yeh... was in kimchi land for a week and just got back 2 wks ago ago..... did a lot of sight-seeing


How's Korea like? hmmmm...... quite alright..... was in the capital city, Seoul, most of the time.... its prob just like another big metropolitan city with talll buildings, many many shopping centres..... but what really really makes this city very very special is it has a fusion of both modernity and ancient charm.


you see, korean history dates way back to 2333 BC and was dotted with a couple of significant dynasty and kingdoms. What's left behind in these days are many beautiful majestic palaces, 'gates' and other magnificent architecture. And all these blend harmoniously with modern skyscrapers, roads etc....


pix, i took like 600 of them..... yah, as crazy as it sounds for a seven day trip...





trip started with an overnight 5 hrs plane ride after a day's work at the ofice, great time to catch some slp....



















after touching down, met up with our local guides we headed straight to the Haesoopia hot spring to freshen up after the flight........







well, the interesting thing about this hot spring is....... we're all supposed to go NAKED in the hot spring pool! of course, guys and gals are separated...... while the guys thought its nothing cos of their army experience but for the gals, its quite a culture shock!










we just felt funny having to go stark naked before ppl you know. back in the office, there were even jokes about shaping the pubic hair so it'll look good naked.... tsk tsk.... anyway we're supposed to take off everything on the second flr changing room then walk down the stairs with nothing but a piece of face towel (the only consolation was that the face towel was larger than expected). anyway, the mix of very hot and very cold pool plus sauna did a good job freshening us up..... but i still think the one i went to in Taiwan was way better!



next stop: Everland!





Everland's like this fairytale theme park with lots of beautiful fairytale architecture, landscaping and even the janitors wears beautiful costumes and cutsie headgears!



















in some ways, the place reminds me of CP, the cool air, the enthusiasm of the park go-ers, some rides (but of course, CP rules in rollercoasters!), the food and merchandise stalls in the park, the feeeeel! but this place really has a well-defined theme, fairytale! which is evident is almost every aspect in the park.....

















we came right in time for their tulip festival, yep, my fave flowers, tulips! tell you...... they're so beautiful!

besides tulip, you can also see cherry blossoms, they're the white patches in the background....








cable car took us to the lower part of the park where we went to the safari zoo! we sat in this bus and was driven through the small safari......





i like this attraction, its quite cool cos we got really up close and personal with the animals.......





there's mr & mrs lion

then there's this special hybrid, they call it ligers.... which is a cross between tiger and lion.... & look, they're mating, & they siblings! oh..... incest!











& there're grizzly bears! i think its the first time i'm seeing grizzly bear..... they're really tall and huge when they stand up!









din manage to spend a lot of time at Everland though there's still so much to see and play. i only manage to get on to 1 rollercoaster ride where i sat in the first row but the ride was disappointing.... i had too high an expectation.... we even skipped the Paper Museum to get an extra 1 and half hrs at Everland.....





retreated to Jeonju, one of the smaller cities south of Seoul where we had Korean style dinner for the first time! its quite extravagant, with more than 20 side dishes......

2nd day!



Checked out of the hotel at Jeonju and went to a traditional cultural centre first thing in the morning.











& there, i got dressed as a Korean bride!









think this is the rich family bride attire cos its more elaborate..... & they even stuck these red dot stickers on my face..... think its their form of blusher in olden days?

i like Korean hanbok, its colourful, cheerful and best of all, it hides all imperfections in the body.... big hips, small boobs, thick arms!

next up, Mt Mai (Ma Er Shan) which means horse's ear cos the peak resembles a horse's ear! its spring time, which means, its the season of cherry blossoms! i've never seen cherry blossom before and now i know why Japanses holds so much pride in their cherry blossom and why ppl would travel just to see cherry blossom! Look!

as its the cherry blossom time, the place was swarmed by ppl coming to view the flowers. its like a pilgrimage! so below is this temple with a lot of stacked up stones...... there're like pagoda which this mr lee guy used to build to get blessings for his parents or something.....

after the scenic Mt Mai, we took a 4 hour long bus ride to Seoul city....



met a jam into the city but made it in time for a good ginseng chicken soup meal, one of Korea's specialty. its much more yummy after i poured 4 small cups of ginseng wine in it........




Nanta percussion show after dinner. Thought this show was just so-so prob cos i dunno to appreciate percussion music and the draggy boring sense of humour...... but my colleagues went gaga over the cute actors haha......

Day 3

Woke up to a really hearty breakfast before setting off to Daejanggeum (Da Chang Jin) set. This set was built for the purpose of filming the 1-time super popular korean drama which talks about this imperial maid who helps in the kitchen to cook healthy and delicious food for the emperor and then later became the imperial doctor this sort of boring story line in ancient setting......

neh..... she's chang jin!

the emperor knew i was coming to visit him so he took some time off his busy schedule to see me for a while.... we took a s=parting shot before i left...... man, he must have missed me lots since then......

then there's jin san shun and other korean actors and actresses' poster which i do not know..... ok, i'm not a korean drama fan you see....

went for charcoal bbq meat that's simply so delicious! we're supposed eat the juicy bbq meat with fresh veggie and raw garlic...... the typical korean way of eating it.... together with the regular kimchi, this place also serves a special white jellyfish salad that's crunchy and not easily obtainable else where.....

lunch was sinful, too much meat, too much fats, too oily, too much cholesterol.... but then, its holidays mah! just enjoy right!

went to the food and culture centre to learn kimchi making! like i mentioned before, i'm quite turned off kimchi cos it appears way too often all the time.... wasn't a hit with me but making it is indeed fun! get some spices, garlic, chilli etc, blend them into red chilli paste then spread it on big white cabbage that's been soaked in salt water for hours.....

the traditional style is uch that you gotta put your hands under these white drapes on the dress for some reasons i dunno..... just did as told.

korea has by far, the sweetest strawberries i've eaten.... i'm usually not into strawberries cos the ones in SG are normally a little sour..... but these are big, juicy and sweet! yummy......

after the hanbok and strawberries session, went to the state-owned ginseng and also amethyst shop where i spent usd$160 on an amethyst pendant for my mom.... luckily she likes it else will sure get chided for spending money thoughtlessly....

met a demonstrating crowd on the roads.... lucy, my tour guide, said that protesting and demonstrating is koreans' favourite sport (yah, not baseball, not football).... apparently this crowd is prob there to protest against the Korean-US free trade agreement which might set many farmers at disadvantage.......

evening time, met up group 2 of my colleagues (who left SG one day later than my group for biz operations reasons) for a cozy dinner of shabu-shabu.... well its more like a steamboat dinner with lots of veggie and meat..... less interesting than our usual steamboat....we had a party there with lotsa booze, a big cake, entertainment for a celebration of good biz performance.....

the party continued all night as the 7 of us proceeded to 3 clubs after that, including the hottest JJ Mahoney club in Seoul at Grand Hyatt that's perched on top of a hill..... its quite a cool place with a good live band..... i spent bulk of my time drinking and visiting toilet.... drank so much that i prob went to the ladies' like 7 times over less than 2 hrs there..... then hopped to the last club i think called the Spy club or something where i made a spectacle of myself singing Polly Put the Kettle On on the streets outside the club. I swear i was still sober then! its a different kind of experience and what's better is that i didn't have to pay a single cent for drinks. boss was there, he paid in the first 2 clubs! & for Spy, we sneaked in through the bouncers and door bitch and got through unscath!

got back to the hotel at 5am.... damn its an early day tml, where we're supposed to wake up at 7.30am for breakfast and then check out at 8.30am. Did I manage to make it for breakfast? shall find out soon....

gera!

| Its Juz Me |

[[ My History ]]

|March 2005|April 2005|May 2005|June 2005|July 2005|August 2005|September 2005|November 2005|December 2005|January 2006|February 2006|March 2006|April 2006|May 2006|June 2006|July 2006|August 2006|September 2006|October 2006|November 2006|December 2006|January 2007|February 2007|March 2007|April 2007|May 2007|June 2007|July 2007|August 2007|September 2007|October 2007|November 2007|December 2007|January 2008|February 2008|March 2008|April 2008|May 2008|December 2008|January 2009|February 2009|August 2009|September 2009

[[ My Friends ]]

| gigi | fio | The Singapore Idler | Dawn |
| Huiying | Sue Mei | Angela | Hot Potato Summer 2005 |

| Hall 15 | The New Paper | The Sun | Kenny Sia | Things I Hate About My Flatmate | Cheeky By Nature |

[[ Credits ]]