The Land Of The Morning Calm: Part IV

Monday, 28 December 2014

Today was our penultimate day in Korea and boy, did we have a lot of places to still visit! We left at 7 and headed across the city for breakfast. After breakfast, we headed to Gyeongbukgung Palace, passing the Blue House on our walk. We walked around the grounds of the palace, noting the king’s library and Hyangwonjeong Pavilion before dropping by the National Folk Museum which showcases the history of the Koreans and their way of life. We spent about 40 minutes in the museum before resuming our exploration of the palace grounds. We passed Gangnyeongjeon (King’s Quarters), Gyotaejeon (Queen’s Quarters), Jagyeongjeon (King’s Mother’s Quarters), concubine quarters and servant quarters before coming upon Geunjeongjeon (Throne Hall) and Sajeongjeon (Executive Office).

We went on a whirlwind tour of a ginseng factory and herbs shop after that. Lunch was seafood hotpot and after lunch, we went to a cosmetic shop (I’m sure you all notice the proliferation of Korean cosmetic shops even in KL). One word of advice though: DO NOT buy any of the products at the shops you stop at because you will always get them at a lower price elsewhere. The tub of aloe vera gel that el niño and I bought cost more than the one at the airport and we all know that despite being duty-free, items always cost more at airports so that’s really saying something.

We then drove to board a cruise ferry. We arrived half an hour early and had to wait to board it. On board the first static boat, we were given a lively bread-making demonstration and then we all had the chance and raw materials to make our own bread. We had to label the baking tray accordingly so that the bread could be packed and returned to us. While waiting for the bread to be cooked, we boarded another boat and went on a cruise along the Han River. The Pang Pang cruise with the Pang Show lasted about 40 minutes and we collected our packed bread on our way out.

Dinner was next and tonight, we had it at Todai Restaurant in Myeongdong. It’s a restaurant serving seafood buffet plus a few others so we ate quite a lot. After dinner, we had two hours to spend window-shopping. I finally bought a pair of sport shoes at ABC Mart while my nieces went crazy with stuff with EXO on them. Yup, they were shopping all right.

We met up at 10 pm and drove back to the hotel. The four of us had an early start the following morning.

Tuesday, 29 December 2014

Our transfer to the airport would pick us at 06:30 so this morning we woke up early. Mr Piao was already waiting at the lobby when we went down with bags of shrimp burgers, fries and soft drink from KFC for our breakfast. There was still some time to run over to 7-11 to buy some titbits and that was what we did. We finally left at 06:35 after saying goodbye and thanking Mr Piao and Yen (Yen would only depart Seoul with the rest of the group in the afternoon). We reached the airport 50 minutes later and immediately checked in. After checking in our bags, we ate the burgers before going in to clear security check and immigration.

There are many boutiques inside the terminal including Hermes, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Gucci...unfortunately, LV items cost more over there as they are quoted in USD (and MYR is very weak against the greenback now). So I left Seoul without doing much shopping (not many things appealed to me and I didn’t have the luxury of time to shop for those that do like ginseng, pomegranate tea etc).

We landed safely at KLIA at 16:50 and I rushed off to perform prayers. Our bags took a while to appear so it was a good thing I decided to perform prayers first. Akak was already waiting for us and the kids were super excited to see their parents again.

Will there be another trip with them? We’ll see.

The Land Of The Morning Calm: Part III

Friday, 26 December 2014

We were told that we would get a late wake-up call today and that we would check out of the hotel an hour after the wake-up call at 10:30 a.m. The kids and I rose early and after finishing our packing, ventured out. We went to E-Mart but it only opens at 10 so we walked to Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast. I bought my food at 7-11 and joined them. We hurried over to E-Mart and were among the first shoppers of the day before returning to the hotel to bring our luggage down.

We checked out and left and drove a bit before stopping for a buffet brunch. We then headed to the airport for our 13:10 flight back to Gimpo. We were all assigned seats to the rear of the plane.

Back at Gimpo, we collected our bags and followed Mr Piao to the coach for our long trip ahead. We had all dressed warmly today in anticipation of the colder weather and were glad to have done so for it was absolutely freezing when we arrived at Namiseom parking lot. After using the facilities, we joined the queue to board the ferry across to Namiseom.

I don’t know why it was possible to feel even colder on the island. We took the obligatory group photo before venturing to explore the island, well, a small part of it anyway. At the risk of repeating myself, it was a freezing day and we could hardly feel our feet. I was still wearing my Converse then too! We walked along the corridor of trees, detoured to visit the ostriches then walked to the restaurants. Then we saw a fire and like a moth drawn to the flame, we went to warm ourselves there. Finally I could feel my toes! We sat there for a few minutes, reluctant to depart from the comforting heat. We then turned and walked back to the gathering place. We sought warmth at the nearby tourist centre before meeting the rest of our party and queuing to board the ferry back.

Dinner was held at a restaurant close to Namiseom parking lot. The restaurant had halal signs and even a sign saying that it could provide a prayer room upon request.

After dinner, we drove for three hours before reaching our hotel at almost 10 pm. I liked the hotel but alas, it was a very short stay there as we were checking out early the next morning.

Saturday, 26 December 2014

The morning wake-up call was at 6 today and as usual, we were to assemble at the lobby with our bags an hour later. However, we had to wait as the restaurant was only open at 07:30. We had a good leisurely breakfast at the hotel before leaving the hotel. However, we had to stop and wait while a member of our party rushed back to his room to find his pair of spectacles which he left behind. We left fifteen minutes later and drove to Seoraksan National Park. We got down and walked to the cable car station, rode the car up and walked the few hundred metres up to admire the view. We stayed there for half an hour before making our way back to the cable car station. There were already quite a few other tourists there and we had to stop and give way as the trail was narrow and didn’t allow a two-way foot traffic.

We turned left after exiting the cable car station and Mr Piao led us to the gigantic Buddha (Great Unification Buddha). We left after ten minutes.

We drove for two hours to Pyeongchang where we stopped to have lunch. Pyeongchang has been elected host city of the XXIII Olympic Winter Games in 2018. After lunch, we drove to the nearby Yongpyong Ski Resort and checked into the Dragon Valley Hotel of the resort. We met up again at the lobby as Yen wanted to take us to see the skiers. (Akak had explicitly forbidden the kids from skiing so we were the only ones who weren’t skiing in our group.) As the skiing area was exclusively for skiers and those without skiing gears are not allowed in, we left after a while and went to another part of the resort as the kids wanted to play with the snow. A snow fight quickly ensued between the three of them. We also walked along the semi-frozen river and then I left them and walked to The Tower to browse the shops and restaurants there. I left after a while and returned to the room.

We met up at the lobby again at 16:30 and after a long wait, left for a sheep farm. We were given the opportunity to feed the hungry sheep and after exhausting the food supply, we went into a big hall where we were shown how to make cheese. We also made our own cheese and later ate it sandwiched in between crisps dipped in jam. Man, it was de-li-cious.

We left after finishing up our cheese and drove to a restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we drove back to the resort and were dropped off at Peak Island, the resort’s water park. El niño and niña chiquita wanted to go swimming, but la niña and I didn’t so we returned to our rooms.

Sunday, 27 December 2014

We checked out of the hotel this morning and had breakfast at The Tower. We left after breakfast and headed back to Seoul, stopping en route at Yeoju Premium Outlets just after 10 am. We were given two hours to shop. It was a bitterly cold day today and the stores’ warmth couldn’t have been more welcomed. I browsed the boutiques before deciding to look for a pair of sport shoes but as I couldn’t decide then, I left empty-handed.

We drove on and reached Lotte World after 1 pm. We were given 3.5 hours to explore the theme park (there’s an indoor park and there’s also the outdoor park) but as much as I love theme parks, I found it a tad disappointing. The kids didn’t want to ride any rollercoasters (!) so we made do with some of the milder rides. It being a Sunday, the queues at some attractions were quite long. Yen had already informed us beforehand that no lunch would be provided; instead we were each given KRW7K to buy our own lunch.

We met up again at a quarter to 5 and rode the coach to Dongdaemun. We had dinner at a restaurant in a building and then were given 90 minutes to shop. Dongdaemun has many wholesale shops and some of them open until 2 a.m. We walked in and out of malls and even crossed over to Lotte Fitin before turning back. We checked into Hotel Capital near Itaewon at 8. El niño, niña chiquita and I went out again at 9 to Itaewon.

To be continued

The Land Of The Morning Calm: Part II

Thursday, 25 December 2014

We were given a morning call at 6 am and were at the lobby before 7. We drove to a restaurant for a simple Korean breakfast (porridge for me) before continuing on to a small shop selling orange produce (sweets and bottled vitamin capsules in orange flavour). Jeju has a very fertile land and a balmy weather and the islanders take advantage of this by planting a lot of citrus fruits. Then we continued on to Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak (Sunrise Peak). After Mr Piao had paid for admission, we walked up, wait, struggled up the trail but the strong sea wind made it very challenging. The peak was once an island before it was connected to Jeju-do from the washed sand and gravel.

We didn’t go all the way to the top and turned back half-way. We followed the trail and went down to where the women sea divers were (I’m not sure if there’s any diving in winter! Surely not!) and spent about fifteen minutes before climbing up again and admiring the view from another area. Then we returned to the bus.

We drove on to Seongeup Folk Village for a close-up of the traditional Jeju life back then. Among the few that I recall is that Jeju is abundant with three things: rocks, wind and women. Back then, womenfolk did all the work while the menfolk did absolutely nothing. Outrageous huh. We also looked at the traditional gate (three bars and each bar can be removed to indicate if there was anyone at home, who were at home etc), traditional dwelling, the millstones pulled by horses... We were then given a brief info on the local produce: horse bone grains and honey. I didn’t care to be ripped off so left empty-handed.

We then had lunch at a restaurant and the four of us were given two plates of vegetarian rice and two bowls of seafood ramen. The rest had meat I suppose.

After lunch, we drove off to Seopjikoji, the filming location for the mini series All In (I believe I missed this drama). Anyway, the church in the drama had been destroyed by a typhoon and in its place is now a newly constructed colourful gingerbread house (admission applicable). We walked to the gingerbread house but didn’t enter. Then we turned back and hurried back to the bus. It was a blustery afternoon alright.

After that we drove to Jeju Glass Castle, a large art glass park with glass arts produced by professional glass artists/sculptors from the Czech Republic and Italy. We were first greeted with a large beanstalk of the Jack and the Beanstalk tale before walking along the outdoor glass corridor. We also entered the Magic Mirror Room where you can see images of yourself from the various mirrors. Then we continued our tour of the outdoor park with its glass Cinderella pumpkin coach, giant teddy bear, flower beds, bridge... it’s amazing how ingenious they are at attracting tourists. On my previous trip with Mummy, we visited more natural outdoor attractions.

We left after about 40 minutes and drove to The Teddy Bear Museum, passing Dokkaebi Road (mysterious road) en route. Vehicles passing this road can seemingly roll uphill when the engines are switched off when in reality this phenomenon is due to an optical illusion. We reached The Teddy Bear Museum barely half an hour later and as its name suggests, is home to hundreds of teddy bears and friends. There’s a safari area with tigers and rhinos, an overhead aquarium with floating teddy bears and friends (even a mer-teddy!), framed teddies, teddy bears in portraits... At the end of it, we emerged into the gift shop and yup, you guess it, the prices are eye-watering. Anyway, Mr Piao had already told us that seeing it was Christmas Day, we would be getting a complimentary gift from the museum. We left after almost an hour there.

The Jeju Ice Gallery, an indoor ice sculpture gallery with various ice sculptures, was our next stop. The most popular attraction there is the Ice Slide – even I took two turns there! After the tour, we also tried our hands at ice sculpting. The instructor showed us how to make a drinking glass with stem. He must have taken all of three minutes to knock the ice off the edges and smoothing the surface and moulding the ice to the shape. Ha, it always looked so much easier than doing it! After that, we washed our finished products and drank some orange juice from our self-made products. We left after an hour there.

The packed day continued with a stop at the Trick Art Museum with its optical illusion art. It reminds me of Penang 3D Trick Art Museum. We spent half an hour there before proceeding up to the 5D theatre at the next level for the Poseidon show. Well, it was Korean so I couldn’t understand head or tail of it.

We finished off the day with dinner before we returned to the hotel. Some in our group ventured out later with Yen to do some window shopping. The kids went; I stayed in.

To be continued

The Land Of The Morning Calm: Part I

I had promised to bring my niece, la niña, to Korea as a reward for her PMR results last year but the trip didn’t materialise last year. Subsequently, I promised to bring her youngest sister, niña chiquita, also to Korea if she aced her UPSR. Since I was already bringing the two of them, I decided to include my nephew, el niño, along. It would make room sharing arrangement easier for sure. So I spent a long time at the MATTA Fair in September trying to find a good package. In the end, I settled for a Mandarin-speaking package because (i) we would be flying MAS; (ii) it would include a trip to Jeju unlike most Muslim tours; and (iii) I feel more comfortable travelling with non-Malays. I requested seafood and vegetarian menu for the four of us. There aren’t many Muslims in Korea that can cater halal food for Muslims anyway so to me, it didn’t really matter if we joined a Mandarin-speaking group and travelled with non-Malays.

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

I went to do some last-minute shopping among others for the trip and when I returned home, dad told me that my uncle (by marriage) had passed early that morning in Johore. It was too late to pay our respects so we just performed prayers for him. I tried to get some rest in the afternoon but I had only just drifted into a nap when my brother and family from Johore arrived. There went my kip.

I had a late lunch after showering. Dad sent me to Ampang LRT station (I decided against Ampang Park as I suspected the traffic would have built up by then) and I rode the train to Bandar Tasik Selatan before switching to KLIA Transit. I detoured to TBS but didn’t really explore it as my bags were too heavy to lug around. That’s the downside of travelling during winter: you have to pack winter coat, boots, mufflers, gloves, thick socks etc. I also had to bring over Akak’s winter coat for la niña as she forgot to bring it when she last came over. And then there’s the food for the hungry kids: Snickers, Oreos and Mamee Monsters. Heh.

I rode the train to Salak Tinggi (it was crowded) and met up with ZS there. We had an early dinner before returning to the station to perform prayers. We caught the 20:00 train to KLIA and sat waiting for Akak et al to arrive.

They finally arrived at 20:45 and Yen, our tour leader, helped us check in. Oh, before I forget: in October, the travel agent called and asked if we wanted to change our flight and fly Korean Air instead, citing it was better to fly Korean Air. I refused and asked what she meant by that. Did she mean because two of MAS planes encountered tragedy this year? She didn’t admit it but said that the departure back from Incheon would be later than MAS so we would have more time to shop. I told her that she shouldn’t assume that everyone wanted a later departure time. I for one don’t care to reach KLIA too late and besides, there’s only so much shopping one can do. After a couple of calls, we finally agreed that the four of us would fly MAS while the rest would fly Korean Air. I checked between the two airlines online and guess what? It cost less to fly MAS than Korean Air so I’m not sure why the travel agent decided to fly Korean Air when the profit margin would be less. The departure time between the two airlines from KUL is only 25 minutes.

We went through the usual rigmarole. The kids were unhappy that they had to take off their belts and shoes for the security check at the gate. Me? I skipped over to the next queue. Heh.

Wednesday, 24 December 2014

I didn’t manage to sleep much as usual bar the occasional brief nodding off. I performed prayers just before we landed in the dark cold morning. We had to walk to the terminal train station and board the train (frequency is every five minutes) to get to immigration. After collecting our bags, freshening up and donning the winter gear, we walked over to the carousel for Korean Air from KUL to meet up with the rest. We didn’t have to wait too long.

We then left the arrival hall and followed Yen who led us to Peter, a part-time photographer who would follow us on the trip except to Jeju, and our tour guide, Mr. Piao. They then led us to the bus but we had to wait before we could approach our bus. We finally had our bags loaded and boarded the bus.

We drove away from the airport heading to the waterfront and as it was still early, we got down from the bus to take in the morning chill. After ten minutes, we re-boarded the bus and it went down the ramp and onto the waiting ferry. I went to the bathroom and when I exited, saw that the others were taking some shrimp crackers to feed the seagulls (though el niño was also helping himself to some!). We crossed over to Wolmido which used to be an island a hundred years ago before the Koreans built embankments and connected it to the mainland.

After that, we went for an early lunch which was tosokchon or ginseng chicken soup. I was happy to see the restaurant had a halal sign although we quickly discovered ginseng chicken soup got rather bland after a while.

Lunch over, we drove over to a kimchi school and learnt how to prepare kimchi. Yen helped to translate as the instruction for this (and henceforth) was in Mandarin. After the instruction, we prepared our portion of kimchi (all ingredients were already on the long table in front of us). We had to don an apron and plastic gloves. The instructor also taught us how to fold the cabbages and then roll up our plastic gloves and the plastic covering for the plate for disposal. Apparently our kimchi would be given to an orphanage. And of course, there was a promotion for the various kimchi produced by the school for us to purchase and some sample for us to taste. As we didn’t plan on buying, we went downstairs and put on hanbok, the traditional Korean dress. We then posed for pictures and had a good laugh.

Shamelessly nicked from here

After all the poses had been done and the photos shot, we returned the hanbok and made our way back to the bus. Before long, we had reached Gimpo Airport. Group check-in took a while though. Mr Piao went to the counter and after ten minutes, brought us to another counter to drop off our bags. Eh? I told Yen that we wanted to perform prayers first and would make our own way to the gate. In the end, we performed prayers in the baby care room. It was spacious and no one disturbed us. Actually, we probably disturbed a nursing mother opps. After prayers, we rushed to clear security. The queue was oh so long and we made it to the gate a couple of minutes before they closed the door. Phew!

We took off at 15:35 and landed an hour later. There were a lot of people travelling to Jeju. Maybe because it was Christmas Eve and they wanted to return to their hometown or take a holiday in Jeju. It was almost dark when we finally emerged into the Jeju cold and made our way to the bus.

We stopped for about 15 minutes at Yongduam (Dragon Head Rock) before continuing on to dinner. There’s one thing I hate about Korean restaurants: the grill smell lingers on your clothes for ages. Ugh! We checked into Jeju Ocean Suites Hotel (good thing we had adjoining rooms) and were informed to assemble at the lobby at 7 the following morning.

El niño and I ventured out into the freezing evening to check out the nearby E-Mart. There were three levels to it and there were a lot of frenzied last-minute shoppers there so we left empty-handed.

To be continued

The Year That Was: 2014

I think it’s fair to say that we all look forward to the next year as we expect it to be better than the current (previous) year. We were all looking forward to 2014 in our own way and little did we know that it wasn’t going to be a very good one. Sure, human tragedies and conflicts continue on but 2014 got more memorable especially for us with not one nor two but three airplane tragedies. Looking back, it feels difficult to feel that it had been a good year for humankind on the whole. Conflicts, sieges, natural disasters and catastrophes, they all happened and I suppose will continue to dominate the headlines.

Another mixed year, is what sums it best for me. I spent even less time on boring FB (am seriously thinking of quitting it altogether but for my photo albums) and more time reading. I set a target of another 100 books and then raised it slightly to 104 (an average of two books a week) and in the end, I managed to read 107 books. Let’s see if I can emulate or improve further on it this year though I would like to read more religious books in English and finish the Quran more often. InsyaAllah.

Alhamdulillah, I also managed to squeeze in the following trips, both local and abroad (I visited more local places in 2014 due to my financial diet in the fourth quarter):

January: Went to Melaka for a day trip; spent a weekend in KK with my old girlfriend, C; and at the month-end, flew to Yangon and immediately out again to Inle Lake

February: Explored Myanmar’s Inle Lake area and Mrauk U; then spent a short weekend in Penang

March: Back to Saigon after 3.5 years. I miss this crazy city!

April: Flew to London on the Airbus A380 (my first time aboard it!). Flew out immediately to Sicily, my first time there

May: Traipsed around Europe: from Sicily, I flew to Eindhoven and went to Bruges. Returned to London for a few hours and then flew out to the Czech Republic before travelling overland to Salzburg. Flew back to London for a few nights before flying home. At month-end, flew to Langkawi for the departmental teambuilding

June: Day trip to Singers for the Great Singapore Sale (well, not really)

July: Day trip to Ipoh

August: Spent the first weekend in Cherating and the last (Merdeka) weekend in Kuching. In between, took a return train trip to Singers

September: Returned from Kuching on 1 September. Flew to Taiwan in mid-month

October: Local day-trips to (i) Kuala Selangor and Sekinchan and (ii) Pulau Ketam

November: Local day trip to Teluk Intan; day trip to SG

December: Weekend retreat to Genting Highlands; before my year-end trip to Korea.

We saw Arsenal slipped off the top of the league after a good run there and finally finishing fourth yet again. We finally lifted the FA Cup after, in true Arsenal style, almost letting it slip between our fingers. Then there’s the World Cup and Allemagne finally got rid of their third-placing jinx and won the Cup. There was no Arsenal Asia Tour in Asia due to the World Cup; they played in New York instead.

I resolve to eat more healthily, maintain a healthier lifestyle, manage my relationships well, rein in my temper, not get too stressed out and continue on travelling and exploring. I also resolve to buy only as much food as I can eat and not waste food (I threw so much expired food from the fridges and larder during the weekend boohoo), take shorter showers, waste less resources and be a more responsible citizen of the globe.