Beautiful JEJU

안녕하세요!!!

Hello guys, welcome back! So last week I went to Jeju and in this post I will tell you about interesting places that you guys should go in Jeju. 

By the way is all started as a joke with my friend on going to Jeju during our summer break because we are not planning to go back to our home country. Since we already finish our language school we need to move to our graduate university, so we need to use a lot of money for that and in NIIED policy if a student went back home during the language program duration; they will deduct 30,000 Won/days. Because I already went back during the winter break, so I decided to stay and save up some money.

First thing you need to do is buy a return flight ticket, in case you wanted to stay there just buy the one way ticket (joking). There is a lot of local airlines that go to Jeju. If you try to find a cheapest one make sure that you purchase it earlier than the actual date. Just plan ahead your vacation. There is many application online that you use to compare the airlines ticket fare and just choose the one that suite your budget or you can directly use the airline website itself. The most low cost airlines in Korea is Jeju Air, they always have a special price. 

The price in Jeju Air website if purchase it earlier it will be so cheap, from Busan (PUS) to Jeju (CJU) is only 11,900 Won same goes for the ticket from Jeju to Busan. So return ticket will just cost you around 23,000 Won for return ticket. This might not only apply at Jeju Air but also other local Airlines as well like Jin Air. If you wanted to look for another option, you can always use the skyscanner or other website or apps that compare the flight ticket.

After purchasing your flight ticket, the second thing that you should do is to do some research about the place that you will go, as for my case is Jeju. Since I already been there so is a bit easier for me to plan for this trip. All you need to do is make a list on which places you wanted to go, from there you will know which area will you booked to stay. 

This is convenient since it will helps you to save up your precious time and money. I always use Booking.com to booked all my trip. I found it convenient and cheap, because you can filter the search and booking without credit card and prepayment is possible.

Example :The price to stay at Seoul for 4 days and 3 night is only 34,000 Won

Next thing is transportation, if you have international driving license it will help you a lot at Jeju since you need to travel by bus if you do not have one. Travelling by bus is cheap but it will cost your time. Since Jeju is a big island the distance between each attraction is far from one to another. Sometimes it will take 2 hour of bus ride to go to next destination. Luckily we are in a group of 4 people, so there is a time we just took a taxi. The taxi meter in Jeju will start at 2800 Won.

If you are a foreigner that come to South Korea for vacation I recommend you to download Naver Maps apps and Google Maps apps. This apps will guide you to travel here, since I use it too. They will show which bus, the duration and sometimes even the transportation fees.

Naver Maps Apps that show the duration, fees and estimated time.

Do not forget to purchase your T-Money or Cash Bee it work just like Malaysian Touch and Go card. You can purchase the card at convenient store like 7Eleven, CU and GS25. The price for the card is 4000 Won and you need to recharge it if you wanted to use it. There is variety design you can choose. 

So Jeju is splited to 2 city which is Jeju city and Seogwipo City, I choose to stay at Seogwipo since the location is near to the places that I wanted to visit and the guesthouse that I stay is a walking distance from Cheonjiyeon Waterfall and Saeseom Island Saeyeongyo Bridge. 

   

Let me just summarized my trip in Jeju, it will be a long post if I need to explain everything in details. I think I will make another post about Jeju.

Day 1

Jeonbang Waterfalls -entrance fee 2000 Won

Jusangjeolli Cliffs -entrance fee 2000 Won

Saeseom Island Saeyeongyo Bridge

Its free and you can walk around the island.

 Day 2

Udo Island

Return Ferry ticket-8000 Won

Bicycle rent- 10000 Won for 5hour

 

Seongsan Ilchulbong-entrance fee 2000 Won

 Day 3

soesokkak estuary

we went here for the transparent kayak but sadly  it is closed.

Manjanggul lava cave-entrance fee 2000 Won

It was so cold in the cave, I cant imagine how the 13 Thailand football team survive with that coldness. They are true hero!

 Day 4

Jeju city

Cheju Folklore & National History Museum- entrance fee 1500 Won

Samseonghyeol- entrance fee 2000 Won

Learn about the history of Jeju, they said there were 3 demigod been send to Jeju and they were coming out from the 3 holes that you can see in the picture below.

Tangerine Museum- entrance fee 2000 Won

Cheonjiyeon Waterfalls- entrance fee 2000 Won

That all from my Jeju Trip, I will updates more about Jeju and tips for travelling to South Korea. Till we meet again my dear reader! Have an amazing day and don't forget to book your flight ticket to South Korea.

Sincerely,

Nabeela Ami Mohd Yusof

Ramadhan and Eid Mubarak in Korea

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Hello and welcome back to all my readers! I hope you guys are doing well. This blog post will be about my experience on celebrating Ramadhan and Eid Mubarak here in Korea. If you guys not quite sure what is Ramadhan and Eid Mubarak means, do not worry I will explain everything here.

Ramadhan

Ramadhan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and during this month all Muslims worldwide will fasting for a month. The fasting will takes time from dawn until sunset. Muslims refrain from consuming food, drinking liquids, smoking, and engaging in sexual relations. Muslims are also instructed to refrain from sinful behavior that may negate the reward of fastings, such as false speech (insulting, cursing, lying, etc.) and fighting except in self-defense.

Eid Mubarak

After completing the month of Ramadhan, we will celebrate our success by having festivals. Eid means "celebration" and Mubarak means "blessed". We will feel blessed if we can manage to fast for a month without any problem. The feel to be able to celebrate Ramadhan and Eid Mubarak are hard to for us to explain. 

As we all know South Korea is a country with a really small Muslim population and based on my experience is really hard for us (Muslim) to explain this since there are not many people have information about this month. Luckily our DSU and KGSP student is aware of this and they are so tolerated with us. Ramadhan in Korea takes about 17 hour per day. It is a bit tough for us since summer in Korea is soo hot but we manage to do it. For Iftar (breaking fast) we usually gather around and eat together. We share the food that we cook, so we can taste different kind of food from various country. 

Eid Mubarak were held on Friday which we have classes on that day, luckily NIIED give all the Muslim KGSP student permission to go for Eid prayer. We go to the Busan Mosque that located at Dusil stations.

After the Eid prayer we rushed to DSU back since we dont want to miss anything.

So for Eid Mubarak Shera (Malaysia) and Fazreena (Brunei), my KGSP friend from BUFS invited us to celebrate it at their apartment, since in Malaysia we always visit other people house during this festival to celebrate it together. I decided to cook Malaysian traditional food and bring it to their house.

Sate (Chicken Skewers), Sambal Kacang (Spicy nuts gravy), Ayam masak merah (Chicken with tomato-chili gravy), Beef Rendang and Lontong (vegetable cook in coconut broth).

 

Its was soo much fun since we gather together and get to know new KGSP friends from BUFS. Shera and Fazreena decorated their house and they even prepare us with snack from Brunei (Keropok Ikan). We ate a lot on that day since its Eid.

Since my family share to me; our uncompleted family photo, I decided to photoshop it and put my picture in the group photo.

  

 

That all for now, I hope it is not to late for me to ask for forgiveness from you guys because of not updating my blog regularly. 

Sincerely,

Nabeela Ami Mohd Yusof

Culture Experience - 문화 체험

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Hello, future KGSP candidates!!!

I'm so sorry for not updating my blog for so long because I'm too busy with my TOPIK examination. Since the semester break has started so I will try my best to update my blog with more information and tips. So for this blog post, I will explain to you guys about culture activity that all KGSP student need to join as a part of language school rules. If you are wondering why language school is in a different region with your university; it is because NIIED wanted all the student to experience a different culture in the different region themselves. As far as I know, if your actual university located in Seoul, so your language university will be far from Seoul as example Busan or Daegu (like my case). This is a good way for the student to experience the culture naturally. 

Dongseo University provided KGSP student with a lot of interesting culture activity. Sometimes we do the activity with all the KGSP student and sometimes with our own class. 

Culture Experience - 문화 체험 for the 1st semester.

 

              

This is our first 문화 체험, we stay at a culture center for 2 days 1 night. There is a lot of activity that we do such as wearing hanbok, Korean traditional games, Korean paper art, learn how to play Korean traditional music instrument and many more.

          

Before return to DSU, we visited a famous temple in Busan Haedong Yonggungsa (해동 용궁사) that located next to the sea. The scenery was so amazing, if you come to Busan do visit this temple.

 

You are not in Busan if you didn't visit Busan Gamcheon Culture Village the most famous place to visit here in Busan. The colorful village, the amazing mural, and the breathtaking view. So for the second activity, DSU decided to bring us to this mural village and maritime museum.

                

For the next 문화 체험 our class decided to eat Pizza and go for karaoke since South Korea is popular with karaoke or Noreabang. Since we already know how to read hangeul, so this activity is about to challenge our inner K-pop spirit by singing using the hangeul lyrics. Actually, our teacher asked us to practice before coming here.

 

and for the last 문화 체험 for the first semester, our class decided to eat at an Indonesian Restaurant and again karaoke. We went there right after our graduation ceremony for the first semester.

   

Culture Experience - 문화 체험 for the 2nd semester.

We started our 2nd-semester culture experience by joining a 1-day Taekwondo class. This is the most interesting activity since we learn a basic move to protect ourselves and the instructor is really funny and fun.  

                  

It is Spring guys!!!! What a spring without a flower. We visited Daejeo Ecological Park to see the beautiful scenery of Canola flower field.

A day trip to Gyeongju. Gyeongju is a capital of Silla Dynasty, we went to Bulguksa, Seokguram, Cheomseongdae and Daereungwon Royal Tomb. It was so hot and for the Muslim student we are in our fasting month (Ramadhan) is a quite challenging trip for us.

      

Bibimbap class!!!! learning how to cook bibimbap, and because of Ramadhan I have to packed my Bibimbap for iftar.

Our last culture activity for the second semester is to watch Baseball match. This is my first time watching a live match Baseball and I was amazed by South Korean people cheering spirit. They have different song for each player and they memorized every single cheering song!!!

       

That all for the cultural experience that DSU has planned for KGSP student. This one-year language is a really good platform for all KGSP student since we learn so much, not just language but the culture itself; the more I learn about South Korea Culture the more I fell in love with it. Thanks to Allah for giving me this opportunity. 

Dear future KGSP candidates I hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I do.

Sincerely,

Nabeela Ami Mohd Yusof