Mummy writes: We went to Korea for our year-end holiday this year. After de-conflicting all 3 of our schedules, 3-9 Nov was the most suitable period for us to make this trip.
Day 1 - We flew out on an afternoon flight on SQ 608 & arrived in Seoul at 2130 hrs. There, we were greeted by the Korean guide & ferried to a nearby hotel, Best Western Incheon Airport. We had a quick dinner of cup noodles bought from the hotel's mini-mart & rested for the night as the morning call next day was at 0630 hrs (0530 hrs Singapore time).
Day 2 - After breakfast, we went on our way to Everland Theme Park. It was crowded when we arrived as we saw bus loads of students there (guess it was vacation time for them too). We visited the Safari Zoo which Cephas enjoyed very much, had a quick lunch, did some speed shopping and left for MBC Dramia - filming site of Dong Yi. After a quick tour of the place, we were treated to a steamboat dinner :) We arrived at our hotel for the night after a 2-hour drive!
Day 3 - It was a lovely & cold morning as we made our way to Mt Sorak. It was misty as we headed up to the peak on the cable car and the walk up for enjoyable. We spent some time up there, enjoying the autumn weather before going back down for a seafood steamboat lunch. After that, we went for ATV ride and cheese making. We ended the evening with a Gala dinner at the Oak Valley Country Club.
Day 4 - It was raining heavily in the morning while we were having breakfast and the rain continued to pour as we were heading into Seoul. We met with an accident when the tour bus hit a car and we were delayed for 1.5 hours as the bus could not move because the steering wheel was jammed. We had to be towed to the road shoulder to allow the mechanic to fix it. We changed bus when we arrived near Cheong Wa Dae. We visited The National Folk Museum & Gyeongbokgung Palace, had ginseng chicken lunch, toured the Seaweed Gallery (bought 6 packs of 5 packets of XXL sized seaweed) before having fun wearing the Hanbok! We spent the afternoon shopping at Dongdaemun - Mayliore & Doota shopping malls. Dinner was BBQ meat & tried Soju for the first time :) After dinner, we were driven to our hotel for the next 2 nights - Ramada Incheon.
Day 5 - We started the day with a visit to the Korean Ginseng Showroom (No photo-taking of the place. Anyway, we didn't buy anything as we felt it was too expensive but we bought food stuff from the supermarket at the showroom). After that, we were brought to their local skincare store (No photo-taking again). I bought enough to be given a small suitcase :) We then visited the Namsangol Hanok Village & played their traditional game. After that, it was shopping time at Myeongdong! Can shop till you drop there for skincare/cosmetic products! Dinner was bibimbap.
Day 6 - The last day of our vacation. We had a full day of shopping before our midnight homebound flight. We had a late breakfast (8am) and checked out of our room at 11am. We went to Sinchon for more shopping at about lunch time. We filled our tummies with the local street food & shopped at the same time. Our loot was 3 pairs of shoes :) In the evening, we were bought to their local provision shop. Didn't buy much here as we had bought at the Korean ginseng mini-mart the day before. We had dinner there before we were sent to the airport.
At the airport, we packed what we had bought earlier into my suitcase before checking in our luggage & box of goodies. After bidding our Korean tour guide, photographer & Korea goodbye, we went in to the departure hall to wait for our 'Home Sweet Home' flight. We watched the shows on board while Cephas fell asleep the minute we settled down in our seats on the plane.
Day 7 - We arrived in Singapore at 5am. We bathed & went to sleep after we arrived home at about 6.45am. We only unpacked our bags after we woke up and had our lunch! Till the next shopping vacation!
