Jeju - 2 Nov 2011

Hi folks,
Thanks for visiting my blog and as always please feel free to comment. I've also tweaked the layout to give my blog a new look - hope you like it. This time, I'd like to share our experience in Jeju Island, off the southern coast of South Korea. Jeju is also known as "Hawaii of the East" due to its volcanic origin (I am also aware that Hainan island is also known by the same nickname, but that would be another discussion point!) and it is about three times the size of Singapore.

Important
If you need to be reachable via your mobile phone, ensure that you have a 3G phone (an IPhone works) or one that is operable with a mobile CDMA network. Most carriers support GSM networks but not Korea. You may also rent mobile phones at the airport. Our trip to Jeju began with SQ 602 from Singapore Changi to Seoul (Incheon) followed by a connecting flight from Seoul (Gimpo) to Jeju via T'way Air. Although SQ602 was slightly delayed for departure due to heavy air traffic at Changi Airport, we managed to arrive on schedule at Incheon. The pilot must have stepped on the gas or we had a good tailwind.

Incheon to Gimpo Incheon airport was just brilliant - it's so easy to move around with its clear signage and it didn't take too long for us to get to the Airport Express (AREX) platform to board the Airport train to Gimpo. There are two services, the regular (which stops at every station) and the express non-stop service to Gimpo (which is more pricey of course). We took the regular service because we were not in a hurry.
Tickets cost 3900 Won one way (about SGD 4.45) per person, with a 500 Won refundable deposit. You may purchase the tickets from the self service kiosks but we prefer to talk to a human person at the counter.

If I remembered correctly, trains depart every 15 minutes or so but it didn't feel that we had to wait that long. It's not difficult finding the platform because the signs were very clear. The journey to Gimpo took about 35 minutes. The interior of the train was well lit and very comfortable. There was even Wifi on the train (unfortunately it was not free). Don't be fooled by the picture of an empty train carriage - it started to get crowded at Gyeyang. There were announcements at each stop in four languages (English, Korean, Japanese and Mandarin) so there is no excuse if you miss your stop. There's also a visual aid showing the progress of your journey, located above the train doors.

Airport Train (interior) 

Gimpo Airport is no Incheon, but a very functional airport nonetheless. We arrived at level B3 and took the elevator to level B1 in order to exit the turnstiles and collect our 500 Won deposit. The refund process was self-explanatory i.e. insert card into card slot and wait for change - like a vending machine. After getting our deposits, we proceeded to Level 1 and walked along a 250 metre passageway to get to the terminal building.
It looked like a very long walk, especially when you have to drag your luggage. Thankfully there are horizontal escalators, so the walk didn't feel that long. It took us about 10 minutes (we're getting old!). Airline check in counters are located at level 2 and the departure lounge is located at level 3. If you do not have any baggage to check-in, you may proceed to the express counter. The regular T'way Air counter are located at the far left.

Passageway to Gimpo Terminal

We had some time to kill while waiting for our flight, so we decided to get some snacks and explore Gimpo airport. There was a nice exhibit of flowers (it was some Chrysanthemum exhibit). I particularly like the chrysanthemums in a pot and the airplanes.

More pictures

Sites we visited on our first day: Ilchul Land | Seongsan Ilchulbong | Dragon Rock

Philadelphia

I just got back from an IT Conference in Philadelphia and short holiday in NYC and sadly work has been piling up! No holiday is ever long enough.  

Singapore to Philadelphia
Getting to Philly (as the native citizens for Philadelphia refer to themselves) was a breeze, though the journey was rather long - about 23 hours including a short stopover in Frankfurt. 

We started our journey from Singapore on 12-Aug-2011 via SQ26 and arrived in New York JFK airport on 13-Aug-2011 at approximately 10.30am local time, about 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

I wished we could say the same for our bags arriving at the carousel. I have lost my Krisflyer Gold membership status and therefore bags no longer travel on 'Priority'. 

By the time we got our bags and cleared customs, it was already 11.30am. We took a taxi to NY Penn Station and proceed to board the Amtrak train to Philly. Taxi fare cost USD 55.00 including tips. The cab driver had to stop about 30 metres from Penn station as the roads were blocked for some charity event. 

We booked our tickets online and got the boarding passes from the self-service kiosks. Tickets cost USD 72 round-trip from NYC to PHL. The journey to Philadelphia 30St station was quite pleasant and comfortable.

We were still dodgy after the long flight so we didn't do much exploring. Had dinner with my colleague Joseph (who's equally dodgy after a 32-hr journey) and then went about taking some night shots around City Hall followed by catching up on lost sleep. On the left is a picture of the Masonic Temple, located across City Hall.

Masonic temple at night

Reading Terminal Market and Macy’s (14 Aug 2011)
My ’networking’ session didn’t start until 6pm so we had some time to kill during the morning and afternoon. Our initial plan was to visit historic sites and chill out at parks. The weather had other plans - it was raining all day and we had to switch to a rather "indoorsy" plan B.

Our day started with breakfast at the Reading Terminal Market, which is located about 5 minutes walk from our hotel (LOEWE'S PHILADELPHIA HOTEL). We had French toast for breakfast at Hershel's inside Reading Terminal Market. Personally, I prefer the French toast at Killiney's Kopi Tiam in Singapore, which is not as oily and comes with a generous spread of butter and kaya (coconut jam).

Reading Terminal Market

The rain was still relentless and we decided to spend some time in Macy's (located along Market Street). It was a surprise to find a huge pipe organ inside a departmental store and I decided to take some pictures of it (with permission of course and as long as I promised not to climb into the enclosure). I never knew that the Wannamaker Organ is the largest operational pipe organ in the world!

The Wannamaker Pipe Organ

After Macy’s, we proceeded towards Chinatown for lunch. It was still raining cats and dogs. Lunch was a simple meal consisting of noodles and stir fried vegetables at a Malaysian restaurant called Penang (Only two days and we"re already missing home food already). The food was good, though a tad salty. Before we knew it, it was already evening and time for me to get to my evening reception and "networking" session.

Lunch@Penang Restaurant

More pictures (to be updated)

Related Pages: Philadelphia - At Night | Philadelphia - Final Day | Philadelphia - Historic District

Announcement

To all who have been following my posts, I'd like to say a big thank you and at the same time, I'd like to apologize for not updating my blog ever since I got back from Europe.

Work has been driving me crazy - but Joyce and I did catch a short break during the last Singapore National Day holidays. We made a short (and rather unprepared) trip to Hokkaido, Japan.

Stay tuned for updates.

Cheers,
Simon.