Korea Trip ( 8 Days 6 Nights Magical Korea + Jeju)- Winter Season

DAY 1-2 (Dec 11 to Dec 12)

Day 1

The first day of the Korea trip commenced on the 11th of dec, 2008. That long awaiting day had finally arrived. Yay! I was heading to a country which was in its winter season. How nice. :D
I hope I didn't mislead anyone. I was not travelling alone, but rather, with my relatives. That day, we headed to Changi International Airport as early as 6pm. That time was exactly 4 hours and 45 minutes before my flight to Korea. Well, we left home early to avoid being caught in the traffic. As expected, we reached rather early. A light dinner was consumed at the airport. We checked in our luggages at about 8.10pm.





(The 2 pictures above were taken on a MaxiCab, which uncle booked, on our way to airport)








Finally, it was about time to board the plane. I was taking Korean Air (B777-300), KE 642. The flight from Singapore to Seoul, South Korea took about 6 hours and 10 minutes. In the blink of eyes, we reached Incheon International Airport, South Korea.



In the plane








I can vividly remember that the first thing that welcome us when we came out of the airport was the chill wind. The chill of the wind wasn't anything similar to what singaporeans encounter at home. It was that kind of wind that can send chill down your spine and cause you to shiver uncontrollable. Luckily, I was already wrapped with at least three layers of clothes at that time. Oh, the low temperature causes us to give out "smoke" when we talk too. That was my very first time experiencing it, other than when I was at snow city in Singapore.

Day 2

At Incheon/ Seoul International Airport




Our tour began with Nami island. It's an island, famed for being the filming site of the melodrama, Winter Sonata. In order to get onto that island, we have to take a small boat. Speaking about the boat, I remembered it was far more stable than any small boat which I have taken. Thus, there wasn't any need to worry about being seasick.











This picture looks really scenic. Although. it was taken at the same location as my picture before this, it looked really different. Haha.


No snow to play with =X Let us play with stones instead! =)

The really unfortunate part about this trip was not having a single bit of snow to see or play with. Supposely, we should be able to see the "Winter Sonata" snowy scenery. I guess the effect of global warming was really quite bad afterall. =/
Well, maybe it was a blessing in disguise?

After the stroll along Nami island with its atmospheric scenery, it was time for our lunch.

Lunch was at this country restaurant.

By the way, this is my cousin, Shirlyn in the picture.

Without further ado, let me introduce what we had for our lunch. Hopefully, your saliva will not leak out of your mouth after seeing too many photographs of mouth-watering food. =) Oh, even if it does, I am not going to be responsible for it. =P


Tada! Introducing to you, the unique and appetising korean BBQ meal.


*Sigh* I bet you cannot really see what's inside the pan. Let me describe it. Chicken meats were stir-fried with cabbage in the special korean sauce on the pan. Oh, not forgetting the whitish rice cake in it too.






Can you see the whole bowl of Kimchi? Yeah. I love Kimchi. =D We get to eat them in every single meal in Korea.


WAIT! We still can't eat it yet. It was not even cooked. Haha... In korea, almost 80 of the time, we are the ones who did the cooking. Yup. Lets see who was doing the cooking.


OH. That's Aaron, Shirlyn's brother.

Okay. Lesson 1: Wrap and Eat

Before we started eating those meats, we had to know how to go about eating them.

Step 1: Take a leaf of vegetable and place it on your palm
Step 2: Put some korean sauce onto the leaf
Step 3: Pick up a few slices of meat and place it on top of the "leaf" using the metal chopstick
Step 4: Add in those side dishes onto the leaf. (E.g Kimchi, Beansprout)
Step 5: Wrap everything on the leaf and eat them with one mouth.


This was how it looked like before wrapping.



After lunch, we headed to the domestic airport for our flight to Jeju Island.

Cam-whoring on the way to airport.


(My cousins, Eng Kiat and Shirlyn and I)

At Gimpo domestic airport.



What's this? This was not a receipt! It was the boarding pass for Korean Air domestic flight. =P


(My 2nd aunt and cousin, Siu Yi and I)








I think this was like my second time alighting from the plane by stairs, rather than aerobridge. The first time was during my Thailand trip when I was 10 years old. However, I couldn't really remember much from it.

The journey from Seoul to Jeju Island took approximately 50 minutes after take off.

After 50 minutes, we finally reached our destination, Jeju Island. It's an island full of legends and beautiful natural setting.

After we came out from the airport, it was already about time for dinner. Another scrumptious meal was waiting for us. ^^v




A really beautiful sunset scenery, isn't it? =D




"Alright guys, before we start eating, lets pose for a picture to show how delighted we are." Photographer: Siu Yi


What a spread for our dinner! "Control your saliva!, I know they all look so mouth-watering" =P


When you see the basket of leafy raw vegetable (which I have already isolated from the photo for easy reference), it means you have to apply the "wrap and eat" technique.

There is this saying; "Looks can be deceiving" However, the taste of the food was just like its look. It was simply delicious! Thumb up! =D
Oh, like I mentioned, the technique, "wrap and eat" which we had learned during lunch applied to our dinner. "Hence, never forget them because those are crucial techniques which you need throughout the meals in Korea" Another very cool part about meals in korea restaurant was that most of the food on the table can be replenished when finished. Does it sound like buffet for every meal? =D