12 October - 21 October 2013
South Korea
3 of us, many commented as a pretty weird combination,
surprisingly embarked on our autumn trip to kimchi-land.
we may be the most unexpected but each of us contributed to the success
with our different character, talents and expertise.
i couldn't hide my happiness and excitement when i was searching and sieving
through pages and more pages of informative websites,
planning the daily routes and arranging the details of the itinerary.
the only sad part which i had to accept
was when the last day appeared on my screen with the return flight numbers.
Hongdae Guesthouse
highly and strongly recommended
the guy who assisted with our check-in was friendly and helpful.
not only did they upgrade our room for free,
the room offered was really big with great view.
i could see Han River at the left.
location was marvelous with the subway right under the building.
shopping area and restaurants were around 5 to 10 minutes away.
slight concern was the stairs linking the subway to the building
but i think it could be easily overcome.
specially included a night stay in a hanok in Seoul
felt quite comfortable and cosy
miss egg hostel in Busan is a BIG NO NO NO for me.
when we reached, there was no one in the hostel to settle us in.
apparantly, the guy told us on the phone that he didn't receive our reservation
so he didn't expect our arrival. okay, it could be the problem with the system.
then he arrived an hour later, telling us that someone was hospitalised due to an accident so he was caught up. it looked like he was tied down to handle alone. okay.
then disappointment came when we didn't get to have
our private bathroom that we paid for. i still think it was a shared bathroom.
accumulating to everything, what was terribly unacceptable was that
i was going to stay 2 nights with cats roaming and jumping around freely in the hostel (excluding our room and bathroom)
*SHOCK*
what was the worst was the dirtiness
i couldn't stand the stench of the cats' urine in the main hall and along the whole corridor
my goodness, the moment i opened the door to speed-walk from my always-locked room to the bathroom, the smell was so choking that i could only repeat my complaint that
THE PLACE STANK!
*shake head*
so glad to spend the whole day at Everland
which I couldn't on my previous 2 visits.
finally, i managed to conquer rides that i missed out.
my 2nd attempt on my favourite ride, T-Express.
worth the time spent on queuing
this time i wore my spectacles to have a clearer view.
i apologised for my dangerous act.
adding to my photo collection which consisted of
beds of colourful flowers during spring,
white fluffy snow with Christmas trees and snowman during winter,
now I have pumpkins, coffins, skeletons and tombstones
that welcomed us to the autumn halloween season.
watched a non-verbal performance - action drawing hero
artistically entertained
i love shopping at myeongdong, insadong and hongdae.
yielding to temptation, i splurged.
there goes my hard-earned money.
took a photo with the friendly shop attendant who recognised me
when i stepped into the shop twice.
outside tony moly at myeongdong, there was a huge crowd of ladies armed with cameras and we suspected that a few of the super junior boys were in the shop.
failed to snap any of their photos.
haedong yonggung temple beside the sea
its motto as quoted from its website
"at least one of your wishes will be answered here through your heartful prayers"
may my wish comes true
somehow, there were only us, 3 brave souls who took up the challenge
in this utterly quiet suburb. peaceful.
exclusive service by the ajusshi who looked fierce but was really nice
too bad we forgot to take picture with him
truthfully, my first comment when i saw the bungee jump tower was,
"not very tall leh"
the height of 50m was really acceptable,
considering it only 1/5 of macau tower; the world's highest bungee.
the scariest part was not the moment when i stood at the edge and preparing to jump.
neither was it the second i decided to spread out my arms
and bounce off the edge nor the free fall.
the impact was during the every recoil; the feeling of getting lifted up into the air and zooming downwards.
ceramic making.
actually i thought we would be spinning the potter's wheel,
but it came out to be a much simpler version of constructing our own holder
with pre-prepared clay, some rolling and stacking.
the rest of the steps were completed by the professionals and air-flown to us.
N Seoul tower in the night.
locked our friendship.
experienced jjimjilbang.
wore the "sheep-head" towel, ate the eggs,
drank the sikhye which was really delicious and refreshing,
slept relaxingly in one of the kilns
haeundae beach.
i was the only one who managed to wake up.
so i left the hostel alone and made my way to the beach.
waited from pitch dark to dark blue to clear blue.
too bad i didnt get to see the sunrise.
table full of food. so many side dishes.
some mouth-watering and thumbs-up dishes.
chicken galbi at yoo ga ne.
ginseng chicken soup at tosokchun ginseng chicken soup.
bibimbap at gogung.
bbq in a random shop.
kimbap, tteokbokki and oden. yummy.
brownie with ice-cream.
hot honey papaya tea. taste great. really nice especially when it was drizzling outside.
dunkin donuts before we catch our train to busan.
need to plan a summer trip to South Korea to complete my "season" collection
boryeong mud festival and carribean bay. wait for me!