Its Everland day!

Went over to the reception in the main building to ask for directions. We are so unprepared I know. Well, I guess we were not the only ones as there was a map with directions pasted on their front desk. Snapped a picture of the map in case we got lost. So basically,  we have to go to Gangnam Station Exit 10 and walk staight to the bus stop to Everland Number 5002.

Bought Kim Bap for breakfast at the shop opposite the hostel before we left.

Bought the tickets directly at Everland counter itself. Luckily there wasn't much of a queue. Maybe cos its a weekday.

Everland

First thing we did when we entered Everland was to head to the store... to get head bands! =D

Rabbit Ears

The amusement park was decorated in Halloween theme since it was nearing October.

Took lotsa photos even before we sat on an actually ride. Haha



KungFu Panda

Poporo

It was nearing autumn, but the flowers were beautiful...



Halloween Magic Tree

The tree reminds me of Hobbits party tree.

Finally sat our first ride...

Hurricane

After sitting the first ride, we took more pictures at Aesop's Village. X.X

Saw Running Man... Kids Version...

Super cute kids on an excursion. Like little bumblebees.

Took this Skyway ride down to the lower land.

T-Express as seen in the distance from the Skyride.

 

Everland is really a family friendly place. We saw sooo many children! Especially toddlers.

More Bumblebees~

For lunch, we sat at a random bench lined outside the shops. I ate my tuna biscuits since there was no halal outlets over there. Luckily, they didnt check my bag at the entrance. After eating, we went to the Carnival Square and saw people sitting around. Apparently the afternoon parade was starting soon, so we found a good seat and plopped ourselves down.

 The parade certainly didn't disappoint.

My Favourite piece.

Hi Teddy!

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Korea Day 5 - Coex & Lotte Dept Store

Went to Coex & Lotte Dept Store today (Samseong Station on Subway Line 2). It was raining heavily so we decided its stay-in-door kind of day. Walked around Coex but didn't get anything. Coex is basically a departmental store and we have lots of that in SG. They have other attractions like an aquarium and kim chi museum but no feel to visit it.

Soshi Baby G advertisement at the station 

For lunch, we decided to eat at Mr Pizza. Shared a Goguma pizza. The taste was ok... It was nice at first, more sweet than savoury since its main ingredient is goguma (Sweet potato). But after a while it gets little gelak. Haha.

Goguma Pizza

Our main reason in coming here was to buy PH's Samantha Thavasa bag and snacks at Lotte Dept Store.

Double A!

My snacks =D

Met Ye Ji at krispy kreme after she finished her work. She works as a nurse at a hospital. We were joking that if anything happens -Choy! we would go to the hospital she works at. & the hospital she works at apparently is quite atas, so she has met some celebrities before.

Anyways, Ye Ji brought us to this korean restaurant. We took a cab there since it was raining and it was quite a distance away. There was a funny episode while taking the cab. We took the cab at this taxi stand at the hotel lobby. There was this cab there but no one was inside. After talking to the bell boy, Ye Ji told us to get into the empty cab. I guess he said it was available. So we waited in the cab for quite a while and was starting to get restless when this ahjusshi started walking towards the cab. Since it was raining & dark i guess he didn't notice us seating in the cab and got a shock when he his body was halfway in the car and Ye Ji started talking to him the destination we wanted to go. lol He told Ye Ji that he actually went to the toilet & asked the bell boy to look after his cab. Guess this is what u get or not locking your car. =P

Korean Food

Seafood Pajeon

Really enjoyed dinner and thank you Ye Ji for bringing us to the restaurant. I don't think we would have ever visited the place if she didn't bring us. The food was really yummy and had a great time catching up and learning of PH road to her soju... =P

A picture of the 3 of us ^.^

Korea Day 3.2 - Shin Chon Hostel

Reached Insadong at around 5/6pm. Was lost for a while since we were undecided how to get to our hostel. Like which direction we should go to, whether we should take a bus or train. Went down to the underground train station to use the toilet and decided that maybe we should just cab there. So we went back up and found this tourist information center. We went in and they found the directions to the hostel for us. Took a cab to Shin Chon hostel which was located at Edae (Nearest station is Ewha Womans University). We read online that the shopping at Edae is great, that's why we decided to stay here. =D

Edae Station

Also one tip I learnt from booking hostels is to try to look for the hotel/hostel website if there is one. Basically, we searched for hostels for the area we wanted at hotels sites such as Agoda, HotelBooking etc. From there I googled for the website of the hostel itself. Most of the time, if you do the booking straight with the hostel, it would be cheaper as there won't be additional cost such as service fee etc. Also, some hotel/hostels do hold promotions for some months and these promotions are usually found on their main website itself. But do note that sometimes some websites may be just be put up for show. eg. just to fraud you to get the deposit. So I guess it comes with the risk, though if it is a well known one (Looking at the number of reviews), this is less likely to happen.

Back to Shin Chon Hostel, I emailed the website directly to confirm on the facilities and the availability of the room. We planned to stay in the twin room for 8 nights. (From the 15 till 23 of Sept)

They replied me within the day itself and also informed me that there is a 10% discount if we are planning to stay for more than one week. Yay for us!

To make our reservation, we paid the first night of the room through Agoda, since we didn't have a Paypal account. Then we dropped them an email with the paid confirmation of the first night and it guarantees the remaining nights for us (16th-23rd Sept). The payment for the remaining nights was made in cash when we checked in.

The twin room that we booked had a private bathroom and includes simple breakfast, Wi-Fi connection, towels and many other things. It costs 60,000 KRW per night. The total bill was 60,000 KRW * 8 nights * 0.9 discount = 432,000 KRW. So it came up to around SGD 30 per person.

Shin Chon Hostel

The room itself was quite small like there isn't much space to walk about especially after putting in our luggages. The first day when we checked in, the counter staff was just like exclaiming how big our both our luggages were. LOL. The room we were situated in was in the next building beside the one where the main counter was. There was no lift but luckily the room we were allocated was on the second floor. The pantry area, washing machine, etc was all situated in the main building. Since they were situated next to each other, it was not much of a hassle. Just keep going in and out between doors. Haha.

Twin Room

Our snack filled table =D

The first thing we did was to wash PH clothes. Haha

There were restaurants & bars opposite the road our hostel as seen in the pictures below & they open quite late at night. But overall its quite safe as you have to key in a password to access the hostel. & at least there are people when u walk back from the main road at night. So its not so eerie and dark.   

After washing clothes, we went out to walk/shopped around Edae. Though we didn't do much shopping since most shops closed around 10-11pm.

Korea Day 3.1 - Nami Island

First thing we did when we reached was to find a place to store our bags. It was practically a carpark and there were no visible luggage storage areas. So Sookyeong managed to find this restaurant to help us take care of our luggages with the promise that we would come by later to eat there. The  Ahjummas were actually not very willing to help especially after seeing our big luggages. Super pai seh and very thankful again to Sookyeong. X.X

Nami Island was named after General Nami, a notable figure in Korean history who died courageously fought in battles but died at the age of 26. Today, Nami Island is a place for rest and relaxation. To get to the actual Nami Island itself, we had to sit a ferry across. There are actually two ways to get to Nami island -through the ferry or zip line. We chose the safer method obviously. Would sure like to try the zip line next time though. =P

Sookyeong managed to get us free entry tickets by signing up for this credit card at the entrance. One entry ticket costs 10,000₩. There were these touters outside the entrance and I think it was if you sign up for the credit card, you will get free entry tickets with one year waiver off the annual subscription fee kind of thing. So yeah thanks to her we got free tickets. Really really thankful again.

Immigration to Nami Island

Waiting to board the ferry

Entry to Nami Island via the Zipline

Ferry

 The ferry was decorated with flags from countries all around the world.

Korea & Singapore flag

Basically the moment we reached Nami Island, it was just a whole load of picture taking. The island itself is very small and we just walked around soaking in the sights and taking lots of pictures. =D

The story behind this girl statue is that she is wearing this straw/wooden rice thing over her head and she is holding a bowl in one of her hands. It means that she wet her bed while sleeping and her punishment is to go around the village to beg for salt. Tt's why the other hand is to cover her face becos she is embarrased.   

Poh Hui and her love for soju....

Selamat Datang di Pulau Nami

Singapore Flag

Our famous Merlion can also be found there! ^.^

Procession going on....

Books for kids to read



Pottery Market Tents

Nami Island is famous for its beautiful tree lined roads but its more well known as the filming place for popular korean drama, Winter Sonata. The tear jerking drama starring Bae yong jun & Choi Ji Woo, which made me go to school with swollen eyes. -.-



Obligatory Jumping Shots on the Tree Lined Roads

Snowmen made famous by Winter Sonata

Kawaii

This picture reminds me of Hangzhou

Picture Picture Picture =D

Just had to put this up... Look at Sookyeong clinging on the trees =P

I love autumn leaves ^.^

Are these Maple Leaves? Just gonna assume it is =P

After our phototaking spree, we went to sit on this Skybike for 3,000₩ per person. It's basically pedaling round this track above the ground, in mid air. Got to see a good overview perspective from above. But I felt that the track was too short and the experience was over very fast. =(

Skybike

View from the top

Bought ice cream @ 2,000₩ each since it was so hot!

There was this squirrel that was super cute. It was scurrying here and there and after a while it just stopped and started digging. Apparently it was finding a good place to hide its acorn!

The X spot. We know where you hid your food, squirrel!

Had lunch at this place which sells Kimchi Lunch Box. One set costs 13,000₩. Always wanted to try eating these lunch box food when watching  the variety show. Before eating, you have to shake the lunch box well so that the rice and kim chi are mixed properly. & remember to wear gloves as the metal lunch box is hot!

Shake it Shake it~~

 Teacher Snowmen

After lunch, we rented a bike to cycle round the island. It's 3,000₩ per bike for two hours if I remember it correctly. I think we stopped more to take pictures than the cycling itself. =P

Our Bicycles

Swan Boats on the lake

Phototaking on a fallen tree =S

Nami Nara Fire Truck

Animals on the island - Ostrich, Peacock & Black Ducks

Beautiful White Ducks

Sookyeong had to leave first as she had to catch the train back to watch Bruno Mars concert. So PH & me were left alone to wander around and take more photos.

Nami Toilet

 Famous scene from Winter Sonata

 Tribute to Park Yong Ha, who has passed away

 More traces of the filming of Winter Sonata at a resting area

 Love Love Love the Flowers <3

Beautiful wild white flowers

 Roses

<3

Chicken Coop

 

Wanted to meet Lor Tan & Guni, but with our lack of wifi, we decided to leave and collect our bags at the restuarant.

Last Shot on Nami Island

Ate Pajeon (10,000₩) since we were still full from the Kimchi lunch box we had earlier. Super paiseh since we left our big luggages but only ordered one pajeon. Oh wells. After that, we caught the bus back to Seoul-Insadong @ 7,500₩ per person.

Potato Pajeon