Annyeong-Haseyo! First of all, happy chinese new year to you, my readers! <3 May the year of the monkey bring you good health, great luck, a pot full of prosperity and love!
It was an amazing trip thanks to my dad who sponsored me this 8 Days Korea trip which I can never forget the experience! By the way, I went with a tour group (with mom and dad). Check out SA Tour Malaysia for their Korea trip! Participant for this trip were: Myself, Mom, Dad and Uncle David.
Disclaimer: I never like Korean movie, music before this trip. I am actually feeling weird/awkward when I was told I'm going to Korea. Don't ask me why, its just.,like that.
Before I jump into my experience in Korea, here are the things which is VERY important if you're going to a country where it has the temperature 0 Celsius and below! Trust me, its freaking cold.
Day 1
It was an amazing trip thanks to my dad who sponsored me this 8 Days Korea trip which I can never forget the experience! By the way, I went with a tour group (with mom and dad). Check out SA Tour Malaysia for their Korea trip! Participant for this trip were: Myself, Mom, Dad and Uncle David.
Disclaimer: I never like Korean movie, music before this trip. I am actually feeling weird/awkward when I was told I'm going to Korea. Don't ask me why, its just.,like that.
Before I jump into my experience in Korea, here are the things which is VERY important if you're going to a country where it has the temperature 0 Celsius and below! Trust me, its freaking cold.
- Long John / Thermal Wear
- Jacket! (DAMN IMPORTANT! GET A GOOD ONE PLEASE)
- Jeans / Long Pants
- Good comfy socks
- Good pair of shoes with nice good grip! (Recommended Dr Martens)
- Scarf (IMPORTANT)
- Gloves (IMPORTANT unless you want to be Edward Cullen -.-')
- Beanie
- Ear Muff (I did not really use it since, my beanie can be my ear muff)
- MASK! (I regretted I did not bring any of it :( )
- Brandy (HAHAH! You won't get drunk, it helps you to keep your body warm, trust me)
My flight to Korea was at 11.50pm. Korean Airlines only fly that time. Wait, its either 11.30pm or 11.50pm. What difference does it make? Its just twenty minutes! Arrive there, reach immigration, wait for luggage, take luggage, 20mins doesn't make any big DIFFERENCE okay! Plus, its a trip/holiday, why stress much right?
The flight from KLIA to Incheon International Airport took about 6 Hours and 10 Minutes. Korean Air has been great, for its service. Well, its a midnight flight so you can't expect them to be bringing you chicken rice during flight, people SLEEP during this hour. But they are good enough to keep you hydrated. SPAM THE DRINKS IF YOU ARE THIRSTY AND DONT BE SHY! Don't need to worry about the coldness in the airplane, you will just feel warm, normal and you won't even realised its actually bloody cold outside!
Day 1
We arrived Incheon Airport at 7.20am (Korea Time). Korea time is an hour advance than KL (+1) so yea :) Reached the immigration and there are tonsssssssss of people queuing up. Luck was by our side, eventually we skipped the loooooong que and went to an "express lane" which had less people! Done with the passport chop, proceed to the luggage claim and yes! Welcome to KOREA!
Our tour guide, a class 13 actor in Korea as what he said. There's a class rank in the acting work in Korea. From the lowest Class 1 to the superstar Class 18. Okay, skip that! We hopped into the bus, took a two hours drive to Gyeonggi-do, an attraction place called The Petite France. The concept of Petite France encapsulates "Flowers, Stars and the Little Price". When you step foot into this place, you see, french style buildings, thats why its call Petite France right? Oh for those who watch Running Man, they actually did an episode here! Not really a fan of this place, but I can say the view from here to have a wide view of the area is beautiful, OOTD lovers will actually love this place too! The wind blew too strong (I was in my outfit without Long John and Scarf) it hit me and I was shivering. YES SHIVERING! Killer in winter is THE WIND! DON'T BE FRIENDS WITH THE WIND! Immediately, dad went and get some hot soup with fish ball in it, it taste good, like seriously good!
After spending two hours in Petite France, we boarded the coach and took another half and hour on the road journey to Nami Island. Before we reach the immigration of Nami Island, LUNCH TIME! Dayummmmm food, Korean food! Authentic Korean food, made in Korea! Okay, will skip the food introduction, proceed to Nami Island! To get to Nami Island, you're required to take a ferry to the island which takes about 15 minutes. Nami Island is named after General Nami, who was caught with treason during the reign of King Sejo. So, Nami Island is like a grave (fake grave) to General Nami as what the tour guide said, the King wanted to demolish the body of General Nami, thats why there's so many fake grave of General Nami, but the famous one is here and called as Nami Island! Nami Island is also famous for its scenery, and snow! If you happen to droopy here during winter/snow, you can see snows all over the alley! Besides its scenery, the famous one is the Winter Sonata statue. I did not watch the whole series of Winter Sonata, so I was like "okay, winter sonata. yay." Spending 3 hours there, walking around the compound, hearing stories from the tour guide, we then had our dinner and proceeded to Phoenix Park Ski Resort (which took another 2-3hours on the road) and overnight there.
Phoenix Park Ski Resort is located in Pyeongchang-Gun, Gangwon. It's called a Ski Resort and the room I stayed, has an amazing view of the snowy mountain! Oh, this place will be one of the main event place for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Yes, Winter Olympics 2018 will be held in South Korea. I reached here about 8pm, and its freaking cold. The coldest it went for that night was -16 Celsius. If you're wondering how cold it is, I did a live example. I walked to the mall located opposite of the resort with my family (we wanted to grab fried chickens and beer), and just so coincidence there's a starbucks! John and Starbucks is like, husband and wife. I went it and ordered a Venti Hot Chocolate (like boiling hot) and I took a zip in the store, it burnt my lips and tongue. While holding the hot cup, I opened the door, walked outside for less than 10 steps (15 seconds?), it became cold. like cold chocolate. With that temperature and wind blowing, total killer! But, I survived :D
Day 2
Woke up early in the morning like 6.30am, gotten myself ready and headed to the lobby for breakfast. I was pretty excited for the snow rather than having means in the morning (since in Malaysia you will never have snow). Done with my fast breakfast and when we walked out of the lobby, there's a small tiny mistletoe falling from the sky! It was an eye opening experience though, about 8am, there's like these small snow drops! When we reached the snow arena (yes a hill filled with thick white snow), there's a lot of people, busy ski-ing, and non of them built a snowman :( Oh, this is also the place where the 2018 Korea Winter Olympics going to be held! I was so tempted for trying to ski, but time constrains and yeah, i did not ski :( but not to worry, there's always a next time since I'm still young! I did not ski, but took a lot of photo's, and videos of the place. Also, I tried making a snowball, but failed. Instead, I made like a palm snow splash. The best part was, my phone fell and it got buried 90% by snow. Straight away, from 90% of battery went down to......empty -.-' Luckily, it did not spoil and the battery worked again all thanks to the heater!
We checked out the hotel about 10am, and headed for lunch. Lunch was delicious as usual, done with lunch and we took a 2 hours journey to Mountain Sorak (Mt Sorak). Mt Sorak had a very nice, wait its beautiful view of the mountains. It's like, those chinese art you see which has the scenery of mountains, here looks exactly the same and its 3D! With the snow covering the mountains, it really did make it look extra beautiful. We wanted to take a cable car up to the peak which can let us see the whole panoramic view of Mt Sorak but we were told by Charles if the wind blows too strong, we can get stuck at the peak for hours because no cable cars will function. We did not take the risk, so no up to the peak. While walking deeper into the park, we came across Shinhuengsa Temple. It was said that this was the head temple of the Jogye Order of Korea Buddhism. There's this big Buddha statue can be seen, where there are a lot of lighted candles. It was said that you light a candle, Buddha will grant you your wish, and give you protection.
Done with a 2 hours walking and exploring Mt Sorak, we headed to Daepohang Fish Market to buy some local stuffs. Well, local food I mean. From Seafood to Snacks and Fruits! So here, Uncle David bought a big box of fried chicken for supper, dad bought a tray of fresh strawberries and some dried seafood to be brought back home. Their local fried chicken is better than KFC. The flavour is heavy and the tender of the meat is just nice! Not forgetting the strawberries, OMG! I just love the strawberries! The strawberries is HUGE! Bigger than Cameron Highlands strawberries for sure! I tried looking in KL for the same size Korean Strawberries, but the don't have that big size here. :( All the strawberries I eaten, was sweet! Non of them are sour! Plus its so fresh, you don't even need to rinse it since its chemical free!
After grabbing snacks and snacks from Namdaemun Market, we went for dinner nearby the hotel and not far from the market. This time we stayed at Kumho Resort, Sorak. The resort was an apartment style resort, where we get to experience one more time of how Koreans stay. This time, I did try the heater, my room had it. With the heater, OMG, felt much better! Okay, for the night here, it was blowing strong wind, so strong you can even hear the wind hitting the window. While outside was blowing strong wind, we were happily eating Strawberries (fresh strawberries which taste freaking amazing delicious) and fried chicken (koreans really love fried chicken).
Day 3
This is the day we leave Mt Sorak, and headed back to Seoul. First stop in Seoul was Lotte World Adventure. I was told that Lotte World Adventure (LWA) is one of the largest theme park in Korea. We spent quite long here, because we were expected to have fun! But, we are all...adults (Disneyland is an exception), all the games there, like for kids.
LWA has an indoor and outdoor park. Their indoor is mostly for kids, and their outdoor games are for adults. Since it was winter, so its pretty nice to be at the outdoor park because you don't sweat! But, keep in mind with the crack lips and dry face, so keep yourself hydrated all the time. Although we had an all access one day pass, but we just felt too old for it. Only the kids were enjoying all the while, we adults busy finding places to eat!
So done with LWA, headed downtown to Alive Museum. The name says it all, ALIVE. Nothing comes to life, just 3D paintings on the wall and take pictures (exactly like HuaHin, Thailand). Not really a fan of these picture taking but since it was part of the agenda, we just got to swallow our saliva and proceed into this place. Spent half an hour here, just outside the museum there's a 7-11! I rushed into it, and gotten the FAMOUS BANANA MILK! I finally get to try it, and to be honest, it tasted quite good! (Everyday I had one bottle).
After the museum visit, a 15 minutes road trip to Dongdaemun Market. Dongdaemun Market is like, Pavilion. Everything here is branded and designer products (well MCM is an exception). Not really my cup of tea since all the brands are local designers but thumbs up for their design! Too bad its currently still Winter fashion, if not I will be leaving with tons of bags! In the end, I only gotten an Innisfree face soap since I left mine in KL, and my face is seriously dry. Innisfree here is cheap, okay!
We stayed in Gangham for Day 3 and 4. In Gangnam, you can see shops everywhere. Coffee shops too (mostly coffee bean in Gangham) and Starbucks is less being spotted. Oh, Samsung HQ is located in Gangnam too and yeah, i spotted the tall building (it's seriously tall). Urban Place, Gangnam is the hotel I stayed. Quite nice hotel, they had everything in the room, and an electronic rolling curtain.
Day 4
First agenda we went was to a Ginseng Outlet. Ginseng is very very very famous in Korea. Rumours saying that Koreans have nice complexion is not because of the plastic surgery or facial, it's because of the ginseng they consume. We stopped by in Ginwell Ginseng Factory and listen to some stories about ginseng. We also get to witness the real growing ginseng (only can see the petals but not the root since its buried underground and its still growing to its maturity). Dad bought few ginseng extract back since its good (my dad knows chinese herbs well) and a bottle is for me!
Next place we went was to a beauty school. Well, it's a beauty academy to be exact. Koreans always groom themselves well before stepping out of their house door. Here was a fun place. We actually get to try putting the ginseng mask, essence, scrubs, moisturiser and so on. I even had the chance to play with the famous BB cream and CC cream! Mom bought some products from the academy since she says it's good for her skin and dad present her one set :)
For lunch, we had bibimbap. Authentic made in Korea bibimbap! Bibimbap have been one of the best Korean "good-to-go" food I had in KL, in Korea, it tasted even better (maybe because of the fresh ingredients (the vegetables)). Mom, dad and uncle didn't get used to the all in one meal, but yeah, I ate my mom's portion since its so delicious!
Right after lunch, we went to Deoksu Palace. It is consider one of the old palace in Korea. We toured around the palace, seeing the houses of the Korea Emperor, his lifestyle, his entertainment place, the grand hall where he chaired His meetings etc. Upon leaving to Myeongdong, they had a show for about 30minutes which I don't know what was it all about. But I managed to grab a full video out of it, and also took a picture with one of the imperial guards!
In Myeongdong, it was a fun experience! There's like, a lot of shops, big place filled with shop lots! New Balance? Adidas? Nike? You want those brands, they have it here! Surprisingly they even had Dr Martens there, but it was overpriced. I had a 32cm ice cream with the extreme cold winter! That was a nice experience, people may think you're crazy eating cold things in cold weather but you're a tourist! There's also a lot of food stalls in the area, everything is convenient there! If you need traded premium items, there's Lotte Young Mall around the area and if you need Starbucks, they have it up in the end of the street!
After dinner we headed to Seoul Theatre to catch The Painters Hero show. The show was new to me. They actually drew all the pictures by their own hands, and its very very very beautiful! Too bad no video or camera is allowed during the show, but I managed to capture some of their work during the photography session!
Day 5
Highlight for Day 5 is actually the Kimchi making session and flying to Jeju Island! After having breakfast and checked out the hotel (Bye Gangnam :( ) we proceed to our first agenda of the day which is to check out a Healthy Liver Shop. Another selling product shop again with overpriced product! Did not buy anything because the product is damn pricy, over budget! No one bought anything from the shop, we then headed to the Kimchi making session *yay*! I managed to make my own kimchi here but too bad, I can't even taste it since they say they will take it away and donate it to charity :( But dad was too good, he bought few packets of the kimchi to bring back home so I can FEASTTTTTT!! :D
After done with the Kimchi making, we finally had the chance to snap picture on wearing the Korea Traditional Costume! Cosplay time and photo taking session!!
We were quite early to be in the airport, so we spent our time in Hongdae Market street. This street is not as big as Myeongdong, but they have nice cheap items for sale here. Trademark of this place is that they have a New Balance outlet here. Boutique I would say, 2 stories! They offer tax rebate for tourist so worth to buy if you're in need of a new NB shoes/bags.!
About 3.30pm, we departed from Seoul to Jeju Island! The journey took about an hour and the flight was quite bumpy due to the strong wind in Jeju Island. When I say strong wind in Jeju, it's very very strong! It did not snow, and no winter here in Jeju Island as the temperature was just 17celsius. So its nice and breezy :D
Jeju Island actually is an island made after the eruption of the volcano. All the rocks here, are actually actual volcano rock which can not be exported. Jeju Island also grows the best strawberries in korea! Fresh and big! All the fruits and vegetables here, are all fresh FRESH!!
We had our free and easy time in Jeju Island after dinner and checking in to Samhaein Hotel. Dad was still hungry after dinner so we had our fried chicken + beer + soju! Live like a korean, have supper like the koreans! We all were so tired after the long journey, we just slept after that.
Day 6
One day tour in Jeju Island! We started off our day by visiting the Mystery Road. This place is so mysterious, when you off your car engine, fully brake, shift the gear to neutral and release the brakes, your car will automatically move up by itself. I personally experienced it before, like seriously its so mysterious and that's how the name came about.
After that we went to the Trick Art Museum. It's just like another Alive Museum back in Seoul which we did not really had a lot of fun so we just took a brief tour and had coffee after that while waiting for the rest to finish their tour. We then proceed to Teseum, Teddy Bear Safari.
If you love teddy bears, Teseum is your heaven. Everything inside there, has teddy bears all over the place. They even had a giant teddy bear for you to play with. If I am not mistaken, all their teddy bears are made by hand with premium quality. Even a small teddy bear keychain from Teseum cost minimum 25,000won. Charles was so good to us, he presented each of us a souvenir from Teseum!
After that we went to Korea Folk Town. Its a place where we get to see the olden lifestyle of Koreans as well Jeju citizens. Good fact: Jeju men are fishermen and their wives are divers! Wife dives to get abalone and sea cucumbers!
Jeju Island is famous for the Black Pig. Even one of GFRIEND episode when they were in Jeju Island, they wanted to eat Black Pig too! Charles brought us all to have a buffet black pig lunch, it was tasty as usual. Charles said that this is one of the best restaurants that serve black pig meat which I understand why (its crowded)!
It was raining heavily, we went to Seopjikoji. If it wasn't the rain, everyone would have had a lot of fun times together. The rain did not stop me from going out from the bus, walked under the rain with my New Balance windbreaker and took some pictures and footages of the waves hitting those rocks! Eye watering view which you don't get it in Malaysia.
Spending 30 minutes there, we went to Aqua Planet. It's just like Aquaria KLCC (I did not go before but using common sense it's about the same) and there's like a lot more animals (compare to KLCC, the area here is waaaaaay bigger and common sense, more animals). I SAW A PACK OF PENGUINS OMG THEY'RE SO CUTE! I actually felt like bring home one of it hahah! Mom know how much I love penguin, she got me a sweater that says 'Penguins' from Aqua Planet!
Before heading for dinner, we went to Seongsan Ilchubong. Charles told us that we can actually see the volcano mouth if we hit the peak. Since it's pouring rain outside with strong wind blowing, he advised us to only clim halfway and u-turn. Me and the few other girls, took the challenge and climbed to its peak! After 20minutes of climbing, with the bad weather condition, we actually saw real clouds, transitioning according to the wind direction. After that, finally we get to see the.....dead volcano mouth. But during the climb, friendship were made, so it's worth climbing after all plus we got to burn fats! Oh, mommy managed to climb to the peak and reunite with me, dad and uncle disappeared.
Dinner was served well. The young ones gotten hungry after the climb and gotten our tummy filled with meat! I was so pumped up, after dinner we went back to hotel, we just walked out and continue our night sight-seeing in Jeju city! The city is amazing! Pretty girls (actually around korea you can spot one easily) everywhere, food everywhere and entertainment too! Dad got so amazed by the Jeju citrus he even bought a box to bring it back to Malaysia. As usual we had supper, and this time we had pizza with fried chicken and soju + beer! Totally amazing! Checkout HOF Bar for the fantastic Pizza and chicken wings when you're in Jeju City! It's located opposite Innisfree T Junction.
Day 7
Day 7 marks the final day of our stay in Korea. We took our plane back to Seoul. It's sad to leave Jeju Island because it's nice there. Back in Seoul, we went sent to a warehouse where they sell a lot of Korea products and I managed to convince dad to pack 12 bottles of the Banana Milk! Done shopping, we proceeded to Incheon Airport, bid goodbye to Charles and headed to the immigration. So, that's a "goodbye, Korea".
Okay, in summary I miss Korea. I admit I did not like Korea and when dad told me I am going to Korea I was not even excited about it. Until I experience the culture there, I fell in love with it. Koreans really love NB (New Balance). NB is the hit brand there among the people! So if you wear a NB, you can blend in. They don't even wear boots or high cut shoes during winter/ snow. All they need is a New Balance!
I would definitely go back to Korea if given the chance again! I am even listening to Korean song now. Thanks to KBS, keep on showing/playing GFRIEND-Rough and Me Gusta Tu song/mv, YOU MADE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH THEM!
That's it for now. Check out my YouTube video for the summary of my trip okay! (Some agenda is not included in the video!) Watch it in 1080p60Fps
Kamsahamida, annyeonghi-haseyo!
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| Me,mom,dad and Uncle David |
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| Used to be 5 of us, now 3. But still look happy! |
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| Left: Uncle David, Mommy, Daddy and I |
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| Winter Sonata |
Phoenix Park Ski Resort is located in Pyeongchang-Gun, Gangwon. It's called a Ski Resort and the room I stayed, has an amazing view of the snowy mountain! Oh, this place will be one of the main event place for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Yes, Winter Olympics 2018 will be held in South Korea. I reached here about 8pm, and its freaking cold. The coldest it went for that night was -16 Celsius. If you're wondering how cold it is, I did a live example. I walked to the mall located opposite of the resort with my family (we wanted to grab fried chickens and beer), and just so coincidence there's a starbucks! John and Starbucks is like, husband and wife. I went it and ordered a Venti Hot Chocolate (like boiling hot) and I took a zip in the store, it burnt my lips and tongue. While holding the hot cup, I opened the door, walked outside for less than 10 steps (15 seconds?), it became cold. like cold chocolate. With that temperature and wind blowing, total killer! But, I survived :D
Day 2
Woke up early in the morning like 6.30am, gotten myself ready and headed to the lobby for breakfast. I was pretty excited for the snow rather than having means in the morning (since in Malaysia you will never have snow). Done with my fast breakfast and when we walked out of the lobby, there's a small tiny mistletoe falling from the sky! It was an eye opening experience though, about 8am, there's like these small snow drops! When we reached the snow arena (yes a hill filled with thick white snow), there's a lot of people, busy ski-ing, and non of them built a snowman :( Oh, this is also the place where the 2018 Korea Winter Olympics going to be held! I was so tempted for trying to ski, but time constrains and yeah, i did not ski :( but not to worry, there's always a next time since I'm still young! I did not ski, but took a lot of photo's, and videos of the place. Also, I tried making a snowball, but failed. Instead, I made like a palm snow splash. The best part was, my phone fell and it got buried 90% by snow. Straight away, from 90% of battery went down to......empty -.-' Luckily, it did not spoil and the battery worked again all thanks to the heater!
We checked out the hotel about 10am, and headed for lunch. Lunch was delicious as usual, done with lunch and we took a 2 hours journey to Mountain Sorak (Mt Sorak). Mt Sorak had a very nice, wait its beautiful view of the mountains. It's like, those chinese art you see which has the scenery of mountains, here looks exactly the same and its 3D! With the snow covering the mountains, it really did make it look extra beautiful. We wanted to take a cable car up to the peak which can let us see the whole panoramic view of Mt Sorak but we were told by Charles if the wind blows too strong, we can get stuck at the peak for hours because no cable cars will function. We did not take the risk, so no up to the peak. While walking deeper into the park, we came across Shinhuengsa Temple. It was said that this was the head temple of the Jogye Order of Korea Buddhism. There's this big Buddha statue can be seen, where there are a lot of lighted candles. It was said that you light a candle, Buddha will grant you your wish, and give you protection.
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| The amazing view |
Done with a 2 hours walking and exploring Mt Sorak, we headed to Daepohang Fish Market to buy some local stuffs. Well, local food I mean. From Seafood to Snacks and Fruits! So here, Uncle David bought a big box of fried chicken for supper, dad bought a tray of fresh strawberries and some dried seafood to be brought back home. Their local fried chicken is better than KFC. The flavour is heavy and the tender of the meat is just nice! Not forgetting the strawberries, OMG! I just love the strawberries! The strawberries is HUGE! Bigger than Cameron Highlands strawberries for sure! I tried looking in KL for the same size Korean Strawberries, but the don't have that big size here. :( All the strawberries I eaten, was sweet! Non of them are sour! Plus its so fresh, you don't even need to rinse it since its chemical free!
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| At Namdaemun Market. |
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| So big right, the strawberry! Fat and sweet! |
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| Strawberries and Fried Chicken. |
Day 3
This is the day we leave Mt Sorak, and headed back to Seoul. First stop in Seoul was Lotte World Adventure. I was told that Lotte World Adventure (LWA) is one of the largest theme park in Korea. We spent quite long here, because we were expected to have fun! But, we are all...adults (Disneyland is an exception), all the games there, like for kids.
LWA has an indoor and outdoor park. Their indoor is mostly for kids, and their outdoor games are for adults. Since it was winter, so its pretty nice to be at the outdoor park because you don't sweat! But, keep in mind with the crack lips and dry face, so keep yourself hydrated all the time. Although we had an all access one day pass, but we just felt too old for it. Only the kids were enjoying all the while, we adults busy finding places to eat!
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| :)) |
So done with LWA, headed downtown to Alive Museum. The name says it all, ALIVE. Nothing comes to life, just 3D paintings on the wall and take pictures (exactly like HuaHin, Thailand). Not really a fan of these picture taking but since it was part of the agenda, we just got to swallow our saliva and proceed into this place. Spent half an hour here, just outside the museum there's a 7-11! I rushed into it, and gotten the FAMOUS BANANA MILK! I finally get to try it, and to be honest, it tasted quite good! (Everyday I had one bottle).
After the museum visit, a 15 minutes road trip to Dongdaemun Market. Dongdaemun Market is like, Pavilion. Everything here is branded and designer products (well MCM is an exception). Not really my cup of tea since all the brands are local designers but thumbs up for their design! Too bad its currently still Winter fashion, if not I will be leaving with tons of bags! In the end, I only gotten an Innisfree face soap since I left mine in KL, and my face is seriously dry. Innisfree here is cheap, okay!
We stayed in Gangham for Day 3 and 4. In Gangnam, you can see shops everywhere. Coffee shops too (mostly coffee bean in Gangham) and Starbucks is less being spotted. Oh, Samsung HQ is located in Gangnam too and yeah, i spotted the tall building (it's seriously tall). Urban Place, Gangnam is the hotel I stayed. Quite nice hotel, they had everything in the room, and an electronic rolling curtain.
Day 4
First agenda we went was to a Ginseng Outlet. Ginseng is very very very famous in Korea. Rumours saying that Koreans have nice complexion is not because of the plastic surgery or facial, it's because of the ginseng they consume. We stopped by in Ginwell Ginseng Factory and listen to some stories about ginseng. We also get to witness the real growing ginseng (only can see the petals but not the root since its buried underground and its still growing to its maturity). Dad bought few ginseng extract back since its good (my dad knows chinese herbs well) and a bottle is for me!
Next place we went was to a beauty school. Well, it's a beauty academy to be exact. Koreans always groom themselves well before stepping out of their house door. Here was a fun place. We actually get to try putting the ginseng mask, essence, scrubs, moisturiser and so on. I even had the chance to play with the famous BB cream and CC cream! Mom bought some products from the academy since she says it's good for her skin and dad present her one set :)
For lunch, we had bibimbap. Authentic made in Korea bibimbap! Bibimbap have been one of the best Korean "good-to-go" food I had in KL, in Korea, it tasted even better (maybe because of the fresh ingredients (the vegetables)). Mom, dad and uncle didn't get used to the all in one meal, but yeah, I ate my mom's portion since its so delicious!
Right after lunch, we went to Deoksu Palace. It is consider one of the old palace in Korea. We toured around the palace, seeing the houses of the Korea Emperor, his lifestyle, his entertainment place, the grand hall where he chaired His meetings etc. Upon leaving to Myeongdong, they had a show for about 30minutes which I don't know what was it all about. But I managed to grab a full video out of it, and also took a picture with one of the imperial guards!
In Myeongdong, it was a fun experience! There's like, a lot of shops, big place filled with shop lots! New Balance? Adidas? Nike? You want those brands, they have it here! Surprisingly they even had Dr Martens there, but it was overpriced. I had a 32cm ice cream with the extreme cold winter! That was a nice experience, people may think you're crazy eating cold things in cold weather but you're a tourist! There's also a lot of food stalls in the area, everything is convenient there! If you need traded premium items, there's Lotte Young Mall around the area and if you need Starbucks, they have it up in the end of the street!
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| Myeongdong |
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| the 32cm ice cream! |
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| Koreans really love LINE! |
After dinner we headed to Seoul Theatre to catch The Painters Hero show. The show was new to me. They actually drew all the pictures by their own hands, and its very very very beautiful! Too bad no video or camera is allowed during the show, but I managed to capture some of their work during the photography session!
Day 5
Highlight for Day 5 is actually the Kimchi making session and flying to Jeju Island! After having breakfast and checked out the hotel (Bye Gangnam :( ) we proceed to our first agenda of the day which is to check out a Healthy Liver Shop. Another selling product shop again with overpriced product! Did not buy anything because the product is damn pricy, over budget! No one bought anything from the shop, we then headed to the Kimchi making session *yay*! I managed to make my own kimchi here but too bad, I can't even taste it since they say they will take it away and donate it to charity :( But dad was too good, he bought few packets of the kimchi to bring back home so I can FEASTTTTTT!! :D
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| KIMCHI! |
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| Charles and I, before cosplay haha! |
After done with the Kimchi making, we finally had the chance to snap picture on wearing the Korea Traditional Costume! Cosplay time and photo taking session!!
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| Mommy, Emperor Daddy and Crown Price John. |
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| There, the NB! |
Jeju Island actually is an island made after the eruption of the volcano. All the rocks here, are actually actual volcano rock which can not be exported. Jeju Island also grows the best strawberries in korea! Fresh and big! All the fruits and vegetables here, are all fresh FRESH!!
We had our free and easy time in Jeju Island after dinner and checking in to Samhaein Hotel. Dad was still hungry after dinner so we had our fried chicken + beer + soju! Live like a korean, have supper like the koreans! We all were so tired after the long journey, we just slept after that.
Day 6
One day tour in Jeju Island! We started off our day by visiting the Mystery Road. This place is so mysterious, when you off your car engine, fully brake, shift the gear to neutral and release the brakes, your car will automatically move up by itself. I personally experienced it before, like seriously its so mysterious and that's how the name came about.
After that we went to the Trick Art Museum. It's just like another Alive Museum back in Seoul which we did not really had a lot of fun so we just took a brief tour and had coffee after that while waiting for the rest to finish their tour. We then proceed to Teseum, Teddy Bear Safari.
If you love teddy bears, Teseum is your heaven. Everything inside there, has teddy bears all over the place. They even had a giant teddy bear for you to play with. If I am not mistaken, all their teddy bears are made by hand with premium quality. Even a small teddy bear keychain from Teseum cost minimum 25,000won. Charles was so good to us, he presented each of us a souvenir from Teseum!
After that we went to Korea Folk Town. Its a place where we get to see the olden lifestyle of Koreans as well Jeju citizens. Good fact: Jeju men are fishermen and their wives are divers! Wife dives to get abalone and sea cucumbers!
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| Volcano Rock! |
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| Everyone busy eating, no time for picture! |
Spending 30 minutes there, we went to Aqua Planet. It's just like Aquaria KLCC (I did not go before but using common sense it's about the same) and there's like a lot more animals (compare to KLCC, the area here is waaaaaay bigger and common sense, more animals). I SAW A PACK OF PENGUINS OMG THEY'RE SO CUTE! I actually felt like bring home one of it hahah! Mom know how much I love penguin, she got me a sweater that says 'Penguins' from Aqua Planet!
Before heading for dinner, we went to Seongsan Ilchubong. Charles told us that we can actually see the volcano mouth if we hit the peak. Since it's pouring rain outside with strong wind blowing, he advised us to only clim halfway and u-turn. Me and the few other girls, took the challenge and climbed to its peak! After 20minutes of climbing, with the bad weather condition, we actually saw real clouds, transitioning according to the wind direction. After that, finally we get to see the.....dead volcano mouth. But during the climb, friendship were made, so it's worth climbing after all plus we got to burn fats! Oh, mommy managed to climb to the peak and reunite with me, dad and uncle disappeared.
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| The girls :) |
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| Reunion of Mother and Son at the peak |
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| SOJU <3 |
Day 7
Day 7 marks the final day of our stay in Korea. We took our plane back to Seoul. It's sad to leave Jeju Island because it's nice there. Back in Seoul, we went sent to a warehouse where they sell a lot of Korea products and I managed to convince dad to pack 12 bottles of the Banana Milk! Done shopping, we proceeded to Incheon Airport, bid goodbye to Charles and headed to the immigration. So, that's a "goodbye, Korea".
Okay, in summary I miss Korea. I admit I did not like Korea and when dad told me I am going to Korea I was not even excited about it. Until I experience the culture there, I fell in love with it. Koreans really love NB (New Balance). NB is the hit brand there among the people! So if you wear a NB, you can blend in. They don't even wear boots or high cut shoes during winter/ snow. All they need is a New Balance!
I would definitely go back to Korea if given the chance again! I am even listening to Korean song now. Thanks to KBS, keep on showing/playing GFRIEND-Rough and Me Gusta Tu song/mv, YOU MADE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH THEM!
That's it for now. Check out my YouTube video for the summary of my trip okay! (Some agenda is not included in the video!) Watch it in 1080p60Fps
Kamsahamida, annyeonghi-haseyo!
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