18 August, Bonus Blog - Getting Around Korea

Our bus to Busan this morning doesn’t leave until 10:40am, so we have a bit of time up our sleeves, enough, in fact, to note some things we have learned about travelling independently in Korea.

To put Korea into an Australian context may help go some way towards understanding travel distances, travel times. South Korea is in area less than half the size of Victoria, Australia, but its population is almost exactly twice that of Australia. Seoul has a population of just over 10 million people, about the same as Sydney and Melbourne combined. Busan, the nation’s second city, is home to just over 3.5 million people.

First thing to note is that getting about in Korea is relatively easy - if you speak Korean, or you plan ahead, can use technology and have internet access while you travel. We fall into the latter category, so here is what we have learned.

Although internet access is widely available in Korea in hotels, restaurants, on trains and buses and in some city centres, it is far better to have your own full-time access. As using phone data can become expensive unless you purchase a local data plan, we use a portable WiFi dongle. They generally work out much cheaper than SIM data plans and most arrangements include unlimited data. Most support multiple devices as well. We have booked ours online through Klook and had no problems.

 We found Google Maps next to useless in Korea and much prefer Kakao Maps or Naver. Both take a bit of getting used to, but once mastered they are indispensable. Other apps that we have found useful are the Seoul Kakao Subway app, the Busan Subway app and, of course, Google Translate.

Although Korea has an excellent rail network, it doesn’t reach every destination that we want to travel to, so we have needed to use the equally excellent intercity bus network as well. So let’s look at the rail network first. Aside from subway systems which we will explore later, the national operator, Korail, has three broad service levels - KTX, high-speed rail, ITX, intercity express trains and Mugunghwa, limited express. All three run on time, are clean, safe, comfortable and amazingly cheap. Korail has a range of Rail Passes, but they did not suit our travel plans this trip. 

The Korail web site and app are a little confusing at first. Just as in Japan, the main stations are not always in the centre of the city you want to travel to, so you often need to know the location of the departure station to do a booking. For example, Seoul intercity trains leave from a few major stations other than Seoul Station. Using other sites such as Rail Ninja, or RometoRio, will help identify the stations you need. But don’t book through either site. Use the Korail booking service. It accepts foreign credit cards and provides E-tickets immediately. There is no need to print your tickets. Amazingly, there are no ticket turnstiles, or pre-boarding ticket checks on the Korail network, you just plop into your booked seat and off you go! Staff do seat checks, but we have never been asked to show a ticket. We recommend booking at least a couple of days in advance, particularly on weekends or during school holidays. Standing only tickets can be purchased if you are pressed. The standing ticket allows the holder to occupy a vacant seat, but that seat must be given up if a ticket holder turns up. Surprisingly, the price difference between standing and booked seats is fairly small. 

Stations have English signage and train announcements are in English, Chinese, Japanese as well as Korean. Ticket machines don’t take foreign credit cards, so counter bookings will generally be necessary if you have not booked online. Staff always speak at least some English so booking is no problem. Just be clear about where you want to go and at what date and time. Check timetables first and don’t be one of those annoying foreigners who hog the booking windows while they dither about! Last point. On the KTX, the difference between business class and economy is small enough to splurge!

Getting to and from Incheon airport is best managed using the Express ARex airport train. It is reasonably priced, easy to book by machines at the airport and the ARex ticket machines do take foreign credit cards. There is another option, called the “All stops” train, basically a subway train that, as the name suggests, makes all stops to Seoul Station. Cheaper, but the ARex, at AUD10 each way is so cheap, why bother?

Both Seoul and Busan have extensive subway systems and Seoul’s is one of the largest in the world. One drawback we have noticed is that train frequencies are less often than on major city networks elsewhere. Silly as it might seem, having to wait three of four minutes for a subway train is noticeable if you are used to more frequent services. Not a serious issue, but plan to factor transfer time into your travel plans in Seoul in particular. Subways are rarely crowded, we have only had to stand on a few trips. 

Tickets can be purchased in all stations, but we never bother. The Korean TMoney card is universally accepted throughout the country on buses, subways and in convenience stores. The card can be purchased at dispensing machines or convenience stores and can also be topped up at either. Subway fares are also very cheap. Using IC cards like this takes the hassle out of working out how much to pay and how to pay and there is often a small discount applied when using an IC card.

Intercity buses come in two categories - Express buses or Intercity buses. The former use the highways and make few, if any stops. Booking online is very difficult as most sites don’t accept foreign credit cards and those that do, charge outrageous service fees. Ticket machines in bus stations don’t take foreign cards either, but they do have an English option and can be useful to explore timetables before heading to the ticket counter armed with destination and departure date and time. As with trains, buses depart and arrive on time, so don’t be late.

Intercity bus services are fairly easy to manage if you have mastered your mapping app. Both apps mentioned above provide accurate timetables and route maps. Just tapping on the bus stop icon on the map pulls up a list of buses serving that stop. Tapping a bus number shows the route by bus stop name. These lists are only in Korean, but a map option is offered that shows the route on the map. Checking the route then allows you to confirm that the bus makes a stop near  your destination. Check a few routes, because many buses may meet your needs. Major bus stops also have a live display showing the progress of buses towards your stop. Tap on with your TMoney card and you are on your way. As always, the challenge with bus travel is knowing when to get off. For important destinations in cities, such as tourist attractions, there may be English announcements. Otherwise, we check our progress on the mapping app and press the button as we near our stop. Tap off and that’s it.

To get some idea of travel costs, our travel from Gyeongju to Busan, about an hour’s duration, AUD10, Our five hour+ bus trip to Jeonju AUD24 each. Subway fares paid on our TMoney cards are a fixed rate of around AUD1.50 per trip. Our final trip from Jeonju to Seoul, two hours, on the high-speed KXT in business class AUD50 each.

On some other issues. We brought far too much Korean Won with us. All we read before coming to Korea convinced us that cash was still king in Korea. Not so. Credit cards are now widely accepted and in some cases, cash is not accepted at all. Many fast food outlets use screen based ordering systems that operate on cards only. Some cash is still necessary because, at the moment at least, TMoney cards can only be topped up with cash.

19 August,  Busan

Miserable day today, overcast and drizzly rain. Not a great day for Haeundae Beach, but we gave it go. To be fair, the beach would have been fantastic on a nice day. Even in the less than favourable conditions, the good people of Busan still flocked to it and its associated cafe culture. We also took a train ride along the beach front, that again would have been beautiful on a different day.

The day was redeemed on our return journey when we stopped off at the Busan Museum of Modern and Contemporary History. The Koreans do great museums! The history of Korea from pre-historical times through to the present day was laid out with great English, Japanese and Chinese explanations. Our luck had turned because, behind the Busan Museum, we found the UN Korean War Memorial Cemetery. Soldiers from sixteen nations, led by the USA and including both Australia and New Zealand, are buried here. There are 281 Australian graves in a well-maintained sector of the cemetery. 

20 August, Busan

We were a little miffed this morning when we opened our shutters to a sunny morning and a relatively clear sky, perfect for what we did in the rain yesterday. Taking advantage of the sunshine and fairly good visibility, we headed off to Busan Tower Observatory for some spectacular views of the city and port. The tower is 120 metres high but its location on the top of a hill increases the altitude significantly. 

We haven’t said much about the costs of entry fees in Korea, because most of the attractions we have visited have been free for seniors. We should have paid 5,000 Won (AUD6) to visit the Museum of Modern History yesterday, but we didn’t notice until we read one of the brochures we bought home. We had just walked in and headed for the lifts. The Busan Tower today was AUD10 for seniors,  amazingly cheap in comparison to similar attractions in other countries. Yesterday, we paid AUD12 each for the hop-on, hop-off train trip along the coast. Taking these very reasonable prices, the often free entry for seniors and the very cheap local subway and bus fares, (AUD1.30-1.50 per trip) Korea is a bit of a bargain.

Our next stop was the enormous open air fish markets. Located right at the fishing wharf, everything looked and smelt fresh. There was also a large, indoors, air-conditioned market where diners can pick from an incredible variety of live seafood and have it cooked on the spot.

Last stop for the day was the multi-coloured Gamcheon Village in the hills above the port. During the Korean War, refugees settled on and cultivated the slopes to survive. In 2009, students and artists joined with the original villagers to decorate the village as part of the Village Art Project. The area has been called the Machu Picchu of Korea, but an alternative could have been the Korean Bo-kaap, a very similar suburb in Cape Town South Africa.

The heat and humidity were becoming unbearable by early afternoon, so we escaped back to our hotel to do a bit of washing and pack our gear for the five hour bus trip tomorrow to our last stop, Jeonju, before heading back to Seoul and home.