Seoul Busan New Year's Eve, Skiing, Eating and Shopping 8-Day Travel Notes

At the beginning of 2023, I made an appointment with a few friends to go to Seoul for New Year's Eve at the end of the year. After watching Korean dramas for so many years, this is really my first time to go to Seoul! Because of the experience of going to Jeju Island last time, we are quite confident in speaking Korean, and simple oral communication is not a problem.

This time, because there is an 8-day itinerary including the New Year's Day holiday, we went to Busan for two days and arranged a day of skiing. Therefore, except for the first day when we arrived in the afternoon, the actual time to play in Seoul is 4 days. Personally, I feel that Busan is more casual. Seoul and Busan are very similar to Taipei and Kaohsiung. Next time I go, I should fly directly to Busan for two days and then go to Seoul, because Seoul is mainly shopping, and Busan can see the sea, soak in hot springs, and eat seafood.

Itinerary booked in advance before departure:

Skiing

Before departure, I booked a one-day skiing group in Zhishan online for 319/person. Except for lunch, everything else is all-inclusive, including bus pick-up from Xincun subway station. It feels quite cost-effective and suitable for beginners to try. Koreans drive there as a family, and even very young children can ski very well! Ski enthusiasts usually stay at a ski resort for a few days, and ski every day except for eating. Skiing in Korea feels more professional, the snow trails are very long and high, and people generally ski very well. There are many handsome Korean girls playing snowboards, which is really enviable! ! ! We fell and rolled all day, and basically learned how to slide down the slope slowly, brake and turn. I can only turn on one side, not the other.

M countdown show live

Before leaving, I booked the Mnet TV station M countdown show live recording on Hanchao. I thought it was like watching a small concert. This show is only recorded once every Thursday. We originally booked it on Thursday, January 1, but the individual guests were notified to cancel before leaving. Later, I watched this show and it turned out to be EXO's special show case. I guess the tickets were all given to the official fan club~~ A bit regretful

NANTA

Before departure, I booked tickets for the Myeongdong NANTA show on Hanyou.com. The S seat was 40% off for only 164 yuan, which was quite cost-effective. The show was wonderful. It lasted for an hour and a half and made me laugh several times. The actors' dancing and performance skills were great! The choreography was compact and worth seeing!

KTX

For round-Trip transportation from Seoul to Busan, I bought high-speed rail tickets on the KTX official website in advance. It was very convenient. There are Chinese, English and Japanese interfaces. Visa cards can be used for payment. After registering with your passport account, you can print the order directly after purchase. You can also buy group tickets for more than 2 people, which seems to be 80% to 90% off. The above is the part booked in advance before departure.

When you arrive at the airport, you can buy a T money transportation card, which can be used directly for subways, buses and taxis. We mostly take the subway, which has clear signs. As long as you know the direction of the subway when entering the station, the subway station announcements are in four languages, including Chinese, which is very convenient. There are direct elevators at each station. If you are carrying luggage, you can find the direct elevator by looking for the wheelchair sign when you exit the station. Each station clearly marks the direct elevator (wheelchair sign 100M) 100M ahead, or (wheelchair sign 50M) 50M ahead. You can find the direct elevator by following the signs. I saw a guide saying that there is no elevator in the Seoul subway, and it is very entangled to carry luggage up the stairs, but we did not encounter this situation.
It is also very convenient to take a taxi. Just give the driver the address in Korean. Each taxi has a navigation system, and the driver can take you to the destination according to the navigation even if he does not know the way. The taxi price feels similar to that of Shanghai. There will also be traffic jams during rush hours, so I personally prefer to take the subway.

Hongdae

Elements: Coffee Smith, the cafe opened by the man with legs in "It's Okay, That's Love", the "Snow Ice" strawberry ice cream with a very sick product placement in "Pinocchio", Hongik Park that appeared in "A Gentleman's Dignity", the grilled seafood and shellfish buffet that appeared in "Let's Eat/Please Eat", and 401 BBQ opened by HAHA

There are many places to eat and shop around Hongdae, and they are open until very late. My friend said that this is a place with only nightlife. At night, the streets are full of young people, shopping and eating. There are many people on the streets late at night, but before 12 noon during the day, there are only a few young people with hangovers on the streets. When we went to the Coffee Smith where "It's Okay, That's Love" was filmed at 11 a.m. to eat branch, even the cafe was empty, so if you want to go to the surrounding nightclubs or live houses, it's better to live nearby.



Coffee Smith, the coffee shop where the drama "It's Okay, That's Love" was filmed, is the coffee shop opened by the actor in the drama, and Kwang Soo works here

We live on the street where the 1st Coffee Prince is located. There are many small shops and cafes on the street. I like the atmosphere of Hongdae. There are many street performers near the school at night. It is said that there are also trainees who come here to practice their courage. Some of them have good singing skills and feel that they can debut directly. There are also wild small groups with average dancing skills but gorgeous formation changes. It is quite interesting to go shopping. If you want to buy things in small shops, you should visit several shops. Some small shops have good quality, but most of them are similar clothes. You can buy small accessories.


We live on the street where the first Coffee Prince store is located

If you want to visit too cool for school, the best place to visit is the one in Hongik Park. There are no Tourists and no one at noon. Several shopping guides are from Northeast China. When we were shopping, each of us was followed by a shopping guide, carrying a small basket, giving you a detailed introduction to each item, and giving you generous samples. On the last day when I went to Myeongdong to restock, there was only an impatient auntie in the store, and she didn't give any samples. After shopping in this store, you can go upstairs to eat snow ice. Because of the popularity of Pinocchio, the strawberry shaved ice at Snow Ice is very popular! Because it is the strawberry season, it is indeed very delicious. The white shaved ice below is milky and mixed with coconut flakes. It's just that one portion is a lot, enough for 2~3 people in the winter.


Strawberry Ice Cream in Pinocchio

The main consumer group near Hongdae is students, so the food is generally not expensive and the portions are large. I went to eat at HAHA's BBQ 401. I was cold because I was waiting for a seat in the Korean wind at minus ten degrees. I caught a stomach flu and had vomiting and diarrhea the next day, but my friends were fine, so it was not the ingredients. However, I personally feel that the taste of 401 is so-so. Its main feature is that the pork is from Jeju Island, but it doesn't taste as good as the one I ate in Jeju Island. Most of the people who went there were Chinese and Taiwanese tourists, so it was mainly RM fans. I personally prefer the seafood shell barbecue.

Gangnam

After playing around Hongdae for two days, which is full of Diors style, I stayed in Gangnam on the third day, near Apoujeong-dong Station. It is easy to go from frugality to luxury. It is indeed a high-end rich area. Starting from Apoujeong-dong subway station, there are more and more aunties wearing mink fur. After leaving the subway station, the streets are full of plastic surgery hospitals. There are four Mercedes-Benz, two BMWs and one Audi in a row of cars waiting for the traffic lights. It feels like there are rich people everywhere! Sinsadong Boulevard should be the filming location for many Korean drama street scenes. There are also JYP and other companies nearby, which are all within walking distance. However, because the temperature was too low that day, I caught a cold the day before and was afraid of feeling unwell. I was afraid that I would freeze to death if I went out again, so I stayed at my residence all day watching TV. My friends braved the cold and went to the design store opened by Yoo Ah-in nearby. A true fan bought a T-shirt designed by Ah-in and was very satisfied~

The next day, I went to Busan

Busan is a port city, which feels more casual, very similar to Kaohsiung. It takes 2 hours and 40 minutes to take the KTX from Seoul Station to Busan Station. We stayed in a youth hostel above the Jagalchi Seafood Market. It is very close to Busan Station and it is very convenient to take a taxi. The lively taxi driver who took a taxi to our residence was really funny. He saw that we were foreigners and didn't talk at first. Later, the radio in his car was playing Kyuhyun's "At Gwanghwamun". I said that we liked this song very much. He found that we could understand Korean and immediately opened up the conversation! We kept chatting all the way, asking where we were from, and then kept praising Shanghai, saying that Shanghai is close to Busan, so Busan people like Shanghai, and don’t like Beijing because the air is too bad, etc. He asked us which Korean star we like, whether it was Kim Soo Hyun. I said that the friend next to me was a fan of Kim, and the uncle pointed to the sky and said that Kim came from there. If you want to find him, just shout "Oppa" to the sky and he will come, etc. Anyway, he was funny all the way. Although this youth hostel is just a very simple bed, it has a large balcony with an unbeatable sea view and a fat and sticky cat, so I like it very much. The girl at the front desk is a cheerful Taiwanese MM, very enthusiastic and good at chatting~~~ Crossing the road here is the BIFF Square Night Market, there are many snack stalls and fortune-telling stalls, and the roadside stalls are all delicious and you can try more. In the evening, my friends went to Haeundae, where you can play fireworks at the beach, which is great!


Fireworks at Haeundae

I only had 2 days so I didn't go to more places, but there are places in Busan where you can soak in hot springs, eat a lot of fresh seafood, watch the sea, etc. This time, because "That Winter, the Wind Blows" was really cold, I mainly stayed in the hostel to watch the sea, be in a daze, play with cats, and chat with a Taiwanese girl and a Japanese old man who lives in the hostel (I'm recommending Kenshin to this Japanese old man again, I'm such a fan!)


Fat cat at Busan Youth Hostel

We took the KTX back to Seoul and took a taxi directly from Seoul Station to Samcheong-dong. We stayed in Bukchon Hanok that night.

Samcheong-dong is full of beautiful and exquisite shops. The independently designed necklaces, rings and earrings are exquisite and cheap. We just can't stop buying them. The cake shops and coffee shops are also exquisite and unique. We ate and walked around until very late. In fact, our residence is just across the street from Gyeongbokgung Palace, but we didn't have time to go there. . . . We went to eat the soy sauce crab that was filmed in "Dine with Me" that day. It was delicious but expensive. However, the landlord of the GH in Namsan said that he preferred the soy sauce crab in Sinsa-dong.


The exquisite beauty of Samcheongdong

The landlord of the Korean house we stayed in came to greet us in the evening, brought us oranges to eat, and asked me what the weather was like in Shanghai. I said it was relatively warm, but Seoul was very cold. The landlord immediately took out the remote control and turned up the floor heating to a very high temperature. As a result, we slept very hot all night~

The next day's itinerary was mainly skiing

The Jisan skiing one-day tour booked in advance on the Korean Travel website was RMB 319 per person, and everything was included except lunch. The lunch set meal bought by oneself at the resort was about 8,000~12,000 won, about RMB 45~70 per person. If you want to rent ski goggles or helmets, the rental fee is nearly RMB 60, which you have to pay for yourself. If you don't have ski gloves, you also need to buy them yourself, otherwise ordinary woolen gloves will get wet quickly in the snow and will be very cold. The author bought professional ski gloves at Decathlon in Shanghai for 59 a pair. Personally, I think you still need to rent a pair of ski goggles if the sun is strong, but there are also many people who ski without wearing them. It depends on the weather~

Don't wear too much when skiing. You must wear warm clothes that can dry quickly after sweating. The fleece clothes I wore inside were all soaked with sweat after skiing for an hour! I only wore a ski suit outside, and then a pair of jeans and a borrowed ski pants outside. It was enough. It would be very hot when I moved.

The cost for one day is about RMB 450/person. In the morning, we stored our luggage at the accommodation and rushed to the Xincun subway station at 7:30. The team leaders were two young men from Northeast China. After the roll call, we took a bus to Zhishan Ski Resort, which took about an hour. Then the team leaders told us about the itinerary for the day, where to eat, and how to buy meal coupons. Then they arranged for everyone to store their luggage and borrow ski clothes and ski equipment. After getting dressed, I felt paralyzed. At about 10 o'clock, the team leaders took us to the novice toddler teaching field. The beginners in this field were all children, and we were the only adults. I was ashamed~

In the morning, the team leaders taught us how to walk on skis, how to brake, how to turn, how to get up after falling, and other basic skills. In a blink of an eye, it was noon. We were hungry quickly due to the intense activity. After lunch, we rested for an hour in the restaurant. In the afternoon, we had free time. At about 14 o'clock, everyone went to the primary ski slope by themselves. Before 16 o'clock in the afternoon, several people were exhausted! So we changed clothes, took some photos, wandered around, and gathered at the restaurant the tour guide told us to meet at 17:00. We took the bus back to Sinchon subway station at 17:30.

We were exhausted after skiing that day. When we arrived at GH in the evening, everyone was paralyzed and didn't want to move. We rested until 9:00 pm. Because we stayed in Namsan that day, we decided to go to Namsan Tower at night. The cable car station is a 2-minute walk from GH. This is the only tourist attraction in LZ's trip. The advantage of going to Namsan Tower at 10 pm is that there are not many tourists, so there is no need to queue up. A friend who came to Seoul for the fourth time said that she had to queue up for a long time every time she came to the cable car. Namsan Tower closes at 23:00.
In the evening, I asked the landlord to help me order fried chicken and jajangmyeon takeaway. I really didn't have the energy to go out~

Korean fried chicken is worth eating once. It is completely different from KFC in China. I highly recommend a chain store called Boor. The sign is an owl. Its seasoned fried chicken (soy sauce + garlic) is simply delicious! 8,000 won per serving, the best fried chicken I ate in Seoul in a few days. It is better and cheaper than other celebrity-endorsed brands such as Gyochon, TwoTwo, and Nene! Gyochon fried chicken costs 15,000 won per serving. The guy who delivers fried chicken has really good skin!

I stayed in Myeongdong for the last two days and went shopping in Myeongdong. The streets of Myeongdong are full of Chinese characters. Every door is filled with Chinese characters to attract customers. It is completely a smaller version of Nanjing East Road. Every store is crowded with Chinese tourists shopping. The shopping guides are simply too busy. Many things don’t seem to be cheap. I don’t like it very much. I didn’t go to any duty-free shops in Seoul. I bought the things I wanted to buy on Lotte’s official website in advance and just went to the airport to pick them up. I didn’t have to worry about squeezing with a bunch of Chinese tourists at the duty-free shops.

On the last night, I took the subway to Emart Supermarket in Yongsan to buy snacks. I really like to visit places where all the locals are, and I hate places where tourists gather!