South Korea: Winter - January 2017

I am in South Korea now. My third visit to this K-Pop country. First time I came here was in 2003. Then, we needed a visa to enter the country if I'm not mistaken. So long ago. Digital cameras were not even known back then and now with smartphone cameras, they are almost extinct! I remember our camera went kaput during that trip and we ended up using a disposable camera :P

 

My second trip was during Chinese New Year break in 2011. Wrong timing for shopping enthusiasts. Dongdaemon and Iteawon were closed. Not much snow left either on the ground.

Now my third trip. This trip includes Jeju Island. We are hoping for a better snow than our previous trip :) No plan to shop. I did not even bother to change my currency to Korean Won. I figure if I need to buy anything, I just use my credit card. If they won't accept then no need to buy :P

 

 

We followed Apple Vacations this time round. The tour costs RM5236 per person. No early bird discount for us since we booked late. The itinerary was as follows:

 

19 January 2017  Kuala Lumpur - Seoul
20 January 2017  Seoul - Jeju Island
21 January 2017  Jeju Island
22 January 2017  Jeju Island - Seoul - Nami - Chuncheon
23 January 2017  Chuncheon - Hwacheon - Pyeongchang
24 January 2017  Pyeongchang - Seoul
25 January 2017  Seoul
26 January 2017  Seoul - Kuala Lumpur

 

I will try to post most of the pictures in my instagram while I am still in Korea. Let's see whether it is possible or not :)

 

 

AN UPDATE:

Safely arrived home 3 days ago. Quite happy with the short holiday. In fact I am becoming a fan of a short overseas trips :) Short and sweet. No time to get tired with the weather or the country that you visited. Just enjoy taking pictures of the country and the shopping expeditions :)

 

I did manage to survive without changing a single KRW. All the shopping were done via credit cards. Ironically due to the Tax Refund, I ended up with close to KRW50,000 in my purse when I left the country :P

 

The temperature was very cold while we were there (-11C to -14C). There were snow everywhere but we did not experience snow fall :( When the wind blows, all your fingers felt numb. Couldn't even press my monopod button to take selfies :P The sun was shinning but you felt numb and cold to the bone. You have to cover your face. If not, your face will turn numb too. How glad I am to live in a tropical country :)

 

The hot food that were served to us were good. Love the soups. I am a fan of their anchovies side dish. Somehow I don't really like their kimchis because they were served cold. I like their KRW100 instant coffee :)  

 

Ice fishing was fun. I managed to catch 1 trout. Should be able to catch much more if we were taught the trick much earlier. You should not expect the fish to bite your bait. You use the bait to snag the fish instead. Just move your bait up and down the water. You will get lucky eventually :)

Our Korean tour guide Jennifer was really good. I give her A+ for her service. She tirelessly explain to us over and over again about Korean history, the tours meeting time and place, timing of hotel breakfasts etc etc. Top notch tour guide. Speaks great English since she was brought up in United States. She can even speak fluent Malay without any Korean or English slang!

Apple Vacations tour leader Add was very good too. Quietly taking care of the group. Making sure that none of her herds were missing :P Her sambal ikan bilis was yummy!

I have uploaded 290 pictures for your viewing pleasure. Happy to report that I managed to upload all prior to reaching home. If I can sustain this momentum for my future holidays, there will no longer be any backlog. Something to look forward to :)

You can access them here:
http://instagram.com/mkhasha.n.travels

Hashtag specific for this trip: 

#mks2017SouthKorea
 

Njoy!!

South Korea: Winter - February 2011

This was my second visit to Seoul. The first time was back in year 2002 when "The Korean Wave", 한류 (Hanryu) had not touch a lot of Malaysians yet. It was also prior to my digital camera era so no pictures to share during that trip. What I remember of that trip was we went in August. It was summer so even though we went to the mountains and lakes, it was as though we were in Malaysia. My camera also went kaput. So we ended up using disposable cameras that we bought at their equivalent of 7-11. Lessons learnt. This time, I chose winter and brought more than one camera ;p

 

Before I proceed, I must confess that I am a fan of K-dramas. It started in year 2005 with "Winter Sonata" and by the time I got to "Full House" I was totally hooked. Formerly an addict, I was willing to watch till wee hours of the morning. Depriving myself of a much needed sleep. Luckily I have semi-recovered. Now I watched only selected dramas and try to limit to one or two hours per day ;p

 

I like their food. Spicy and also very pretty. Like Japanese, they made it an art of its preparation. I wish I was there longer to sample more of their local food.. most especially the grilled fish. Hemm.. maybe one of these days I will go and stay there for a month or two to sample their food and do a tour of K-dramas filming locations ;p

 

We went there with Poto Travel and Tours. It was a twin-cities tour of Seoul-Ho Chi Minh. 5 days 4 nights (3-7 February) in Seoul and 2 days 1 night (7-8 February) in Ho Chi Minh. Tour price was RM3.2k per person. Needless to say that the trip was too short. Furthermore, we went during their Lunar celebration thus Iteawon and Dongdeamun markets were closed. Luckily I didn't plan to shop but I'm sure the rest of my tour members didn't share my sentiments. Having said that, their Duty Free shops at Incheon International Airport are pretty good. If you wish to procure branded stuff, they are cheaper than in Malaysia :)

 

I've uploaded 141 pictures for your viewing pleasure. I must apologise that I don't have a lot to share cause most of the pictures taken in this trip have my face in it :)

 

You can access them at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

 

Njoy!!