Finally

But however Tiring and food is boring.. the worst is the food.. everyday eating BBQ and pork and fish soup.. ohh.. and the taste is nothing like the SIN served... SIN serve better Korean food in fact in the food court! Was told that those food we ate in korea is the local dishes they consume in spring whereby its cold to keep us warm.. we tried out the YueGaeJung in the local food court and oh my, it sucks!!  I so miss SIN chicken rice these 7days.. however, the Ginseng chix we have in Jeju Island is by far the best meal I have so far in korea.. give credit to that.

Hmm two nights spent in Jeju is mainly sightseeing, mountains and hills, Jeju is a small island, small village with not much shopping to speak of.. the night life is also boring however the sceneries are great and air is fresh and cool whole day.. 

Seoul is so much different and so much vibrant, so much like Japan, Tokyo, lifestyle between these two cultures and countries are very similar if you have been to, its surprising to hear from the tour guide though that they still hate each other so much to date, but their shopping is very different, korea shopping is like pasar malam, so much shouting and squeezing, people do not apologise and just knock against ea other, Japanese are by far more polite in this aspect.. u cannot say that Koreans are rude though, its their culture, when I was in DongDaeMun, the famous midnight market, a lady stepped on me, turned to me smile and nod her head .. I was like! What the hell did u smile at me for! What I need is an apology.. but forget about it, cos they DO NOT apologise...

These 7 days have been a tiring but rewarding trip, waking up at 7am every morning, even as early as 5am when we were rushing for the domestic flight back to seoul..

Places worth visit in Jeju, I am not going to list all, but only those that I find interesting.

1)      Sungsan Ilchulbong Peak - here, you have to climb hundreds of stairs up to the peak, it took me around 20 to 30 min to reach, but once u reach, its so worthwhile, the scenery is breathtaking and you can see the whole view of JeJu island from above..

2)      Jeju Folk village - where Da Chang Jin was filmed.. very interesting history background with real cottages layout..

3)      Mysterious Road - there is short stretch of road in Jeju that when seen with the naked eye it looks going uphill.. and when you turn off the engine, the vehicle do not go downhill but continue to go uphill.. haha like David Copperfield.. it does happens.. but I am not going to reveal the secret here.. let those who are interested see for themselves and feel the difference

4)      ATV ride - Have a go at the All Terrain Vehicle ride! Its fun and exciting! I nearly topple but steady steady.. haha

Jeju is a more cultural feel and experience how the more rural area looks like, very peaceful feel there compared to seoul where pace is so much faster.. but if you are not used to it, you will get bored on the second night.. lucky we only stayed for 2 nights.. haha.. oh and try visiting their casino and see if you have any luck, its not open to Koreans but only to foreigners.. on the night we went, some Japanese won a lot in jackpot though..hahaha..

Back to Seoul,

1)      Everland - Corea's "Disneyland" with their own icons, but not sure what it is though, looks like imitation of mickey and Minnie! Hahaha, with fun rides and performances, its as big if not bigger than the Tokyo Disneyland, but I still prefer Tokyo Disneyland although this everland in seoul is not as crowded, prob because we were there on the first day and a Monday itself.

2)      Unification Observatory - understand the history of the north and south Korean war and its effects, its really sad to see that a country so near to each other is separated with such different cultures and standards of living, a lot of families are separated and not seen again since the war broke out.. if your luck is good, you can even see north korea from the observatory tower, the day we went the fog is very heavy but I still managed to see very faint images of the houses and village across the "Han Jiang" also known as Han River where the two territories are being seperated.. I really wish that one day the north and south could unite too as too many families are being sacrificed, is it worth it?

3)      Mt Sorak National Park - visit the famous Sinheungsa temple, the great Buddha is known to be quite 'accurate' in blessing health and peace according to the tour guide, sets your mind at peace

4)      Teddy Bear Farm - this is one of my favourite hunt!  The whole shop is full of teddy bears, big, small, any colours, shape and size, this is the first and original teddy bear farm in seoul there is another one in Jeju but was built on a later stage

5)      DanYang Aqua World - to me, this is just another resort kind of place, but there are spas and swimming pool in the basement, whereby if you have the guts, try out the 'naked' spa, go naked and body scrub with the rest of the ladies, for me, I just tried out the sauna, spa and swimming pool, not the naked one though.. haha

6)      Gyungbok palace - where 'Gong' the well known princess drama serial was filmed too, interesting but all the palace and rooms all look alike though..

7)      National Folklore Musuem - learn the different festivals, cultures and faces and history of korea

Night life of Seoul is more vibrant, a lot of cafes and restaurants everywhere we go, and they open till quite late too.. every turn u make there is a fashion shop or restaurant selling bbq food.. very interesting place to hunt around at night if you are not tired.

Other additional places of interest will include the korea rice museum, Kimchi making lesson whereby you can even take some pics in Korean costume, the War memorial hall where all the fighter planes, tankers and memorial statue was placed.. Koreaentertainment famous hall is another, try taking pictures with Rain and the famous koreastars today.. posters of coz.. whaddya think hehehe..

Lastly for shopping, the most famous is nonetheless the DongDaeMun, however, its not cheap and its terribly crowded, one part of it in front of the stadium is pasar malam like with hundreds of stalls opening till wee hours of the morning, but 90% selling fake branded goods.. opposite the stadium are big shopping complex, very much far east like small stalls and shops selling similar stuffs, not cheap though!  Compared to Dong Dae Mun, I would prefer ShinChon University street also known as the 'woman's street, the stuffs are more trendy, prettier, and not so crowded, more interesting and at least the clothes do not look like This Fashion or made in China..

Visit also the so called Orchard Road of Corea, however, its also damn crowded and very much like Dong Dae Mun...InSa Dong is another cultural walk whereby you can buy a lot of souvenirs like stuff from there..

If you like to go for mid price and good quality facial stuffs, go for skin food and face shop in korea, the price of the stuff in face shop is 50% that of SIN... All the ladies went in empty handed but came out with bags and bags of facial masks, scrubs, cleansers etc.. Also they have a lot of other brands some are really local brands which we may not have heard of, but as long as its made in korea, you should be assured of its price and quality.. I was told that the korea stars are now crazy abt the BB cream, a tinted moisturizer with foundation cream.. however, SIN is so dry and humid not very sure if its suitable to be used here so I gave it a pass..

And if you have the money to spend, try the ginseng amethyst factory, it's a government statutory show room but the stuffs they sell are damn expensive, however, I do believe that ginseng is good for health esp for pple like in sin who are so stressed up and old people like papa and mama who may need more supplements to keep them healthy, was broke in the ginseng factory when I bought over SGD 2k worth of ginseng home...

Throughout the journey, we were accompanied by Allen, our Chinese Tour Guide and Joy, a young Korean photographer who can't understand or speak English.  He works very hard doubling as a porter, nanny, and waiter for all of us, served us food and makes sure that we are full and not lost in korea, guess he have to work doubly hard in order to mix around with us and building the rapport since he is not able to communicate with us.. it's a pity that we are not able to communicate, if not, I am sure we will make good friends with him too..  On the last day of the trip on the way to the airport, he showed us the pictures that each of us took, and each picture costs 5000 won, which is around SGD 7.50 per piece, its very expensive to speak of, but on seeing that he have been so hardworking the past few days, all of us bought at least 10 pictures from him.  He took really nice pictures of us though, think he edited it, he took 21 pictures for me and Dear, which is 105k won, SGD 150 bucks! But we were not able to afford all, so in the end we only took 13 home, and paid him around SGD 90 bucks.. if it have been cheaper, I promise that I will buy All.... I really like those pics very much... I even put it up in my own place now!