Seoul, Korea Trip

Viewing of North Korea

Day 1
Went to Seoul, Korea from 17th Feb to 23rd Feb 2011. We met up @ 5.45am in the morning and made our way to Changi Airport T1. Then we checked in our luggage and waited for our plane to KL. We took AirAsia airline, we waited in the airport until 8.55am. Then our plane took off to KL, and reached there around 9 plus. Then we went to the KL Plaza Premium Lounge in the budget terminal, in there, we had shower, lunch and waited for our next plane to Seoul.  We started to make our way to the gate at around 12 plus, then i got delayed in the Malaysian Customs. I asked my friend to go ahead 1st to clear the checkpoint, by the time i was done with the checkpoint, i was unable to find my friend after the checkpoint (Don't know ware she went, 吓死我). Finally i saw her already inside the gate,waiting for me. Then we went up to the plane, which took us 6 hours plus to Seoul.  We played monopoly card game on the plane (My friend kept winning...lol), ate our dinner and slept on and off on the plane. Finally we reached Seoul, and the temperature was like below 0 degree (Shiok!!). Then we collected our luggages and tried to make our way to our hotel. It was located in Dongdaemum (East Gate) area, where all the fashion shopping malls are located. Then we checked in our hotel, then we went out nearby for a walk and tried on the food sold by the roadside stalls (yummy!!). Then we went down to coffee bean and bought hot chocolate drinks, after which we went back to our hotel to rest.

Day 2
Woke up in late morning which we prepared to go the Gyeongbokgung Palace. But we went down to the hotel lobby to settle the data roam first, which took us 2 hours. By the time we reached the palace, it was already 2 plus in the afternoon. But we still managed to go for the mandarian guided tour, so we waited for the guided tour. There was a changing of guards performance at around 3pm, were unable to watch it due to the guided tour (My friend "很凶地" called mi to go liao..hohohoho). Then we went around the palace, guided by the tour guide. The palace was very big and there were alot of interesting things inside. The guide took around 1 hour plus, then we went to the museum cafe for a small snack (which was our breakfast and lunch). It was nice, then i took a nap while my friend chatted on her phone. By the time we left, it was past 5pm and we was not able to go to the palace museum, as the last admission was 5pm. But we still went in to take a peek inside the museum displays. Then we left at around 6 plus, which the sky was already getting dark and the temperature was getting lower. Then we made our way to Jogyesa temple, which was @ Anguk station. The monks were chanting in the hall, so we just see the surroundings of the temple (Anyway it was kind of dark, as there was no street lights outside the temple). Then we went to have our dinner, we had bibimbap (with no beef, only vegetables..hohoho). It was nice with all the side dishes, and were very full. Then we went back to our hotel to rest (as we were going to have our DMZ tour the next day).

Day 3
Woke up early to prepare to go to our DMZ tour. We left hotel at around 6 plus and made our way down to Samgakji station. We had problem finding the USO office from the station. In the end, we took cab down to the place (Luckily, we still managed to find the office, thanks to my friend's GPS, which she used it to guide the cab driver). By then, it was already almost 7.30am, luckily, the bus waited for those latecomers. And so, we managed to go for the tour (which was worth it, eye-opening too).  The bus left at 7.45 am and we were on our way to the DMZ zone. There was a checkpoint that the US army was required to check on our identifies before we can go in. The tour was guided by US army, so our guide was a new soldier who was just posted there. He introduced to us on the JSA area and the meeting place, where South and North Korea was divided (so the conference room was also divided by half, and was determined by the doors on South and North Korea side to determine who get to use the room for their own meetings). There are 2 villages located at that area too, one was called Freedom village (in South korea) and another was Peace Village (in North Korea). There was also a flagpole war between South and North Korea. South Korea had placed a flag up on their area, North Korea responded by placing a much higher flag pole, which was 160m tall, the world 2nd highest flagpole. There was an incident called Axe Murder Incident, which was quite an incident where 3 US soldiers were up against more than 20 North Koreans soldiers, all because of a poplar tree.

After which, we made our way to the 3rd tunnel. There were total of 4 tunnels, which the south koreans found out, and they opened the 3rd tunnel to public for visiting. We had to walk a super steep walkway down to the tunnel. Then we just walked to the end of the tunnel, to see 3 small windows which can see across to the other side of the tunnel. Then we made our way back up to the walkway, we had to climb up the steep steep slope, it was tiring. By the time we reached, we were both sweating and the temperature outside was like still below 10 degree (Had to take off our thick sweaters to cool down, hohooho...).  After that, we went to the observatory to have a better view of North Korea. At there, we were only allowed to take photos from a yellow box drawn on the ground. Then we had our lunch at their canteen there,and then we went down to Dorasan Station.
There, we took a look around of the train station before making our way back to Seoul. After reaching Seoul, we made our way to Myeong-dong for shopping and dinner. There were alot of shops and stalls selling clothes,food,etc. There were people selling hugs for free too, you just have to walk up to them and they will hug you for free..Kekekeke..... When we were at the hotel, we got a call from the ski tour agent to inform us that there will be maintenance going on in the ski area on monday. So she requested us to change to the next day instead. So we went ahead with the plan, to go skiing the next day. And so we went to bed to prepare for the next day.

Day 4
Went up early morning to prepare for our skiing tour. The tour van came and picked us up at our hotel at 8am. Then we went to a nearby hotel to pick another 4 persons that had joined the same tour. The tour guide's name is Summer. She is very funny, told us alot of jokes along the way. The other group of friends are also super funny, they also chatted and told jokes with the guide. We headed down to the ski place, where we rented the ski equipment before we drove up to the mountain. Halfway up, the ski rental shop had forget to pass us our gloves, so we u-turned back to the shop to get them. Then when we were on the way, my friend found that her gloves were of the same side. Kekeke......thgt we need to u-turn back to the shop again, but the guide called up the shop and 'scolded' them for the mistake. In the end, they brought the correct gloves up for my friend. Then we started to try out to ski in the beginner's slope. We both had our fall there, twice. Both of us fell at the same time before we went off, and we couldn't get up on our feet. Luckily there was a kind lady who pulled us up. Kekeke......We also tried to make a snowman (which doesn't even have the shape of the snowman) there.  We played until 12.30pm, then we went to pick the 4 ladies from the ski sled area (which was meant for small children). Then we went down the mountain to have our lunch. We had BBQ chicken, it was so yummy (Best meal of the whole trip). After the yummy lunch, we headed to Nami Island where Winter Sonta (korea drama) was filmed. But we didn't managed to walk the whole island due to time constraint. We took the ferry back, then waited for our guide to pick us up and went to a Ginseng factory. At there, they explained to us when the ginseng can be cooked. There was a total of 6 years, by the age of 2, ginseng can be used to make Ginseng Chicken Soup.
By 4 or 5 plus, we reached back our hotel. My friend stayed in the lobby for internet accessing and i went back to our room. I fell asleep while watching tv in the room, ke lian my friend, cannot come in to our room while i slept (hohoho...). In the end, she took another key from the reception to come in. And i was awoken by the opening of the door when she came in. Then we decided to go down to Seoul Tower for night viewing of Seoul. We went to have our dinner @ TwoTwo Fried Chicken, but by the time we finished our dinner, it was reali getting late. So we dropped our plan of going to the tower and went back to our hotel instead for early resting.

Day 5
Went up abit late today, since the previous 2 days we had been waking up early for the tours. Today we went up to Seoul Tower. We found the Namsan cable car building and went to buy tickets for cable car ride up to Seoul Tower. Everyone was being squeezed into the cable car and being brought up to the tower. On top of the tower, we still need to buy admission tickets to the Observatory and the teddy bear museum. Plus, we paid for our lunch at the top of the tower @ Han Cook. After that, we went to the teddy bear museum first. It was quite small, with all the teddy bear miniatures display in it. Then we went up to the tower observatory to have a 360 degrees view of Seoul. Audio guides are available at the tower to help you identify the places down below (but seriously, it was hard to see the buildings even with the audio guide was explaining the different building standing). After that, we went for our lunch. It was buffet-style for the side dishes and we were required to order only 1 main dish for each.
(Lunch was at around 2 plus or 3, why we always eat meals very late de?)
After lunch, we went down to Namsangol Hanok Village, which was someware near Namsan area (which i don't know ware). We went to a bus stop and took bus no. 2 down, it was 2 bus stops away. Then from the bus stop, we walked a short distance to the entrance of the village. We walked around to see the traditional houses of Korea, there were a spot for traditional Korea games too. After that, we headed to watch JUMP performance. We went down to the metro station and headed to the Korea Tourism Organization Office and queried for the directions. While i was asking for directions, my friend called her mum using the free international phone there (3 mins free). Later we called back to our office and disturbed our office friends. Kekekee......
Then we walked down to JUMP theater, bought our tickets and bought our food @ the coffee bean there. After that, we went for the show. It was a (around) 90 mins performance and it was funny. I bought their program book and had it autographed by the cast (^-^, happy happy). After the show, we went to cheonggyecheon stream walk walk, and the fashion malls around our hotel. Then we ended our day.

Day 6
Today was the last day in Seoul, we went for shopping in Namdaemum Market. At there, we walked around the streets, then we walked to the central post office to buy some stamps for posting postcards back. After that, we had lunch at a small shop @ Namdaemum Market. It was just selling soup noodles there. After that, we went to buy some seaweeds and candies to bring back..... Then we went back to our hotel 1st, after which we went to walk Cerestar shopping mall. It was sooo empty inside, the shopping levels were only up to level 6 and it was a 20 plus high building (weird....). After that, we headed down to the airport, which we had to take the metro down to Seoul station. At there, we had our light dinner first before taking the airport express train down to the airport. Upon reaching the airport, did our check-in, then my friend wrote her postcards and sent. Then we went around to see if there is any restaurants opening. Then later, we took the airport shuttle train to our gate. And so, we left Seoul and we arrived back in Singapore @ Noon the following day (which we also spent the whole morning in KL budget airport, doing nothing except sleep. And the KL-SG plane still delayed some more).

The Seoul Metro can be very confusing when you first take, because there are 14 different lines. And there are alot of different exits and staircases (the lifts are 'hidden', need to try finding). You will need to go from different stairs to get to the correct platform and if you need to decide the platform first before tapping your card, make sure you watch out for the direction that you want to go. (Encountered once, we had to walk until the next line platform so that we can get to the opposite platform)

Hotel Stayed: EastGate Tower
Places visited:
1. Dongdaemum (East Gate)
2.  Gyeongbokgung Palace
3. Jogyesa temple
4. Anguk Street
5. DMZ - JSA, 3rd tunnel, Observatory, Dorasan Station
6. Myeong-dong
7. Ski Place (don't know where it is)
8. Nami Island
9. Ginseng factory 
10. Seoul Tower
11. Teddy Bear Museum
12.  Namsangol Hanok Village
13. JUMP Theater
14.  Namdaemum Market
15. Central Post Office
16. Cerestar Shopping Mall
17. Cheonggyecheon Stream
  
Complete Photo Album: Click here