DAY 5-6 (Dec 15 to Dec 16)

Day 5



Look at the mattress above. That was what I slept on, the night before. It was a traditional Korean mattress called "yo" which is very similar to a futon. This mattress is placed on an ondol floor which is heated from underneath in cold weather. The heated floor gave warmth we needed during winter. It was just simply cosy to sleep on it, especially during this season.

A futon is a flat, about 5 centimeters (2.0 in) thick mattress with a fabric exterior stuffed with cotton or synthetic batting that makes up a Japanese bed.

It's time for some skiing activities! Yup. =D Day 5 is generally dedicated for skiing. A full day rental of ski equipment and suit was included as part of the itinerary. How cool was that?

Of course, breakfast was taken before the commencing of the skiing activity that day.

Here comes the pictures... Ready! Get set! GO... GO... GO...




(Breakfast!- looks very western style right?)




(My cousins-left to right- Wei, Xuan and Siu yi)


(Took this picture outside our hotel. Nice view yeah?)




(A view from the hotel's window)

After breakfast, we headed straight to Vivaldi ski resort. Skiing was the long awaited activity for all of us. Well, tell me what are the chances of us skiing in Singapore? Haha.

WAIT. Did I miss out something? Hmmm... OH! We dropped by at a Ski wear store on our way to the ski resort to rent our Ski wear. Factually, we did not head straight to ski resort. Pardon me for this. =X Haha...

At the ski resort, we could finally see some snow in South Korea. YES! It was our first encounter with snow in Korea since our plane touched down. How pathetic. Haha. Sadly, the snow which we had seen in the ski resort wasn't even true snow from sky. It was man made. Nonetheless, it was still considered as snow for the very least.







Our tour guide took us on a short orientation tour around the resort once we reached. I guess that was the only time we could snap some pictures at the ski resort. After all, most of our time will be used for skiing instead of shooting photographs.

Riding on a cable car was part of the orientation tour. It transported us to the highest point of the ski resort. That was where we can pose for a picture with snowy background. =D




(Group photo-Left to right- Uncle, Aunt, Aaron, Eng Kiat and Shirlyn)





Immediately after the short orientation, it was time for lunch again. Don't you think time passes very fast over there? We had our lunch at some cafe. I would say it was a relatively simple and satisfying lunch.


SPICY RAMEN !!

Allow me to tell you guys a Ramen story.
Once upon a time, there is an ignorant guy who entered a Korean restaurant. He went over to the counter where customers place their orders and said, "Can I have a bowl of ramen ?" , " Oh, wait, I want the ramen to be spicy." Then, the Korean lady at the counter replied, "Korean ramen are all spicy." He nearly fainted because of his embarrassment. -THE END-

Guess what? I am the that ignorant guy who is mentioned in the story. =X I mean how would I know korean ramen is all spicy. At least, I know not all Japanese ramen are spicy. =P

The real fun came after lunch! That was when our skiing activity will commence. After we have rented our ski equipment, we were all ready for some action. A short and concise introductory skiing lesson was conducted by our tour guide a.k.a coach. We were taught some of the basic strokes and techniques in skiing. For instance, the technique of braking with the figure A and falling safely. The lesson ended with a trial ski. Each of us had to ski for a short distance in front of our coach. After the controlled ski, we "graduated" from the short preparatory course and were all ready to "fly".

THAT WAS WHEN THE ACTION STARTS !






(Left-Right- Shirlyn and I)



Honestly, skiing was truly fun and enjoyable. I had a great time in the ski resort. Shirlyn and I skied for almost five hours on the skiing ground, which made us both, the record holders among the entire tour group of skiing for the longest duration. We ski our hearts out! =D

After the ski, we checked in at the Vivaldi resort to get our respective rooms. The interior of the rooms looked similar to rooms of Seorak Daemyung resort. The only distinct difference between both was the queen-size bed which was present in Seorak Daemyung resort's room only.

The best thing to look forward to after a long tiring day is a scrumptious dinner. Lets see what was prepared for us for dinner !!

Tada!





It was kind of like Seoul Garden BBQ buffet in Singapore. "Eat all you can" buffet style. I'm sure this kind of eating style is not new to you guys especially since I have mentioned it from Day 1 of the trip.

After dinner, we did some shopping at our resort. Of all things, I bought an ice cream. Can you believe it? Eating ice-cream in winter. I remember telling my aunt about how absurd it seems when a person eat ice-cream during winter. My aunt thinks otherwise. In fact, she said it is enjoyable to eat ice cream during winter because the ice-cream doesn't melt easily. True. I have to agree with her.


(A view of the skiing slopes from our hotel's window)
Slopes provide different levels of difficulty





The resort has many incidental facilities such as sauna, bowling alley, internet cafe, game rooms, shooting, billiard and pool. Few of my cousins went to play billiard whereas myself and two other cousins went to the internet cafe. I managed to log onto the msn for a short while at that internet cafe.


This was our resort's room. Wasn't it spacious? =D

Day 6

After a good night rest, we were all charged up to continue on our remaining days of the trip. I don't think a tour trip is complete without a visit to the amusement park. =D That morning, we headed towards Korea's largest theme park, Everland.

As usual, we had our breakfast first before commencing the activities of the day.






Everland theme park is ranked the 4th theme park in the whole world by offering five main festivals and exciting entertainment all year round. In addition, their five theme areas along with more than 50 attractions have been a big attraction for both their locals and oversea tourists. The five annual festivals are shown below.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct
Snow Festival Pre- Flower Carnival Water & Music Festival Autumn Festival
Spring

Nov Dec
Christmas
Fantasy

As we arrived at Everland in December, the festival theme was Christmas Fantasy. We were lucky enough to be able to catch their Christmas parade. Haha I managed to film it as a video using my digital camera. I must say that the parade really brought out the Christmas mood. Well, the video is placed below, feel free to watch it.

****Just a gentle reminder, the video audio volume is a bit loud. Perhaps, you might want to lower the volume before turning it on.

Christmas Parade


Christmas Parade part 2




















Safari world. I think it was kind of like our Singapore's night safari. We boarded a Safari bus, which took us through the Safari, which is like a big enclosure itself (Guarded with double gates). In the Safari, the animals were free to roam around. Thus, we could see animals moving pass our bus. I think it's wonderful experience to be able to be in such a close contact with those animals. I believe that was the nearest we could get with animals like lion and tigers. Roars!! =D During the ride, there were various tricks performed by the bears too. Find it out yourself in the videos!

Animal show part 1


Animal Show part 2


Animal show part 3



Liger!!

The liger is a hybrid cross between a male lion and a tigress (not to be confused with a tigon). It is the largest of all cats and extant felines.

Different kind of rides in Everland theme park (P.s Not all of the rides are shown)
Unfortunately, I could not recollect the name of the rides. Thus, I shall just name them in numbers. Any violent objections? I shall proceed. =D

(Ride 1)


(Ride 2)


(Ride3-T express)


(Ride 4)








Ice skating rink-Open air


(Ride5)


(Ride 6)


(Ride 7)


(Ride 8)


(Ride 9)


(Ride 10)


(Ride 11)


(Ride 12)






(Ride 13)















(A quick lunch-Comprises of a burger, fries, a chicken [Not shown] and a cup of drink)

We ate a quick lunch before continuing on our rides in the theme park. After a day of fun, it was finally time for dinner. That evening dinner was consumed at a local's ginseng chicken restaurant. It was certainly my first time eating that dish. Honestly, I didn't really like it as it was quite bland for me. I think I am a person who likes strong flavour.




(Korean ginseng chicken)

After dinner, we continued our trip with shopping at Korea's largest wholesale market, Dongdaemun. It was a shopper's paradise ! Oh. Factually, Dongdaemun is a lady's paradise too. Most of their shopping centres seem to have a layout and design which is catered for female shoppers. Lets see why. Can you imagine this? First 4 storeys of a shopping centre dedicated to female fashion. This followed by 2 storeys of male fashion and last 2-3 storeys for accessories such as bags, ear rings, necklace etc..




( DOOTA- A shopping centre which is located in Dongdaemun)

I'm sure after what I mentioned earlier, ladies out there must be very keen to go to South Korea to shop. =P Anyhow, the down side of going to a country which is in it's winter is that we will be unable to buy clothes which are suitable to be worn in our warm and humid country. The main reason is because since it's in their winter, all their fashion is winter fashion. Unless you are keen in getting their thick jackets or sweaters, there would not be much things to buy. =X


Korea (Seoul) streets at night ! =D








(This was our room at Ellui hotel)

After the short 2-3 hours of shopping, we headed to Ellui hotel to check in for the night. It had been a long day. Nonetheless, it was a fun and fulfilling one.

:) To be continued (: