Escape Plan to South Korea October 2011

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to South Korea 2011:

Total duration 13D12N
South Korea is 1hrs ahead of Singapore.
Flight time is 11hrs 50mins on Cathay Pacific with a transit at Hong Kong before arrival at Incheon Airport.

Morning flight is on Cathay Pacific on 26th October at 1:15am and arrival in Hong Kong at 5:10am and depart Hong Kong at 9:30am and arrive at Seoul at 2:05pm.
Return flight is on Cathay Pacific on the 7th November at 10:15am and arrival in Hong Kong at 1:15pm and transfer to 4pm flight and arrival at 7:45pm in Singapore on the 7th November.

Day 1 – Arrival in Seoul, Jogyesa Temple and Jonggak shopping.
Day 2 – Palace hopping, Seodaemun Prison and Shopping
Day 3 – Mt. Sorak and Sinheungsa Temple
Day 4 – Seoraksan cable car, Gwongeumseong Fortress and bus to Daegu
Day 5 – Day trip to historical town of Gyeongju
Day 6 – Beomeosa Temple, Geumjeong Fortress, Seokbul-sa Temple and Jagalchi Market
Day 7 – Yonggungsa Temple, Gwangandaegyo Bridge and Busan shopping
Day 8 – From Busan to Jeju and Mysterious Road, Miniature Land and rocks
Day 9 – Seongsan Ilchulbong, Manjanggul Lava Cave, Sangumburi Crater, Jeju Folk Museum and Haenyeo Woman Divers
Day 10 – Daepo Jusangjeolli Cliff, Teddy Bear Museum, Sanbangsan and flight from Jeju to Seoul
Day 11 – DMZ tour – world’s most heavily fortified border
Day 12 – Shopping again at Seoul
Day 13 – Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was planned to cover 2 days of public holiday consecutively to minimise the number of leave days required, so that 7 days leave yielded 13 days of holidaying.

Budget nature: Affordable outside city.

Other than the big cities where prices were expected to be higher, moving around the other areas of this big country can be pretty affordable. Take public transportation and stay at non-luxurious accommodation to bring costs down.

Complexity: Not so straightforward.

Cities and tourist places were very well connected with public transport. However, language became a barrier for communication especially outside Seoul. The hand language worked though, and the translation on Lonely Planet guide book made it easier.

Driving in Jeju helped to us to get from places to places effectively in the huge island and since traffic was light, it was not difficult to drive.