An Nyeong Ha Se Yo

An nyeong ha se yo.... Bangap seumnida....
I have to force myself to post this....or else I will not have any time to do so later. My schedule is so packed, especially when Chinese New Year is just around the corner.

This was indeed our belated honeymoon. Such a nice place to be at, despite the freezing weather.

We took the midnight flight, arrived in Inchon at 8.00 o'clock in the morning. Inside the airport, we did not feel the cold breeze, but as soon as we stepped out of the airport door, oh my.... we felt like a dead chicken being put into the freezer. It was -3 degrees.

Our first activity was to make kimchi. Kimchi is a favourite among Koreans. It is made of cabbage, and stuffed with some ingredients and seasonings. There are many types of vege used in making kimchi, apart from cabbage, eg. cucumber, mustard leave, radish, lettuce, green onion, etc. The taste is nice and refreshing but imagine having the same side dish for 7 days in a row....horrible!

We also visited the Agriculture Museum, Blue House (Korea's White House), Folklore Museum, Kyongbuk Palace (historical palace) and Dongdaemun on our first day. Dongdaemun in Chinese means The Great Eastern Door. This is a place where lots of shopping takes place, similar to Bukit Bintang. My wife and I like this place very much. She, because shopping is women's nature, whereas me, because of the beautiful people around.

This is what we had for our first day dinner, 2nd day lunch, 3rd day lunch and dinner, 4th day.....5th day.....and so on..... I think it's because of the cold weather, that we had steamboat everyday, almost every meal. Luckily, we did have some barbeque pork (bulgogi) and barbeque wild boar for 2 meals.

To be frank, the very reason we wanted to go to Korea in Dec/Jan is to see the snow. Thank God, it snowed on the 2nd day. All of us were so happy to see the snow.

Everland, is our only place to visit for the day. It's an outdoor theme park, currently ranked no. 1 in Korea. Somehow, we feel Genting outdoor theme park has more games to offer. The only speciality here is the Safari. There is a natural breed of combination between a lion and a tiger. The first in the world.

After Everland, we headed straight to the foot of Soraksan. We stayed at Pine Resort. Guessed what, it was New Year Eve. We were too tired, none of us were willing to sit till 12.00am, so at 10.30, we decided to call it a day. This was how we celebrated our New Year 2008! How pathetic!

The next day, we went to Soraksan. Here lies the tallest sitting Buddha in Asia. We took a stroll in the park and Fortress of Soraksan. Then we headed to Yongpyong Hill Resort. This place is where the shooting of the movie 'Winter Sonata' took place. Winter Sonata is a love story, became a big hit 2 years ago, among the girls all over Asia, except for Korea. We enjoyed our evening taking photos around this place.

Later in the evening, we had our ski lessons, and skied for an hour or so. It's fun, but our buttocks were the victim of excessive abuse.

We were later told that this was the coldest place in Korea, it was -13 degrees. Phew... seems like we have gotten used to the weather.

The next day, we went to Myongdong, another shopping street. Part of Winter Sonata shooting took place here as well. Our next destination was one of the highlight of our tour. We visited Nami Island. This island is privately owned. It was told that General Nami was a brave general who fought and won many battles. Due to jealousy, he was framed and soon sentenced to death. The King liked him very much, so instead of beheading him, the King sent him to this island and was never allowed to leave this place.

This island is like a national park, with lots of tall trees. If you like the movie Winter Sonata, you'll notice that the cover of this movie is shot at this place, in between the tall tree trunks.

Later that evening, we went to the MBC Studio. Some of you have watched the movie 'Da Chang Jing', so you'll know what this place is.

At night, we were brought to Lotte World and Walker Casino. Lotte World is an indoor and outdoor theme park, ranked no. 2 in Korea. Due to the location (in Seoul) and the indoor park, I think there are more people here compared to Everland. Quite a nice place, but too bad, we were only allowed one and a half hours here. Definitely not enough, but we are on a tour, so we've got no choice! Walker Casino is nothing compared to Genting Casino, but it's in our list, so what the heck, we've got no complains.

On Day 5, we headed to E-Hwa University Streed, another shopping haven for the girls. Many clothes, shoes and bags were on sale here. There are a few universities around here, which makes this place suitable for shopping.

In the evening, we headed to Jeju Island, another highlight of our tour. Jeju island is located at the south of Korea. It's a small island, smaller than Penang, but the economy here is huge. We were told that Japan agreed to lend money to Korea for construction of stadiums to co-host the 2002 World Cup. However, at the last minute, Japan refuse to fulfill their promise. Korea was left with no choice but to agree new terms with Japan, including supplying seafood to Japan for 50 years. That's why for 7 days here in Korea, the best seafood we had was squid in fried rice!

Day 6 : Our first destination was Yongduam Rock, a rock formation which looks like a dragon head. Is it really so? Hmm....u judge yourself.

Next, we went to Jusanjeoli Cliff. It's a hill, of which we could see the whole of Jeju from the top. The scenery was spectacular! It's quite high tho', we took about 30 mins to climb. In freezing weather, this was the first time we took off our winter jacket.

Then, we went to Seopjikoji. This is a nice place by the sea. It's another Korean movie shooting venue. The movie is 'All In'. Frankly speaking, I have never watched any of these movies. It's too long and draggy....just can't stand the crying and predictable storyline...

Next, we visited Seongeup Folk Village. This village is called the 'Long Aged Village'. There are more than 20 people above 100 years old, and over 40 above 80 years old. We had our BBQ wild boar here, the taste was good....

We also went to Cheonjiyeon Waterfall, the only waterfall in Jeju Island. Again, another dissapointment. The water behind us was the only sight to be seen.....nothing more.

Another highlight of our tour, the mysterious road. It is believed that this road is special, in the sense that no matter which direction your vehicle is heading, it will soon go backwards. Meaning that, if you put a water bottle on the ground, push it towards the front, it will soon stop and roll back towards you. Then, if you turn around and do the same trick, the same thing happens. Unbelievable? You better believe it!

The next day, which was our final day in Korea, we left Jeju and headed back to Seoul. After having steamboat for most of our meals, we complained and requested for something different. Some requested for Jajangmeon, so we had Jajangmeon for lunch. It's similar to our Hokkien Mee, just that the sauce has got more ingredients in it, eg. onions, minced pork, etc.

We managed to catch a glimpsed of the Seoul World Cup Stadium before we leave. The capacity is 65000 spectators, but it looks small from the inside.

We were lucky to see a wedding couple on our last day. This is their wedding costume. Pretty normal huh? By the way, their traditional costume is called the 'Ham-buk'.

Anyway, we did enjoy ourselves. I guess, I'll visit Korea again, maybe in another 10 years. We might just go on ourselves, shopping and skiing as long as we like. Overall, a very nice place to visit, especially end of the year.