Korea - The Land of Morning Calm 24 - 31 Dec 2008

Had a very enjoyable and fruitful trip back from Korea. We were fortunate to have a good local guide which made me changed my mind about joining tour groups :D

We stayed at Phoenix Park Hanwha resort for one night. Took this picture in the early morning from the hotel room's balcony. It was freezing cold. I dashed back into the room right after taking a few shots :P



Due to some 'mistakes' we were given a huge royal suite with 3 bedrooms and a big living room! How nice! Just for fun sake, we slept on the futons in the living room instead.. lol. funny..

The room's heater was set at 39 degree celsius. We couldn't adjust the centralise heating system and so had to open the balcony window to cool down the room. So, the floor was very warm but the freezing cold breeze blew in at the same time. A weird feeling of hot and cold at the same time.. haha.. it drove my friend nuts..

Naminara Republic aka Winter Sonata Island

Nami island is situated 63km along the north of Han River and was made famous by the popular Korean Drama 'Winter Sonata'.

Our tour guide kept reminding us to think 'romantic' to feel the atmosphere of the island. But it's hard to do that when you have scores of tourists around you.. lol.

It's a pity that we do not have the luxury of taking our sweet time or relax for too long there.

http://www.namisum.com/
http://www.naminara.com/


Nami Island in the background. This was the very first stop in our trip. We had 'weather shock' the second we got off from our tour bus. So so cold ~~~~ It reminded me of the time when I first arrived in Tokyo. Only this time, it's worst! Much worst!


We boarded the ferry for a short 3 minutes ride to reach Nami Island.


It was Christmas day that day, so it was quite special to celebrate this day in Korea. And to my surprise, at least one quarter of the population in Korea are Christians!

While hunting for shooting opportunity, I saw this couple riding on the bicycle. They looked like they came right out of Winter Sonata drama. Haha.. so cute.. the hairdo, the outfit and their accesories looked so much like the lead roles in the drama.

The nice lines of trees made famous in the drama. According to my pamplet, it's called the Metasequoia Lane.

Another shot from ground up and you can have a feel of the height of the trees.

Towards the end of the lane, there is this nice lonely tree by the lake. I like how it almost touches the water.


Another shot and we are off the island. I wished I had more time to stay there and enjoy the scenaries.

Shinchon Fashion Street

This is supposed to be a popular shopping district in Seoul for the teenagers.

We weren't too enthusiastic about it because
1. it's just too cold to be shopping outdoor.
2. we felt a little tired due to the overnight flight.
3. what we had for lunch was less than desired.

We ended up heading towards the first cafe that we could find for a cup of hot drink! haha.. i know.. we sounded boring.. and again, mind you, it's freezing cold. (I'm probably gonna use this word for another hundred times.. )





I shot all these pictures at waist length without using the lcd/viewfinder. Didn't want to attract any attention to my camera.

Domestic flight from Seoul to Jeju

We boarded the flight from Gimpo Domestic Airport (which used to be the international airport until it was replaced by the new Incheon International Airport) and landed in Jeju Island situated on the Southern part of Korea 50 minutes later.


On board the flight, one of the air stewardess had this santarina outfit. So cute! The air stewardess from Asiana Airline always put on friendly smiles and provide good customer service all the time. Kudos to them!


The eastern part of Jeju Island taken from the foot of Seongsan Sunrise Peak.

My only impression of Jeju island before this trip was from the Korean drama Da Chang Jing where the palace gal was banished to the island as punishment. That's how little I know about Jeju before my trip :P

Jeju is about 3 times the size of Seoul! Didn't think that it's that big. According to my guidebook, The Asian Wall Street Journal called Jeju the 'Bali of North Asia' and it is currently one of Korea's top holiday destination.

Jeju - Seongsan Sunrise Peak

Well, we didn't climb up all the way to the peak. I think we were at least 1/2 way there. It was so windy that it can be impossible to stand firmly at times.


Don't be fooled by this serene scene. I had to cling on to the railing just to take this picture due to the strong wind! Trying hard to hang on to my dear life!

Taken while resting on a bench 1/2 way there. I think this was the furthest that we went.

Jeju - Rape Seed Flower (you2 cai4 hua1) Farm

According to our tour guide, the flowers doesn't usually bloom during winter. However, the owner of the farm managed to have a breakthrough in research to make this possible. That is why we get the chance to view these lovely flowers in winter. How lucky!

Our tour guide told us that the yellow flowers can be seen from the flight to Jeju and this is the only part that grows the flowers.

Jeju - Cheongjeyeon Waterfall aka the Pond of God

The Seven Fairy Bridge (my direct translation :P) or Qi1 Xian1 nu3 Qiao2. According to our guide, the locals believed that family members crossing the bridge must hold hands for good blessing and same for couples so that they will not be separated.

This should be the Cheongjeyeon Waterfall.

Tian1 Di4 Lou2 as written on the sign board. This is the place where the fairies dance and party. Hmm.. interesting. It's no wonder that it is very well designed.

From the 2nd storey of Tian1 Di4 Lou2

Tourists admiring the structure and designs on the ceiling

Jeju - Teddy Bear Museum

This is such an adorable museum. Though some of the bear are hmmm.. strange.. Try to imagine a Marilyn Monroe Teddy bear or Mona Lisa Teddy bear.. haha.. I prefer the classic type of cuteness.. such as those below.. :P

Btw, did you know that the name Teddy's Bear is named in honor of President Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt?


They have a lot of display panel such as this sorted according to different era.

I like the little bear resting on the big bear. So sweet...

We had eye Contact.. lol

Charlie Chaplin

Going for a stroll

Titanic

This is quite special.. i guess it must be quite old too..

125 Karat Bear

This is from the Korean Drama 'Goong'. The bears are dressed as royalties.

The World's smallest bear! 4.5mm

Korean Traditional Wedding Ceremony

Japanese style wedding

Louis Vuitton bear. The world's most expensive bear. It was auction for charity for US 193000!

Fireman. So cute!!

Another adorable one.. :D

Traditional Korean Folk Dance

We were supposed to go for a submarine trip but it was cancelled due to the strong wave. Not that I'm complaining that much since I don't think I can handle the sea sick part well either.

In replacement, we went to watch a 'circus' kinda performance. I was feeling a little bored actually. The usual clown act, bike in cage, acrobatic performance etc. I might as well watch on TV. :P

Towards the end, a group of Koreans performed a traditional folk dance. Finally seeing a more authentic Korea stuff.


If I am not wrong, this should be a type of farmers' folk dance to celebrate harvest.

The battle of the octopus

Half way through dinner, there were some commotion coming from the other side of the restaurant. The lady boss took a live octopus and scissor and walked around the restaurant challenging the customers to try eating it... Most of us kinda freaked out by the sign of the octopus wriggling now and then.

Even our Korean tour guide dare not take up the challenge even though she does eat it when serve on plates while it is still wriggling.

Some of the folks in our group took up the challenge to eat a small portion of it.

This brave boy is one of them who tried it. Look at the expression on other people's face :p

Finally, my condolence to the poor octopus...

Everland Resort Theme Park

We were given a Big 5 ticket each to take 5 rides in the big theme park. Didn't have too much time to explore much. So we ended up trying the snow sleigh (first time for all of us :D), roller coaster, Ferris Wheel & 3D motion short animation.

The snow sleigh was very fun and less scary than I thought. All of us became kids again at that moment.. :) As for the roller coaster, I kinda preferred the one at HK ocean park. It was so enjoyable that I took about 4,5 rides at one go :P I didn't like this track at all. The basic track design are quite standard but I just did not enjoy. Did not bother to have a second go at it. My head was completely spinning after one ride.

Ferris Wheel was a nice slow ride after the head-spinning roller coaster ride. A chance to see the overview of the theme park and take some pix. Oh, i thought the 3D motion was quite well done. They added water splashing and wind simulation to make you feel like you are flying. A nice touch. The kids will enjoy this.

We also went to the 'Safari World - The only safari complex in the world where lions and tigers coexist'. I was actually more impressed with the trained bears than the lions and tigers.. haha..
oops.. Anyway, the whole group shared the same bus to go into the heavily secure safari area. The double gate makes me feel like i'm entering Jurassic Park.. lol. The bears were so well trained! One of them even walked on 2 feet along our bus and reached out to get food from our bus driver cum guide! It was so human-like that you will think that it was someone disguised in bear suit.. lol..Wow... impressive. At the end of it, the whole bus was filled with laughters, wows and oohs..


Skyway to travel from 'American Adventure' to 'European Adventure'

We are drivers too.

The view taken from the Ferris Wheel

Oink oink!

The Aesop Village. I felt like I'm in some sort of fairy tale village.

Let me out pleeeeeease ~~~~

Frog in shock

Good weather to relax ~~~~ Ok.. i lied. it was coooold ~~~~~~~~

This one is so cute. As though saying 'heh heh paiseh lah..'

Well let me see....

Phoenix Hanwha Ski Resort

Learning to ski! This was my first time attempting skiing. The tour guide told us that we will definitely sweat after 2 hours of skiing. I refused to believe. After 3 falls and countless tries.. I was sweating profusely.. fact 225: you do sweat even in crazy cold winter.


The night before, we went out by ourselves to recce and take pix of the ski slope. My first time this close to seeing a real ski slope. Ok.. I meant real ski slope with artificial snow. It just won't snow.

Taking the cable car ride to the top of the slope. No worries, we weren't crazy enough to ski from the top! lol

Looking down at the top

Can you see the grand vista in the background?

A pro.

The building at the bottom of the slope was where we stayed. Oh.. this was the one with the huge royal suite :D

Another pro. Took this inside the cable car on the way down.

Look at the scary crowds below. It was a weekend and Korean school kids were having holidays. Parents pay about SGD$1500 to send their kids to 5-days school camp to learn to ski. That shows how important this skill is in Korea.

Closer view of the crowds. We are going to join them in a few minutes.

After finally equipped and took very basic lessons, we were on our own. The ski boots were big and heavy. When you walk on them, you will start to walk like robocop. I'm not kidding.

And this was the start of my disastrous journey to learn skiing. I fell 3 times and wow... i couldn't get up on my own.. -__-" so depressing... my kind/poor fren helped me out. After the 3rd time, i decided that skiing is not for me. Took off my skis and just wear the robocop boots to move around taking pix. And that... was the highlight of my ski-venture.