Sunday, December 14, 2008 . 5:35 PM
After breakfast, we proceeded to Gyeongbok Palace, the main and largest palang among the 5 palaces built during the Joseon dynasty. The Korean word "Gyeongbok" means 'Shining Happiness' as the palace is a tribute to the happiness and prosperity of the Koreans.
It was raining on this day and thus, all of us were freezing like MAD!
Gloves doesn't help at all because my hands still feels numb and I felt like I was touching a big ICE CUBE.
Oh, On Day 4, the tour guide brought us to this two streets to shop.
And goodness, the bags in Korea are freaking cheap to the max. My cousin says I'm mad because I kept buying brown/dark brown bags! Come to think of it, I think my cupboard is full of brown bagssss! hah! I don't know why but I think I have fetish for brown and black bags?? I have to admit, girls will never have enough of bags!
So, the tour guide gave us like 1 hour++ to shop the entire street.
And like what bimbo leong said, I think the tour guide hates us cause whenever we visit boring places, palace and all, we'll doze off in the bus but the moment the tour guide says "It's time for shopping and we've reached the shopping place" all the girls jump up and get really excited. hahaha!
I can't really remember the name of the street he brought us to shop. All I know was, I grabbed quite a few bags because it was way tooooo cheap. IF I'm not wrong, it's Dongdaemun Market? The largest wholesale and retail shopping district in Korea.
He asked us if we want to go on an optional tour the next day. He said the optional tour includes two shopping district "Nu Ren Jie" and another street which I can't remember. Upon hearing that, we agreed but of cos, we got to pay additional 14000 Korean dollar.
So, after visiting the palace (on the 5th day), we went for Kimchi-making session at some Kimchi school. We were thought how to make Kimchi by this Korean lady and I'm amazed by her powerful mandarin. Her mandarn was so fluent till I don't even understand what she's talking about. Too tough for me to understand I supposed.
And the kimchis that we made will be donated to the old folks home.
After kimchi-making, it was time for some Korean dress up!
I think cLeong is so going to kill me if she sees this. hah!
Finally, it was shopping at "Ladies street".
The whole lot of us became hyper upon hearing it's time to shop!
The tour guide gave us about 2 hours to shop the entire ladies street. Still, there wasn't really much time because there's many stalls and the street is HUGGGEEE!
Went in to Forever 21 with my cousin and man, I'm in love with the F21 there!
EVERYTHING is soooo cheap compared to the F21 here in SG. The shorts, the jackets, the tops, the accessories and the bags. (Goodfriend, you will love Korea's F21!)
And the best thing is, it's TAX FREE! So, you can imagine how long I spent at F21.
It was sooo cheap till I went back again with my sis.
My sis grabbed a few clothes from there and the jeans that she bought is only 15bucks!!! OH MY GOSH!!
And as expected, we were the last to gather back in the bus AGAIN! I think the rest of the people in the tour group hate us because whenever its shopping time, we are always the last to gather back.
The lunch and dinner on the last day was superb!
At night, my sis, cLeong and myself went out to meet alex (my sis' Korean friend)while the rest of the people in the tour group were sleeping.
We were brought to some cafe and pub to chill. cLeong and myself were freezing because we ONLY wore two layers that night. Looking back now, I can't imagine how did we ever survived in such a cold night (furthermore, it was raining from morning till evening) with only 2 layers?
Last day in Korea. The coldest day so far. The tour guide said it was MINUS 7degrees cos of the rain the previous day. Though it was very very cold, all of us were hoping it will be more cold so that we can have a chance to see REAL snow. Sadly, we din manage to see.
Visited the Ginseng Monopoly Showroom.
I was bored because I'm not really interested at all. All the history of Ginseng and who what why where drank it, etc. But I must admit, the ginseng milk that the person gave us was delicious!
This family spent like over SG $500 on GINSENG!! mad or MAD?
Afterwhich, we went to visit an Amethyst Factory, where gems are made.
Next up was Korea Entertainment Hall of Fame followed by Cheong Gye Cheon Musuem and then to this Duty Free shop to shop for tidbits/seaweeds/souveniors before heading to Incheon International Airport.
That ends my 1 week stay in Korea. My aunt says the next destination will be Japan?
And right now, I'm VERY VERY worried about my legs. I don't even know whether it will recover by this week. I don't wanna be an ugly bridesmaid on my sis wedding.
Time flies! SIX more days to her BIG day!!!
Finally gotten a white gown for the church wedding.
Kaaaa-Chinnnnng, BIG HOLE BURNT IN MY POCKET!
Please please PLEASE, I pray my legs will recover SOON!!
g-ladies spoke
