16th - 22nd dec: korea

aft doing mths n mths of country reports on korea for the super irritating macro econs, i found myself jetsetting off to the land of ultra rude ppl for 7 days of fun, fun n more fun. =)

i took v long editing the photos.. so pls dun skip them. if they take v long to load, juz go watch tv first n come back later or something okie? hehe.. thanks.

farewells at the airport was a nostalgic affair since the 2 sisters hv candy-bearing male escorts to send them off n needless to say, i was v much alone. *sobs* =(

aft more than 5 hrs on board a cramped SQ 602, a couple more hours on the bus awaited me.. however, having really gorgeous scenery made the bus ride tt little bit more bearable than the monotonous clouds in the air.

had the first blast of shocking cold when we stopped for snacks n toilet.

korea's longest highway!! it stretches over a portion of the pacific ocean i tink.

brrrrrr... XD

first stop: decksan spa castle

the hotel arm of the theme park.. it wasn't v crowded coz its freezing winter!!! but if ur a staunch follower of the k-wave, u'll recognise tis place as the filming site for korean drama, my girl.

we were wearing swimming attire underneath those jackets.

the spa castle is an outdoor cum indoor water theme park tt lets u have a splashing gd time in warm water frm a REAL hot spring source of below 650m!!!! but of course, queuing for rides in the bitter cold was purely torturous until the blissful 49 degree celcius waters engulfed u into their warmth.

p/s (i heard tis hot/cold/hot/cold treatment is really gd for slimming.)

there r also indoor pools with massaging jets n a beautiful starry ceiling.. super romantic! for the more adventurous, there r flavoured baths, cold water spring, mud wraps to try - in the nude. yeap, frm the scars i see on those women, i do believe the statistics tt 80% of korean women undergo some form of plastic surgery in their lifetime. ouch.

info taken off the official webbie. tis is one place i soooo wanna visit again.. =D

queer thing 1: bcoz of the cold weather, koreans hv taken to growing tis lettuce-like plant as a decorative item!

second stop: everland themepark!

the full tour group...

so many rides, so little time.

bri n me attempting to fly. lol.

tis little teary-eye puppy is called "the princess"!!! so me rite?!

eeekk!! nudity shld not be tolerated in a public place! =P

who is trix calling??????????

her odd obsession with phonebooths!

my odd obsession with sunflowers! ^^

[clockwise frm top left: me, brian, alisa, trixie]

the inflatable bubble floats wasn't as bouncy n weak as it looked..

SURVIVORS!! the guys in blue r actually the ppl who catch u when ur abt to tumble off.

tall tall pink cotton candy!!! *drools*

aft we finished with one end of the theme park, we took ski lifts down to the safari section cum zoo within everland.

look wat my cam caught mommy n daddy doing waaaaaay below us??!! *giggles*

we had to board a vehicle like tis to wander around the animal safari. coz over here, we r not ogling at the caged animals... but rather, we let them watch us caged up. oooh, kinky. heee. =P

some of the many animals we saw wandering free...

certain animals hibernate through winter.. but nothing is as comical as tis ducks. how cld they tolerate juz keeping one leg warm?! n how abt sleeping while maintaining their bal? *astonished*

if u read the fine print, mandarin ducks r "korea's national treasure no. 329"!!! i wonder how many national treasures s'pore has.

queer fact 2: heated fans bcoz its juz so damn cold!

tis is how a normal lion is supposed to look like.

but bcoz the animals r allowed to roam freely, tis is how a tiger cum lion offspring looks like! the back creature is actually a female tiger/lion while the front one is the male version.. kinda gross trying to imagine cross-breeding of tis lvl yeah? i didn't noe beasts r sooo horny..

how abt tis for shockers? a white tiger probably mated with a normal siberian tiger which explains the half half body..

juz as we tot we were shocked enough by all the new breeds, we came across....

a monkey n lion cub!!! they r apparently put tgt frm birth so instinctively, they wld not hurt each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! talk abt betrayal of nature. tiger n lion i can accept but a lion's head on a monkey's body?! *faints*

in line with xmas festivities, everland had a winter float performance.

aft playing for a whole day, we proceeded to our third stop: a wedding play.. in typical korean style, the poor male lead is unworthy of the rich female lead but they r deeply in love. so the male lead gotta out-fight all the suitors n win her hand in marriage.

bri was selected frm the audience to be one of the suitors. haha. he is so so so cute!

aft the show, we got to wear traditonal korean bridal outfits. v colourful n v pretty! *squeals*

before leaving, we had to hv a grp shot with the cast of the stellar performance.

fourth stop: yongpyong ski resort

tis is where the entire winter sonata was filmed n tis place seems to milk it for all its worth. seriously, everywhere hv pics of the lead actor n actresses.. alisa went crazy.

[frm left: mommy, brian, trixie, me, alisa]

us again with the mountain as a backdrop.

i wish, i wish, i wish...

reindeers!!!! lighted up somemore!

cakes n desserts make us happy children!

choc in the coffee gets the parents a little high too! ^^

temp before breakfast, - 5.5.

temp aft breakfast: -8.2!!!! super fast can?! somemore i tot the sun was supposed to hv risen..

today we take skiing lessons. but before we start, we gotta get familarized with the routes n the mountain heights we'll be experiencing. of course we only qualify for the newbie hill. =X

me n my pink suit! i tink its rather nice but everyone begs to differ. hmpf!

ALL SET!!!

an empty track...

which filled up with ppl rather quickly...

oops, caught me stumbling. haha. i kinda fell even before anyone started which was rather sucky. =( but if we were worrying abt the cold weather, we sure worked up alot of sweat! fyi, it was alot harder to get up aft falling then to actually stay upright.

gave up aft awhile to play with the much easier to manage, plastic sleds.

1: position the bucket sled.

2: move to the starting line.

3: READY, GET SET,

4: GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

=) =) =) =) =)

lots n lots of rolling in the snow until mommy was worried we did all catch a cold.

i love myself! <3

look wat we woke up to the nxt morning? SNOW!!! nope, not those on the ground - seen lots of those already.. tis snow was fluttering down in miniature snowflakes! talk abt pretty!! =)

seeing the pretty snow, we paid to take a 40min cable car up to the top of the mountain. coz obviously we were not skilled enough to ski up there! haha. tis mountain top hv even more winter sonata rubbish then down below. apparently the majority of the scenes were shot with the view up here.

pardon my slit-like eyes.. it was 6am in the morning. yeah, the sun rises exceptionally early n sets early over here too!

winter sonata cable cars! alisa purposely cover the lead actress so bae yong jun looks like he is kissing her. *retarded*

unfortunately the light snowfall had evolved into a i-dunno-wat-u-call-tt so we were deprieved of an apparently breath-taking view of the snowy mountains.

gosh, look at the wind n the amt of cascading snow?!

[frm left: tommy, me, alisa, trixie, brian]

yet another shooting location.

ahhhhh!! the s'pore version of the actors?!

hmm.. i used to tink so. but i guess sometimes u juz gotta noe when to cut loss.

...



aft hanging around in the blizzard for quite some time - had to get our monies worth ma - we were glad to be back in the warm hotel lobby with the giant fire place for company.

the bear bear xmas tree! the bear bear i hugged was waaay bigger than the one i hv back hm. heee.

fifth stop: yeoju premium shops

shocked myself when i met maybelline here.. tis is the first of the 3 times i met her in korea. super small world hor? i dun even see her around SP unless we arrange to meet can?!

tis range of elite shopping outlets r housed in an entirely outdoor mall.. not tt u need air-con anyway. but i juz tot it was rather cool.. the concept i mean.

OMG!!!!! all the brands gathered tgt.. n tis r only some of those i entered lor.. there r many more blocks of shops tt the 1hr given didn't allow us to adequately tour. *sulks*

sixth stop: lotteworld, the korean equivalent of disneyland.

i tink its better than disneyland in fact. bcoz it has 2 wings.. indoor n outdoor! seriously, korean amusement parks r really out of the ordinary. first, was a zoo cum theme park then came an indoor/outdoor hotspring waterworld. n now this!!! its every child's dream come true.

the outdoor section, magical kingdom, linked by a monorail...

the indoor portion for rainy weather...

personally, i felt the indoor version was better. haha. mayb bcoz they hv all the snack booths n i can walk around w/o tt heavy jacket coz its heated!

candy candy candy....

oh shucks, i love u too! lol.

argghhh!! someone release me!

BANG BANG BANG!

we r supposed to shot the targets while riding these shaking horses in a cowboy stimulation sorta ride. pts r recorded n the suckiest shooter is 'hanged' by the machine who captures ur face. mommy was the worst shooter in the entire rm. funny lor.

queuing for another water ride.. took nearly an hr of my precious youth. but all rides here r like tt de. queue longer then u actually ride it. btw, did ur notice the elephant behind me?

oh my, wat did we do wrong???

at night, we were treated to laser lights n fireworks extravaganza!

seventh stop: the kyongbok palace

tis palace was build in 1394 during the chosun dynasty n was later used to film da chang jing!

"look, i can tickle u but u can't do anything abt it! wahahahahaha!"

the pri 2 boy frm our tour tt entertained us alot but whose name i can't rmbr. oops.

in the past, there wasn't waterproof red carpets for the emperor so they had to use bricks to line the path to be taken by the king only. flat stones r also used to distinguish the ranks of the officers in line.

queer fact 3: all the individual palaces r built on 3m tall granite platforms bcoz they r afraid rival kingdoms (there were 13 kingdoms) wld send assasins to dig tunnels underground n murder the occupants in their sleep. there wasn't metal drills in the past obviously.

an underground map for war purposes.. escape route or something..

queer fact 4: if u look carefully, there is a thin netting over the heavily decorated roof. tis is to prevent birds frm getting a firm foothold n disturb the occupants with their incessant chirps. yups, ppl frm the olden days r pretty indigenious yeah?

queer fact 5: fishes can still swim under a layer of ice. *amazed*

eighth stop: national folk museum

a few exhibits later, we were all bored n settled into a nice cafe for hot choc n donuts. apparently culture is not v chua family. heeee.

i guess winter hasn't really hit tis part of the city yet..

ninth stop: kimchi factory

we got to try our hand at making our own kimchi!!!

SUCCESS!!!

i seriously doubt lee young ae agreed to tis 'sponsorship'. they prob juz blew a photo of her up damn big like the ginseng, amethyst n cordyceps showrooms we visited.

we got to don the traditional hanbok for a family photo here...

in a dining setting... n yes, i noe i look pregnant.

my sisters looking exceptionally ravishing in red.

someone in the group suggested the da jie (eldest sis) sit down, as a form of respect. but it kinda only made me appear shorter than i already am. zzzz.

tenth stop: dongdaemun market

tis is something like their orchard rd.. but their lights sure put orchard rd to shame! the fairy lights they use r really small n dainty making it look like glowing snowflakes hv juz settled on everything..

tis is doota! a far east type of mall.. only its 7 full storeys of clothes n they sure stock alot of winter wear n cheap cheap prices.. got loads of wool dresses for under 10 bucks n not to mention leggings for $2!!!



our last night was at the most elite of hotels.. the lotte hotel. it even hv those old-fashioned revolving doors found in ancient english movies. hehehe. the kids kept going in n walking round n round n round until the security guard came to chide them.

the big wine bottle in the lobby.

we brought the donut fever to korea. hunting down oh-so-delicious krispy kremes n dunkin donuts. krispy kremes really hv gd customer service by giving one free donut to every queuing person. so if 10 ppl queue to buy 1 donut, they'll hv 11 donuts but pay only for 1. n its not bcoz their donuts suck n they need to clear stock!!!

my heart-shaped donut had 2 fillings!! how cool is tt?

as i come to the end of tis entry, let me intro u to korean food! its mainly all steamboat or claypot style bcoz of the freezing weather.. but other then tt, everything was delicious. especially the bbq pork! yummy!!

the best thing is, everything is refillable on the house!!

we ended back where we started at incheon international airport.

n they gave us a polariod shot with their santa who seems to be chewing on bri's hair.

queer fact 6: they hv ginseng-laced tobacco products which they term 'superior'.

pardon me but i still tink smoking is commiting suicide only in a slower, more painful n more expensive manner. haiz.

oh ya, cute canned drinks yeah?

bye bye now.. i hope tis entry makes up for the severe lag in updates. cheers.