Day 4

Day 4 - the day i was unwell!!! :(

Just to show how small/cram the room was...hardly any walking space!

We were quite early so we went out to take photo - just to show that we are at Yong Pyong Resort...hahahaa

Went to the eatery opp the ski resort for breakfast...apparently the theme is Winter Sonata (as u can see from the advert photo outside the shop) i was never a fan of this show...too much crying and tragedy for me to take :X and plus the fact that i reallieeeeeeeeeeeee dunno what ppl like abt bae yong joon :\

The many notes left by tourists from all over the world..i noticed a lot of notes in Jap though~ guess this show is reallie popular in Japan~

The replica of some set in the show (i reallie dunno but supposedly quite well known :P)

Shortly after breakfast, we head off to the Home of Empress MyeongSeong - something i did not visit 8 yrs ago...

The Queen really stayed here when she was young...of cos they did some repairs etc but the location/structure stayed the same...

According to Mr Tour Guide, this is the place where they burn the wood and the heat will be conducted through the channels beneath the floor...that's how the heater in the olden days was like~

Random shots to show the architecture last time...

Somewhere outside the exhibition hall...

I looked like a Ba Zhang -.-

Snow everywhere~~but we never saw any falling snow anymore except on the first day~

Outside the exhibition hall - they did not allow any photo/video to be taken inside~being the guai kias we are, we obeyed~

On our way to the place to see the traditional wedding ceremony :P

Our footprints :P

After much persuasion, the only married couple on our tour agreed to act out the ceremony :)

We tried our hands on some of the traditional games played~basically just get the "arrow" in the pot and the "ring" in the pole :P and i can say i officially suck at it -.- seriously. ZERO point.


That's when Ms Tan decided she wants to challenge the tour guide...and mr confident still say not nice to win her -.- blah blah blah...

Winner~ *clap clap*

Then he demonstrated to us how this big basket was used. apparently the women place their children in it to carry them ard...

Ingredients of our Bibimbap :D all made up of VEG

We also got to cook our own ddokboki~ i reallie like the idea of spicy rice cake but when i actually eat it...it's not very yummy...just like eating spicy dough/flour =.=

The ingredients - dduk, fishcakes, carrots, spring onions, chili paste, honey, some pepper and garlic (i think..can't rem alr)

First up are the rice cakes and fish cakes after the chili paste has been mixed in the water...(the man in black is actually mr driver, i think he can't stand seeing us putting the ingredients in so slowly...actually it's cos we wanna take photos :X hahaha)

Then the veg~

The pepper and minced garlic

The honey

Cooking cooking~

Ta da~ makan time!

Went to get our bibimbap! :)

I avoided the brownish looking thing :\

So our meal consists of bibimbap, ddukboki, seaweed soup and the usual side dish kimchi

Actually we all took pretty little so it kinda look pathetic in the big bowl haha

Half eaten - still no appetite...so i did not finish my food once again -.-

The rice wine they got us to try...it's actually pretty strong leh...and among the 3 of us, i am usually the one who dun mind drinking...but that day ms tan finished her drink whereas i onli took TWO sips...haha both of them liked it but it was a little sweet to me and just tasted like sweet alcoholic syrup...dun reallie know how to describe it...but i dun like it :\

After that we had to set off to Gimpo airport to take the domestic flight to Jeju...throughout the bus journey, i didn't slp and was playing games on my iphone...and after sometime...actually was when we arrived in Seoul and i started feeling nauseous...like seriously bad...and i couldn't do anything...mr tour guide was happily introducing seoul and hangang river to us and all i could do was pull my turtle neck down and close my eyes...i think that was the closest i felt like puking...reallie...it was like any moment kinda thing...i think partly cos the air was quite still in the coach too...sigh sigh...scary :\ but even then, i still listened to what he said...APPARENTLY they are prohibited from swimming in hangang, and one day a taxi driver saw a head bobbing up and down in the river...upon closer inspection, the guy was wearing goggles and turned out to be a spy from north korea...and thennnnn cos he reported it, he was awarded a HUGE sum of money! haha...he also told us abt how the north koreans got into the world cup and how they will suffer if they did not make it into the round of 16 etc...haha...the way he described it...sounds as if they are still in those qing dynasty in China...hahaa

Anw...I did feel slightly better after breathing some fresh air but i still didn't feel very good and we had to wait for the time to board the plane...so we had quite some time to kill...actually i do feel bad that i wasn't feeling well...like sorta spoilt the mood for the other 2 :( eventually i decided that i wanna go sit in the toilet and get ready to puke any moment while the other 2 go starbucks and get some things to eat... in the end i reallie sat in the toilet for quite some time but didn't manage to puke...

Yup all the while i was just pulling at the turtle neck...i hate the feeling that something is strangling me...

I seriously do not look sick here...how did i even manage to smile O.o

Sat at the outdoor starbucks...i must say the weather that day was quite good...it wasn't thattttttttt cold...so sitting outside was pretty bearable...mr tour guide was sitting outdoors and scribbling notes and listening to music awhile b4 we got there...he happened to leave when i was making my way to find the other 2~ seriously, if i didn't know better, i would just think that he is a uni student relaxing at starbucks...hahaha looks so youngggggggg

Bao insisted that she took this from way up...(there's another photo where she stood higher but reallie made us look funny so post this photo instead :P)

Using the iphone reverse camera...quality reallie not very good ah...

So during my flight, all i could think of was "FALL ASLP" haha and in the end i reallie did...i woke up a few times sensing my mouth was wide open =.= so no image...luckily i sat by the window...fellow tour mates can't see me...and all the time i had the puke bag ready...just in case i suddenly throw...it wun be the first time that i threw up in a plane anywayz...arghhh i reallie hate the puking feeling :'(

Once we reached Jeju...stomach seemed to have settled a bit better...i seriously suspect it's the coffee i had in the morning...:( reminder to myself: abstain from coffee .......

So anw we reached Jeju and mr tour guide is very anxious to get his luggage...lol...he was standing next to us and can tell from his look that he wants to get his luggage first so that we do not have to wait for him lah...so funny~

first stop was to go see the mysterious road...where the vehicles can move "uphill" when the engine is turned off...hahaaha...but seriously i think it's due to some parallax error that gives the false impression that it's going uphill...hahaha...and jeju is seriously not as cold as seoul...happified :)

cannot tell anything special abt the road right ;p hahaha

Next up was supposedly the highlight of the night:seafood feast~

Sashimi which i seriously seriously would have loved to eat if i was feeling well :(((((((((((((((

Exotic seafood - which on normal days i might give it a miss too...not very adventurous when it comes to food...(in fact i am not an adventurous person)

The tempura was probably one of the few things i ate that day...and the tour guide tot i din like seafood...until now he still doesn't know it's cos i wasn't feeling well hahaha...

No mood to take photos...cos the shop actually had a bit of "seafood" smell which i dun like :(

Then off to watch Nanta!! Omo! this is reallieeeeeeeeeeeeee good!! :D very impressed sia...although i can't recall the details to blog abt anymore but i rem when i watched it i enjoyed it A LOT A LOT...and they didn't even need to speak...no worries on the language barrier at all~ their expressions and actions are so clear, u know what they are trying to express...so funny! had a really good laugh that day :)

Our Jeju hotel was probably the BEST of the whole trip~We stayed at the Ramada Jeju Hotel...the bathroom was reallie spacious and they had 2 sinks etc...niceeeeee...but in our hurry we forgot to take a clear photo of the room itself...we onli took the bathroom -.-"

Bao made me stand there :X hahahaa

Our only shot of our bedroom =.=

Ever since i had the iphone, checking for free wi-fi has become a habit -.-" hahahaa this hotel only has wifi on the lobby area~

Ahhhhhhh~

That night, the tour guide showed us once again how "careless" he was...he just left his luggage in the middle of the lobby with NO ONE to look after for him while he went to settle somethings...and after that, he left his room half opened...it was very funny lah...i guess they are reallie trusting ppl :P hee

anw that night we mentioned that we wanna get some snacks/drinks so he said to meet him at the lobby and he will bring us to go get some...but actually he and the driver had something to buy in mind alr...and can i say koreans walk dam fast -.- seriously lor...and not like he has very long legs or wad...they reallie walked very fast and i TOT i saw him smoking lah but the other 2 said they din see...not that it's any of our business...but at that moment...the impression just automatically went from like 80 down to 50 hahhaa...in the end we followed them to the e-mart but realised that they are closing soon and it was so big (like carrefour kind of supermarket that sells all sorts of things) so we didn't wanna waste time searching for the drinks...in the end we told him we will go get our things ourselves since they were also in a rush to get wadever they were looking for before the mart closes...shesh~

in the end, spent the night eating the instant noodles we bot! and can i say that might be one of the MOST satisfying meal i had in Korea?! hahahaa instant noodles -.- tell me abt ya...cos i actually managed to finish like 3/4 of the noodles when i was supposed to share half half w them :p hahahaha~ hooray to some food in my stomach! i actually enjoyed eating the noodles and watching the unsubbed Strong Heart and Running Man on tv~ lol

Day 3

Ski Day!

Woke up w a not very good feeling in my stomach...breakfast time - i got nauseous from looking at the food...not that they are not nice...i think i am just not in the mood for food :\

We set off to our next hotel and to rent our ski outfit~I honestly dun rem much during the journey to the next hotel..prob the tour guide said more "boring" stuffs on the history etc that put the 5 ppl in the back to slp immediately..hahaha

Once we reached the rental shop, the guy picked out a pink top for me immediately...in my heart i was thinking HOW did he know i like pink?! :D heee...and paired it w a veryyyyyyyyyy baggy pants ~ we had to rent the googles ourselves cos mr tour guide said that if u stared at the snow for too long, u will have snow blindness...sooooooo shld get the goggles to protect our eyes but actually last time when we went 8 yrs ago, we didn't get the goggles lah :p haa

@ YongPyong ski resort...the ski place is just 3 mins away from the resort :P

The ski outfit is surprisingly warm~ cos i dun feel cold other than my face and hands :) Anw we went to take the gondola first...seriously i dunno why is it called gondola? isn't it the boat that they use in Venice? nvm, so we were queuing up to get on the gondola but mr tour guide didn't tell us how it's gonna be like? all fit into 1? separate out or wad? cos he has the tickets and our queue was moving faster than his =.= hahaha seriously, all these is only forgiven becos he is cute, if he isn't...pls be prepared to receive a detailed feedback form...:X haa

anw in the end, we ended up in 1 w the couple and baoyun plus 2 kids~ so funny...the ride prob took us abt 20 mins to reach the top..so on our way up, we can see the different ski course and the diff pros skiing...seriously they looked so cool lah~

Lee Seung Gi on the big billboard :P



Finally reached the top and it's VERY COLD! seriously! my face literally hurts from the cold wind :X

So we came up basically to see the scenery ...but actually also not like super nice lah :P haha

To protect our eyes from the glare :P

With the sisters :)

With our tour guide :P

Grabbing some snow balls hahaa we wanted to make a snowman but the snow on the floor is too soft...can't get them to stick =.=

Heeee happified~

And we decided to go into the little shelter for the heater and hide from the cold..brrrrr!

After that, it's another 20 mins downhill and off for lunch!

Something similar to the dinner last night but there's a soup w 明太鱼 but also not to my liking :'(

survived on like another 1/4 of the rice and some kimchi and soup :(

Next up is off to get our ski boots and gears :D

the boots and gears are SERIOUSLY heavy -.- i think i have exercised quite a bit that day...from carrying "weights" and the skiing itself hahaha

Anw we went to the ski field and we had KBS filming our lesson... the instructor is like super unfrenly -.- dots...and he's like super impatient with us =.= wad did he expect from first timers?! we are not like ski genius lor...haha

anw all i learnt from him is walk sideways like a crab, brake by making an A...i never tried out the falling part...lol~ i escaped from it cosssssssssss KBS interviewed me~ errrr actually now i also dun really rem wad happened...but basically was approached for an interview to ask abt the experience of skiing in korea...seriously i talked crap -.- arghhhh...i shudder at the tot of watching myself on the tv :X

So anw, we were left to "play" on our own and i must say bao and i got the hang of it pretty well *sparkles* hahaaha just that it's really tiring to "climb" up the hill...cos we had to walk sideways? next thing u know, we were just repeating the action of climbing, skiing down, braking~ and i think i very kia si, before i had any chance of falling, i always brake first~ but i conclude that skiing is fun! :D

Yz had the luxury of a personal coach! the bus driver decided that he wants to make sure she learns how to ski properly and repeatedly picked her up when she falls etc...hahaha that's probably the first day he really seemed more involved in our activities hahaa...

1 photo after our "vigorous" exercise

After that it's off to the peak island for the indoor water theme park...:)

There's jimjilbang inside too!

Half frozen stream

Yz can't play so bao and i went instead...only 2 of us decided to go for the jimjilbang and we were told to top up our "digital" lock so that we can get the clothes for jimjilbang and any food we want...the tour guide had to bring the rest of the ppl upstairs to the "theme park" so the 2 of us decided to go top up on our own. here comes the perfect example of why i think if we went on free and easy, we will easily die from frustration..hahaha we had sooooooooooooooo much difficulty trying to communicate -.- first we tried eng, no go, then the lady asked if we speak chinese, so yes we do and tried to ask our qn in chinese, she doesn't understand us, she attempted to write it out somemore but obviously also cmi -.- so in the end we were rescued by the tour guide buttttttttt it's becos earlier on he didn't tell us that after we top up, we can get refunds for the remaining value...and he didn't tell us it's by value or hour or wad? and we were under the impression that it's by hour (i can't rem why but that's how we had such a difficult time communicating)

Anw, after all the commotion, we went to sit one of the rides...just like normal water theme park where we sit on the float and slide down :) FUN~ kekeke...suddenly bao and i are like little kids...getting all excited abt the ride...we went to the small pool where they had a few diff kind of water pressure massage - using the force of the water to hit on our body...the water force is a bit too strong though, i kept getting hit further and further away from the water source haha

after going outdoors for the hot tub (the short journey from indoors to outdoors is frighteningly cold :X), we decided we had to make time for our jimjilbang :D

One of the sauna rooms, there's like different rooms - charcoal, pebbles, salt/minerals and pebbles :) drinking my "sweet drink from fermented rice" :D

Steamy room~ it's really quite hot...my skin dried up very quickly...

On our way back to the resort...can see the unglam plastic bag where i put my swimsuit? hehehe

Waiting to return our clothes and going for dinner~see the fire place behind us? really warm~

We were at Yongpyong -1.9 but during the day it was even worse...hahaha so i think the ski outfit is really quite amazing~!

Dinner time! More of the fish thingy..it's actually a very common fish that they have, they dry it up in the sun but becos the weather is very cold so the fish will freeze and thaw, freeze and thaw and somehow makes the meat more delicious (i cannot appreciate it cos i dun like fish) hahaha

Showing how our tour guide took 10 bags of clothes to return on his own...lol

At the front of our resort...very pretty reindeer + sleigh~

We also heard that that night, some of the artistes will be coming to perform, the more famous one being kyuhyun of SuJu...seriously i can't rem the rest, but not as well known ones...we contemplated whether to go anot but i think the tot of squeezing w all the xmm frightened us hahaha

Probably our worst hotel :P kekeke...cos it was so crammed and becos of the additional bed, they had to move the fridge on top of the dressing table and blocked the mirror -.-"

I think this is where we fell aslp while watching secret garden w no subtitles...lol~

Lol! I was on Korean national tv! -.-"

My other regret of this trip is we didn't manage to take any photos while we were skiing :( sad!