Caribbean Bay

So just a note to anyone following this by dates; I'm writing these up when I feel like it so they aren't in order of when and where I went.

Yesterday I finally went out to Caribbean Bay. I'd been holding out on it because of a) the weather and b) a day when I knew I'd be able to roll out of bed at 7AM. So yesterday was perfect because I randomly woke up at around 5AM and it was predicted to be a 31 degrees Celsius day (and I can tell you now from the sunburn, it was).
I heard about Caribbean Bay through Girl's Generation and 2PM's joint music video for the "Cabi Song":

Seeing it in the flesh made it so much more exciting! Although because of the 90 minute wait for most of the rides in the video, I sadly did not get to go on them :( but it was cool to see the places where it was filmed.


How to get there:

Catch the subway to Gangnam Station on the Green Line (Line 2) and follow the signs through the complex underground shopping mall to exit #6.
Once you get to the surface do a u-turn and walk along the road, you'll see a Dunkin' Donuts across the road to your left, ignore it and keep following the road until you get to the one on the same side of the road as you.
If the giant line or red and blue buses doesn't give it away, you'll soon see the the bus station in the middle of the road across from Dunkin' Donuts. Its easy to get to by using the nearby pedestrian crossing.
Catch the Red Bus number 5002, it comes every 15 minutes, I caught the 9AM one. If you're lucky you might get a seat, if you're unlucky like me, you'll end up standing for the entire 40 minute ride.
Everland/Caribbean Bay is the last stop so don't worry about missing it. Most of the bus will be going to Everland so just follow the crowd.
You'll be dropped off at a bus station and again follow the crowd over to the shuttle bus station, it will take you on a 5 minute ride up the mountain to Everland.

Once you get to Everland follow the signs to the right to Caribbean Bay.

Just warning, the park is pretty expensive. For a day ticket it was 70,000 won, for entrance to the park after 2.30pm I believe the ticket price was around 30,000 won. If you have children its 55,000 won. After you buy your ticket you'll go through the first gate and your bag will be checked for food. If you brought food you can drop it off at the Food Deposit to the left of the gate.

Once you show them your ticket I highly recommend heading to the "Bay Coin" counter. Bay coins are a waterproof wristband with a barcode and you load money onto them instead of carrying your wallet around with you (it is a water park after all). The smallest amount you can put on it is 30,000 won which seems a lot to start with, but trust me, everything adds up. I refunded mine at the end of the day and got 4,000 won back.

The Bay coin wristband

Secondly I recommend going into any of the gift stores and purchasing one of the plastic camera/phone holders (only if you actually need one that is). They're advertised in all the stores and come in different sizes and shapes. I bought the most basic one for my little point and shoot  Lumix camera, but for those of you who want to risk taking your DSLR (I didn't, I left it in my bag) there are ones that fit your lens and can be used inside the bag. The holders are zip locked (make sure you check it every time you close it) and then double velcro sealed. They come with a line to put around your neck so you can tuck it under your life jacket. It was a nice little souvenir with Caribbean Bay logo on the top and it cost about 22,000 won for the basic one and 29,000 won for the DSLR one.

The waterproof camera holder

It was really good if you're one of those people like me who like taking photos of everything, including when you're on a ride!

On the way up to the Wild River ride

Whilst floating along on the Lazy River

I took this photo while in the wave pool, which I don't recommend. I saved my camera by a second by throwing my arm into the air just as the wave hit. But I like the photo of the life saver, so it was worth it XD

Cost wise you'll need to pay for:

Renting a locker; you'll need a 500 won coin (but don't worry you'll get it back). To open it (I got very confused) you'll need to look out for the red key for vacant ones. Once you find one, turn the key and do whatever you need to do and before you lock the door and shut it, put the five hundred won coin in the slot and then lock it and you'll be able to take the key with the coin in there.

Life jacket; costs 2,000 won (but you get 1,000 back when you return it) I recommend just getting it at the start of the day and wearing it all day. Although it might seem bulky and a nuisance, you'll get used to it within ten minutes. Its also good because you can't go into certain pools without it (the two wave pools, indoor and outdoor require you to wear them) so you can do whatever you want without having to walk all the way back to the rental place.

Food; food is pretty average here. My lunch (Carib rice with jerk chicken) was pretty awful, I love food, but I had to throw it out. Expect cafeteria style food for about 10,000 - 15,000 won range. The snacks are pretty good, I recommend them as a tastier and cheaper lunch, I had a pizza spring roll which was amazing and it was only 2,000 won!

The rice was okay, but the rest was disgusting.

Pizza spring roll, yum!

I also bought the famed "Dipping Dots" ice-cream for about 2,700 won and an ice slushy drink for about 3,000.

Little balls of ice-cream goodness!

The park is rather large, so take a good look at the map as you go by. I only spent about 5 hours there (I was by myself) and saw all of it but didn't go on about 5 of the rides. If you're going to be there for an entire day with a group of friends, I recommend renting out a hut and using it as a base, they have a nice floor to sleep on and a large safe inside. Some of them even have balconies to watch over the park from and privacy shades.

My favourites:

The Lazy River, anyone can go on this without lining up. There are several entry and exit points and you can use it as a tour guide of the park. If you wait long enough, a child will discard one of the floating rings, so jump on it quick and relax as you float away! Some good points to get off at are:
-The indoor pool/aquatic centre, you get to go through a cool underground cave and pass by a polar bear and great white shark!
-The miracle spa, there are three different spas here and a foot spa. Sit here in the relaxing warmth, but take your life jacket off before you get in or a lifeguard will get his megaphone and yell at you!

The underground cave

The rides are fun, and if you're willing to wait from 20-90 minutes for a 5 second ride then do so. But the best part of the park are the lazy river and the wave pool.

The Wave Pool:

The wave pool is easily the main attraction. I counted roughly 16 lifesavers/wave breakers watching over this pool. I can see why, at peak it may be holding a couple of hundred people and you'll be shoulder to shoulder with several people as you float in there. If you go towards the deeper end it thins out but you'll occasionally be kicked by a small child.

I'm not 100% sure about this, I watched and waited to try and figure out the pattern so I think it goes like this; there'll be 10 minute segments with 3 minute intervals of waves, then 10 minutes of calm. The foghorn goes off at the start and voice over starts (I assume announcing what is about to happen). Then the lifeguard wave breakers will start waving everyone out of the yellow area and blowing their whistles.
When they all blow their whistles together and put their lifesaving boards up in the air, thats when the waves are about to start. The foghorn will go off again and the wave will go every 3 minutes. Here's my video of the wave breakers doing their job:

 

The wave pool was possible my favourite, although I'm a strong swimmer, I enjoyed just floating there with the life jacket on as the waves rolled by.  I love how everyone screams, its hilarious. The waves aren't very big at all, I'd hate to see how they fared in the ocean in Australia.

 The Skull Bucket:

This thing is fun to stand under, but the cascade is rather strong, so don't underestimate it!

                               

Some tips:

1. Wear a hat. Some days they enforce the "Wear a cap or hat rule" somedays they don't. But if not for the sake of the rule, wear it for the sake of not having a sunburnt face.

2. Wear copious and I mean copious amounts of sunscreen and put more on after 4 hours. I only put on one layer and while I waited in line for 40 minutes I got sun burnt shoulders. All the lifeguards here are extremely tanned, the Korean girls all cover up completely to make sure their precious white skin won't tan.

3. Don't carry a bunch of crap with you, eg. towel, shoes, wallet, sunglasses. For most of the rides you'll have to take off your sunglasses or glasses and your hat. Just wear the lifejacket and wear the waterproof camera holder if you bought one. You won't need shoes.

4. Girls, wear board shorts or a skirt. The Korean girls are pretty modest and most wear them and also long sleeved mesh or see-through type tops to cover up. You don't have to do this, but for the sake of not feeling to self conscious I would recommend this.

Here are some photos of the park, overall it was a great way to cool off, but be very careful if you don't want to get sunburnt or tan too much. Travel time is around an hour and a half if you include catching the subway to Gangnam and from there to Everland/Caribbean. You can get back to Seoul the exact same way you got there.

I highly recommend going there any day to cool off and definitely go with a bunch of friends. Going solo wasn't as much fun.

The entrance

Skull Bucket in use

The Surfing Ride

Tower Raft and Boomerang Raft, they both had a 90 minute wait

Aqua Loop strangely only had a 20 minute wait, but you couldn't wear anything but board short and just bikinis, lest you get stuck in the slide.

The cute tandem life savers.... lol

P.S, if you get sunburnt like I did, I recommend going to your nearest Face Shop and buying the "Aloe Fresh Super Moisture Gel" and slathering it on the area 3-4 times a day. Your sunburn will go away within 48 hours.

Hey Backpackers 2 Hongdae Hostel

 

Hey Backpackers 2 Building

This is the hostel/backpackers that I stayed in for 28 nights, yep a fairly long time in one place! So its safe to say I am pretty qualified in reviewing it. I found it by accident when I was quickly googling cheap hostels in Seoul about two months before I departed Australia. I was immediately put off by some of the bad reviews (as you do), but the good reviews won me over and so did the price! You can read the reviews here. But take into account that most of the negative ones are the Hey Backpackers 1 which I didn't stay at.

I travelled with a very complicated timetable of friends coming and going with me. For the first seven nights there were six of us. For the week after that there were only four of us. For the week after that there was only my friend and I. The rest of the time it was just me so it really didn't matter. In this post I'll be focusing on a few things about the hostel that other reviewers have complained about:

1. The owner
Most of the reviews I read were about the owner being crazy. The first night I was there he did bombard us with information and hassled us a little about payment. But I get the sense that the poor guy has been ripped off by lots of travellers staying for a while, then pissing off without paying. So yes, you need to pay the guy upfront as soon as you get there, he's fairly decent and will let you pay in installments if you don't have enough money.
After he inducts you into the hostel, telling you what facilities there are, and where good clubs and restaurants are he'll leave you alone. If you do by chance need him (which you will) there is a house phone with his number written on a whiteboard in the living room. He comes to you within five minutes of calling to help you with whatever you need. I definitely recommend asking him to reserve you a DMZ Tour and ask him to write you a discount card (20%) for the Nanta theater across the road. He's a lifelong member apparently, he sends a lot of business their way.
On the crazy part, yes he seems a little neurotic. He mutters to himself a lot and paces around, his English is okay. You just need to be patient with him and listen carefully. Often you'll find him lying on the couch or on the computer watching Kpop. He's very helpful, knows his way around Seoul and whenever he cleaned our bathroom he lined our toiletries up from smallest to largest and gave us a bottle of hairspray and a hairdryer.
I found myself sad to say goodbye to him when I moved from the hostel.

2. Cleanliness and facilities
The hostel isn't a pristine professional business. As you can see in the photo above its basically an apartment building that has been converted into a hostel. The hostel takes up the basement and first floor. The basement floor has 3 separate miniature apartments for up to four people with a bathroom, kitchen, double bed, bunk bed and computer/TV.
The main part of the hostel is the first floor where it is a normal house with a large living room, kitchen and laundry. The four bedrooms have been converted into a double room, a couples room, a six bed dorm room and a four bed dorm room. All up at its maximum the hostel can contain 24 people (maybe 25 if there's a random on the living room couch). The downside is that there are only two bathrooms for all those people. So if someone is taking an extra long shower and you really, really need to go, you better run quick to the public toilet up the road or if you have a bladder of steel, wait.
While the place isn't spic and span, you have to take into account that this man and his female partner run TWO hostels (the other one is literally around the corner and across the road). They take out the rubbish, vacuum and clean the entire place every night! So while its not super clean its acceptable, and unless you have OCD its fine. There's no aircon, but every room has one, two or even three fans in them which make sleeping in the humidity bearable.

 

Entry foyer

Kitchen

Living room (its obviously bigger than this but I was trying to take a photo without people in it)

I would have taken more photos, but there were always people there. Its a very busy hostel, it was only quiet once for about 5 days. You can view better photos on the website here.
Security wise its excellent. The six bed dorm has no lock, but there are individual lockers with keys. All the private rooms have keys or a touchpad code lock and the two front doors also have touchpad code locks as well.

Location wise it couldn't be better. It is located in the Hongdae Area of Mapo-gu. It is literally two and a half blocks from the Hongik University station exit #9 which is on the Green Line (Line 2 Outer/Inner City Circle Line). Across the road from the Hongdae Nanta Theater and around the corner from the main Hongdae clubbing area and about two blocks away from Hongik University.

Overall:
This is not just a hostel, its like a home. The owner, while eccentric is very helpful and kind of cute in his OCD ways. The location is highly convenient, you will miss its convenience when you move to a different hostel. For the price (see table here.) it is ridiculously reasonable. I enjoyed that whenever I needed something (like a crowbar and wrench because my suitcase padlock wouldn't unlock and I had to pry it off) I could just rustle through the draws and find it! Coming home to this place was relaxing and when I packed my bags and left, I was very sad to leave it :( I would definitely recommend using this as a base for either a long or short term trip to Seoul.

Out of 5 I would easily give it 4.5.

If you want more information about the hostel try these links:

Hey Backpackers Website

Official Site of Korea Tourism

Hostel World

Trip Advisor

My Purpose

View from the train between Incheon and Seoul.

 

I decided to return to my birth place to begin a journey that I knew I would eventually have to take. I was adopted by an Australian couple in December 1992 when I was just six months old. I was raised Australian, and English became my native language. I grew up in a regional town called Orange in New South Wales and had a relatively normal childhood bar being of Asian ethnicity while was my parents were Caucasian.

 I took a chance and did it this year because I remember speaking to a co-worker at the reception job I used to have about being adopted. He was well into his fifties, probably in his early sixties and he looked me straight in the eye and said, "I didn't search for my mother until I was 45, I found out she had passed away a year earlier. Don't wait and lose the opportunity." The next day I rang my mother up and told her to book me tickets right away. Without hesitation she did, and six months later I was on a plane to South Korea, the day after my 20th birthday.I had deferred university for a year, moved out of my Unilodge accommodation and packed my bags for a ten week journey.

 As we flew over the bright green rice fields and sleek highrise apartments and landed at Incheon Airport I remember crying uncontrollably. I flew Korean Air, so all the people around me were Koreans and I remember them looking at me while I cried. But not in judgement, in empathy. They were returning to their homeland as well. Its like when you return to Australia on Qantas, and although you joke and laugh how tacky it is, you have this indescribable feeling in your heart as they play "I Still Call Australia Home".

As my friend and I strolled through the airport to baggage claim, I found it so bizarre to be around so many Koreans. I felt kinship with them, yet I couldn't understand them. It wasn't until we were on the airport line train with our suitcases as everyone on the train sat quietly playing movies on their phones that I felt the cultural distance. 

With time it has improved a little, but the gap has also widened. I am writing this blog to help out other travellers who are going to Seoul or are in Seoul at the moment as well as the unique perspective of an adoptee returning to Korea. I myself found there was a lack of Korean travel blogs for Westerners or the ones that do exist were not entirely detailed.

I am also using this as a medium to catalogue my trip, so in many years to come I can look upon it fondly. I hope it helps whoever uses it and I welcome and comments or questions.

~Elise So Yun