Akasuna: Korea Trip

Day 1

Plane took off at 1:05 am from KLIA, and we reached Korea's Incheon International Airport at 7:30 am local time, which is about 6:30 am in Malaysia. Met our tour leader, Kenny, whose parents are from China, holds a Taiwan passport, but was born in Korea, yes confusing for me too...

Anyway, departed from the airport at around 9, and we were to travel from the west-most side to the east-most. Oh, and fyi if u dunno, it's south Korea not north :P Anyway, the whole journey would take about 4 hours, so we had our lunch at around 12:30 in a restaurant. Love the food there! They put very little seasoning, and not much oil too. The style is some sort like steamboat though. A specialty side dish in Korea, kimchi was served in every single meal that we have there. According to our tour guide, a meal in most Korean household consists of one main dish that's hot, and a few side dishes including kimchi that are cold. By the way, the chopsticks are made of metal and are very very thin, and it's very tiring to hold for long, so sometimes I just use the spoon provided :P

The cutlery provided are the same everywhere

After lunch, we continue our journey on to Seoraksan National Park. Seoraksan literally translates into ice hell mountain :P Nothing much there, a Buddhist temple, a huge Copper Buddha statue, and these:

cute bear :P

me trying to look like a ninja...
nah, it's freakin cold, my ears are about to drop off!

It's freaking cold there by the way, about zero degree celsius. That's why, after that, the next destination is hot spring. Ok, they say it's a hot spring, but more like a spa. One thing about it is that there are no special changing rooms for one person, just two different entrance, one for men and the other ladies. And the locals dun mind seeing each other naked, while us tourists feel a bit uncomfortable >.<>

Day 2

Morning call at 7am today, and meet up at lobby to go dinner at 8. I love the people in the tour group this time, all of them are very punctual, in fact my family is usually the last one to reach the meeting place throughout the whole journey. We're not late though, just that they're early :D Anyway, breakfast is buffet style, western breakfast.

After breakfast, off to Daepohang Fish Village. The seafood there are so weird!!!! Some of them I've never seen b4, while some of them I've never seen them in a size so huge! Oh, another info from Kenny, Korean will usually eat anything raw if they can eat it raw, that's why the lack of seasoning. Here are some of the seafood:

Literally translated as sea intestine @@

I have no idea what these are :P

sea cucumbers with spikes

squids!!! Lots and lots of live ones!

red crabs

These fishies look like they're dead, but they swim upside down

ok, he's not seafood, but he's so so adorable that I decide to put his pic here! and guess what? He knows how to pose too! he only move after I took the pic

some large crabs

two very huge crabs! at least about 1m in length

weird fishies

bloated fishies

hairy crabs

squid sashimi, some of the tentacles are still moving... bleh DX

handsome bro no.2 enjoying it

handsome bro no.3 enjoying it too

After the fishing village, we need to travel for another one and a half hour south then east to reach the skiing place, Phoenix Park. According to Kenny, only the leader of China is allowed to use "Emperor XYZ", the Korean leaders are only allowed to use "King". And also, dragons are only to be used by emperors, and so korean kings are not allowed to use dragons, but instead, they use phoenix. Took our lunch near the skiing resort, then went and rent the skiing outfits. We reached the hotel about 3:30, so kenny decided to take us in at 6:00, cuz there'll be a maintenance at 4:30 and we won't be able to do much in an hour and a half. Checked-in to our rooms and then sleep and lie around :P

first ever snowman of our own

Power Rangers!

1st time seeing snow

At 5:30, we gathered at the lobby and kenny brought us to the ski equipment rental shop.the shoes were so so tight that you can't move ur ankle. A safety feature so you won't twist ur ankle in case u fall.it's also very heavy, about the weight of University Physics... on your leg while ur walking... Anyway, we all walked very very slowly to the skiing ares, it's hard to get on the escalators with those shoes :P Leanred the basics from Kenny, and then we started skiing! Woo hoo! I fell down 3 times during the whole 2 hours of skiing. First time, cuz too fast, can't control, 2nd and third time purposely fall down to avoid collision.

me in skiing outfit

mum fell down and we all laughed XD

Had a dinner of ramen, which taste almost the same as the Shin Ramyun available in Malaysia. Anyway, their english are damn horrible... I wanted to order a cup of cold milk, and he thought that I said the milk was too cold and when to heat it up instead zzzz... That night I slept horribly though, my arms aching like crazy, cannot move it even the tiniest bit or it'll be in excruciating pain >.<

Day 3

Morning call at 6:30, gathered at 7:30 for breakafst. Today we had korean style breakfast, with rice and all. Left for WalkerHill Casino after breakfast. My first ever entry into a casino! Woo Hoo! In Korea somemore :P No camera inside, so just got pics from the entrance

Then we went to a shopping Mall:

interactive soccer on the floor, you can kick the ball and it'll move

After that one, another shopping mall in DongDaeMun(ring any bells? There's one stall selling snacks in vivo oso named DongDaeMun):

outside the mall

Had dinner there and then went to check in to Phoenix Hotel, near MyongJin.

christmas deco in the hotel

Day 4

Visited outside the presidential building, the Blue House, equivalent to the White House in America. No pictures allowed, but this here is outside of the building:

phoenix

a family of dried-grass men

Then off to the National Art museum, they have the 12 zodiac signs outside, which I took a picture with mine :D

Boku to tora san desu!

Then visited the Amethyst centre, a Korean traditional house, and then the palace. They have people wearing the guards uniform there re-enacting the past. Change shifts oso like very grand, with drums and sorts accompanying the guards to relieve the ones already guarding.

the guard captain

one of the guards

Then a tourist center and off to a river with lots of christmas decos. had barbeque pork for dinner.

Day 5

Today's breakfast was especially lousy... ewww... dun wanna describe that much. After breakfast, we went to a kimchi making school to learn how to make kimchi. After that, they have some costume inside the school too for us to take pictures in. me and my 2nd bro wore an army official's costume :D