Korea Tour 2008: June 2008 Archives

Day 10 - 10/05/08(Seoul/Singapore)

| | TrackBacks (0)
Last day of the Korea trip. Boohoo =(

For the third day in a row, we had Mcdonald's for breakfast. I'm so going to miss the hash browns from Korea. So crispy and without the oily feeling...although I know that it's probably soaked in oil, like all the Mcdonald's hash browns in the world.


Was down to my last 100won after the crazy last minute shopping we had at COEX the previous night. I was so poor that Li Ming had to buy me breakfast. -_-. Spent it on a shopping bag when Li Ming went to do her crazy last last minute shopping at Hyundai Departmental Store.


Bye bye COEX, the awesome hotel with the pillow menu service :P


Was wondering if it's broken or it's meant to be like that. Sorry for being so ignorant~ lalala. I have zero knowledge in Art.


Took the KAL airport limousine to Incheon International Airport. Tried to sleep but the stupid caucasian guy seated next to me kept tapping his shoe on the metal leg rest and boy, was it irritating! People listening to their ipod can sway their bodies or nod their heads furiously for all I care but do not irritate others by tapping your shoes on metal stuff or blasting your music out loud. I do not want to fucking hear what you are listening to, thank you.

Anyway, reached the airport and I had like a hard time trying to load my big luggage onto the trolley. My luggage weighed a grand total of 30+kg and the check-in guy was trying his best to assure me that my luggage was only over the limit by a little. He kept repeating "Only a little" to assure me although I wasn't worried that it was overweight. In fact, I was already prepared to pay the charge for the excess baggage weight. So, yup, checked in, passed the security check although I had liquids in my bag(how safe~! wtf), saw Bi's posters everywhere and looked around for Lotteria only to realise that there was only one Lotteria and it was located outside. Damnit.


Decided to have Korean food and luckily we did. It was simply fabulous~! Li Ming's ox bone soup.


My soon dubu jigae was so delicious that I finished up everything...even the side dishes.


Last photo together in Korea~ While waiting to board the plane, I saw this cute Korean probably-30-year-old-plus-uncle and Li Ming helped me to take pictures...which I wont be posting up here. Lalala. Reminds me of the paparazzi days we had back in high school. :P


Boarded the plane, watched National Treasure 2 for the second time, slept, woke up because the stupid Korean kid seated behind me kept kicking the chair, ate the not-so-fantastic fish meal and pretty much slept again. After 6 plus hours, we finally reached Changi, passed immigrations, retrieved luggage, had one last look at the cute Korean uncle and went back home...only to find out that my stupid shampoo leaked and spent the rest of the night washing my toiletries bag.


So ta-da~ end of Korea trip~Wanna go back there again.

More pictures here: http://mizu-kioku.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=150

Korea Day 9 - 09/05/08 (Seoul)

| | TrackBacks (0)
Day 9 of Korea~

Like Day 8, had breakfast at Mcdonald's. Had to be thrifty because we were running low on money =(


Went to Namsan after breakfast. Unlike Rodeo Street, Namsan was so much easier to find because they had road signs directing us all the way there. Okay, it was a little difficult finding our way out of the maze-like train station initially though.


As we were lazy bums and did not want to climb all the way up and walk all the way down later, we decided to take the 7,000won cable car instead. If you've watched My Name is Kim Sam Soon, you'll realise that this is the place where Hyun Bin and Kim Sun Ah took the cable car in episode I-can't-remember. In the show, they had the cable car all to themselves because he lied that he was going to propose to her. I should've done that too because the cable car was freaking packed! OMG, luckily the ventilation was good or else I would've died there. Too bad both of us were girls so we couldn't use Hyun Bin's tactic. Boo~


The smoke-signal station...with "actors" walking down from it. Korea really takes her tourism seriously. They have all these staged performances at like almost every tourist spot. When we were at Insadong, they had people staging a Korean wedding ceremony. -___-


Go lock your partner up, so that he/she will be with you forever and ever~! Heh heh heh. wtf.


Sat down for lunch at one of the cafes there. Had this damn delicious bagel and a cup of orange juice. I look like as if the straw's stuck up my nose in this picture. *&#$*^#$


That's better~lalala.


Parents should really look at the design of the t-shirts before they buy any for their kids. Seriously, I don't think that he knows the meaning of 'fuck' lo. The whole thing read 'DSquared Fucking', with two cuckoo birds printed below the words. wtf.


There were like tons of high school kids that day, boys especially, and it was damn scary. None of them looked like the Korean guys you normally see on tv. =( They were eating cup noodles and the smell of the cup noodles was so good that Li Ming went to buy one too. =D


Cost us another 7,000won to go up to the observatory tower.


In the observatory tower with tons of high school boys who left shortly after we arrived. We were like 'Yay, finally we'll have peace," and then in came the kindergarten/primary school kids.


Waiting to take the cable car down. One of the kids dropped his shoe and kept quiet about it. I picked his shoe up and returned to his teacher, who later asked him why he didn't tell her about it. The sheepish face that he gave her was...priceless =D


Next, we went to Myeong-dong where I went to receive my complimentary coffee from Starbucks because I bought a bottle there. I wanted "Tall" but the guy kept telling me to take "Venti" instead. Eh, I take the smaller size=save Starbucks money lo but whatever la, I took "Venti" in the end.~


Come to think of it, was this some kind of publicity stunt for Kungfu Panda?


wtf. Ikko?!


Moved on to a departmental store. Had to cross the road but there wasn't any traffic lights and in place was a guy to direct the traffic. -_- At least you know that you wont get knocked down by cars if he's there.


On our way to DuChamp (one of the filming locations of My Name is Kim Sam Soon), we passed by Plaza Hotel, the place where the chef who made pastries in the above-mentioned show works at. Eh, this day is turning out to be like a My Name is Kim Sam Soon trail day.


Li Ming's seafood pasta.


My scallop dish.


Cakes that were yummlicious~ The restaurant was damn pretty, even the toilet~ Whee~


Took a taxi back to hotel where we shopped at COEX for a while before returning to our room to do packing. Almost couldn't fit everything into my luggage.


The tattered and torn map that served us well.~ Yup, end of Day 9~


More here: http://mizu-kioku.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=149

Korea Day 8 - 08/05/08 (Seoul)

| | TrackBacks (0)
Day 8 of Korea~

No more hotel breakfast so we ended up having breakfast at Mcdonald's~ Korea's Mcdonald's taste differently from Singapore's Mcdonald's. The egg tasted like as if it were fried with butter and the hash brown was crispy, not soggy like the ones sold in Singapore.


Took the Korea subway for the first time and it was such a cool experience! Firstly, we had trouble buying tickets from the ticketing machine because it's so different from the one we have in Singapore. To tell the truth, Singapore's ticketing machine is more user-friendly. =D Next, I tapped my card and attempted to enter but failed to do so...because I pushed the wrong gate. wtf. Thirdly, the trains are like damn old but hey, at least it's clean~ Oh, and I like the fact that there's no partitions on the seats because it means that you can shamelessly squeeze yourself onto the seats even if there's no more space. Heh~

Wanted to go to Rodeo Street right after we reached Apgujeong Station but had difficultly finding it so we decided to shop at Hyundai Departmental Store instead, because it was easier to find. Damn high end can, the departmental store. Boo, so yup, didn't buy anything from there although Li Ming did.~ The toilets there are like freaking chio! I think they have different toilet designs for different levels. I think only...because I only went to the toilets on two different levels and one had metallic purple walls whereas the other one had a nice country feel.


Bought strawberry daifuku~Why am I eating Japanese sweets in Korea...?!


As we were not sure of how to get to Rodeo Street, we tried to ask the counter lady at Hyundai but ya, she was so not helpful.
"I only give directions INSIDE the departmental store." wtf. The first counter lady I've met who wasn't willing to help us. I know that they are paid to direct customers of the departmental store but even if she's not willing to help us, it would be nicer of her to lie that she didn't know the directions than answer in way that made her sound like a unhelpful bitch. Other departmental stores in other countries have counter ladies who give directions no matter where you want to go.

Don't mess with me. Roaaar~


Anyway, we decided to find the place ourselves but failed to do so even after asking at least 4 Koreans for directions. Took a short break at this coffeeshop that served freaking expensive orange juice that cost 8,800won (about 12 SGD, wtf). Using my magnificient map skills that I learnt from Geography class(bah), we managed to find Rodeo Street after 1.5 hours of walking. Quite a long walk but the sense of accomplishment was great~ That is, until we found out it takes only 10mins+ by taxi to reach Apgujeong from our hotel. -___-


Shopped in Rodeo Street, got lost again, found our way out, ate lunch at New York Hotdog & Coffee. Lunch tasted heavenly after the long walking "exercise". After lunch, resumed shopping at the damn high end Galleria Departmental Store before taking a taxi back to the hotel.


Had ddeokpokki for dinner at Marche. Singapore's Marche is so much better, selection wise.


Li Ming's seafood pasta.


Halfway through dinner, I lamented that I did not have enough money left so we started figuring out where our money went to by doing accounts at Marche. WTF. -____- Decided that we were damn poor so we agreed that we'll do something that does not require a lot of money the following day.


Singapore's Marche is more high-tech in the sense that we scan the cards and not stamp on the cards, like Korea's. Okay, pointless but whatever la.


The hotel we stayed in was kinda cool because you get to choose whatever pillow you want from the pillow menu~ The pictures looked damn nice but what you see is not what you get. I requested for a chrysanthemum pillow which was yellow and traditional-looking in the picture but got a normal-looking pillow that was stuffed with chrysanthemum. -____- Damn nice to sleep on anyway.


That's all for Day 8~


More pictures at http://mizu-kioku.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=148
Day 7 of Korea.

Ate breakfast at the Jeju hotel but since we came down like 2 minutes late, there was practically no food left. Do not underestimate the kiasuism of Singaporeans!!! Satisfied our tummies with bread and porridge that nobody wanted to eat while waiting for the new batch of food to be served but alas, the bread and porridge made us too full to stomach any more food. Blast! (I've been watching too much Family Guy -_-)

After breakfast, we proceeded to the airport to take a domestic flight back to Seoul. I hate taking short flights because it means that no food's served(not even snacks) and don't you think that it's such a waste of money?! Like that time I took a flight to Malaysia, paid like 300+ per person and all I got was a lousy cup of water. Yeah, no peanuts, no nothing. =(


While on the way to the place to buy Korean foodstuff, Richie entertained us with a short song and dance. The video's damn funny but I guess I wont be uploading it here. Then again, if you really need to satisfy your curiosity, you can always email me for it.


Everyone practically went crazy buying Korean foodstuff, even myself, although it wasn't that cheap. One couple bought like 3 overflowing baskets full of seaweed alone! Wtf -_- Okay, I bought seaweed too but not as much as them, chocolate bars(damit, I ate them all up already), sweets, ddeokpokki and blah blah blah. Yes, I love grocery shopping. Here's a picture of the ddeokpokki I made last Saturday. Damn spicy but delicious~


After grocery shopping, it was time for the rest of the tour to take the flight back to Singapore. While waiting for them to check-in, Li Ming and I felt really bored so we started doodling all over the box that contained the food we bought. Whee~


We then took the airport limousine that set us back 14,000won each but heck, it was damn comfortable and I practically slept throughout the journey...although there was this irritating Korean girl who kept on whining to her mum.


Took a complimentary taxi to our hotel from the bus station~ The taxi driver's name was Kim Dong something. Seriously, so many in Korea have the surname Kim or Lee. The taxi driver's Kim, the photographer's Kim, Kim Hee Sun's Kim, Kim Hee Chul's Kim, Kim Dong Wan's Kim, Kim Sun Ah's Kim, Kim Ah Joong's Kim, Kim Jong Il's Kim...ya, you get the idea. I shall not go on to name the Lees.


We stayed at COEX InterContinental Seoul Hotel for our extension period and the hotel room was omg, so freaking pretty. Oh, and the temperature's adjustable! Most of the hotels that we stayed in had like central airconditioning so it kind of sucked to not be able to adjust the temperature. The first hotel was even worse. No matter what temperature you set it at, it'll automatically jump back to 27 degrees Celsius. Seriously...27?! Even though it's spring, it's not that cold(it was hot somemore) to justify 27 degrees indoors lo. wtf.


The hotel room~


And...finally, for the first time in a week, we had something that wasn't Korean at all~ Pasta~ I finished the whole plate somemore. Heh. Oh, the only Korean part of it was that it came with pickles...which I finished up as well.


Since the both of us were quite tired that day, we decided to shop around COEX mall instead of taking the subway to other places. COEX mall is like seriously such a nice place to shop at. There are soooo many shops there and though it's not that cheap, it's still nice~


Fast-forwarding the shopping, we had dinner at this Japanese restaurant. Bad choice. First of all, the waiter, obviously a high-school student who was a part-timer, spilt like hot soup over Liming and her bag. Then again, he tried to make up for it by giving us free colas and free temakis(that had like beansprouts/leafs in it...wtf). Secondly, the soba I ordered was like...a fusion of Japanese and Korean food...and it sucked.


Initially I was like, hey, my soba tastes weird but I couldn't tell what was wrong. Then as I ate, I bit into this horrible tasting PEPPERMINT LEAF!!! wtf?! So disgusting can! I hate peppermint leaf lo...in fact, I hate almost everything mint. Bleah.


The beansprout temaki btw.


So yup, that's basically the end of a very short Day 7~ Wait for Day 8!
More Day 7 pictures can be found here: http://mizu-kioku.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=147

About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the Korea Tour 2008 category from June 2008.

Korea Tour 2008: May 2008 is the previous archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Ads



June 2008: Monthly Archives

Powered by Movable Type 4.1