We were back in Seoul and Rosa told us that drive between each sightseeing stop will not be longer than 30 minutes. So you can imagined my dismay when she announced the morning call will be 6.45am and we are setting off for breakfast at 7.30am !!!! Grrrrr……we are back into city, why do we have to wake up earlier…… Breakfast will be provided outside the hotel with ‘you tiao’ soyabean milk promised.
So, I reluctantly soothed my mind with the ‘you tiao’ and soya bean milk that’s waiting for me……. Indeed, you find both but the ‘you tiao’ is as hard as stone ! It will bounce back if you throw it onto the floor. Probably because of the cold weather that it somehow hardens…….
It was funny, the weather turned chilly when we are at Seoul. Very icy kind of cold….
Today is like a spend money day. Rosa brought us to more places to spend money then sightseeing !
1st shopping stop – Ginseng Shop
After breakfast, we are brought to a Ginseng shop which was approved and appointed by the Korean government. The same hard sell tactic which I’m least interested in. Well, of course they more you buy, the merrier they are. But there is always at least 1 ‘saviour’ in every tour that will fall for such thing and spend at least 1 item. Definitely not me ! Hee hee…..
2nd shopping stop – The Face Shop
We are introduced to this new peeling gel by Face Shop which is only available in Korea. Well, women are forever women, no need explanation with hard facts, as long as it will make you prettier and with good skin, they will be willing to spend money on cosmetics. Each one (woman) of us ended buying a bottle of the peeling gel PLUS many many more cosmetics items ! Among the group, regular users of The Face Shop vouched the prices in Korea is almost half the price in Singapore. Thus, more of us are convinced and ended up buying more. I found a lot of fascinated stuffs and also went to cashier with basket full of things.
When I returned to Singapore, I actually make a trip to The Face Shop and found none of the items I bought can be found. Either, those in Seoul are outdated which I truly believed this is definitely not, or it’s the latest items in The Face Shop and Singapore has not import it yet.
1st sightseeing / 3rd shopping stop – The Kim Chi School
Finally, we had something to see and do. We were greeted with Da Chang Jin music and a brief history and nutrition value of kim chi. It has in fact 4 times as much as the lacto bacilius as compared to yoghurt drink and kim chi has been labelled by WHO as the 4th most healthy food in the world.
We are going to make our own kim chi !!!!!!! See Alvin doing a short demonstration.
How do you find my kim chi?
Or Alvin’s one is better???
Hmpf !!!!!! I know the answer....dun have to tell me.....
You can bring back the kim chi you have made. But since we are going Hong Kong, we thought better not. So, I ended up buying a packet of the Da Chang Jin kim chi coz I like kim chi in Korea.
We actually do not have this in the itinerary. Because our original itinerary includes a coffee drink at the popular Wedding Café. Many Korean women are not marrying and in order to fulfil their dream to wear the gown gowns, such cafés sprung up where they can wear wedding gowns to take picture. As our group has many children and 2 honeymoon couples, so Rosa suggested to change it to make kim chi which includes wearing Korean hanbook to take pictures, so all of us agreed to change the itinerary since there is no extra cost.
An – Yo – Ha – Sey – Yo !!!!!!! Can pass off as a Korean ???? Hee hee hee……
It’s lunch time finally and our wallet get to rest…. Hee hee hee…. We are having Bi Bim Bab, my favourite ! It’s was Alvin first try and he also like it a lot ! Yummy ! One of the best meal I had in Korea !
2nd sightseeing stop – DeokSuGung Palace
This is the palace where the Korean King lived. The Korean dynasty was gone in 1911 after the Japanese invaded and took over Korea. The last Korean king continued to live in the palace even after the Japanese invasion until he died.
It’s so coincidence that we saw the imperial Korean guards ceremonial march. It’s a bit like the London changing of guards but just that there is no change of duty.
The design of the palace and even the throne is very similar to the Chinese design. The words are all in Chinese and even the ranks of the officials are also very similar to the Chinese. In fact, all the temples we had visited over the past few days are also very Chinese. Then I got to know from Rosa that before the Japanese invasion, Korea was like a god-brother to China, an alliance, and thus many things were associated to Chinese. Before the creation of the Korean language and writing, ancient Korean actually read and write in Chinese words.
As Korean is considered like a step or little brother to China, the leader of Korea cannot be named Emperor as in the world, there can be only ONE heaven’s son and that’s the Chinese emperor, so leader of Korean can only be known as King. Korean king cannot donned dragons but the ceiling of the place must have dragon to signify his status and the relationship to the Chinese emperor.
4th shopping stop – Amethyst (purple) Crystal Shop
Rosa brought us to another appointed specialty shopping. They specialise in producing purple crystal and it’s highly mark up lor. I’m totally not interested so no comments here.
3rd sightseeing stop – NamSanGol Hanok Village
It is a traditional Korean village restored during the Joseon dynasty. It is nested quietly in the midst of a busy city and skyscraper. Apparently, there some filming or period drama or show at the moment we are there. But our group aunties cannot relate to any Korean superstar leh….so must be some small fry lah….. It was very relaxing in the surrounding by the pond.
5th shopping stop - Itaewon
We asked for some time for shopping at Itaewon. It is the nightlife place where you can find karaoke joints, bars and night clubs here. There are also some shopping here and that’s why we asked to come here. The famous Korean prostitution is also located in the area. Because of the American army is based nearby, this has become the frequent haunt of the Americans. American troops have been staying in Korea due to the demilitarised zone between the north – south border.
However, the shopping also proved to be a disappointment. The shops lined on the 2 sides of the roads. Things are sold to cater to the Americans. Still many imitation bags…. So we just walked around for experience and returned back to the coach earlier that the meeting time.
6th shopping stop – Myeong Dong and NamDaeMun
Myeong Dong district (can read as Ming Dong) is so far the best shopping I find. Shops are all over the place and definitely sell the most in fashionable stuffs. There are a lot of eateries around, pasar malam lined on the main streets and I cannot stop browsing. Things inside the shop are expensive and so – browsing only ! Pasar malam sell a lot of accessories stuff and I spend quite a long time admiring them. But I ended up buying 2 brooches only that cost me W3000 (approx. $5.10) per piece. We had a fun time here.
Myeong Don and NamDaeMun are located directly opposite each other separated by a big road junction.
However, moving over to NamDaeMun district is like moving from heaven to hell. NamDaeMun has pasar malam too but it reminds me of those shabby pasr malam where I seen in China before. They sells outdated fashion stuffs and things more suitable for aunties and uncles. It also looks like a wholesale place for hardware stuff. We actually wanted to buy the metal spoons and chopsticks that we had been using in Korea for every meal. Bit we didn’t buy any at shop owners there ‘labelled’ their price with a lion’s mouth and no discount. So sian, right ,… you can imagined…No discount, no bargaining…where got excitement……. We got disappointed after a while and returned back to Myeong Dong after 30 minutes.
We actually thought we might like to shop late. After a round of recee and the freezing temperature, we ‘kwai kwai’ joined the group punctually for the transport back to hotel…
Oh no ! Packing the bag is waiting for me !!!!!! But this time, we are miving down to Hong Kong !!!!!! Yay Yay !!!!
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