Showing posts with label Cafes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cafes. Show all posts

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Autumn in Korea, Jeju: Yongduam Rock + GD Cafe + Bomnal Cafe

The GPS was set for a cafe as we drove out from the car park. Shortly, we reached a traffic junction and got honked for stopping instead of turning right, ha! It's left-hand drive in Korea and they do practice right turn on red. However, be careful of walking pedestrians, so do keep a lookout before making the turn. You can still proceed at flashing amber lights. With the various scenarios, Leecher adopted a monkey-see-monkey-do approach. As we drove further, I suddenly remembered that Yongduam rock is located near the airport. Hence, we should make a quick stopover before heading to the cafe. However, the next question came to mind: eh, rock got phone number for navigation? Since we didn't purchase any data card and stingy me refused to activate my data plan just to check, we relied mainly on the road signs since Yongduam is a tourist attraction. We got lost halfway (either their road sign is not easy to follow or we are unfamiliar with the road) and ended up along the coast line. 
We took a walk along the path, trying to locate the location of Yongduam. I came across the bus stop, looked at the map and realised that we have to back-track. So, we explored the surrounding first before heading there. 
Father and son enjoying their moment :) 
We sat down at the nearby beach, enjoying the breeze while watching a couple of guys fishing. Our hearts skipped a beat each time they pulled up their rods with the prized catch. We then went to Yongduam, which was a short drive away. The place was crowded with tourists (of a particular nationality) and I got a bit "turn-off" by their actions so we decided to revisit the place again on the last day before returning the car. 

** fast forward to the last day **
We arrived at Yongduam early, hoping to escape the crowd. Alas, I can't believe the number of tour buses parked at 8AM. The viewing terrace was bustling with life and if you're lucky, you can see the Haeneo women divers at work. Geographically, the rock was created by strong winds and waves over thousands of years. However, as with many naturally-created structures, there are also plenty of folk stories on how the rock existed. One legend has it that a dragon had stolen jade from Mount Halla and was shot down by a magical arrow from the mountain deity. As he fell on Yongduam, his body sank into the ocean while his head froze, looking at the sky. 
No matter how Leecher looked at it, he couldn't fathom why the rock is known as dragon head. He had to put on his best imagination and finally saw the similarity after numerous attempts to describe it to him. In fact, most visitors crowd at the viewing platform for an elevated view of the rock. The best way would be to take the stairs down and you will then appreciate the rock in full glory, thus relating to the legend on how the rock came about. However, we didn't have time for the journey so we stayed at the viewing platform instead. 
Being civil-minded individuals, we queued up for our turn for pic-taking but some of the you-know-which-nationality tried to cut my queue hence, triggering my bitchiness. I told them to queue up but they gave me some lame excuse that their tour bus is leaving. I snapped and said sarcastically, "巴士要开走了,你还拍什么?" These people have zero manners and I felt a social obligation to knock some sense into them. 
Yongduam Rock (Dragon Head Rock) 용두암
Address: Yongdamroteo-ri Yongdam-2dong, Jeju-si, Jeju-do
Tel: +82 64 728 3198 
Admission: Free 
** rewind to the 1st day **
From Yongduam, we drove for about 40 minutes to Cafe Aewol Monsant, more famously known as GD Cafe since it was rumoured that G.Dragon (of Big Bang) is the owner of the cafe. The cafe is located near the coast line, with an unblocked view of the ocean. A lot of Kpop fans will come to this cafe, some attempting to catch a glimpse of GDragon as it was reported that he will (sometimes) appear at the cafe. 
The Monsant followed an industrial theme, but the full length reflective glass panels are the main highlight of this building. It is nearly impossible to take a picture without being photobombed by people taking a selfie in front of the gigantic glass panels.
We sat outside for an unblocked view of the ocean. Leecher ordered some nibbles for sharing since we wanted to have the famous Jeju black pork for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised that the beef bagel was really tasty: bagel was toasted and the mixture of beef, mayo, vegetables and cheese was simply delicious. In contrast, the coffee was just average.
This place is great for picture taking, so we also act 一个 model. I wonder how those models do it, posing but not looking at the camera, hmm ..... 
Pardon the no-makeup face, I was too tired from all the travelling and decided to just let my skin rest. 
The stairs make a good backdrop for pictures, but we couldn't climb further up to explore. Leecher insisted that I capture the trees behind, which he claimed will frame the picture, well, your wish is my command then (^^)
Jumping on the bandwagon, we also took a welfie in front of the glass panels for remembrance sake before we left. 
Cafe Aewol Monsant 카페 애월 드 몽상
Address: 2546 Aewol-ri, Aewol-eup, Cheju, Jeju-do, South Korea
Tel: +82 64 799 8900
Opening Hours: 10AM till 9PM (daily)
Bomnal Guesthouse and Cafe is also worth checking if you are in the area. Located right in front of Handam Beach, this cafe is considered one of the best place in the area for chilling out and you will pass by this cafe en-route to Monsant. Unlike Monsant which was more industrial-focused, Bomnal display a more chirpy and warm atmosphere. 
Can't miss the gigantic coffee cup perched on top of the cafe. 
Mega-love this red mail-box!
Order for a drink first via the counter before you can enter the compound. The place is filled with such a positive vibe that I wished we had time to linger but alas, we need to head to our accommodation before it gets darker. There's always next time .... right?
Bomnal Cafe 카페 봄날
Address: 25 Aewollo 1(il)-gil, Aewol-eup, Jeju-si, Jeju-do, South Korea
Tel: +82 64 799 4999
Opening Hours: 12Noon till 8PM (daily)
🍃🍃🍃 Navigation for Jeju 🍃🍃🍃 

I have inserted a table that lists down the phone numbers for the various attractions. Simply enter the numbers in the GPS and viola - the places will appear on your map. Have fun driving in Jeju (^^)

Attractions Navigation
Yongduam Rock 용두암 (Dragon Head Rock) 7283918
Cafe Aewol Monsant 카페 애월 드 몽상 (GD Cafe) 7998900
Bomnal Cafe 카페 봄날 7994999
Accommodation Navigation
Citrus BnB N.A
Tangerine Pension 7646002

Psst ... more links will be added. Click on the links to read on our adventures!

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Melbourne Travelogue 02: Start of the Great Ocean Drive

 
Hello, I'm back with another travelogue! The hightlight of our Melbourne trip was the Great Ocean drive. The Great Ocean Road is listed as an Australian national heritage. The whole road is 243km long, along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the cities of Torquay and Allansford. This road is built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932 and dedicated to the soldiers killed during WW1. As such, this is the world's largest war memorial. An important tourist attraction in the region, this road winds through varying terrain along the coast, including the Twelve Apostles limestone stack formation. 
 
While the GO drive can easily be achieved within a day, we decided to take things slow and spread the drive across 3 days to enjoy the sights.We marked the start of the drive as soon as we drove off from the airport and sped towards the highway. The first pit stop was Geelong, approx 1h drive from the airport. 

I was busy snapping away when I spotted a field of canola and made Leecher pulled up at the roadside for pic-taking. #randomthingswedo
We couldn't enter the field as it was surrounded by barbed wires, so we could only take pictures outside but still better than nothing :) Our mood was instantly lifted looking at the bright colours! We also spotted a couple of cars pulling over to take pictures. Definitely tourists since I doubt locals would do such things on their homeland.  

We reached Geelong and it was time for a quick breakfast fix. The initial plan was to head for the food truck. However, after circling round the park, I couldn't find the exact location or the truck could have moved to another place. We then looked at my list of back-up and headed to a cafe instead. 
We parked on the road side beside the library and went in to kaypoh the Aussie library before we head towards the cafe.
Lavish Specialty Coffee is located in the quaint suburb of Belmont. This cafe has a 15 person seating capacity, with menus that caters to people with special dietary needs. During our trip, we noticed that gluten-free options are always available in an eatery or supermarket.  
 Ordering from the spring menu ~ 
Lavish cafe specialises in coffee, offering a wide range of coffee beans. You can purchase the beans home for your consumption. Just speak to the friendly helpers at the cafe! 
A cup of latte to warm our bodies. 
 With Leecher, my fave travel companion

Leecher ordered baked sweet potato with super food salad and coconut yoghurt. He must be trying to eat clean and healthy before indulging later, lol! 
I had the spice-rubbed chicken burrito, which comes with oven-baked chicken, avocado salsa, lettuce and chilli coconut aioli. You even get to choose between wholemeal wheat tortilla or gluten-free corn tortilla.
Our first meal in Melbourne was satisfying. I couldn't finish the burrito, so I packed it along in case I get hunger pangs during the drive. 
Lavish Specialty Coffee
161A High Street, Belmont, Victoria, Australia
Tel: +61 3 5241 3337
Opening Hours: 8.30AM till 2PM (Mon-Sat)
With our satisfied tummies, we head to Coles to stock up on drinks and snacks. Since Coles was literally across the street from Lavish cafe, I wanted to walk but Leecher was heading to the car. He insisted on driving since he don't want to carry 12L of water across the street when he could just load it into the car. Once our groceries were loaded, we continued with our journey towards Cunningham Pier ... to be continued in the next post! 

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