Thursday, March 29, 2012

The City

Hello! I'm back. I'm not done with Korea story. Are you bored yet?

In the heart of Seoul, lies this skyscraper, the tallest building in Seoul, named 63 City (it has 63 floors) .

We're at the observatory floor, where you can view the whole city down below.




 There's also an art gallery here.





But can you tell that we're not much into art? We just want to hang out at the cafe.

 Most afternoons, when we got back to the city after the day's excursions, we were dropped at the shopping area for a couple of hours of retail theraphy. There's Dongdaemun, Sinchon, Itaewon.
But the pricing here, isn't stress relieving, at all. Gila mahal.




This is a Womans University. Right at the busy shopping street of Sinchon.
Boleh concentrate belajar ka tu, kalau ada Sale, I wonder?



 Cute kan scooter LV ? Bergaya oh pergi class pakai scooter LV.





Suka hatinya saja, only eye. Eleh, kami sudah dapat free masa lawat strawberry farm.

Tengok, besar dan ranum lagi buahnya kan. 

OK, nanti story lagi.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Korean History

History has always been a dry subject for me. Yawn, yawn. But when you're following a guided tour, this is among the must stop places in the tour. We are compelled to visit the Museum, the Palace and the North Korea border.

National Folk Museum.



I'm just sharing the photos. I've got nothing to tell about the museum. It seems to me, a lot of Korean early culture, tradition and literature originates from China.

















Gyung Bok Palace

The royal palace is within the same compound with the museum.




 This is the Emperor's throne.



Again just enjoy the pics.






Demilitarised Zone

Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) is a buffer zone between North and South Korea and is a heavily militarised border where soldiers of both sides may patrol inside the DMZ but may not cross the military demarcation line. A no-man's land.


We are brought to the observatory where visitors can view North Korea across the river.








The statue is of a fallen General who died fighting for the unification of North and South Korea. He promoted the concept of One Korea, hence the gesture. Although his efforts were in vain, he remains the hero for the majority of Koreans who supported the unification.


Friday, March 23, 2012

Ice Sculpting

We don't know how to sculpt nothing. Never learned it in school, nor  in our life thus far. But today we're visiting the ice gallery and a quick practical lesson in ice sculpting is upon us.



First, a demo by the expert.





Everyone tried to follow her closely. But she was very quick and it just looked very easy. Just a few quick hacks, she shaped a square block into a mug, another few shaves produced a handle, and then she hacked it all and changed it into a wine glass, and then finally reshaped into a soup bowl.  She was done in 5 minutes. Errr.


 When she said, 'start', everyone just feverishly hacking away as if we had a clue.




I have no idea what I am doing. The outer plastic glove is slipping, my fingers getting numb and I am not getting any decent shape. I have mug in mind, then I broke the handle, and then.. I don't know.. I distorted it the further I go..it finished  as a cross between a bowl and a jar.


My brother in-law di sebelah, dengan tekun dan bersungguh-sungguhnya membuat cup yang cantik. Tau-tau yang menang bukan dia, tapi anak dia. 

The winners - 1st brother in-law, 2nd mother in-law (caya la!), 3rd niece.

After the hard work, we were brought into a small chamber of Ice World.


Cantiknya...di dalam ini. Berapa lama la dorang mensculpting semua ini.


It's a city.








Thursday, March 22, 2012

Everland Theme Park

Third Day. We have an early start today because we're going to visit a theme park. Yeay !

Everland is the largest theme park in South Korea. They have many. This one is in Yongin.










This is called skyway. Some sort of shortcut to travel from one section of the park to another. Because this park is HUGE. Long walks from one section to another and  quite hilly. There are several skyways like this throughout the park. Some 4 seated, some 2-seated. This one is taking us from American Adventure to European Adventure.

 Siok..naik skyway ni.


The guide wants us to start at the Zootopia as a group. This guide is a very organised, well planned tourist guide. He wants to make all things easy and convenient for everyone. He got us in here early just before the gate opens, got a nice spot for group photo, got us to q for the famous ride first so we don't miss out, arrange with the park staffs so we don't break our group (nda pernah bah kami tercampur sama orang lain), show us where the good toilet without many people, EVERYTHING that he could do to make it smooth for us.

We start with Safari Park.

We ride in a bus and get a close up look at the wild animals.
We are the ones caged here, in the locked bus, the animals roam freely in their habitat.





The bear is interesting. They do tricks, like a trained dog, they follow the bus driver's instruction. To stand, to sit, to wave, to count with head nods.





Next, we tried this, Amazon Express, a water-raft.
 Best gila.

After Safari, the guide gave us free reign. We toured ourselves and meet back at the meeting point.

 The bigger boys went and played this. T Express. The infamous, wooden roller coaster. Steep and crazy scary.


Safer bet for the smaller kids.


Racing their hearts out.







 Ini bukan angkasawan atau pemain sarkas, ini cleaner. tukang sapu.

 Lunch on our own today. We have shrimp burgers. First time aku makan burger udang, fish n chips tiada sini.

 Ok, just enjoy the rest of the pics, ok.







Ini baby service centre. Khas untuk tukar diapers and cleaning baby.












Ok then, till next post.