Travel: Korea - General

[happydl]

I intend to go during Christmas this year. Any advise on how to book a ski resort? which resort is cheap? I have emailed to various but none has replied.


Thanks.

[vicki]

Hi all,


Im thinking of going Korea for a holiday during the Jun hols.
Anyone can advise which agency/ holiday package to book?

I’ve looked through Hong Thai/ Chan Bros/ SA Tours website.
Hong Thai itineraries looks most ‘worth the money’
SA Tours intineraries looks ‘slow and easy’.

Anyone has experience and can share?

Txs.

Btw, the family members going would be me, dh, 3 kids and senior citizens.

[cherrygal]

I loved my Korea trip with CTC. A bit more expensive but worth it. The hotels were quite good. Another agency that we like is Giamso.

[vicki]

Txs Cherrygal.


I don't mind paying abit more for the overall experience. Haha.. Too many dependents so 1 less worry is always good. Will chk them out later also.

Did u go to Seoul n Jeju? Any idea if I choose to extend 1 or 2 more days in Seoul - would it be difficult to get ard cos of language handicap?

[cherrygal]

We went twice but never did the Jeju part coz always cannot spare the extra 2 days. Keep the trip short if you have very young children. My fren said Jeju nothing much unless you like scenery. She told me skiing is more fun.


They dun call this a vacation... it's a hardship tour with so many dependents around.

[Ichigokun]

cherrygal:

We went twice but never did the Jeju part coz always cannot spare the extra 2 days. Keep the trip short if you have very young children. My fren said Jeju nothing much unless you like scenery. She told me skiing is more fun.


They dun call this a vacation... it's a hardship tour with so many dependents around.

There's not just sceneries in Jeju. Chejudo (체주도) has many Korean tangerine products. The last time I went there they were selling Tangerine chocolates (they tasted very good!), fresh tangerines etc.

There are shopping streets and shopping centers in Jeju too. I highly recommend you stay there at least 2 days.

The name of the streets are Ildoil-dong (일도일동), and Cheonjidong (천지동)

[Ichigokun]

Vicki, I don’t think there will be any language handicap.


Modern Koreans know both English and Korean.

Koreans also used to use Chinese language (aka Hanja in Korean) until the late 19th century by the high class nobles.

Maybe the older generation will understand Chinese if you write it to them?

Modern Koreans might know a bit of Chinese too. Koreans sometimes use Hanja on media if they can’t express something in Korean.

So, language handicap won’t be much of a problem.

[Ichigokun]

Or, to play safe, learn the Korean language.


Cos after cherrygal said Koreans don’t really like speaking English, I thought it would be better if we learnt Korean.

There are 26 alphabets in the Korean language, like English. But there are no ‘f’, ‘p’, ‘z’ word startings.

ㅂㅈㄷㄱ (b, j, d, g)
ㅅㅁㄴㅇ (s,m,n,ng)
ㅎㅋㅌㅊㅍ (h,k,t,ch,p)
ㄹ

Vowels: ㅏ (a)
ㅗ/ㅓ (o)
ㅣ (ee)
ㅐ (ae)
ㅔ (eh)
ㅕ/ㅛ (yo)
ㅠ (eu)
ㅜ (oo)


Yeah that’s about it. Korean language is just a piecing-up of all those letters I just mentioned. For example, birthday is Saeng-il (ㅅ+ㅐ+ㅇ+ㅇ+ㅣ+ㄹ = 생일)

Korea is Hanguk (They call it Joseon in North Korea but Joseon in South Korea means shipbuilding, so don’t use Joseon if you are heading to South Korea)

Hanguk is ㅎ+ㅏ+ㄴ+ㄱ+ㅜ+ㄱ = 한국

[vicki]

Hellos...


Txs for the info.

I have already booked my Korea trip with CTC for the upcoming school holidays - cos first time there plus one whole big family (9 of us now! my family of 5 + my dad + my bro + my aunt + my grandma (who is 85+)) - hence, decided to just stick with Tour Group)!

Haha - but before even setting foot there, im already planning for another one in Nov (Free n Easy) (for skiing) so already signed up to take basic korean (hopefully can learn something by Nov)!

I'm soooo addicted to Korea now - txs to the drama serials.....

[vicki]

Hi Ichigokun,


Can i chk with you - which language school did you learn Korean from?