Tuesday, January 20, 2015

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