South Korea Day 7: From Seoul Station to Singyeongju KTX Station

Assalamualaikum. 안녕!

Wah kemajuan. Boleh update few entries in just few days apart. Adakah banyak sangat free time Bie oii. 

Sebenarnya sedang rindu South Korea. Poyo gila. Tapi itu hakikat. Since yesterday, kawan² di facebook sibuklah upload gambar related to that country. Hatta hanya sebotol minuman pun boleh menggamit rindu, apalagi kalau gambar views & the places. A friend just came back last week, and another friend is currently there. Kenapa perlu bercoti tanpa aku? Sob.

Demi ubat rindu, marilah continue update. At least ada benda untuk diingat. Phew, intro bikin muntah. 

Pagi tu kami bangun super awal. Aku sempat masak untuk breakfast & bekal for lunch. At first we planned to take the subway. Tapi sebab kemalasan mau hangkut bag & jalan kaki di awal pagi buta, marilah tahan teksi. Not to mention transit untuk tukar line subway. Hazab di awal pagi marilah kita elakkan. 

Furthermore, the Hostel Eonni told us the night before area hostel tu memang banyak teksi. And so we took a taxi to Seoul Station. Bukan jauh pun, the fare also quite cheap. Cost us only 5,000₩.

Tembolok di awal pagi. Since we arrived a bit early, teruslah lapar bila nampak Dunkin Donut. Cheese bagel adalah favourite gue. Erm, anything yang ada cheese memang aku baham. Abaikan breakfast yang sudah aku telan di hostel. 

Bound for Singyeongju KTX Station. Take note that Singyeongju & Gyeongju are two different station. The first station is a new station located near the city of Gyeongju & serves only the KTX line (high speed trains). While the latter serves only local trains & located in the city of Gyeongju. 

More info about purchasing the KTX ticket here. 

Janji tau jenis train, train no, departure time. Memang senang.
Contoh: Our train is KTX, Train No. 115, Departure at 0800h. 

Takut lapar while on the go? Sila lah tapau, varieties of food boleh take away. Tepuk dada tanya selera. Halal or tidak, aku ndak jamin. And aku bukan recommend, it's simply to inform IF ada yang ndak sempat breakfast & wonder adakah restoran/cafe/kiosk yang jual take away food. 

Macam baru jak sampai Seoul Station dari Busan. And it's already time to leave Seoul? 

For the ticket from Seoul, aku telah menjadi bijak. Aku ada book seat so ndak lah kami kena berdiri di standing coach like what we did during the en route from Busan. Read here.

We slept all the way to Gyeongju. Ngantuk gaban sebab pagi tu bangun terlebih awal. Luckily aku terjaga 1 stesyen before Singyeongju. Else, mari beli tiket baru. 

Loving this concept. Mula masuk tu aku pelik kenapakah perlu air sekuning itu. Kejadian orang ndak flush ka. Bila nampak advertisement tu barulah faham. 

Kami stop kejap dalam stesyen tu. Masih mamai, and kami perlu masa untuk jadi waras. Duduk lepak nearly 20 minutes sambil menikmati spaghetti goreng yang aku masak dari hostel pagi tu. Sejuk gila tapau kami tapi bedal jaklah. Janji perut ndak kosong. Jadual hari tu pun padat we definitely need energy untuk berjalan. 

View sebaik keluar dari main entrance Singyeongju Station.

Just outside the station, ada bus stop.  One can take bus #50, #60, #61, #70, #203 or #700 to reach Gyeongju Bus Terminal (Express & Intercity Bus). It is best to hop off at the bus terminal as the tourist information is just across the road from the terminal. Kutiplah segala map & guidebooks. Eonni yang jaga kaunter tu pun boleh converse quite well in English. 

Gyeongju Gosok Teominal a.k.a Gyeongju Express Terminal. Sila turun at the bus stop berdepan bangunan ni. Or just kasitau driver like we did. So bila sampai terminal, the driver will let u know. No worries, Ahjussi tu insha Allah ndak lupa untuk bagitau that u've reached ur destination. Tourist information (refer pic below) will be on the left side of the this building, opposite the road.

Masuk dalam bas terminal, terus jumpa locker. Ouh bahagia rasa ndak payah hangkut backpacks meronda Gyeongju. The big locker cost 500₩ but it only accept coins. So kalau ndak da coins, sila tukar di kaunter tiket. Counter Ahjumma sedia menukar. 

Boleh juga sewa basikal or scooter untuk round 'pekan' Gyeongju ni. Scooter aku memang ndak da bakat untuk bawa. Ingat mau sewa basikal tapi cousin aku pula 'kaki bangku'. Fine, aku ndak tau istilah apa kalau ndak reti mengayuh. Jadi marilah kita meronda via bus.

In case kelaparan, boleh singgah cafe depan bus terminal ni. Kami ada masuk tapi masa tu bun & bread yang ada ndak memenuhi citarasa. 

Bus schedule at the bus stop where we first alighted from Singyeongju Station. First destination kami adalah Bulguksa Temple. Lintas jalan & wait for the bus #10, #11 or #700. All buses cost 1,500₩.

For your information, boleh jak naik bus #700 from Singyeongju Station & hop off at Bulguksa Temple. But we purposely singgah bus terminal to purchase our bus ticket back to Busan that evening. And also mau menyimpan beg dalam locker. 

I don't remember how long it took to reach Bulguksa Temple from Gyeongju city. But I do remember yang aku sempat membuta! Sebab bas tu berhenti², pula tu ramai naik turun. Jadinya aku curi masa untuk charge energy walaupun tidur ayam. Nasiblah bila sampai each stop, driver tu akan announce. IF I'm not mistaken, Bulguksa is the last stop. 

Kunun mau gambar Bulguksa ni sebiji macam dalam pamphlet. Yang rooftop covered with snow. Nan hado snow masa kami sampai. Ndak apalah, janji sudah sampai.

Ouh by the way, turun dari bas bukan terus jumpa temple ni ah. Kami exercise kaki lagi sebelum sampai. Exercise yang memang betul² menguji stamina kaki. Di kala sejuk. menapak bukit. Yang bukan main alang curam dia. Uhuk. 

Untuk cerita Bulguksa, kita sambung next entry. Yang satu ni pun berhari sebenarnya aku habiskan. Mula tu macam eh banyaknya free time...pastu tiba² melencong layan Kdrama lah, Kpop lah, stalk Oppas lah yadda yadda. Dua orang kawan baru balik dari Seoul (yang sorang masih sana masa aku start taip entry ni, hence the intro), sorang sempat singgah Jeju. Memang bikin panas hati. 

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