Korea : Jeju 220508- 290508

DAY0:

2 days after i came back from hongkong, i set out to korea! woots. it was tiring..having to travel again 2 days after i came back! felt kinda lethargic and sian coz i didn't really research on korea. (not like i'm really interested in going korea) but oh well.. i went to korea.. without knowing where/what it will bring me.



dad and mum dropped me off at airport. checked in. shop around before boarding the same plane which i boarded 6 days ago, eating the same food tooo. -_-"



arrived at hongkong at about 8pm..then i went to Tsing Yi station, coz that's the nearest shopping mall, and i didn't wanna stay in the airport for 4 hrs. so might as well venture out!



the shopping mall ( i can't rmb wad's the name) had quite alot of renovations.. and it wasn't very big.. mayb about half an hr can complete the mall... strolled beside the sea..actually wanted to walk to Tsing Ma Bridge ( if there is ever accessibl), but decided not to in the end..coz i don know how far it is from the mall, and i don wanna holland considering the fact that i have another plane to catch at 0020.



i bet alot of hongkongers stared at me while taking this pictures lo! i don know y also. anyway, alot of people are taking a stroll this area too. and it's near a stadium if i'm not wrong!
this is taken while waiting for express train back to airport!
was damn hungry that i bought a popeye biscuit! yums!



and then i took Cathay Pacific airplane, again! this time round, most of the stewardesses are koreans. and i sat beside a window with no one besides me! damn shuang!



DAY 1:



reach Korea at about 5 am (singapore time is about 4 am).. and i waited xiaoyi at the airport for about 2 hrs, hugging my luggage and dozing off at the same time.



after meeting her, took train to domestic airport which is about half an hr away from the international airport.




The train. nothing fantastic.


reached the airport at about 9 plus.. bought a korean airline ticket, which caused about sgd100 (1 way somemore! damn ex). as xiaoyi had already bought a ticket from asiana airline, we had to sit different plane coz asiana didn't have any tics left.

while i'm on the plane. oya. the domestic airport is called Gimpo Airport




Jeju airline is a budget airline (1 ways cost about sgd 50 nia!!! damn it!)


after alighting, xiaoyi went to rent a car~ i didn't know korea's cars are left handed de!

i'm trying to take an emo pic. but nvm!!!


was quite scary initially when she drove the car..coz she only drove once in USA for a few meters! and for a moment, i felt my life was in danger lohhh!

we didn't know where to go intially..and we went to the nearest tourists trap - Yong Duam aka Dragon Head Rock.

oh.. not here not here!
me and xiaoyi here it is! hmm. nothing great about it~ xiaoyi grumbles about coming to this stupid rock where it is jus a ROCK.

after that we went to this manjanggul lava cave (aiya! i forgot to take pictures from xiaoyi!), which is freaking cold~nothing much tooo. had lunch near the cave~ wahh. first time eating korean foood. ahhh. don realy like it..

after that, we went to eastern part of the island where lies Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak). found a motel/guesthouse/ wadever-u-called-it which faced the sea! damn cooool lo!!

oya, the weather was cool. slightly colder than genting for the first few days..

taken from room! it's so nice cannn!

i barely slept in the plane.. and by 4 pm i was damn tired that we took a nap. but who knows.. the nap continued until the next day!!


DAY 2:


we checked out of the guesthouse and went to Sunrise Peak. agh! that day was quite foggy that we can't see anything from the peak!! AGH! it was cold neh! at the bottom of the hill.



and then at the top of the hill, i saw this legendary rabbit machiam like the legendary cat i saw at Datuk! kawaii neh~ it was foggy at the top of the hill~

we went down the hill (nothing can be seen from the top anyway).. and ventured to the side of the island.



us!

ahhh. behind is the place where we stay last night!! and there's actually a small road that lead from the guesthouse to the place where i'm standing! and we paid KRW 1000 for the entrance feee! shiT! lugi~

after that we went to Seongeup Folklore Village which showed nothing! felt very cheated when we went there. there's the prob with not going with a tour. hmph.


went to the legendary mysterious road where it is well-known that if you point your car downhill, it will actually go uphill. something like that lah.. but we can't seee it leH!!!!!!!!!!


went to DongMun Market which is at the south of Jeju. They sell alot of seafood and... it's a market loh. duh. went to walk along a street of shophouses.. the stuffs over there quite ex man~ like one brandless shirt can cost about sgd 50. and the worst thing is..it's not nice lo!

nice looking house~

had a late lunch at piizzza huT! yeaaa~ was very sick of korean food for the past meals.

xiaoyi and the cheese.
saw an event, though i don know wad it is about, where scout boys were building some bridge using planks of wood. i guess it's some carnival bahhh.
went to shop for some groceries when i saw... instant rice! got many flavours somemore neh!

oya..everything over there are all made in korea.. can hardly see any non-korean items around. except for hersheys' i think. -_-"



on our way to our resort, we went to another mysterious road.. and saw this LoveLand. intially we thought it's some palces that most korean drama filmed their show there.. but we'r so wrong! gosh..

if u ever understood wad this pic means. i don understand y is it called magic eye!


this is jus the beginning lohhh. more gusdisting photos.. but i shall not post alll~ i didn't know wad it mean initally when xiaoyi asked me to pose. so i jus happily posed. one of the not-so-gusdisting photos.



anyway they had alot of statues around lah. doing you-know-wad poses. -_-"



and then we continued our journey to the resort.


and it get damn foggy. coz we wanted to take the shortest route..which is you have to overcome a small hill... and it get fog-ger as we went up.. until a point where xiaoyi bth.. that she had to take the longer route.. coz it's far to dangerous to drive in foggy conditions.


tt's how foggy it is!


ahh. finally cclear road!
tt's the location that i've crossed ouT! NEVER TAKE THAT ROUTE! the Mt Halla is the moutain that we'll be going the next day!



luckily we reached the resort around evening time, if not it will be damn hard to get to that place once the sun set.



anyway, the room quite big. got a living room.. which is... super big~ a room and a bathroom!



bathroom and basin!
the room which has no windows and aircon inside!
the living room! big right! and got a small area for kitchenette.





DAY 3:



went to E-mart early in the morning to buy some food for the trekking later in the day.(if u ever go Jeju, E-mart will be your bestest friend! coz u never had to talk to anyone..they jus have everything!)



went Mt Hallasan! they actually have 4 trekking trails for us to choose~and i think the longest one need about 8-9 hrs to complete! we chose the 2nd shorted one..which need about 3-4 hrs.

the start of human torture! JK LAH!
we've braved through the woods and finally reached here! it's not the top though!

damn nice right! oya~ i didn't know wad's hot until Day 3~ when i really get to sweat!

i like this piC~

finally reached the place where i'm supposed to reach! it's still not the top!!!! i think we'r at the mid of the mounntain!(the hill is not small afterall!)

back to the bottom!~ the route is better than Gunung Datuk! their route's quite nice to walk.. although it's alittle tedious to climb. especially when going down..ahve to be damn careful lahh. ahh. i hate going downslope!

and we went to this 1100m altitude nature discovery trail which "showcased" alot of their plants and flowers along the the trail. abit no point.. since i've alr been thru the trail.
the small little trail.

ahh. and then on our way back to the resort.. we went to Eongtto "Waterfall"......

which has no water at alll! and then after looking at the guidebook, it says that there will only be water fall if the rainwater exceed a certain amount of mm.

took this pic near the waterfall~

super hungry after that.. went to Emart for dinner.. (see i told u it's our best friend!)

unfortunately, everything is in korean! we can't communicate at all! but but.. fortunately, they displayed some of their food. so we'r, or rather xiaoyi, suggested that we shld take picture of it and show it to the cashier.(stupid me suggest writing down the words.. which i think will take quite some time!)

my dinner!

and since i don't consume beef, i ask the cashier if it's chicken.. and i actually acted out a chicken for her to seee! and after awhile.. she told me it's pork! HAHA!

we didn't go out at night as we were quite tireD! but i went to walk around the resort though. it's beside the seaa~ they had this observatory platform for ppl to view the sea! too bad i didn't take any pic as i tot that i would come back other day which i didn't! it's a great place to read a book tooo!

DAY 4:

we went to Oedolgae aka lonely rock. i guess jeju is famous for all kinds of rock..but this time round..it's a beautiful rock neh! and the scenary is nice!!

that'ss the lonely rock.but actually if i look out to the sea, there's also alot of rocks which are lonely tooo!(like the one at the side of the pic!)

i started to taking all kind of pictures neh!
i like this pic neh!!

and this tooo!

nice right.. all using timer lei~~ :D

damn nice right!


oya! this is one of the places where 大长今film their show~

damn cock.
i heart this pic many many!

ahhh. ican't really rmb wad we did for the rest of the day. mayb walking around in the town area, looking for internet cafee~

DAY5:

went to Cheonjiyeon waterfall.it is one of the 3 most famous waterfall in Jeju. xiaoyi waited for me outside as she didn't wanna pay the money and see the waterfall. she always tot that anything that need to pay are tourists trap. aiyA! different mentality lah. afterall, she has been to soo many countries.. wad's this little waterfall meant for her man! but suaku me has never seen a waterfall before! so wanna see one!

i like this pic. very suitable to make it into a jigsaw puzzle! can do until siao kind.

while waiting for me outside, xiaoyi found a cool cafe beside a river.. the cafe quite cooling..andthe best thing is it plays english music!! goshhh!

and so i drove the car to somewhere near the cafe! so excited~

and i explored the area alittle..they have this submarine tour. wanted to take one..then decided not to, since i'll be taking diving course *hopefully*.. and i can see all i wan after that!

somewhere near the submarine shop~

went to a town (i forgot wad name alr!), and we combed alot of bookstores just to buy english storybooks. (xiaoyi's damn bored and she has read finished all the books that she brought, which includes 2 nicholas sparks story book and a reader's digest.)

DAY 6:

xiaoyi had to be my chauffeur for half a day since she'll be leaving for conference in the afternoon and she didn't wan to go to places that need to pay.. so she ended up reading her books outside while waiting for me!~

i don know where this place is~

went to chocolate museum~

wah, don get deceived by the exteriors~

nothing much inside~ they just talked abt the history of chocolate, chocolates ard the world and the benefits of eating chocolates.

haha, i like the little quotes at the end of the board~ makes you love chocolates even more!

after that we went to miniature land~ actually there's another similar place called minimini land. and i don know wad's the difference. it's like having 2 escape theme parks in singapore.. for wad? hmmm...

on our way~ outside!

i shall post the nicer ones lah. alot of pictures nehh!

leaning pisa. statue of liberty.

snow white and the seven dwarfs. heh heh.

hha. i took this picture thinking that i'll photoshop my mum in! HAHA!my mum likes doraemon!

i'll see ya in december k?
love this picture!

wahh. after visiting this place.. i really really wanna travel around the world and take pictures with the REAL thing. so coool man~~

after that we went back to Emart (i told u!) to get some snacks before heading back to Oedolgae.xiaoyi loves that place alottt!

after snacking, went off to take more pictures while xiaoyi continues reading her book!

i didn't know kaka can take such picture!

i love this picture!!! it jus make us realise how small humans are. and crazy ppl really climb there lo.. i really wanted too.. but i very scare i'll fall and hit my head and die. hur hur.anyway beside the 2 ppl standing on top, there's 2 more ppl at the side of the rocks fishing!

nice neh.

after that we went back to resort for xiaoyi to wash up and dress up. after that we went to another resort called Jungmum resort.

after xiaoyi headed to her conference, i went to this teddy bear museum!!

u will confirm plus chop fall in love with teddy bears after visiting this museum. the museum is damn nice lah! they showed us how teddy bear is formed and where it got its name from! i think it from the US presidents called roosevelt theodore.. can go here for more info~ http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/kidscorner/tr_teddy.htm

they displayed alot of human scenarios using bears~



i laughed, of coure quietly, when i saw this pic! damn funnny!

the most expensive LV bear.


bears fashion walk!

i love this one.
smallest bears on earth~
ballerina! i like this.
then i went to his shop to walk walk see see~

and then proceed outdooor!

very much in love with bears now~

coz the resort quite big that i've to walk for quite a distance~ then i went to another famous waterfall in jeju called Cheonjeyeon waterfall~.. but then by the time i reached there.. it was quite late alr.. and i thought that the nx day might be a better day to go since i got a whole day there~

so i went to Lotte Hotel.. since they say they got duty free shop~

and surprisely, the hotel is damn high class~

went to their dutyfree shop and their casino! where i lost KRW 3000~ :(( never gamble.

think some k drama also film here.. called All In or something~

and then i continue exploring the area...

nice place with nice weather~
and i've found a place to sit down facing the sea and sky. with smoothing music behind and birds chirping. it was almost like heaven (though i've nv been there before), and it's so relaxing that... i don knowww.. the feel is just right~ and so i took out my book to read.

and the place where i'm sitting is the place where xiaoyi's conference was held! was freaking cold ard 6 plus that i had to go inside the building and wait~

aiya! this hotel also quite nice!it's called The Shila. i was telling xiaoyi that this hotel like more seh.. compared to Lotte Hotel.. like imagine urself saying.."i stay in Lotte Hotel" and " i stay in THE Shila" which one more seh? hahaha. stupid analogy. aiya. but i nv take any picc! arg!

anyway, heard from xiaoyi that one night at THE shila costs about sgd 200. no wonder they say jeju is a place for honeymoon.coz it's really damn nice! AND we'r supposed to stay there one lo!!! but it's fully booked during that period! hmph!!!


DAY7:

i was very sad.. coz it rained the WHOLE day. and i'm stucked at THE Shila. ahhhhh~ and i completed a book called The Choice by Nicholas Sparks. not bad lahhh.. just that i don wanna read a book the entire dayyy!!

went to their cafe to read my book~ i sat there for 3- 4 hrs man!!! i didn't see myself studying 3-4 hrs straight lo. and now i've read a book for soo long! but alright lah, the book quite nice also.. oya. 1 coffee and a slice of cake costs me sgd 25 (must sit longer..so won't lugi so much) !! -_-"

after that went to look for another motel nearer to the airport since i've to catch a plane at 720. that means i've to reach about 6 plus~

the bathroom is huge!

went to eat korean bbQ for dinneR!aiya! nv bring my camera out for the night!

anyway, after dinner, we went to Emart for last min shopping! hahahaha~ bought alot of mask at abt 60 cents niaa! so cheap lo~ but don know if gdd anot.. :

ahh. slept quite early coz need to wake up early the nx day. and there's this stupid fly/mosquitoes that keep bugging me the entire night that i hardly slept at all~ argH!

xiaoyi sent me to the airport and off i am, back to seoul!

i think that's the plane that specially goes to jeju~

wahh. first time sitting prestige classs! damn cool. i think i zhuan dao..coz i think the price is different for economy and prestige. and i paid economy priceE! it's so damn shuang loh. like better service than other ppl~ and the seat is comfortabl that i slept through the 1 hr ride from jeju to seoul.
after reaching, while waiting for our baggage.. took this pic. haha. as i was saying.. prestige got better services that our baggages were also the first to arrive! they have this prestige tag on our baggage~ so see le also shiok~

after reaching Gimpo airport, had to take train back to Incheon international airport. damn rush lah.coz my plane is at 1020.

the door very cool de~mayb only for airport railway bahhh.

anyway, i reach the airport at about 940.. then can see tt the cathay pacific ppl quite pissed off with me.. coz they already closed the counter for checking in. and luckily my baggage made it on time for the plane..if not i've to wait in singapore for my baggage to reach~

took plane back to hongkong, again!! seriously, kinda sick of going to hongkong le! wanted to go to the factory outlet at Tung Chung de.. but then the transit time is only abt 3 hrs plus. so decided to shop at sky plaza at T2. and i'm glad that i've only left with hkd 10 (approx sgd2) after leaving hk(coz i've predicted that i won't be going back there for a couple of years so leave alot of money also no use!) bought a wallet for my mum as a super advanced birthday pressent which is in July.

rushed abit only to realise that the plane is delayed due to some maintainence.

and i took window seat again!

home sweet home after that~

wah. super long entry, i think this is the longest that i've ever written!

though i've not learnt much about korea (as much as hk), but i'm glad that i've learnt other stuffs along the wayy, with the help of a particular book~ and of course xiaoyi. she's damn cool lah. she ever backpacked alonee! and she's been to many countries like nepal, argentina, US, europe etc~ i wanna be like her tooo, travel to many places! and nature can be sooo nice man~it's really very different when u see pic and when u're there personally~and i've grown more independent~ coz i'm all alone taking a plane from one country to another!

and also, i've watched alot of movies on the plane, like jay's basketball kungfu, 27 dresses, jumper, hero etc.

okay, saving up for the next trip!!!

1word for this entire trip:

Retreat.