snapshot no.1408

Ahnyong haseyo!

i'm here to update abt my korea trip...
well, basically it was pretty fun...
definitely betta than the previous time i went there 6 yrs ago...
but it was terribly cold this time...
while back here in spore it's so damn hot that everywhere is catching fire...
haha...the effects of global warming...
okay without further ado here goes...


Day 1:
took a 6 hr flight from singapore to seoul. kept myself entertained with my 2 mp3 players, mostly loaded with shinhwa songs. watched 'shall we dance' on the in-flight entertainment. had a hard time sleeping cos of the stuffy air, i dunno why.

Day 2:
arrived at incheon international airport in the morning. after the tour guide and tour leader settled everything, we boarded the bus. tour guide took us to breakfast and on the way there he self-introduced and all dat. and wow..he speaks PERFECT chinese even though he is a korean. well, cos he had been learning chinese since young. props to his mandarin, i cant even speak dat well. breakfast was simple. cant expect much from korean food, sth i learnt 6 yrs ago..haha. dats why i prefer japanese food. after breakfast we proceeded to gimpo domestic airport for our flight to jeju island. argh, the thought of flying again was kinda dreadful. but luckily it was only abt an hr's flight. at the domestic airport, i saw a few large anycall banners and guess who were in them? kwon sang woo, eric(shinhwa) and hyori! omg! wanted to tear down hyori's and hang in my room la..hehe. so sad couldnt. arrived at jeju island soon after. went to songsan sunrise peak. wind was super strong and chilly. den went to Seopji-koji which is the 'All In' filming site. wad else, erm still went to Seongeup Folk Village, Jusangjeolli also known as God's sculpture made by wave and wind at Daepo Coast and lastly, teddy bear museum, where i saw many replicas of myself. haha, just joking. checked in at ramada plaza hotel for the night. pretty nice 5 star hotel.

Day 3:
went mysterious road where there's a phenomenon of going uphill with the vehicle engine switched off. amazing isnt it? but it's a fake, haha. the reason is dat the road only seemed to be uphill as seen by our naked eyes. plus the surroundings oso made it seemed uphill. but in actual fact it is downslope. cheater! proceeded to Yongduam (Dragon Head Rock) after dat. and den we took a flight back to mainland to gwangju. went to mt.maisan. last place of the day was muju tirol, a gift of nature in Alps style filled with live romance and sentiment of a mountain resort. oso the filming site of 'summer scent'. hotel room was classy. from the windows could see ppl skiing outside. major coolness. though it was more of a resort, it was equivalent to a 5 star hotel as well.

Day 4:
happy cny! after breakfast the ladies in the group were given a chance to wear the korean traditional costume and take photos, courtesy of our young female photographer. my mom wore one too, pretty. proceeded on to take a gondola ride up the hill. abt 1km+ high. view was scenic, panoramic and breathtaking. the rest of the day was spent on the roads if i remembered correctly. long drive to kyongju. and there was a jam. halfway there during a toilet break it started to snow. well, not exactly snow. initially was teeny weeny water droplets, den the little snowflakes came down. not much though. reached kwongju kinda late. settled in wellich chosun hotel, the worst hotel of the entire trip. but still acceptable. guess it's ard 3-4 stars ba but my dad and i referred to it as the '2 star hotel'. came down to rejoin the grp for dinner. guess wad? it was snowing outside. heavier this time, but nth compared to the snowstorm i experienced in tokyo 3 yrs ago. still nice though. i had alwaes loved snow. and i'm v fated to see snow, haha. alwaes when ppl go winter countries they dun even see it snowing(although can see snow on the roads and streets or sth) but for me i've seen it snowing for everytime i been to countries during winter. haha kinda cool huh. affinity with snow.

Day 5:
went to Pulguksa Temple. den most of the day was spent on the roads again. 5 long hrs drive to yong pyong resort.
the resort where we were supposed to go skiing. oso the filming site of 'winter sonata'. reached there ard late afternoon? cant remember. went skiing. my skiing skills improved, haha. had more control with myself now and most importantly i didnt fall at all. wahaha. had a gd sleep dat night i guess. dead beat from all the skiing.

Day 6:
hmm interesting day. in the morning temperatures went down to -16 degrees. cant u believe it? oh man..it was so damn cold. there was even vapour coming outta my mouth in the bus. brr. went to Ichon hot spring Spa after breakfast. just a hot spring spa right? wrong. the thing is dat u're supposed to go into the spa pools stark naked with many other different ppl, of cos of the same sex. the men's and women's were separated. well..i didnt exactly strip, haha. was wearing trunks while the rest of my grp went down naked. but hey, i'm not the only one. so in the end i went ard with this other guy from my grp, young man in his twenties or so rather. we tried the indoor and outdoor warm, hot, cold pools. wad herb pool la, mud pool la, all oso try. we even went to the unisex pool. of cos, the unisex pool required u to be in ur trunks or swimming costume, which we were in. dun wan oso can la actually, haha but i guess nobody dared try. interesting point to note, we singaporeans are so conscious of ourselves, skeptical abt such stuff. but to the locals, it's their way of life. nth wrong with stripping down for the spa. haha, different society and way of thinking. oh, and the spa pools are super shiok. felt damn relaxing, refreshing and energetic all in one. after spa we went to everland. a theme park for those who dunno. ok la quite fun. didnt take many rides. took the snow sleigh though. v fun. after everland tour guide took us to Shihcon Fashion Street. the place where korean teenage girls love to patronise. sth like orchard i guess, but orchard is far from that. the fashion street is so much nicer, esp with the night lights and all dat. and ya, quite a feast for my eyes too, heh heh. eyecandy land. enuff said. had ginseng chicken for dinner with a small cup of ginseng wine. kinda strong la the wine, 22%. like wahh. but pretty gd stuff. went Dongdaemon after dinner. another shopping district. saw a hyori poster in one of the shopping centres. took pic of it, hehe. the night was spent in ritz-carlton seoul. yea, cool huh? ritz-carlton lehh, lol. 6 star hotel! haha i muz talk abt the hotel room man. firstly, it's so damn nice la. wads more there's a cd player on the little table beside the bed, a mini tv in the toilet. yes..a tv in the toilet!
for you to watch while u're doing ur business. in other words, while u're shitting can watch tv la! den a modem on the table. too bad dun have laptop. who brings a laptop on a tour aniwae.

Day 7:
seoul city tour. went to see the blue house, national folk museum and Kyongbok Palace. den went to watch a korean traditional performance. nth much. in the evening went to lotte world. the world's largest indoor theme park. oso the filming site for 'stairway to heaven'. i liked dat show. took pictures of the painting, the carousel(mainly the horse dat the cast sat on, horse no.8!) and the ice-skating ring. haha, u wun noe why i took pics of all these unless u watched the show. bought the 'perfect love' necklace too. dat evening, dinner was not provided and so we went to buy cup noodles to eat. save money ma, korea things not cheap lehh. in the end i felt very bloated dunno why. dat night i slept next to the window summore without realising it wasnt closed. woke up in the middle of the night feeling so damn cold. i think i must have caught a chill then.

Day 8:
in the morning when i woke up(didnt really sleep much in the 1st place), was still feeling cold. brushing my teeth halfway suddenly had difficulty breathing and was breaking out in cold sweat. scared the hell outta my mom. but luckily for me, felt slightly betta after taking a shower. didnt have appetite for food the whole day and was having a fever. but tolerated lor, since going back singapore le. had a hard time though, didnt go straight to the airport after breakfast. went to some souvenir shop 1st. i stayed alone in the bus, didnt have energy to go down. hao bu rong yi den finally head to incheon international airport for our flight home. den wahh the immigration so damn slow la, i standing there waiting already wanna die liao, haha. after clearing the immigration immediately rushed to board the plane, collapsed down in my seat and slept. the flight was slightly delayed i think, haha i dunno cos i was in a state of semi-consciousness. felt betta when i awoke. whew! reached singapore changi airport at ard evening. yup.


hmm...dats abt all for the trip i guess...
i had fun, except for the part when i fell sick...
haha but luckily it was the last day la...
and yea...my tour grp is pretty fun too...
interesting ppl who made the trip even more enjoyable...
yeap...

ok i wrote alot already...
to those who took the time to read all the crap i wrote...
Kamsa hamnida!

haha...

posted by ANDY NG @ 12:34 PM