Korea Trip - Seoul (Day 7)

4th January 2010

The day Korea recorded highest snow fall since 1937. Morning fall record a 25.8cm (of snow) high. Traffic jam everywhere, basically no vehicles can move. Peiye sms says her lab announce 1 day off! wow shiok!

Winter Love :)

We had Chinese today... horrible horrible horrible, worst than any hotel breakfast!!! Spend about an hour here having a slow breakfast, waiting for our guide who is still stuck in the jam....

Thick snow everywhere.. every steps taken gotta be careful.. you never know the next step you take will end you up in the drain ...

Next stop: Kimchi making and Hanbok (Korean traditional costume) experience

Kimchi tasting and making experience

My cabbage kimchi

Check out the uncle behind me... he is our group member, pure Chinese but he and daughter look so much like the local!!

My first time trying on Hanbok

Chahamum Traditional Korean Cuisine Restaurant

Although this is not the authentic hanjongsik (royal cuisine) as mention by the guide but this is definitely the most expensive and delicate meal we had.

FYI: According to locals, typical hanjongsik will cost about 1-200SGD a pax!

Natural snow slide~

Very happy with the spread.. and excited about some of the new dish i never tasted..

Chapchae (Korean vermicelli vegetable stirred with soya sesame sauce)

Steam samgyupsal belly pork with cabbage kimchi

New to me... BBQ beef .. Yum~

Healthy grain rice... reminds me of my mother in law..

Mandujigae dumpling soup

Fried tofu with soya and vinegar sauce

Steam egg with chives, carrot and onion

Xiao long bao dumpling with soya and vinegar dip

Clam soup

New to me... brown rice paste... hm... salty.. mild fragrant.. but... we didnt like it.. very korchabi 古早味 maybe they suit to granny taste bub ...

New to me.... Brown rice skin with red bean insert dumpling..

Cutest ttok (rice cake) i seen!! I never seen ttok in bubble tea pearl shape before!!

Snow covered street (already cleared one round by resident and police officers).. Very dangerous especially for smaller size car where light car mass can lead to skid.

President blue house.. more like white house in winter

COEX mall..Very upset!!!... due to the snow and jam, we only have about an hour to shop :(

But i still manage to find the ARTBOX (the overpriced store in Tampines mall)

My Loots from Artbox

Hard cover organizer

Walked around.. nothing much to shop.. winter cloth and accessories everywhere.. we saw Etude again and there we go...

Guide help to upgrade to Character room (Theme with Lotte character Lotti and Lorry).. Let Inho and Celine roll back into their childhood memories...

Our childish bedroom!!

Find them familiar.. maybe i use to have similar bedsheets when i was younger? :)

Lorry Cushion

Kid's menu

Maxim coffee.. saw Singaporean aunties grabbing Maxim coffee in Lotte super mart... -_-! Maxim is Japan Kopi leh~

Bathroom

Automatic toilet bowl

L'occitane bath set

Lotte world theme park... Outdoor park close due to weather condition... :(

Game in the indoor park are... mostly mend for child..

Stairway to Heaven (drama) carousel

Listen to guide's recommendation to eat in Lotte world's Chinese food court for their Jajangmyeong and felt CHEATED!! Bill came up to 16,100won.. SGD20 for this!!!

The must order 2 dish in Chinese restaurant Tangchuyok (sweet sour pork Korean style) and Jajangmyeong... My tangchuyok taste crappy!!! Meat hard, not crispy, the sweet sour sauce not hot -.-

Worst Jajangmyong i tasted in my whole life!! I believe the instant chacharon taste better~ sibei buesong after this meal... It's not authentic, not even near nice..

We custom made our key chain.. SGD20 a pair

We like this... Hot air balloon :)

Ice skating ring on the ground floor

Collected our 3D key chain :)

Went shopping in Lotte mart. Lucky we never listen to what guide say (to bring us to a supermart on our last day lah or bring facebook hq) and bought alot from Lotte mart :D *The commission based mart guide brought us on our last day have very very limited variety and prices are marked up 200% highier than local market rate.. so unethical lor*

Instant hottok powder mix

Free hottok maker :)

Market O real brownie

Cuttlefish for BBQ

Korean and Japanese chocolate by Lotte.. Husband say he love to eat this when he was a kid.. but he cant confirm if this is a Korean or Japanese found chocolate... Lotte is crate by a Japan born Korean guy and set up in Japan.. so.. this is a Japan or Korean chocolate?

My all time favorite tea Yojacha orange tea $5, selling at about $12 at the store guide brought us -.-!

Husband young time favorite hotdog roll :)

Bought some package of pajeon back too

Odeng pack

Hongsam (red ginsheng) extract for mum to try. 100g about $90-100... Cheap for red ginsheng extract.. The ginsheng showroom guide brought us to are only 6yr ginsheng extract.. not 6yr red ginsheng extract.. not sure whats their different.. but Red ginsheng is definitely higher in grade.. *highly recommended product not just for the elderly but us too! inho and me take it when we have insonmia or not enough sleep*

Sweet potato cake

Cheese cake

Korean Strawberry!!! Mad love~ So much different from those Korean super-mart selling in NTUC or Cold storage~ These berries are freshly plugged everyday (date sticker labeled) and owner's face and contact number printed right on the center of the package!! Freshness guarantee~

Huge berries

Sweet, fat and juicy!! We finish the whole box within 30min

Some other loots we purchased from Etude house in COEX mall

Blackhead remover

Free gift from Etude house

Anna sui inspired mirror

Trial kit

Baking powder... similar to Fancl washing powder

BB cream balm... My first balm foundation, still didn't get use to it.. require more practice~

BB compact mineral.. to puff onto your BB cream face to give that matt feeling

Best buy of my trip... Handphone lip balm with Hello kitty.

Etude house mask that cost only $1+

2nd set of husband BB cream and moisture set

Loots from the bogus faceshop HQ guide brought us to. What she said about this shop is absolutely not true, i have no reason to believe that shop was a HQ. 1st it's old, 2nd it's messy with lot of mixed brand, concept is more like a Sasa shop than a HQ. The moment you step in, they immediately bring you to a counter for demonstration hard selling you their brand ODBO, one which neither me nor the husband have any idea about.. I tried to google online but can barely find much information, if this is a really fabulous leading product shouldn't they have a website or something.. most of the web hits comes from Singaporean spree... Moreover their price arent cheap!! about $40 a bottle and around $200 a set... not say super effective.. same old trick as Ginvera marvel gel or the one i bought in Thailand for $8!Blah... 

This business is good, people are buying by hundreds and we even saw one families forking out 2000USD of ginsheng products from the very obvious bogus squeeze foreigner money's ginseng showroom!! Just a gentle reminder when you travel, foreginer slaughter field all look similar, they have a few demonstration showroom, hired all foreigner (mostly from china to speak to tourist) and guide would say things like no need to buy from the shopping mall we will bring you to a super-mart or xxx brand HQ on our last day of trip~ The more he/she say, the more you got to buy before hand..Just my two cents..