i have a new blog... http://www.livejournal.com/~tingzhi
but still, i'll update this!
Heyoz people.. here’s your long awaited korea trip entry. Read on…
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Day 01 – Departure from Singapore
Reached the airport at about 8.05pm, then after manning those boarding pass and stuff, we boarded the plane at 10.15pm. Korean air plane leaves Singapore at 10.30pm sharp. On board the plane… kinda bored, so started surfing the ‘radio’ channels. Surprisingly, there’s a channel which has the Mandopop songs playing. Songs include those from Jay Chou, Jerry Yan, Elva Hsiao, FIR, Zhang Zhi Cheng and bla bla bla. Served meal about 12am… The chicken meat was nice. Haha.
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Day 02 – Arrival at Incheon International Airport, Seoul / Flight to Jeju Island
Upon arrival at Seoul, our dear local tour guide Ken led the hungry us to eat at a restaurant. This meal is not in the travel package… breakfast was OK, but I would rate it as the 2nd worst breakfast during the whole trip. Paiseh. Took domestic flight to Jeju Island. This is the place where the Korean drama ‘All In’ was filmed. We were kinda busted, due to the midnight flight and the 1-hour domestic flight. Lunch was Korean ancient meal, those that the emperor eat. The pork and beef were tasty. First account of using metal bowls and chopsticks. Decided to go and see the Dragon Head Rock located near the coast, canceling the following trips planned on that day. Kind of boring, well… Seeing rocks everywhere. This is due to the fact that Jeju Island has a lotta live volcanoes in the past, and when the volcanoes erupt, rocks fall out you see. That explains the huge amount of rocks on the island. After that… we headed back to Cheju Oriental Hotel to bathe and have a good sleep before going out for dinner.
Dinner was some steamed pork, vege, and other Korean local dishes. Kimchi there was tasty. The wind was blowing quite nastily out there. When we stepped out of the hotel, it felt like we were being blown and forced to walk. My face almost froze. Got blown by the cold wind back to Oriental.
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Day 03 – Jeju Island
Went to the Moksukwon Park after breakfast, before heading to the Songan Sunrise Peaks. This place is a dead volcano, with perfect view of the coast off Jeju Island. Oh Ken said that the planes were forced to stop their flights due to the huge wind the previous day. Damn lucky for us. Ken asked if we wanna climb the volcano cos the wind was blowing very fiercely. Of course we wanted. Thus, we climbed up the volcano. Started quite okay. Then when we reached near the peak, wind was blowing us off. And to add on to the chilling wind, the steps up the last stretch of the volcano was made of uneven rocks. Made climbing a lotta harder for us. When we reached the top, felt reluctant to walk down again. Haha. Dammit cold up there. The seaview was really beautiful, and flowers grew in the mouth of the volcano. Nice. Really nice.
After lunch, proceeded on to Song-up Folk Village. These are the traditional houses, made of rocks, preserved by the Korean government. Bought Honey from them. Well, that place was like our kampong. There’s no such thing as beggars or thieves in this part of the island. Houses keep their doors open even when there’s no one in the house. Gates were only used to tell visitors if the owners of the house were at home. Actually they’re not gates la. Where got gates with heights till your knee only. People can easily climb in right. That explains the crime-less society there.
Went to view the Chongbang Waterfall and the Chonjiyon Waterfall. They’re just streams of water flowing down. Well. It’s more fun struggling to stand straight on the rocks that line the coast. Then, we proceeded to the Teddy Bear Museum. There’s a collection of teddy bears inside, ranging from the smallest bear (about 4.5mm) to the most expensive Louis Vuitton Bear. The kids in our group were delighted of course. After which, we ate our dinner and headed off to the ‘Mysterious Road’.
This ‘Mysterious Road’ is just an ordinary road. A sloping ordinary road. This road goes against the center of gravity… causing water to flow up the slope and a car to travel upwards even when the engine is turned off. Kinda scary too, cos the car (or rather our bus) went faster and faster up the slope as if its going downhill. Haha. Went back to Oriental, changed, then me and my parents came out again to walk walk. Walked around in the supermarket and stuff. They actually have a person at the supermarket entrance to greet you when you come in. if Singapore were to do that then there would be less unemployment rate. Got blown back again into Oriental.
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Day 04 – Seoul Everland
Morning call 5am in the morning, I woke up at 4.30am. 7am flight back to Seoul. I slept through the whole flight. Ken was so happy that everyone was so punctual. Haha. Met Danny today for the first time. Erh, we’ll talk about him later. Can’t really remember that exactly happened that morning. Just a lot of unpacking and stuff to do. Went to Everland in the afternoon. It’s just a massive play area. Ken led us to the Safari… in a bus of course. Can’t afford to lose our lives to the tigers and lions and bears inside. Two words – Super Nice. The driver was very very skilled. Drove so near to the animals that they’re simply inches away from us. First is the lion and tiger safari. Ken gave a long story about a particular tiger and a particular lion didn’t register their marriage and had 3 children out of wedlock. Their children are given the name ‘liger’. I’m not joking duh. There’s really such thing called liger. Only 3 in the whole world and they’re all in the safari. The bear safari was interesting. Driver taught bears to do stunts.. for eg kissing, begging, running and standing on two feet… I love the one who did the kissing. Super cute.
Went for river ride, got my dad to be half wet from the splashing. And mind you, its winter time. The water froze into ice. Haha. After the river ride we went to play other stuff, like roller coaster, the ferris wheel, suspended helicopter. First time on roller coaster. Luckily I screamed out loud. Or else I could have puked.
Drove to Yong Pyong Resort. Put our luggages in the Dragon Valley Hotel before crossing the road to have dinner in the restaurant. Mr Wilson Lee bought 2 cakes to thank us for caring for him when he lost one of his luggage. Started singing Merry Xmas cos there’s nothing else to sing. Haha. Set off crackers, I took two and set one of them beside Ken’s ear. Well I got chased around the restaurant after that. We used the leftover cream from the cake to play with Ken after eating. Pitiful him. The kids all cleaned their hands full with cream on his shirt. Haha.
Stepped out of the restaurant.. and guess what? It’s snowing!! I took a photo with Choi Ji Woon and Bae Yong Jun. Hehe. The life-sized poster there la. Haha. Wanted to cover Choi Ji Woon and take the photo. Kind me didn’t want girls to scream at me. Lolz. So… Haha.
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Day 05 – Yong Pyong Snow Ski / Waterpia
After breakfast, we went to the Mt Sorak Park to give our prayers to the huge Buddha there. After lunch, we went to rent the clothes and goggles, and bought the gloves for skiing. Back to the ski slopes. The ski shoes were so heavy and tight that we had a hard time even walking without the heavy blades on. My feet can’t even move in the shoes. Had a very super fun, but equally tiring time out there in the snow, learning how to slide, brake, balance and stuff like that. It was then I started talking to Black Apple and Denise. Fell down 3 times in total. Don’t laugh. Once you fall down it’s really difficult to get up again. You’ll need ages to get back on feet. First time I fall down… was saved by Danny ultimately I think. Second time a stranger and third was black apple. Hey I gave those guys a chance to act hero okay.
Went to Hanwah Hotspring Resort to put our luggages, before coming out for sauna and the hot spring. This place is a lot more interesting than standard hotels. The resort is like our Aranda liddat. It’s like a unit, laid in Korean tatami style. Those woks, scissors, knives, stove… all ready for you to even whip up a meal.
At the hot spring, the indoor swimming pool was nice… warm to the skin. Among the young people many chose to stay in the resort cos too tired after the snow ski. Humphrey me, my parents and black apple went to the outdoor swimming pool. Whoa the water is a lil cooler, but the temp above the surface of the water was chilling. Dare not come out of the water cos IT’S WINTER. I cowered back into the indoor swimming pool, tried out some of the bubble bath there before coming out red as a lobster. Bleah.
Dinner time! Some people choose to spend 40000won and try the seafood. Well 40000won is about S$60. Stuff on the dining table include live sea urchins and live octopus. The waitress comes with an alive octopus and you’re supposed to bite one of it’s tentacles while the waitress cuts the tentacle off for you to eat. And mind you, the tentacle is still alive when it’s cut off from the octopus body. So it’ll like suck here suck there in your mouth… doing voluntary massage service to your tongue while you bite it dead. Sashimi was included in the meal too… and crabs and erh… just SEAFOOD. Those who chose not to eat seafood finished our meal much earlier than those who ate. We bought some fireworks at the restaurant and played in the night sky. Colourful mesh of fireworks… Darn beautiful. Play finish liao went back to the bus and wait for the seafood people. In total we waited 2HOURS after we finished our meal. Daddy suffered heatstroke cos of the changing of temp in and out on the way back to the resort. Mr Lee and a lotta kind people came to his rescue. All was okay the next morning tho, gave me a huge scare. Haiz.
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Day 06 – Nami Island
Boat ride to Nami Island. This small island is the only one in Korea without any mountains or hills. Went around to walk… strolled along ‘Lover’s Path’, where YouZhen and JunXiang strolled amongst the neat rows of chestnut trees. Had a delicious grape ice-cream there. Advantage of eating ice-cream during winter is that the ice-cream won’t melt. Disadvantage? Your mouth literally freezes. But then again, you can eat it for 3 hours and the ice-cream still stays. Haha. But only a person with eating disorders succeeds in eating an ice-cream for so long.
Back to mainland (don’t ask me how I did. Just told you I took a boat there, so it’s a boat ride back then. Duh.) Shopped, or walked, a bit at the Myeongdong District. Oh, there’s the famous Winter Sonata tree where the drama hero and heroine met. Bought some strawberries there. One big pack for 6000won which is about… S$9. the strawberry literally melts in your mouth. Damn sweet and tasty. Delicious. On the way back to Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel, we stopped for a while at the Ginseng whatever-the-bloody-long-name Specialty Shop. They gave us each a free cup of ginseng tea. Actually the ginseng tea was kinda diluted la. Real ginseng tea plus lotsa grape sugar. Makes it nice to drink, but it’s like drinking Yeo’s Sugarcane Juice like that. Not essential to the body, no harm done either. No loss, no gain. No… Okay you get the idea.
Oh it’s at the basement where we bought six packets of ginseng sweets. Total they cost us 30000won which is S$45. So people, treasure every ginseng sweet I give you. Hahaha. Shuiying bugged me to go buy with her. So I went. Nice me. *applause*
Then went to see crystals. The girls there very friendly la. Hahaha. Oh Cole bought a necklace for his girlfriend. Whoa so sweet ah. Haha. S$60 for one leh. But it’s nice. Blue crystal. Hmmz.
Back at Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel. Only hotel that has a casino in Seoul. Oh and this hotel is where the Hotelier.. or better known as Qing Ding Da Fan Dian was filmed. So nice right. Six star hotel wor. Haha. My parents went with shuiying’s daddy mommy to the casino. Haha. They won back $30 in the end. And guess what? Got free keychains! Very nice somemore. Hahahaha. I realize I keep haha-ing. I should stop. Haha. Oops.
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Day 07 – Lotte World, Shopping at Seoul
Nothing much today la. I mean that day. Ya. Visited some weird palace. Looks like a mosque to me. So small. Dare not say it in front of Ken. Haha. But that was my personal feeling la. The palace was small to believe that it was even a palace. Anyway, after that we went to shop at Namdaemum and Myeongdong (the bigger one). Myeongdong was frightening big. It was big, till it’s frightening. That’s crap. Bought a lot of seaweed there. S$15 for one big big big pack. Yeah. Ate a pancake there. Sweet sweet de. Very nice.
Lotte World. VERY FUN!!! The lotte characters are so cute! Then played almost all the rides available there. Haha. Very cute. The place I mean. Not me. Got the Christmas tour around evening. All the cartoon… Mickey, Gingerbread Man, Cinderella… yada yada. Very cute. Then the performers all very skillful. Played till very very late la. Came out, shivered while waiting for the bus, then went on the bus still shivering. Ahh well.
Last night at Lotte World. Havocked around.. before succumbing to sleep finally. Haiz. Last moments at Korea.
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Day 08 – Back to Singapore *sob*
Morning walked everywhere… bought stuff… then went to airport. Sad la. Last day, then there’s this connection between Ken and us already. Like a big family. Ahh well. So it’s the usual hugging and hand-shaking and bye-bye-ing before waving a last goodbye to them. Well… fate will bring us together again someday… I believe.
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tingzi
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