Korea 2017 (Winter)

''Land of Morning Calm"

My second time visit Korea. The first time was a trip suggested by my coursemates and I never been to Korea so why not? Last year my colleagues suggested a Ski Trip to Korea. How can I say no to Korea? Tell me how? hahahaha So we booked our flight ticket!

Its gonna be a long post because I went Seoul & Jeju for 11 days.

My OOTD and my new luggage given by my sister and brother in law (best birthday present!)

Our tickets!

We booked our ticket from Vietnam Airlines because they were having promo. The route is KL -> Vietnam -> Seoul. We had 2 meals, 1 before touched down Vietnam and another before touched down Seoul. Who can eat 2 meals within 4 hours? Me! I love their bread (I love fluffy plain bread)

Say hello to the pretty Air Stewardess from Vietnam Airlines and my look after > 6 hours flight (we waited for about 1-2 hours during transit)

Long Q! Either we touched down at the wrong time or everyone from all over the world rushed to Korea for winter holiday. I love their staffs because they are really efficient!

Oppa who forced to selfie with me but look at his face! (confirm beh song me)

I love trying different stuff from their convenience store and always buy more than I can finish.

I kept my T-money during last trip but how can I resist the cute Line's card?

My whole journey is from Seoul -> Jeju -> Seoul

So lets start with Seoul?

*I personally like how I look in this picture, shy*

I have to show you this friendly and helpful girl who assist me to set up my Korea number. She is lovely and clumsy like me. It took her some time to figure out how to set up my number.

My Ski's Squad!

C. Chen, Sandy, Jane and Jin Mei Li (aka the pretty one)

I took selfie in most of the stations during my first visit to Korea.

This time? I just took during the first 2 stations because I want to enjoy as much as possible (actually is me being lazy to take out my phone)

First picture: Hongik station because Hongik is our first stop in Korea and I love Hongik (so many leng chai and leng lui okay? and YUMMY street food)

Second stop: Sinchon station because saja want to show the station where my favourite (eat all you can) bbq buffet located. Really worth it but so sad this time I couldnt find the shop (FYI the restaurant still operating)

I googled and found this link

https://www.meetup.com/SeoulVillage/events/228738525/?_cookie-check=IoZzCP8m5NHv9g0s

Please Please Please (have to repeat because really worth trying) have a look and visit if you are going to Korea. No need to thank me because sharing is caring. HAHAHAHA

Some of the street food I love and always make sure I eat them whenever I visit Korea.

Say Hi to new street food/snack I met and this time I managed to bring the girls to try Korea famous breakfast: Isaac Toast (located almost everywhere)

Saja want to show this cute Snoopy cap I love and regret not bringing home. My self control not bad right right right?

Randomly found this beautiful Church while walking around

Found this delicious waffle selling in a food truck right outside the church

My second time visiting Ewha University. I love this place and keep telling my squad I need to send my application form soon! *obviously dreaming*

Any of you notice the last picture looks familiar? My blog's background! Congratz if you can answer correctly but I am sorry no prize. HAHAHA

More food! I am quite disappointed with our dinner (we give up looking for the cheap bbq buffet and settle at a random place. Why? They use spaghetti instead of ramen/instant noodle, so weird! I wish I remember the shop's name so you all can skip this restaurant.

My first Ski Trip!

Wohoo I really enjoy my overall experience in Vivaldi Park although I fell and knocked my butt & head for countless time! We found really nice and helpful tour guide introduced by Hostel Philstay but I forgot to ask her contact.

Best time of the day: Dinner!

We were exhausted and randomly visit a restaurant to feed our baby (food). Unexpectedly good? I prefer the Bibimbap more than the Misua soup? The texture of the noodle is like Misua with clear soup base.

I am lucky enough to visit the One Piece Cafe but we were quite late and they are getting ready to close shop. :(

Enjoy my last night in Seoul before flying off to Jeju. We found a cafe operate until midnight but their coffee and toast quite bad.

A short introduction to my stay for the first 3 days before flying off to Jeju. Remember my route is Seoul -> Jeju -> Seoul? So the first 3 days we booked a place through Airbnb. I was really busy with my job so I didnt do a lot of research on how to go our homestay. We took about 15 to 30 minutes when we finally reach the place. It was slightly bitter experience for me because my girls were exhausted and it was really cold outside (becuase its winter). Some of them really unhappy with my arrangement which make me extra gan jeong. Thanks to Youtube I found a video showing us how to walk from Subway station to our homestay. We found within 5 minutes. Phew! Thanks Youtube.

Hello Incheon Airport!

It was my second time flying from Seoul to Jeju. I had bad experience during my first visit because I was not familiar with Korean language and there were miscommunication and I missed my flight! I was worried because I was still a poor student and that trip was supposed to be a budget trip. In the end, I have to purchase new ticket but I got 10k won refund from my previous ticket (AA or any other airlines in Malaysia why you no such service. This time we chose T'Way Air becuase we found a cheaper deal. Overall I love Korea's airlines becuase most of them have really good service.

Forget about our stay lets talk about my first night dinner. We met a group of hong kongers and decided to dinner together. They are our neighbour living in the same traditional house. Jeju has a lot of BBQ restaurant so we were spoiled with choices. We randomly (again) walked into a restaurant and we were the only group of people. We ordered Jeju famous black pork and pork neck (Geee my girls dislike the neck). We had fun talking to the group of young boys and found out they are engineer students (we told them we are still students LOL). Hello friends from Hong Kong and wish you all enjoy your student life mmkay? (I think we wont have the chance to meet anymore :-P)

Because Moomin!!!

We are all bian tai and crazy girls. We decided to eat ice-cream under cold weather. I did the exact same thing during my first visit (that time was end of Spring). So cold but so exciting! This time I managed to try this long Hershey's Ice-cream. I think you can give this a pass.

How can you missed out Chimaek?? If you missed out please dont tell people you have been to Korea before. Joking Joking Joking. We ordered too much chicken due to miscommunication and took us 2 days to finish everything. We purposely buy beer to create the combination (FYI, most of the restaurant free carbonated drink so if you dont buy beer how can you get Chimaek? hahaha)

Our lovely homestay in Jeju: The traditional Korean house. **Strongly advice skip traditional house during winter*
We had a lot of funny stories here. First night we were quite new to everything including how to adjust the right temperature for floor heater and water heater. A friend of mine actually bathed under cold water when the temperature slowly changed to icy cold water before she was done. She walked out crying and keep saying ' so cold so cold so cold'. I laughed out loud (literally) and worried our neighbour (the group of hong kongers) going to complain us. It took us 2 days to figure out the proper way to use floor heater and my first night was *cry* because the floor too hot and I sweat a lot. *SWEAT*

I have a thing to interesting coffee/chocolate milk and Korea has wide range of hot/cold beverage. I love Maeil's chocolate milk. soo good! <3

Our host's dog. Very good boy and follow us to bus stop everyday.

We were up early and none of the restaurant open. We came into this yellow shop selling sponge cake. The cake looks good so we decided to give it a try (please note the sponge cake hype yet to reach Malaysia while we visiting Korea). I dont like it. *sorry*

My first breakfast in Jeju!

Going for unhealthy version because we were up early and the sponge cake not enough to make us full.

We only -anaged to visit one tourist spot due to the lack of arrangment (or can I say our place is quite far from the main attractions so it took really some time travel to main tourist spots). We were too excited and absorbed in Hello Kity land and end up spent 4 hours in it (totally out of control because we were supposed to spent 2h and move to Teddy musuem). Definitely a place worth visiting for HK fans but think twice if you are not since a lot of attractions in Jeju worth your time.

Another random place for dinner nearby the main bus station. Food is good! I think whenever we dont put expectation then food turn out really good and vice versa. -_-lll

Okay please try this because I kinda like them.

You may skip this! hahahahaha You get me?

A few of my friends really want to save time and visit more attractions so we booked a van with tour guide. So easy you just need to make a call -> send your address -> voila someone going to pick you on time. I am impressed with the service but they are not cheap (I remember it costs 140k won which includes car + driver for 8 hours tour). We got Jeju famous orange for free too! Our driver is a cute mid age uncle who can speak chinese (quite fluent) and jokes a lot. Liddat only got more business ma. Good one uncle!

One of my favourite pictures throughout the journey.

First stop: Osulloc Tea House

**I must share this silly and painful experience first**

I was a little disappointed when I found out Osulloc sold out their famous green tea spread but I am not letting myself to feel upset for a spread I never try before. What make me really upset is actually I managed to found those hipster spread in Kwangjang Market. I was so happy and sapu 6 bottles. Guess what? I was so stupid and hand carried them. I didnt manage to go back counter to check in because we were running late. Painfully gave them to the custom oppa. T_T So painful to see my money and effort wasted (6 bottles quite heavy you know). Anyway, my friend bought the spread and allowed me to try them. I am disapointed because the spread is too sweet for my liking.

A reminder: Remember to check out Innisfree in Osulloc Tea House becuase they carry wide range of products including Jeju exclusive products. AND each person get a complimentary postcard and you can choose different stamps available or you can pay 15k Won to make your own soap ( I make a pass becuase of time restriction *sad*)

Anyway, Chinese fusion cuisine for lunch. Taste is good and I love it (or maybe we were really tired and hungry?)

Best part of the trip is Teddy Bear Musuem!
I missed the chance to visit during my last trip to Jeju because I thought I can visit the one in N Seoul Tower but they closed down. So happy this time I can spend some time to visit Teddy museum and witness some unique teddy bears. I love the one from Princess Hours ( I spent about 5-10 minutes on the same spot looking for best shot). I am so happy to see them in real life because I was really obssesed with the drama when I was younger (and naive oppps). The LV bear is pretty common for me (sorry Princess Hours won my heart)

Another cup of coffee from the same starbucks after two years. I am a Starbucks card collector but decided to slow down my collection 2 years ago because I dont really like Starbucks now.

Our last dinner in Jeju: Abalone congee/ Seaweed soup.

I had better abalone congee in Jeju but this is good as well.

Supper! We decided to sapu our noodle cup before leaving Jeju. Our supper is Samyang Spicy noodle with gallons of water. HAHAHAHA

Guess what's inside?
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Taaaddaaaa Its Chocolate milk (dont boo me okay?)

Hello my Oppa. I am sad to say goodbye to you. :(

Bad habit! I really want to take picture with 'Ah Bing Ger' (The Republic of Korea Army). So happy to found him and pity this little who forced to take selfie with me. Too bad my selfie quite bad. :(

Hello overprice Bagel

-_-lll

Food again! Live for food! (Choi why I feel like this sounds like some MLM slogan)
We had Korean overpriced tourist food. The taste is good so money well spent. Stomach saying thank you restaurant.

I noticed this pic ada feel? I like Paik's coffee because of the hype (they make nice coffee too). I remember I was shivering and my hot pack doesnt help me to warm my body. I went to the next shop (while the girls shopping) and ordered a hot beverage. Life save/Stomach saver/Palm saver/whatever saver. I feel warm and well protected from Mr. Winter. Thank you Paik's Coffee.

Told you I am hopeless foodie. 50% of our trip involved eating. We were hungry and cold at that night (I dont remember is 0 celcius or -2 celcius, so cold and I am freezing!). We found good supper place nearby Philstay (or becuase we were hungry?). Then we were really brave to cross the road to opposite (Myeongdong's shopping paradise) for more supper and I remember our hot soup turned cold within a second. Then, strong wind attacked and we decided to go back our hostel . The night is exciting!

Please please please try this spam fried rice. So good I swear! (if you master the right skill to heat them)

GwangJang Market aka my emotional market. This is the place I bought my Osulloc Green tea spread and left them with the airport oppa. Well, let bygone be bygone. I brought my fellow friends to try Sannakji (live octopus). Just to clarify I like the texture of the octopus but personally think it is quite cruel to eat them alive. I have no intention to try again. :/

I got this yogurt drink for free because we bought a lot of spread and nuts.

My only bad experience in Korea. We went (randomly) to this place selling Ginseng Chicken Soup in Myeongdong and found out a lot of celebrities have been to here. We were really full so decided to order one for sharing. The waitress told us (rudely) no free refill for our sides because we just order one chicken soup for 5 adults. Please bear in mind the place is not filled with people so absolutely okay for us to order one for sharing. I am angry with her service. So what if we just order one for sharing? We have no intention to order one Ginseng Chicken Soup and refill the sides to feed our tummy.

More food! (again)

We decided to order Chimaek on our last night in Korea. So sad to leave this lovely country! We also finished our fruit bought few days ago. Super juicy pear and strawberry. Yum!

So, there is something funny happened while I am packing my luggage. Since we staying in a hostel and the room is quite small so I need to pack my stuff at the corridor. Two girls came (one from Taiwan and another from China) and asked how do I send most of my stuff and how I pass customs? I got confused. You know what? They both thought I am doing ‎代购 ( shop for others). I laughed so hard and told them I am not. Maybe I really buy a lot? hahaha