Catatan Perjalanan

After tried to Seoul with plane and express bus, now its time for me to try another way to reach Seoul from Geoje : by train. But, since we live in an island without railway system, we need to have a bus/car ride to the nearest train station. My dear husband said I was crazy to try public transport during Seollal, where most Korean will be travelling to their parent's home. But, since it was long weekend and he's not working, I can do the trial on my own without risking the children getting annoyed (yes.. 3 tots under dad's supervision for whole weekend.. haha). First leg of the the journey was taking a bus ride from Jangseungpo Bus Terminal.  Based on  this  , I decided to take bus for Shinpyeong train station because it is the same line to Busan Station, where KTX departs. It cost 6,400KRW for one way.  Jangseungpo Bus Terminal I'd recommend to take bus from bus terminal rather than bus stop (not only fr...

South Korea transportation system is really advanced. Railway system is reliable. They have KTX, equal to Thalys in Europe or Shinkasen in Japan. Also 2 other type of train : mugunghwa and sameul (the cheapest and slowest). Korea's major cities have metro / subway system too. (In a glance, the subway map for Seoul similar to the one in London.) Then buses. Some buses I notice are express buses (the one that has its own lane on express ways), intercity buses, city buses and tourist buses include intercity free shuttle for foreigner. Cost? KTX is the most expensive, but there's a way to solve this problem. Korea Rail Company (Korail) offer KR Pass designated for tourists or new residents at the most bargain cost. For locals there is Happy Pass, similar to KR Pass but at higher cost. For these passes, they also give discount for a group of 2-5 persons travelling together. Then there's T-money, a great way to pay and useful not only in Seoul. We can use T-money to pay subwa...

Bangkok stunned some visitors not only because of their treasures but can also simply because of the taxi colors. Some of my guests with various favorite color had fun picking taxi according to their preference. Blue, pink, yellow, green, purple, red.. and sometimes with color combination too. Picking taxi here actually not an easy thing to do since some taxi won't take you to your destination with some reason - sometimes only God and the driver knows why. The scene you watch at some hollywood movies also not applicable here. First, you don't shout to taxi. After you hail, you can't just jumped in, close the door, ask the driver to move then tell him your destination. Common scene over here is you hail a taxi, ask the driver from outside about your destination, few seconds he thinks and if he said yes, then you get in. Many drivers can't speak English or can but with a 'unique' pronunciation. This kind of pronunciation not exclusively for taxi drivers but for ...