Day 12 - Hakata, Tosu

Thank God we did our homework the night before by checking out the best way to get to Tosu Premium Outlets. First, we realised tt the direct bus we originally wanted to take only operates on weekends. Then we managed to get exact shuttle bus timings tt allows us to match our train eta. A 0730 alarm wasn’t sufficient for us, apparently, cos we took super long to eat breakfast and get ready. Had to run to the station so as to catch the 0853 train and made it *just* in time. Train left 2mins after. Japan trains are super punctual.

Wasted no time cos the shuttle came within 10mins of us reaching Tosu JR Station. I remember last year we waited more than half and hour for the shuttle to come. It runs once every hour so if you miss the last time, good game man. So it really pays to plan ahead and schedule train and bus timings.

So anyway, we were also very very lucky cos that particular weekend, GAP was having a 20% sale. It was like divine timing cos GAP is THE MAIN reason we’re going to Tosu in the first place. Reached the outlet around 0955 when it opens at 1000. Obviously GAP was our first stop. We were overwhelmed by the variety and wonderful offers they were having so much so tt we actually spent close to 2.5hours in there, choosing clothes and trying them on. Each time we went into the fitting room, we would each have at least 5 pieces of clothing with us.

Final buys:
Grace – black work pants, denim cropped pants, jeans and spag tops in white and black. Their spag tops are copying VS’s bra top design so its ultra worth it!
Tobsy – countless tops, jeans
Total damage: more than S$250. But we were ultra satisfied. Because of the high standards set by GAP, the other shops don’t seem very appealing anymore. We did visit those tt we express vague interest in, like Nike, but nothing really caught our eyes. Well even if this train + bus trip which costs close to S$10 just to get down to Tosu meant tt we only bought GAP stuff, I still think it’s worth it. Tosu is my favourite outlet!

Since we ate the many many (expiring) buns for lunch, we decided to indulge for dinner. The obvious choice was IPPUDO since we had ICHIRAN already. They had at least 2 outlets near Tenjin area and we chose the Honten hoping it will be a different experience. It was small and cosy and the staff were extremely helpful, helping us with our many bags and making small talk. Ordered the Honten Kasane-Aji (available only at the Honten) and the Akamaru Kasane-Aji and their bite-sized Gyoza. The Honten ramen was quite salty and it was a mixture of chicken and pork broth which appealed to neither of us. I liked the Akamaru cos it has been my favourite all along. But we stupidly forgot to ask about Char Siew topping so I got only 2 slices in my bowl which made the experience not so enjoyable. Will remember in future.

After dinner, we explored the basements of the shopping malls nearby and were all starry-eyed because of the array of desserts and smells. Our noses led the way and we were really tempted to get some of the things we saw but did not in view of cost (and weight) considerations. Walked back to Dormy Inn and enjoyed the Onsen before turning in. Love Dormy Inn for their Onsens. They always provide the perfect closure to a day out.

DAY 11 – HAKATA, CANAL CITY

We cleared customs without any trouble, thank God for giving us decent-looking faces :) We boarded bus #10 bound for Hakata station just in time, and were the only passengers on the bus for quite some time. It was early in the morning so there weren’t many passengers until we neared Gion area. No one was wearing mask though, and we felt rather self-conscious with our masks on. Upon seeing that the bus was stopping near Gion station, I immediately requested to alight – our Dormy Inn hotel was just 2 minutes walk away from Gion station. Thank God for helping me notice the road signs! We had originally intended to take bus all the way to Hakata main station before changing to subway to head down to Gion. That would have cost us 400 yen extra.

Dormy Inn Hakata was brand new, and felt just as comfy and homely as the other Dormy Inns. We left our luggage with the reception staff, and left on foot for Hakata station to redeem our 7-day JR passes and reserve overnight trains. It was an easy and relaxing 10 minute walk to Hakata station, and after settling the JR pass stuff, we roamed around the basement shops and reminisced our last year’s trip. We decided to head to Ichiran so as to ensure that we would definitely get to try their famous tamago (egg) – we missed it twice last year as we went there after 3pm on both occasions, and by then all the eggs were sold out -_______-“’

Ichiran wasn’t open yet at 0950, so we waited around for about 10 minutes for them to open promptly at 10am. We were the first customers, but when we finished ordering at the cool vending machine, there was already a stream of customers streaming into the shop, at TEN AM!! And within minutes of seating down at the cute little cubicles (which we missed so much), the shop was almost FULL. Crazy. That explains why the eggs were sold out by 3pm even though they operate past midnight. We each ordered a basic bowl with extra charsiew toppings, eggs (finally!) and kaedama (replacement noodles, 1 serving for me and half for Grace). Grace became ecstatic once the smell and the familiar “irashaimase!!”s overwhelmed us; and when the bowls came, words could not describe how HEAVENLY they smelled/looked.And of course the egg was fantastic. Beats the sg ones hands down man. We took a video of the entire process so I won’t go into further details here :P

After filling our bellies to the brim, we set off for Canal City. Passed by a small temple and quickly snapped some pictures. Spotted a 24hr supermarket near our hotel, and grabbed a nice pudding on discount (60 yen only! 0.90 SGD). Canal City was more or less the same, still with a whole array of fabulous restaurants with fabulous prices beyond our reach. We went into the Matsumoto Kiyoshi drugstore and saw masks being snapped up at lightning speed by the locals, and we quickly followed suit and bought 2X 7-pcs masks. That were all the “value-packs” left (at 7pc for 300+ yen), and the rest were all higher grade ones costing at least 200 yen PER PIECE. And there was a whole basket of crazy expensive high-tech surgical masks going at 900+ yen per piece. Insane, considering that all are for 1-day use only. But when we returned later, ALL the masks were sold out, and the shop pasted a notice on the shelves stating that the masks were OOS and they had no idea when the next batch would come in. Shudders. H1N1 is certainly great news for the drugstores and pharmaceutical companies.

After finding out that our beloved “Dessert Forest” (an area housing several great dessert shops) had closed down, we returned to the hotel to check in. Our room was pleasant and comfy just like all Dormy Inn rooms. We pondered for a moment before deciding to return to Canal City for our favourite Okonomiyaki restaurant – Fugetsu. It was raining cats & dogs then, so we were all soaked by the time we reached the restaurant. We ordered a huge Fugetsu-special Modanyaki (i.e. typical okonomiyaki with noodles in it too), along with a cheese pork omelette. The aroma was overwhelming as we waited for the Modanyaki to be cooked right before us on a hotplate, and the taste was marvellous as expected, filled with pork, octopus, prawns and veg. Goes really well with the mayonnaise plus sour plum sauce on top. The omelette was just alright – it took us quite a while to locate the cheese in it. Not that fantastic a choice for 500+ yen (7.50 SGD).

We tried to get directions to Beard Papa from the restaurant staff but alas, none of them has heard about it. Guess Beard Papa really isn’t that huge in Japan – the locals are too spoilt for choices! We got really wet (again) on the way back as it was pouring even more heavily then, and stopped by the supermarket to stock up for breakfast. We spent a crazy 1 hour there, as the staff went around pasting new discount stickers on the bentos every 15~20 minutes (Jap supermarkets typically sell a whole variety of bentos, like fried chicken pieces, grilled fish, grilled seafood, veg, fried noodles, gyoza, etc etc; and they will start offering discounts from 6pm onwards. The later it gets, the greater the discount – if the bentos have not been snatched up by then. So you’d often see a whole bunch of Jap housewives grabbing everything in sight when the supermarkets are about to close). Eventually, we managed to get a big meaty bento set, a box of grilled octopus, a box of fried chicken pieces, a little plate of salad, a couple buns laden with different sort of fillings, milk, and some random pudding dessert that was expiring and hence on 30% discount. Grace was complaining about the cold, so we returned before the last few rounds of discounts. But it was a great bargain already. We relaxed in the hotel onsen before retiring to bed, feeling warm and comfortable from the hot spring water – it does wonders to your body after a tiring day walking about. No wonder the old folks all like to settle near onsen areas after retirement.

Day 10 - Busan

We dragged our luggage down to the bus stop and when we were like 5mins away, we saw the bus pulling away. But the driver spotted us and was nice enough to make an extended stop at the junction (to the irritation of the honking drivers behind him) for us to board. Thank God for that! At Jeju airport, we checked out rates before settling for Jeju air. The nice counter guy decided to give us the internet discount price (which was 30% off walk-in price) even though we didn’t book online. Couldn’t book online either cos we didn’t have a Korean credit card (stupid system). And what’s even better, he allowed us to check our luggage in even though our flight was not until like 4-5 hours later. This saved us quite abit cos if we couldn’t check them in, we would have to store them at the luggage storage section which costs about 4,500W per luggage! Thank God!

Took a bus down to Jeju City for eMart. Tobsy couldn’t get over the wonderfully affordable meal we had ystday. Realising this was our last day in Korea and in Japan, cheap food is extinct, we decided to indulge ourselves abit by ordering a huge 2-person set meal plus another Tonkatsu set. Even the cashier was surprised and warned us tt is going to be mega huge portions. But we polished almost everything up, being the great eaters we are, and started shopping around.

Almost as if a consolation to his failed buy ystday, Tobsy quickly found a cool pair of denim berms and sleeveless top. What’s even better, their total cost is less than the 24,000W top he saw ystday. God rewards the patient! Got a bit more food before heading back to the airport to board our plane.

Jeju air’s propeller plane looked really flimsy. And it was really low, you only had to climb 5 steps to get on board. Since it was small, it was uber susceptible to turbulence and it was like one of the worst flights I’ve ever had. I kept feeling like my life was going to end before it even started properly. All the worrying on the turbulent flight made me quite tired so I was thankful for the comfortable airport limousine at Busan airport which brought us to the port.

Spent time chilling around on the top-most level of the port where bad Korean kids smoke and spat. We did some devotionals and talked before going down for a quick bite at the snack stop. They claim to serve “ramen” but it was actually just Korean maggi mee.

Boarded new Camellia around 1920. And realised tt I could only claim 3,500W from the tax refund cos one salesgirl screwed up the documents and did not give me what I needed. Sad. All the trouble for this little amount.

Our deluxe room kicks ass. Spacious, and it even comes with its own proper toilet. I guess he knows I cannot do a shared bathroom with everyone else. The lower category is also a private room but it comes with the double-decker bed and it only has a toilet in the room without showering facilities so I was really really glad we got this one. And the price is really quite affordable considering other modes of transportation would cost about the same and you would need to add one night’s accommodation in Hakata. On this cruise, we cover transport and accommodation together so overall savings! Yeah!

They started playing 200 pounds beauty around 2030 and we watched it all the way till late even though it was in Korean and there were no subtitles. Funny, nevertheless. Then we slept all the way till morning. The bed was unbelievably comfortably I really didn’t want to disembark the next morning.

DAY 9 – JEJU, WEST TOUR

Unfortunately for us, the toilet bowl in our room got stuck after we used it for big business. Tobsy tried to fix it but could not and that took quite some time so we only left around 10ish. 1st stop – O’Sulloc Tea Museum. Free admission! But it wasn’t a fantastic museum or anything really. And the green tea plantations were a little disappointing. I was expecting lush terraced fields tt seem endless (think the scene in Summer Scent). Oh well. But the weather was really really fine. Thank God for that!

Next we went to the beach enroute Halim Park. I will need to refer to the map for the name of the beach but its tt famous one where every Korean drama has a scene there. Da Chang Jin was filmed there too I think. And it should be the famous scene where Song Seung Hun carried Song Hye Gyo on his back as she died in Autumn of My Heart. It’s really a spectacular beach with pretty white sand and gorgeous emerald waters. And of course, the best part of all natural scenic spots is there is no admission fee!

Drove down to Halim Park but realised that admission was 7,000W. That was pure extortion really considering our Tonboki meal for 2 at Ewha costs only 10,000W. We checked out the attractions listed at the entrance and realised tt the only one worth going to was the caves but no way are we paying so much just to see caves so Tobsy took a picture of the photo of the caves at the entrance. Haha~

Decided to make a spontaneous trip to eMart as we passed it. It was next to the World Cup Stadium so we took a look too. The main highlight was the cheap clothes at eMart and the wonderful food court. For 11,200W, we got 2 bowls of udon, 1 big bowl of Bibimbak, omelette rice, salad, Tonkatsu and hamburger steak. Totally mind-blowing! We were completely satisfied of our meat-cravings by the end of the meal. Tobsy almost got a cool top but they ran out of S size for white and only had grey. He was so disappointed but I was sure there will definitely be better buys out there.

Next stop Jeong Bang Waterfalls. 2nd trip here cos it was closed ystday. The ticketing lady immediately charged us the student price after seeing our ISIC cards without checking for our age. Other places that checked only allowed student price for me cos Tobsy is 25 already. So there was a little bit of savings here. Yeahness! Lots of kids at the waterfall. After climbing all the way down, I wondered if it was really worth the admission. Sure it was quite unique seeing a waterfall straight into the ocean but the one in Nikko is probably bigger and more spectacular.

Didn’t have time for the lava stones cos we had to return the car at 4pm. The staff at Lotte Hotel rock. It is truly a 5-star hotel. When I drove into the driveway to drop Tobsy off to call the car rental staff at Shila Hotel, the greeters at the entrance immediately came and opened the car door for him and bowed. Super VIP treatment man. Created quite abit of trouble for them cos they had to call Shila and help us process the return of the car. All this when we’re not even guests (I hope they don’t know that)! We didn’t even have to wait for the Shila car rental staff to arrive to check the car, we could leave upon passing the car keys to the Lotte front desk staff. Super!

Dinner at GS25 again. Got back super early but because of the stuck toilet bowl, I had to pee straight into the water drainage hole. Not very nice. Leaving Jeju tml for Busan then Hakata. Bye bye Korea!

DAY 8 – JEJU, EAST TOUR 

Renting the car turned out to be much more tedious than we had expected. We went to the Hertz office at Lotte Hotel (where we made enquiries about the rates previously), it was open but there was NO ONE in there. The guys we saw the day before were nowhere in sight – probably just came to open the office and then off to their beds again since it was uber low season. The hotel front desk had no idea where they were, so we tried the rental company next door, where the only staff, a young lady, was happily chatting with her friend on the phone until we came in. Thank God she was conversant in English; but as it turned out, she only had the big SM5 cars available, which would cost us a whopping 120,000W. No way man. She was nice enough to help us call up the Hertz main office, but the Lotte branch had no small cars left either. At last, she rang up another company (Hansung) down at Shilla Hotel, and reserved a small car for us. We were immensely grateful to her, since she was really going the extra kilo-mile for us – she could have very well chased us out as we weren’t her clients.

The Hansung lady drove the car down to Lotte hotel. We opted for no insurance (which cost 29,000W) initially to save money, and made the payment via card (she used carbon paper to make duplication for the card number); but we realised that there was no GPS onboard. We would DIE trying to navigate by map alone. So she had to drive us back to Shilla hotel to get the GPS. Then we were on our own. After some nervous test drives around the area, and with Grace visibly pale from the encounters with fast and furious Korean drivers, we decided to go back to buy the insurance, JUST in case anything bad were to happen and to put Grace’s mind at ease. It was after the transaction that we realised that the insurance coverage is only up to 50% of the rental charge; and since we only paid about 60,000 W for the rental, the coverage would only be 30,000W – marginally more than the 29,000W insurance cost. That’s money wasted. Boo. Lesson learnt: do read the fine prints before buying anything.

After sufficient practice with the left drive system, we went back to White Scenery to fetch our baggage for postage. The traffic in the urban areas was crazy, with vehicles parked on BOTH sides of the road, leaving rather narrow space in the middle for cars to scrape through. But thank God the post office was easy to locate, and we sent our parcel (weighing 15.3 kg) out at around 30 SGD. Beats carrying them around at least. On the way back to the car park, Grace spotted a decent looking restaurant with a queue – the only restaurant in the area that seemed to be popular. While I rushed back to the car to get hand sanitizer (a must in view of H1N1), Grace queued and was ecstatic to find out that they had the veg-wrapped food that she had been looking for. The portions were generous and the dishes were delicious! But a major disappointment was the fact that the grilled pork had plenty of fats (which we discarded), leaving rather miserable amount of lean meat behind. Alas, it was a refreshing and unique experience, eating with hands and wrapping food up with veg leaves, quite similar to our popiah but with different ingredients. We even took a video of the process.

Long drive to the All In house. I had no idea why Grace was so excited about that place since I didn’t watch the drama. After making a few stops along the way (for beautiful beaches and nice scenic spots), we found the place. It was hidden behind some seaside apartment / golf resort, so it took us quite some time to locate it. I was not nearly as impressed by the “house” itself than the surrounding scenery – the former was a church-like building which actually house a souvenir shop and an “All In museum” that charged 3000W for admission, while the latter consisted of seaside cliffs, grasslands with free-roaming horses, and a pretty little lighthouse that sat atop a cliff. Major drawback – plenty of tourists, including a Korean / Tw / Chi uncle that peed openly beside a rock near the All In House, and walked away without looking the least bit ashamed of himself. Shudders.

Plenty of shots later, we moved on the Seung San Ilchulbong, the Sunrise Peak. We were initially quite taken aback by the path that led to the peak, as it seemed to be absurdly long and steep. We contemplated settling for just a photograph at the entrance, in view of Grace’s knee pain, but decided to proceed uphill eventually. The way up was indeed steep and long, with many Korean ladies backing out of the climb half-way up the mountain. At the top, the crater was not nearly as spectacular as the helicopter shots (duh); but the view of the surrounding harbour / coastal area was breathtaking. It was certainly worth the admission cost and the long climb.

After the descent we went on to the Manjangul limestone cave, but turned back 5 minutes later as we could not possibly make it there before sunset, and Grace hated driving at night. In retrospect that must be a God-inspired decision – we found out later that most Jeju attractions close at 6. Imagine driving for an hour only to find the attraction closed – something we experienced at Kushiro last year. We went to Jeongbang Waterfall on the way home, but it was closed for the day. Tried snapping some pictures from the bushes nearby, but couldn’t get a nice shot.

Caught an amazing sight on the way back – a vertical ray of light that formed a cross with a long stretch of cloud. We were both awed, comforted by the thought that God is always right here with us, and grateful for God’s blessing throughout the entire journey.

Day 7 - Jeju Teddy Bear Museum

Today we fly to Jeju from Gimpo airport. Packed everything up (including the stuffed shopping) and took the subway there. Managed to secure tickets at 103,400W for the BOTH of us on Eastar Jet which was considerably cheaper than the other airlines like Jeju Air or Korean Air. Thank God for the safe flight. We were quite worried bcos smaller planes are more susceptible to turbulence and all.

Then it was a bus ride down to Jungmun area, where our accommodation, White Scenery, is. After alighting, we took quite a while to find its location cos the map was printed in Korean and we obviously couldn’t read it. Plus, the tourist information center which was located near the accommodation was temporarily closed for renovations (great timing huh) so we were quite stuck. Ended up asking 2 passers-by before getting the right directions.

White Scenery is a quaint house with the owners residing in the first level and the 2nd and 3rd levels available for rent. Was originally assigned to a room on level 3 but tobsy decided tt getting a bigger bed would do me good and a room on level 2 would be better cos my knees were giving me hell (again). Thank you dear!

After settling down and all, it was time to search for food. Long walk down to the Teddy Bear Museum area where we spotted GS25, a convenience store and after walking around abit more without finding any viable lunch alternative, we settled for GS25 packed food. Realised tt there were quite a bit of promotions going on like buy a rice ball for 700W and get a Sunkist lemonade drink worth 800W free. Or buy a sandwich and get a can of coffee free. Or buy a bento set and get a bottle of green tea free. We were quite wowed cos our simple buys got us a grand total of 3 free drinks and costs only 9,600W!

Then it was touring the Teddy Bear Museum. 7,000W admission was steep. And honestly, I didn’t think it was worth it. 3,000W is probably the max im willing to pay? It was just teddy bears, learning about how they came about, how they evolved and the different exhibits of the different bears. Of course my favourite were the Goong ones. I am so going to re-watch the drama. Just need to borrow the dvds from yang again. I love Korean drama!

Went around Lotte Hotel too, where All In was filmed. Another one of my favourites. Actually, I only watched a few Korean dramas and I pretty much liked most of them. I loved All In because of Song Hye Gyo. If I were a guy, I would have a humongous crush on her. Loved the windmills and wanted to stay for the volcano show at 8.30pm but wondered if that was possible since we weren’t Lotte Hotel guests. Took 2 different routes to reach sightseeing spots too but all the walking and climbing finally killed my knees and on the way back, we agreed tt we totally need a car to tour Jeju.

Settled dinner at GS25 again and bought some groceries back to keep in our fridge. We have a mini kitchen area here too but alas, as tobsy was trying to boil water, we realised there was no gas supply. Quite lazy and embarrassed to go bug the owner again (we previously asked for LAN cable, transformer and aircon controller. On separate occasions) so we just survived on drinks purchased from GS25.

DAY 6 – SEOUL, MYEONG DONG

(this is the 2nd time im doing this post cos tobsy’s laptop shut itself down just now and I didn’t save my post. Boo)
The original plan was to go out to the post office to post the shopping back first before returning to Casaville to pack our belongings and moving down to Myeong Dong area to check into PJ Hotel. Casaville was fully booked for Saturday and thank God we managed to get a room at PJ in the nick of time. Internet booking rates 66,600W for a star rated hotel was really a steal. When we got there, we found out tt walk-in rates were 144,000W.

It was raining and we lugged bags of shopping out. I decided to stop by skinfood for last minute shopping for yt. And since I was in the area, I decided to grab a Laneige moisturiser but did not give further thought to the day eye cream with sunblock cos the poor bf was standing around waiting. Also bought a bust serum from Innisfree which I should have bought on the 30% off day (yes I feel like smacking myself).

So with 4 full bags of shopping (which we later found out was about 15kg), we found the post office with the help of a kind lady who was fluent in English. Unfortunately for us, it was CLOSED. But we decided to try the other post office in the area, the one nearer to Ewha, thinking that since it was a bigger branch, there was some chance it would be open. But after a long walk there in the rain with 4 heavy bags of shopping, we found it CLOSED. So yes, if there’s anything we’ve learnt, Korean post offices do not operate on Saturdays. This is including the one at their domestic airport. Appalling, really.

So back we went to Casaville. On top of packing our belongings, we had to try to stuff all the shopping into the luggages which was very worrying cos I’m afraid the handles would not hold (think: last year Japan trip) but thank God it did, all the way to PJ Hotel. The room was fantastic. Twin bed, big toilet, large dresser and even an area likened to a walk-in wardrobe. I could even do shuttle runs from the door to the balcony. It was so comfy we almost wanted to stay in instead of going out to face the gloomy weather.

But of course we went out. Did not fly all the way to seoul to stay in the hotel room. Got recommendations from the friendly and helpful counter staff for a restaurant nearby. At first, we were uncertain whether tt place would even be within our budget but it turned out to be really affordable. Kimchi dumplings, black bean paste noodles and kimchi pork stew for 16,500W only!

More shopping in the area. Thank God we managed to find a money changer with good rates cos we were down to our last few thousands. And there was also this little snack shop near the train station selling little custard-filled puffs. Wonderful those things! 2000W only. Also bought serums from It’s Skin. They look very much like those in Skin Inc but the latter sells their serums for like S$198 or sth? It’s Skin’s serums are only 980W each! Highly tempted to buy more more but I already have wayyy too much skincare from the other brands so I had to hold back and be contented with 2 bottles.

Went to the Laneige flagship store and finally decided to get the day eye cream cos it was only 25,000W. When I asked the salesgirl for the tax-refund cheque, she told me tt it was only applicable for purchases above 30,000W. this was when I felt like smacking myself cos if only I had bought this in the morning together with my moisturiser (50,000W), i would have easily been entitled to tax refund for BOTH. Oh wells.

It was also with God’s blessing tt I found my perfect pair of booties. Was initially a little disappointed tt I couldn’t find nice ones in Ewha area and wasn’t too optimistic about even getting a pair after we left Sinchon. Those there either had wayyy too high heels or did not come in my size. Tobsy urged me to go take a look at one of the shoe shops in Myeong Dong and I found THE ONE! In black, without the punched-out holes at the sides and it fits nicely! Was quoted 35,000W but with a little persuasion and eyelid-batting, the guy lowered it down to 33,000W. happy!

Dinner was at a place recommended by forumers. But in my opinion, it wasn’t tt fantastic. I had their spicy squid bibimbak and he had seaweed oyster porridge. Quite an unhappening end to the Seoul segment huh. But you cannot expect much cos all the good food and shopping is in Sinchon area. I think this experience has made Seoul a very very good shopping and eating destination. If the yen remains strong, I’ll go to Seoul instead!

DAY 5 - SEOUL, EWHA

the trend on this segment of the trip is vastly different from all previous trips. we dont sleep until past 12 midnight and as a result, wake up around 8ish (which is still considered quite a feat!) and have to rush around getting washed up cos breakfast ends at 9.

there was a mad rush in the morning cos tobs was trying hard to get accomodation for an extra night. we have spontaneously decided tt perhaps instead of spending more time in hakata japan, we would spend one more day in seoul. this is an obvious choice due to the strong yen and relatively weaker won. plus, tobs thinks tt i can always use more shopping (quite true!). plus plus (more importantly), the food here is good and to my liking.

more more shopping at the ewha area, this time venturing into the lanes in between and covering more ground. there were many shops selling 5000W tops but the quality wasnt fantastic. since they use these tops mainly for layering, i guess there isnt much point in making it thicker. in fact, thinner fabric would be the way to go else it would get too warm in summer. i bought an interesting green batwing top upon tobs' encouragement. he's a fantastic person to shop with when he offers his valuable opinion.

but i wasnt able to do the same for him unfortunately. i think im a bad person cos i'd get irritated and impatient when im in the guys department with him. naughty girl i am. made him quite angry today.

but we made up and it was all ok. then we had to find a place for lunch. ewha didnt look too optimistic and even the shopowners (frm whom i bought high waisted shorts!) said good food is to be found in sinchon (where we hail!) but it was too far away and we wanted to continue shopping at ewha so we had to settle for sth.

in the most needed moments, God answered our prayers. we found this quaint shop and discovered it was quite packed with ppl even at 2pm so we decided to go in and order their Tomboki set. we got:
- sweet potato coated with ginger sugar
- fried yam dumpling
- hot pot of tomboki mixed with other veg ingredients and egg
- a whole set of tempura consisting of mixed veg tempura, squid tempura , cucumber seaweed and tempura and sweet potato tempura

and all these for just 10,000W for TWO! gosh. i was bursting after the meal. did more more shopping. tobs bought 2 more cans of his hair spray. how dare they sell hair spray for 10 bucks in sg when it costs barely S$3.50 here! he also got a fake 2-piece top after some bargaining.

i bought more laneige (water pack mask!) and skinfood. was so full we didnt need dinner so just grabbed a buncha miscellaneous stuff frm the supermarket. was moving out frm Casaville so needed to pack all the shopping properly for it to be posted. BUT we didnt realise (until too late at least) tt all post offices in Korea DO NOT OPEN on saturdays. more on tt in another post.

Day 4 - Seoul, Gyeongbokgung & Insadong

The day started slightly differently - waking up slightly later around 7:50, no skipping as Grace's knees were hurting again, first time trying the cereal at Casaville (and it turned out to be delicious!). We were on our way to Gyeongbokgung around 9am.

Grace had been here previously on a group tour, so she wasn't all that excited about the visit. Neither was I really, but we HAD to see it since Ms Rebecca (my Korean tutee's mum) recommended it and it was indeed a national icon. We had a pleasant surprise when we reached the palace gates, as the changing of guards ceremony was about to start then. Some of the "guards" looked really tired/sleepy, and we happened to spot one of them half-dozing in the midst of the ceremony. Overall, it was a rather interesting ceremony, though a tad repetitive at times with all the turning and shifting positions of guards.

We quickly grabbed tickets and rushed into the palace. There was a English tour guide bringing a foreign tourist group around, we tried eavesdropping but soon lost interest (none of us was very excited about rituals or standing positions of officials at court). We followed the recommended walking trail from the Korean guidebook, and chanced upon a little hut which offered *drumroll* FREE Korean costume changing service!! Yes we were amazed that such services would be free - we had spent, on average, 5000Y per person to change into Kimonos/Yukatas in Japan (of course, we got to walk around in those all day, and they WERE expensive afterall). After about 10 minutes' waiting, it was our turn. Grace had her eyes on a blue costume, much akin to the familiar ones from Da Chang Jin; I didn't have much preference so the male staff recommended a supposedly matching male costume - seemed that the costumes' colors were dependent on one's rank in the court. Alas, I ended up in a...er, orange outfit which could probably fit two mes inside; and along with an orange hat, I look everybit like a ridiculous scarecrow. Oh well. At least it was free :D Grace's outfit made her look like a maid, but after removing the white apron she looked much better. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly, and we took a group photo together.

After visiting a couple of buildings, we ended up at the National Folk Museum, which was open to the public FOC in celebration of its 50th anniversary. The exhibits were rather unique, but hardly exciting (how "exciting" can folk museums get anyway -______-"), and the most memorable thing was that a crazy Korean uncle went berserk at the entrance and started shouting really angrily at the staff. He was eventually persuaded and escorted away from the main hall, still muttering loudly along the way. We wondered what made him so furious, but since we couldn't understand Korean, there was no way of finding out.

On the way to Insadong, we ran into a group of korean children in traditional Korean costumes, seemingly on a school trip. Grace was smitten all over by the cute little ones instantly, and snapped plenty of pictures of them.

And then it was lunch at GuGoong at Insadong, a restaurant recommended by the nice lady at Tourist information center. The food was traditional Korean, and the restaurant had a nice setting too. We ordered a Bibimba and a seafood pancake; and before the maindishes arrived, the side dishes filled the table - all kinds of pickled/preserved veg and kimchis. While not all of them were tasty, they were certainly nothing like what we've eaten in sg. The maindishes were satisfactory, though hardly delightful. I've had really nice bibimba at Rebecca's place, and while GuGoong's was smoother in texture and more refined in taste, the ingredients were quite similar. As for the seafood pancake, it resembled our Oyster omelet, albeit with more squid, no oyster and some veg mixed in. Nice taste, hardly worth the 14000 won though. Total damage: 25000 won.

Rebecca had strongly recommended Insadong, for all the art galleries in the vicinity which offer free admission. It's an amazing place oozing with artistic air, but we were just too uncultured and unrefined for that (we left Insadong after viewing just one gallery). Instead, we went to Ehwa Women's University area, famous for the myriad of shops featuring cosmetic stuff, shoes and apparel. Along the way, Grace spotted the Cold Stone - our favorite ice cream parlor in Japan! We decided on the Strawberry banana rendezvous, which contained strawberry, banana, white choc chips and something else which we couldn't recall. As expected, it was heavenly, and less expensive than in Japan (6500 won for large VS ~700 yen for medium).

More shopping along the way, and we ended up at the inconspicuous little restaurant beside Mr Wow's stall, hoping to try the delicious looking dumplings that we saw while walking past two days earlier. The dumplings were HUGE! Like baos with gyoza skin, filled to the brim with meat+veg+tofu+spices, and the combination was so wonderful that we immediately ordered a second plate.

The cold noodle that we ordered was refreshing too - simple, hardly any meat, but with a great sauce and goes well with the dumplings. Besides, the restaurant provides peppered pork rib soup as DRINKS. Grace initially mistook that for water/tea (since it was contained in a teapot), and freaked out after spotting oil in the cup. The soup tasted like our Bakuteh, albeit a little less spicy. Our stomachs were bursting by the end of the meal, with the total bill coming up to just 16,500 (5,000 per plate of 6 for dumpling, 6500 for noodle). Great way to end a day :)

Day 3 - Seoul, Everland

i woke up at 0705 again. more exercise before going for breakfast. i could really get used to this lifestyle! (haha) it was really troublesome trying to get to Everland Theme Park cos its in the outskirts. we had to take a train (after changing trains. twice) to Gangnam then catch express bus 5002 for a 40min ride to Everland.

riding on the express bus was quite an experience. we sat in the first row and were treated to first-hand experience of what driving is like in korea. its a left-drive system but the left-most lane is reserved for express buses and so u can sometimes observe huge jams on the other 3 lanes on the highway but the left-most lane is always the fastest moving. i guess this is why public transport makes more sense in korea.

Everland is HUGE!! they try to imitate Disney with all the symphonic music and impressive entrance but i think they're unfortunately still very far behind. but it can almost function a stand alone zoo though. watched their Flight of Birds and The Three Musketeers sealion show but skipped pretty much the rest of the parades and carnival events.

somehow, i wasnt exactly in the mood for thrill rides. plus there were 2 coasters tt were not operating due to inspection. the T express, their steepest wooden roller coaster in the world was the main attraction but we didnt take tt. ample evidence tt we're getting to old for all this huh. took the Amazon Express ride in Zoo-Topia and 2 korean kids managed to jump queue and squeezed past us. upon hindsight, we shld really have told them off in english - nevermind tt they wouldnt have understood us but just made sure they're ashamed of themselves.

there wasnt anything bad per se abt Everland, really. but the people, boy were they terrible. other than kids who dont know how to behave themselves, they also, in general, like to push and shove and follow very closely behind u in queues as though it would make the queue move any faster. this happened when we were queuing up for the Human Sky. old ladies behind us were following SO CLOSELY behind us in the queue they were practically pressing against our backs. a few dirty stares and intentional swinging of bags made them realised we didnt like their bad breath and the close proximity but it wasnt very pleasant hanging around them.

the worst happened on the train ride back. when the train first arrived, people started streaming out and before they could finish alighting, people started pushing inwards. i tried to wait till the crowds cleared a little and was almost through the door when it started closing. ON ME! thank God tobs pulled me back. there is NO warning when doors close. i think they dont see a point anyway cos they will not heed any warning.

when the nxt train came, i was in front and determined to get in. we managed to, of course but the first half of the journey was insane cos at major stops, ppl squeezed out and ppl frm the outside forced themselves in, shoving and pushing at the same time. shame on them really. it was almost as bad as in japan i think but at least trains arrive at a higher frequency and the japanese do not practice shoving as a sport. do avoid peak hour commuting on trains to avoid nasty situations like tt.

but thank God we made great finds like the gangnam roadside stall tt sells delicious dumplings. we saw ppl standing around eating and (of course) the smell caught my nose. immediately we ordered a plate of 10. she threw in some radish. i realised tt every single korean meal comes with some form of veg so its really good! after polishing up the 10, we ordered another 10. and after finishing that, we ordered ANOTHER 10. haha~ it was THAT GOOD!

then we went to KMC chicken at sinchon, tobs found recommendations on it in the online forums. it was $8 for 8 PIECES OF CHICKEN. like an entire spring chicken. fried to perfection. it was like KFC yet different. and if u can guess, one is not enough so we ordered another set of 8. still, we know its deep fried and super uber unhealthy so as per usual practice, we de-skinned the chicken and squeezed oil juices out before consuming. hopefully tt will save us pimple problems in the nxt few days!

on the way back, we dropped by Innisfree and realised their 30% off with 30,000W purchase deal is really fantastic. plus its only for the 2nd wed of the month so we decided to grab good skincare buys frm there. ended up spending quite a bit of time (and alot of money) there. but there was a very helpful salesgirl who served us and made useful product recommendations. i think i bought every single item she recommended! haha.

then since we've already spent so much in Innisfree (over 120,000W which i think is erh more than S$130?) i happily went over to Skinfood and raided the store. it feels super good, grabbing the shopping basket and just loading it with things without even thinking. now this is shopping therapy. i think im going back to Skinfood to get more things right before i leave. dont know when i'll be back again to restock. plus the yen is too strong now so stocking up on shiseido needs to take a backseat.

ended up reaching Casaville close to 10+pm and slept past 12.30am again. we're doing late nights here which is kinda bad but im sure we'll make up all the lost sleep time in japan. where night life ends at 8pm and shops close at 8pm. here, beauty stores like Innisfree, Skinfood, etc close at 10pm. i wish they would bring all these affordable skincare to Singapore! they're really a dream come true!

Day 1 - Seoul, Yeoju Outlet

woke up this morning and exercised! i made tobs bring his skipping rope but in the end even in our small apartment there wasnt ample space to skip so i just did jumping jacks, side skaters and skipping on the spot before doing push ups and flutter kicks. works up to quite abit of sweat so im hopping tt will make up for all the eating im doing.

breakfast was fine just tt it wasnt exactly very meaty but we cannot complain cos for the price we're paying, this is really quite good. we're staying at casaville serviced residence in sinchon, seoul. and the location's excellent with a subway nearby and lotssa good food places around.

decided to go down to yeoju premium outlets today. but it was soooo remote we had to first take train1, change to train2 to reach an express bus terminal THEN take an express bus (1hr 10min) to yeoju THEN take either a cab or a bus to the outlet. gosh. it was so much trouble but we made it.

had lunch at their Grand Delia and i had their bulgogi and tobs had spicy beef stew which had very little beef. notwithstanding the lack of meat, the taste was actually quite good and i think we can both get used to good korean food. yums!

we shopped around but only managed to buy 2 things - a loreal cleanser for him and 2 of the same serum for me. and it was very unfortunate tt we missed the free starbucks coffee giveaway not once but TWICE. but thank God for the good weather (it was raining in the morning before we left) and safe journeys. i loveee the climate here its so much cooler than stuffy and hot singapore. but of course, my homeland is still the safest. ystday while heading to the hotel at night, there were drunkards on the streets walking, actually stumbling, along and crashing into pedestrians. scary.

travelled back and explored sinchon area. found lots of skincare shops along the street like skin food and nature republic. will buy lots and ship home! exciting stuff. had dinner at Chun Chon which serves stir-fried spicy chicken with cabbage. they cook it on a hot pan in front of u and u have the option of adding on noodles, rice cake and sweet potato into the mixture so we got one too. tobs got less spice so i wldnt die eating it and it turned out not spicy enough for him. for me, it was quite sufficient - any hotter i might not be able to take it.

like the sausage frm Mr Wow. it had spices added INTO it and it was really good with mustard. but i choked halfway through and had to gulp water to prevent a massive coughing fit.

on the way back to casaville, we found the supermarket nearby and stocked up on (what else but) food! i saw a promotion for 5 packs of random junk food for 3180W (less than S$4) and grabbed it immediately cos earlier we saw the same junk food in a vending machine at the outlet going for 1000W each. plus they have the korean version of shiroi koibito! OF COURSE i had to get it.

Waiting

waiting at gate A10 awaiting boarding now. china eastern airlines seems to be quite efficient. or maybe its just terminal 3. i love t3's spanking huge toilets. i saw a foreigner doing sun salutations in one of the powder-up areas just now. checked out the perfumes and cosmetics section but realised tt prices arent fantastic. although the 75ml skII facial treatment essence is much cheaper than retail price.

pls pray for journey's mercies as we travel to shanghai then onto incheon. esp now tt korea and japan both have confirmed cases of swine flu. i just hope tt when we get to shanghai they wont quarantine us upon observing our past travel records. and i think immigrations everywhere are gng to be quite stringent. so pls pray for smooth journey.