九个月在亚洲

I am currently in Taipei and I'm really liking the city, never mind the problems I encountered at first. The Internet connection is a million times better here than in Shanghai, so I may upload more pictures  than I have before (as you may notice from my last post as well, written in a small South Korean village), My stomach is however not as enthusiastic about Taipei as I am.

 

In case somebody wonders why I write so detailed about transportation, I do that as I know that somebody might be searching on the Internet on how to travel the same stretch as I have already travelled: it is therefore convenient for this person if they can read it here. I have noticed myself when looking on the Internet on how to get from point A to point B that it would be very convenient if people who wrote about them making this trip would include infromation on how long it took, what it cost and how exactly did they travel.

 

Some pictures from our travels in South Korea last week.

Our train from Seoul Yongsan station to Yeosu-Expo station, leaving at 11.15, arriving at 16.16. As we were on a budget we chose this cheaper Mugunghwa (spelling) train, costing us merely 26 400 won. I was a bit unsure about where we would actually get when we went to Yeosu-Expo, as it is hard to find any map I can read online (Google Maps only display Korean names when zooming in: as I can't read Korean, they are of no help to me). The station was located right outside one of the gates to the World Expo, on the Eastern part of the peninsula that Yeosu City consists of. From the station we took a taxi to the nearby village (they charge a flat rate of 3 000 won for this), but as we found out later, at least some of the public buses are free. Bus line 2 takes you from the Expo station bus stop to the village closest to Expo (I don't know the name of it, not central Yeosu).

Yeony, me and Sunny. Yeony and Sunny are the mascots of the World Expo. After some walking we finally found ourselves accommodation right next to the fish market for 50 000 won (for the room, as we shared it, it was 16 667 won per person) per night in a Korean style bedroom where we slept on something between a mattress and a blanket on the floor. Very cosy, but no Internet.

A café with a (in my opinion) strange name, but with a kind owner. Ouliwei is, as always, enjoying a caramel macchiato. No matter how tiny a Korean café would be, they would ALWAYS have caramel macchiato on their menu.

The Swedish showroom at the World Expo! The ticket to the Expo cost 7 000 won, student price after 13.00. The ordinary price would have been 20 000 won for the same ticket (after 13.00), if I remember it correctly.

Sitting in the air.

The Big O, the centrepoint at the Expo.

Detta var någon sjöfartsutställning, roligt att Sverige fick med fiaskot Wasa som ett exempel på hur man INTE bör göra...

K-pop consert at the Expo! I don't know how to spell the singers name (apparently very famous in South Korea), but her songs were nice!

Lights, water and fire show at the Big O.

Waiting for our boat to leave for Jeju. This was one of the trickier parts of the trip to find: I found only a handful of resources on the Internet mentioning a ship from Yeosu directly to Jeju (as it would be very convenient not having to travel to Mokpo or some other harbour first to catch a boat). I think the name of the boat is Cordelia, tickets one way to Jeju cost 19 500 won and the ship departs from Yeosu International Ferry Terminal (which is where we bought our tickets, right next to Expo gate 2) 08.40 several days a week (but not all). The trip is supposed to take 5,5 hours, but we were rather delayed due to a reason I couldn't hear when they announced it, our delay was almost 2 hours.

Wandering around Geumneung, the village where we stayed. The accommodation we found on the Internet was ridiculously cheap, so we booked it instantly when we found it. The name of the hostel is H3 Hostel, located in the tiny village of Geumneung, right to the south of Hyopjae, where the famous Hyopjae Beach is located. Our hostel was within walking distance from the beach, making it a very price-worthy option for accommodation. The bus from Jeju City Intercity Bus Terminal to Geumneung cost 2 500 won, although several times when travelling this stretch we were charged a different amount.

Geumneung Beach, the less-known, but equally as beautiful beach as Hyopjae. Being less touristy, there are however much less services nearby. The sand is not shown on this picture, it is located below and behind the wall running behind the statue. The island in the background constantly reminded me of an elephant resting spread-eagled.

Found this delicious green tea milkshake at the café next to Hyopjae Beach! Ouliwei is having her millionth caramel macchiato.

This day we set off to climb the volcano Hallasan, that the entire island of Jeju actually consists of. We were however a bit late, the trail leading to Hallasan's crater was already closed (you really need to be VERY early to get there), so we got the choice to climb up to Saraoreum crater instead. As we had been physically rather inactive for so long, we decided to walk the 5 (?) km to Saraoreum instead. On the way we saw this deer next to the trail, eating and not caring about us walking next to it.

Resting in the crater. After Taishan climbing to Saraoreum was a piece of cake.

The crater.

At the edge of Saraoreum summit. Photo frenzy! The cloudy weather however makes all pictures of the impressive view very dull: seeing the greatness on picture is not possible.

Jeju Love Land! I don't know how many pictures and what pictures I am allowed to display here, as my blog is non-sexual, but here are a few. Love Land is one of Jeju's most famous sights, displaying several pieces of art of sexual nature. The art has been made by students from Hongik University in Seoul, a funny coincidence, as while staying in Seoul we actually lived in the same area as Hongik (our metro station was Hongik University as well). The entrance ticket to Love Land was on the expensive side, but as the mountain the day before was free, we could spare the 9 000 won it cost to get in here.

A direction sign.

Getting nice jumping pictures can be hard, this must be the fourth time i jumped and Rebei tried to take a picture of it.

As you might notice from the pictures from Love Land, the weather was sunny, which on Jeju means the same thing as HOT. We sat too long on the bus from Love Land back to Jeju City, meaning that we lost quite some time getting back, so when we finally were back in Geumneung/Hyopjae, it was evening and the perfect moment to take a dip.

My last day on Jeju was spent on the beach, reading Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen and swimming.

My plane waiting to take me to Taipei. Jin Air flies from Jeju to Taipei a few times every week, Sunday is at least one of the days they fly. My ticket cost about 2 200 kr, I don't remember it exactly and with my Internet bank remade slower, I don't want to check it either. At the check-in desk they were looking a bit wondering about my passport, as it lacked a visa to the Republic of China (Taiwan), but I assured them Swedes can travel to the Republic of China for 90 days without a visa. The plane left at 19.40: flight time was supposed to be 2 hours and 10 minutes, but I think we actually flew for only about 1 hour and 15 minutes before we began landing. We were then circulating around Taoyuan airport for a long time, before we finally landed.

I did not expect a meal on such a short flight as this: a pleasant surprise indeed!

I won't have to starve as our favourite Western restaurant in Shanghai is present here as well! The trip from Taoyuan airport to Taipei station took about 40 minutes by Kuo-kuang airport bus. The metro line to the airport is not supposed to open until next year, so I had to take the bus. The bus system was a bit confusing with lots of different operators operating different routes, but Kuo-kuang takes you to a few different locations in central Taipei. As I arrived rather late in the evening, there were not that many operators left, but Kuo-kuang had services until midnight, if I remember it correctly. The trip to Taipei station cost 125 yuan, from where I took the metro to Ximen for 20 yuan. Just to clarify: all prices I name yuan on Taiwan are in Republic of China yuan (also known as Taiwan dollars), NOT the People's Republic of China (mainland China) yuan.

 

Finally a map showing how far I got during the week.

 

勿行！