Train to Busan

March 27, 2023February 6, 2024 by elainevitikainen ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I wasn’t really keen in visiting Busan. I had this idea that it would be good to visit during the summer as it is a city by the sea. But who can resist a Train to Busan as a title! Yes, we took the KTX train to Busan which took us 2 hours and 15 minutes while the regular trains will take up to 6 hours. (The KTX trains are the Korean equivalent to the Japanese Bullet trains yet so much less expensive.) It was a smooth, uneventful train ride. Although, a question was posted on my TikTok asking if there were zombies! 🙂

Our hotel was right infront of the Haeundae Beach and across the Busan X the Sky, a 100 floors building . Our room was facing the ocean so it was so lovely! Haeundae beach is really clean and beautiful. It was fun to look at the skyscrapers coming to life at dusk. For dinner, we had a huge serving of Dumplings and Milmyeon (Wheat Noodles), a typical Busan dish, at a nearby restaurant and was blessed by a short, light rain on the way back to the hotel. The next morning was spent exploring the Busan X the Sky before heading to Jinhae.

I heard that Jinhae has around 350,000 Cherry Blossom trees which makes it a must place to visit during the Cherry Blossom season. We took a tour with Trazy on a very comfortable bus and Jinhae didn’t fail us at all. It was indeed very pretty but there were also lots of people! I really enjoyed trying out the street food and I especially like the Strawberry Milk and Strawberry Mochis. And at this point, the young seller told me that I look like Princess Raya! I also enjoyed watching how Dalgonas are made – melting sugar, pouring it gently to form a circle then stamping a character on it with a hot metal. Dinner was Kimchi potato pancakes at a very homely restaurant with only three long tables. It had a very friendly atmosphere and the people from the next table showed us their food so that we can order. There was no English at all and I really liked how everyone participated so that we can get food. It was really a fun day in Jinhae. We returned to our hotel in Busan at 23:30 and I can’t believe that I was indeed under the Cherry Blossom. At this point, I felt like I was Cherried Blossomed! 😀 And of course, while we were waiting for our ride to Jinhae, we went in a selfie booth and got a selfie for the first time ever in our entire lives. We had so much fun and laughter!

What’s next!

Check out the reels here:

A Visit to Busan

Today in Busan and Jinhae

More photos from Busan by Ari Vitikainen can be found here and photos from Jinhae here.

First Day in Seoul

March 25, 2023September 11, 2023 by elainevitikainen ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

The plan for this day was to visit the Bukchon Hanok Village. Our hotel in Insadong was a walking distance from it. So we headed fresh for the day and ready to explore Seoul. Sadly and with much regret, we had breakfast at Starbucks just because I really wanted to have my Starbuck’s name as per tradition. But in Seoul, they don’t allow disposable cups anymore which is great!

After breakfast, we walked to the Bukchon Hanok Village. It is a pretty place but it is important to remember that it is a residential area so people actually live there. It is very necessary to be respectful and as it says in many places, Please be quiet. We found some kind of a museum on a hill with tea on offer and a great spot to see the Seoul Skyline, although, it was not much of a view during the day. The place also has a traditional house which is fully decorated just like the ones in the historical K-Dramas.

Next stop was a Tea House called Cha Teul. We didn’t just happened on this place but I googled best tea houses in Seoul beforehand. Cha Teul made me so happy and it was not pricey at all. It was packed so we waited for a while to get a table but it was so worth it. I ordered a Quince Pear tea and it was perfect!

Then we walked to the Changgyeonggung Palace and the Secret Garden. The Cherry Blossom is already in full bloom so the palace ground was full of visitors. We didn’t find the Secret Garden anything special. Maybe during a different season, for example during summer or autumn, the garden would look beautiful. After the Secret Garden tour, we tried to visit the Changgyeonggung Palace. Unfortunately, we actually bought tickets to Chandeokgung Palace. In the end, we decided to call it a day visiting palaces so we didn’t get to use the tickets we bought.

So instead, we hopped on a bus to Myeongdong. But there was a rally. Up until now, we don’t know what was the protest all about (I can’t read Korean!) but there were lots of people and lots of police too. The bus got diverted so we took another bus and eventually walked some kilometres to Myeongdong. It was late and we were hungry. We happened on a restaurant that has a wall showing photos and autographs of famous people who ate there. The food was really good and the owner was really friendly. Also, notice the cute red apron I’m wearing. These aprons are readily available at restaurants to avoid food stains. How smart! We were also full and happy!

For the next day, we are heading to Busan…

Check out the reel here:

First Day in Seoul

More photos from Seoul by Ari Vitikainen can be found here.

South Korea – my 50th country!

March 24, 2023August 28, 2024 by elainevitikainen ♥ 2 Comments

In the Summer of 2022, I was featured in the Daebak magazine, a Korean subscription box company. I talked about how I wish to visit South Korea in 2023 to eat authentic Korean food, to stay at a Hanok and to experience the Cherry Blossom. Fast forward in December that year, I bought tickets to Seoul and started planning the trip to South Korea with my husband. The plan was to experience the Cherry Blossom season. Although I know that it could be a hit or miss, I bought the tickets anyway and booked the accommodations. There were changes along the way as two weeks would not be enough to see it all. And although I really wanted to visit Jeonju, I didn’t like the idea of being sat on the bus for more than 4 hours from Gyeongju. That road trip will be going across the country after all! By the 20th of March, the mask mandate for public transport was lifted. Although I still carried with me a few masks just in case (from the Daebak box, of course!) we didn’t have to use them. Also, I didn’t see many people wearing masks anymore. To be honest, I don’t really like wearing masks and we haven’t been wearing masks in Helsinki since last year.

The flight from Helsinki took off at 17.55 on the 23rd of March and arrived the next day at midday in Incheon International airport. It took 11 hours and 45 minutes as the flight avoided the Ukraine and Russian airspace. But it didn’t really feel that long. I just knew that when we landed, my headphone was at 40% battery. I was listening to K-Pop all through the flight.

After the checking of the Q Code, immigration and baggage reclaim, we rented a Portable Wifi for our entire stay in South Korea from the SKT booth located at the arrival area. I also bought a TMoney card for my husband from the convenience store inside the airport (I already have one from the Daebak box with Jimin’s photo!) and have them refilled with money mainly for transportation. It was important to check what was the best way to travel to our accommodation. I have heard stories of people taking the subway and changing trains (dragging along heavy suitcases) when buses stop right infront of their hotels! So for us, the bus was the best option. It stopped very close to our hotel in Insadong.

We checked in and explored the Insadong area, most especially the Ikseongdong Hanok Village where we found lots of nice restaurants and cute cafes. At the Insadong Shopping Street, I also had a Dojang made, a traditional stamp with my name in Hangul. We did a quick stop at Ssamzigil Shopping Mall for some traditional snacks sold on the ground floor. They were good!

It was a long day and we headed to bed to get ready for the next day!

Check out the reels here:

Flying to Seoul

First Evening in Seoul

More photos from Seoul by Ari Vitikainen can be found here.

Winter is back!

February 19, 2023February 19, 2023 by elainevitikainen ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I woke up Saturday morning to see the tree in the yard covered in snow. It kept on snowing but the temperature was above the freezing level. Well, this only means one thing. It’s time to make snow ducks!

How is the weather where you are? It is cold, rainy, sunny or snowy? Which do you prefer?

Signs of Spring?

February 4, 2023 by elainevitikainen ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Someone asked me when Spring will come to Helsinki. I answered I don’t know. Maybe in April. Maybe in May. But the days are getting longer and the sun has been shining more lately. Also, the sea has been giving a sign of ice slowly melting which shows a sea full of diamonds!

Some two weeks ago, I’ve archived my 2019 Travel Journal. Please check it out here. Yesterday, I started preparing a new journal for my holiday next month. This time I will be using the Travellers Notebook. So excited!

How is it in your country? Are there already signs of Spring? Let me know!

Walking on ice – it’s this time of the year

February 27, 2022 by elainevitikainen ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Walking on ice. Walking on the frozen sea. It’s the time of the year to do it!

It was a very special feeling because I know that in other seasons, this place is the sea that I know. It’s water and there is no way I can walk on water. But not this time. This time I can walk on water. But just the hard kind of water! And the sun was setting too… 🙂

All photos by Ari Vitikainen at https://www.arivitikainenphotography.com

Snow ducks, anyone?

February 23, 2022February 26, 2022 by elainevitikainen ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I thought the Spring is just around the corner. But over the last few weeks, heavy snow has adorned Helsinki. Yes, it’s so beautiful!

Interestingly, I won a prize from Daebak Company (5% off on code ELAINE5). And the prize includes a snow toy. It was a duck snow toy which I first saw online a year ago when a K-Pop artist posted it online. It then became big in Korea. I always wanted it so it was such a lovely surprise to find it in the prize box.

And so here I am. If you find a full adult in downtown Helsinki making snow ducks, it is probably me! 🙂

All photos by https://www.arivitikainenphotography.com

Today in Helsinki

January 30, 2022January 30, 2022 by elainevitikainen ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Today’s 6.18 km walk in the neighbourhood after the snow storm yesterday. The month has gone so fast and soon it’s February. I hope everyone had a good start of the year!

Last week, Finland entered its third pandemic year. Are we nearing the end? Will it be an endemic soon?

All photos by https://www.arivitikainenphotography.com

A day in Tallinn

September 5, 2021June 22, 2022 by elainevitikainen ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

With travels slowly easing, especially to those who are fully vaccinated, we also took a chance to spend a Saturday in Tallinn. I’ve been to Tallinn many times before. However, this time we took a large cruise ship from Helsinki to Tallinn and it was a very nice experience.

There is a list of must-do when spending a day in Tallinn. One of them is having coffee and cake at Maiasmokk Kohvik in the old town. Established in 1864, it’s the oldest cafe in Tallinn. It serves good coffee and delicious cakes. Dining out is another thing and this time we tried a fusion style Asian restaurant. We have passed by this restaurant before but I’ve always been suspicious of anything fusion. However, the food was actually tasty and was not much a fusion at all! We had Yakitori Chicken skewers, Tom Kha Gai, Roti Canai (a bit too oily), Yellow Curry with duck and Korean Bulgogi beef. So it was a bit of everywhere in Asia kind of food experience. They were true to their taste. I highly recommend this place called Tai Boh.

There is much to explore in the old town where one can spend 5 hours quite easily. It’s a pretty town and a nice area for walking. So wearing good walking shoes is a must! The day ended with a record breaking 32,737 steps which is 20.97 kms walk and an amazing sunset on the way home. Tired but happy!