Top 4 Things to do in KOREA!

Hi all,

It has been a busy week.
I realized that there are too much to share for my Korea trip.
SO, I have decided to compile it into a top list (not in order of preference) for the MUST DO things in Korea.


NO 1: SHOPPING FOR FACIAL PRODUCTS
Korea is well known for their facial and beauty products.
It is a MUST to buy your one year supply of masks when travel to Korea.
Not only that their masks are well known for their quality, they are also cheaper.
For example, one mask which I have purchased in Korea for about S$1/mask (minimum to purchase 20 pieces), is selling about S$9/mask in Singapore.
I save S$8 per piece!!
I have purchased a whole luggage of masks for my two years supply.

Walking along Korea streets, you will find that there are numerous facial product shops.

1. The Face Shop
2. Etude House 
3. Nature Republic
4. Skin Food
5. The Saem
6. Tony Moly
7. Innis free
8. Banila Co

and too many more....

It is interesting to see that they have so many types of products.
Korea's beauty business has turned into a multi-million dollar industry, evident by the number of shops, products and crowd.

Literally bought a luggage of masks!

So many different brands of masks!

Along Myeongdong Street

Based on experience, products purchased at Myeongdong is slightly more expensive than duty free shop.
I'll advise you to purchase the facial products from duty free department store such as Lotte. It is generally cheaper.

The Odbo

Before travelling to Korea, my friends recommended me to try The Odbo products which are only available in Korea. Since it is recommended, we made the effort to search for the outlet when we traveled to Korea.
They only have one outlet in Seoul and it's not very accessible. It's nearest subway station is Mapo-gu on line 6. From subway exit 3 and we need to walk about 15-25 mins to the outlet (or take a bus).

we followed another blogger's post on the directions to finally reach there.
http://missingray.wordpress.com/2012/12/02/directions-to-odbo-putlet-seoul/

I have tried The Odbo facial cleanser, masks and the EGCG Ampoule which I really love. Too bad, they are not sold in Singapore.


NO 2: SKI RESORT!!
One of the best activities in Korea is definitely skiing!
If you like adventurous stuff then skiing is your cup of tea. Even if you are not adventurous, I will still recommend you to try skiing for once in a life time experience.
Korea is one of the most value for money skiing places as compared to places like Switzerland.
There are numerous Ski Resorts in Korea and according to CNN the 7 best ski resorts are:

1. Yongpyong Resort
2. High1 Resort
3. Phoenix Resort
4. Vivaldi Park
5. Konjiam Resort
6. Muji Deukyusan Resort
7. Alpensia Resort

(sources: http://travel.cnn.com/seoul/play/7-best-ski-resorts-korea-103896)

My hubby and I have went to Vivaldi Resort @ Daemyung because it's near to Seoul. 

Vivaldi Park is about a 2 hour bus ride from Seoul. There is a shopping mall and an Ocean World Water Park around the resort area. 

We managed to book the ski resort package through Winterfriend and spent 2D1N at the resort. We traveled there by shuttle bus early in the morning at 6am and reached the resort at about 8++am where we checked in and met up with the tour guide who helped us to prepare the ski equipment. 

We got to know this Winterfriend agency through friend's recommendation. They have a nicely done website (http://www.winterfriend.com/) which provides brief description of different resorts and numerous ski packages and they even allow a customized ski tour. We booked the package through email. Before making the confirmation, we asked lot of questions through email and they were very efficient in replying to our queries. 

Winterfriend provides a one-stop service to booking of transport, hotel, ski equipment, ski pass and also ticket to Ocean World. 

When we returned to Singapore and reflected upon our Korea trip, we would say our ski experience is the most memorable. 

There are Day Ski and Night Ski. We tried the Day Ski and took photos of the skiing slopes from our hotel at night

NO 3.: JIMJILBANG
We visited the Ocean World in the resort area during winter season so we did not managed to play the water games as it's really too cold to swim outdoor in bikini.

So, instead, we went straight to the Jimjilbang experience in Ocean World.

Jimjilbang refers to public bathhouse and is a popular weekend getaway for Korean family.

A uniquely Korean experience.

In Jimilbang, there is a well furnished bathing area and also hot & cold spa separated by genders.
My favorite is the outdoor hot spa. I remember running out naked into the snowing outdoor hot spa pool. It felt really good to be dipped in hot spa when the surrounding was snowing...

After a good bathe, my hubby and I met at the common area where there are places to rest, sleep and eat. There are also saunas rooms of varies temperatures.

I love Jimjilbang! 

NO 4: JEJU ISLAND
Everyone who visit Korea should at least make a short trip to Jeju island.
There are many sight seeing locations, interesting museums and stories of their history.
Someone from Jeju Island told us that Jeju Island have 三多：风多，石多，女人多, meaning Jeju island is well known for having strong wind, stones and higher population of women as compared to men.
In their history, Jeju island used to have very few women and men were treated like kings.
Due to the unbalanced population, Jeju's women were tasked to do most of the chores.
And men had the privilege to marry many wives.

In the past, women in Jeju were the ones to bring food on the table. As such, many of them became women divers known as 海女，who will dive into deep sea to get precious abalone and seafood for sale and their own consumption.

There are really many places to visit within Jeju Island. I can blog a whole post on just the top things to do at Jeju Island!

For now, I will briefly touch on the places we have visited.

1. O'sulloc Tea Museum
2. Seongsan Ilchullong peak
3. Seongeup Folk Village
4. Hallabong Plantation
5. Mysterious road
6. Jeju Loveland
7. Manjanggul Lava Cave
8. Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls

Hope that this will help for those planning to visit Korea soon! 

I Miss My Korea Trip!

With Love,

Evelyn

Korea Trip - Nami Island, the white island

In the previous post, I mentioned about finding our way to our guesthouse.

Today, I'm going to blog about Nami Island!

23 Dec 2013 (Nami Island, the white island)

On the 2nd day, we woke up early and set off to Nami Island.

Down the long slope from our guesthouse

Bought a Vitamin C drink from convenience store. For a healthy day

How to get to Nami Island? 

You can get there by shuttle bus or train.

By Shuttle Bus:

Bus Stops (there are 2 bus stops and there is only one timing)
(1) Insa-dong (Jonggak Station, Subway Line 1, Exit 3). Next to Tapgol Park
(2) Jamsil Station (Subway Line 2, Exit 4). In front of Lotte Mart
Insa-dong/Jamsil Station → Gapyeong.  Shuttle bus set off from bus stop at 09:30
Gapyeong → Insa-dong/Jamsil Station. Shutter bus leave Gapyeong at 16:00

Advanced reservation required. (Inquiries +82-2-753-1247)
7500 won one way trip
15000 won two way trip
23000 won round trip+entrance visa to Nami Island+ferry ticket.

SO WHAT IF YOU MISS THE SHUTTLE BUS?

Don't worry. You may reach via the train route.

By Train (118 mins) : 

Departure - Myeong-Dong Station (Line 4) 

Transfer - Dongdaemun History & Culture Park (Quick transfer : 1Car2Door)

Transfer  - Wangsimni (Quicktransfer : 8car4door)

Transfer - Mangu (Quick transfer : 4Car4Door)

Arrival  - Gapyeong 

When we reached Gapyeong, we need to purchase a ferry ticket to the island.

We have reached Gapyeong! 
Let's take a photo with the snowman

It takes a 5 min ferry ride to the island



AND HERE WE ARE!!!

Does this place remind you of a Korea Drama?
Winter Sonata. Yes! It's this place.

Nami Island is a place for photo taking and sight seeing. 

The appearance of the island varies in four seasons. 

This island is well known for it's beautiful landscape and peacefulness. 

WELL, PICTURES SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS!

The next day is shopping day!!

Check out on the next post.

With Love, 
Evelyn 

Korea Trip - Seoul Good

It has been really long since my last post.
Lot of things have happened during this period.

1. I have visited 3 countries! Korea, Hong Kong and Batam (Montigo Resort)
2. I have changed job! 
3. I'm still living happily with my hubby. 

I love this quote "Change is the only constant"
While some things change, some things will nv change.

I guess I will have lot to update for my blog.
Firstly. I shall blog about my long overdue Korea trip!

And I am going to share our itinerary here. My hubby had made the effort to come with the daily itinerary.
I hope it will help those who are going to travel to Korea.

22 DEC 2013 (Touched down Seoul and feeling cold) 

We touched down Korea on 22 Dec 2013.
I remember the weather was freezing cold and we were not able to get a cab as most taxi drivers in Korea do not understand English street name. Luckily, we managed to find a Korean on the street who had helped us to translate.
*remember to print the destination street name in Korean.

We reached Seoul at 2230.
To save on transport expense, we did not take a cab straight from airport to our guesthouse.
Instead, we took the AREX to Seoul station (9 stops) and then transit from Seoul to Myeongdong (4 stops) which is the nearest station to our guesthouse. And took a cab to our guesthouse at CRIB49.

By Subway (Last Train to Seoul Station 23:45)
Incheon Airport Railroad Express (AREX) to Seoul (9 stops) - you can purchase the ticket on the spot.
Seoul to Myeongdong (4 stops) (72 min), 

cabbed from Myeongdong to CRIB49 (5-10 mins)

The owner of CRIB49 is a Korean who speaks good English. If I never remember wrongly, he mentioned that that he used to live in the United State for a few years.
The owner was really helpful and friendly. We called the owner at past midnight when were unable to direct the cab to the guesthouse and he helped us.

When we reached, he offered to order supper to be delivered to the guesthouse.
Korean Zha Jian Mian set!! 
It tasted awesome! Or maybe we were freaking hungry.

CRIB49 guesthouse crib.guesthouse@yahoo.com
Tel +82 10 5478 5981 / +82 10 5244 1279 / +82 70 8128 5981
49-28 Namsandong 2ga Jung-gu Seoul Korea

CRIB49 Guesthouse review:

The overall experience is good.
The place is reasonably clean.
The owner is friendly.
The environment is safe.
The price is reasonable so it's value for money.
The hindsight is there is a long slope to the guesthouse, so it is not recommended for elderly.
On the positive note, young one can take it as exercise before and after their daily Korean food indulgence.




On the 2nd day we went to Nami Island! Check out the next post.

With Love, 
Evelyn