Korea 16th-28th Dec 2008

Hi folks!!! I am finally back from Korea. I am pretty much "zombiefied" because i took some time to adjust before i realise i am back to reality in Singapore. Till now, i still remember the times spent in Korea. & I REALLY MISS IT!!! Though it is just 12 to 13 days, i've made friends and get to be closer to the Korean's lifestyle. Anyway, i believe most of you know, i have gone to Korea before 2 years back, it was with the tour group. This time round, i decided to go for a tour package with a different itinerary and extended my stay there. I kinda enjoyed myself even more! Not much creepy stories, no Sardako...ok let me get started...

16/12...traveling on Asiana airlines...

Well...dunno if we are really unlucky or what, we got the last 2nd row of seats from the back...pretty squeezy and there was something wrong with this old couple's digestive system sitting behind us as we were pretty much "bombed" by them for the first 30min of the flight. What to do, the flight is really packed and we cannot change at all!. And then when it comes to our turn for food, no choice...only bibimbap...Sorry to say, there were so much msg, i started coughing and getting sick even before i reached Korea.

17/12...Reached Korea Incheon Airport...

We followed Dynasty travels and depart for the Namsangol Hanok Village. We wanted to stay in a Hanok at first but as it was really expensive during this season, we decided to cancel it in our plans. Our Korean guide, we called him "Fa Cai" who was a very friendly friend we had made there.

After that, we make our way to Jeju Island.

We saw the Yongduam Rock (Dragon Head Rock). The rock supposed to look like a dragon head. We went to this mysterious road too in which, we seem to be going uphill but the bus can still go up with engine off

After that, we went to rest at this 5* hotel called The Shilla and it was really nice!!!

18th Dec

We made our way to the famous Cheonjuyeon Waterfall. The scenery there is beautiful and at least it gives me the feeling of the spring season. (In my line, i have never seen spring and autumn, and i really wish that the march and september holidays are longer, i dun mind shortening one week of June or Dec and add that to March and Sept...)

:( Spoilers: If you hate spoilers, skip this part. But i just wanna write down. Our Singapore guide was a 40plus old man, who was very crude with his words. I feel that we can sue him for harassment. Well when we were in there taking photos, we were told to meet at 11am at this gathering place. We were there early by 5mins but we did not see anyone at the gathering point. Getting worried, we called the SG guide, who was very frustrated and came to fetch us. We made a comment saying that we thought they (the whole tour group) have left us behind, and he said this ：“ 哪里可能会把你们丢下，至少要用完了才丢掉。”We were very offended, what does he mean by 用完了? At that time, M and i looked at each other, after hearing the very crude remarks from him, but upon considering that we still have a few days with this unprofessional guide, we decided to keep quiet first and gave a very forced smile to treat as a joke.

After the waterfall, we went to the Teddy Bear Museum!!! I love teddy bears!!! I even bought my "Prince" from the Goong drama series.

Next, we went to visit this Haenyeo museum whereby it talked of women diving in search of food for survival. After that we really went to watch these divers in action. These women are all very fit and the youngest is at least 40 plus years old! We went to climb the Songsan Sunrise peak and got our little share of exercising...
After that, we went for horse riding...It was kinda scary and i think both mich and i really created alot of commotion.. the noisiest of the lot. Our horses supposed to go just one round, but my horse which was in front, did not follow instructions and went for another round, so the 2nd round was really fast and i really held on tight for my dear life.
At night, we stayed in a hotel in Jeju which is also quite a nice hotel, almost the same standard as Shilla though.

19 Dec

We made our way back to Seoul and this time make our way to Gangwon Do. Along the way, alot of people got sick and one of them is Michelle. That day was terrible because we really travelled alot on the bus. We took the ATV ride in very icy waters and really freezing cold weather. Our driver seemed to be one of the leaders and he really gave us one hell of a ride, going up slopes, going down slopes turning in 360 degrees and making us scream from the start to the end. We reach the Pension house that we are supposed to stay in. Its is like living in the woods, we lived in cottage look alike houses...the whole place looks old but it feels very magical.

20Dec

 It was snowing in the morning. The whole place looks even more magical!!! We played with snow and took photos. After that, we made our way to Yongpyong Ski resort. Well well, the ski experience is one of my most embarrassed ones. Two years ago when i tried ski, my only problem is i could not got my shoe into the ski equipment. This time round, i have no idea why i could not brake. Anyway, our korean guide, Eric got a young ski instructor to teach us. I was the 2nd in line to demonstrate and that was a disaster. I was skiing down the slope but i couldn brake at all, the instructor who was infront kept moving back and asking me to stop...I COULDN'T!!! So...ahem...i ended up "hugging him"...no choice wat, if i cannot stop, then he is just right in front so the most "convenient" way in order not to fall is to hug him la...After that, i think the instructor got scared of me...dunno y he disappeared after teaching the rest awhile more.

After the ski, we went to this waterpark. It is like the Singapore wild wild wet indoors...
At night, we went to the korean ktv with Eric and Walter ( our photographer in Korea), Tiffany and her husband and the Singapore guide (whom most of us hated and wished he just stay away...Anyway this guide is a 40 plus plus pervertic man, we called him the Shark, because when we were in the waterpark, he tried to join us and keep swimming towards us, we were like...shark come already shark come already...and i even hummed that JAWS Scary music which i heard in the movies....) It was a fun session and Walter could really rap... After that, M and me went exploring the ski resort and found this interesting guy in glowing top, we even took a photo with him.





21st Dec

 We went up the cable car to look for Winter Sonata...ok it is this place where they filmed the drama. I went once but since the whole group went, i thought just follow and go again. Our next destination was Everland. I still love Everland. As usual, we went to see the Animals and then we had our free time. The thing i enjoyed most over there is the fireworks with the Christmas music going on, the whole thing looks very romantic...but...
After that, there was a parade going on and it just seemed like a Chingay session...but ok la...first time i see in Everland. After that, we went to Renaissance hotel and stay for the night.

22nd Dec

 We went to make Kimchi and take photos in Hanbok costumes. After that we went shopping at the Ewha SInchon fashion street. We also went to look at Ginseng and visited the FACE SHOP. This place is a "killer" for women...we bought facial products like no one's business. At night, we went to Lotte World...but i think i still prefer Everland. We cannot really enjoy ourselves there as there is queue everywhere. We stayed in Holiday Inn for the night. The night was our last night with the tour...Days went so fast and i kinda missed my tour group.

At night, when Eric settled our extension stay for us, we went drinking with Eric and Walter and one of their friends. Actually it was kinda dangerous for two gals but dunno y i actually trusted them more than our Singapore guide. We got onto a van and went nearby for drinking session. That place was a pretty run down coffeeshop hidden somewhere along the alleys. It was a really happy night as we talked nonsense and drank rice wine. It was mixed with soda and tasted really nice when we drank it from the bowl. That was the night i experience the real local way the Koreans live in which joining the tour would not give me such experiences.

23rd Dec

We went with the group to the Cordyceps factory and the Amethyst factory and we said bye to our group. When we left the group after saying bye, and walked the road with the bus behind. The feeling wasn't good, really...and i actually felt like crying when i turned back to look... Now left just the two of us...It feels as if we just left our big family behind...feels really sad... Now is the start of our free and easy tour. We first went to Hong Ik University, it was a very arty place...with students carrying big palettes and walking around in the streets, we visited the Coffee Prince Cafe over there. After that, we went to Dongdaemun in the evening. The things there were pretty expensive.

24th Dec

Christmas Day eve...We woke up own time own target and went to Insadong...it was a place filled with galleries and interesting temples. There was a little alley with small restaurant signboards that make the alley looked really cool. We changed our hotel to the Gangnam area and tried to walk to Coex, all dressed up to party. We ended up having our dinner in Intercontinental. After that, we walked to find clubs to celebrate eve. Along the way, i dun feel good. The Christmas feel wasn't there. There wasn't alot of people on the roads. All i see were couples hoilding tight to each other, braving the wind. We managed to get to the Club called Club I...Ok guess what, we were denied entry with the reason that, they only allow Koreans!!! This is the first time i wasn't allowed in a club!!! We made our way to another Club...it is called Club Answer. That place is cool as there were alot of gorgeous people. All of them were dressed in Black or Grey...is that the colour code? Even the bouncers at the club were good looking...but i think it was really expensive clubbing there on eve.

25th Dec

 We went to the Ansadong Prehistoric settlement site and see houses that was left thousands of years ago. Next we went shopping in Gangnam area. I kinda enjoyed Gangnam...the people are more fashionable and there seemed to be alot of good looking people there.







26th Dec

We went to Apujeong in the late morning. I was told that there are models and gorgeous people walking around there but apparantly i dun see any. In the end, we went to a little cafe instead. We changed our hotel to Hyatt as i read that it is one of the hotels where alot of tourist stayed. I kinda enjoyed the hotel view. We got the last room and our hotel is really nice.
The ice skating rink in the hotel is sooooo romantic. The lights changing in the background and the korean music reminds me of the romantic stuff that koreans do for their partners. Well, we even see this guy proposing in the ice skating rink. WOW!! We went to Itawon. This place has alot of weird people. We only bought shirts from hard rock and we decided to taka a train back to Gangnam to shop instead. Oh ya...we saw KFC at Itawon too...n if u are a chilli person, pls bring your own chilli sauce because they charge for chilli packets.



27th Dec

We used the hotel facilities, swimming and using the jacuzzi. We practically laze the whole day away in the hotel. After that, we met with M's friends, Sam and Dev and Richard (Sam's friend) for dinner. We also went drinking in this tentage area and enjoyed wine and Soju...It was our last night in Seoul and i really missed all the things there. We called Eric and sort of say bye, tried to called Walter but couldn't get through.




28th Dec
We made our way to airport. We tried to call Walter again and it was really a coincidence,he was at the airport too. We went to take a little drink and bade farewell. At first, i thought there would not no one sending us back but it seemed we have someone here who is like family to us sending us off from Korea like that. The feeling i had on 23rd is here again...very sad very sad...I don't really wish to go back to Singapore but i know we have to face the reality sometimes.

I went back with a heavy heart and till now, i still misses Korea, i missed the people i have known and met there. I miss the simpler way of life there as compared to here.