S.Korea : 17th December '15 - 26th December '15

If you're wondering why this post took ages to write , read the post below this one

To be honest , this post will contain tons of complains and rants because after taking time to think about it for a few weeks , the tour agency , tour leader and tour guide all sucked c: 

I don't think I will be posting up images of the tour guide or tour leader because I don't wanna get in trouble. 

But if yall are interested , this is the tour agency which my mum booked the tour with : 

Their Korea tour literally sucked ( to my family and another 1 or 2 families )

Read on to find out why ~ 

As yall know , we were supposed to fly to taiwan instead of korea but they didn't manage to gather enough people for the taiwan tour so the tour agency had to cancel the tour ( I finally know why ) 

My parents booked the taiwan tour in June during the travel fair at marina bay sands. They paid the full amount of $5000 for the taiwan tour package. And if it weren't for the fact that their $5000 was stuck with the tour agency , we wouldn't have went to Korea. 

When the tour agency called my mum to tell her that there wasn't enough people to start a tour group , I remembered my mum asking if she could get her $5000 back because 

1. The tour agency is obviously not going to be able to gather enough people for the tour group in a short period of time 

2. If she continued to wait for the tour agency to gather enough people and if they don't succeed in doing so , it would be too late and too expensive to sign up for another tour package because it would be November by then and as we all know , the later you sign up for a tour , the more expensive it is going to be 

So she asked if she could get the 5k back which she could not until nearing the departure date when the tour agency really cannot gather enough people to start the tour group. And by then , its too late and too expensive to sign up for another tour ( refer to point 2 above ) Since she could not get a refund , she asked if there were any other tour which were already confirmed. The person in charge told her about another taiwan tour package which doesn't seem appealing at all tbh and the korea tour package which included a 1 free day for us to explore seoul by ourselves. 

After much consideration , we decided to go ahead with the Korea tour and guess what ? 

BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER 

WHY ? 

CONTINUE READING 

Normally tour agencies would book midnight flights to korea so that when they land in incheon airport in the morning the next day , they can just take another plane to jeju island and not waste a single day. However , this tour agency I went with decided to book morning flights to korea and by the time we stepped foot on korea lands , it was already 9pm kst. With that , we successfully wasted a entire day in the air sitting on the plane waiting for it to land in korea when we could have already explored jeju island



good job hong thai. we wasted an entire day

Anyways since we were booked for the morning flight , my family has to wake up at 5am for the flight. I slept late the previous night so you can only imagine the eye bags under my eye.

6:45am in Changi Airport 

Since it was still early and we obviously couldn't check in because we don't have the plane tickets , we went over to McDonald's for breakfast. It was still kinda early after breakfast like around 8am I guess ? We could only check in at 10am if I didn't remember wrongly >_<

So after breakfast , we just sat at McDonald's for a period of time before finally walking to the check in area to wait for the tour leader.

Soon the tour leader arrived , gave us instructions before giving us the necessary documents for checking in.

checked in ~ 

After checking in , we walked around the duty free area c: The night before Korea , I was browsing through twitter and saw someone tweet a photo of SHINee The Shilla(?) Duty Free commercial ( idk wth its called ) being broadcasted on a huge screen in the duty free area of the airport but sadly , I couldn't find it :< 

Anyways , my parents left me alone with 2 kids ( my sister and my cousin ) at the waiting lounge while they went window shopping. Luckily the 2 kids didn't bother me that much because there was free wifi everywhere T_T god bless free wifi 

Before long , it was time to board the plane to Korea 

taken right before we boarded the plane 

Korea Air might not be the best airline but their entertainment is really *^* 

All the kpop songs (( all my favs ) and all the movies *^* I got to watch Paper Towns because of Korea Air. And re-watched Frozen , Minions and Inside Out :>

I think I'm still a 5 year old child mentally and a 10 year old physically .... 

/whispers/ watched 3/4 of paper towns because it was not what I expected ...

here's a photo of pinky in mid-air ( literally ) 

I hung her there so she wouldn't "suffocate" inside my bag. 

yeap. I'm definitely a 5 year old child mentally who thinks her stuffed toys are real and needs to breathe in order to survive 

 

Airline food sucks :< 

I'm still on a hunt for the airline which services the best in-flight meals tbh. All the airlines I took before didn't really serve foodporn worthy or delicous meals .... 

"oh since you're looking for foodporn worthy food , why don't you just go to a hipster cafe" 

oh why not you sponsor my trip to the hipster cafe ? 

30 minutes after eating , the lights were switched off and that meant it was time for us to sleep. 

However : 

1. How does anyone expect anyone to sleep at 11am/12pm ???
2. This is why you should always book the midnight flight to Korea because its night time and our bodies would naturally just fall asleep . 

#reaonswhyyoushouldtakethemidnightflight 

I however , could not sleep... (( like com'on its like what ? 12 in the afternoon )) 

/decides to charge my phone instead/ 

/and watch paper towns/ 

Not sure if its just my flight but there was quite a number of turbulence every now and then on the flight which frightened the shit out of me because of the recent cases of planes crashing T_T 

I don't wanna die so early !! 

 

So yeah... after much turbulence and alot of praying , the plane finally landed in Korea SAFELY

By the time we got off the plane , got our passports stamped and collected our luggage , it was about 9pm KST. We met the tour guide there who told us to have dinner first before he brought us to the hotel we would be staying for the night - Koreana Hotel. 

The first thing I saw when looking for a place to have dinner : 

  

 asdfghjkl I saw SHINee in Korea c: 

cheapthrills

Since we were too lazy we just searched for a fast food restaurant - KFC , to have our dinner 

Don't think I've seen this before in Singapore. 

As yall can see , this machine here allows consumers to clean their hands with anti-bacteria napkins before eating with just a push of the button. 

Singapore MUST have this istg 

We walked around the airport looking to buy some snacks in case we got hungry since we didn't eat much at KFC. 

Guess what I saw ? 

KRISPY EFFING KREME DOUGHNUTS 

I haven't had these since I left bangkok... Yes. There is Krispy Kreme in Singapore but I'm not paying more than $1.00 for a doughnut 

If I didn't remember wrongly , 1 dozen of the glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts only cost less than S$10 in Bangkok ??? (( The last time I went was in June 2015 )) 

I could be wrong 

but who cares? Its still WAY cheaper than singapore's :> 

We were supposed to finish eating dinner and meet at the said meetup place at 9:45pm-10pm KST

But , as we all know , there will be a handful of inconsiderate motherfuc*ers who think they have all the time in the world. They take their own sweet time to find a place to have dinner and then eat at their own sweet time. By the time they finished eating , they're already late BUT since they have all the time in this world right , they take their own sweet time to walk back to the said meetup place.

EVEN MY GRANDPA CAN WALK FASTER THAN YOU 

Seriously =_= you know you're in a tour group and everyone is waiting for YOUR family before we can go to the hotel. But being the inconsiderate person you are , instead of hurrying up , you choose to take your own sweet time

HERE'S A SUGGESTION FOR YOU

SINCE YOU LIKE TAKING YOUR OWN SWEET TIME , 

DON'T BLOODY JOIN A TOUR GROUP 

By the time these inconsiderate families reached the said meetup place it was already 10:15/10:20pm.
By the time we came back from buying snacks at the convenience store near the hotel , it was already past 11pm. And by the time we finished eating , showered and blow our hair dry , it was already past 12midnight. We had to wake up at 6:30am , assemble at the hotel lobby at 7:20pm to have breakfast and take the plane to Jeju.

Okay so when we reached the hotel and received our room keys , my mum was told that her room would have 2 separate single beds instead of 1 king sized bed. So she nicely and kindly requested to the tour leader for a room with a king sized bed instead. However she was told that the hotel was fully booked for that night

Okay fine. Since it was like that , nevermind because it was for 1 night only. My mum told the tour leader that for the last 2 days of this tour , she wanted to be in the room with a king sized bed. The tour leader agreed to get the room for my mum unless the hotel was fully booked again in which the case , she could not do anything.

However , on the second last day of the tour , when we went back to the same hotel to spend our last 2 nights , when we were informed of the room we were going to stay in , it was the same as the first night. My mum then went to the tour leader and asked her about it. But the tour leader said that one of the inconsiderate family told her that if she didn't give them the room with a king sized bed instead , they refuse to accept that room.

LIKE HELLO? WHAT THE FISH HAS THAT GOT ANYTHING TO DO WITH MY FAMILY? 
MY MUM TOLD YOU ON THE FIRST NIGHT RIGHT AFTER YOU SAID THE HOTEL WAS FULLY BOOKED THAT SHE WANTED A ROOM WITH A KING SIZED BED AND YOU EVEN AGREED TO GET THE ROOM FOR HER UNLESS THE HOTEL IS FULLY BOOK. WHICH IS NOT THE BLOODY CASE. 

And to that inconsiderate family who refuses to accept the room , yall can sleep on the streets yeah ?



We woke up at 6:30am from the morning call and my family was the first few to arrive and we had to wait for the inconsiderate families to arrive before going off for breakfast. And since they were obviously going to take a longgg time plus it was my first time in such a cold country , I decided to wait outside.

I expected it to be freezing cold like what my uncle who went to korea in 2014 told me. But it wasn't and I was kinda disappointed :<

My parents on the other hand were very cold..... So the tour guide recommended them to stand under this heater outside the hotel. I decided to give it a try to because this cannot be found in Singapore because its hot enough here. And to my surprise , it feels nice to stand under the heater c:

Koreana Hotel surroundings :

After what seemed like ages , the inconsiderate families finally arrived and we went for breakfast c:

someone please tell me where I can find this in singapore T_T

It looks delicious. It IS delicious c:

The food we ate got from good to bad and bad to worse as the days went by ....

After breakfast , we were headed to gimpo airport for our flight to jeju



waiting for our flight to jeju

waiting for the flight to jeju with pinky

finally landed in jeju 

Day 2 Itinerary. 

The tour guide decided to take things into his own hands and change Day 2 and Day 3 schedules
( refer below for Day 3 schedules )

Before I start talking about Day 2 , I would like to share something with you guys...

When we were in Jeju , on the bus , the tour guide started telling us something about upgrading our tour package for better meals and more places to visit. Everyone was curious about what this upgrade was about so he started telling us about it.

This upgrade would mean that we would not need to pay for our own meals during the trip except for the free day. ( Refer to the photo below ) And if we chose to upgrade our tour package , we would be able to enjoy a cable car ride up this ski mountain at Yong Pyong All Seasons Resort. For the meals , we wouldn't have to pay for our own meals if we chose to upgrade our tour package except for during the free day. And if we chose to upgrade , for our Day 3 dinner , we would be served many other types of seafood for dinner.

The upgrade was about S$120++ EXTRA PER PERSON.

And lemme tell you guys something...

IT WASN'T WORTH IT AT ALL. 

Why did I say it wasn't worth it ?
Because 1 couple , didn't want to upgrade their tour package but they ended up eating the same thing as those who upgraded their tour package.

Yeap. Very fair to those who paid extra.
And yes. My family decided to pay extra.

p.s please don't expect me to remember all the things I ate in Korea. I don't even remember what I had for dinner last week. 




Let's begin on Day 2.

The first place we went to in jeju was this mysterious road. Apparently , if you turn off your car engine or any vehicle engine , the vehicle will move uphill on its own. Fascinating right? When I first heard about it , yes. VERY FASCINATING. However when the tour guide told us why this happens , I was like "let's just head to our next location already"

I don't think anyone would be wondering but I'm just going to say this. Its all an optical illusion. The slope which looks like its going uphills , is actually a slope going downhills. Thats why the vehicle moves on its own. It looks like its downhill because of the trees beside it.

MYSTERY SOLVED 



Anyways , here are some photos I took at that area :

The second place we went to when we reached jeju was this building where we learnt how to make our own cup out of ice after doing so , we went to the ice museum and trick eye museum located in the same building.

no. thats not wine. Its jeju's grape juice. ( or smth related to grapes )

Afterwards , we went to the ice museum. It shouldn't be called a museum because its just a freezer... Its not big enough to be called a museum. I would call it the ice room or something like that.

We got out of the ice room after awhile because its very cold ;-; My fingertips went numb ;-; Moreover its just a room the size of my living room to my dining room... We took less than 30 minutes to finish walking through it.

After getting out of the freezing cold room , we warmed ourselves before heading up to the trick eye museum.  

Saw girls generation and took a photo with them c: 

verycheapthrills 

Im not posting it up because ugly =_= 

And like... I don't know but I felt like the itinerary was messed up ??? Because I don't remember it saying that we were going to the trick eye museum right after we land in jeju.

/whispers/ I didn't even have a chance to put on my contact lens ;-; 

 And like if you think jeju's trick eye museum is the same as singapore's , then you are totally wrong. Lemme explain to yall in apple terms. The stuffs you see in jeju's trick eye museum is the apple iphone 5s. The one you see in Seoul is the apple iphone 6 and the one in singapore ( which I have never been to before but seen online ) is the iphone 6s. The one in jeju is like damn old ? I was looking forward to taking a photo with the angel wings but I walked around the entire trick eye museum in vain because nothing.

I think the reason why we were brought to the one in jeju was because the tickets are cheaper compared to seoul ? or maybe its more convenient since we were already there making ice glass.

But anyways , after we were done with the things we needed to do today , it was already evening time a.k.a dinner time :>

i forgot what we had for dinner that night... please don't kill me
this photo below is the appetizers we had during dinner. 

After dinner , we were headed to this Dragon Head Rock place where this lava from the volcano eruptions formed a dragon head jutting out of the sea

No matter how hard I look , I see a huge rock. No dragon head at all tbh

im not the artistic type. 

The hotel we stayed in during our time in Jeju - Jeju Oriental Hotel :

I strongly recommend everyone to stay at that hotel because :
1. Its near Emart which is like a huge hypermart
2. Dunkin Donuts is like maybe a 10 minutes walk away ?



3. The convenience store is very near the hotel



am i in heaven ?



look what I got c: 

4. Kyochon chicken ( the one lee minho is promoting ) is nearby as well.





The first night we stayed there , we decided to explore around and see what treasures or kpop idols we could find.. but yeah... nothing :< We got hungry after dinner and decided to go for kyochon chicken.

AND THATS THE ONLY FRIED CHICKEN WE ATE ON OUR TRIP IN SOUTH KOREA 

We ordered the kyochon original fried chicken ( something along that line )

When I told my friends that I ate the original flavoured one , they were all like 

"YOU SHOULD HAVE TRIED THE HONEY FLAVOURED ONE" 

WELL , SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME BEFORE I FLEW TO KOREA =_= 

If you're there in Jeju and would like to try this delicious fried chicken , please place your order first before exploring the area.. My order took about 25-30 minutes to be prepared. So I strongly suggest ordering first before exploring that way , once you're done with exploring , the chicken would be done and you can just go back to the hotel straight and munch on the chicken while drinking beer on a cold winter night ( wtf am I even saying ...? ) or munch on chicken while watching some korean drama. 

The next day , we had to wake up at 6:30am again ( not sure if im only holiday or going to school ) PLUS , most of us only got to sleep after 12midnight due to the stupid tour guide who decided to mess up Day 2 and Day 3 schedules. 

Breakfast was served in the hotel itself and it was one of the nicest breakfast I've had in my entire korea trip.

As usual , the inconsiderate families caused the entire journey that day to be delayed =_= they arrived late for breakfast at the hotel and afterwards , arrived later than everyone else at the meeting area. Apparently they were late because they were still having their breakfast.... 

Should have arrived early for breakfast since you're gonna eat so much to make your money worthwhile and not make everyone wait for yall.

Day 3 Itinerary.

Day 3 was more relaxing than Day 2 . Probably because Day 2 was super packed due to the stupid tour guide.  

Anyways , once everybody assembled in the hotel lobby , Day 3 of the tour started ~

The first place we went to was Song-up Folk Village.

There is really nothing much about this place because its just a village filled with villagers who make honey and other products which I'm too lazy to remember ( and it doesn't really matter because all of it is overpriced ) 

After spending a good 1 hour + there ( and after the tour guide got his commission ) , we finally moved onto the next destination - Songan Sunrise Peak 

If you think the top looks like this , you are wrong. The top is not green at all. 

There , the tour guide just briefly told us about the extinct volcano and told us about the routes available for us to explore. Before we begin climbing , we took photos around the area and then started our journey up the mountain/volcano. 

Since I'm not a athletic kind of person , my mum and I climbed up a little and then decided to just rest at a stop while my dad , my sister and cousin continued on with the rest of the journey. 

  

 

After my dad , sister and cousin finally came down after taking photos from the top , it was nearly time to board the tour bus and head to our next destination.

Our next destination after the Songan Sunrise peak was :

I am 100% sure the tour guide received alot of commission from this since everyone bought a lot of chocolate and snacks.

I bought several boxes of chocolates but never got to eating them...



So after the chocolate buying session , we went for lunch at idk where ( because I forgot ) but the lunch was horrible af. I bet prison food tastes better.

After the horrible lunch experience , we were headed to Hello Kitty Island.

There wasn't much to do at Hello Kitty Island tbh because :

1. We only got 2 hours ( or lesser ) to walk around , take photos and eat there
2. It was crowded
3. Everything is so expensive there =_= 

I prefer Bangkok's Hello Kitty Cafe. 

Anyways , after the 2 hours , we went to board the bus to our next destination - O'Sulloc Green Tea Museum. 

If you're not a green tea fan like me , the Green Tea Museum is another boring place in the tour. Furthermore , it was bloody hot in there T_T

After the "sauna" , we were off to the Teseum ( Teddy Bear Museum )

The teddy bear museum was never in the itinerary for the tour. But since it was raining , it was impossible to explore the glass castle so the tour guide replaced it with Teddy Bear museum and even said that he would buy all of us Teddy Bears from the museum as part of compensation. Everyone was very happy with what he offered and agreed with him.

But we were all cheated. 

The teddy bears which he gave after we explored the museum were all door gifts for the tourists who went to the museum.

How do I know ? 

Because I saw other tour groups having the same exact bears as us. You don't expect me to believe that all the tour guides from other agencies bought teddy bears from the museum using their own money to give to the tourist as part of compensation do you?? Another reason why is because : I personally walked into the gift store of the teddy bear museum and the bears he gave us were not sold there at all.

So tell me mr cheater tour guide ... did you really buy the bears you gave us using money from your own pocket ? 

Photos from the Teddy Bear Museum c:

"Hera" - The most expensive bear

Teddy Bear Museum was filled with people from China and they were talking at the top of their voices =_= 

how considerate c: 

We were given about 2 hours ( or lesser ) at the teddy bear museum which to me , was more than enough time to explore the place. Till today , I still cannot understand why one of the inconsiderate family couldn't be back on the bus on time... Why would you need more than 2 hours at the teddy bear museum ? You have sons who doesn't give two shits about teddy bears and your husband probably doesn't as well. Don't tell me you were the one who wanted to stay there for more than 2 hours... 

AUNTIE PLEASE.

YOU NOT HUNGRY BUT EVERYONE ELSE IS. 

SO GET YOUR ASS BACK ONTO THE BUS SEAT. 

We waited another 20 minutes for everyone to be back on the bus before setting off for dinner! 

Since we paid about $120+ EXTRA PER PERSON to upgrade our tour package , we were served : abalone , live octopus , jellyfish(?) and other varieties of seafood for dinner. 

There wasn't anything special about this dinner tbh. It didn't feel like it was worth the extra $120++ per person. And the worse thing was , it wasn't even filling. We walked to Emart after dinner to buy snacks because we were still hungry. 

After shopping around Emart and getting myself some more banana milk , we walked back to the hotel room to start on supper ... before showering and going to bed because we had to wake up early the next day for our flight back to Seoul.

Day 4 Itinerary

I don't remember doing much during Day 4... I only remember going to Everland ;-; 

Anyways after collecting our luggage and boarding the bus , we were headed to this building where they produced seaweed and also where we can make our own kimbap and try on traditional korean costumes.

We spent a good 1 hour+ there making kimbap and having our own hanbok photoshoot. 

don't mind this photo. I was too lazy to rotate it.

  Seaweed tea which was quite good actually. 

Anyways , after all these , we got onto the bus and drove off to lunch. 

The place we had lunch at was in the middle of a highway ...? And we had bibimbap for lunch before continuing our journey to Everland.

The tour guide lead us to this safari to get a close look on endangered animals before letting us roam freely around everland 

After the safari tour , we were told to roam around everland by ourselves for the next 3-4 hours before meeting up for dinner

unfortunately , t-xpress was closed due to the weather :< 

there was also a christmas parade going on at about 5pm kst

*^* all the banana milk

There wasn't much to do at everland because most of the rides were closed due to the freezing weather or they were under maintenance :c

We walked around and chanced upon a Line Store. I didn't go in at first because I wasn't a fan of line but after thinking about how there isn't a line store in singapore, it would be kinda stupid for me to not at least go inside the store and see what they sell.

I never regretted stepping in because , the moment I stepped in , all I saw was baskets and shelves of Line Merchandises with the tag "SALE" on them and I literally went



and shook my sister violently ;-; ( sorry sis )

Obviously not everything in the store was on sale but it was good enough. The line files were relatively cheap about less than S$5 ( I saw them on carousell for $8 )  and I bought them ( although I probably won't use it at all ) The plush keychain were also on sale as well *^* I bought a bunch of line merchandise for bae and myself ;-;

Other than the line store , there was also the pororo store and the everland souvenir store in which both of them have very expensive merchandise for sale ... so I didn't get anything there...

I can't remember what we had for dinner on Day 4 but it wasn't anything nice.



After dinner , we were headed to this place in the middle of a highway to rent ski equipments ( for those who want to ski ) and it was already almost 10pm kst.

I cannot understand why the tour guide didn't want to send those who don't wish to ski back to the resort first and let them rest instead of waiting for the people to rent the ski equipment??

LIKE HELLO? WE ARE VERY TIRED AND WE DO NOT WANT TO SKI. 

Fyi , the tour guide's ski equipments are sponsored c: 
how do I know ? 
Because he was advertising a few of the ski products and I also saw him take a bag of ski equipments from the store without paying :D 

That probably explains why he brought all of us to rent the ski equipement..
More people rent = More commission.

And to those people who went skiing , I hope you had fun rushing back to the resort after skiing for less than 2 hours just to shower , change and then meet up at the lobby before going to our next stop :>

I know one family in the tour group who rented ski equipments ( all of them including their old grandpa ) When my family went to board the bus , my mum asked their mum if they had fun and their mum replied back with "It's no fun. We had to rush back after skiing just to shower etc. Waste of money" I'm not sure how much they spent but if I'm not wrong , it's WAY more than SGD200 for all of them ( around 7-10 people if I remembered correctly ).

Yeap. They just spent more than SGD200 renting ski equipments just to ski for less than 2 hours c:
#SMART 
 

My family and I went to play with snow near the ski area while the others went skiing or stayed in their rooms. It was my birthday that day and I was really glad to see snow c: and it was -10 degrees celsius that morning.

We stayed at YongPyong Resort btw c:
Below are photos of the room I stayed in with my sister and cousin!

They have this very cute little tablet on the bedside table ( which I played with non-stop ) 

WHY CAN'T ALL HOTELS IN THE WORLD HAVE THIS T_T 

 

 T_T this view is so nice ;-;
#bringmebacktokoreapls

Okay so after checking out of the resort , we were off to this cable car ride which we paid extra for near the resort.

View from the cable car :

There's a snack bar just at the top of the mountain where we got off the cable car and look what I bought c:

After buying some snacks ( since we were still hungry after breakfast and it was nearly lunch time ) , we went outdoors to look around and it was so beautiful T_T

Spent a good 30-45 minutes there before taking the cable car down to the bottom to board the bus.

After the cable car ride , Day 5 officially begins.
p.s remember when I said in the beginning that we paid SGD120 EXTRA++ PER PERSON and it wasn't worth it ? 
Well , that because the tour guide said that those who paid EXTRA will be able to enjoy the benefits whereas those that did not , would not enjoy those benefits ( which I mentioned above ) Turns out , this couple who did not pay extra , ALSO GOT TO RIDE THE CABLE CAR =_= They didn't have to fork out money for their own meals because they ate at the same place as us and didn't pay a single cent. 

what a waste of money. 

So guys , if you ever sign up with this tour group and go for their korea tour , don't bother "upgrading" your tour package c:

Day 5 Schedule :

So after lunch , we were headed to this soap making place in the middle of nowhere ...
There were so many shapes and colour and aroma to choose from I couldn't make up my mind T_T

Ended up with a bunny ...
A PINK BUNNY!! 

Proud to say that till today , I have not even smelt or used the soap I made yet.

Okay so anyways , after the soap making , we were off to Mt.Sorak National Park

FYI , it was VERY cold during that time T_T and I only had my thermal wear , a long sleeve shirt , jeans and a normal cotton jacket on me ;v ;

Since it was bloody cold , we didn't continue on walking all the way to the buddha unlike the rest. We stopped at a counter a few km away from the buddha and then listened to the tour guide introduce the place before walking back to the bus while the rest went ahead to the buddha.

After the ice cold experience out in the wild , the bus driver finally unlocked the bus and let us got on T_T and then turn on the heater for us ;-;

thank you mister bus driver 

And after everyone boarded and the bus , we were off to the hotel ( again... )
I forgot what hotel we stayed in that night heh ;-; but it was nice and I wouldn't mind staying there again if I ever go to Korea again.

We were told to head to our rooms to rest if we do not wish to go for the hot spring. And for those who wanted to go , they were given probably 15 minutes to change into their swimsuit and assemble at the lobby area. My family wanted to go to the hot spring

BUT GUESS WHAT?

We had to walk to the hot spring wearing nothing but our swimsuit inside , maybe a t-shirt and jeans and then a jacket over our body. And the walk was about 15 minutes away from the hotel we stayed in.

SO NOPE. MY PARENTS THOUGHT "THIS TOUR GUIDE MUST BE CRAZY ASKING US TO WALK OVER IN THE FREEZING COLD LIKE THAT INSTEAD OF LETTING US TAKE THE TOUR BUS"

So yeah.. we went into our rooms and unpacked before heading down to the convenience store at the basement to grab some snacks.

The room below in the photo may look empty but there's actually "mattress" , blankets and pillows stored in the cupboard. Which we will have to take out and arrange on the floor to sleep on.
This room's floor also comes with a heating function c:

 It wasn't a huge room but my sis and I were scared of sleeping there... so we ended up sleeping at our parent's room ; n ; ( on the floor )

View from the balcony area

So as I mentioned above , there are "mattress" , pillows and blankets in the small empty room for us to sleep on. And above is a photo of one part of the room after setting up the "mattress" 

At the basement of the hotel , they have a small convenience store. I wanted to try the line drink but never got to it >.> anyways , we went there once before dinner and I got a bottle of banana milk ^__^

While the rest of the people went for their "hot" spring , we munched on snacks and what not because it was 7plus in the evening and we were hungry ......................... af.

We finally got to eat dinner in the middle of nowhere ( again ) at around 8plus ( almost 9pm kst )

It wasn't very appetizing really.

Since it wasn't appetizing at all , we quickly finished it and went outside to enjoy the cold winter wind .... ( I have gone crazy ) Just to let yall know , I was wearing my thermal wear , pullover , jeans and my normal cotton jacket only.

Once we were outside , my mum spotted a truck selling candies at a rather cheap price so she bought 1 or 2 packets to bring back to singapore and try. We weren't the only ones buying candy from the truck... In fact , when the rest of them came out after finishing their dinner , they also bought candies from the truck.

Lemme just say this...
When the tour guide saw alot of people buying the candies from the truck , he was NOT amused at all.

WHY?

Because he's not earning commission when people buy candies from the truck c:
It's the hard truth.
He's just very money minded ^__^

After a very non-appetizing dinner , we were driven back to the hotel and the tour guide led us to the convenience store. He seemed really friendly with this boy and girl and I was wondering why until , I remembered who their parents were XD

Their parents spent alot of money on the ski equipments and like they bought almost everything the tour guide recommended ...

EXPLAINS WHY HE'S SO FRIENDLY WITH THEM

 

Whatever , I didn't want him to be friendly with me or my family either.
So he led us to the convenience store at the basement after dinner and recommended us some snacks we won't regret purchasing .

Welp. If I buy the snacks you recommended , I WILL REGRET purchasing it. 

He was near the milk section when I grabbed like another 2 bottles of banana milk and just at that moment , this "auntie" ( I call her auntie because she thinks she's still young and puts on a thick layer of make up and tries to dress fashionably ) and this girl around my age went to ask the tour guide what the drink was while pointing to the banana milk =.=

1. It's in the milk section
2. It's yellow in colour
3. There's a high chance the girl knows what it is because shes into kpop. 

So.. ah girl.. why did you ask what the drink was ??? And the auntie looked so happy her eyes literally widen and she started grabbing bottle of banana milk and acted like a 5 year old hugging her favourite stuffed toy .... 

/NEEDS TO ERASE THAT SCENE FROM MY MIND FOREVER/ 

The worse thing was after she paid for the banana milk , she started drinking it as though as shes a freaking 5 year old. 

/GOD PLEASE ERASE THAT SCENE FROM MY MIND FOREVER/ 

And to that auntie , please act your age c: It will corrupt less people.

I got this after dinner ^

This pretty much sums up Day 5 !

Day 6 Schedule :

After breakfast on the morning of Day 6 , we took a boat to Nami Island.

It was raining that day and there's really nothing much to do at that island...

We left the island for lunch after an hour or so.

Lunch on Day 6 wasn't appetizing either .... I didn't finish it actually.. 

After a very unsatisfying lunch , we were headed to Dongdaemun. This was the time where I heard angels singing because we were finally in the city area T_T and I was also nearer to SM COEX Atrium ; u;  It was around 4/5pm KST when we reached Dongdaemun shopping area.

I saw SHINee eating the snack ^ above on the show "Taxi" during sherlock era and I tried it in Korea :> It's actually a hotdog with the bread outside coated with crinkle fries ...

Now that I look at the photo of it , I want to eat it again ... 

Someone please tell me where I can find this snack in Singapore or Bangkok ... 

#desperate 

Let me say this. There is nothing to shop for at Dongdaemun because : 

1. Everything is so freaking expensive ( even the phone cases )
2. Nobody is friendly there 

The shopping building we stepped into was very quiet.. there was hardly anyone there..

Come to think of it... I think my family was the only one there... The shop owners weren't very happy to see us tho :/ 

meh

Since there was nothing to shop for , we went into this cafe and just sit down , drink coffee and talked until it was time to meetup to board the bus back to Lotte World .

Dinner was just bleh. 

We were headed to Lotte World. From the schedule given to us before the tour , we were supposed to be going to lotte world in the morning ( Day Pass ) on day 7. I heard from my friends that the night pass was cheaper than the day pass ( I'm not 100% sure and I'm too lazy to check ) 

But if the night pass is more expensive than the day pass ,

To the tour guide : 

You're fucked up and I hope you bang into the wall when you're walking anywhere.

But if the day pass is cheaper , I have nothing to say to to the tour guide. Because we paid for the tickets. So there's no need to thank him at all. 

Lotte World :

There's like a EXO Pop Up store inside of lotte world ... But I didn't buy anything because I was already going to SM Coex Atrium soon.

Lotte World was more fun than everland. I know lotte world is more kiddy but more of the rides in lotte world are opened compared to everland and lotte world has a indoor theme park! 

It was pretty late by the time we checked into the hotel. We stayed at coex intercontinental hotel that night and we spent less than 12 hours in the hotel. As alot of you know , coex intercontinental is a rather high class hotel and one night there is costly. From what I heard , the later you check in , the cheaper it is. We checked in at around 10/11pm and checked out at 7/8am the next morning. 

The tour agency probably earned quite abit of money from doing this. 

Anyways , Coex Intercontinental bed is so soft T_T it's like as if someone is hugging you while you're sleeping... The moment you lie down on the bed , the whole bed just wraps you into a warm hug. 

Too bad the hotel on has free wifi in the lobby but not the rooms. Otherwise it would have been perfect T_T 

The tour guide told us there was a convenience store nearby ( about 10  minutes walk from the hotel ) My family ended up walking for about 20 minutes before reaching the convenience store =_=

On my way there , I was greeted with various actors/actress/k-idols c:
#cheap

After walking for 20 minutes not knowing where we were headed , we finally reached the convenience store. And look what I've got c: 

HONEY BUTTER CHIPS!!!!!!!!!!! 

Yes. I know this is probably not the original one. Don't have to tell me. 

The other time before we flew off to jeju , there was a convenience store beside the "restaurant" we ate at. The convenience store had a few packs of honey butter chips on their shelves for sale and I, of course grabbed a pack to eat on the bus. 

When the tour guide saw what I bought , he immediately took his mic and MY pack of chips and went "This is not the REAL honey butter chips brand" He then went on to tell us about how the chips were really famous in Korea atm and how there were many other companies producing the chips while constantly repeating that mine was not the real one. 

HOW RUDE =_=  

 

fuck you. 

ACTUAL Day 7 Schedule :

ORIGINAL Day 7 Schedule :

"Ice Gallery" : The only ice craving we did was in jeju island. A horrible memory I really want to erase from my mind. The ice craving did in Jeju was less than 40 minutes in room temperature (( with the heater on )) No jackets were provided by anyone. We wore our own jackets. I highly doubt the person teaching us was even a specialist... He was more of a "SPECIALIST" Probably cheaper to do it in Jeju . 

Again , if it was cheaper to do in Jeju , the tour agency saved money. 

"Seaweed Roll DIY + Hanbok Photo Shoot" : The first thing we did after flying back from Jeju was the Seaweed Roll DIY and Hanbok Photo Shoot 

"Lotte World" : Moved to Day 6. We were supposed to have the Day pass as stated in the original schedule. However we got the Night pass. 

If I didn't remember wrongly , the tour guide introduced myeongdong area to us and told us to remember a few building in case we go missing. Afterwards we were left to explore the area to do our own shopping before meeting at 5:30/6pm at a chinese restaurant nearby. 

I didn't take much photos at myeongdong because I was busy exploring the area for the first time and also because we were going back to myeongdong the next day, so I decided to just take photos the next day. 

Dinner at the chinese restaurant was good. Probably because we had lousy food for the past 6 days =_= 

We stayed in Koreana Hotel for Day 1 , Day 7 & Day 8 c: Overall I would say the hotel was okay. Just remember to open all the vents and windows if you plan on going during winter time otherwise it will be like a sauna the moment you step in T_T 

We were headed to the Jump Show after dinner ^_^ 

We boarded the bus to the Jump show after dinner and the show was rather interesting ( though it makes no sense to me at all ) But it was pretty funny and I laughed alot that night. The show ended at around 7/8pm. Afterwards , we got onto the bus back to the hotel. 

There was nothing much to do at the hotel even though it was still early. Shopping malls were already closed but we were still hungry.. So we walked around the area in hopes of looking for some fast food restaurant we could eat at. 

I spotted Paris Baguette while looking for fast food restaurants and immediately dragged my mum in XD 

However , they were closing soon and there wasn't much to buy anymore... We ended up with a cake for supper and breakfast tomorrow. 

Look what I saw when walking around 

  On our way back , we spotted KFC *^*

We got ourselves a bucket of fried chicken and since they were closing soon , we got it at a discounted price 

#win

Guess who I saw on my way back to the hotel ? 

CHRISTMASSSSSSS 

hohoho merry christmas

Day 8 was a free and easy day where we had breakfast at our own expenses before beginning to tour seoul ourselves. Y'all already know where I'm going / where I went c: 

This whole tour , I've been waiting for this day to come T_T and it was finally here ;-; 

/cries/

SM Atrium post will be up ... uh.. idk when... but it'll be up for sure ! 

After visiting SM Atrium , we walked around coex mall (( everything was so frigging expensive ;; ))

There's nothing much to shop for at coex mall because everything is so high class and expensive there >.> So we went to myeongdong to shop c: 

myeongdong is my fav place after sm atrium

Below are photos I took from myeongdong ^^ 

3 shades of ice cream XD

 It snowed while we were shopping in myeongdong T_T

I would totally love to share the video of snow falling with yall but it exceeded 100MB :< 

Myeongdong was packed like sardines during christmas..... It was hard to move from one spot to another... We went there in the afternoon after going to SM Atrium and then again at night (( because we had nothing to do that day )) 

For the night part , instead of taking the subway , we walked to myeongdong from koreana hotel using the underground pass. It where the city hall(?) station is located at

*Not sure if its city hall station or what... but its the station near koreana hotel. Just exit the hotel and turn right, walk straight and you'll see it. 

There are tons of shops located in the underground pass to myeongdong. Some selling souvenirs , some selling kpop albums  , clothes , idols merchandises etc. 

Read my SM Atrium post to find out where to get the best deal for sm artists albums c: 

Please don't ask me how to walk from koreana hotel to myeongdong because I have ZERO idea... I guess all you can do is follow the signs ...? That was what my family did.. and if you ever get lost , find the nearest subway station and get on the subway to myeongdong :-) 

My mum bought about SGD200 worth of nature republic skin care products partly because it was recommended by the sales girl and also because my tuition teacher recommended it to her. 

I on the other hand , spent 3/4 of my money that I brought to Korea at SM Atrium and the underground CD stores ... I didn't have much money left ;-; So all I did was walk into the saem's ( brand that shinee endorsed while I was in korea ) look around and walk out without buying anything except for this wrinkle cream which I haven't even opened ;-; 

Just from buying that , I got a bottle of deep cleansing foam , 30 packets of masks (( with shinee's faces printed on it )) and a recyclable bag. If I'm not wrong , I spent less than KRW30,000 and got like another KRW30,000 worth of items as free gifts :3 

Other than the saem , I also went into etude house and got myself a pink pocket hand mirror...

I'm a sucker for pink coloured stuffs. I know. 

While we were queuing up to pay for the items we bought at etude , my dad came in and from his facial expressions , I thought something bad happened.. Turns out , it was snowing a bit while we were shopping in etude house.

 When we got back to the hotel , the snow stopped. However , minutes past midnight ( kst ) it started snowing heavily :3 so we all quickly changed and took the elevator down to stand under the snow >.> 

We sound like crazy people ...... 

Anyways , if you want to see the video of it , go check out my instagram : @G.LITING

Just scroll all down and you'll find it ^_^ 

Day 9 :

I feel so sad on Day 9... Mostly because we had to leave korea.. and fly back home. I miss the cold weather (( even until today ; right now )) 

We were woken up early in the morning ( fuck u tour guide ) just to attend this beauty skincare course which I don't give any shit about. We spent like a good 2 hours there listening to the person talk and then going shopping for the products she shamelessly advertised during the talk. 

Everyone was really excited and wanted to get all the products the salesgirl recommended... Well..most of them did.. until my mum and I talked to them about it... 

The products that we got to play with during the talk was mostly used to help moisturize our skin and replenish the loss of water. Since it's winter , our skin was dry , when we used the products , it helped to make our skin moisturized again making it seem like a very good and effective product. 

We talked to a few "friends" of ours in the tour group and told them that the products advertised during the tour would be useless for us in singapore because : 

1. There's no winter in Singapore ; our skin won't get dry 
2. It's freaking hot in Singapore
3. We're perspiring so much in Singapore
4. Why the hell do you need to apply moisturizers in Singapore when you just need to walk out during the day and get all the moisture you need !?!?!!?!?

They agreed with what mum and I said. There was simply no need for moisturizers in Singapore. We're already perspiring a lot to make our skin moisturized. No need to add another layer of liquid on top of it. 

Anyways , we spent a good 1h 15 mins in the store. 

On that day , I realised something.

Places which the tour guide can get commission from , he puts us at that place for a longer period of time and recommends products to us. Because : 

More products we buy = More commission for him

Places which the tour guide gets ZERO commission from , he doesn't let us stay for a long period of time. Neither does he recommend any of the products to us.

One good example would be the candy truck as mentioned earlier in this post. The tour guide didn't seem too happy with us purchasing candy from the candy truck after we finished the dinner. That's because he wasn't getting any commission from it. However , before we rented ski equipments , on the bus , he recommended us products we should definitely for skiing. And this was because hes getting commission from it. 

Another example below : 

At Mapo Market , he took us to this strawberry stall in the market which was selling strawberries for KRW15,000-16,000 for 10-15 strawberries. Those who wished to purchased , stayed back and purchased while the rest were free to walk around on our own. My family walked around and chanced upon another stall selling the same exact brand of strawberries for KRW10,000. We guessed that the extra KRW5000-6000 was his commission 

We walked around a supermarket selling tidbits and what not after the strawberry incident. I wanted to get banana milk from there for around KRW5,600 for 6 bottles but the tour guide told me not to buy from the supermarket because he would be bringing us to another shop to get all the tidbits and banana milk at a cheaper pricing.

Turns out , he only said that because he was earning commission from it because the store he brought us to was selling 6 bottle of banana milk for KRW8,800. 

DO YOU SEE THE PRICE DIFFERENCE??? ITS LIKE FRIGGING SGD10++ FOR 6 FRIGGING BOTTLE OF BANANA MILK WHICH I COULD HAVE GOTTEN FOR SGD7

I'm not that stupid to get the banana milk from there =_= I would rather buy the packet version from Giant hypermart at S$6 than let him earn KRW3200 commission. 

After that horrible experience , I was finally glad to be able to not see that cheater anymore because we were headed to the airport straight afterwards. 

I have no idea why but flight back to singapore was the midnight flight.... shouldn't we have taken the midnight flight to korea instead ??? 

Probably because daytime flight to korea is cheaper than midnight and midnight flight is to SG is cheaper than daytime. 

I bet the agency saved quite a bit of money from saving here and there for our flights , hotels and theme park tickets. Even though we paid SGD1000+ for 1 person , it feels like the amount the tour agency spent on 1 person was WAY LESSER THAN SGD1000 per person. 

The your guide earned quite a bit of commission from letting us stay longer in places where he could earn commissions. For example : Ginseng store, Make up store and the Song-Up folk village

Speaking of Ginseng , till today , I still cannot understand why the people in the tour group bought so many ginseng pills and ginseng home.... My uncle once told me that ginseng was to make the body more heated inside (( that doesn't make sense )) and should highly be drank or eaten during winter so it helps to heat up the body internally. He told me bought some back from his korea trip back in 2014 and he only drank it once in sg which caused his nose to bleed. SG is already hot enough.. you all should be drinking cooling water to cool your body not drink ginseng soup to heat it up even more...

I wonder what the people did with their ginseng... since its forever hot in singapore. 

Anyways , once we reach the airport , I quickly went to the toilet to remove all my inner clothings and packed it into my luggage before checking in. 

If you go to korea by yourself and is considering to check in early , don't do that ... there is nothing much to shop there and even if there is , the prices are in USD which makes everything more expensive than usual... so don't. 

Saw jjong at Incheon Airport before flying back to SG

Does anyone know where I can find this in sg T_T its so good ;-; 

We reached singapore at about 5am in the morning... I slept pretty well on the plane despite the turbulence.

Overall , this trip was not worth the few thousand dollars spent. However , S.Korea is a really nice place ( yes I'm biased bc kpop ) & I would definitely love to fly there again someday by myself without a tour group.

From this trip , I learnt 3 very important things ! 

1. Don't ever travel with a tour group
2. Hong Thai's tour agency sucks. PERIOD
3. One should always explore a foreign country on their own instead of travelling with a tour group. ( esp hong thai )

I guess this also marks the end of my Seoul trip blog post. 

p.s those who die die wanna go to korea with a tour group ,please do not think about going with HT. unless you wanna experience what I went through... 

• Messy & VERY packed schedules
• Sleeping very late and waking up the next day very early
• Money-minded tour guide

DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU. 

Anyways , my SM Atrium post will be up another time I guess... because this post is getting way too long for my liking .... I'm afraid this will turn into a bedtime story for all of you Zzzzz....

Till the next post ~! 

Credits : 

- My parents for bringing me to S.Korea
- My (( lousy )) photography skills 
- HT's very lousy tour guide (( thanks for giving me a topic to write about ))
- Schedule of the trip( incase you think I'm lying ): http://www.hongthai.com.sg/package/detail/455
- Emojis : http://www.emojistickers.com/