South Korea - James BLuE Hostel Review

My girls and I had a great 2D1N stay at James BLuE Hostel when we were in Sokcho!
The family running the hostel are really really friendly. ^_^
Not only that, the rooms are clean, comfortable and the place is peaceful too.
It is situated in a convenient area.
You are able to walk to Abai Village and Dongmyeong Port, etc.

A little background on James BLuE hostel here.
James BLuE is previously known as Dae Bo Jang.
Currently, it is run by the owner call James.
We had a chance to meet James on the day before we left Sokcho. :)
He is a very nice and friendly young guy who took over his father business.
That explain the name change of the hostel.

On the first day as I have mention before, we reached Dongbu Express which was a bit far from our guesthouse.
Therefore, we took a cab down.
First few cab drivers were unfamiliar with James BLuE guesthouse but don't worry you can asked them to call the owner.
Korean speaks with Korean will be more clearer than how we tell them.
So Take Note: In a foreign country, always note down the contact number and address written in their language (if possible) in case you get lost.

**So if you want to take a taxi, Talk to taxi driver "Si Cheong, Dae Bo Jang"
"Si cheong" means city hall in korean. "Dae Bo Jang" is their old name.



Alternatively, if you are going from Sok-cho intercity bus terminal, below is the direction to the hostel :

Go to the right from the Sok-cho intercity bus terminal to the sea (Downhill). 
Take the second right and walk along the main street until reaching a Cafe ALMOST HEAVEN.
Across the street, there is the hostel.

You can always check with the information counter if you need help.
We also took the Sokcho map.
From the map, you can see many attraction in Sokcho.

Continuing, 3 of us booked the 4 bed dorm with private bathroom, consists of 1 double decker bed and 1 queen size bed.
The room seems small for us because we has 3 big luggage but its still good for a 2D1N stay.
We paid about SGD$102 for the room.

Managed to take some photos with James's mother who is also a very friendly and helpful lady to us.






Their really cute puppy~ :D


With the really friendly owner.


And the guy on the left is the owner, James. :)

The friendly owner offered a lot of help to us.
We really appreciate it! Thank you so much! :)

By the way, we did the booking at http://www.hostelbookers.com/ so it is a trusted site.
Just search for James BLuE and you can find the hostel already.
Have a nice stay~

South Korea - Off to Seoraksan National Park

Hi, sorry I've been updating really slow..
So, continuing from previous post - From Seoul to Sokcho

Woke up very early the next morning to prepare as we are heading to Seoraksan National Park.
Really excited for this trip because before going, we read up on reviews and saw many nice pictures about the place!!

Due to the time constraint, we took a cab down instead of taking bus.
If I am not wrong, the bus number its 7 from Sokcho city which will stop at Seoraksan National Park.
You can refer to Wikipedia: Sokcho Travel Guide.









Finally we reached the place and it was really crowded as it is a weekend.
As many tourists and Korean really love hiking.
So I suggest to avoid going on the weekend.
First we need to buy the entrance ticket which cost 3500 won per pax.







Beautiful scenery we see along the way to the cable car which will bring us up to the mountain as you can see from above picture.





So we head over to the cable car ticket station to buy our tickets which cost 9000 won per pax.
They have time slots and limits people to take the cable car.
We bought the 1.30pm time slot, that made us having spare 3hrs to walk around the park.
So can you imagine how many people came early to queue for the cable car ride to go up.

We explored the area, actually it is a very big attraction other than the Seorak mountain.








Sheauwei said she gonna tried their Americano so we went to buy drinks and finger food.


Somehow we found a good spot to camwhore awhile.








Good sunlight = good photo.


Always love to see some real maple leave~.

Saw a very big and nice Buddha Statue.
It was a magnificent sight~!











Then we saw these many wishing plates and we decided to write one ourselves too.
But felt cheated by the price...




I guess it was due to language barrier, we cannot really understand each other.
Actually the lady selling us said it cost 10,000won for a plate but only 1 person can write.
It was quite ridiculous so in the end we paid like 30,000won so that 3 of us can write. =_=

On the lighter note, I guess it is for charity anyway..




Took photos with the Buddha Statue with our wish plate. :)

Continued to roam around the place, took many pretty photos and buying some stuff.
















Saw people drinking this spring water and we went to tried it.
It was cold and refreshing like mineral water.


Daring to try~ :D










Seen this on TV and never thought we would see this in Seoraksan.
I guess they call it the Buddha's stones?
It is said to bring good luck.


I find it fascinating how these stones can stack like this without even gluing it together..
Well, we didn't try to stacks the stones though..


This is a nice one that I captured.






After exploring the place, we settled down and grabbed lunch.











Our cute and funny selfies to past time~

Then its time to board the cable car.
It was drizzling but still able to get a chance to see the scenery above.






"Annyeong, I am at Seoraksan finally!!"


Orange/ yellow leaves~


Red/ orange leaves~


Holding on a maple leaf~














Then we got up a mountain.
Seems really dangerous as the floor was wet, slippery and it was rocky and steep.



Many people even climbed to the top as you can see from our background but we just stayed at the area before heading back..


It was really cold~










Bye Seoraksan, Its a beautiful place and I hope by the time I go back again in future, it's winter time. :)