Day 7 (last day):-
Today is our last day here in Korea. So sad :(. But we have to go back to Malaysia somehow. I've got some unfinished assignments to hand up and the rest have to go back to work. For this part of my review, there will be no photos this time.
Of course as usual, we have our last breakfast for the day in the buffet restaurant. No wake up calls again but mom's alarm from her hand phone woke us. We got down late again as well. After we eat, we went back up to our room for final checking and taking down our bags to the lobby.
Down at the lobby, we met up with Jenny, Rachelle, Alex oppa and Driver Lee (who is outside). It's good to see them again. And so were the rest of the group. Before we go up the bus, we sign our signatures on the Redawn banner. We got a group photo outside our hotel as memory that we will cherished :). Since my mom went up the bus already and everyone is taking photos with the tour guides and Alex (he got the most^^), I took my photo with him as well. Not by my mom but by another lady (also in our tour group). Thank you :). But poor thing. He's shivering outside. He shouldn't have take off his jacket in the first place.
We still have some places to go before the day is over. Our first location is to Songhak laver museum where we learn about seaweed in Korea. We even taste a sample of their different types of seaweed. They even sell seaweed chocolates too :). Although they don't taste like seaweed. They taste more like chocolate with mint. Ha ha!! Again, no photos from the museum.
Next up is a supermarket for our final shopping. Which means that we can get to buy Korean goodies and snacks to bring back home :). Once after paying, they will be put in a box. No plastic bags are given because they are trying to preserve the environment. It's similar like what we do in Malaysia. Every Saturday, no plastic bags are given after paying your groceries. For Korea, they do it everyday. Not bad O.o.
On the way to Incheon Airport, Alex oppa gave out our photos he took for us during the whole tour. Of course, it's not for free. We have to pay him. Everyone got one album with their pictures on it. But one little mistake his that he got mixed up with the counting of the currencies. Rachelle calls him "Pabo" (which means "Stupid" in Korean). Poor oppa. I'm sure she didn't mean it.
We reach our final destination, Incheon Airport. Our flight is at 4 pm. So lunch is on our own in the airport. Once we finished everything, like checking in our heavy luggages, changing back to our normal clothings (it's not that cold anymore in the airport), take our strawberries we've ordered the day before, we say our farewells to our Korean tour guides. We're gonna miss you.
Now it's on our own. We had Burger King for lunch. And we decided to go into the immigration early since we got nothing to do. My eyes were so tired while waiting for our flight and my hands were freezing. Don't ask me why, okay? It's hard for me to sleep on the chair too. At last, it's time to go up the plane.
Bye bye, Korea. We'll come back again someday.
That's all about my review for my holiday in Korea. I had so much fun. And everything run smoothly. Where do you think we should travel to next? :)
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Korea Tour (part 5)
Day 6:-
Today is free and leisure day. No wake up call this time but we woke up a little late because my mom didn't set the right time zone. But some people came down to the buffet restaurant much more later than us. Whew. That'll give us time to eat.
When we got back to our room, we change into our proper clothes before our tour to DMZ. Mom booked the reservations yesterday night. And on time too. We booked the afternoon tour. At 11 am, our tour guide came to our hotel. It's a lady again. We don't know her name. What fun part is that we are the only ones on the coach going to DMZ. Yahoo!! It's like going on a private tour with your family.
Anyways, we're going to DMZ for some general facts about the borders between North and South Korea. As you all know, North Korea is a communist country, so no one is allowed to enter that country. If you do, the soldiers will shoot you to death. This is no joke. One tourist was shot by them years ago. I'm not sure when but it's horrible. Jenny told us this story about Korea. Before they were separated, Korea was just one country itself. When the Korean War started during 1950, they were separated. In North Korea, people there were suffering. No contact on the outside world, dying from starvation, some got no education etc.
We have about 1/2 an hour to tour around Imjingak before heading onto the bus with the other people who are touring to DMZ with us.
When we arrive back in Seoul, we went to an Amethyst shop to learn about Amethyst, of course. Usually when you're in a jewellery shop like this, our tour people is always with us. But this time it's only us. So I felt a little awkward. Not use to privacy :). Anyways, after learning about Amethyst, the clerk tempt us to buy their jewelleries. Oh boy! More buying. Here we go again. Sooner or later, we're gonna go bankrupt. Just kidding. In the end, we did buy something not too expensive. After buying, I convince my mom to go before the clerk tempt us again and kiss our money good bye.
The coach drop us at Itaewon, also another shopping district but it's a foreigner place this time. So the locals there can speak English. We say good bye to our lovely tour guide for touring us around DMZ before going on our own way. We walk around as usual. But suddenly my back starts to itch. Maybe it's from the sweat inside our clothes. Luckily it got better in the end.
For our dinner, we had mushroom hotpot again. We ate heartily cause we never had lunch during the tour.
Before we took a taxi back to our hotel, we buy some delicious pastries to try from Paris Baguette bakery shop. We took the silver taxi back. Every tour guides convince us not to take the black taxi, as it is too costly. But it's cheaper after midnight.
In the lobby, some of daddy's colleagues came back same time as us. And guess what? Most of them went shopping again. I guess we're the only ones having a fun time at DMZ. He he.
It's time to rest our feet and pack our bags, because we're heading back home to Malaysia the next day.
To be continue.....
Today is free and leisure day. No wake up call this time but we woke up a little late because my mom didn't set the right time zone. But some people came down to the buffet restaurant much more later than us. Whew. That'll give us time to eat.
When we got back to our room, we change into our proper clothes before our tour to DMZ. Mom booked the reservations yesterday night. And on time too. We booked the afternoon tour. At 11 am, our tour guide came to our hotel. It's a lady again. We don't know her name. What fun part is that we are the only ones on the coach going to DMZ. Yahoo!! It's like going on a private tour with your family.
Anyways, we're going to DMZ for some general facts about the borders between North and South Korea. As you all know, North Korea is a communist country, so no one is allowed to enter that country. If you do, the soldiers will shoot you to death. This is no joke. One tourist was shot by them years ago. I'm not sure when but it's horrible. Jenny told us this story about Korea. Before they were separated, Korea was just one country itself. When the Korean War started during 1950, they were separated. In North Korea, people there were suffering. No contact on the outside world, dying from starvation, some got no education etc.
We have about 1/2 an hour to tour around Imjingak before heading onto the bus with the other people who are touring to DMZ with us.
In the bus, there are some preschool children and college students following us on the tour. Of course, we just follow our tour guide. During our tour, we see snow flowing down on us. What a joy. Mom was more excited than me. We also passed some mine plantations on the way. We also got to see the history between North and South Korea during the war. Even we get to see both countries with the telescope on the deck. How cool is that? We get to see North Korea from the telescope even though we can't enter. There's one location that I didn't enjoy much. And it's the 3rd tunnel. It's so long to get down to the bottom. We have to wear construction helmets too. We try to go along the mine down below but unfortunately, there's nothing to see and dad's body is too tall to enter. So we head back up. And my, what a sweat. I was panting going up. This is more tough than going down. Whew! I was sweating too. But it's okay since it's still winter. So it's not that bad. Once we got up, the tour guide gave me a mint candy before heading to toilet. Kamsahamida :).
Before we go back to Imjingak and Seoul, we take some photos as memories. I pray that North and South Korea will unite again.
Once we're back on our private coach in Imjingak, we head back to Seoul. That was a fun and educated tour we had.When we arrive back in Seoul, we went to an Amethyst shop to learn about Amethyst, of course. Usually when you're in a jewellery shop like this, our tour people is always with us. But this time it's only us. So I felt a little awkward. Not use to privacy :). Anyways, after learning about Amethyst, the clerk tempt us to buy their jewelleries. Oh boy! More buying. Here we go again. Sooner or later, we're gonna go bankrupt. Just kidding. In the end, we did buy something not too expensive. After buying, I convince my mom to go before the clerk tempt us again and kiss our money good bye.
The coach drop us at Itaewon, also another shopping district but it's a foreigner place this time. So the locals there can speak English. We say good bye to our lovely tour guide for touring us around DMZ before going on our own way. We walk around as usual. But suddenly my back starts to itch. Maybe it's from the sweat inside our clothes. Luckily it got better in the end.
For our dinner, we had mushroom hotpot again. We ate heartily cause we never had lunch during the tour.
Before we took a taxi back to our hotel, we buy some delicious pastries to try from Paris Baguette bakery shop. We took the silver taxi back. Every tour guides convince us not to take the black taxi, as it is too costly. But it's cheaper after midnight.
In the lobby, some of daddy's colleagues came back same time as us. And guess what? Most of them went shopping again. I guess we're the only ones having a fun time at DMZ. He he.
It's time to rest our feet and pack our bags, because we're heading back home to Malaysia the next day.
To be continue.....
Korea Tour (part 4)
Day 5:-
Another wake up call but this time we woke up at 7.30 am, because our breakfast for the day is not buffet at our hotel but a Chinese but Korean style buffet breakfast at another place. There they serve mee hoon, mantau, beef sauce etc.
For our next location on that day, we went to a National Ginseng Outlet to learn about Korean national herb and ginseng of course. The 2nd day was at a farm, but now it's a museum. No photos taken from the museums we went BTW because we're not allowed to. Sorry.
The lady explain the details on how ginseng helps with our blood circulation and health. After explaining, she and the other workers ask us to buy the box of ginseng. We did buy too but it costs us a lot of money. We didn't pay with Won but by credit card. Next, we went to another place to learn about Korean cosmetics beauty course. When we hear the word "cosmetics", we think about lipsticks, eye lashes, blushes etc. But to Koreans, is actually facial creams to look pretty and nice. If you go to Korea, you can see lots of women looking pretty. That's because they use Korean cosmetics. This time we didn't buy it cause it's no use to us. We can find it anywhere in the world, even in Malaysia. But not all products. Finally, the last museum trip is the raisin tree. For the final trip, the raisin tree fact is very useful for us because it helps to clean our liver. This medicine is helpful for those who smoke or consume alcoholic drinks a lot. Even on the food we eat like junk food, fast food, fried food and fizzy drinks. Because if we don't stop consuming all these things, our liver might get damage. That's why it is very important to keep our liver healthy. We bought some boxes back for ourselves to eat.
What a great learning experience this is. Next is lunch time. We had Korean duck BBQ. It taste like bacon, even look like one too. It's been so long since we had BBQ at home. For dessert, we had pat bing su, a shave ice with red bean on top.
We head to another shopping district in Seoul. This time is Myeongdong. And it's not a mall too but an outdoor shopping district. Something like our outdoor market. We spend 1/2 hours there before dinner. Eventually, we got nothing to buy there. It's all clothes and fashionable items, just like in Dongdaemun. But we have to come back to Myeongdong again. I'll tell you in a little while.
We all met at the same meeting place and off to dinner we go. We had a seafood buffet dinner at El' Mareta. How I miss eating buffets. Besides seafood, they also serve sushi, pizza, dessert, soup, salads etc. We even had a toast before we leave for Myeongdong.
Back to Myeongdong again. We are now going to watch the famous "NANTA" show. That's why we have to come back. It's a silent show of four people cooking in various style. And it's a comedy show too. We laugh and laugh and laugh through their actions. The synopsis is about 4 chefs (3 men and one sassy lady) had to prepare the meals listed for a wedding ceremony. Will they be able to make it on time? Watch this yourself when you come to Myeongdong :).
Tomorrow we won't be seeing our tour guides because the next day is a leisure day for all of us, which means we can get to go anywhere in Seoul. To Dongdaemun, Myeongdong, or perhaps a new place :). You'll see later in the next part.
To be continue.........
Another wake up call but this time we woke up at 7.30 am, because our breakfast for the day is not buffet at our hotel but a Chinese but Korean style buffet breakfast at another place. There they serve mee hoon, mantau, beef sauce etc.
For our next location on that day, we went to a National Ginseng Outlet to learn about Korean national herb and ginseng of course. The 2nd day was at a farm, but now it's a museum. No photos taken from the museums we went BTW because we're not allowed to. Sorry.
The lady explain the details on how ginseng helps with our blood circulation and health. After explaining, she and the other workers ask us to buy the box of ginseng. We did buy too but it costs us a lot of money. We didn't pay with Won but by credit card. Next, we went to another place to learn about Korean cosmetics beauty course. When we hear the word "cosmetics", we think about lipsticks, eye lashes, blushes etc. But to Koreans, is actually facial creams to look pretty and nice. If you go to Korea, you can see lots of women looking pretty. That's because they use Korean cosmetics. This time we didn't buy it cause it's no use to us. We can find it anywhere in the world, even in Malaysia. But not all products. Finally, the last museum trip is the raisin tree. For the final trip, the raisin tree fact is very useful for us because it helps to clean our liver. This medicine is helpful for those who smoke or consume alcoholic drinks a lot. Even on the food we eat like junk food, fast food, fried food and fizzy drinks. Because if we don't stop consuming all these things, our liver might get damage. That's why it is very important to keep our liver healthy. We bought some boxes back for ourselves to eat.
What a great learning experience this is. Next is lunch time. We had Korean duck BBQ. It taste like bacon, even look like one too. It's been so long since we had BBQ at home. For dessert, we had pat bing su, a shave ice with red bean on top.
We head to another shopping district in Seoul. This time is Myeongdong. And it's not a mall too but an outdoor shopping district. Something like our outdoor market. We spend 1/2 hours there before dinner. Eventually, we got nothing to buy there. It's all clothes and fashionable items, just like in Dongdaemun. But we have to come back to Myeongdong again. I'll tell you in a little while.
We all met at the same meeting place and off to dinner we go. We had a seafood buffet dinner at El' Mareta. How I miss eating buffets. Besides seafood, they also serve sushi, pizza, dessert, soup, salads etc. We even had a toast before we leave for Myeongdong.
Back to Myeongdong again. We are now going to watch the famous "NANTA" show. That's why we have to come back. It's a silent show of four people cooking in various style. And it's a comedy show too. We laugh and laugh and laugh through their actions. The synopsis is about 4 chefs (3 men and one sassy lady) had to prepare the meals listed for a wedding ceremony. Will they be able to make it on time? Watch this yourself when you come to Myeongdong :).
Tomorrow we won't be seeing our tour guides because the next day is a leisure day for all of us, which means we can get to go anywhere in Seoul. To Dongdaemun, Myeongdong, or perhaps a new place :). You'll see later in the next part.
To be continue.........
Monday, February 13, 2012
Korea Tour (part 3)
Day 4:
We woke up at the same time as day 3 at the resort by the wake up call. After we got changed into our warm clothings, we went down to B1 to have our breakfast. It was a buffet breakfast. It opens at 7 am to 9 am. They usually serves us cereal, boiled eggs, sausages, porridge, salads etc. What I'm amazed at is that the bananas are cut in half. Very rare I see those O.o.
As we step outside, it was more colder than ever. The weather was -22 C that day. Oh my!! It was also windy too. Our day starts with a walk at Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul, which is a river tour of course. I think Libera came to this stream before during their visit to Korea. But I'm not sure if this is the stream they went to. Anyways, the river was quite clean than our river which was filled with rubbish. One of the colleagues touch the river. But felt nothing. Maybe our hands were cold because of the weather. Ha ha!! The walk was quite long but we managed to finish it.
Next location is visiting Deoksugung palace to see the changing of the guards ceremony. But unfortunately, we didn't manage to see it due to the weather. So sad. But we must go on. As we explore the palace, Jenny explain every detail about the history of the palace. My feet are starting to feel numb during the whole event. Of course, we're not forgetting a group photo in front of the king's throne room. Outside the palace, we saw a man making some Korean words with only one hand. Amazing! O.O
Before we continue our tour for the day, time for lunch. We had Korean ginseng chicken soup. Inside the chicken has rice in it. It took me for awhile to finished everything. We even had a bitter drink which was suppose to be put into the soup.
After lunch, we proceed on to N-Seoul Tower to observe the whole of Seoul city. It's located on top of a hill. Before we head to the observation deck, we went to Teddy Bear Museum first. It's also inside N-Seoul Tower. There are two exhibitions: One is past, and the other is present. We went inside the past museum first. Instead of using people, they use teddy bears to represent the event that people doing in the past. The teddy bears can even move too. Aren't they cute? :)
Even in the present side, it's all the same. Same moving teddy bears. So I don't have to explain that^^.
We then went up to the deck using the elevator for a fantastic view of the city. It was amazing. Even when we went to Victoria Peak, we didn't even see the observation deck there :(. Anyways, we had our family photos of the tower. I wish you could see them. One is day time, the other is night time.
Wow! Our day is almost done. But it's not yet finished without visiting the largest theme park in Seoul. And that is Lotte World Theme Park :D. We had 4 hours to play some rides or enjoy the view of the theme park. Once we got our 1 Day passes and a photo taking in front of the castle by Alex oppa, we're on our own. This theme park has two parks: Adventure Land (indoor) and Magic Island (outdoor). It's similar to Genting Highlands because they both have indoor and outdoor theme parks and there are some similar rides we know too. Yeah, it's like a Korean Genting Highlands and Disneyland combine together. Ha ha!!
I rode 3 rides this time than Disneyland. Plus, it's also on Wednesday, so not many people and not so crowded inside. Great :D!! Before we explore around the theme park, we sat on the monorail around the indoor park.
The first ride I rode is Pharoah's Fury. It's a roller coaster kind of ride that takes you inside the Egyptian tomb accompanied by Egyptian kind of music in the background, as if like you're in a real Egyptian cave to find Pharoah's treasure just like Indiana Jones style. Of course, the audio is all in Korean so I didn't understand what they were saying. I screamed a lot during the ride until I got no voice. Oh yes. I forgot to tell you. Before your ride, you'll see a hall of famous Egyptian artifacts.
That was one scary ride. Next ride is Swing Tree at Magic Island. It's like a spinner ride that takes you round and round. During the ride, something thought in my mind: "Now I know why I didn't took that ride in Genting". My head was dizzy after the ride.
At first I thought this was my last ride but it's not. I'll tell you later. We went back inside Adventure Land, as it was still very cold outside. We rest our legs by sitting down on a bench behind the stage. I did have some photos with the people who dressed up as pirates. After our feet were well rested, we continue walking around.
When I saw the carousel and teens like my age riding that, I went to line up. Well, at least I have to have some non-scary rides. I had enough of scary rides for the day. But when the ride ends, my horse ends up in a higher position. I had a hard time climbing down, as I'm quite short. And that was my final ride.
Dinner is on our own again. We went to a fast food cafe and order a pizza baguette for me, since my parents don't want to eat fast food. Well, I got to taste a bit of fast food sometimes, okay. I began eating my baguette while watching a stage show. My parents went off to find a restaurant to eat. The reason why I sit there is because in case they miss the parade show, at least I get to watch. But good thing they didn't :). Mom suddenly call me to come with her to an Italian restaurant where they both had pasta for their dinner. Since I just finished my baguette, except for my fries and cola, I went back to the stage and wait for my parents there. When they came, the parade hasn't start yet, except for the crew members showing some actions to the crowd while music was playing throughout the whole park. After waiting for so long, the parade began. It started at 7 pm. It was so magical with lights and it's held in the indoor park instead of outside. But to be honest, I still think Disneyland's parade is the best. Mom took the photos of the whole parade again. Sorry if some of the photos were quite blur because of the lights on the floats and costumes and our camera quality isn't that fantastic but enjoy.
It's time to go back to the hotel. What a fun night it was. We came back to our room tired but happy :). I wonder what is gonna be installed for us on the next day.
To be continue......
We woke up at the same time as day 3 at the resort by the wake up call. After we got changed into our warm clothings, we went down to B1 to have our breakfast. It was a buffet breakfast. It opens at 7 am to 9 am. They usually serves us cereal, boiled eggs, sausages, porridge, salads etc. What I'm amazed at is that the bananas are cut in half. Very rare I see those O.o.
As we step outside, it was more colder than ever. The weather was -22 C that day. Oh my!! It was also windy too. Our day starts with a walk at Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul, which is a river tour of course. I think Libera came to this stream before during their visit to Korea. But I'm not sure if this is the stream they went to. Anyways, the river was quite clean than our river which was filled with rubbish. One of the colleagues touch the river. But felt nothing. Maybe our hands were cold because of the weather. Ha ha!! The walk was quite long but we managed to finish it.
Can anyone translate this? :)
Next location is visiting Deoksugung palace to see the changing of the guards ceremony. But unfortunately, we didn't manage to see it due to the weather. So sad. But we must go on. As we explore the palace, Jenny explain every detail about the history of the palace. My feet are starting to feel numb during the whole event. Of course, we're not forgetting a group photo in front of the king's throne room. Outside the palace, we saw a man making some Korean words with only one hand. Amazing! O.O
Before we continue our tour for the day, time for lunch. We had Korean ginseng chicken soup. Inside the chicken has rice in it. It took me for awhile to finished everything. We even had a bitter drink which was suppose to be put into the soup.
After lunch, we proceed on to N-Seoul Tower to observe the whole of Seoul city. It's located on top of a hill. Before we head to the observation deck, we went to Teddy Bear Museum first. It's also inside N-Seoul Tower. There are two exhibitions: One is past, and the other is present. We went inside the past museum first. Instead of using people, they use teddy bears to represent the event that people doing in the past. The teddy bears can even move too. Aren't they cute? :)
Even in the present side, it's all the same. Same moving teddy bears. So I don't have to explain that^^.
We then went up to the deck using the elevator for a fantastic view of the city. It was amazing. Even when we went to Victoria Peak, we didn't even see the observation deck there :(. Anyways, we had our family photos of the tower. I wish you could see them. One is day time, the other is night time.
Wow! Our day is almost done. But it's not yet finished without visiting the largest theme park in Seoul. And that is Lotte World Theme Park :D. We had 4 hours to play some rides or enjoy the view of the theme park. Once we got our 1 Day passes and a photo taking in front of the castle by Alex oppa, we're on our own. This theme park has two parks: Adventure Land (indoor) and Magic Island (outdoor). It's similar to Genting Highlands because they both have indoor and outdoor theme parks and there are some similar rides we know too. Yeah, it's like a Korean Genting Highlands and Disneyland combine together. Ha ha!!
I rode 3 rides this time than Disneyland. Plus, it's also on Wednesday, so not many people and not so crowded inside. Great :D!! Before we explore around the theme park, we sat on the monorail around the indoor park.
The first ride I rode is Pharoah's Fury. It's a roller coaster kind of ride that takes you inside the Egyptian tomb accompanied by Egyptian kind of music in the background, as if like you're in a real Egyptian cave to find Pharoah's treasure just like Indiana Jones style. Of course, the audio is all in Korean so I didn't understand what they were saying. I screamed a lot during the ride until I got no voice. Oh yes. I forgot to tell you. Before your ride, you'll see a hall of famous Egyptian artifacts.
That was one scary ride. Next ride is Swing Tree at Magic Island. It's like a spinner ride that takes you round and round. During the ride, something thought in my mind: "Now I know why I didn't took that ride in Genting". My head was dizzy after the ride.
At first I thought this was my last ride but it's not. I'll tell you later. We went back inside Adventure Land, as it was still very cold outside. We rest our legs by sitting down on a bench behind the stage. I did have some photos with the people who dressed up as pirates. After our feet were well rested, we continue walking around.
When I saw the carousel and teens like my age riding that, I went to line up. Well, at least I have to have some non-scary rides. I had enough of scary rides for the day. But when the ride ends, my horse ends up in a higher position. I had a hard time climbing down, as I'm quite short. And that was my final ride.
Dinner is on our own again. We went to a fast food cafe and order a pizza baguette for me, since my parents don't want to eat fast food. Well, I got to taste a bit of fast food sometimes, okay. I began eating my baguette while watching a stage show. My parents went off to find a restaurant to eat. The reason why I sit there is because in case they miss the parade show, at least I get to watch. But good thing they didn't :). Mom suddenly call me to come with her to an Italian restaurant where they both had pasta for their dinner. Since I just finished my baguette, except for my fries and cola, I went back to the stage and wait for my parents there. When they came, the parade hasn't start yet, except for the crew members showing some actions to the crowd while music was playing throughout the whole park. After waiting for so long, the parade began. It started at 7 pm. It was so magical with lights and it's held in the indoor park instead of outside. But to be honest, I still think Disneyland's parade is the best. Mom took the photos of the whole parade again. Sorry if some of the photos were quite blur because of the lights on the floats and costumes and our camera quality isn't that fantastic but enjoy.
It's time to go back to the hotel. What a fun night it was. We came back to our room tired but happy :). I wonder what is gonna be installed for us on the next day.
To be continue......
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