South Korea Backpacking Trip Under RM1000

Anyone can travel cheaply if you're accompanied with a like-minded travel-mate who also shares the same opinion that we can sleep literally anywhere without paying. :)

So can a trip to South Korea be cheap? Here was what I did.

1. Have a very cheap-skate traveler as a travel-mate. 

First thing to note, I didn't go here alone. I was with a fellow travel-mate from Indonesia. One of the best budget and itinerary making traveler I've ever met so far. It's an honor to travel with this person because I get to learn a lot from traveling with him.

Eh, HIM?

On a side note, he's also a very respectful person and won't do anything foolish to you. :)

The itinerary was done wholly by him after rejecting my version. Hahaha. Every independent traveler that I've met so far prefers to plan their own itineraries instead of copying others. More freedom and self-satisfaction. The plan was to fly to Busan, get on an overnight bus to Sokcho, do a day hike at Seoraksan Mountain and then head to Seoul via bus during the night.

Our route for South Korea

2. Couchsurfing all the way! 

Like me, my travel-mate is also an avid couch-surfer so we shared duties in searching for hosts in Korea. 

Total days - 8 Days

• 1 night - on the bus from Busan to Sokcho
• 2 nights - with CS host in Seoul

With our Couchsurfing Host In Seoul - Ms Sohyun Park

• 3 nights - with CS host in Jeju

With our Couchsurfing Host in Jeju - Ms Jieun Park 

• 1 night - with CS host in Busan

With our couchsurfing host in Busan - Ms Jen Bourbon 

Costs incurred - 0 RM if you don't count the costs for buying souvenirs for the hosts that is. :P

3. Transportation Costs Paid in Cash There

We opted for the cheapest method ever which means riding the local buses and avoid taxis and fast trains.

• Bus ticket Busan - Gangneum - Sokcho : 39,100 + 7,000 = 46,100 won
• Bus Ticket Sokcho - Seoul : 17,300 won
• T-money overall reloaded amount - 40,000 won (this was used for all the bus and metro transport within Busan, Jeju and Seoul)

We purposely went to Seoraksan Mountain to enjoy the Autumn leaves there. Hehe.

• Local Bus from Sokcho to Seoraksan Mt.(return) : 2,200 won (T-money can't be used here)
• Ferry tickets from Jeju to Udo (return)  - 5,500 won

Total Costs - 111,100 won = 346.52 RM

*Flight tickets from Seoul - Jeju + Jeju - Busan was paid in full before the trip and costs about RM 300 if you book early from either JejuAir or Easterjet. They are both low cost airlines in South Korea. 

Luckily for us, during our three days stay in Jeju, our CS host has kindly brought us around in her car and we helped paid for the car's ferry return tickets to Udo Island and fuel only. Syukurrrrrrr!!! Each of us paid 15,200 won to our host for a day trip in Jeju and Udo. While on the second day we opted using the local bus and visit places we missed during the first day.

4. Engage with a local who can bring us around.. for FREE!

This happened in Busan where my travel-mate found a CS host who couldn't host us but wanted to meetup. Mr. Lee who was fresh from the army brought us to Samcheon Village in Busan and introduced us to local street food.

With out CS tour guide in Busan with Samcheon village as our backdrop.

After that, during the evening, her brought us to Taejongdae Park. The day was getting darker so there weren't many pictures taken there. :3

5. Enjoy the trip!

I brought around RM 1,500 for this trip.. and came back to Malaysia with more than RM500. The money saved was going to be used for my next trips. This trip was special to me because I finally had the chance to celebrate hari Raya overseas without being a student! Muahaha!

Did my Raya prayers at Seoul's mosque.

And during the praying session, I finally met the first Korean Muslim who was sitting right next to me! 

My firs Korean Muslim counter. hehe

It didn't stop there though, during our lunch at a nearby Korean restaurant, we met with a table of Korean Muslim guys who was sitting just beside us. They even passed us some spicy Korean dish that was served at their table. What luck. ^___^

A trip to Korea is incomplete without tasting their local food!

With that I end my blogpost on South Korea. One of my cheapest trip so far in an expensive country. :)

Happy traveling peeps!