Hiking in Korea (Hallasan and Bukhansan)

Hello my reader!

It has been 5 months since I returned from Korea and I have decided to stop procrastinating & start writing this post. One of the many things that Korea has and Singapore doesn't is MOUNTAINS! I managed to climb 2 mountains namely Hallasan in Jeju and Bukhansan in Seoul.

I feel that the best time to hike is during the transition from spring to summer or during autumn. I climbed Hallasan in mid June and Bukhansan in late July (yes it is summer but it wasn't as warm as I thought it would be).

I felt that the last 15 minutes trail to the peak of Bukhansan was the hardest because it was very steep, but the rest of the journey was quite easy. This is coming from someone who have not exercised since NAPFA test in JC2. For Hallasan, I felt that it was not as bad because we cheated on our way down. I'll talk about this "cheating" story below.

Hallasan 

Initially, my friends and I had plans to climb the Gwaneumsa Trail, but we parked at the wrong place and we ended up at the carpark beside Eoseungsaengak Trail and Eorimok Trail. 

Then we decided to climb the Eorimok Trail but we had no idea where was the starting point and it didn't came to us that we can ask the staff at the visitor's centre for directions. So we ended up climbing Eoseungsaengak Trail. We randomly followed a Korean family (I vividly remember one of them wearing sandals to climb!) up the starting point of Eoseungsaengak which was beside the visitor's centre. Although the tourist information on the internet said that the trail takes 30 minutes, we took about 1h to reach the peak. 

We estimated the climb to be at least half an day up and half a day down, so there was something wrong with reaching the peak in 1 hour. Unfortunately, it was only at the peak where we discovered that we were on the wrong trail. But okay at least I took some photos.  

We rented a car and followed the GPS to get to the carpark. I was not paying attention to where we were going but the road was just bumpy, curvy and uncomfortable. After a long drive, we finally reached the carpark.

Eoseungsaengak Trail 

It was quite foggy but my phone didn't manage to capture it

Pano of the peak using my iPhone 6

My friends chilling at the peak

I feel that if you just want to try out mountain climbing for a short while, then this trail is a good experience. If you are not spending much time in Jeju yet want to experience mountain climbing, this trail is also suitable as it is not time consuming.

Eorimok Trail

When we descended from Eoseungsaengak Trail, we had cup noodles for lunch at a small minimart beside the carpark. Then we went to ask the staff at the visitor centre for the correct trail up the peak. We were trying to speaking basic Korean to the staff but it wasn't working out, luckily she spoke Mandarin (not fluent but understandable) so we managed to communicate. She said the closest trail to where we were at was Eorimok. 

The staff at the visitor centre recommended us to take the eorimok trail up and Donnaeko Trail down, then take a public bus to somewhere near the carpark and then hike up to the carpark; But the frequency of the bus was extremely discouraging. Alternatively, we could hire a taxi and come up to the carpark. We decided that the both options were no-no, so we were going to hike up and down the same path and back to our car.

Okay I was ascending but I pretended to be going down for photography purposes

Mysterious aura, foggy area ft. my friend far away

There was a checkpoint kind of place where there was a bridge like platform and a fake crow. I felt that this is the place to take insta-worthy photos.

Here is me trying to be a crow whisperer

The roads changed from rocky to muddy to wooden platforms to rocky stairs.

Rocky

Wooden platform

It was estimated by the visitor's guidebook that the climb would take about 3 hours, but I remember we took close to 4 hours. Most of the people climbing were Korean and I manage to meet some families from China and Indonesia. It was easy to talk to strangers because every conversation begins like "How long more does it take to the peak?". Furthermore, the hikers I met were very friendly, even when I spoke broken Korean that I learnt from the many K-dramas, they managed to understand and answered me.

After what seems like forever, we finally reached the peak. There ware instant noodles, bottled water and chocolate bars sold at the the top. The things sold at the peak were very limited, but we were so hungry, everything tasted nice. Additionally, when we made our purchase, there was a plastic bag provided for us to bring the trash down to the bottom of the mountain to throw. I finally understood why everyone who were descending the mountain had a plastic bag on their hands!

There was also a toilet which had no water to flush or to wash your hands. So we bought bottled water. to wash our hands. I never felt that water was scarce in Korea until I climbed Hallasan.

The peak

Here comes my cheating story that I mentioned at the start of this post. As we started the ascend on the trail after lunch AND we took longer than average to reach the peak, by the time we descend, it was already 4pm and the park was supposed to close around 5pm. On top of that, my friend kept experiencing leg cramp (You know who you are, bro). It was then we decided that we will call the emergency hotline that were written on thick poles that were stationed at selected intervals of the trail. Unfortunately, the SIM cards we all bought were for unlimited data only, so we could not make any phonecalls or send any messages at all. 

At that point in time we realised we were in deep trouble. Suddenly, the park ranger appeared on this train-like transport. When we ascend, we noticed there were tracks along the road but we never knew the purpose. We were definitely saved by the park ranger. There were only 3 seats on the train and another box like structure to transport goods. Initially, the park ranger only allowed my friend who had leg cramp to board, but at the end, he allowed us to sit on the box like structure to take the train (thanks to our leg cramp friend).

Here is me on the box like structure

All in all, we took 4 hours to ascend and less than 1 hours to descend. 

Bukhansan

There are enough blogposts on how to get to Bukhansan so I will skip that part. I remembered my friends and I skipped the graduation ceremony to climb Bukhansan and turns out that we were not the only ones who did that. We met and chatted with a few NUS and NTU students from Hanyang Summer School who skipped grad ceremony too. I even met a girl from NUS who was climbing the mountain alone. She didn't know Korean but managed to navigate her way.

Below are just some photos I took on my way up and down the mountain.

Bukhansan at a distance

The roads are mostly rocky, sometimes sandy.

The road for the last 15 minutes up the peak was very steep and slightly slippery. I was so glad it was summer and not winter.

Look how steep it is ft. my friend

Cats at the peak!!! 

On our way down, we went to a shop/house that sells water, ice cream and cup noodles. Things sold there were very limited but the prices were reasonable. The owner also had some dogs and one of them even ushered us down the mountain for a good 10 minutes.

Dogs

Dog ushering us down the mountain

Tumblr worthy staircase photo

I am ending this post with my learning points:

What I have learnt climbing mountains in summer
1. Bring your own water
2. Bring your own tissue paper
3. Wear comfortable closed-toed shoes that is not slippery
4. Bring a light bag
5. Don't bring a jacket

Part 3: Hanyang International Summer School (HISS) 2017

Hello reader!

Recently I received some questions from my friends & coursemates about Hanyang International Summer School and hence I decided to come up with a part 3 to answer some more questions!

For more information on Hanyang International Summer School, read part 1 , part 2 and part 4 of my Hanyang journey.

Payment for Summer School and accommodation?

For my batch (summer 2017), the tuition fee was 1,600,000 won which was slightly over SGD$2000. We were given a bank account number by Hanyang a few days after we submitted our application to wire the money over using ibanking. One of the thing that I was upset with was that the admin fee to transfer the money had to be paid by yourself (it amounted to $45 if I remember correctly).

Remember the system was a first pay first serve and Hanyang would only hold your application for certain number of days for you to make payment. (EDIT: Once hanyang verified your payment, your status would be changed from "awaiting payment" to "admitted" on the application form webpage)

The worst thing that happened was that the payment for Hanyang accommodation (on-campus, off-campus, partner). I applied for accommodation after I paid the tuition fees, so this meant that I had to transfer the payment for accommodation and pay another $45 admin fee! At the point in time, I was thinking I should have just airbnb-ed; But I already made plans to stay at Roseville with some friends so I just paid around 600,000 won + SGD45 :-( (Roseville was the off-campus dorm which cost 600,000 won, for on-campus dorm it was 500,000 won)

However, if you still have any money left in your PSEA account, you can withdraw this money out AFTER you have completed the summer school. Google and fill in the PSEA ad-hoc withdrawal form with the required documents stated on the form, then submit it to the Office of Student Admission (OSA) at U-Town. 

You could withdraw the money in your PSEA account for the tuition fee (+ admin fee), air tickets and accommodation as long as you have the proof of payment/bank statement/email. The certificate of completion of summer school was also required.

Do we need a visa?

For Singaporeans, congrats we have one of the world's most powerful passport! We can enjoy visa free for 90 days and summer school is only 30 days, so there is no need to apply for visa.

Debit card/credit card/ATM card?

I think that it was a good idea to activate your debit/credit card for overseas use if you do not like the idea of carrying a lot of cash around. But do note that the exchange rate isn't better than the money exchange in Singapore. I remembered that I exchanged for SGD$1 for 809 won, but when I signed my debit card, the exchange rate was 798won. It might seem like a very small difference, but if you were to purchase over SGD$100, the difference could be discouraging.

How much money did I spend on food?

I spent close to SGD$500 on food in total for that 1 month at Hanyang. For lunch, my friends and I ate at the school canteen so its cheaper (3,500 won). However, out of school, food in Korea was slightly more expensive. In Singapore, I could get a meal at a hawker centre for $4 but in Korea a meal could easily be 6,000 won (that is $7.50). In addition, I was somebody who drank bubbletea once a week so I drank my weekly dose from a random Korean bubbletea shop just a stone's throw away from Hanyang. GongCha was surprisingly more expensive with a milk tea being 5,000 won (SGD$6.20) and I kept telling myself I will try the authentic GongCha when I am feeling rich BUT I NEVER DID. 

Udon and bubbletea for dinner (+free radish and free soup)

What food did I eat on weekdays?

For breakfast, I usually have milk & cereal (Oreo O's cereal) and Korean Yakult from e-mart (Korea's NTUC or Giant) at Wangsimni Station. On days where I felt rich, I would buy double cheese bread and some random bread stick from Paris Baguette. Sometimes, I bought banana milk if they were on sale and drank it with bread and butter. 

For lunch, I ate either from the canteen at Hanyang Women's University or from the convenience store (cup noodles) beside that canteen. Honestly, the quality of food from the canteen was not the best (its mostly spicy or fried) but the portion was enough to last me until dinner time.

Dinner gave me the most headache. My friends and I didn't want to spend too much money on food because we wanted to spend more on cosmetics. Hence, we tried eat cheaper meals for dinner. There was a street near Hanyang's main gate that had many food stores. When you exit the main entrance, turn left and walk straight till you reach the traffic junction, cross the road and you will be along that street. Turn right on the street and walk down, you will arrive at HANSOT (the food store that sells the cheapest meals with rice meat and vege). 

I know someone who eats Hansot very frequently (Melissa who always eats Happy Box everytime I coincidentally meet her there). I wouldn't recommend eating this every dinner because there are many other places to choose from such as Lotteria and Taco Bell at Wangsimni Station.

(EDIT 1:Taco Bell at Wangsimni closed down when I went to Korea in March 2018!)

Hansot Meal

Just beside Hansot, there was a hotdog stall that sold different kinds of hotdog (plain, mozzarella, cheddar cheese etc) & even ice-cream. When I buy rice and curry from Hansot, I would grab a hotdog to go with it. The downside of Hansot was that there were no seats at the store so there was only the takeaway option to eat it at my dorm. 

Hansot Meal and Cheddar Cheese corndog

Hansot curry rice and Mozzarella corndog 

Must try food in Seoul?

1. Ginseng Chicken

Like every online guide, one of the must try food is the famous ginseng chicken soup near gyeongbokgung. When we went, it was raining and had no queue. 

Directions: From Gyeongbokgung Subway Station take Exit 2, walk straight along the road for about 200m or so until you reach a junction, turn left and walk for another 5m, you should see the shop Tosokchon Samgyetang. 

Ginseng Chicken near gyeongbokgung palace

2. Pazza

If you like Pizza and Pasta but you don't have the stomach for both then you should totally try the Pazza (Pasta + Pizza) at Papa Valley Pizza. Honestly, I would give this a 101/100 because it tasted super good.

The address is:

434-5, Yeongdeungpo-dong 4-ga, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul 

I cannot remember exactly how I managed to find this place but it is located at Shinsaegae departmental store.

EDIT: I tried finding the same place in my Korea trips in 2018 and 2019, BUT I was still unable to find this place. 

3. Yoogane

Okay yes I knew there were many Yoogane branches in Singapore, but in Korea the price was much cheaper. Yoogane was almost everywhere in Korea!! The one I went to was at Myeongdong.

Yoogane

UPDATE 1:  Throwing Rubbish in Roseville

Throwing away trash in Korea was the biggest culture shock so far even for an ex-Kpop fan/ ex-Koreaboo like me because I had no idea there was so much recycling going on.

There are 3 main types of waste namely general waste, food waste and recyclables.

Firstly, general waste trash bags could be purchased at any convenience store (7-eleven or GS25 or CU) or supermarket (e-mart). Initially, we really did purchase general waste trash mainly for throwing away toilet paper (oh yes, we were not supposed to throw our toilet paper down the toilet bowl because it will get clogged, BUT we secretly did). After 2 weeks, we just used whatever plastic bag we have to throw our general waste. 

Secondly, food waste trash bags could also be purchased at any convenience store. We didn't purchase any food waste trash bag as we ate outside for most of our meals. But occasionally, we had expired bread lying around or unfinished apples that turned brown. I was thankful for my roommate who taught me how to settle any food waste that we had. She placed any food waste we have into the fridge to prevent any ants and on the last day when we checked out, we placed all the food waste into a plastic bag to threw it away downstairs. You might be wondering what classifies as food waste, the rule of thumb as told by my friends to me was that if an animal can eat it, it will be classified as food waste. (and no your food waste would not be fed to animals, it was just South Korea's way of measuring the amount of food waste generated). One thing to note was that egg shells was not food waste! Additionally, if you order fried chicken and have any leftover food, you were supposed to remove the chicken meat from the bones and throw the meat into food waste and bones into general waste.

Lastly, recyclables which was further classified into paper (milk carton), plastic (banana milk bottles), glass (soju bottles and plastic bottles have to be placed in separate bags), cans etc. could just be thrown into any plastic bag. 

It might seem like a chore because we usually just throw everything into general waste in Singapore. However, after staying there for 1 week or so, we gradually became used to it.

End of part 3.