We landed at Korea's Incheon International Airport at 6am Korean time (which is 5am Singapore time). The immigration queue was kind of long, probably due to the fact that most flights from Singapore & Hong Kong arrived around that time. We were stucked in the queue for about half an hour but it was okay when you get to watch 2PM's Corby phones CF again & again(pun not intended) on the plasma TV in front. The immigration officer was very friendly, he smiled and greeted each passenger with 'Annyeong Haseyo'. My impression of immigration officers is that they're strict and serious because they can't afford to make any mistake. But that Korean immigration officer proved me wrong. And mind you, it was 6am in the morning, if it was me working those hours, I'll probably be sulking away. Lol.

We finally checked out, got our baggage and met our tour guide (who was a great Korean lady who can speak Chinese better than you and me, and she looks nothing like her age). Then, what's the next most important thing? Yeah, that's right, breakfast! We walked around the airport looking for a place that served breakfast. Not much luck, since it was 6 plus in the morning and no stores are opened that early. The only places opened were this cafe that served bibimbap and the likes, and McDonald's. It was too early for rice, so we opt for Macs. Apparently most of the passengers who just arrived went for the same thing too. The queue was looonggg. When it was eventually my Dad's turn, despite using English, he had trouble telling the lady that she gave him 2 less Hashbrowns. It was kind of expected since English is not widely used in Korea. It wasn't much of a problem for us because we were travelling as a tour group, so many of the things were pretty much planned for us. Like, we didn't have to order food for most of our meals, we didn't have to ask for directions to get to places, we didn't have to take a cab and tell the cab-driver where we want to go. But for people who are planning to do free & easy in Korea, learn some basic Korean phrases or get a phrasebook if possible! Otherwise, it may be difficult to get around.

Anyway, in the end, my Dad decided to forget about it since it wasn't really a good idea to eat Hashbrowns in that kind of dry weather anyway unless we were planning to kill our throats. Out of the 3 Hashbrowns we were given, only one was eaten, by my sis.

After breakfast, we went to change into our winter clothings, met our tour guide again, got on the tour bus and left the airport. We were heading to Everland Theme Park which is located in Yongin about 40km south of Seoul. We had to travel an hour out of Seoul to reach Everland. Well, we didn't exactly traveled out of Seoul, more like traveled past Seoul, because we were coming from Incheon(which is pretty close to Seoul) and there's an expressway linking Incheon to Yongin.

We reached Everland around 9 or 10am. There was already so many people there, waiting for the gates to open. It was really cold, my nose started to become runny once I stepped out of the coach and I could see fog coming out of my mouth as I talked.

We first followed the tour guide to this safari attraction called Safari World. First, we had to take a chairlift down to the area where the attraction is. It was freaking scary, I was scared stiff. Probably because of the height. Lol. I have no fear of heights but I hate looking right down to the ground when I'm at somewhere at high up. It makes me feel as if I'm going to go crashing down to ground. I love roller-coasters and Gyro Drops but I hate taking the chairlift. Weird, aren't I?

When it was our turn, we got onto a bus together with the rest of our tour group and the bus would bring us around the safari. It was like a real safari, with lots of lions, tigers, white tigers and bears just moving around our vehicle. I was totally amazed, because I've not been to a safari before. Night Safari doesn't count, they don't even have animals moving about freely (thank goodness they don't, I wouldn't want lions and tigers walking with me).

The Safari World also has this species which is a mix of a lion and a tiger. I'm not kidding! It's the offspring of a lion and a tiger. It's called a Liger. It has a face that resembles that of a lion and stripes on its body, similar to that of a tiger. You'll later see what I mean in one of the photos. And also, the Liger is sterile. Like what we learnt in the Evolution chapter of Biology, reduced hybrid fertility - the offspring is unable to reproduce. Just like the mule(offspring of a horse and a donkey). This is why Ligers are rare. Everytime you want to get a baby Liger, you have to go back to crossing the lion with the tiger. And that's very difficult because you know lions and tigers do not live together as a family. So usually when people want baby Ligers, they do it the IVF way. But that's done with the intervention of Man. The Liger in the Safari World was claimed to be conceived naturally. Apparently, the lions and tigers there are one big family. Haha!

Now you must be wondering why all the lions and tigers are sitting on rocks. The reason is, the rocks are fitted with heaters. In the cold winter, the animals will prefer sitting on them, which is good because one, the animals will not freeze to death, and two, visitors will have a clear view of them as they're seated on top of the rocks.

After lunch, it was 3 hours of free & easy time at the theme park.

T Express is the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world at 77 degrees! It is also the world's 6th longest wooden roller coaster, and first & largest wooden roller coaster in Korea. In addition, it has the highest altitude, fastest speed and longest roller coaster attraction time in Asia. Wow, right? I'm usually a roller coaster person, but because it was wooden, I was scared and decided to give it a miss. =X Hahaha. And also because there were lots of people in the queue, which snaked all the way to another attraction!

The Haunted Mansion ride was awesome! I've never taken such a ride in any of the theme parks I've been to. It's like we were sitting in the house, then the house turned 360 degrees. But I could feel that the turn wasn't exactly 360, probably less than 90 degrees or so. My Dad says it's an illusion that makes people feel as though the house is turning one full round. I still don't know how it works.

We left Everland at around 3pm, after spending about 6 hours at the theme park, and headed back to Seoul. Another hour of journey.

After an hour or so, we entered Seoul and our next stop was Dongdaemun for some shopping. Dongdaemun is the largest shopping area in Seoul, there's loads of clothes over there. I'm not kidding when I say there's alot of clothes. Even though I only had time to shop at one of the buildings due to the time constraint of the tour itinerary, the entire building was nothing but clothes. Well, multiply that by about 30(there are approximately 30 shopping malls in DDM that are similar to the one I went to) and you'll roughly get how much clothes there are in Dongdaemun, and that's not counting the stores that are set up in the DDM market.

The clothes were pretty cheap even though I went to Doota(because I don't have much time to shop around) which is supposedly the most expensive mall out of all the malls in DDM. For people who have more time on hand, try to go to the cheaper malls, I don't really know the names of them, I think there's one called U:US. But even at Doota, the clothes are still cheap. Say for example, a sweater in S'pore that sets you back at least S$80 or so probably cost around 20,000-40,000₩ (S$24-36) over there. They have loads of those winter coats with cute motifs (they look they're made of wool, but they aren't) that you can't find in S'pore. In S'pore, the ugliest winter jacket costs you at least S$100. Lol.

But I didn't buy much because the clothes are all winter clothes which I have no use for once I come back to S'pore. They were really thick(unlike the ones in Taiwan which I could still buy), I would die of heat-stroke even if I wear them in an air-conditioned shopping mall in S'pore! I only bought an off-shoulder long-sleeved top(which was like the thinnest I could find), among all the clothes in the entire building! But I would very much want to go back to Seoul in June where I can shop till I drop. Imagine how much summer clothings there would be for me to buy!

Myeongdong was super crowded, not sure if it was because that night was Christmas Eve or it's just as crowded every night. But it was really great to be spending Christmas Eve in Myeongdong because whether it was the atmosphere or the Christmas lights, Singapore's Orchard Road was nowhere near it. When I saw the Christmas lightings stretching from Myeongdong area to our hotel to Cheonggyecheon Stream area, I was like 'Goodness, and they made so much hype about Orchard Road?' I swear, Orchard Road cannot compare to what I saw in Seoul. In Orchard Road, they decorated only the top of the trees with some lights, but in Seoul, they decorated the entire tree with lights. And there were so many trees lining the streets! Imagine how much money they must have spent on those Christmas lights! And you know, earlier in December, I went to Orchard Road and saw those sticks (that have lights coming down which looks like falling snowflakes) on the trees, I was like 'Wow, so pretty!' But guess what, I saw even more of them on the trees in Myeongdong, except they looked even more realistic, they really looked like falling snowflakes.

One thing though, Christmas in Korea is a couple's holiday, not a family one. It's like Valentine's Day. The restaurants and cafes were packed with lovey-dovey couples taking selcas(short for self-camera, meaning self-photos) on their phones/cameras, or even as far as wearing matching outfits and gloves that have 2 openings for 2 hands. I've seen lots of couples the entire day, at Everland and now at Myeongdong. But if you're one who's easily annoyed by couples being lovey-dovey with each other or if there are only so many girlfriends' pouty cutey blowfish faces and boyfriends' "ahhh, kieopda!!"(So cute!) moments you can take, I advise you to stay home or stay in your hotel for that matter. Lol.

Anyway, Myeongdong was really big. It was easy to get lost, especially when it was so crowded. Myeongdong was really fun, there was so much to see and so much to buy at Myeongdong. Myeongdong is also where most youngsters go to, probably because they sell stuffs that cater to teenagers. The prices are pretty affordable too. But I've been told not to buy stuffs that are from foreign brands, brands like Levi's, Calvin Klein, etc. They tend to be more expensive than that in S'pore because Korea imposes high tariffs on imported goods. In contrast, most of the Made in Korea stuffs are much cheaper than what we would get in S'pore, which explains why Korean cosmetics are cheaper there. That being said, my sister, however, got a pair of Vans for only about S$45, which is much cheaper than in S'pore. So, I don't think all foreign brands are necessarily more expensive. I would say that you have to try to see for yourself.

While in Korea, we had also been warned by the tour guide not to buy LV, Chanel, Dior or any of those branded stuffs there, it's not worth it because they're about 25-30% more expensive than in S'pore or any other countries, due to the high tariffs. And usually when you buy branded goods, you pay by credit card because I'm pretty sure you don't go shopping with a suitcase of bills. Paying by credit card is no-no in Korea, because they don't convert directly from Korean Won to Sing Dollars. They convert from Won to USD to SGD. And you know, exchange rates for credit cards(or most money changers) usually put you at the losing end because they know that you don't have enough cash money to pay for your purchases, that's why you're resorting to using credit card or changing more money. So if the exchange rate make you lose about 3% each time they convert, that means you lose 6% right away when you use credit card. 6% plus the 30% from the tariffs, say if you get a branded bag there that cost about S$3k, you probably can get it for about S$2k in S'pore, with S$1k left over to get a small branded purse or something. So, if you can help it, try not to pay by credit card for any of your purchases, always use cash money. And try to change enough Korean won to last throughout your trip.

You must have noticed from the photos by now that Myeongdong has alot Korean brand cosmetics shops. The Face Shop, Etude House, Missha, Tony Moly, Baviphat, Skin Food, Innisfree and many many more. If you're into Korean cosmetics, I recommend that you buy alot and stock up. Because most of the products there are cheaper than Singapore's by about 3 times or even more. Plus, they throw in lots of freebies(travel-sized bottles or sample packets of their new products) when you buy their products. You don't get that in Singapore.

Even before you enter the shop, you're just walking along the streets, they will shove freebies(boxes of cotton pads, the boxes have pictures of celebrities endorsing their products) to you, expecting you to take them. Within a night, my Mum got like 4 boxes of them, 2 from Tony Moly with Kim Hyun Joong's face on it, 2 boxes from Etude House with Lee Min Ho's and Park Shin Hye's faces on it. Lol. But a word of caution though, when you accept the freebies from the salesgirls, they will pull you into their shops and start recommending products to you. That's why most Koreans don't accept the freebies, but I doubt that will be the case in Singapore if they start giving out freebies here. Haha. For Singaporeans visiting Korea, like my Mum, I don't think shoving freebies and then dragging you into the store is necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I think it's more of a good thing because most Singaporeans visit Korea with the intent of buying loads of Korean cosmetics back, so why not just take the freebies they give you? But sadly, my Mum threw away 3 out of the 4 boxes of cotton pads she got once we got back to the hotel because she thought they take up too much space in the luggage. Lol. If I had brought them back, I bet I can sell them online for 5 bucks each and there will still be some Lee Min Ho-crazy or Kim Hyun Joong-crazy fans who will buy from me. Hehehe.

Anyway, after walking for a long time, my Dad, Bro and I wanted to have Starbucks and just chill while waiting for my Mum & Sis to finish their shopping. We walked into a 5-storey Starbucks in Myeongdong, went from the 1st level to the 5th(yeah, cafes & fast food chains usually have multiple levels), we couldn't even find a table! That was how crowded it was. Too bad it was full house or else drinking Starbucks in Myeongdong would be a whole new experience because if you get a window seat and look down, you'll see lots of people thronging through the street. Pretty cool, we don't have that in Singapore. I don't think we have a 2-storey Starbucks, do we?

So no Starbucks, we settled for Cola from Burger King. Lol. When you're thirsty, any drink will do. Lol. You must be thinking that we're crazy for drinking iced Cola in such freezing weather. But that's what makes it fun. Hehe. No big deal, we ate ice-cream on even colder days during our trip.

And oh, I was surprised that the Burger King was just a counter by itself, there was no tables, no seats nothing. So it's pretty much 'buy and takeaway'. Extreme, isn't it? Some fast food chains are like 5-storey high, but some are just holes in a building. Lol.

After finishing our Colas, we walked back to the area near our hotel to see the Christmas lights, and because we wanted to go to Cheonggyecheon Stream which is another Christmas hotspot just 500m ahead of our hotel. I did some research prior to leaving for Korea, that's why I knew where to go.

Yeah, Lotte is super rich, in fact it's one of the largest conglomerates in Korea. It can afford to have celebrities endorsing for their Lotte Duty Free shop. Having DBSK & Rain alone to endorse is no small sum, not to mention there are other famous celebrities like Big Bang and Choi Ji Woo.

Actually I made a mistake while walking to the Cheonggyecheon Stream. We were supposed to just walk straight ahead from our hotel for less than 5 minutes, and we would come to the stream. But we walked to the left of our hotel and made a huge detour. Nevertheless, we did end up at the stream eventually. Even though it was cold, there were more things to see on our detour.

We headed to the east of Seoul and then out of Seoul. We were going to Mount Seorak which is about 3 hours+ away in Sokcho, Gangwon-do. I fell asleep before we were even out of Seoul. The next thing I knew, I woke up about an hour later shivering like crazy. I had to put on my winter jacket(I was holding it in my hands all the while because I thought it would be stuffy wearing it), my gloves, scarf and earmuffs. Despite being wrapped up like a dumpling, I was still shivering away. And the thing is, I was inside a bus! I was supposed to be feeling warm and cozy! Imagine how cold it would be outside!

Apparently, we had just entered Gangwon-do. Water droplets had condensed on the entire window that I couldn't even see the outside, I had to wipe them off with a tissue. When I finally saw the outside, it was almost entirely white! And it was beautiful! Snow on a Christmas morning, definitely a white Christmas. ^^ Well, it wasn't snowing, but I think it snowed earlier in the morning or the night before.

The guide told us that Gangwon-do has the lowest temperature in winter(average of -17°C but can reach as low as -30°C) among all the 'dos' in Korea. In case you're wondering, Korea has 9 'do'(道/provinces) - Gyeonggi-do(where Seoul is), Gangwon-do, Chungcheongbuk-do, Chungcheongnam-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, Jeollabuk-do, Jeollanam-do and Jeju-do(where Jeju Island is). In each 'do', you have different 'si' (市/cities), like Seoul-si(pronounced as Seoul-shi, si is pronounced as shi), Incheon-si, Busan-si, etc. In each 'si', you have different 'gu'(区/districts). In each 'gu', you have different 'dong'(洞/neighbourhoods). And in each 'dong', you have different 'ro'(路/roads or streets). I put the Chinese translation before the English because it's easier to remember and understand because of the similarities between the Korean and Chinese pronounciation. Recap, entire South Korea > do (道/province) > si (市/city) > gu (区/district) > dong (洞/neighbourhood) > ro (路/road or street). So if you're writing to a penpal living in Myeongdong, Jung-gu, the address on the envelope would look something like this: South Korea, Seoul-si, Jung-gu, Myeong-dong, Eulji-ro, 1234 Beonji(meaning building no. or lot no.), 5J(floor no. & apartment no.). Note that it's written from 'big' to 'small', which is the reverse of writing a US address where you go from 'small' to 'big'. And yes, it is important to write the entire address as it is because say if you left out Seoul-si, the poor postman wouldn't know where to deliver the letter because Jung-gu merely means Central District. There are a total of 6 Central Districts or Jung-gus(in Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Daejeon, Daegu and Ulsan) in the entire South Korea.

That's a really long explanation about the do, si, gu, dong, etc. Lol. After about one and a half hours on the road, we came to Hwayang-Gang Land rest-stop. Took a toilet break, bought some more junk food from the convenience store there and 2 barbecued squids for 3000₩ (S$3.60) each. The barbecued squids were delicious! Cheap too, we can never get squids in Singapore for that cheap.

After an hour and a half, we finally arrived at the restaurant where we were going to have our lunch. Lunch was Soondooboo Jjigae(Soft Tofu Stew). Dooboo means tofu.

The Soondooboo Jjigae was delicious, the tofu was so soft that they kind of just disintegrate into tiny pieces in the stew. So when you're drinking the soup, you suck up the tofu as well. Lol.

Half an hour later, we arrived at Mount Seorak National Park. Mount Seorak(also known as Seoraksan) is the 3rd highest mountain in South Korea and the highest mountain in the Taebaek mountain range. The guide told us that Seoraksan can be written in Hanja/Chinese as 雪岳山 or 雪嶽山. The first, I think, it just means snow-covered mountain. But the second, when directly translated, means 'snow hell mountain'. Sorry, if it doesn't make any sense because there's no way to translate 雪嶽山 into English. It's just describing a snow-covered mountain as hell. The reason for the second way of writing had to do with Korean History. I don't know the exact story, History was never my thing so I wasn't paying attention to the guide.

The inner part of Mount Seorak is out-of-bound to the public because it has loads of Korean Ginsengs growing in it and is protected by the Korean Government or Military or something like that. Again, I wasn't pay much attention to the guide. So anyway, the public can only visit the outer part of Mount Seorak, which was where we went.

The entire park was really beautiful! We walked around the ground level of the park before taking a cable car, the cheater-bug method, up to the top of Mount Seorak. There were other hardcore mountain hikers, fully geared in their equipment, who took the hard way up. I don't know how they managed to reach the peak. I really can't imagine anyone reaching even half the height of Mount Seorak, because it's so tall and steep! Even though we took a cable car up, we still needed to climb for some distance(plus our trail was a comfortable one made for visitors who don't hike) before reaching the peak, correction, we didn't reach the peak because it was impossible to do so. We reached somewhere near the peak.

There's a Buddhist temple called Sinheungsa on the ground level of the park. The guide told us that a scene in My Name is Kim Sam Soon was filmed here, but I had no recollection of that scene. Probably because I watched it too long ago.

The temple is located in the inner areas of the park. But it has a Bronze Buddha statue near the entrance of the park. According to the guide, the Buddha statue is the largest 'sitting' Buddha statue in Korea. I'm not a Buddhist so I don't know, but I think there's many kinds of Buddha statues.

After we were done with exploring the ground level of the park, we waited at the cable car station for our ride. We had to wait until around 4.15pm because that was the time printed on our tickets.

While waiting, we got some food to eat. As if it wasn't cold enough, I got a cup of Mini-melts(they're called 'dipping dots' there) for 2000₩ (S$2.40). I think it's pretty cheap. The flavours were all written in Korean, luckily I could read Hangeul to order a cup of Rainbow-flavoured Mini-melts. The Mini-melts were so cold that the moment I put them in my mouth, they just stick to the lips, the tongue, and the sides and roof of my mouth. And when I tried to 'peel' them off, I felt as though part of my skin came off together with the Mini-melts. I've to admit that eating Mini-melts over there can be quite a painful experience. Not to mention that I was shivering from the cold after finishing that cup. Lol.

When it was time, we hopped onto the cable car. There are a total of 2 cable cars in the entire system. But each cable car is quite big and can take 50 people each time. The view from the cable car was really breath-taking! The following photos were all taken while the cable car was ascending to the top of the mountain.

The ride lasted about 10 minutes. When we got out of the cable car station to continue climbing up to the peak of the mountain, I swear, it was so freaking cold that I've never felt this cold in my entire life. I think it must had been at least -20°C. Every breath of cold air was like a stab on my nose and it started dripping. And the wind was so strong that I was so afraid that I would be blown away! It's not very often(never, actually) a person my size would have the chance to say that he would be blown away by the wind. So, you can imagine how strong the wind was. I kept wrapping my scarf round my neck even though I thought I was going to be strangled to death by my own scarf, because I was afraid that my scarf would be blown off. Lol.

We started climbing up the trail to the peak. Even though this was the most comfortable trail made for visitors who do not hike, it was no easy feat at all! I wonder how those hardcore hikers were doing with their hardcore trails... Lol. With that kind of coldness and my hair slapping my eyes and face due to the wind(I wasn't wearing a beanie), it was difficult to see where I was going or where the next step was. Then, it started snowing, which made things worse. I mean, it's a good thing that it was snowing because it just make the entire experience even more beautiful but it also made the climbing more difficult.

Soon, before I was even halfway through the trail, I was panting like a dog, snot was dripping down my nose, the ends of my scarf was flying all over the place, my hair was all over my face, I was Sadako on Mount Seorak. What an unglam sight. I finally got to the peak after spending 20 minutes or more on the trail. The guide reached the peak earlier than I did and she's 40, while I'm 18! Felt so ashamed of my own fitness.

Anyway, the view at the peak was beautiful(I used that alot, don't I? Lol)! I know I said the ground level of the park was beautiful, the view from the cable car was beautiful and now the peak. I mean, every part of the park is beautiful in it's own way. Like, you can't see the close-up of the peak from the ground level and vice-versa. And with the snowing, it was indeed a white Christmas! ^^

We took the last cable car down to ground level. It was getting quite dark even though it was only around 6pm. We boarded the bus and headed for dinner at a restaurant about half an hour away. Dinner was Barbecued Pork and Squid. All the meals we had in Korea were delicious, but this meal has got to be one of the best. I like pork and squid, so a pork and squid combo was just <3!

I tried a shot of Soju, but I really didn't like it. I don't understand why in Korean dramas, the actors or actresses keep gulping it down like water. Honestly, it tastes exactly like the alcohol we used in the Chemistry lab, not that I've tasted the ones in the labs before, but yeah, it just tastes, looks and smells like that.

Soju is wine that is made from rice, potato, wheat, barley, or tapioca. Usually has 20% to 45% alcohol content, depending on the type. The one I drank was around 19%, so it wasn't strong, but I just didn't like it. In case you didn't know, soju or most Korean alcohol are dirt-cheap over there. Like the bottle of soju I drank from, it cost only 1900₩ (S$2.30). Because it's from the restaurant, it's slightly more expensive(but it's still freaking cheap), if you get it at a supermarket or convenience store, it only costs about 1000₩ (S$1.20). Darn, back in Singapore, I can't even get a teh-peng with that kind of price at a coffee shop. And when I came back to Singapore, I went to Sol-mart(it's a Korean supermarket), the bottle of soju cost S$15, thanks to Singapore's heavy sin tax. I heard that if you try getting a bottle of soju in a Korean restaurant in Singapore, it costs at least S$30. Wow, that's totally marked up by 13 times. Anyway, the cheap alcohols in Korea explains why most Koreans drink, and why Korean dramas always have their characters drinking at roadside stalls. Lol.

It's the same case with cigarettes. A pack of cigarettes in Korea only cost about 3000₩ (S$3.60)? That's like 4 times cheaper than in Singapore. The imported ones are slightly more expensive, but it's still dirt-cheap cheap compared to Singapore. And that's why most Korean guys smoke, including some teenagers. Male celebrities smoke too. By celebrities, I don't mean the male idols/singers from idol groups because they're forbidden from smoking by their companies, but I mean celebrities who don't sing for a career, more specifically, the actors. Lee Minho, Jang Keun Suk, and alot more others, they all smoke. But here's something interesting, Korean girls don't smoke, or I should say that there are very few(and I mean really few) girls who smoke. In Singapore, if you're a girl and you smokes, nobody will even bat an eyelid. But if you're a girl in Korea and tries to smoke, everyone(both guys and girls) who walk past will give you dirty looks. It's sort-of a taboo for girls to smoke over there.

After dinner, we headed to the Kensington Flora Hotel which was an hour's drive away. It started to get really cold, even though we were inside the bus. By the time we reached the hotel, it was snowing rather heavily outside. White Christmas once more. When we got down from the bus, it was like a repeat of Mount Seorak. Lol. The snow, the strong cold winds...my hands were freezing. When we got into the hotel lobby, I just stuck myself in front of the fireplace while we were waiting for our room keys. Lol.

Kensington Flora Hotel is a 5-star hotel, but of course, being a hotel in the countryside, you can't expect it to be the same as a 5-star hotel in the city. It wasn't too shabby, in fact, I was pretty impressed because it was better than all the 10 hotels I've stayed in in Taiwan.

After putting the luggage in our room, we went down to the convenience store on the ground floor of the hotel. That's what I love about some hotels in Korea, they have convenience stores within them or nearby so that guests can buy food, snacks, gifts, toiletries, etc. That's what we do almost every night - supper, cup noodles, chocolates, biscuits, sweets, peanuts, milk, coffee, alcohol. No wonder I gained so much weight after returning from Korea. Haha.

Hmm, how shall I say it? After skiing for nearly 2 hours, I conclude that skiing's not my thing, give me ice-skating any day. The ski boots were very heavy and so tight around my calves area that I felt so restricted, I could hardly move freely. Okay, I know my calves are fat, and I know that's the way the ski boots should be worn so that the boots are not loose and I won't sway left or right while I skiing, but really, skiing is too tiring for me. Honestly, skiing is easy, much easier than ice-skating because you don't have to worry about maintaining your balance since your feet are flat on the ground and the basics are just knowing which position to poke your ski sticks, pushing yourself forward with the sticks, how to get up after falling, and of course, braking/stopping. But if you aren't a pro, it takes way too much time and energy to go up even a small slope in those tight and heavy boots, only to ski down the slope in a matter of seconds. If you're a pro, you kind of have it easier because you have the Gondola or the ski chairlift to bring you to the top of the slope, but like I said earlier, those slopes really dangerous and are definitely not for everyone.

I gave up after 2 hours at skiing, my hands were really freezing by now, I couldn't really feel my own fingers anymore. Was so worried that I would get frostbites. Lol. Fortunately I didn't.

I met another nice Korean while skiing. There was this little girl who was also skiing and she knocked into me from behind. I didn't see her at all so there was no way I could have avoided her unless I had eyes at the back of my head. I lost my balance and fell onto my butt. Her mum quickly came over and started apologizing profusely 'Choesong hamnida, choesong hamnida.'(Sorry). I, in turn, was saying 'Gwaenchanayo, gwaenchanayo'(It's ok, it's ok) profusely. I mean, everyone falls while skiing, plus the girl was really young, probably around 5, she was also a beginner and definitely didn't mean to knock into me if she could help it, she also fell down too. I tried to get up using what the instructor taught but I couldn't, I didn't have that much strength! I was supposed to push the ground with my right hand and push myself to the left so that I could stand up on my skis. Apparently, the instructor's methods weren't working and my butt was still on the ground, I couldn't get up! The little girl's mum saw that I was struggling to get up, she held me from under my shoulders and helped me up. I was like 'Kamsahamnida!'(Thank you). Such a nice lady! ^^

After deciding not skiing, I went back to the locker area to get my shoes. It was so difficult to walk with the ski boots on, I think I took like 15 minutes just to get to the lockers. Upon reaching, I realised that the keys were with my Mum and I didn't know where she was. So I just sat there and waited and waited and waited. I was feeling incredibly cold, my hands were still freezing even though I was already indoors. The heater weren't helping at all. I think I waited for nearly 2 hours before my Mum and Sis came back. By then, I had already caught a cold and was feeling feverish. -.-

After my entire family came back from skiing, we returned our skis and went for dinner at this Japanese Ramen Restaurant called Hatoya. It's located in the shopping plaza. After my Dad, bro and I decided on our orders, I turned to the waiter, wanting to say 'Hatoya Ramen sam-gae juseyo'(Please give me 3 Hatoya Ramen. I don't think 'gae'/个 is the correct unit for bowls of ramen, but my Korean isn't fantastic. It does sound alittle weird but I think Koreans will get what you mean, just like when you say 三个拉面 in S'pore, lol). I ended up stuttering 'Uhhh...uh..', not because I was struggling with my Korean but because I was stunned by how much he looked like the younger version of Lee Minho! I'm not kidding, I initially thought Lee Minho came to YongPyong to work. Lol.

Okay, the food was...I don't know, I barely ate one-third of my ramen because of my throat which felt like sandpaper. But my family all finished their ramen so I'm guessing it was not bad. It wasn't expensive either, 10,000₩ (S$12) for a bowl. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel. By then I was running a high fever, and my limbs and joints were aching(I don't know about you guys, but this always happen to me when I've a fever). I was shivering (it was even colder now that the sun had set) and could hardly walk straight on the way back, I think I was swaying left and right like a drunkard. Got back to my room, told my family to count me out of their snow-sledging. Yeah, they were planning to go back to the ski slopes, this time with snow sledges instead of skis. I kind of regretted not joining them in their snow-sledging because it's much more fun than skiing. Like, you don't have to learn to snow-sledge in order to snow-sledge, you just sit on it, sledge down the slope and have a time of your life! But I knew myself well enough to know that I was in no condition to go snow-sledging.

So I popped 2 Panadol Flu-max and another 2 anti-inflammatory tablets, and went to take a nap. Those pills worked wonders! I woke up about an hour later (actually I was woken up by the loud music blasting outside), feeling like I didn't have a fever or cold in the first place!

My family soon came from their snow-sledging and I guess everyone was starting to feel hungry already, we went to the convenience store which was just across the hotel lobby to get suppers/snacks. While coming back from the convenience store, I saw this poster in the hotel lobby:

I was like 'OMG OMG OMG!!! MBLAQ and f(x) are here?!?! WHAT TIME IS IT NOW???', almost screaming at my sis. Lol. She told me it was already 10pm+. But the poster said the concert started at 9pm! So apparently, the music which woke me up from my nap was from MTV The M Winter Special Concert. >.<

Look at what MBLAQ was wearing in the -13°C cold, it must had been freezing for them! After the concert ended, almost everyone scrambled indoors where it was warmer. I kind of regretted not hanging around after the concert so that I could go up to MBLAQ or f(x) to get a close-up fancam of them. Hahaha.

Anyway, my sis and I returned back to our room after that and ate our supper. Kimbap! It was only 1000₩ (S$1.20) for an entire roll of kimbap! My sis also got a small version of those Korean mayonnaise for 700₩ (80 cents)? Freaking cheap. Kimbap + mayo is just love! ^^ And of course, we bought milk too.

Early morning call again. Packed and went out to the lobby at 7am. It was -15.7°C outside, probably one of my coldest days there.

It was pretty cold when we walked to the restaurant on the another part of YongPyong for breakfast, but I guess the beautiful empty ski slopes at dawn made up for it. It's not always that you get to see the slopes empty. =)

After breakfast, we boarded the bus and headed back to Seoul.

What else could I do on the bus other than to catch up on my beauty sleep? I only slept an average of 5 hours every night there, blame it on the TV! Lol.

About an hour into my sleep/our journey back to Seoul, we came to this rest stop. It was one of the nicest rest stops I had ever seen. The toilets were like 'whoa, is this even a toilet?' They had restaurants and food stalls. The architecture was just awesome. Totally impressed by what I saw. I never knew a rest stop could look this amazing.

We reached Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu at around 11am, supposedly for lunch but since it was alittle too early for lunch, we had some free and easy time. Itaewon is a popular place in Seoul for foreigners and US Military personnel(because of the US Army base in Yongsan), and I do believe that Itaewon has one of the highest number of foreigners living in an area. Most of the shops here have signs written in English and some of these shops are actually owned by foreigners.

Itaewon has 2 different sets of Hanja interpretation, 梨泰院 and 异胎院. The latter references the 1592-98 Japanese invasion where the Japanese army occupied Seoul and raped the Buddhist nuns residing in Unjeong-sa temple in Hwanghak-dong(current Itaewon area). Some of the nuns became pregnant and built a tent house where they later gave birth to the children. People started calling the place 异胎院, 异 means different or foreign and 胎 means pregnancy. So 异胎院 means a place for bearing foreign children. But since the name brings up a sad past, it's generally not used now. It is said that someone planted a pear(梨) tree in that area many years ago and it grew very well, so the name 梨泰院 is used instead.

Itaewon is a good place to go to if you're looking for bars, nightclubs, restaurants serving foreign cuisine or just looking for a place where you can be exposed to the Korean culture but at the same time, be in a English-speaking environment. But I wouldn't say that you would be 'immersed' in the Korean culture, if you would like to do that, I would suggest that you visit other neighbourhoods besides Itaewon. Imo, it's kind of difficult to learn more about a culture when you're in an environment which is similar to what you have back home.

Although I didn't visit Itaewon in the night, but I've heard that while Itaewon does have a vibrant nightlife scene, it can sometimes get rather 'complicated' at night. Fights among drunk foreigners, wasted people on the streets and prostitution, mostly by Russian prostitutes. That's why some Koreans regard the area as a no-go. There's a red light district in Itaewon called Hooker Hill. And there are 'happy ending' barber shops where men can actually get haircuts and also something more substantial. Lol. Kind of like those massage parlors in S'pore's Geylang except that you get a haircut instead of a massage. Haha.

But I guess if you're just there for the international cuisine, there shouldn't be a problem. Just be careful not to be ripped off. Because many tourists and foreigners visit Itaewon, sometimes the prices may be jacked up ridiculously. But do note that foreign cuisine may sometimes be alittle more expensive than what you have back home, that's pretty normal, not a rip-off.

After spending about half an hour walking the streets of Itaewon, we went for lunch at 11.30am at a restaurant, also in Itaewon. The reason for the early lunch is that we had a flight to catch in the early afternoon. Lunch was Dwaeji Bulgogi(Grilled Pork BBQ). Another great lunch! Best of all, there was free flow of grilled pork! You must have guessed by now that I love grilled or BBQ food. Hahaha!

After lunch, we headed to Gimpo International Airport, which was half an hour away, to catch a 2.10pm flight to Jeju Island.

Gimpo International Airport is more for domestic flights and flights to Osaka, Tokyo, Shanghai and a few other areas nearer to Korea while Incheon International Airport is for the rest of the international flights.

Just look at how many celebrities endorsements there are at the airport alone!

Our flight was at first delayed by 30 minutes because the previous flight landed late and then by another 30 minutes because it started snowing quite heavily. We only landed in Jeju at around 4pm. We would have arrived in Jeju at around 3pm if not for the delay since a flight from Seoul to Jeju is only a short 50 minutes. I fell asleep throughout the flight, the next thing I knew was my mom waking me up.

After getting out of Jeju Airport, we took the bus to our first attraction on Jeju, the Mysterious Road(also known as Dokkaebi Road or Ghost Road), which was about 15 minutes away. As the name suggests, there's something paranormal about the road. Our bus stopped on the road and the bus began to go uphill when the engine was switched off. It was so scary!

A story has it that a newly-married couple went on a honeymoon in Jeju (in case you did not know, Jeju's a honeymoon island for many Korean couples). While driving at night, the wife suddenly had to use a toilet urgently, so the husband stopped the car next to the toilet and got off the car to accompany his wife. When the wife came out from the toilet, both the husband and wife found that their car had disappeared. It wasn't next to the toilet anymore, and they finally found their car far ahead on the road. They were so scared, I mean cars don't move by themselves when the engines are switched off, do they? The couple fled in their car and since then, the road was named Mysterious Road or Ghost Road.

Sorry, I couldn't take a photo of the road because everyone, being curious, scared and all, was standing up on the bus. But I found a photo and a Youtube video that will allow you to see why there's something supernatural about Mysterious Road.

Nah, I was just kidding about the supernatural part. The vehicle really did move when the engine was switched off, but it actually moved downhill instead of uphill. What we saw was just an illusion. Due to the lack of a true horizon, subconsciously our judgement of a slope is misled by the false horizon in that area, that's why we were tricked in believing that it's an uphill ahead.

We headed to Yongduam(Dragon Head Rock) next. Yong means dragon, du means head, am means rock, so Yongduam literally means Dragon Head Rock. Yongduam's an unusual basalt rock formation from a volcanic eruption 2 million years ago in the shape of a dragon head. Legend has it that an envoy sent by the Dragon King to gather the elixir of life on Mt. Halla(Hallasan), was shot down by the angry guardian spirit of Hallasan. The fleeing dragon fell into the sea and turned into rock with his head still surging towards the sky.

The waves were beautiful, so I decided to take some videos(below). Sorry for the poor sound quality though, those were the sound of the strong winds.

After Yongduam, we went to this underground shopping mall, don't know what's the name of it. The shopping mall was great, cheap and wide variety, like a mini-Dongdaemun. if only they sold summer clothes. =(

After shopping, we went for dinner at a restaurant about 15 minutes away. Dinner that night was Black Pig Meat. Heuk Dwaeji(Black Pig) is found on Jeju, so black pork is eaten very often. The one we ate that night was just cooked and sliced, but we did try grilled black pork for lunch the next day. Black pork isn't really black though, it just look like regular pork. But imo, it's slightly tougher than ordinary pork.

After dinner, we went to watch Nanta, a Korean non-verbal comedy performance. It was shown in Singapore a few years back but the tickets were hell expensive. S$200+ for one. It's cheaper to catch it in Korea, 40,000₩ (S$50) each.

Nanta integrates dance, acapella singing, martial arts, acrobatics, pantomime, traditional Korean Samul Nori music performed with improvised instruments like cutting boards, kitchen knives, water canisters, all into one performance. I haven't watched alot of performances before, but it was the best performance I've ever watched. Love it! I'm so impressed at the performers, they were so talented! No, that's an understatement, they're outstanding all-rounded entertainers. Imagine mastering every aspect that I've mentioned above! Plus they use real knives and food, so there's dangerous knife-work involved. If they weren't careful, they could have easily chopped of their own fingers during their performances or practices.

Nanta performs nearly everyday, so I can imagine that the performers does nothing but training, training and more training. It must have taken lots of hardwork and talent in order to pass the auditions for Nanta.

For those who would like to catch Nanta, but won't be in Jeju, there's also Nanta performances at 3 other locations in Seoul - Myeongdong, Gangbuk Jeong Dong and Gangnam.

We headed to the hotel after the performance ended. The hotel was about an hour's drive away. While on the road, it started snowing heavily. The roads were snow-filled and slippery. But bus driver ajusshi was driving with such speed that it scared the hell out of us. To make matter worse, a car which was travelling next to our bus at about the same speed suddenly skidded and crashed into the forest. It was nothing serious, it just veered off the tracks and went into the grasses. Lol. But I don't think it would be the same for a bus if it skidded. I guess we were really fortunate that nothing happen, thank goodness.

While on the journey to the hotel, the guide got news from her colleague with another tour group that we were really fortunate that our flight to Jeju earlier in the afternoon was shifted forward. Okay, actually our flight was scheduled to be at 4.30pm, but my guide called the airline to ask if they could shift our tour group to an earlier flight if there were seats available. The reason for doing that is so that we would have enough time to visit all the attractions on Jeju, otherwise we probably would have rush throughout our itinerary on Jeju or worse, miss out on some attractions. So that's why our flight was shifted to 2.10pm. But remember I said that even our flight at 2.10pm was delayed by an hour because of the snow? It turned out that our flight was the last that was allowed to take off because the snow got worse and they delayed all other flights by another 5 hours. Had we been on the later flight, we would probably reach the hotel at only 12midnight, without the Dragon Head Rock attraction, underground shopping mall, dinner and Nanta.

We reached the hotel at around 10.30pm and checked in. Our hotel was Lotte Hotel Jeju, another 6-star hotel. It's located at nearly the most southern tip of Jeju, which means the most southern tip of Korea since Jeju is the southern-most part of Korea. We would be staying at the same hotel for 2 nights. The hotel's amazing, it's super huge, has a casino, a super duper nice swimming pool(but it was too cold to be swimming), ice-skating rink, windmills, etc. Yes, windmills, you aren't seeing wrongly! In fact, Lotte Hotel Jeju was one of the filming sites for the Korean drama, All In. My guide told us that Song Hye Gyo and Lee Byung Hun kissed in the drama in front of the windmills. Lol. I didn't watch that drama so I don't know.

It was pretty late then, so I didn't go out to explore the hotel, but more photos of it the next day!

My sis and I meant to wake up at 6am because the guide told us that we should go down to have a look at the morning scenery and the beach because it was really beautiful. But we ended up snoozing the alarm and only woke up at 6.45am! Lol. We quickly got dressed and went outside. True enough, the scenery was indeed beautiful! Let the pictures speak for themselves:

Gathered at the hotel lobby at around 7.30am, and then we headed out for breakfast - abalone porridge! Yeah, they got too many abalones on Jeju Island that they can afford to shred up abalones and mix them in porridge. Lol.

The abalones are shred up into really tiny pieces that you can't even see them in the porridge. That's the way abalone porridge is prepared, so don't expect to see one whole piece of abalone when you're eating the porridge! Haha. Yep, the porridge tasted really great because it was sweet, something like what my Mum always prepare when I was younger. I mean, she didn't put in abalone, but it just tastes like it.

We headed to our first attraction of the day - Jusang Jeollidae. They are like rock columns on the shore formed by waves crashing on the rocks. Hmm, I think they looked alright, not really amazing. I guess I don't know how to appreciate the beauty of rocks Haha.

We left Jusang Jeollidae and went to Cheonjeyeon Waterfall next. It is a three-tier waterfall. But the one we visited was the second-tier I think.

Cheonjeyeon, as you can see from the photo below, is called 天帝渊 in Chinese, which means Pond of the Heaven's Emperor. The Korean legend has it that nymphs would descend from the heavens at night and bathe in the waterfall's pond.

The waterfall, I must say, is beautiful. The surroundings were so peaceful, I wouldn't mind camping there. And yes, I can appreciate the beauty of waterfalls. Hahaha.

See the long flight of stairs? That's what we had climb up after visiting the waterfall. I was panting heavily after I finally reached the top. I don't think I would ever visit the third-tier of the waterfall. Lol.

Remember I said that in the legend, nymphs would come down to Cheonjeyeon Waterfall? There's an arch bridge called Seonimgyo Bridge with 7 nymphs carved on each side over the waterfall. The nymphs symbolize the descent of 7 beautiful nymphs from heaven at night.

The view from the bridge is simply breathtaking! It didn't matter which side of the bridge you faced, both sides was just as awesome!

After we were done with the folk village, we went for lunch half an hour away I think. Grilled Black Pork! Yum yum, I'm so sorry Mr Black Piggy. Again, since it was a tour group lunch, there was free flow of pork. It was so good that my family got third helpings. Hahaha. Told ya I like barbecued stuffs.

Next, we went to Seongsan Ilchubong (Sunrise Peak), an UNESCO Natural World Heritage site. Even though its called Sunrise Peak, I think we were there just in time for sunset. Lol. Sunrise Peak is so called because as the easternmost tip of Jeju Island, this area is the first to greet each day's new sun. And at the top of Sunrise Peak is a large volcanic crater. Don't worry, I think the volcano's dormant or extinct. Beware, the following section that you're about to see is extremely image-heavy because the Sunrise Peak was so beautiful that I couldn't stop snapping pictures and panoramas.

Climbing half an hour's worth of stairs was no joke! I was panting heavily and snot was running down my nose, I think this happens when you're trying to breath deeply and heavily, but all you're breathing in is cold air. -.- Even though I was already drained of energy by the time I reached the peak, it was really gorgeous, I had never seen anything like this. Both the views from the bottom of the cliff and from the peak were just as beautiful. You'll agree with me after seeing the photos below.

After we descended from Sunrise Peak, we went to the shops nearby to get some Jeju souvenirs, more specifically, Dol Hareubangs keychains. They were so cute! You'll see them later in the photos that I took of my purchases after returning back to S'pore.

We took an hour's bus ride to the Teddy Bear Museum on the southern part of Jeju, back where our hotel was. In fact the Teddy Bear Museum was only 5 minutes away from our hotel. As the name suggests, Teddy Bear Museum is full of...teddy bears! Teddy Bear Museum is also home to the world's smallest bears and the world's most expensive bear, all of which you'll see later in the photos.

And those who had watched Goong will find the museum rather familiar. That's because Shin Chae-gyung(Yoon Eun Hye's character) visited the museum in the drama. The museum even had a section for the Goong bears, if anyone remembers, they were the beautiful bears that were shown at the end of each Goong episode.

After breakfast, we went to this building which sold cordyceps and a kind of dietary supplement called Korean Raisin, it supposed to be good for the liver or something like that. My Dad got a box of the Korean Raisin for S$470. Imo, it wasn't cheap.

After that, we went to a jewellery shop Yeouido which sold amethyst. My family usually don't buy jewellery because really, we don't have any use for them. So we didn't get anything at the shop, except for a couple of amethyst keychains because they were quite cheap at 10000₩(S$12). I know it's too cheap for the entire keychain to be made in amethyst, but real amethyst or not, at least I have some use for them. Plus, they were really pretty, you'll see later in one of the photos.

We went to the convenience store next and bought loads of snacks to be brought over to Singapore, because it was probably the last convenience store we were going to visit before we return back to S'pore. Lol. Bought ice-cream to eat too!

Then we went to another building which had 2 entire levels selling Korean snacks and souvenirs!!! Bought alot, an entire carton in fact, and had it sealed and checked in as luggage at the airport. Lol.

After the shopping, we headed back to Incheon International Airport where we would catch the 2pm flight back to S'pore.

So yeah, we board the plane at 2pm and said goodbye to Korea! =(

Landed at Singapore Changi Airport T2 at around 8pm. Checked out, got our luggage and bought some duty-free items. We had dinner after that, we missed Singapore food, so guess where we went for dinner? Hahaha, yep, the Ah Wang Cafe which we had our last dinner before we flew off to Korea!

We landed at Korea's Incheon International Airport at 6am Korean time (which is 5am Singapore time). The immigration queue was kind of long, probably due to the fact that most flights from Singapore & Hong Kong arrived around that time. We were stucked in the queue for about half an hour but it was okay when you get to watch 2PM's Corby phones CF again & again(pun not intended) on the plasma TV in front. The immigration officer was very friendly, he smiled and greeted each passenger with 'Annyeong Haseyo'. My impression of immigration officers is that they're strict and serious because they can't afford to make any mistake. But that Korean immigration officer proved me wrong. And mind you, it was 6am in the morning, if it was me working those hours, I'll probably be sulking away. Lol.

We finally checked out, got our baggage and met our tour guide (who was a great Korean lady who can speak Chinese better than you and me, and she looks nothing like her age). Then, what's the next most important thing? Yeah, that's right, breakfast! We walked around the airport looking for a place that served breakfast. Not much luck, since it was 6 plus in the morning and no stores are opened that early. The only places opened were this cafe that served bibimbap and the likes, and McDonald's. It was too early for rice, so we opt for Macs. Apparently most of the passengers who just arrived went for the same thing too. The queue was looonggg. When it was eventually my Dad's turn, despite using English, he had trouble telling the lady that she gave him 2 less Hashbrowns. It was kind of expected since English is not widely used in Korea. It wasn't much of a problem for us because we were travelling as a tour group, so many of the things were pretty much planned for us. Like, we didn't have to order food for most of our meals, we didn't have to ask for directions to get to places, we didn't have to take a cab and tell the cab-driver where we want to go. But for people who are planning to do free & easy in Korea, learn some basic Korean phrases or get a phrasebook if possible! Otherwise, it may be difficult to get around.

Anyway, in the end, my Dad decided to forget about it since it wasn't really a good idea to eat Hashbrowns in that kind of dry weather anyway unless we were planning to kill our throats. Out of the 3 Hashbrowns we were given, only one was eaten, by my sis.

After breakfast, we went to change into our winter clothings, met our tour guide again, got on the tour bus and left the airport. We were heading to Everland Theme Park which is located in Yongin about 40km south of Seoul. We had to travel an hour out of Seoul to reach Everland. Well, we didn't exactly traveled out of Seoul, more like traveled past Seoul, because we were coming from Incheon(which is pretty close to Seoul) and there's an expressway linking Incheon to Yongin.

We reached Everland around 9 or 10am. There was already so many people there, waiting for the gates to open. It was really cold, my nose started to become runny once I stepped out of the coach and I could see fog coming out of my mouth as I talked.

We first followed the tour guide to this safari attraction called Safari World. First, we had to take a chairlift down to the area where the attraction is. It was freaking scary, I was scared stiff. Probably because of the height. Lol. I have no fear of heights but I hate looking right down to the ground when I'm at somewhere at high up. It makes me feel as if I'm going to go crashing down to ground. I love roller-coasters and Gyro Drops but I hate taking the chairlift. Weird, aren't I?

When it was our turn, we got onto a bus together with the rest of our tour group and the bus would bring us around the safari. It was like a real safari, with lots of lions, tigers, white tigers and bears just moving around our vehicle. I was totally amazed, because I've not been to a safari before. Night Safari doesn't count, they don't even have animals moving about freely (thank goodness they don't, I wouldn't want lions and tigers walking with me).

The Safari World also has this species which is a mix of a lion and a tiger. I'm not kidding! It's the offspring of a lion and a tiger. It's called a Liger. It has a face that resembles that of a lion and stripes on its body, similar to that of a tiger. You'll later see what I mean in one of the photos. And also, the Liger is sterile. Like what we learnt in the Evolution chapter of Biology, reduced hybrid fertility - the offspring is unable to reproduce. Just like the mule(offspring of a horse and a donkey). This is why Ligers are rare. Everytime you want to get a baby Liger, you have to go back to crossing the lion with the tiger. And that's very difficult because you know lions and tigers do not live together as a family. So usually when people want baby Ligers, they do it the IVF way. But that's done with the intervention of Man. The Liger in the Safari World was claimed to be conceived naturally. Apparently, the lions and tigers there are one big family. Haha!

Now you must be wondering why all the lions and tigers are sitting on rocks. The reason is, the rocks are fitted with heaters. In the cold winter, the animals will prefer sitting on them, which is good because one, the animals will not freeze to death, and two, visitors will have a clear view of them as they're seated on top of the rocks.

After lunch, it was 3 hours of free & easy time at the theme park.

T Express is the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world at 77 degrees! It is also the world's 6th longest wooden roller coaster, and first & largest wooden roller coaster in Korea. In addition, it has the highest altitude, fastest speed and longest roller coaster attraction time in Asia. Wow, right? I'm usually a roller coaster person, but because it was wooden, I was scared and decided to give it a miss. =X Hahaha. And also because there were lots of people in the queue, which snaked all the way to another attraction!

The Haunted Mansion ride was awesome! I've never taken such a ride in any of the theme parks I've been to. It's like we were sitting in the house, then the house turned 360 degrees. But I could feel that the turn wasn't exactly 360, probably less than 90 degrees or so. My Dad says it's an illusion that makes people feel as though the house is turning one full round. I still don't know how it works.

We left Everland at around 3pm, after spending about 6 hours at the theme park, and headed back to Seoul. Another hour of journey.

After an hour or so, we entered Seoul and our next stop was Dongdaemun for some shopping. Dongdaemun is the largest shopping area in Seoul, there's loads of clothes over there. I'm not kidding when I say there's alot of clothes. Even though I only had time to shop at one of the buildings due to the time constraint of the tour itinerary, the entire building was nothing but clothes. Well, multiply that by about 30(there are approximately 30 shopping malls in DDM that are similar to the one I went to) and you'll roughly get how much clothes there are in Dongdaemun, and that's not counting the stores that are set up in the DDM market.

The clothes were pretty cheap even though I went to Doota(because I don't have much time to shop around) which is supposedly the most expensive mall out of all the malls in DDM. For people who have more time on hand, try to go to the cheaper malls, I don't really know the names of them, I think there's one called U:US. But even at Doota, the clothes are still cheap. Say for example, a sweater in S'pore that sets you back at least S$80 or so probably cost around 20,000-40,000₩ (S$24-36) over there. They have loads of those winter coats with cute motifs (they look they're made of wool, but they aren't) that you can't find in S'pore. In S'pore, the ugliest winter jacket costs you at least S$100. Lol.

But I didn't buy much because the clothes are all winter clothes which I have no use for once I come back to S'pore. They were really thick(unlike the ones in Taiwan which I could still buy), I would die of heat-stroke even if I wear them in an air-conditioned shopping mall in S'pore! I only bought an off-shoulder long-sleeved top(which was like the thinnest I could find), among all the clothes in the entire building! But I would very much want to go back to Seoul in June where I can shop till I drop. Imagine how much summer clothings there would be for me to buy!

Myeongdong was super crowded, not sure if it was because that night was Christmas Eve or it's just as crowded every night. But it was really great to be spending Christmas Eve in Myeongdong because whether it was the atmosphere or the Christmas lights, Singapore's Orchard Road was nowhere near it. When I saw the Christmas lightings stretching from Myeongdong area to our hotel to Cheonggyecheon Stream area, I was like 'Goodness, and they made so much hype about Orchard Road?' I swear, Orchard Road cannot compare to what I saw in Seoul. In Orchard Road, they decorated only the top of the trees with some lights, but in Seoul, they decorated the entire tree with lights. And there were so many trees lining the streets! Imagine how much money they must have spent on those Christmas lights! And you know, earlier in December, I went to Orchard Road and saw those sticks (that have lights coming down which looks like falling snowflakes) on the trees, I was like 'Wow, so pretty!' But guess what, I saw even more of them on the trees in Myeongdong, except they looked even more realistic, they really looked like falling snowflakes.

One thing though, Christmas in Korea is a couple's holiday, not a family one. It's like Valentine's Day. The restaurants and cafes were packed with lovey-dovey couples taking selcas(short for self-camera, meaning self-photos) on their phones/cameras, or even as far as wearing matching outfits and gloves that have 2 openings for 2 hands. I've seen lots of couples the entire day, at Everland and now at Myeongdong. But if you're one who's easily annoyed by couples being lovey-dovey with each other or if there are only so many girlfriends' pouty cutey blowfish faces and boyfriends' "ahhh, kieopda!!"(So cute!) moments you can take, I advise you to stay home or stay in your hotel for that matter. Lol.

Anyway, Myeongdong was really big. It was easy to get lost, especially when it was so crowded. Myeongdong was really fun, there was so much to see and so much to buy at Myeongdong. Myeongdong is also where most youngsters go to, probably because they sell stuffs that cater to teenagers. The prices are pretty affordable too. But I've been told not to buy stuffs that are from foreign brands, brands like Levi's, Calvin Klein, etc. They tend to be more expensive than that in S'pore because Korea imposes high tariffs on imported goods. In contrast, most of the Made in Korea stuffs are much cheaper than what we would get in S'pore, which explains why Korean cosmetics are cheaper there. That being said, my sister, however, got a pair of Vans for only about S$45, which is much cheaper than in S'pore. So, I don't think all foreign brands are necessarily more expensive. I would say that you have to try to see for yourself.

While in Korea, we had also been warned by the tour guide not to buy LV, Chanel, Dior or any of those branded stuffs there, it's not worth it because they're about 25-30% more expensive than in S'pore or any other countries, due to the high tariffs. And usually when you buy branded goods, you pay by credit card because I'm pretty sure you don't go shopping with a suitcase of bills. Paying by credit card is no-no in Korea, because they don't convert directly from Korean Won to Sing Dollars. They convert from Won to USD to SGD. And you know, exchange rates for credit cards(or most money changers) usually put you at the losing end because they know that you don't have enough cash money to pay for your purchases, that's why you're resorting to using credit card or changing more money. So if the exchange rate make you lose about 3% each time they convert, that means you lose 6% right away when you use credit card. 6% plus the 30% from the tariffs, say if you get a branded bag there that cost about S$3k, you probably can get it for about S$2k in S'pore, with S$1k left over to get a small branded purse or something. So, if you can help it, try not to pay by credit card for any of your purchases, always use cash money. And try to change enough Korean won to last throughout your trip.

You must have noticed from the photos by now that Myeongdong has alot Korean brand cosmetics shops. The Face Shop, Etude House, Missha, Tony Moly, Baviphat, Skin Food, Innisfree and many many more. If you're into Korean cosmetics, I recommend that you buy alot and stock up. Because most of the products there are cheaper than Singapore's by about 3 times or even more. Plus, they throw in lots of freebies(travel-sized bottles or sample packets of their new products) when you buy their products. You don't get that in Singapore.

Even before you enter the shop, you're just walking along the streets, they will shove freebies(boxes of cotton pads, the boxes have pictures of celebrities endorsing their products) to you, expecting you to take them. Within a night, my Mum got like 4 boxes of them, 2 from Tony Moly with Kim Hyun Joong's face on it, 2 boxes from Etude House with Lee Min Ho's and Park Shin Hye's faces on it. Lol. But a word of caution though, when you accept the freebies from the salesgirls, they will pull you into their shops and start recommending products to you. That's why most Koreans don't accept the freebies, but I doubt that will be the case in Singapore if they start giving out freebies here. Haha. For Singaporeans visiting Korea, like my Mum, I don't think shoving freebies and then dragging you into the store is necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I think it's more of a good thing because most Singaporeans visit Korea with the intent of buying loads of Korean cosmetics back, so why not just take the freebies they give you? But sadly, my Mum threw away 3 out of the 4 boxes of cotton pads she got once we got back to the hotel because she thought they take up too much space in the luggage. Lol. If I had brought them back, I bet I can sell them online for 5 bucks each and there will still be some Lee Min Ho-crazy or Kim Hyun Joong-crazy fans who will buy from me. Hehehe.

Anyway, after walking for a long time, my Dad, Bro and I wanted to have Starbucks and just chill while waiting for my Mum & Sis to finish their shopping. We walked into a 5-storey Starbucks in Myeongdong, went from the 1st level to the 5th(yeah, cafes & fast food chains usually have multiple levels), we couldn't even find a table! That was how crowded it was. Too bad it was full house or else drinking Starbucks in Myeongdong would be a whole new experience because if you get a window seat and look down, you'll see lots of people thronging through the street. Pretty cool, we don't have that in Singapore. I don't think we have a 2-storey Starbucks, do we?

So no Starbucks, we settled for Cola from Burger King. Lol. When you're thirsty, any drink will do. Lol. You must be thinking that we're crazy for drinking iced Cola in such freezing weather. But that's what makes it fun. Hehe. No big deal, we ate ice-cream on even colder days during our trip.

And oh, I was surprised that the Burger King was just a counter by itself, there was no tables, no seats nothing. So it's pretty much 'buy and takeaway'. Extreme, isn't it? Some fast food chains are like 5-storey high, but some are just holes in a building. Lol.

After finishing our Colas, we walked back to the area near our hotel to see the Christmas lights, and because we wanted to go to Cheonggyecheon Stream which is another Christmas hotspot just 500m ahead of our hotel. I did some research prior to leaving for Korea, that's why I knew where to go.

Yeah, Lotte is super rich, in fact it's one of the largest conglomerates in Korea. It can afford to have celebrities endorsing for their Lotte Duty Free shop. Having DBSK & Rain alone to endorse is no small sum, not to mention there are other famous celebrities like Big Bang and Choi Ji Woo.

Actually I made a mistake while walking to the Cheonggyecheon Stream. We were supposed to just walk straight ahead from our hotel for less than 5 minutes, and we would come to the stream. But we walked to the left of our hotel and made a huge detour. Nevertheless, we did end up at the stream eventually. Even though it was cold, there were more things to see on our detour.

We headed to the east of Seoul and then out of Seoul. We were going to Mount Seorak which is about 3 hours+ away in Sokcho, Gangwon-do. I fell asleep before we were even out of Seoul. The next thing I knew, I woke up about an hour later shivering like crazy. I had to put on my winter jacket(I was holding it in my hands all the while because I thought it would be stuffy wearing it), my gloves, scarf and earmuffs. Despite being wrapped up like a dumpling, I was still shivering away. And the thing is, I was inside a bus! I was supposed to be feeling warm and cozy! Imagine how cold it would be outside!

Apparently, we had just entered Gangwon-do. Water droplets had condensed on the entire window that I couldn't even see the outside, I had to wipe them off with a tissue. When I finally saw the outside, it was almost entirely white! And it was beautiful! Snow on a Christmas morning, definitely a white Christmas. ^^ Well, it wasn't snowing, but I think it snowed earlier in the morning or the night before.

The guide told us that Gangwon-do has the lowest temperature in winter(average of -17°C but can reach as low as -30°C) among all the 'dos' in Korea. In case you're wondering, Korea has 9 'do'(道/provinces) - Gyeonggi-do(where Seoul is), Gangwon-do, Chungcheongbuk-do, Chungcheongnam-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, Jeollabuk-do, Jeollanam-do and Jeju-do(where Jeju Island is). In each 'do', you have different 'si' (市/cities), like Seoul-si(pronounced as Seoul-shi, si is pronounced as shi), Incheon-si, Busan-si, etc. In each 'si', you have different 'gu'(区/districts). In each 'gu', you have different 'dong'(洞/neighbourhoods). And in each 'dong', you have different 'ro'(路/roads or streets). I put the Chinese translation before the English because it's easier to remember and understand because of the similarities between the Korean and Chinese pronounciation. Recap, entire South Korea > do (道/province) > si (市/city) > gu (区/district) > dong (洞/neighbourhood) > ro (路/road or street). So if you're writing to a penpal living in Myeongdong, Jung-gu, the address on the envelope would look something like this: South Korea, Seoul-si, Jung-gu, Myeong-dong, Eulji-ro, 1234 Beonji(meaning building no. or lot no.), 5J(floor no. & apartment no.). Note that it's written from 'big' to 'small', which is the reverse of writing a US address where you go from 'small' to 'big'. And yes, it is important to write the entire address as it is because say if you left out Seoul-si, the poor postman wouldn't know where to deliver the letter because Jung-gu merely means Central District. There are a total of 6 Central Districts or Jung-gus(in Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Daejeon, Daegu and Ulsan) in the entire South Korea.

That's a really long explanation about the do, si, gu, dong, etc. Lol. After about one and a half hours on the road, we came to Hwayang-Gang Land rest-stop. Took a toilet break, bought some more junk food from the convenience store there and 2 barbecued squids for 3000₩ (S$3.60) each. The barbecued squids were delicious! Cheap too, we can never get squids in Singapore for that cheap.

After an hour and a half, we finally arrived at the restaurant where we were going to have our lunch. Lunch was Soondooboo Jjigae(Soft Tofu Stew). Dooboo means tofu.

The Soondooboo Jjigae was delicious, the tofu was so soft that they kind of just disintegrate into tiny pieces in the stew. So when you're drinking the soup, you suck up the tofu as well. Lol.

Half an hour later, we arrived at Mount Seorak National Park. Mount Seorak(also known as Seoraksan) is the 3rd highest mountain in South Korea and the highest mountain in the Taebaek mountain range. The guide told us that Seoraksan can be written in Hanja/Chinese as 雪岳山 or 雪嶽山. The first, I think, it just means snow-covered mountain. But the second, when directly translated, means 'snow hell mountain'. Sorry, if it doesn't make any sense because there's no way to translate 雪嶽山 into English. It's just describing a snow-covered mountain as hell. The reason for the second way of writing had to do with Korean History. I don't know the exact story, History was never my thing so I wasn't paying attention to the guide.

The inner part of Mount Seorak is out-of-bound to the public because it has loads of Korean Ginsengs growing in it and is protected by the Korean Government or Military or something like that. Again, I wasn't pay much attention to the guide. So anyway, the public can only visit the outer part of Mount Seorak, which was where we went.

The entire park was really beautiful! We walked around the ground level of the park before taking a cable car, the cheater-bug method, up to the top of Mount Seorak. There were other hardcore mountain hikers, fully geared in their equipment, who took the hard way up. I don't know how they managed to reach the peak. I really can't imagine anyone reaching even half the height of Mount Seorak, because it's so tall and steep! Even though we took a cable car up, we still needed to climb for some distance(plus our trail was a comfortable one made for visitors who don't hike) before reaching the peak, correction, we didn't reach the peak because it was impossible to do so. We reached somewhere near the peak.

There's a Buddhist temple called Sinheungsa on the ground level of the park. The guide told us that a scene in My Name is Kim Sam Soon was filmed here, but I had no recollection of that scene. Probably because I watched it too long ago.

The temple is located in the inner areas of the park. But it has a Bronze Buddha statue near the entrance of the park. According to the guide, the Buddha statue is the largest 'sitting' Buddha statue in Korea. I'm not a Buddhist so I don't know, but I think there's many kinds of Buddha statues.

After we were done with exploring the ground level of the park, we waited at the cable car station for our ride. We had to wait until around 4.15pm because that was the time printed on our tickets.

While waiting, we got some food to eat. As if it wasn't cold enough, I got a cup of Mini-melts(they're called 'dipping dots' there) for 2000₩ (S$2.40). I think it's pretty cheap. The flavours were all written in Korean, luckily I could read Hangeul to order a cup of Rainbow-flavoured Mini-melts. The Mini-melts were so cold that the moment I put them in my mouth, they just stick to the lips, the tongue, and the sides and roof of my mouth. And when I tried to 'peel' them off, I felt as though part of my skin came off together with the Mini-melts. I've to admit that eating Mini-melts over there can be quite a painful experience. Not to mention that I was shivering from the cold after finishing that cup. Lol.

When it was time, we hopped onto the cable car. There are a total of 2 cable cars in the entire system. But each cable car is quite big and can take 50 people each time. The view from the cable car was really breath-taking! The following photos were all taken while the cable car was ascending to the top of the mountain.

The ride lasted about 10 minutes. When we got out of the cable car station to continue climbing up to the peak of the mountain, I swear, it was so freaking cold that I've never felt this cold in my entire life. I think it must had been at least -20°C. Every breath of cold air was like a stab on my nose and it started dripping. And the wind was so strong that I was so afraid that I would be blown away! It's not very often(never, actually) a person my size would have the chance to say that he would be blown away by the wind. So, you can imagine how strong the wind was. I kept wrapping my scarf round my neck even though I thought I was going to be strangled to death by my own scarf, because I was afraid that my scarf would be blown off. Lol.

We started climbing up the trail to the peak. Even though this was the most comfortable trail made for visitors who do not hike, it was no easy feat at all! I wonder how those hardcore hikers were doing with their hardcore trails... Lol. With that kind of coldness and my hair slapping my eyes and face due to the wind(I wasn't wearing a beanie), it was difficult to see where I was going or where the next step was. Then, it started snowing, which made things worse. I mean, it's a good thing that it was snowing because it just make the entire experience even more beautiful but it also made the climbing more difficult.

Soon, before I was even halfway through the trail, I was panting like a dog, snot was dripping down my nose, the ends of my scarf was flying all over the place, my hair was all over my face, I was Sadako on Mount Seorak. What an unglam sight. I finally got to the peak after spending 20 minutes or more on the trail. The guide reached the peak earlier than I did and she's 40, while I'm 18! Felt so ashamed of my own fitness.

Anyway, the view at the peak was beautiful(I used that alot, don't I? Lol)! I know I said the ground level of the park was beautiful, the view from the cable car was beautiful and now the peak. I mean, every part of the park is beautiful in it's own way. Like, you can't see the close-up of the peak from the ground level and vice-versa. And with the snowing, it was indeed a white Christmas! ^^

We took the last cable car down to ground level. It was getting quite dark even though it was only around 6pm. We boarded the bus and headed for dinner at a restaurant about half an hour away. Dinner was Barbecued Pork and Squid. All the meals we had in Korea were delicious, but this meal has got to be one of the best. I like pork and squid, so a pork and squid combo was just <3!

I tried a shot of Soju, but I really didn't like it. I don't understand why in Korean dramas, the actors or actresses keep gulping it down like water. Honestly, it tastes exactly like the alcohol we used in the Chemistry lab, not that I've tasted the ones in the labs before, but yeah, it just tastes, looks and smells like that.

Soju is wine that is made from rice, potato, wheat, barley, or tapioca. Usually has 20% to 45% alcohol content, depending on the type. The one I drank was around 19%, so it wasn't strong, but I just didn't like it. In case you didn't know, soju or most Korean alcohol are dirt-cheap over there. Like the bottle of soju I drank from, it cost only 1900₩ (S$2.30). Because it's from the restaurant, it's slightly more expensive(but it's still freaking cheap), if you get it at a supermarket or convenience store, it only costs about 1000₩ (S$1.20). Darn, back in Singapore, I can't even get a teh-peng with that kind of price at a coffee shop. And when I came back to Singapore, I went to Sol-mart(it's a Korean supermarket), the bottle of soju cost S$15, thanks to Singapore's heavy sin tax. I heard that if you try getting a bottle of soju in a Korean restaurant in Singapore, it costs at least S$30. Wow, that's totally marked up by 13 times. Anyway, the cheap alcohols in Korea explains why most Koreans drink, and why Korean dramas always have their characters drinking at roadside stalls. Lol.

It's the same case with cigarettes. A pack of cigarettes in Korea only cost about 3000₩ (S$3.60)? That's like 4 times cheaper than in Singapore. The imported ones are slightly more expensive, but it's still dirt-cheap cheap compared to Singapore. And that's why most Korean guys smoke, including some teenagers. Male celebrities smoke too. By celebrities, I don't mean the male idols/singers from idol groups because they're forbidden from smoking by their companies, but I mean celebrities who don't sing for a career, more specifically, the actors. Lee Minho, Jang Keun Suk, and alot more others, they all smoke. But here's something interesting, Korean girls don't smoke, or I should say that there are very few(and I mean really few) girls who smoke. In Singapore, if you're a girl and you smokes, nobody will even bat an eyelid. But if you're a girl in Korea and tries to smoke, everyone(both guys and girls) who walk past will give you dirty looks. It's sort-of a taboo for girls to smoke over there.

After dinner, we headed to the Kensington Flora Hotel which was an hour's drive away. It started to get really cold, even though we were inside the bus. By the time we reached the hotel, it was snowing rather heavily outside. White Christmas once more. When we got down from the bus, it was like a repeat of Mount Seorak. Lol. The snow, the strong cold winds...my hands were freezing. When we got into the hotel lobby, I just stuck myself in front of the fireplace while we were waiting for our room keys. Lol.

Kensington Flora Hotel is a 5-star hotel, but of course, being a hotel in the countryside, you can't expect it to be the same as a 5-star hotel in the city. It wasn't too shabby, in fact, I was pretty impressed because it was better than all the 10 hotels I've stayed in in Taiwan.

After putting the luggage in our room, we went down to the convenience store on the ground floor of the hotel. That's what I love about some hotels in Korea, they have convenience stores within them or nearby so that guests can buy food, snacks, gifts, toiletries, etc. That's what we do almost every night - supper, cup noodles, chocolates, biscuits, sweets, peanuts, milk, coffee, alcohol. No wonder I gained so much weight after returning from Korea. Haha.

Hmm, how shall I say it? After skiing for nearly 2 hours, I conclude that skiing's not my thing, give me ice-skating any day. The ski boots were very heavy and so tight around my calves area that I felt so restricted, I could hardly move freely. Okay, I know my calves are fat, and I know that's the way the ski boots should be worn so that the boots are not loose and I won't sway left or right while I skiing, but really, skiing is too tiring for me. Honestly, skiing is easy, much easier than ice-skating because you don't have to worry about maintaining your balance since your feet are flat on the ground and the basics are just knowing which position to poke your ski sticks, pushing yourself forward with the sticks, how to get up after falling, and of course, braking/stopping. But if you aren't a pro, it takes way too much time and energy to go up even a small slope in those tight and heavy boots, only to ski down the slope in a matter of seconds. If you're a pro, you kind of have it easier because you have the Gondola or the ski chairlift to bring you to the top of the slope, but like I said earlier, those slopes really dangerous and are definitely not for everyone.

I gave up after 2 hours at skiing, my hands were really freezing by now, I couldn't really feel my own fingers anymore. Was so worried that I would get frostbites. Lol. Fortunately I didn't.

I met another nice Korean while skiing. There was this little girl who was also skiing and she knocked into me from behind. I didn't see her at all so there was no way I could have avoided her unless I had eyes at the back of my head. I lost my balance and fell onto my butt. Her mum quickly came over and started apologizing profusely 'Choesong hamnida, choesong hamnida.'(Sorry). I, in turn, was saying 'Gwaenchanayo, gwaenchanayo'(It's ok, it's ok) profusely. I mean, everyone falls while skiing, plus the girl was really young, probably around 5, she was also a beginner and definitely didn't mean to knock into me if she could help it, she also fell down too. I tried to get up using what the instructor taught but I couldn't, I didn't have that much strength! I was supposed to push the ground with my right hand and push myself to the left so that I could stand up on my skis. Apparently, the instructor's methods weren't working and my butt was still on the ground, I couldn't get up! The little girl's mum saw that I was struggling to get up, she held me from under my shoulders and helped me up. I was like 'Kamsahamnida!'(Thank you). Such a nice lady! ^^

After deciding not skiing, I went back to the locker area to get my shoes. It was so difficult to walk with the ski boots on, I think I took like 15 minutes just to get to the lockers. Upon reaching, I realised that the keys were with my Mum and I didn't know where she was. So I just sat there and waited and waited and waited. I was feeling incredibly cold, my hands were still freezing even though I was already indoors. The heater weren't helping at all. I think I waited for nearly 2 hours before my Mum and Sis came back. By then, I had already caught a cold and was feeling feverish. -.-

After my entire family came back from skiing, we returned our skis and went for dinner at this Japanese Ramen Restaurant called Hatoya. It's located in the shopping plaza. After my Dad, bro and I decided on our orders, I turned to the waiter, wanting to say 'Hatoya Ramen sam-gae juseyo'(Please give me 3 Hatoya Ramen. I don't think 'gae'/个 is the correct unit for bowls of ramen, but my Korean isn't fantastic. It does sound alittle weird but I think Koreans will get what you mean, just like when you say 三个拉面 in S'pore, lol). I ended up stuttering 'Uhhh...uh..', not because I was struggling with my Korean but because I was stunned by how much he looked like the younger version of Lee Minho! I'm not kidding, I initially thought Lee Minho came to YongPyong to work. Lol.

Okay, the food was...I don't know, I barely ate one-third of my ramen because of my throat which felt like sandpaper. But my family all finished their ramen so I'm guessing it was not bad. It wasn't expensive either, 10,000₩ (S$12) for a bowl. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel. By then I was running a high fever, and my limbs and joints were aching(I don't know about you guys, but this always happen to me when I've a fever). I was shivering (it was even colder now that the sun had set) and could hardly walk straight on the way back, I think I was swaying left and right like a drunkard. Got back to my room, told my family to count me out of their snow-sledging. Yeah, they were planning to go back to the ski slopes, this time with snow sledges instead of skis. I kind of regretted not joining them in their snow-sledging because it's much more fun than skiing. Like, you don't have to learn to snow-sledge in order to snow-sledge, you just sit on it, sledge down the slope and have a time of your life! But I knew myself well enough to know that I was in no condition to go snow-sledging.

So I popped 2 Panadol Flu-max and another 2 anti-inflammatory tablets, and went to take a nap. Those pills worked wonders! I woke up about an hour later (actually I was woken up by the loud music blasting outside), feeling like I didn't have a fever or cold in the first place!

My family soon came from their snow-sledging and I guess everyone was starting to feel hungry already, we went to the convenience store which was just across the hotel lobby to get suppers/snacks. While coming back from the convenience store, I saw this poster in the hotel lobby:

I was like 'OMG OMG OMG!!! MBLAQ and f(x) are here?!?! WHAT TIME IS IT NOW???', almost screaming at my sis. Lol. She told me it was already 10pm+. But the poster said the concert started at 9pm! So apparently, the music which woke me up from my nap was from MTV The M Winter Special Concert. >.<

Look at what MBLAQ was wearing in the -13°C cold, it must had been freezing for them! After the concert ended, almost everyone scrambled indoors where it was warmer. I kind of regretted not hanging around after the concert so that I could go up to MBLAQ or f(x) to get a close-up fancam of them. Hahaha.

Anyway, my sis and I returned back to our room after that and ate our supper. Kimbap! It was only 1000₩ (S$1.20) for an entire roll of kimbap! My sis also got a small version of those Korean mayonnaise for 700₩ (80 cents)? Freaking cheap. Kimbap + mayo is just love! ^^ And of course, we bought milk too.

Early morning call again. Packed and went out to the lobby at 7am. It was -15.7°C outside, probably one of my coldest days there.

It was pretty cold when we walked to the restaurant on the another part of YongPyong for breakfast, but I guess the beautiful empty ski slopes at dawn made up for it. It's not always that you get to see the slopes empty. =)

After breakfast, we boarded the bus and headed back to Seoul.

What else could I do on the bus other than to catch up on my beauty sleep? I only slept an average of 5 hours every night there, blame it on the TV! Lol.

About an hour into my sleep/our journey back to Seoul, we came to this rest stop. It was one of the nicest rest stops I had ever seen. The toilets were like 'whoa, is this even a toilet?' They had restaurants and food stalls. The architecture was just awesome. Totally impressed by what I saw. I never knew a rest stop could look this amazing.

We reached Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu at around 11am, supposedly for lunch but since it was alittle too early for lunch, we had some free and easy time. Itaewon is a popular place in Seoul for foreigners and US Military personnel(because of the US Army base in Yongsan), and I do believe that Itaewon has one of the highest number of foreigners living in an area. Most of the shops here have signs written in English and some of these shops are actually owned by foreigners.

Itaewon has 2 different sets of Hanja interpretation, 梨泰院 and 异胎院. The latter references the 1592-98 Japanese invasion where the Japanese army occupied Seoul and raped the Buddhist nuns residing in Unjeong-sa temple in Hwanghak-dong(current Itaewon area). Some of the nuns became pregnant and built a tent house where they later gave birth to the children. People started calling the place 异胎院, 异 means different or foreign and 胎 means pregnancy. So 异胎院 means a place for bearing foreign children. But since the name brings up a sad past, it's generally not used now. It is said that someone planted a pear(梨) tree in that area many years ago and it grew very well, so the name 梨泰院 is used instead.

Itaewon is a good place to go to if you're looking for bars, nightclubs, restaurants serving foreign cuisine or just looking for a place where you can be exposed to the Korean culture but at the same time, be in a English-speaking environment. But I wouldn't say that you would be 'immersed' in the Korean culture, if you would like to do that, I would suggest that you visit other neighbourhoods besides Itaewon. Imo, it's kind of difficult to learn more about a culture when you're in an environment which is similar to what you have back home.

Although I didn't visit Itaewon in the night, but I've heard that while Itaewon does have a vibrant nightlife scene, it can sometimes get rather 'complicated' at night. Fights among drunk foreigners, wasted people on the streets and prostitution, mostly by Russian prostitutes. That's why some Koreans regard the area as a no-go. There's a red light district in Itaewon called Hooker Hill. And there are 'happy ending' barber shops where men can actually get haircuts and also something more substantial. Lol. Kind of like those massage parlors in S'pore's Geylang except that you get a haircut instead of a massage. Haha.

But I guess if you're just there for the international cuisine, there shouldn't be a problem. Just be careful not to be ripped off. Because many tourists and foreigners visit Itaewon, sometimes the prices may be jacked up ridiculously. But do note that foreign cuisine may sometimes be alittle more expensive than what you have back home, that's pretty normal, not a rip-off.

After spending about half an hour walking the streets of Itaewon, we went for lunch at 11.30am at a restaurant, also in Itaewon. The reason for the early lunch is that we had a flight to catch in the early afternoon. Lunch was Dwaeji Bulgogi(Grilled Pork BBQ). Another great lunch! Best of all, there was free flow of grilled pork! You must have guessed by now that I love grilled or BBQ food. Hahaha!

After lunch, we headed to Gimpo International Airport, which was half an hour away, to catch a 2.10pm flight to Jeju Island.

Gimpo International Airport is more for domestic flights and flights to Osaka, Tokyo, Shanghai and a few other areas nearer to Korea while Incheon International Airport is for the rest of the international flights.

Just look at how many celebrities endorsements there are at the airport alone!

Our flight was at first delayed by 30 minutes because the previous flight landed late and then by another 30 minutes because it started snowing quite heavily. We only landed in Jeju at around 4pm. We would have arrived in Jeju at around 3pm if not for the delay since a flight from Seoul to Jeju is only a short 50 minutes. I fell asleep throughout the flight, the next thing I knew was my mom waking me up.

After getting out of Jeju Airport, we took the bus to our first attraction on Jeju, the Mysterious Road(also known as Dokkaebi Road or Ghost Road), which was about 15 minutes away. As the name suggests, there's something paranormal about the road. Our bus stopped on the road and the bus began to go uphill when the engine was switched off. It was so scary!

A story has it that a newly-married couple went on a honeymoon in Jeju (in case you did not know, Jeju's a honeymoon island for many Korean couples). While driving at night, the wife suddenly had to use a toilet urgently, so the husband stopped the car next to the toilet and got off the car to accompany his wife. When the wife came out from the toilet, both the husband and wife found that their car had disappeared. It wasn't next to the toilet anymore, and they finally found their car far ahead on the road. They were so scared, I mean cars don't move by themselves when the engines are switched off, do they? The couple fled in their car and since then, the road was named Mysterious Road or Ghost Road.

Sorry, I couldn't take a photo of the road because everyone, being curious, scared and all, was standing up on the bus. But I found a photo and a Youtube video that will allow you to see why there's something supernatural about Mysterious Road.

Nah, I was just kidding about the supernatural part. The vehicle really did move when the engine was switched off, but it actually moved downhill instead of uphill. What we saw was just an illusion. Due to the lack of a true horizon, subconsciously our judgement of a slope is misled by the false horizon in that area, that's why we were tricked in believing that it's an uphill ahead.

We headed to Yongduam(Dragon Head Rock) next. Yong means dragon, du means head, am means rock, so Yongduam literally means Dragon Head Rock. Yongduam's an unusual basalt rock formation from a volcanic eruption 2 million years ago in the shape of a dragon head. Legend has it that an envoy sent by the Dragon King to gather the elixir of life on Mt. Halla(Hallasan), was shot down by the angry guardian spirit of Hallasan. The fleeing dragon fell into the sea and turned into rock with his head still surging towards the sky.

The waves were beautiful, so I decided to take some videos(below). Sorry for the poor sound quality though, those were the sound of the strong winds.

After Yongduam, we went to this underground shopping mall, don't know what's the name of it. The shopping mall was great, cheap and wide variety, like a mini-Dongdaemun. if only they sold summer clothes. =(

After shopping, we went for dinner at a restaurant about 15 minutes away. Dinner that night was Black Pig Meat. Heuk Dwaeji(Black Pig) is found on Jeju, so black pork is eaten very often. The one we ate that night was just cooked and sliced, but we did try grilled black pork for lunch the next day. Black pork isn't really black though, it just look like regular pork. But imo, it's slightly tougher than ordinary pork.

After dinner, we went to watch Nanta, a Korean non-verbal comedy performance. It was shown in Singapore a few years back but the tickets were hell expensive. S$200+ for one. It's cheaper to catch it in Korea, 40,000₩ (S$50) each.

Nanta integrates dance, acapella singing, martial arts, acrobatics, pantomime, traditional Korean Samul Nori music performed with improvised instruments like cutting boards, kitchen knives, water canisters, all into one performance. I haven't watched alot of performances before, but it was the best performance I've ever watched. Love it! I'm so impressed at the performers, they were so talented! No, that's an understatement, they're outstanding all-rounded entertainers. Imagine mastering every aspect that I've mentioned above! Plus they use real knives and food, so there's dangerous knife-work involved. If they weren't careful, they could have easily chopped of their own fingers during their performances or practices.

Nanta performs nearly everyday, so I can imagine that the performers does nothing but training, training and more training. It must have taken lots of hardwork and talent in order to pass the auditions for Nanta.

For those who would like to catch Nanta, but won't be in Jeju, there's also Nanta performances at 3 other locations in Seoul - Myeongdong, Gangbuk Jeong Dong and Gangnam.

We headed to the hotel after the performance ended. The hotel was about an hour's drive away. While on the road, it started snowing heavily. The roads were snow-filled and slippery. But bus driver ajusshi was driving with such speed that it scared the hell out of us. To make matter worse, a car which was travelling next to our bus at about the same speed suddenly skidded and crashed into the forest. It was nothing serious, it just veered off the tracks and went into the grasses. Lol. But I don't think it would be the same for a bus if it skidded. I guess we were really fortunate that nothing happen, thank goodness.

While on the journey to the hotel, the guide got news from her colleague with another tour group that we were really fortunate that our flight to Jeju earlier in the afternoon was shifted forward. Okay, actually our flight was scheduled to be at 4.30pm, but my guide called the airline to ask if they could shift our tour group to an earlier flight if there were seats available. The reason for doing that is so that we would have enough time to visit all the attractions on Jeju, otherwise we probably would have rush throughout our itinerary on Jeju or worse, miss out on some attractions. So that's why our flight was shifted to 2.10pm. But remember I said that even our flight at 2.10pm was delayed by an hour because of the snow? It turned out that our flight was the last that was allowed to take off because the snow got worse and they delayed all other flights by another 5 hours. Had we been on the later flight, we would probably reach the hotel at only 12midnight, without the Dragon Head Rock attraction, underground shopping mall, dinner and Nanta.

We reached the hotel at around 10.30pm and checked in. Our hotel was Lotte Hotel Jeju, another 6-star hotel. It's located at nearly the most southern tip of Jeju, which means the most southern tip of Korea since Jeju is the southern-most part of Korea. We would be staying at the same hotel for 2 nights. The hotel's amazing, it's super huge, has a casino, a super duper nice swimming pool(but it was too cold to be swimming), ice-skating rink, windmills, etc. Yes, windmills, you aren't seeing wrongly! In fact, Lotte Hotel Jeju was one of the filming sites for the Korean drama, All In. My guide told us that Song Hye Gyo and Lee Byung Hun kissed in the drama in front of the windmills. Lol. I didn't watch that drama so I don't know.

It was pretty late then, so I didn't go out to explore the hotel, but more photos of it the next day!

My sis and I meant to wake up at 6am because the guide told us that we should go down to have a look at the morning scenery and the beach because it was really beautiful. But we ended up snoozing the alarm and only woke up at 6.45am! Lol. We quickly got dressed and went outside. True enough, the scenery was indeed beautiful! Let the pictures speak for themselves:

Gathered at the hotel lobby at around 7.30am, and then we headed out for breakfast - abalone porridge! Yeah, they got too many abalones on Jeju Island that they can afford to shred up abalones and mix them in porridge. Lol.

The abalones are shred up into really tiny pieces that you can't even see them in the porridge. That's the way abalone porridge is prepared, so don't expect to see one whole piece of abalone when you're eating the porridge! Haha. Yep, the porridge tasted really great because it was sweet, something like what my Mum always prepare when I was younger. I mean, she didn't put in abalone, but it just tastes like it.

We headed to our first attraction of the day - Jusang Jeollidae. They are like rock columns on the shore formed by waves crashing on the rocks. Hmm, I think they looked alright, not really amazing. I guess I don't know how to appreciate the beauty of rocks Haha.

We left Jusang Jeollidae and went to Cheonjeyeon Waterfall next. It is a three-tier waterfall. But the one we visited was the second-tier I think.

Cheonjeyeon, as you can see from the photo below, is called 天帝渊 in Chinese, which means Pond of the Heaven's Emperor. The Korean legend has it that nymphs would descend from the heavens at night and bathe in the waterfall's pond.

The waterfall, I must say, is beautiful. The surroundings were so peaceful, I wouldn't mind camping there. And yes, I can appreciate the beauty of waterfalls. Hahaha.

See the long flight of stairs? That's what we had climb up after visiting the waterfall. I was panting heavily after I finally reached the top. I don't think I would ever visit the third-tier of the waterfall. Lol.

Remember I said that in the legend, nymphs would come down to Cheonjeyeon Waterfall? There's an arch bridge called Seonimgyo Bridge with 7 nymphs carved on each side over the waterfall. The nymphs symbolize the descent of 7 beautiful nymphs from heaven at night.

The view from the bridge is simply breathtaking! It didn't matter which side of the bridge you faced, both sides was just as awesome!

After we were done with the folk village, we went for lunch half an hour away I think. Grilled Black Pork! Yum yum, I'm so sorry Mr Black Piggy. Again, since it was a tour group lunch, there was free flow of pork. It was so good that my family got third helpings. Hahaha. Told ya I like barbecued stuffs.

Next, we went to Seongsan Ilchubong (Sunrise Peak), an UNESCO Natural World Heritage site. Even though its called Sunrise Peak, I think we were there just in time for sunset. Lol. Sunrise Peak is so called because as the easternmost tip of Jeju Island, this area is the first to greet each day's new sun. And at the top of Sunrise Peak is a large volcanic crater. Don't worry, I think the volcano's dormant or extinct. Beware, the following section that you're about to see is extremely image-heavy because the Sunrise Peak was so beautiful that I couldn't stop snapping pictures and panoramas.

Climbing half an hour's worth of stairs was no joke! I was panting heavily and snot was running down my nose, I think this happens when you're trying to breath deeply and heavily, but all you're breathing in is cold air. -.- Even though I was already drained of energy by the time I reached the peak, it was really gorgeous, I had never seen anything like this. Both the views from the bottom of the cliff and from the peak were just as beautiful. You'll agree with me after seeing the photos below.

After we descended from Sunrise Peak, we went to the shops nearby to get some Jeju souvenirs, more specifically, Dol Hareubangs keychains. They were so cute! You'll see them later in the photos that I took of my purchases after returning back to S'pore.

We took an hour's bus ride to the Teddy Bear Museum on the southern part of Jeju, back where our hotel was. In fact the Teddy Bear Museum was only 5 minutes away from our hotel. As the name suggests, Teddy Bear Museum is full of...teddy bears! Teddy Bear Museum is also home to the world's smallest bears and the world's most expensive bear, all of which you'll see later in the photos.

And those who had watched Goong will find the museum rather familiar. That's because Shin Chae-gyung(Yoon Eun Hye's character) visited the museum in the drama. The museum even had a section for the Goong bears, if anyone remembers, they were the beautiful bears that were shown at the end of each Goong episode.

After breakfast, we went to this building which sold cordyceps and a kind of dietary supplement called Korean Raisin, it supposed to be good for the liver or something like that. My Dad got a box of the Korean Raisin for S$470. Imo, it wasn't cheap.

After that, we went to a jewellery shop Yeouido which sold amethyst. My family usually don't buy jewellery because really, we don't have any use for them. So we didn't get anything at the shop, except for a couple of amethyst keychains because they were quite cheap at 10000₩(S$12). I know it's too cheap for the entire keychain to be made in amethyst, but real amethyst or not, at least I have some use for them. Plus, they were really pretty, you'll see later in one of the photos.

We went to the convenience store next and bought loads of snacks to be brought over to Singapore, because it was probably the last convenience store we were going to visit before we return back to S'pore. Lol. Bought ice-cream to eat too!

Then we went to another building which had 2 entire levels selling Korean snacks and souvenirs!!! Bought alot, an entire carton in fact, and had it sealed and checked in as luggage at the airport. Lol.

After the shopping, we headed back to Incheon International Airport where we would catch the 2pm flight back to S'pore.

So yeah, we board the plane at 2pm and said goodbye to Korea! =(

Landed at Singapore Changi Airport T2 at around 8pm. Checked out, got our luggage and bought some duty-free items. We had dinner after that, we missed Singapore food, so guess where we went for dinner? Hahaha, yep, the Ah Wang Cafe which we had our last dinner before we flew off to Korea!