This country never fails to amaze me with the raw, untouched beauty in the countryside.
During Autumn last year, I flew over to Seoul to meet my travel buddy, Gladys. She was staying in South Korea for a month, and it was great timing for us to meet.
Daejeon
We took the KTX from Seoul Station to Daejeon. I absolutely love how well-connected the country is via trains and buses. The journey from the capital to this transportation hub only took less than an hour. Plus, the seats were large and comfy.
I’ve been to Daejeon before in 2017 on a backpacking trip (which you can read all about it here). I chose Daejeon as our first stop as it has the best connections to all parts of the country. As we intended to rent a car for the rest of our journey, it totally made sense to embark our road trip from here. At the time of booking, there was a 10% discount from Hertz/Lotte Rent-a-Car as well. Nice!
If you’re planning to rent a car from Daejeon, or anywhere in the world, it is a must to apply for an international drivers’ license. It only costs $20 for a year. If you’re a Singaporean, do apply for it here.
Hanbat Arboretum
Once we got out car, our first stop was to Hanbat Arboretum. Immediately, we were stunned by the autumn foliage!
I gotta let you know: none of these photos were edited! We took so many photos, and most of them turned out gorgeous. I recently bought a Sony A7 III, and Gladys has a Sony A6000. Psst, most of the photos came from the A7 III.
Daecheong Dam
We then headed to Daecheong Dam.
The sun was setting. Perfect time to have a photography session! Note that Autumn was not yet in full swing, so much of the trees were still green along the dam.
For the first night of our road trip, we decided to rest in Daejeon. I wanted to splurge a little bit – we stayed in Daejeon Lotte City Hotel. It was a clean hotel and had the amenities we needed to recover from sightseeing.
The room we stayed in faced the river. I highly recommend the river-facing room because…
You’ll see this view at night from your room!
We also went to a famous bakery Sungsimdang Bakery 성심당 빵, which is just across the street from the hotel. There were lots of varieties of savoury and sweet breads. We bought quite a lot meant for our next few meals on the road!
Flower Fields in Daejeon
Had a good night’s sleep and woke up refreshed the next day. Gladys’ friend recommended this flower field, which turned out to be right across the road as well. Since we had to check-out anyway, we drove to the flower field before heading to our next destination.
Can I just say: I love that parking is free everywhere (outside of Seoul and Busan)?
Beautiful, isn’t it? I was definitely in awe with the beauty of Autumn.
Andong
We left Daejeon in high hopes towards our next destination – Andong. I visited Andong before, but I never got the chance to explore Andong Hahoe Village.
It still amazes me that people still live in the village, maintaining the traditional Korean culture. We took a lot of time exploring the village, and we didn’t have time to visit Dosanseowon and Wolyeongyo (I had been there, but Gladys hasn’t). Nonetheless, we were happy to spend our time in the village.
We had to meet a friend in the evening, but before that, we went up to a hill near the village. There, we witnessed one of the most beautiful sunsets ever.
As you can see, the hill is a wonderful spot to see the village from a bird’s eye view. Breathtaking!
Andong National University
After the sun had set, we made a move to meet a friend of mine since Backpacking 2017 at Andong National University. I was excited to finally see how a Korean university looks like in the rural provinces especially during the Autumn festival.
My favourite memory of Andong was eating Andong Jjimdalk- a very savory chicken dish that is special to Andong. Yunjeong brought us to a popular sikdang (restaurant) around the university.
It has a soy sauce based, and the chicken is broiled together with the other ingredients. There’s a lot of varieties you can add to change it up. I absolutely missed this dish – there is simply no similar dishes back in Singapore.
Thank you, Yunjeong for showing us around!
Sobaeksan National Park
By the time we left Andong, it was already dark. We still had not checked into our next accommodation, which was located deep inside Sobaeksan National Park.
Driving with minimal street lights was quite challenging especially driving on the other side. Not only that, I soon found out that our AirBnB was located along a narrow street that needs to be used by both directions. Luckily, no car was coming out as we drove in.
We were greeted by the owner despite us arriving at 11PM!
Groggy and tired, we immediately shuffled into the cozy AirBnB to sleep… and woke up to this beautiful sight.
We stayed in the green house for SGD80/night for 2 nights. There is a stream nearby, which lulled us to sleep every night.
Hiking Sobaeksan (1439m)
Our initial plan was to hike Woraksan (1094m) – turns out we were 1 hour drive away and we were quite tired to go that distance and drive back. However, we were already in Sobaeksan National Park… so Sobaeksan it is!
This reminded me of our trip to Jeju-do, where we hiked Halla-san. Similarly, Sobaeksan is quite steep and difficult.
However, when we reached the peak…
We totally felt like we were being blown away.
It took ages to reach the peak, because there was a faux peak before reaching the actual one.
The journey was long and arduous… Clouds passed us by from one valley to another.
When we reached the top, our eyes feasted on a beautiful valley.
We could not stop taking photos at the peak. At some points, however, we feared for our lives because the wind was super strong. It felt as though the wind might blow us off the mountain.
Look at that beauty.
That was where we came from.
Of course I had to show off my dance team! Bringing them 1439m above sea level.
The colours of Autumn in Sobaeksan. Due to elevation, the trees higher on the mountain had already shed its leaves. But those on the slopes still had their beautiful red leaves.
Busan
We drove back to Daejeon to return our car, and took the KTX to our final destination in this trip. It was the second largest city of South Korea – Busan!
I’ve never been to Busan before, so I was excited. To me, Busan had a raw vibe, just like Osaka is to Japan. One thing that took me by surprise was how hilly it was…
Bus rides were absolutely bru. tal. Squeezy and brutal!
I can’t remember the name of the café we took these photos at. The drinks were fairly priced, considering the location perfect for Instagram photos. I mean…
Below the café, there was an art gallery, which we spent some time juxtaposing ourselves against the bright lights of Busan.
Then, we met up with a friend of Gladys – Donghyun. We went to the food streets where people hang out, and we had yangnyeom tongdalk. It’s one of my favourite spicy foods, and a must eat for those who like spice! Well, we had one that isn’t so spicy since Gladys couldn’t tolerate too much spicy food.
The night was still young!
Donghyun brought us to explore the alleys of Jeonpo Cafe Street. I swear, the café scene in South Korea is definitely one of the best in the world with the ambience, food and basically everything. I don’t remember the café name we stopped at (we randomly chose one), but the food was great.
It was a definitely great night as we talked literally about so many things about languages, work and life.
Jejuga (near Busan Station)
Apparently, Yuhui was also in Busan around the same time as us! (She’s my ex-colleague and we travelled to the USA together back in December 2015) We decided to have breakfast together at a famous food eatery near Busan Station as both of our accommodations were near this central location!
Even though Gladys isn’t huge on anything seafood and breakfast, she had the abalone porridge and she didn’t complain. That’s how good the food is, everyone! The prices were fairly pitched too and it’s foreigner-friendly i.e. there’s an English menu. Don’t skip on this when you’re in Busan!
Would we go back here again? Definitely!
Bosu-dong Book Alley
We then explored the Bosu-dong Book Alley. At this point, we just wanted to people watch and recover from being in so many places at the same time. Being around books felt therapeutic. I could read some children’s books in Korean, so I bought myself two books.
We then decided to find a random cafe facing the statue of the founder of this alley. Just people watched for an hour or two, before it was time to make a move. It was hot anyway!
Then, we met Gladys’ friend, whose name is also Yunjeong! She’s super gorgeous with a big heart, seriously. We went to a cafe, ate seafood and watched the fireworks together by the sea. (Psst, we were there during the Busan Fireworks Festival!) If that didn’t summarize the whole trip well, I don’t know what would.
Snowing Cloud
Since it was the day of the Busan Fireworks Festival, it was super duper crowded everywhere. Luckily, we managed to find seats at a cafe with quite a delicious menu and the vibes!
Before heading to watch the fireworks, we decided to eat something that Busan is known for… Seafood!
I finally tried eating those wriggly octopus. It felt really weird, but for sure, I wouldn’t eat them when they are alive!
Note: Prices of restaurants on special days such as the Busan Fireworks Festival soar like mad. You may also be coerced into paying a “reservation fee” of around USD50/50,000 won or the likes just to secure the view. To be honest, it’s not worth it. We just had the food and left the restaurant before the fireworks started.
Instead, we found a spot along the rocky beach with other Busanites. It’s free. Yes, uncomfortable to some, but sharing the views with the local people just felt more special. It was the perfect end to our short road trip across South Korea!
Our Gear: Sony α7 III and Sony α6000
Here’s the caveat: we’re no professional photographers.
But having Sony gear has made us seemingly so (I’d like to believe). These two gadgets had been super awesome and reliable on this trip. To be frank, this South Korea trip is the first time the Sony α7 III had been put to test.
Sad to say, I had been converted from a Canon system. I didn’t find what I actually wanted in a mirrorless, full-frame DSLR from the Canon line. It was a tough decision for me, because my second DSLR had served me for so many years. The colour science in Canon systems is the closest to real life compared to Nikon and Sony. Plus, the controls are fantastically idiot proof for someone like me.
However, I wanted a full-frame camera and mirrorless which performed great at low light conditions. At the point of purchase, Canon wasn’t able to deliver that. Colour science aside (which can be tweaked using post-processing softwares), I decided to go with the α7 III.
Now, here’s the deal.
All the photos you’ve seen in these blog posts are completely unedited. Yes, the thousands of photos we’ve taken (mostly on the α7 III actually) are just straight taken from the SD card.
The quality of the photos are so crisp. If you’re looking to upgrade to a full-frame mirrorless DSLR, the Sony a7 III ILCE7M3/B Full-Frame Mirrorless Interchangeable-Lens Camera
Author’s Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. All opinions remain my own.
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