Saturday 27 June 2009

안녕하세요! Korea! Day 8

Alright, this is the last entry of my Korea trip.
This was the tote bag we got from "The Faceshop". The bag was full of skincare products which we bought during the trip. Lolz!
--Breakfast--
We went back to the restaurant which we had "ginseng chicken soup". This was the buffet breakfast we had. Choices were not too bad, but I did not eat much la.
--Shopping--
They added another "extra" shop in our trip, and that's the 冬虫夏草 shop. Did not buy anything there.
--Sinchon Ladies Street 新村女人街--
Basically, Sinchon Ladies Street is a shopping street outside Ewha Woman's Uni. We were there early, so there's no crowd la. Bumped into two other SG tour grps though. Haha!

I just realised tt there's one "Beauty Credit" store in Vivo! Haha! Pretty Gu Hye Seon is the spokesperson for the brand.
Hehe...Dunkin' Donuts!
The entrance of Ewha Woman's Uni. Lots of students returning to sch on Sun.
Kosney is a lifestyle shop, and I think the stuffs were not cheap. However, they do sell very nice organisers & stationaries.
We went to Dunkin' Donuts for a quick bite. That's E.W's Iced Peach Tea, my Caramel Macchiato & Fresh Bavarian filled. Aunt Jo also ordered something similar. Hehe! The "bavarian filled" was super delicious~!
View from our seats at Dunkin' Donuts.
Sinchon Ladies Street.

This is Sinchon metro station.
--Provision Shop--
Our last destination for the day was the provision shop, where u got to buy all the local specialties like seaweed, ginseng candies, chocolate pies etc. I thought the shop wld have lots of stuffs, but that's not the case.
--Incheon International Airport--
Interesting wave design for the rooftop at one of the terminals.
We gotta buy our own lunch again. This is the worst Japanese soba I have ever eaten. The noodles were soggy & tasteless.
This was the boarding gate. Their gate designs were unique.
Something interesting was tt tourists cld still shop and eat at food courts/restaurants near the gates. U cld do some last min shopping or grab a quick bite la.
Our flight, KE 641.
Plane departing Incheon.
--Dinner--
The crew was still messy when they're confirming passengers' meals.
E.W's vegetarian meal.
It's either bibimbap or some western meal for me. Chose their beef & rice. The beef meat was kinda pathetic, but sill not bad la. Haha!
Surprise surprise! This was my first "Strawberry Cheesecake" ice cream. Delicious.
View of the evening sky~
Time for sunset.
The 2nd surprise was...3 hrs after our dinner...we got a supper? Haha. Why don't they give us a dinner when we fly to Korea huh? E.W's veg burger.
I think i was not supposed to get a seafood treat? Who cares? Lolz! Fish nuggets & fried shrimps~ There were other choices like origiri and snacks too.
The whole flight lasted for 5 hrs plus, and actually we could have landed earlier. But dunno why our plane made a big detour to some Indonesian islands before u-turning back to Changi. So I got to see the night view of our city before the plane landed. Haha! Too bad my cam could not captured the night views!!! Argghh!
8.49p.m - We reached home!

Thursday 25 June 2009

안녕하세요! Korea! Day 7

--Seoul Imperial Palace Hotel--
Looks like I shld make a visit to Botanic Gdn soon. Love Orchirds~
This table lamp was really nice, very European in design, and I liked the dimmed lights.
The lounge area.
The hotel. What's interesting was the Korean rooftop which did not seemed to be fit with the building's European feel. (Personally, I thought that's ok...haha!)
--On our way to the restaurant for breakfast--
I had passed by Hangang and Yeouido (汝矣岛) for a few times la, took some pics of the surroundings while I was on the bus. Yeouido is a large island next to Hangang. It is Seoul's main business and investment banking district.
A far view of "N Seoul Tower" at Namsan (南山).
View of Gangbuk (江北) area across Hangang.
There are 24 bridges across Hangang. This bridge is for the metro trains to pass through.
The Daehan Life Insurance building, commonly known as the "63 Building", used to be the tallest skyscraper in South Korea until Mok-dong Hyperion Towers surpassed it in 2003.
National Assembly Building.
--Shopping--
The first two destinations were the standard places for all Korean group tours. Haha! We went to the "Ginseng Showroom", where u got salespersons who spoke in Chinese-accented mandarin. It's the hard-sell time, but we just siam la. 2nd stop was the "Amethyst Gem Factory", and E.W bought a 紫水晶念珠. I also bought 3 Amethyst Gem keychains for USD 45. (not the top grade gems of course..lol!)
The 3rd stop was what the ladies were waiting for...THE FACESHOP. Hahaha! Basically, I had completed my mission back in Jeju, so I did not have anything to buy la. After the salesgirl promoted their new products (which cld not be found in SG yet), E.W started to purchase her stuffs...and know how much we spent??? W201,700 (S$237)!!! Hahaha! And we spent enough to get a tote bag lo. (So now u know why we ended up with so many face masks. Lolz!) Got a family spent abt S$400 and they got a trolley bag to put their stuffs. Lolz! Anyway, the shop was flooded with abt 4 SG grps, and our spending power was bloody good sia. I saw an aunty who took at least 5~8 boxes of collagen masks, and one of the boxes dropped off from the overload basket. Lolz!
--Lunch--
Korean Pork Bone Soup with Potatoes. Personally, I didn't like it as it's very hard to eat. First of all, I gotta use my hands. 2nd, there's very little meat, and the bones were damn big la. 3rd, it's hard to bite the meat also...eat until very bek cheh. Haha! Aenee-sshi said it's their KR style "Bak Kut Teh". No way man~! Pork Ribs are way better sia! E.W said Chinese used these pork bones to boil soup, not to eat. Different culture ne~
--Kimchi Making Class & Wearing Korean Traditional Hanbok--
This was the venue of our class, 韩国民俗体验馆.
Ah ha! Dae Jang Geum pics~
The classroom.
The blue cup was milk for us to drink. The plate with cabbage and chili was what we gotta do next...kimchi.
Tada~my kimchi! Ah Ching likes to eat kimchi, but I preferred those which are more spicy than sour. Haha! Completed my final mission here, and I also bought a packet of Kimchi & Octopus kimchi back home.
After washing our hands, we were told to try on the traditional Hanboks (韩服) la. E.W and Aunt Jo did not wear, so left me lo. I picked the 1st Hanbok in the pic, and quickly took pics with my own cam. Later, I quickly took off as I did not want Gwang-nam to take pics of me. Lolz~!
--Insadong 仁寺洞--
Insadong is actually a dong, or a neighbourhood of the Jongno-gu district in Seoul. It's a place famous for antiques & traditional arts. If u wanna find Korean ceramic ware, calligraphy, paintings, and local souvenirs, then this is the place for u la. There were lots of small shops selling unique stuffs, ranging from handicrafts to clothing & small household items etc. It's quite crowded on a Sat afternoon la. After looking at my pics, I realised that Insadong is also a gd place for.....street food! Haha!
This was one of the two protest campaigns I saw in Insadong. I knew it's something to do with their Northern neighbour, but not quite sure of the details.
The street~
I think they're selling 麦芽糖.
Interesting toys in one of the shops.
Ssamziegil. The place was designed in such a way by connecting its charming alleys in the form of a spiral-like stairway.
We didn't go up to look at the shops, so I didn't know that the rooftop was accessible. Aiyo~ There are over 70 shops, including handicraft stores, souvenir shops, art galleries, restaurants, and more.
There were lots of shops like this, selling souvenirs.
and there were lots of nice flowers along the street!
The street food here was way better than those found in Dongdaemun. I have not seen them before. I did not know the name for this, but they're made of yam. Moshisoyo~
Interesting way to spin a top.
Aiyo~my lovely orchirds~
There were also many cafes/restaurants on the 2nd storey of the shophosues. Liked the pots of flowers.
Ok...I didn't know what's the name for it too. It's made of peanut butter (if i'm nt wrong~).
U cld also buy local tibits or candies too.
I bought some dried slices of octopus from this stall. The berries looked delicious...haha!
Wow~freshly made!

This stall was damn popular la, shld have took pics of the queue. Aunt Jo bought one of it too, but I forgot to ask what is it. Lolz!
A stall selling Korean sushi (Kimbap). Nearly wanna buy one lo, but I gotta save my stomach for dinner...

Saw them twice. Wondered what's their purpose of wearing traditional guard uniforms and walking up & down the street. Hahaha!
Intro u another Korean brand..."Nature Republic", and their spokesperson is Rain!
Koreans like fortune-telling too.
I didn't know what's inside the two big potteries, but I saw steam coming out. Must be some nice food inside la~
This was another grp of ppl doing some awareness campaign for African women. They sang many english songs & there were two mascots.
Oh~~~looking good ne~
--Myeongdong 明洞--
Today was really a shopping day ah. If u think I had shopped & walked enough after Insadong, then u're wrong. Myeongdong was up next. Hahaha!
Myeongdong is also a neighbourhood in Jung-gu, Seoul. It's very near to other famous places, like Nandaemun (南大门) & Namsan. Myeongdong is one of Seoul's main shopping districts featuring mid to high priced retail stores and international brand outlets. It is also the ninth most expensive shopping street in the world in terms of floorspace rents. Myeongdong also has 4 large department stores, and it's the centre of major financial services and securities.
Korean styled sauna is called "汗蒸慕". Weather's not very good, as it's pretty dark & I thought it wld rain anytime. Luckily, there's only light drizzle.
A very clear view of "N Seoul Tower" at Namsan.
Mister Donut...I had tried their stuffs in Taipei, but not here la.
Uniqlo.
Main street of Myeongdong. Basically, there were roadside stalls selling fake branded goods again. Obviously, the govt was not tough on fake products. Haha! Majority of the shops here were local brands, and I didn't find many well-known Korean brands la. Lots of their local skincare & cosmetics brands (The Faceshop, Etude House, Skin Food, Tony Moly) have at least 2 shops in Myeongdong lo. They scared customers can't find them is it?
This is one of the alleys la. Jammed-packed with ppl.
I don't think it's common to find stalls selling street food in Myeongdong. This stall's business was good, but there's not sitting area. U gotta stand there & eat your food.
Zara...prices were similar to SG.
Forever 21. Didn't go into the shop.
Ah~Mr Kwon's cafe was in that building!
Kwon Sang Woo's cafe, "Tea'us Coffee".
--Itaewon 黎泰院--
Happened to pass by Itaewon on our way to the restaurant. Itaewon is located in Yongsan-gu & it's famous for being a "Angmoh place", and for the nightlife scene. Basically, I thought Itaewon was some up-mkt shopping area, but the shops here looked kinda rundown? Nearly all the shops had english names & u cld find lots of foreigners there. The place was also a well-known red light district area.
--Dinner--
The side dishes.
It's BBQ Pork again, but I think the restaurant used charcoal, so the bbq tasted different from others. I thought it's ok, but I could not eat more after the 1st serving. I realised I'm not a big eater ne. Haha!
--Seoul Imperial Palace Hotel--
Yday, we reached the hotel at night time, so could not see what's outside our room. So, we got to see it finally! The hotel's outdoor restaurant was just below our room, with an outdoor pool! Wah I saw them serving buffet dinner lo. The ambience looked great leh~~sian liao. Hahaha! I wondered how much the buffet dinner costed.
--Thoughts--
Initially, I had plans to roam about Gangnam area, like their up-market shopping area Apgujeong, or COEX Mall. I knew Lotte World is actually not far away, but still, it's not that convenient to visit la. I found out that the hotel's metro line was diff from the lines gg to Apgujeong or Coex. Also, I gotta make one big round to change trains before reaching either places. It's quite mafan la. So, Ah Ching cld only stayed in the hotel room la. What a pity~