Jan 2nd 2008 Palace, Myeong Dong Shopping, Hot Spring Lotte world

It has been a while since I last updated the blog as I was caught up at work and also the upcoming Chinese New Year. For those who have just celebrated Chinese New Year 2010, Happy New Year and do drive savely back.

Continuing on with with Korea trip, we headed off for Korean buffer breakfast followed by visiting the palace early in the morning. We spend most of our time cam whoring around the palace. In fact, most of the time, we were busy taking photo and lost track of the guide.

Subsequetly, we headed off for a steamboat lunch and were given time to shop at Myeong Dong shoping street. Myeong Dong is not a place to be missed as this is the place where most youngters will drop by to shop during the weekends. 'S' bought a number of skin care products from her as according to her, they have more variety and cheaper compare to Malaysia.

After that, the other group of 4 split up from us as they were meeting up their Korea business partner. Hence the remaining 4 of us 'S','B','L' and myself headed off to the spa/sauna which is included in the package. This Sauna is located close to the city and have 5 levels. It was 'B''s first experience and it was trully funny as we have to strip naked going in. It feels wierd as well since both of us are best friends the the thought of seeing each other in our birthday suit.

So the conversation went like this ( clad in our towels )

Me: Lets go. I will "try" not to look at you and lets act natural

'B' : Don't wan ler. I'll never look at you the same way again when we meet.

Me : Aiyo. Lets not waste time... ( Turn aound take off and go in - Immediately head for a shower and into the pool )

After a while 'B' came into my pool with his SWIMMING TRUNKS on. Fu la ma... everybody started staring at us.

'B' : why is everyone looking at us

Me : #$^&#(&$$. I think you are the abnormal one out here with your trunks on.

'B' : Never mind....I'll go and try the salt room.

Later...

'B' : Tell you something funny. I was in the salt room and the korean guy keep looking at me. He saw my leg was reddish so he demo to me to take the salt and rub. Then he ask me to take off my pants and show me to a sign saying that that we are not allowed to wear fabric due to the reaction with the water.For a moment there I though he wants to rub for me when he was doing the demonstration

Me : See you catch unwanted attention leh. Ask you to take off earlier. Luckily he didn't strip you ;)

Conclusion : If you do go for hot springs, you must enter the pool naked. Just follow how the rest does it and you'll be fine. Other wise, everyone will be looking at you!

Anyway the sauna room was 5 stories tall and they have different theme in each section. The only place we had to be naked is at the basement floor where you bath. The 1st and 2nd floor is family theme floor and you see kids running around, people just sit down and chat. The 3rd floor is where they have all sort of sauna room. Did not try to go higher due to time factor.

We headed off to Lotte world after the spa/sauna session. It is a combination of indoor and outdoor theme park which open until 10pm. Since we arrive around 7.30pm, we basically have only 2+ hours including dinner. Dinner was on our own that night so we settle for some burgers and headed off for the rides.As some of the rides have closed, 'S' and myself spend most of the time taking pictures of the place.

Next post.... EVERLAND...........

Jan 1st 2008 Nansaksa Temple, Abai Village, Mt Sorak , Seoul

We welcome 1st of Jan 2008 by waking up early (???) eagerly hoping to see more of Seoul but little did we know that what is in store for us later that evening.

We had breakfast at the hotel at 7am and left the hotel almost at 8am. As the hotel is situated is some national park ( lots of trees and higher ground ) it was really cold that morning.


Pic 1 : Hotel Kensington Flora

Our first stop was to Naksansa Temple which is located at the slope of Naksa mountain. We were told that this is one of the few temples that overlook the sea. Our bus parked at the bottom of the slope and we had to walk through a morning market before reaching the foot of the hill. Interestingly, there was a lot of fished ( salted fish? ) being sold


Pic 2 : The custom will not be too happy if I were to bring this back


Pic 3 : Las Vegas in Naksansa? I told you I was not dreaming. ( road leading to the temple )


Pic 4 : The view of the beach while "hiking" up the trail. Buses are not allowed

Pic 5: On the way, we pass Naksan beach hotel. After 15min of walk, I don't understand why they don't throw in sauna into the package ;)

The steep hill climb started after this hotel and we had to walk for another 10 min passing through souvenir shops before reaching the entrance.

Pic 6 : We have made it only to be told that we have 1.15 hour to meet back.

Pic 7 : Attraction at Nansaksa Temple. 1.15 hours? Impossible to complete so we decided to do what we can.

A pavillion by the cliff caught our attention so we headed there. Along the way, there were lanterns hung all over ( probably welcoming new year ).

Pic 8 : Lantern against the Clear blue ocean backdrop at Naksansa temple

Pic 9: Clear blue ocean at Naksansa temple

Upon reaching the Pavillion, we wasted no time to snap a photo with the clear blue ocean and quickly headed to the next spot. Seems like 15-20min have already passed by then.

Pic 10: Photo taken in the pavillion

Pic 11: Naksansa temple

Pic 12 : Another picture of us with the clear blue ocean

Pic 13: Getting some blessings from the mini "guan yim". Apparently there is a bigger statue higher up and clearly we did not have time to see it

Pic 14: Stuff with worries? I recomend you to go to Naksansa temple. They have place to "untie" your worries. So why worry? :)

Pic 15: Interesting tree at Naksansa

Clearly 1.15 hour is up by then and we have manage to only cover 5% of the whole place. If you are interested to visit this temple, do allocate a few hours to be able to cover all the building.
We started our hike down and enjoy the beauty of Naksa beach

Pic 16: Naksa beach

After that , we headed to Abai village where the korean drama Autumn in my heart was filmed which is located not too far from the temple. If you have not watch the show, please do and make sure you have a box of tissue paper within your reach.

Pic 17 : Abai village

Pic 18: One of the film location in Abai village

Pic 18: Picture taken inside the convenient store

Pic 19: Abai village

Pic 20: Was this bicycle used in the filming?

Pic 21: Autumn in my heart filming location

Pic 22: Last picture at Abai village before we head of to the next destination Mt Sorak.

Alas, we reach Mt Sorak(Seoraksan) almost around noon time. and wasted to time and exploring it. The best time to visit Mount Sorak is during autumn as the colours at the area are considered the most beautiful in Korea. As you can see, the leave have all drop during winter

Pic 23: Pathway leading to Mt Sorak

Pic 24 : Mt Sorak Entrance

Pic 25 : Group Photo taken at Mount Sorak entrance

Pic 26: Bronze Buddha of Sinheungsa located close to the entrance of Mt Sorak.

PIc 27 : Pathway leading to Sinheungsa (Buddhist Temple)

Pic 28: Sinheungsa (Buddhist Temple)

Pic 29: Sinheungsa (Buddhist Temple) with Mt Sorak at the background

Pic 30: Sinheungsa (Buddhist Temple)

Pic 31: Another view of Sinheungsa (Buddhist Temple) with Mt Sorak backdrop

Pic 32:Sinheungsa (Buddhist Temple)

Pic 33: Bronze Buddha of Sinheungsa taken on the way out.

Pic 34 :Mt Sorak map ( we barely cover 0.1% of the national park )

Next we headed off to lunch and supposedly stopover at everland park on the way back to Seoul.

Pic 35: Korean BBQ restaurant

Pic 36 : Marinated and barbecued to perfection.

After lunch, we took off to everland. However, we got caught in traffic in a tunnel( as we then found out that most people are returning to Seoul after the long weekend ) What was suppose to be a 1/2 hour passage in teh tunnel turn to be a 4 hours jam. We even saw people "untieing their worries" along the passage in the tunnel. There was a toilet at the end of the tunnel but was greeted with long queue. Ended spending another 1/2 hour for the toilet.

We were almost met with an accident whereby the bus went into a wrong toll lane and manage to stop just inches away from height limit pillar. The sharp brake cause our korea tour guide to fall and injured herself while our malaysian guide sprain her wrist trying to catch hold of the korean tour guide.

We witnessed the whole incident as the tour guide has just started to get on the mic telling us about the change in itinerary due to the incident. Luckily nobody was hurt in the incident and we could see that the driver was clearly tired from the drive. We were suppose to go to dongdaemun that night but decide to move it out and allow our bus driver to rest.

Upon arriving at the hotel, we were to tired and immediately headed off to bed.....What a day....

Pic 37 : Arrive at Seoul Hotel lobby

Pic 38:Seoul hotel lobby