Korea Trip Day 7 – Everland

Friday! Two more days left in Korea!

We woke up early because we were going to Everland. It was ~1.5 hours journey one way and it was a tiring ride. We first went to Gangnam to take the bus, but we took the wrong transfer train which cost us 30 minutes extra. Poor O complained that we should take the longer route instead of shortcut. Well, we find all the routes for you, and you’re there just to complain. Infuriating! Anyway, we took the bus to Everland and it was raining on the way. I thought, "Yeay! No sweat today!" How wrong was I.. 

When we reached the stop, we have to take another shuttle bus to go inside Everland. We bought our ticket and we went to eat lunch at the nearest restaurant which was a Venetian themed one.  There were many tourist groups but it was not as crowded probably because it was weekday.

I shared spaghetti meatballs and pizza with B. The pizza was nice! Spaghetti was not bad at all. I expected theme park food to be overpriced and tasted below par. It was surprisingly good for the price.

Nice creamy pizza

Spaghetti Bolognaise

We then went out and I realized that although the weather was gloomy, the air was hot. It was stifling hot and it was worse than the usual sunny day. We wanted to see the Madagascar show only to find out that to watch it we need to take tickets from the ticket booth or else we are not able to enter. So we did not get to see the show.

Everland is huge compared to Singapore’s USS, but that’s not a surprise. What surprise me was that this theme park is a mix of amusement park and a zoo. It was raining and so we find indoor shows which happen to be in Zoo-land.

The first show that we watched was about Tarzan. The whole drama was in Korean so I could not understand a single thing that they are saying. But I was amused by the use of animals that was trained to perform with them. From hamsters, chimpanzees, dogs, eagle and many more! It reminded me of when I was small and my parents brought me to watch this kind of shows in a zoo or bird park.

When we went out, the sky was dark and it was still raining. So we hopped on to the building next door to watch another show. This time, it was seals that performed! I like it as well.

After the seal show, it was no longer raining but the weather was still as horrible. We then went to this ride where we sat on an Amphibian vehicle that takes us round a small safari. I did not like this because of the pungent smell of the animals and also the animals looked so dead and bored that I pity them for being kept in that safari.

Next, we queued for a water ride similar to the Jurasic Park ride in USS (I forgot the name of this one). The queue was horrible as it was stuffy and the air circulation was bad. My favourite rides in amusement parks are those with water like this one! However in Korea, they provide you plastic to cover yourself so that you and your bags don’t get wet. Yes, you got to carry your bag in the circular plastic boat. My bag got wet while I was not (because I was stupid to put my bag on the floor of the boat). Not worth the queue but it was our first ride so I was quite happy.

Then O wanted to watch this Olympic Alien thing and I wasn’t interested but accompanied her. We waited quite long for the show until me and B went to the nearest burger restaurant to enjoy the air con for a while. Then the show starts and it was obviously for children. We then left just after 2 minutes of watching. Next we went to a 4-D show, which was called Rotating House. We were warned that if we are prone to seasickness, we will get dizzy. However, it was not that bad. They just rocked the seat side by side while the wall turns, making us feel as if we were turned 360 deg.

After that we went to see 2 shows, Beat Bit and K-Pop Hollogram. The first show was cool! It was a dancing show where the dancer wore an LED outfit. I like it a lot. The second one was actually not K-Pop, it was only PSY. I do not like him and so it was not very exciting to me. But the hologram effect was cool. It feels like he was really there behind the screen when in fact you know that it was only a screen.

It was already 6.30pm!! And we went on to try out the roller coaster called Rolling Thunder. It was the second scariest ride after T-Express, which was the highest wooden roller coaster in the world. The Rolling Thunder was fun! We wanted to try out the T-Express after that. But when we went to the T-Express queue, it was 40 minutes estimated waiting time. We still have 2 hours of journey back before we eat our dinner. So we decided to just head back. It would have been a life-changing experience as it was the scariest ride I have ever seen.

The journey back was the most tiring in my whole Korea trip. It was crowded, the weather was horrible and the people were all sweaty. I had a terrible headache throughout the whole bus ride back to Gangnam. When we reached Gangnam, we still have a long MRT ride back to Hongdae. By the time we reached Hongdae it was 9.30pm. I was so hungry but I did not know where to have dinner. We walked around and I was already in bit of temper, but we finally settled at a small Japanese restaurant.

The menus had no English and no pictures! Luckily, the cover was decorated with pictures of food so we pointed and asked which one is what. It was also lucky that the old man whom seemed to be the owner was able to speak English! So we ordered and the meal was delicious. I think the way they cook is very much different compared to Singapore. This feels more like Japanese food. After filling our stomach, we stumbled back to the hotel to rest!

Korea Trip Day 6 - [Seoul] Hongdae, Myeong Dong, Itaewon

It’s already Day 6!! Mann, time pass so fast when you’re having fun!

We woke up early, ate our breakfast at the hotel and went to the station to catch the train back to Seoul at 8:50am.

This time, I sat beside B instead of O. It was much more fun beacuse O pretty much slept all the way while I could not sleep on train. I listened to music, eat snacks and chat the whole way back to Seoul which was much more enjoyable. I was once again reminded of my trip in Taiwan where I took the normal train from Kaoshiung to Hualien for ~5.5hrs! During which Rillen was fast asleep the whole way, the seat was uncomfortable and again it was summer hot then! With bullet train, we could easily have reached our destination in half the time but Chien Yi bought our tickets without permission and so the nightmare sticks with me. This time, O does not want to go to Jeju because it is expensive. In fact, bullet train return trip costs $100 which is almost the same as the flight to Jeju. Why do I have these types of travel friends?? I am sad. But this time I was happier because I have more say in the things like hotel and trains and where to go. So this is an improvement.

We reached Seoul at around 11.30am and I am glad to be back! I like Seoul city because of Myeong Dong! Can’t wait to go back there to shop! =D

We dragged our luggage to the MRT and that’s the first time we experienced the inconvenience of stairs in Seoul. Their MRT doo not have many escalators and so for most cases, we have to carry our luggage up and down steep stairs. Luckily for me, an Uncle actually helped me carry my luggage halfway down the stairs! He just took the handle and helped me without saying anything. Once we got down I said thank you and he disappeared into the crowd. So happy! =D

But when we reached Hongdae, I carried the luggage up myself! It’s okay, exercise before lunch! We found our hotel shortly as it is situated strategically near Hongdae’s main street as well as the MRT. After checking in, we went to eat at Abiko curry, which was just right behind our hotel. I heard about this place from my friend’s blog and it seemed delicious. I ordered the chicken curry. Innocently, when asked which level of spicy, I wanted the spiciest one!

Spiciest thing I have ever tasted!

How surprised was I when I tasted the curry! It was EXTREMELY spicy!! Spiciest thing I have ever tasted! B ordered the spiciest as well while O ordered the second level. She said that hers was already so spicy, she could not imagine how ours would taste like. B and I then ordered a chicken Katsu to help us finish the curry. We asked for water again and again and finally we sort of finish! We did not manage to finish the sauce of course, as it was really super spicy.

Then we ate ice cream available in front of the store to chill our burning tongue.

 

Dousing the burning tongue

We went back to hotel to put our luggage into our room and I was a bit disappointed when I saw the room because it was quite old. It resembles those 5-star hotels that my parents used to take me when I was still little. I guess with time, its value dropped! Luckily it was clean. The air-con wasn’t really cold and I was afraid I will not be able to sleep.

Not long after, we head out to the Trick Eye Museum which was just right across the Abiko curry that we visited earlier. It was crowded inside but we bought our ticket anyway and went in. I regretted this bit as this place is near our hotel. We should have gone to it when there were fewer crowds. It was full of Chinese tourists, and it was really hard to appreciate the paintings and take pictures with it. Nevertheless, we were still able to capture few good shots before we hurriedly went out.

Second Pic

Money... $$$

Failed but still ok =p

The ticket that we bought entitled us to an Ice Museum which we know nothing about. So we went to join the queue towards the entrance which looks like a giant metal door. They were handing out Burberry patterned blankets and I presume it must be really cold inside. It’s true! When we finally went inside, it felt like we were entering a giant freezer! I LOVE IT! I am back to my natural habitat. I was told it was 0 degC and people are all chattering their teeth and wrapping their blankets around them. I, on the other hand, was so excited to see the ice sculpture and wanted to take pictures with them! B’s hand was shaking as he helped me take my pictures. There was a lot of sculpture ranging from a room full of ice furniture to cars and penguins and Santa Claus.

Penguins

Heart Shape

Car!

Hi Santa!

There was even a slide made of ice!!! I went once and I wanted to go again.. But my friends were too cold so we went out.

After we went out to the hot reality, we decided where to go next. I wanted to go back to Myeong Dong or explore the Hong Dae surrounding while O wanted to go to Apgujeoung and Gangnam. So we split! We were happy to have a relaxing afternoon ahead. First we walked around Hong Dae but not long ~10mins, the heat was getting unbearable, so we went to Myeong Dong and explore its department stores.

I thought that we could chill in their posh Dept Store such as the Lotte Plaza and Shinsegae. Who knows that their malls' air-con was so lousy that I felt so stuffy inside. So after we explore these malls, we decided to go to Itaewon for dinner. We passed by Myeong Dong street while searching for the MRT and I went in a few stores to take a look. We went to Itaewon in hope to try out the famous Vatos, but it was sooooooooo crowded with a waiting time of 1 hour!

We then decided to eat at McD right opposite of Vatos. We ate fast food 3 times in this trip but I was happy compared to forcing myself eating Korean BBQ every day like I see my friends did when they came over. But I regret not trying out Vatos as it looks good!

After eating, we walked down the street and take away Paris Baguette for next day’s breakfast. Then we return to Hongdae and walked around for a bit before returning to the hotel.

When we went back to the hotel, O was already there. So much for her wanting to go to night market at Dong Dae Mun until no more train. It was only 9 pm and she was back.

I did my ritual of putting on mask before relaxing and sleeping. =)

Korea Trip Day 5 - Geumjeong Fortress, Gwangalli Beach, Nampodong

On the final day of our stay in Busan, because there was no other alternative attraction beside the Geumjeong Fortress, we finally went there. I changed my mind after I realize from the tourist map that there was an MRT stop which was very near the Fortress and that the ride was not as long as expected. But again, O suggested we go to the nearest MRT and take a longer bus ride. Crazy person! Bus in Korea is not as comfy as in Singapore, it was with limited seats and the ride was extremely bumpy. Plus, the air-con itself was not very cold. It really does made me appreciate the SBS buses that we have here in Singapore. Take note, the bus, NOT the people inside the bus that’s always shoving and giving you the death stare!

So we went to the Fortress via the MRT and then by taking a bus. The bus stopped at Beomosa Temple. We then have to climb rocky passages for some time before we even reach the North Gate of the Geumjeong Fortress. We were able to see the stretch of wall separating the land but it was only for few meters long. Aparently, most of it has already been torn down.

Beomosa Temple

Rocky passages up to North Gate

Some wooden stairs on the way

North Gate!!

From the North Gate, there were 3 roads that we were able to take. We did not know where to go and we simply chose the one that seems to be the shortest distance. 
We were lucky again! This path that we chose was the one that led towards the top of the mountain called Godang-Bong. It was the highest peak in the area and so the slope was quite steep and it wasn’t that close as we expected. I left O behind because I was still mad at her for telling us to go to this place and said that we wasted 1 hour of her time discussing. We were there and so let her do the climbing alone. She never hikes, wanted to hike, so pompous in every way. 

Stopped by at a small water fountain 

Almost at the top!!

I reached the top 15 minutes+ before she arrived. She reached the top and handed her camera to B and proclaim, “I need to take photos, and I am so tired to hike up here”.
Irritating B****.

Go Dang Bong 

Right View

Left View

Downward view. =p

The scenery at the top was beautiful. But it was around 12.30 pm and the sun was at its most powerful position against us, so we could not stay long as it was so sunny and we were hungry for lunch. So we go back down, and then take the bus back to the MRT station. We went to eat Lotteria again, while O wanted to eat bread at Paris Baguette. I enjoyed the meal very much again! Just writing about it makes me wanna have it for dinner! We sat there for a while, enjoying the air-con and resting happily after the tiring climb.

Lotteria dinner.

After O came to find us, we set off again to Gwanggali Beach where there is also this Diamond Bridge that will light up at night. We took the MRT there and the beach wasn’t as crowded as the one in Haeundae beach. Not much umbrella blocking the view and the people playing at the beach was substantially less too! I like it much better here because of the lack of umbrella and the over-crowded situation.

Gwanggali Beach

We stayed a while walking along the street across the beach while waiting for sunset. We then went to a café and relax there while waiting for the bridge to light up. 

Angel in us Cafe

It was until 7.30pm that the bridge lit up! We waited quite long for it and it was alright. We took photos and then head off to find dinner. 

Lit up Diamond Bridge

Where to have dinner? Near our hotel will be the best option as we were all tired and wanted to rest after dinner. However, thanks to the A and O who insisted we stayed near the station, there was nothing around there.. Well, except for the train station and Chinatown across. No-shame O wanted to go to fortress saying I told her I want to go Busan for the nature. She did not evaluate about her own saying that she wanted near the station so that we would not miss the surrounding attraction. What’s the attraction we were going to miss? And when we mentioned that see, when we stay at the beach, going all the places will be nearer. She said, it’s the same what? Only crazy people like her and A will understand each other.

Anyway, we searched around Gwanggali and found no decent place to eat. So we decided to go to Nampodong, the street right beside Jagalchi where we had dinner the previous night. That area seemed alive with many options. So we went round pass our Hotel and go to that place.  It was already 9pm when we reached Nampodong. We came across this place that’s selling fried chicken. The interior of the restaurant was nice, it seemed modern and hip. There were many people inside all eating chicken. I was not very keen at first because I don’t usually snack for dinner. I need a complete meal with rice. Then we went back and ask whether they serve rice and they do! So we settled to eat there. We ordered Soju! And O joined in (as if we asked her to share). The chicken was very nice, I like the sauce that it comes along with as well. There were many flavor and we chose the sweet and sour chilly (similar to Thai chilli) and the honey mustard. Soju was really strong! I felt relaxed immediately after I downed 2 cups of the potion!

Dinner!

Soju for 3

We went to Innisfree again after dinner to buy my daily mask and then head back to the hotel. I took a bath, wears the mask, relax and then sleep!

Korea Trip Day 4 - Yonggungsa Temple, Haeundae Beach, Centrum

Second Day in Busan! Toyoko Inn wasn't as bad as I thought. Originally, I was put off by their blanket design as it looked like those cheap and dirty kind. But in reality it was actually very clean! The room was very small and I often knock into things, the bathroom as well, but no problem to me as it is very clean. This certainly up my trust on Japanese brand, they really provide a good image for even such a cheap hotel. Didn't take pictures of the room though! Next time must take more picture of the hotel rooms I stayed in.

However, the drawback of this hotel is that it is only near the train station, but it is far away from all the locations we wanted to visit! It is far from the beach, from Yonggungsa, and furthest from fortress. That's why we were having argument of where to go as it is very tiring to travel 2-3hours one way. This is where O complained saying that I wanted Busan to be nature trail and Seoul to be city. I ask kind enough not to mention that she and A were the ones who insisted to stay near station while I wanted to stay near the beach as it is nearer everywhere. Then A who insisted the most did not even come along and O who say that we will miss out the attraction near the station forget she ever said so. What attractions are there near the station? NOTHING. We couldn't even find a decent place to eat nearby. There is only a Chinatown nearby. This is the problem with people who think they can hold a person accountable for their words but don't look at themselves. Anyway, we discussed for an hour and she even said "we wasted 1 hour discussing about this". This is another attitude problem that she shows again. I mean if she wanted to go alone I rather it be, coz she's so bossy as if she's not wasting our time talking to her? So we came with no conclusion on whether we should go to Geungjeong fortress or not.

In the end, we went to the temple first on the second day.

We needed to take bus from Haeundae station to the temple and so we went to look for lunch at Haeundae first. And that's the first and only time we ate Korean BBQ! Lucky for us, the place we went was clean, nice and not expensive! So satisfied. We ordered the pork ribs which I thought was full of bones but turned out to have tender meat and only a single rib at the end. 

Yummy marinated pork ribs

 We also ordered Soju as we wanted to drink Soju from the previous night but we never have dinner at a Korean restaurant. The soju was strong! And after 3 glasses I felt light headed, but happy. Maybe that's why I was happy and relaxed on that day's trip as well, the Soju was the answer! We finished our lunch and we waited for bus to Yonggungsa temple for quite long and we did not get any seat! It was a bumpy ride but we reached without puking.

Soju!

HOT stone!

BBQ in progress. :D

Yonggungsa temple sits on a cliff, beautiful as well. Toilet was horrible.. So smelly and it was a hole on the floor. But I drank a lot of water and I need to go, so I hold my breath and went. My friends said that this was nothing compared to China! Oh nooo, I don't want to go Chinaaaaaa. So scary..

At the entrance of Yonggungsa Temple

Me and the temple behind

Relaxing on the edge of the cliff

Another me with the temple

We did not stay as long as the day before at Tae Jeong Dae as I think that this place is nice but not as nice as the previous. This is probably because I was more interested in looking at the lighthouse rather than the temple. The cliff there was also higher. Here, I tried to touch the water and I slipped, drenching my shoes in the water! >_<

Afterwards, we took the bus back to Haeundae beach!

Haeudae Beach

Too crowded for my liking

There were too many umbrellas, the blue ones on the left corner. I did not take full picture of the mass of umbrella lining up the beach. There was only so little stretch of sand left before the sea that I was irritated. There were also too many people that it did not seem to be so fun playing in the sea. I did not bring any change and so I just dipped my feet in the sea and the water was icy cold even though the air was so hot!

We stayed for 15 minutes and then I decided I wanted to go somewhere else and relax as I was tired. I wanted to go to Centrum as it is nearby but O wanted to stay and walked around the beach. Lucky enough, B suggested that we split up and meet up in Centrum.

Gladly, we went to Centrum leaving her to roam happily by herself. It is a win-win situation.

Centrum was very near and we reached in no time. There were 2 malls; Shinsegae and Lotte Dept Store. It was supposed to be the largest mall but it did not seem that big. We first entered the Shinsegae and my first reaction was.. The air-con is not cold enough!! 

We went around and we saw that the goods are all luxury items, as we went up it was apparent there is no cheap shops available at all. We then went to the food court which was beside the ice-skating rink and we ate ice cream. I also ordered this drink from Dunkin' Donuts which was not very nice. 

I was hungry and we wanted to grab dinner but we waited for O to come at 7pm. 

Then she came and she said that she has already eaten. -_-

We went back to the food court and we finally decided to eat from a Ramen stall as the Korean stall was already closed. =(

We also ordered the chicken nuggets from KFC that was delicious.

Ramen was nice but too much bean sprout

KFC nuggets which I love =p

We asked O if she wanted to stay and walked around as we wanted to go back after dinner and she just reached there. But she was afraid to go back alone and wanted to stick with us. We also asked her if she wanted to walked around while we ate and she was reluctant at first. But she changes her mind and went to walk around while we eat.

Then we found out that in Korea, at 8pm on Tuesday, the shops closes! Only on Tuesday. So lucky for O we didn't leave her there. Unlucky for me, because I feel pissed with her bossy attitude and I have to bear with her throughout the journey back.

The journey back was long and we were all tired. B told us that if we have stayed in Haeundae, we would have rest by now. She retorts, "it's the same distance". Yeah, same, 1 hour 30 minutes = 20 minutes journey back? I don't understand where her stupid logic comes from. Oh yeah.. It's from her stubborn attitude that refuse to admit she is wrong. 

We reached back the hotel and take a rest to prepare for our long day ahead the next day!

Why do I meet and befriend weird people?

You might think that for someone who went through 4 years of Engineering school will have at least a bit of common sense.

Well, apparently for my friend O, logic is but a foreign concept.

Problem statement: Posting photo in FB

When we were in Korea, she asks us not to post any of her photos on FB.

When asked why? I still remember the exact words and I quote: " I just don't like it."

Then I replied and I quote: "Oh, ok........"

So then we came back to Singapore and I was eager to share my photos on FB with my friends as well as creating a small photo album diary.

Then when I see pictures with her in it and not able to post, I became irritated but so at first I let it pass.

But my friends then asked why is it so weird that the photos are always only me inside?

Are you travelling alone or are you so narcissistic that you only took photos of yourself?

Some even speculate that I went with a guy.

Well then for this and also because some of the photos with her in it was nice, I decided to upload one or two of photos of us.

Then she made noise to my friend because I already blocked her on Whatsapp and I don't pick up her 7 miss call. 

She said that we "promised" not to post her photos. What about the promise and she goes on to talk about this promise.

My defense is that she went to the US with her friends and they posted her picture so why can't I?

Her reason was she didn't like it so I hide the photo posts from her so she don't have to see it.

If she goes and stalk my page then is it my fault?

Asked her about these 2 points and she did not answer but rebutt with the oh-so-classic line of "it's not about the picture, it's about the promise, the promise.."

Asking what harm does the picture do to her and again we are hit by the chorus of THE PROMISE (that was never made in the first place).

Illogical parts:

1. She asked us not to post her photos and tell our friends to look up the places on the internet such as google up the places.

2. She say FB only show the photos to father, mother, aunties, and close friends. 

3. She gave analogy that FB is a product, not everyone must buy. This leads to second ridiculous analogy that LV is a product and see, not everybody must buy. 

If she thinks FB is not for her, or is childish, then why does she have an account then? Her FB page hides all the photos she have and yet she stalks others photo in the news feed? I can't understand her logic. Why don't she just delete her account if she is so against this? Why must she force me to do what she say? To post only the ones she approved?

4. Then she goes on to say that bottom line we are egoistic! And the third funniest analogy is that she refer us to people that buys LV but let the poor starve. 

Then when you buy clothes that are branded you are saying yourself. And anyway, what's the link in this case? No clue.

Why the hell must I not post pictures that are nice just because she "don't like it"?

She refuses to tell me her reason then I have the rights to refuse to follow.

Who gave her the authority to rule over the world.

Judging by her common sense, anything that follows her lead will be doomed.

Korea Trip Day 3 [Busan] - Jagalchi Fish Market, Taejongdae, Yongdusan Park (Busan Tower), SinchangDong

Rise and shine! We took the 8:50am KTX train to Busan, reached 2,5 hours later and walked from Busan station to our hotel (Toyoko Inn 2). This hotel was the cheapest out of the 3 hotels we booked but it was surprisingly decent. Toyoko Inn is a Japanese hotel chain that has very small rooms and toilets, but very clean and cold air-con. Hence, no complains at all from me!

Our Hotel in Busan!

 The check in time was not until 4pm, so we left our luggage at the lobby and went on to our first itinerary, which was the famous Jagalchi Fish Market. This fish market was very famous according to Trip advisor and Google. Apparently, it is famous for the raw seafood available which is similar to Japanese sashimi. The pictures in the menus are full of raw fish meat which was sliced thin and arranged nicely in a round plate. It is also supposed to be very fresh because this fish market is located near the sea. 

Jagalchi famous fish logo

From the very start, I don't like the sound of this place, but O wanted to try out the live octopus. Well, I would like to see her eat that so we went there anyway. Once we entered the Jagalchi street, we could see that on both sides were tanks full of weird, funny sea creatures. It smells awful as well and at the end of the street was a building that contains the wet market selling raw seafood as well as the restaurants.

The wet market was on the first floor and the restaurants were on the second floor. We went up and we saw many restaurants with similar menu fighting for customers. We were pulled and also persuaded with name cards to come and try out their place. After walking a few rounds and discussing where should we go, we sat at the most crowded stall. Lucky we sat there because it was crowded, hence the patron did not push us. 
Looking at the menu, I was perplexed at the atrocious price they charge for all the dishes. Small grilled fish costs USD $30 and mini steamboat USD $40. Furthermore, that's the only 2 cooked dish that they offer, the rest was the raw stuff. I asked O to order the live octopus and told her I will eat somewhere else. Small live octopus costs USD $30 and apparently they DO NOT allow her to order just that. They said that the live octopus was a side dish and we are required to order a main dish before we can order the side dish. My friend B was actually on the verge of agreeing to the grilled fish, but my stingy side couldn't bear to pay such high amount of money for a dish that wasn't even certain to be nice.

So we finally decided to leave. Luckily, we do not have a person who felt bad and wanted to stay just because it is not nice to leave. And we were lucky as I mentioned, because the host did not get angry when we left because her stall was crowded anyway. Phew!!!

After we staggered out from this place we have to search for lunch again! Where??!!! We were in the compound of the market and all the restaurants are selling the same damn thing. We were famished and luckily! Again, by the stroke of luck, we chanced upon a poster saying that there is a buffet restaurant upstairs of that building that we were about to pass by! My pessimist side was thinking, buffet? It is surely going to cost more after what we saw earlier. And I thought that they will definitely serve the same thing as every where else. But my friends were saying let's take a look! And so we went up the dingy lift, and when the lift opened, it wasn't so bad. There was this long table like a normal buffet filled with spreads of cooked food. Then we went on to ask the waiter how much does it cost per person. He said 12,000won (~$12) and again I was like, surely they are going to add this and that and the final amount could be 30,000 or more.. So we confirm and double confirm until they called out 1 woman waitress who could speak Mandarin. I asked her how much and it is really 12,000won nett! We were so happy and so we ate there! There was also a BBQ grill at the table for the raw fish and seafood that they serve. Amazing! I ate the kimchi, sweet and sour pork, bulgogi, grilled some fish, beef and chicken. All tasted alright! Not 5-star hotel material but with this price, it is already a very good deal. We felt so so so lucky to get out of that stall and got to eat at this place. =)

Buffet BBQ 

After filling our stomach, we quickly got out of the worse place in Korea and took a bus to Tae Jeong Dae, which was one of my favourite places in Korea. It is a lighthouse situated near cliffs where the road leading up to it was nicely taken care of for tourists. So we reached the entrance and we saw that there was this ride to take us straight away up to the cliff by tram. But I wanted to walk up myself and enjoy the scenery, even though it was sweltering HOT again, and it was a tiring walk. But the pavements were nice and there was a temple that we passed by at the side of the road. The road leading up to the temple was decorated on each side with flowers which made a very pretty walkway.

Pretty walkway with flowers

After taking photos and catching a glimpse of the temple, we continued our journey up to the peak! Once we reached there, the view was suddenly open to us. I think a picture speaks a thousand words and so I will just post few of the many pictures I took there!

Lighthouse just right behind

Pretty ocean!

Then my friend O panicked because it's already 5 and she don't want to waste time, so we walked back to the terminal to take a bus to Yongdusan Park. I was very tired and wasn't very keen on going to Busan park but we went anyway. On the way from the bus stop to Busan Tower, we went through streets beside Jagalchi market that is more Diana-friendly; meaning no fishy smell and the streets were lined up with modern shops like KFC, Etude House etc. So we decided to get dinner there after we saw Busan tower. We took pictures outside the Busan Tower and we did not went up as Seoul Tower itself was already a disappointment with its stuffy interior and dirty window.

For dinner, we ate at this small eateries and I ordered the bulgogi fried rice. It was a large portion and it tasted decent! I was bored of korean restaurant so this was a nice change. O however ordered the fried noodle and it was not nice. 

We took bus back to our hotel and rest.

Korea Trip Day 2 - Gyeongbokgung Palace, Insadong, Cheonggyecheon Stream, Seoul Station, Myeong Dong

After a good rest, thanks to the good hotel that I insist on, we went to start our second day by going to Gyeongbokgung Palace. This is the most famous palace in Seoul, and recently Brad Pitt was interviewed here for his film "World War Z". It was near our hotel and we reached the place by MRT in no time. It was gloomy when we emerged from the underground train station. Soon after we bought our ticket, it started to pour!!

Entrance to Gyeongbokgung Palace

We found shelter at the entrance door of the palace and wait for a while. 

Gloomy day!

Waiting for the rain to stop

It wasn't long before the rain stopped and we realised that actually the walkway was sheltered and we do not need to wait for rain to stop. The weather turned HOT within minutes after the pouring rain has stopped.We then went to the souvenir shop to chill in the air-con filled space. I ended up buying a fan card for 2,000 KRW. 

After walking round a lake in front of the souvenir shop, we went by The National Folk Museum of Korea and we went in for the air-con again. 

Lake in front of souvenir shop

There were 12 Zodiac statues in front of the Museum which was my favourite part in this whole palace.

We went in the Museum and again looked around in the souvenir shop. Then we try out Hanbok for free! It was not as elegant or as elaborate as those you will get if you paid. But it was very nice since it is f It is in pink too, which is nice. =)

Trying on Hanbok

After we exited the Palace, we walked to Insadong which was 2 MRT stops away. We first reached the streets in Insadong where all the eateries are located. Lucky for us because we were hungry from the walk and so we decided to look for a place to eat lunch. After much deliberation, we chose this place called " House of Insadong" that looks appealing and it also looked crowded inside. This place is a typical  Korean restaurant serving the usual Bibimbap and Bulgogi. They serve a lot of seafood such as squid and such that I dislike. Due to the limited choices, I chose the stir-fried chicken with onion in oyster sauce. I forgot what the actual name was because the menu was all in Korean and I have to choose based on pictures on the menu. This dish is very similar to Chinese cooking, which I like. 

Lunch at House of Insadong

After filling our stomach, we proceed to explore the vicinity. Insadong is famous for its souvenir street! Along the main road, 90% of the shops are selling souvenir. All types of souvenir could be found here: from the common key chain and t-shirts, to the high end shops that sell traditional vase and jewelry. I did not buy any mementos as it was only our 2nd day. But I did bought make up remover from Etude House. We also went to Innisfree and I bought nail polish (which I am using now) and also tried out their mask. That's all for Insadong for then and we went on to our next destination.

We were confused which activity to pick next as it was already late afternoon. Initially we put the Han River Cruise as our next stop and also cycling along the Cheonggyecheon Stream. So we went to the stream first. But when we found this famous stream, we didn't see any bicycle rental. Also, the surroundings were not very attractive for bicycle ride. So we went down to the stream and sat by it, dipping our feet in the very cold water. There were many Koreans sitting there as well. Some were Aunties with their group of friends and some were families bringing their children to play with the cool water. There were also fishes swimming in the stream which made me afraid to walk across the stream lest one of them brush past my leg. We discussed our next destination while sitting by the stream. We were feeling rather tired so we decided to head back to Seoul station to buy our KTX train for Busan the next day before going back to Myeong Dong.

At Seoul station, there was this cart outside Lotte Dept Store selling sandals. Guess and DKNY sandals at 12,000 Won! I bought the Guess sandals to wear on this journey. My friends wanted to buy a pair of high heeled sandals but it turns out that those costs 20,000 won. She already asked for a new pair but changed her mind when she heard the price. After we bought our tickets, we went to Zara and I bought a t-shirt and a skirt which made me so happy. =D Then we walked back to Myeong Dong, which was quite a distance away.

We finally reached Myeong Dong after a lengthy argument about direction. My friend O was insisting we go a certain way and my friend B insisted another. I cannot stand it anymore and walk in the direction B pointed and they had but no choice but to follow suit. Turns out that the direction was indeed correct and she shuts up after. I was in a pissed mood but it soon change after we went to eat Lotteria for dinner!! I love fast food after a tiring day of walking and enduring the heat from the sun. =) We ate the bulgogi burger meal but too bad we cannot upsize. We ordered a packet of nuggets which is delicious! I like the way they gave the flavouring, similar to the ones they give for Shaker fries here in McD. After dinner I saw that across the street there are many shops so I ventured to one across and got myself a short and a top. Then my friend wanted to go back, while I actually still want to shop. She is the one who insisted we stayed in Dong Dae Mun so that we can go to the night market. But see, even at 9pm she wanted to go back already. Since it was only the second day, I did not suggest she go back first, which in retrospect should
have been the case. So we walked back to our hotel.

It was so nice to have a long bath and then rest while watching the big flat TV in a nice well air-conned room with comfy bed! I put on my mask and it was so good that I continued buying this mask and wore it every night during the rest of my stay in Korea.