Note: Time in Korea is 1hr faster compared to S'pore.
Day 1 (10 Jun)
Had dinner at Changi Airport and assemble at 8.35pm. Boarded Asiana Airlines for flight to Seoul.
Day 2 (11 Jun)
Arrived at Incheon Airport at 6am (Korean time). It was a very bumpy flight coz of some air turbulence. Almost vomited. I'm so 烂！Had 2 cups of coffee for KRW1000 each. A very budget breakfast with raisin bread flown from S'pore. Haha... But i didn't have any coz i'm so sick...
Had a 30mins bus ride to the Presidential Blue House. There are many container buses along the roads to prepare for any protests. Saw maple leaves & got hit by an unknown fruit. Ouch! Proceed to Namsan Hanok Village (韩屋村). There are doors hanging on the ceilings for use during winter, so that the room won't be too cold. Ceilings in bedrooms are low so that people wake up feeling refreshed whereas ceilings in hosting areas are usually higher. Saw some filming going on but i was unable to see any stars. :(
Presidential Blue House
Namsan Hanok Village
Went to have Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup for lunch. They have glutinous rice mixed with normal rice stuffed in 童子鸡. Quite different. There's kimchi too but i prefer those using radish to those using cabbage. After lunch, we went to Myongdong shopping street. The clothes are quite nice and cheap but we bought nothing. Haha... I think it's wm's paradise coz it's filled with her favourite type of clothes.
Myongdong shopping street
Boarded the 1-hr domestic flight to Jeju Island at 4pm. The weather here is super cool...just like Genting. :) Went to Yongduam Dragon Rock, one of the most unusual lava formations. It looks like a roaring dragon rising from the sea into the sky... Had some Korean dishes for dinner like raw crab kimchi blah blah blah... Check in T.H.E Hotel and went to TopDong Street. Nth much...we only bought some pastries which turned out quite delicious. :D
土地公&土地婆 of Jeju
Yongduam Dragon Rock
Day 3 (12 Jun)Morning call at 6am. Dad wasn't feeling very well today, so he wasn't very active. Was very quiet the whole day. He suspected that he ate too much kimchi yesterday. Poor Dad... Had abalone porridge for breakfast. The abalone bits are quite tough and fishy. Went to Songsan Sunrise Peak. Kinda tiring... The view was so-so and we chanced upon 2 eagles fighting for food, a cute rabbit and some horses.
Songsan Sunrise Peak
Proceeded to Songup Folk Village. The Korean Tour guide there was very funny...had a great time there... The things they used are very meaningful. Very cool! They have 3 sticks as a door coz of their good security. When all sticks are up means there are no one in the house. When 2 are up, it means "I'll be out for quite some time, maybe you can come back at night". When 1 stick is up, it means "I'm out for a while, pls come back in an hr or two". When no sticks are up, it means that "you're free to visit."
Songup Folk Village
We had Korean style BBQ for lunch. Quite nice...Finally, we went to my long-awaited teddy bear museum. Yeah! So many teddy bears in different costumes and settings. So kawaii!!! Saw the smallest bear in the world and the most expensive LV bear.Proceeded to Mysterious Road. Just some imagery illusion which caused you to think that the bus is going upslope with the engine off.
Korean style BBQ Took domestic flight to Daegu and reached at 6.30pm. Took bus to Kyongju. Ate at a Chinese restaurant. Still ok...At least it's a change of taste after so many Korean meals. We ate the Korean 炸酱面 that are often shown in Korean Dramas. I like it! Very nice... :)
After dinner, the tour guide asked if we had Korean Spicy Rice cakes before. No one had, so he said he's going to cook for all of us when we are residing at the condominium the next day. Yipee! I have been wanting to try that... He said it's kinda uncommon now coz of the hygiene factor of street stalls. Check in at Hilton Hotel for the night.
Outside Hilton Hotel
Day 4 (13 Jun)
Morning call at 5.30am. Never woke up so early...it's just 4.30am in S'pore. Yawn... Had breakfast buffet at Hilton Hotel. Quite good... Left for Bulguksa Temple at 7.30am. Drank the water that came from the mountain top. Very refreshing and it's said to wash away your worries and guilt. We also took a grp photo there and the tour guide said that in Korea, we are supposed to say "Kimchi!" instead of "Cheese". Haha...
My calves kinda ache today due to the climbing of Sunrise Peak. I'm so unfit. :(
Had almost a 5-hr bus ride before reaching Mt. Sorak National Park. In between we had 石锅拌饭 for lunch. Nice...i like it...not spicy at all. Took cable car at National Park to the summit. The view is magnificient! I think it'll be even better during winter. Saw many squirrels. They are all so small and cute.
Mt. Sorak National Park
Ate dinner at Yong Pyong. It's some fish and they use it to cook soup. It's a 享受 drinking hot soup in a cold cold weather. Ate some sardines which taste nice and even better if it's less salty. Check in at GreenPia Condominium. It's a typical apartment which Koreans live in. We get to sleep on the floor with blankets just like Koreans. Turned out that it's really hard. Can't sleep well... They have the high-tech bidet and my dad n bro got so excited over it. My dad even got his pants wet while trying to film it working. Haha!!!
GreenPia Condominium
Ate some spicy rice cakes which the tour guide cooked. Very good! The rice cake is very chewy. Yum Yum!
Day 5 (14 Jun)
Morning call at 6am. Went to have breakfast at a nearby hotel cafe. Typical breaskfast buffet. No appetite so i ate little. Went to the filming site of Winter Sonata. Didn't watch the drama so i'm not really excited. The weather is so cold at Yong Pyong. 12.8 degrees Celcius. It has the coldest winter in Korea.
Shooting Location of Winter Sonata
Went to a Korean farm and we made cheese. It seems like we are making tofu. It's not what we imagined cheese to be like---yellow & hard. It looks exactly like a tofu and we decorated it with some edible flowers. I don't really taste the cheese flavour so it was nth much. Instead, i prefer the corn chips and the red wine they provided. Haha...wanted to drink some red wine to drunk myself and prepare for the 4-hr bus ride later. But in the end, I'm still sharp as ever. Saw some lambs and the way they "meh" is so deep. It sounds like they are choking on sth...haha...
Lunch
The 4-hr bus ride is quite smooth for me. No motion sickness... Reached Decksan Spa Castle and after checking in the apartment, we changed and proceed to the spa. There's a pool for adults with different massage functions. The first two times I went in with no trouble. Enjoying the massage and performance at the same time. But the 3rd time, a Korean staff said sth which i don't understand at all. I think he's trying to ask us to get out of the pool. I dun look like an adult meh? So angry leh. I paid the admission fee and y can't i enjoy the pool. :( Had mushroom steamboat for dinner and went to the supermarket to buy some tidbits.
Decksan Spa Castle
Dinner...
Day 6 (15 Jun)
Morning call at 6.15am. Went for breakfast buffet at Theme Dong. I think it's better than Hilton's. Reached Everland Theme Park at 10am. Went for 3-D animation. It's ok but i expected more. Went for wavy ride too. Expected more again. After that, we went for the thrilling T-express which opened on March 2008. This roller coaster has a steep slope of 77 degrees. WOW! Queued up for ard 40 mins before we get to try it. Sat with a Korean guy who kept on "Wa...Ha...Ha...Woo..." throughout the whole ride instead of screaming. So weird... The ride was supposed to be a 3-min ride but everything happened so fast that i think it lasted for only a few secs. Haha... Dare not open my eyes when i'm going down the slopes. It's so scary!!! It felt as if i'm falling down a building. I barely recovered from "falling" down a steep slope & here i go again "falling" down another slope. Felt a bit dizzy and very excited after the ride. HAHA!!!
Everland!!!
Spent the whole afternoon walking ard bug's garden, four seasons garden and rose garden. It' a Sunday hence it's so crowded that i didn't really try many rides. :( I think everything seems trivial after you took the T-express...Haha... Proceeded to a cultural show titled "Wedding". It started with a typical love story(drama mama) and continued with some traditional performances. The way they danced and turned is so beautiful. I liked their Hanbok! :) The Wedding
Went for BBQ using charcoal. Nth fanciful just pork, pork and more pork. Rmbed Phyllis telling me to eat more kimchi...I think it's hard not to eat it coz they have kimchi every meal, even breakfast. Haha... Always thought they only have cabbage & radish as kimchi but they also use different veggies to make kimchi and even fish intestines, soft shell crab...Eww...
Heard from the tour guide that Korea's stuff are now more expensive than Japan's. They really have a very high standard of living. But i must say that Korea is very clean and environmentally friendly. They use toothpicks which are green in colour and dissolve in water. Usually u have to pay for the plastic bags as well... I think S'pore has a lot to learn from Korea...
Check in to Hotel Riveria.
Day 7 (16 June)
Morning call at 6.30am. Had Chinese-styled breakfast buffet at Turtle Plaza. Not exactly very nice but acceptable. Feeling kinda gloomy today. Dunno why...maybe i'll be better later... There are not many obese ppl in Korea coz their diet consists of many veggies and most are very 清淡. It's very rare that you see fried food. Now going to Korean Ginseng factory. Boring...
Proceed to Kimchi School. Learnt how to make kimchi. We can either bring the Kimchi back or leave it there and they will give them to the nearby orphanage and old folks' home. No use keeping it coz it needs to be refrigerated or it'll have an odour after fermenting. After making some kimchi, we tried some Hanbok and took some pics. I dun like my Hanbok...don't think it's really nice. I wanna choose... Went to The Face Shop as well...
Had 硫磺鸭 for lunch. The duck meat is very tough and the soup tastes a bit like ginseng soup. Don't really fancy it. Went to amethlyst factory. Not interested in this kind of jewellery so i waited outside. This cute little gal in our tour grp performed for us...She's so adorable and very obedient. Kawaii!!!
Went to DongDaeMun market. There's almost 9 floors of clothes and accessories. There's even more along the streets. Their apparels are very colourful but i bought nth coz i think they are too loud for Singapore. Haha...
Reached Lotte Hotel World, a 6-class hotel. The inital schedule was to play at LotteWorld but my parents are meeting their Korean friends, so we tagged along. The couple is funny...behaved like newlyweds, teasing each other. They are both very cheery and tall....never regretted tagging along. :) Had dinner at TGIFriday's. Big portions of western food...can't finish... But it's quite nice... :) Went to LotteMart to walk around coz Dad wanna see the supermarket. After walking around, we went back to hotel and bid the couple goodbye. After they left, my dad, my siblings n i went back to LotteMart to shop again. Haha...not very nice to shop in front of friends ma... (Mum remained at the hotel due to slight headache). Thought the supermarket closes at 10pm so we hurried down. After asking then i know they close at 1am. Haha.... We bought lots of stuff and Dad even bought a humongous bag of prawn crackers. Haha...
Day 8 (17 Jun)
Last day in Korea. Morning call at 6.30am. Had breakfast at a Chinese restaurant. Went to see the seoul tower... After that, we went to a war memorial musuem. Proceeded to do some last minute shopping. Had Korean "chicken rice" for lunch...quite nice... :) Went to a mart before proceeding to the airport for flight back to S'pore. Watched "Horton Hears a Who!" Very funny...almost can't contain my laughter in the plane. Haha... Played some Bejeweled as well...The flight back was smoother than the flight to Korea. Heng ah...
War Memorial
Seoul Airport
Reached S'pore ard 9pm. Home sweet home... :D
Overall, the trip was fun but tiring. I've learnt more abt Korea and it's a trip worthwhile... :D
Alvic
