first one and headed to Eoseungsaengak's entrance of Hallasan. The journey up the mountain was tedious man. Even though I was driving (not hiking), the acceleration wasn't as good uphill and there're sooo many sharp turns. NEVERTHELESS, I SPOTTED SNOW!!!! OH MY GOD, I'M SEEING SNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE! Sorry for the excitement, I was really really very elated!! The snow on the roadsides were getting more and more the higher we drove! There weren't many cars so I paused somewhere halfway up the mountain to take pictures.

Hallasan National Park (한라산국립공원)   

Haean-dong, Jeju-si, Jeju-do 

제주 제주시 1100로 2070-61

Parking fee was KRW 1800 (about SGD 2.20) per entry. It was very bumpy to drive in some areas of the carpark due to the ice (see the 1st pic below). It was still raining when we got there but this was the only chance that we can play with the snow so we just went straight into the mountain. Walking in snow wasn't easy at all! A quarter of our legs will sink in whenever we stepped into the snow. We were laughing every step we took! I'm glad that my boots were for walking in the snow, not slippery at all. It's a pity that we couldn't hike and the rain made it worse as well. Why wasn't it snowing instead? =( Well, we still enjoyed ourselves very much! :)

Parked my Sonata right in front of the snow pile

Entrance into Hallasan

Hallasan Signage

Beautiful

Do you wanna build a snowman?

A picture of me driving in snow!

Exiting Hallasan's Car Park

Going downhill

Driving downhill was hell lot easier with faster acceleration, the sharp turns were still present though. We passed by the city center where there's more traffic while we made our way to KT Kumho Rent-A-Car's office. But before that, I had to pump the fuel tank to full. 

City Area of Jeju-do

Pumping Oil at S-OIL

Meter's jumping..

KRW 54000 (approx. SGD 64) for 2.5 days heavy usage, not too bad

Returning the car was an easy process, I handed my car key over to the person in-charge, he checked the car's engine, etc and then we're good to go. They provided a shuttle bus to Jeju International Airport, this time round the shuttle bus was full of tourists with their luggage. 

Guess what, we didn't have our breakfast again. We were so famished that we just headed into the first Korean restaurant we saw after checking into immigration area.

Korean Restaurant at CJU Jeju International Airport

Our Lunch

Bibimbap - Nice but the one we had at Jeju Folk Village owns hands down

Spicy Beef Soup - THERE'S NO BEEF. Felt cheated, totally. The soup has beef taste but no trace of the meat.

Waiting for our flight to Seoul at CJU Airport

Bye Jeju! I'll be back!

Hello Seoul, we're finally here!!

Our first hotel in Seoul is Cats Hotel at Jongru/Insadong, a 3-5min walk from Jongro 3(sam)-ga train station exit 4/5. From Gimpo International Airport, we took the purple line (line 5, direct) and alighted at Jongro 3(sam)-ga station. Exit 5 is slightly nearer but there's no escalator, thus we took exit 4, which is just opposite exit 5. We got a little bit lost at first, we asked around and one Korean uncle was kind enough to bring us to the hotel. Kamsahamnida!

Cats Hotel
Address: 87-1, Nakwon-dong, Jongro-gu, Jongro / Insadong, Seoul, South Korea
Nearest Train Station: Jongro 3(sam)-ga Exit 4/5

Cats Design Hotel

Lotions, hair spray, cotton buds, combs, desktop and hairdryer were provided

One awesome thing about Cats Hotel is their lobby. They have a coffee machine and it's free for all hotel users! If you cannot take coffee (like me), there're hot choco and choco milk too. BF and I took 2 cups of hot choco every time we get out of/return to the hotel.

Our daily Hot Choco generator at Cats Hotel's Lobby

First meal in Seoul! Beef!! Even though we had our meal 2h ago, we were kinda hungry after checking in to Cats Hotel. We compared a few food places next to our hotel and went into the more crowded one. I didn't take picture of it's signboard, mianhaeyo. One of the waitresses can speak very well Mandarin as I overheard (quite loudly) her interacting with the China tourists sitting two tables away. The beef was good, this meal was about 22,000-24,000 won for two of us if I remembered correctly.

Yummy beef

Bau House 
Address: Jeil Bldg. 1F, 394-44 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Nearest Station: Hapjeong Exit 3
Contact: 02-334-5152

If you are a dog lover, you should make a visit to Bau House at Hapjeong Station! Take exit 3, make a U-turn and walk straight down till you see a black building (pic below). Then you'll see a signboard with a dog, pointing you the direction of where Bau House is. Just follow the signboard and you'll locate Bau House in a minute.

Hapjeong Station Exit 3 (taken after I made a U-turn)

Jeil Building

Follow the sign leading you to Bau House

Entrance of Bau House

When we first entered the cafe, ALL the dogs jumped/barked in excitement! Super adorable!! The dogs were divided into two sections according to their sizes. The smaller dogs nearer to the entrance and the bigger dogs at the back. We headed to the inner section with the bigger dogs first and ordered our drinks. There's no entrance fee but everyone is required to order a drink.

Entering the smaller dogs section from the entrance, then to the bigger dogs section

Bau House, Big Dogs Section

Menu

Dogs' breed and names

The prices of the drinks were ranging around 6000-9000 won (SGD 7-11) and there's no limit to the amount of time you can spend in the cafe. How nice! :) I ordered Strawberry Smoothie and BF ordered Oreo Milkshake. They tasted decent.

Same facial expression!

Hi sweety! ^^

The dogs were so friendly and lovely!!!! <3

We decided to shift ourselves to the smaller dogs section after playing with the bigger dogs. The smaller dogs were more active and very mischievous! There were 3 corgis and one of them was particularly naughty! It kept on picking up fight with a dog bigger sized than him (the black one in the first pic below) and then hid in a corner where the bigger dog cannot reach him.

Chihuahua

Very gentle and quiet dog by itself. It looks like a beautiful small sheep to me.

My favorite corgi!! <3

As we left our bags and stuff in the cupboard below the table we were sitting at in the big dogs section, we went back in to collect our things before leaving. They actually rotate the breeds of their dogs! We came back and met Alaskan Malamute!! He was HUGE!

Alaskan Malamute biting onto a packet of food

You can purchase dog food to feed them too. All of them will then flock to you. :)

It was such a fun and enjoyable time spent at Bau House! I love dogs, it's a pity that my mum doesn't allow me to get one. =( Dog cafes allow dog lovers like me to have a chance to play with them! We took the train back to Jongro 3(sam)-ga station and walked around Insadong area.

Seafood street stalls that will only emerge in the evening

Holly's Coffee

Holly's Coffee

Hot Chocolate from Holly's Coffee

After returning to our hotel, we got a little hungry and took our the cup noodles we bought from Jeju's convenience store on Day 1. The one I had was not too bad. I still think cup noodles from Taiwan OWNS.

Day 3 was awesome! My first time seeing snow (on the floor) and also my virgin visit to a dogs' cafe. Looking forward to Day 4! =D