The MIN Story

7 days of Korea w mah homies (Part 1)

2:10:00 AM

14 February - 21 February

First overseas trip with friends, first experience with snow (Snow City doesn't count), those 7 days with mah homies is something not to forget. Really grateful to have a responsible tour lead Ai Ling and a knowledgeable and CARING tour guide Max Ma (we call him Xiao Ma) with us!
In the bus on our last day, Xiao Ma was saying how he was travelling on the same road we were on at that moment, to the airport 8 days ago to welcome us to Korea. And it was fate that we met him out of 800 other tour guides, and that we could give him a ring if we needed any other things from Korea and someone would deliver it to Singaporeee *_*

He also:

Bought a Belgium white chocolate cake for us,

Re-arranged our itinerary to the best possible with only one energy-draining activity each day,

Exchanged currency with us giving the best exchange rates lols,

Compacted the history of Korea crisp clear and interesting,

Giving us free medical consultations,

Shared with us a whole lot of medical knowledge and something that struck me most was.... the alcohol part. "People whose face turns red after consumption of alcohol means they are 13 times more likely to get (can't rmb which) cancer"

For making our trip smooth, pleasurable and fun, 감사합니다!!!!!

I try to make my account crisp too HAHAHA I tryyy:

Day 0 (14 Feb)

Last of packing, categorising, throwing in toiletries and the sorts. Mum & dad were on leave so I had more help with those ahahah. Headed to NTUC & Japan Home to purchase a tumbler and ziploc bags respectively. Last minute purchases, I knowwww.

Dinner -> Airport :)

Met up with mah babes!

Gathered with the rest of the tour group and collected our boarding passes!

Famsies sent me off <3 || Invisible Mei in the pic cos she was too tired to come along

By far the best valentine's day yet???!!!

Travelled with Asiana Airlines! Everything was great, service, movies and song albums available, only downside was my....

dislodged table ><

Boarded the 11.45pm flight, got to catch the sunrise the next day!

Day 1 (15 Feb) - Seoul

Met our tour guide Max Ma before changing into our winter wear! Was thought to look like a Korean when an officer stopped me asking me which country I was from as I was moving towards the "international travellers" queue. Realised almost every girl in Korea has bangs, apparently, and I had bangs!! HAHAHA

Kimchi-making -> Hanbok-wearing -> Ice Cup-sculpting -> Trick Eye Museum -> Ice Museum -> Dongdaemun

Ze ingredients, all we had to do was just spreading paste on every layer before rolling em together!

Our work of ~~art~~ love were donated to charity :)

Bought 4 packs of kimchi (3 for muh aunt), 1 pack of octopus, 1 pack of squid. Buy 5 get 1 free, 120000 won per pack, everything was packaged into a styrofoam box to be collected at the airport on the day of our departure

Kimchi-making -> Hanbok-wearing -> Ice Cup-sculpting -> Trick Eye Museum -> Ice Museum -> Dongdaemun

#swaggerjagger

Kimchi-making -> Hanbok-wearing -> Ice Cup-sculpting -> Trick Eye Museum -> Ice Museum

Master at work sculpted a perfect-looking cup within..... 5 minutes!!?

Ice Block (before)

#sodarnhard #noflair #30minutesnotenough #ineed3hours #icewouldhavemelted #SUA

Ice Block (after)

A unique enough wine cup HAHAHA ;)

Wy's egg-shaped glass cup was so pretty TT I thought hers would have won top 3 lor

Kimchi-making -> Hanbok-wearing -> Ice Cup-sculpting -> Trick Eye Museum -> Ice Museum -> Dongdaemun

Mastered le art of levitation, ohmmmmm

Master Chen discovered that we peeked at his ancient scroll that contained the sacred formula of the art of levitation. He was furious! He decided to shrink and lock us up in a ~~sand time~~r time capsule to reflect on our sins for ............. ~~100 years~~ 5 minutes

Because the flash from the camera shattered the glass walls AND WE BROKE FREE!!!

MINDY & BRENDA ON THE RUN

and attempted to disguise themselves as Afros

*desperately needed to find a hiding place*

and I grew a pair of wings and hid amongst white clouds

Walking the red carpet for making it out alive (Y)

My favourite has gotta be this

WE MANAGED THE CLIMB UP THAT FREAKIN STEEP CLIFF!!!!!

Needed to use the bathroom and as soon as I closed the door, this was what I saw

PAPARAZZI!!! leave gaga alone already
HAHAHA

Kimchi-making -> Hanbok-wearing -> Ice Cup-sculpting -> Trick Eye Museum -> Ice Museum -> Dongdaemun

Nothing much here, even with our winter suits on, we were freeeeezing omg

An ice book shelf and fireplace

An ice piano

An ice sink

An ice toilet bowl with a poop in it

An ice slide
There was a piece of styrofoam provided to sit on so our butts don't freeze to ice ahahahah

An ice popsicle

And an ice bar

Favourite pic of the place :)

Kimchi-making -> Hanbok-wearing -> Ice Cup-sculpting -> Trick Eye Museum -> Ice Museum -> Dongdaemun

Usually if you're going on tours, they would drop you off at Doota. In Doota, everything is more expensive. Okay at least the things I saw were more expensive, like a pair of earrings could cost $10 but I can get the same pair in Beadstreet for $1?? Apparels there are more high-end which also means more ex. But if you have an abundant supply of cash, why not HAHAHA

Directions for a more affordable alternative:

Facing Doota, turn left and walk straight, enter the next building ahead on your right

A mixture of winter-spring fashion. Something like Bugis but pricer. Take for example one piece of sweater shirt costs 10000 won in DDM, after converting to SGD it would be around $12, but you can get the same piece in Bugis at $10.

Now you might be starting to wonder if Bugis is the cheapest shopping paradise but no, Women's Street (Day 8) is even cheaper HOMAIGAWD the day when I have the least amount of cash left

오빠랑ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Day 2 (16 Feb) - Jeju

Breakfast was hearty! Happy morning! Best breakfast of the whole trip =)

At Jeju Grand Hotel

Waffles w whipped cream, bulgogi, potato w mustard, bacon, dumpling

Cakes x5, grapes, homemade yoghurt w blackcurrent raisins & cornflakes

Seawood porridge

Orange juice

AND STILL HUNGRY OMG

Submarine -> Orange-plucking -> Aqua Planet -> Seongsan Sunrise Peak -> Teddy Bear Museum -> Dragon Head Rock

Took a boat to an offshore island before hopping onto the submarine and submerging underwaterrrr! Meh, wasn't as fascinating as I thought it to be. Water was cloudy, fishes were normal-looking, I thought perhaps we could see some exotic fishes since we were going underwater but nehhh nothing of that sorts :( Snorkeling at Phuket/ Bali would be a better choice!

The jetty

Random ~~ducklings~~ seagulls spotted

On the submarine:

In the submarine:

Screen on top left shows how it looks like from above the submarine while
counter at top right shows our depth (we were 10 metres deep atm!)

just fishies passing by~

It's a.... It's a........... IT'S A......

scuba diver passing by~

Submarine -> Orange-plucking -> Aqua Planet -> Seongsan Sunrise Peak -> Teddy Bear Museum -> Dragon Head Rock

Came here last June (summer) and it wasn't the harvesting season so all they had were bogus orange ornaments hung up. But this time it's winter and they have real oranges OMG!

Each allowed to pluck 2 and eat them! I think they are mandarin oranges?? Sweeeeet, literally hahah

Submarine -> Orange-plucking -> Aqua Planet -> Seongsan Sunrise Peak -> Teddy Bear Museum -> Dragon Head Rock

More interesting than the submarine HAHAHA

Not a colourful pebble, it's a frog O_O

STONEFISH COOLSTUFF

Never too old for Nemo~ ^^

Preserved neon skeletal remains

Would be great models for watercolour paintings, if only I were good at it hahahaha

Gill & Dory!!!

Lo and behold...... WILD POKEMON APPEARED!!!

And these jellyfishes are so adorbz I feel like squishing them HAHAHAHAHAH

Submarine -> Orange-plucking -> Aqua Planet -> Seongsan Sunrise Peak -> Teddy Bear Museum -> Dragon Head Rock

Went there last June too! Not much difference with the exception of the withered grass now. And the grass patches are cordoned off now >< Was secretly hoping the whole place would be covered with snow hahahaha, imagined an ice-caped mountain/ dormant volcano buttttt.... didn't happen....

STILL, a lovely place for a photoshoot!

FAH-BOO-LAHS

Submarine -> Orange-plucking -> Aqua Planet -> Seongsan Sunrise Peak -> Teddy Bear Museum -> Dragon Head Rock

So they had many life-sized bears with nice backdrops for photo-taking

But this time, I discovered a section which I never knew existed!! THESEEE

If there was a Singapore bear couple, I bet they would be clothed in t-shirt and shorts hahahaha

Wonder ~~Girls~~ Bears

Hi Apollo!

"The Starry Night Over The Rone" , original painting by Vincent van Gogh

THE DA VINCI CODE

Shrek & Fiona

Gulliver's Travels

Just pretty snow~

And Mr..... Right?

Me: *blushes* OHMYGAWDDDDD *smiles*

Wy: *stuns* Harh?? .....omg.... Yeeees.... Yes omg yes!!! ....... Eh wait flower only ah where's my diamond ring?!

Minz: HAHAHAHAH you think???? (yes)

Dada: NO~ | Mr Bear: Whyyyyy? Is this proposal not romantic enough? Would you like heart-shaped fireworks? I'll get it right this instant!! | Dada: YOU'RE A PLAYER! How many girls you wanna propose too?! 꺼져!!!

(fictitious story-line)

Submarine -> Orange-plucking -> Aqua Planet -> Seongsan Sunrise Peak -> Teddy Bear Museum -> Dragon Head Rock

Dragon Head Rock or Yongduam Rock (용두암)

It was dark when we reached, not exactly the best time to visit/ take pictures.

Anyways, not recommend for sightseeing imo. If not its name, it would never have thought of any resemblance to a dragon head :x

Distant relatives maybe???

OH YES! Before this, we watched the NANTA show!

Story revolves around the kitchen, manger's nephew joins the kitchen crew and they have to whip up a series of wedding dishes by 6pm.

Started off a little boring but gets increasingly engaging. Loved the last part where they hit drums with puddles of water in it and the water splashes up and woah HOT STUFF!

No photography/ videography was allowed so here's a picture of us before the show :)

And these are from Google:

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Korea prep

2:17:00 AM

Why am I so self-conscious these dayssss

ANYWAYS 3 MORE DAYZ!
I asked Pops how much SGD he feels would be sufficient for my trip and he said with meals all provided, $500 should be enough. And since I'm broke as f*ck now because ....... alrighttt lets skip this.... Imma have to borrow from him and he'd probably help me change 500 worth of SGD?? OMG I hope it's enough!!!

Summary of the itinerary:
Day 1 - Flight
Day 2 - Paju Premium Factory Outlet, Dongdaemun Market (PPFO sells all the branded products which I think I'd prolly pass, but DDM omg!! Gonna purchase all the stuff I didn't get to last June due to lack of time, but now that I know what I want, I'm gonna be more focused and QUICK in mah shoppingggg oh yeah AND haggling lols)
Day 3 - Dragon Head Rock (visited), Mysterious Road (visited), Seongsan Sunrise Peak, Submarine, Hanhwa Aqua Planet aquarium, Teseum Museum (visited), Trick Art Museum (visited), Ice Sculptures Gallery (visited), NANTA show (watched)
Day 4 - Mount Sorak National Park (visited), Kwon Kum Seong Fortress
Day 5 - SKIING (holyshitzxc), Blue Canyon Waterpark (visited)
Day 6 - Everland <3 (visited River Safari section and only managed to queue for 1 ride the other time TT), "King of Baking" Bread School, Starlight Cruise on Han River
Day 7 - Gyeongbok Palace (visited), Presidential Blue House, Korean Cosmetics Showroom (visited), Korean Taebuk Ginseng Gallery (visited), Korean Amethyst Factory (visited), Lotte World Adventure Park <3
Day 8 - Shinchon Shopping Street, Evisu Store, Korean Local Produce Convenience Store

Visited so many places already, why wanna go again??? Because ahem burden wy & minz wanna go Jeju = = okay keeds about the burden part, don't keel me if you read this!!!! ahahahaha

Giving myself a budget of 300SGD for DDM, thinking of getting 1-2 bags, a few pairs of shorts, 1-2 dress(es), 2 pairs of shoes?? So far (starting from the period when A level's ended), 5 pairs of my shoes either have their sole teared off or strap snapped off already yikes!

Checked the weather forecast and GOOD NEWS!!!! The temperature would be above 0 degrees throughout thankgoodness and it is also forecasted to be snowing next Mon!! :D

Biao Gu warned me about the sucky Seafood Steamboat on Day 4 so okiedokie imma prepare some cup noodles just in case lols

Let me be blessed with half shift tmr and I could go get a haircut, first haircut in almost a year :) Shall update this post again tmr! *yawns*