LISTEN WITH YOUR HEART
Seok Teng
Someone who is afraid of aging,who wants to meet guizhu and suju face-to-face,who desires to travel ard the world, who aspires to be a thinker,who wishes to be as intelligent and beautiful as always,who is so thickskinned and crappy,who just wants to stay alive-happy and loved
The happiest person does not necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best out of everything.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2011, 11:06 PM
SOUTH KOREA -
SEOUL + JEJU ISLAND 8D6N
SEOUL + JEJU ISLAND 8D6N
I'm back frm my trip. time really flies when u r having fun:/ as usual, i'll be penning down what i hv done to keep these memories(:
DAY 1/2
Airport - Everland theme park - Argoland - Deoksan Spa Castle
flight was at 1.30am. reached seoul at about 8.30am Korean time. temp wasnt that bad. ard 5degC. the first stop was Everland theme park, one of the biggest theme park in Korea. it was REALLY huge! as usual, theme park is a place for thrilling rides. but my family wasnt very keen on it except for me and my bro=( and the time allocated is too short. so we only managed to catch the not-so-exciting rides like 3D movies etc. so wanting to do the wooden roller coasters and the others=( well, at least in the end, we managed to get my sis to catch on her 1st roller coaster ride!! haha..
subsequently, we went to Argoland to do some cow feeding and ice-cream making!!! as its winter, there arent any crops for us to view. anw ice-cream making was fun=) we chose to make chocolate ice-cream n it tasted super nice - fresh and not so heavy ^^ my bro gives the best expression of how the ice-cream taste like=p
the last stop of the day aft dinner was deoksan spa castle. cos it is alr night time, the temp outdoor is freezing cold, and so all the outdoor facilities r closed. we only got to use the indoor facilities. it is great to be soaking urself in the jacuzzi, letting the water splashed onto u=) not to mention, the resort at the spa castle is great. 2 bedrooms with a small kitchen. so cosy^^
surprisingly, the food wasnt bad. had initially thot that korean food wun really suit our tastebuds. but it turns out ok=)
DAY 3
Yongpyong Dragon Valley
first time skiing on snow. not snow in snow city, but real snow! woah, the snow was really beautiful. and skiing was really hard. n i guess i hv threw my face totally. fell down for umpteen times but there r often nice ppl ard to help. thanks alot to them. if not, i guess i will be stranded there waiting for the snowmobile to rescue me, haha. the ski equipments are really heavy and difficult to put on. so most of the time i am figuring out how to use them. could only say im hopeless in sports=( my dad n bro did pretty well. my sis n mum, on the other hand, gave up aft a few attempts cos it was getting cold. the sensation while i ski down was just too great tt i refused to give up despite repeated failures. will definitely want try skiing again!!!!
the resort tdy was the best! in fact, one of the best accommodations i had in all the countries i stayed so far. it is likened to a 3 room flat. so spacious!!! my family decided to do some shopping in the convenience store n prepare our own dinner so as not to put the nice kitchen to waste. hehes=p
so the long awaited dinner....
Day 4
Sinchon Fashion Alley - Jeju Island - Nanta Show
the first half of the day was spent in seoul before flying off to jeju. Sinchon street reminds me of bugis street. just tt it is less crowded. clothes, shoes, bags were relatively cheap but doesnt vary much frm shop to shop. the lunch, on the other hand, is good! we got korean BBQ=)
subsequently, we flew off to jeju for sightseeing at the yongduam dragon rock and mysterious road. the rock seriously dun look like a dragon. my bro said it looks more like a dog. LOL!!!
Nanta show is the main highlight of the day. seriously LOVE the show!! want watch it again! it was REALLY entertaining and i was practically laughing my head off the whole show. everyone on stage is great (including audience). make me want to catch another korean show - JUMP. i think it will be equally entertaining.
Day 5
Jeju Island
was the most hectic day as we hv to visit 8 places of interest! early in the morning, we climbed all the way up the 400++ stairs to Seongsan Sunrise Peak to observe the island that was created entirely frm volcanic eruptions. the scenery wasnt very breathtaking, as warned by our tour guide earlier on :/
next up was horse-riding, or rather pony riding for me! haha... though we didnt really get to gallop ard the field with the horses, it is still a nice exp. my pony was a bit lazy or is it cos im too heavy for her? haha. she refused to walk and had the trainer to drag her along=(
lunch today was AWESOME!! haha.. though it is again, korean BBQ, the side dishes were good. at least they were all my fav^^ hehes.
next half of the day was just visiting various museums. first is the trick art museum. had so much fun playing with the paintings. n i love this the most! CLASSIC;p
chocolate museum and glass castle was just so-so. in fact, glass castle reminds me of my ceramic mod so much as they introduced the processing methods on glass. haha!
my fav was the teddy bear museum=) however, it wasnt the one that was featured in the princess hr. this is a newly opened museum with a safari theme. a small disappointment, but the teddy bears were nonetheless so adorable!! i wish to just carry all of them home, hehes.
for dinner, we had abalone hotpot with ramen (in korea, it is just instant noodles, haha). was supposedly to go shopping in the TopDong Street. But the wind was seriously too chilling that my family decided to just visit their hypermarket. good for us too as we r able to go back earlier to our room to catch our korean variety shows, haha. had been watching invincible youth and latest 2D1N. though w/o eng sub, i can sort of understand through their body languages. haha..
Day 6
Lotteworld Adverture Park
caught an early flight back to seoul and spent the entire day in lotteworld adventure park. the theme park is huge as it consists of an indoor and outdoor component. it looks more modern than everland. yet the crowd was overwhelming! it was a friday n my bro was wondering dun these teenagers have to study??? haha. so due to the crowd, we spent almost 15-30mins waiting for our turn to take rides. super time-consuming. wad pissed me even more was that the local teenagers were practically just cutting queues! :@ still, my bro and I caught the best ride in our life - GryoDrop.
it is a vertical free fall ride from about 13 storeys high. my first free fall ride is in LA and it is really exciting enuf for me. this time round, it was EVEN BETTER! the entire ride took about 10 sec going up and 2 sec coming down. SHIOK!!!!!! i rmb myself screaming out 'oh my god' at the instant i fell. then i felt i was choking and almost dying before the ride was completed. seriously, one shld take it to know wad im saying. the feeling is beyond description! and now im more certain im going to try those free fall bungee jumping one day^^ hehes. aft doing this ride, every other ride seems so easy, haha. yet, i didnt manage to catch the 360deg roller coaster featuring in one of the Running Men episodes=( the queue was too long but i so badly want to do that!! haiz...
Day 7
Seoul
coldest day in seoul. -11degC. but thankfully, there wasnt wind so in fact, i dun feel that cold. went to those boring showrooms except for the one in Nature Republic. good thing that the people in the showrooms arent as pushy as those in china and taiwan. so not tt bad. Putting aside how cheap the different facial products and make up can be, had the most fun when they gave us a free facial session=) and u can know y the session is so fun frm the pictures.. HAHA!
it is my bro n dad first time putting on masks, haha. n bcos of the cheap prices, we bought this much of masks home.
now im regretting we didnt buy more of their other products too:( we also went to make kimchi, tried on traditional korean hanbok and do our own ice sculpture in ice gallery!
could only say i failed ultimately in art n craft, haha. wanted to make a mug, yet i broke the handle. so changed plan to make a wineglass, yet i broke the base. so lastly, i just had to do a teacup that is so distorted in shape! haha.
aft the nice dinner which is bibimbap, last stop of the day is dongdaemun!!!! first, i must say i hv grown to love bibimbap! delicious and healthy, haha.
okk, back to dongdaemun. it is supposedly a place to source for cheap stuff. indeed, things r cheap if u only know how to bargain. putting aside how crowded the place is (given that seoul is smaller in size than spore yet larger population), the competition btwn vendors is very fierce for they sell similar items. as advised by many, do not rush into buying. the items are mostly not price marked. dun be shocked when u r quoted SGD$50 for just a plain shirt. cos this is how ppl do biz there. they jacked up their prices dunno how many times. if u blur blur dun ask for discount, u will seriously lose out. even if ask for discount, they will keep bargaining with u. end up, u spent a few min just on a piece of clothes. it gets rather irritating and tiring. of cos, not to mention time wasting. haiz, just so preferred to shop in USA where everything is nett priced and yet cheap!!! so in the end, i only managed to both 2 tops=( plus cos it is the winter season, most clothings arent suitable for spore weather... oh well=(
Day 8
Myongdong Fashion Street
preferred this place over Dongdaemun though it doesnt sell much of korean brands. saw many similar brands in spore like H&M. it reminds me of Orchard, just tt it is perhaps a little cheaper due to the year end sales.
also, the place wasnt very crowded. n u dun hv to bargain for ur stuff. how much i hate bargaining! :S the only thing is we dun hv sufficient time cos gotta catch flight home. didnt manage to visit the SM merchandise store cos we sort of lose our way in such a big area!! *sobs* my super junior.... haiz. well, the only consolation for the day is the nice international buffet lunch. haha, food never fail to brighten up my day =)
reached the airport at ard 4pm to check in for our flight at 6.35pm. i knew we reached early. yet, we only managed to check in at 5pm. 5PM!! all thanks to other fellow singaporeans who are like doing immigration =.= i wun say frm which tour agency they r but seriously, countless boxes of kimchi, honeydew milk, ginseng, pots (yes, cooking pots and pans. wth), comestics etc.. they seemed to have bought years of supplies. n of cos all these will lead to excessive baggage. then jolly well just pay for the excessive baggage rite? since u hv so much $$ to buy those stuff, dun tell me u dun hv $$ to pay for the overweight baggage. yet, they went on repacking their luggages. WTF!!!! n in the meantime still make a din in the airport. seriously disgusting and irritating :@
HOME SWEET HOME only at around 1am though our flight landed at ard 12am. cos we spent more than 30mins waiting for our baggage. ridiculous like mad. n i felt so sry that my uncle and xx hv to wait so long for us =( thanks guys anyway!
this trip was fun yet tiring. cos we barely hv 5-6hrs of sleep everyday. i must admit it is partly our fault cos we stayed up late at night to catch korean shows, haha. temp was cold too. in seoul, the temp was never positive before! haha... in jeju, it was much better yet cos of the wind, it is much chilling than the measured temp. besides, i got to see snow in Jeju. SNOW!! haha.. the accommodations are more than satisfactory this time round except the one in Jeju. but well, jeju is a rural area so cant expect much. food is much better than i expected. n i didnt know korean side dishes can be really fascinating. love the ikan bills and seaweed the most as they r well seasoned. the tour guide and tour leader were good and for the former esp, very knowledge! one thing i dun like is that they hv this photographer attached to each tour grp. then at the end of the trip, the photographer will sell u the photos he/she took during the entire trip. the photos r likened to exhortation. haha... super expensive. it isnt compulsory for u to buy but anyone will feel to actually buy it rite? if not, it sort of look bad on u=( this time round didnt really get to interact with the other tour mates. pity...
overall, i love this trip. maybe im a little biased cos i love kpop. haha.. but im really excited everytime i got to see the actual things that are being introduced in shows like 2D1N and Running Man, n even the movie, Hello Stranger. hopefully will be back there again, doing free and easy. if possible, visit KBS to see my idols, haha!!
Airport - Everland theme park - Argoland - Deoksan Spa Castle
flight was at 1.30am. reached seoul at about 8.30am Korean time. temp wasnt that bad. ard 5degC. the first stop was Everland theme park, one of the biggest theme park in Korea. it was REALLY huge! as usual, theme park is a place for thrilling rides. but my family wasnt very keen on it except for me and my bro=( and the time allocated is too short. so we only managed to catch the not-so-exciting rides like 3D movies etc. so wanting to do the wooden roller coasters and the others=( well, at least in the end, we managed to get my sis to catch on her 1st roller coaster ride!! haha..
subsequently, we went to Argoland to do some cow feeding and ice-cream making!!! as its winter, there arent any crops for us to view. anw ice-cream making was fun=) we chose to make chocolate ice-cream n it tasted super nice - fresh and not so heavy ^^ my bro gives the best expression of how the ice-cream taste like=p
the last stop of the day aft dinner was deoksan spa castle. cos it is alr night time, the temp outdoor is freezing cold, and so all the outdoor facilities r closed. we only got to use the indoor facilities. it is great to be soaking urself in the jacuzzi, letting the water splashed onto u=) not to mention, the resort at the spa castle is great. 2 bedrooms with a small kitchen. so cosy^^
surprisingly, the food wasnt bad. had initially thot that korean food wun really suit our tastebuds. but it turns out ok=)
DAY 3
Yongpyong Dragon Valley
first time skiing on snow. not snow in snow city, but real snow! woah, the snow was really beautiful. and skiing was really hard. n i guess i hv threw my face totally. fell down for umpteen times but there r often nice ppl ard to help. thanks alot to them. if not, i guess i will be stranded there waiting for the snowmobile to rescue me, haha. the ski equipments are really heavy and difficult to put on. so most of the time i am figuring out how to use them. could only say im hopeless in sports=( my dad n bro did pretty well. my sis n mum, on the other hand, gave up aft a few attempts cos it was getting cold. the sensation while i ski down was just too great tt i refused to give up despite repeated failures. will definitely want try skiing again!!!!
the resort tdy was the best! in fact, one of the best accommodations i had in all the countries i stayed so far. it is likened to a 3 room flat. so spacious!!! my family decided to do some shopping in the convenience store n prepare our own dinner so as not to put the nice kitchen to waste. hehes=p
so the long awaited dinner....
Day 4
Sinchon Fashion Alley - Jeju Island - Nanta Show
the first half of the day was spent in seoul before flying off to jeju. Sinchon street reminds me of bugis street. just tt it is less crowded. clothes, shoes, bags were relatively cheap but doesnt vary much frm shop to shop. the lunch, on the other hand, is good! we got korean BBQ=)
subsequently, we flew off to jeju for sightseeing at the yongduam dragon rock and mysterious road. the rock seriously dun look like a dragon. my bro said it looks more like a dog. LOL!!!
Nanta show is the main highlight of the day. seriously LOVE the show!! want watch it again! it was REALLY entertaining and i was practically laughing my head off the whole show. everyone on stage is great (including audience). make me want to catch another korean show - JUMP. i think it will be equally entertaining.
Day 5
Jeju Island
was the most hectic day as we hv to visit 8 places of interest! early in the morning, we climbed all the way up the 400++ stairs to Seongsan Sunrise Peak to observe the island that was created entirely frm volcanic eruptions. the scenery wasnt very breathtaking, as warned by our tour guide earlier on :/
next up was horse-riding, or rather pony riding for me! haha... though we didnt really get to gallop ard the field with the horses, it is still a nice exp. my pony was a bit lazy or is it cos im too heavy for her? haha. she refused to walk and had the trainer to drag her along=(
lunch today was AWESOME!! haha.. though it is again, korean BBQ, the side dishes were good. at least they were all my fav^^ hehes.
next half of the day was just visiting various museums. first is the trick art museum. had so much fun playing with the paintings. n i love this the most! CLASSIC;p
chocolate museum and glass castle was just so-so. in fact, glass castle reminds me of my ceramic mod so much as they introduced the processing methods on glass. haha!
my fav was the teddy bear museum=) however, it wasnt the one that was featured in the princess hr. this is a newly opened museum with a safari theme. a small disappointment, but the teddy bears were nonetheless so adorable!! i wish to just carry all of them home, hehes.
for dinner, we had abalone hotpot with ramen (in korea, it is just instant noodles, haha). was supposedly to go shopping in the TopDong Street. But the wind was seriously too chilling that my family decided to just visit their hypermarket. good for us too as we r able to go back earlier to our room to catch our korean variety shows, haha. had been watching invincible youth and latest 2D1N. though w/o eng sub, i can sort of understand through their body languages. haha..
Day 6
Lotteworld Adverture Park
caught an early flight back to seoul and spent the entire day in lotteworld adventure park. the theme park is huge as it consists of an indoor and outdoor component. it looks more modern than everland. yet the crowd was overwhelming! it was a friday n my bro was wondering dun these teenagers have to study??? haha. so due to the crowd, we spent almost 15-30mins waiting for our turn to take rides. super time-consuming. wad pissed me even more was that the local teenagers were practically just cutting queues! :@ still, my bro and I caught the best ride in our life - GryoDrop.
it is a vertical free fall ride from about 13 storeys high. my first free fall ride is in LA and it is really exciting enuf for me. this time round, it was EVEN BETTER! the entire ride took about 10 sec going up and 2 sec coming down. SHIOK!!!!!! i rmb myself screaming out 'oh my god' at the instant i fell. then i felt i was choking and almost dying before the ride was completed. seriously, one shld take it to know wad im saying. the feeling is beyond description! and now im more certain im going to try those free fall bungee jumping one day^^ hehes. aft doing this ride, every other ride seems so easy, haha. yet, i didnt manage to catch the 360deg roller coaster featuring in one of the Running Men episodes=( the queue was too long but i so badly want to do that!! haiz...
Day 7
Seoul
coldest day in seoul. -11degC. but thankfully, there wasnt wind so in fact, i dun feel that cold. went to those boring showrooms except for the one in Nature Republic. good thing that the people in the showrooms arent as pushy as those in china and taiwan. so not tt bad. Putting aside how cheap the different facial products and make up can be, had the most fun when they gave us a free facial session=) and u can know y the session is so fun frm the pictures.. HAHA!
it is my bro n dad first time putting on masks, haha. n bcos of the cheap prices, we bought this much of masks home.
now im regretting we didnt buy more of their other products too:( we also went to make kimchi, tried on traditional korean hanbok and do our own ice sculpture in ice gallery!
could only say i failed ultimately in art n craft, haha. wanted to make a mug, yet i broke the handle. so changed plan to make a wineglass, yet i broke the base. so lastly, i just had to do a teacup that is so distorted in shape! haha.
aft the nice dinner which is bibimbap, last stop of the day is dongdaemun!!!! first, i must say i hv grown to love bibimbap! delicious and healthy, haha.
okk, back to dongdaemun. it is supposedly a place to source for cheap stuff. indeed, things r cheap if u only know how to bargain. putting aside how crowded the place is (given that seoul is smaller in size than spore yet larger population), the competition btwn vendors is very fierce for they sell similar items. as advised by many, do not rush into buying. the items are mostly not price marked. dun be shocked when u r quoted SGD$50 for just a plain shirt. cos this is how ppl do biz there. they jacked up their prices dunno how many times. if u blur blur dun ask for discount, u will seriously lose out. even if ask for discount, they will keep bargaining with u. end up, u spent a few min just on a piece of clothes. it gets rather irritating and tiring. of cos, not to mention time wasting. haiz, just so preferred to shop in USA where everything is nett priced and yet cheap!!! so in the end, i only managed to both 2 tops=( plus cos it is the winter season, most clothings arent suitable for spore weather... oh well=(
Day 8
Myongdong Fashion Street
preferred this place over Dongdaemun though it doesnt sell much of korean brands. saw many similar brands in spore like H&M. it reminds me of Orchard, just tt it is perhaps a little cheaper due to the year end sales.
also, the place wasnt very crowded. n u dun hv to bargain for ur stuff. how much i hate bargaining! :S the only thing is we dun hv sufficient time cos gotta catch flight home. didnt manage to visit the SM merchandise store cos we sort of lose our way in such a big area!! *sobs* my super junior.... haiz. well, the only consolation for the day is the nice international buffet lunch. haha, food never fail to brighten up my day =)
reached the airport at ard 4pm to check in for our flight at 6.35pm. i knew we reached early. yet, we only managed to check in at 5pm. 5PM!! all thanks to other fellow singaporeans who are like doing immigration =.= i wun say frm which tour agency they r but seriously, countless boxes of kimchi, honeydew milk, ginseng, pots (yes, cooking pots and pans. wth), comestics etc.. they seemed to have bought years of supplies. n of cos all these will lead to excessive baggage. then jolly well just pay for the excessive baggage rite? since u hv so much $$ to buy those stuff, dun tell me u dun hv $$ to pay for the overweight baggage. yet, they went on repacking their luggages. WTF!!!! n in the meantime still make a din in the airport. seriously disgusting and irritating :@
HOME SWEET HOME only at around 1am though our flight landed at ard 12am. cos we spent more than 30mins waiting for our baggage. ridiculous like mad. n i felt so sry that my uncle and xx hv to wait so long for us =( thanks guys anyway!
*****
this trip was fun yet tiring. cos we barely hv 5-6hrs of sleep everyday. i must admit it is partly our fault cos we stayed up late at night to catch korean shows, haha. temp was cold too. in seoul, the temp was never positive before! haha... in jeju, it was much better yet cos of the wind, it is much chilling than the measured temp. besides, i got to see snow in Jeju. SNOW!! haha.. the accommodations are more than satisfactory this time round except the one in Jeju. but well, jeju is a rural area so cant expect much. food is much better than i expected. n i didnt know korean side dishes can be really fascinating. love the ikan bills and seaweed the most as they r well seasoned. the tour guide and tour leader were good and for the former esp, very knowledge! one thing i dun like is that they hv this photographer attached to each tour grp. then at the end of the trip, the photographer will sell u the photos he/she took during the entire trip. the photos r likened to exhortation. haha... super expensive. it isnt compulsory for u to buy but anyone will feel to actually buy it rite? if not, it sort of look bad on u=( this time round didnt really get to interact with the other tour mates. pity...
overall, i love this trip. maybe im a little biased cos i love kpop. haha.. but im really excited everytime i got to see the actual things that are being introduced in shows like 2D1N and Running Man, n even the movie, Hello Stranger. hopefully will be back there again, doing free and easy. if possible, visit KBS to see my idols, haha!!
*대한민국*