Fall 2024: A Quick Summary

 It has been about a week since we came back from our family trip to South Korea.

And it has also been 8 LONG YEARS since I posted anything here. Lots have happened since. No more solo trips. Got married. Had kids. But I digress.

As always, I'll try to keep this blog (does anyone still use blogger these days??) going and hope it will achieve what it was set out to achieve.

Back to the trip. In summary, this holiday was something we intended to have for various reasons:

a) we wanted to avoid the snow and harsh cold weather (last 3 holidays were snowy ones)
b) Sarah (our eldest) is starting Primary School next year. So this is technically the last chance to go on a holiday in October, early November
c) which also means we get to avoid the many other Singaporeans who are stuck with the "Mid-November -  December" window
d) wife wanted to see autumn leaves

I'm travelling as a family with very young kids now. However I still opt for Free & Easy style of travelling as opposed to following curated group tours. We booked flights exactly 1 month before departure, so coming up with an itinerary was a scramble. Just like any other parents, the kids were always at the top of the priority. The itinerary was built around their needs. As we need to feed the kids properly and all of us need Halal food, many decisions were made around where Halal food outlets were.

We stayed for a total of 8 nights - 3 in Busan, 5 in Seoul.

Narrow alleys and steep staircases at Gamcheon Cultural Village

In Busan, you could say we only managed one proper attraction - Gamcheon Cultural Village. Outside of that, we were mostly at the beach or hunting for food (which turned out to be an attraction itself!) Our Airbnb unit had an unblocked view of the wonderfully-lit Gwangan Bridge at night, but it would also mean that we weren't near any subway station. We either cabbed or walk.

View from the room

In Seoul - since it wasn't my first time - we decided to skip some of the typical attractions like Namsan Tower and the Palaces. We went for Halal food hunting (again) as well as kids-friendly and nature-based activities. We brought them to Lotte World Theme Park, we cycled a family bike at Olympic Park, we visited Haneul Park, checked out the new Seoul Sky, visited the Seoul Central Mosque, and we joined in the crazy crowd in Myeongdong Night Market. We wanted to bring them to the Gangchon Railbike Park, but on that day, most of us were already tired and our youngest was still struggling with mild fever.

The Silver Pampass Grass in Haneul Park

Unlike in Busan where we cabbed everywhere, in Seoul, we only took the subway. Transferring from Line to Line, the kids soldiered on with us - albeit some complains at times. It was not a walk in the park, but totally doable.

Commuting from Seoul to Busan and back to Seoul, we took the KTX - Korea's High Speed Train, or Bullet Train. This gave the kids the experience of travelling on a bullet train (although personally for me, Japan's Shinkansen still give the more classy feel)

I have many ideas in my head on what to post from this trip, but let me organise my thoughts and hope I could present them in the best way posible. Till then, let me leave you with one of my favourite photo from the trip! Its a quiet Seoul alley at night with the typical metal shutters.