korea trip II

day 4

it was a fruitful day! cus we finally went for some shopping!! tour guide brought us to lotte duty free shopping mall where tourists go crazy at the cheap prices of everything branded, from cosmetics to skincare to clothings to bags and shoes. the whole mall was congested with PRCS. -.- walked around for awhile and i bought laneige bb cream at SGD26 instead of the price in singapore retailing at about SGD40 i think. we couldnt stand the crowd and the PRCS at the mall so we decided to walk over to another shopping mall. baby bought a loewe belt retailing at SGD770 and singapore's selling it for SGD850. he could even get it at a cheaper price if he went for a tax refund. korea is considered the best asian country for buying branded stuffs, skincare and cosmetic products. i used to think that hong kong is probably the best place to buy branded stuffs but not really now.

so anyway, we hopped over to myeongdong after that. meyongdong is just like the bugis street in singapore, much bigger. if i were to compare, it is probably comparable to taiwan's shilin street market but cleaner. did i mention that korea is just like taiwan, an environmental friendly country with no dustbins on the streets? for tourists like us, its actually quite annoying cus we are not used to carrying rubbish on our hands till we find a place to dispose them off. we want to get rid of them immediately! LOL.

we only had like 1 hour to shop here and we had to race for time so i bought everything i could find and see without much thoughts. i bought hair accessories at like SGD1.60 each where singapore is selling them for SGD4 each or even higher. can you imagine how cheap it was? i bought like 6 hair clips and 1 hairband at one go. i also bought like 3 blouses at an average price of SGD24 each. baby bought one black hoody jacket from one of the korean street brands, codes combine. prices are similar to that of topshop in singapore. he got it for SGD50 i think? i wanted to buy shoes but couldnt find anything unique or nice. they have skincare and cosmetic stores everywhere selling really cheap products but i really didnt have time to go in. how can we possibly comb every stret, every area within one hour? :(

so, we ended our time at myeongdong and i was telling baby that i wanted to forgo everland and cab to myeongdong for more shopping! LOL. well, there you read it, our next stop after shopping and lunch was to everland amusement park! its better than lotte world amusement park in my opinion. i really love this place! didnt take any thrilling rides as usual cus that timid boy didnt want to. :(

after everland, we went for dinner at this awesome korean BBQ place! one of the better meals we had in korea.

and i didnt had ramyeon for supper cus i was too full from all the meat. :D

day 5

after being back in seoul for 2 days, we set off to somewhere out of town again. we were still in seoul, just that we were further away from the city area. we went to mt sorak national park for some sight seeing and temple viewing.

it was aqua water theme park after this. baby and i opted out for this cus we didnt bring our swimwear. thus, we joined the rest for dinner. and it was korean BBQ again! we were too damn full from the dinner and we still bought ramyeon for supper. LOL. i cant finish my share obviously and as usual, baby gotta finish it for me. haha!

day 6

we went to nami island and went to the filming site of the winter sonata. the place felt so unreal, with all the trees surrounding the roads and the road seemed never ending. i can imagine how beautiful it would be during spring, with all the flowers blooming!

after lunch, we went to this warehouse that was full of faceshop and other brand products. we attended a beauty class in which we were taught on the skincare regime and the use of their products from the brand, the odbo which cant be found in singapore. at this point of time, everyone in our tour group shopped like mad inside the place. the cosmetics and skincare products were so damn cheap compared to singapore! who doesnt wanna buy a whole lot back to singapore?

anyway, the brand; the odbo is an affiliation of the faceshop and i gotta say that their products work great on me. i've been using it for two weeks and no breakouts at all. my face is much more radiant and has that glow which i didnt see when i used other products. maybe the change in skincare products a few months back played a part too. cus of the sensitive nature of my face, i cant just any-o-how use any products on the shelf and the consequences would be immediate which is having breakouts. so, im really happy with my buys and i totally regret not buying more! and i bought like 50 sheets of masks from the faceshop and the odbo. NOT ENOUGH OK. after distributing some away, i've only left like 30 pieces for myself? not that i cant find them in singapore but i bought them at SGD1 per mask! where to get such cheap masks in singapore? i really regretted not getting more cosmetics!! the prices are so cheap compared to singapore's the faceshop. korea is so crazy about cosmetics and skincare that they even have an entire building with all levels full of nothing else but makeups and skincare products.

my favourite product from the odbo would be the sunblock which comes in compact form which is so easy to use and hassle free! most importantly, it doesnt feel oily at all! i really hate how some sunblocks make your face feel so oily and sticky! second on the list would be the aqua soothing essence which works similarly to SKII's miracle essence. it really hydrates my face and it feels so lightweight and cooling when applied on the face. third on the list would be their peeling gel made from natural ingredients which i thought isnt that harsh unlike some other peeling gels used to exfoliate your skin. i hate those kind of peeling gels cus they are too rough and harsh on my face.

the odbo is only selling in korea and it cant be found anywhere in singapore. im like damn sad that i only bought one of these each. :( out of curiosity and desperate for the products, i went to google and i found this singapore based website bringing in the products and they are selling them at a really high price! i bought all these products at SGD33 each in korea and the website is selling them for SGD53 to SGD65! you must be kidding me! :(

in case if you wonder, after trying out so many products, asian products suit me best. they dont give me breakouts at all and they are so suitable for my skin that i really see the vast differences after the change in my skincare products. for those curious peeps out there, im currently using ettusais and the odbo products. ettusais is an affiliation of shiseido and they really work for me! i really like their softener which works pretty much the same like a toner. after using this, im never investing in toners anymore. :) its alcohol free! my favourite! products like eucerin, clarins, clinique, etc really dont work for me. i've grown to think that perhaps asian products always work best on asians.

damn sad for my odbo products! :( who's going to korea anytime soon?! BUY THEM BACK FOR ME!

so anyway, after the crazy shopping at the warehouse, we went to visit the president's house, dinner was korean style bat kut teh and we watched a famous korean performance called 'jump' at night.

after the show, tour guide brought us to dongdaemun for one and a half hours of shopping. seriously, one and a half hours was not enough, not even enough to cover one shopping mall and dongdaemun had like 5 big malls excluding street vendors. we went into one without even looking around cus as usual, we had to race for time.
this time round, baby bought more clothings cus there's mens department in the mall. lots of bargaining took place and the mens department was kinda intimidating to me cus the salesmen were overly 'friendly' that it became quite scary for me. LOL. but they were still nice people. salesgirls in the girls department were more laid back. they normally wait for you to ask before they attend to you. prices of these clothings range from SGD20 to SGD30, depending on what you buy and how much you can bargain with them. i've to say that dongdaemun stuffs are not exactly cheap, myeongdong would probably sell cheaper stuffs.

day 7

this was our last day in korea. tour guide promised us a full 2 and a half hours of shopping at dongdaemun. this time round, we bought whatever we saw that we liked and in the end, baby and i had to go separate ways for the last 1 hour of shopping cus we had to race for time to get whatever we wanted! anyway, we bought couple tees! im seriously not a fan of couple tees cus i find them too damn cheesy and gay but i guess i was sorta influenced by korean couples everywhere on the streets, dressing up in couple wear together and i eventually find them kinda cute! then, we wanted to get the cute couple animal hoodies that i really like! however, sizes dont match cus its too big for me and too small for baby. in the end, baby bought a rabbit and bear hoody and i got a cat one. its seriously too damn cute! we definitely cant find this outfit in singapore! and not to mention, we bought more clothings. and oh! i bought 2 pairs of shoes!

that sums up our korea trip! :)

korea trip I

im back from korea! baby and i joined a tour this time round cus he dont trust my korean abilities. -.- but hey, i can communicate with koreans in simple sentences, asking for directions and etc. i guess that is enough for us to get by but oh well, we joined a tour. anyways, some koreans are able to speak in mandarin, damn good mandarin! for a moment, i thought they were PRCS but they were really koreans.

anyway, i really hate joining tours when it comes to vacations. if i ever go back to korea again, it would definitely be free and easy on my own now that i got to see how seoul is like.

we went on a 8 day tour to jeju island and seoul. we stayed at jeju island for the first 2 days and thereafter, back to seoul for the rest of our journey.

day 1

took a midnight flight to korea and was so shagged the moment we touched down. our tour guide then brought us to some kimchi making class where we had a hands-on experience on how to make kimchi and got a chance to wear hanboks!


i hate this pink hanbok suit on me. i wish i could try on multi coloured ones but oh well, i was being chosen for this pink suit. :(
then, we went to this stretch of 'mysterious road' where cars claimed to go upwards instead of downards the road. the wind was really strong and it was so freaking cold!


we had bibimbap 비빔밥 for lunch and it was seriously so sucky that we didnt really touch the food at all. i even doubted that it wasnt bibimbap that we ate but a normal korean style hotpot instead. after lunch, we went to teseum to see tons of teddy bear figurines.


dinner was the traditional 9 dish cuisine that korean families would eat at home. another terrible meal after the horrendous lunch in the afternoon. i swear we were all freaking tired and shagged from the flight and whole day of touring without resting. checked into our hotel for the night and guess what? baby and i went to the nearby convenient store and bought ramyeon to make up for the horrible lunch and dinner. LOL. korean style ramyeon like a shiok! :D

day 2

woke up really early, bathed and felt all refreshed after the horrible first day. we went to songan sunrise peak and the weather that day was insanely beautiful! clear blue skies, white clouds with cool wind blowing across our faces. i miss that feeling! this place was one of the 7 wonders of nature in the world and the scenery there was really magnificent. i do enjoy such sceneries of nature at times cus as city dwellers, we dont usually get to see such landscapes especially in singapore.



after that, we went to some village. this place was said to be one of the filming sites of 大长今.

and its lunch time!

black pork korean BBQ!
koreans usually prepare lots of side dishes to go with the main dish at the side. they include fish cakes, kimchi, seaweed, ikan billis, etc. the only vegetables they prepare are cabbage and raddish. we see them in every meal and perhaps lettuce to wrap up the meat when we eat grilled korean BBQ.

after lunch, we went to a 3D trick art gallery where we saw lots of paintings painted in 3D.

then, we went to chocolate museum and green tea museum!

chocolate museum!

green tea museum!
then we had seafood steamboat for dinner where we witnessed one or two of our group mates eating raw octopus tentacles. anyway, the seafood steamboat was crap cus both baby and i are not fans of oysters, clams, etc and what they served us were all of these. so guess what? its ramyeon for our supper again! LOL.

day 3

rise and shine! took a flight back to seoul and our first stop was to ice gallery! really nice place with ice carvings and its -18degrees in there!

and we even had a hands-on class on ice carving!

after that, we went to lotte world amusement park! its a 2 in 1 amusement park consisting of indoor and outdoor rides. that timid boy didnt dare to take any of those roller coaster rides and after whining to him for a long time, he decided to take the pirate ship ride with me and it was so funny seeing his reaction! LOL. then, we went outdoor and he forced me to watch some ghostly 3D show with him. scary shows are my weaknesses for real. i can take thrilling rides but not walking into a haunted house or watching such shows cus it scares the hell outta me. and oh! korean couples are really cute! they really like to dress up in couple wear from head to toe! same headbands, same teeshirts, same coloured shorts/pants, same coloured socks all the way to the same type of shoes in the same colour! im not exaggerating! they looked quite cute actually! i bet if any singaporean couples are to wear like that in singapore, they would probably get stares from everyone on the streets. LOL.

that sums up our day!

day 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 in the next post!