29 Dec 2006
Arrived in Seoul at 8:30am in the morning with a welcoming temperature of negative
10 degrees Celsius. Very very cold and chilly morning but with excellent sunshine. We took a limousine bus No. 600 which costs each of us 7500 won to Novotel Ambassador Gangnam. The journey took about more than an hour due to the heavy morning traffic. When we alighted at the Novotel stop, we were again greeted by the cold wind again while we started our hunt for our hotel (California Hotel Yeoksam) for the night. The hotel was about 2 minutes walk from Novotel. The receptionist at the hotel was very helpful or tried to be helpful when we asked about Gyeongju and skiing. Hotel looked like a 'love motel' but the room is a reasonable size and clean.
It was about lunchtime when we left the hotel, so we walk towards Yeoksam station and found a little eatery selling HOT steamed dumplings. We also had BIBIMBAP (rice cooked in the stone pot). The meal costs us only 7000 won, much cheaper than expected. We continued our walk to the station but detoured to a magnificent church along the way. From Yeoksam station, we took the train for about 21 stops to City Hall to visit the Deoksugung Palace and to catch a glimpse of the changing of guards. When we reached there, it was 3pm and we waited in the cold for quite a long while before the changing of the guards began. From Deoksugung, we walked towards Gyeongbokgung but it was under renovation and we did not enter. After a short stop at a sidewalk cafe, we proceeded to Insadong, supposedly the tea cultural street in Seoul. It was quite a disappointment to see that many of these traditional shops are selling products from China instead. We tried some rice cakes and chestnuts from the roadside stalls and then went to Jonggak station to take a train to Hyehwa station for dinner.
When we reached Hyehwa, we looked around for the Nol Boo restaurant but was finally told that it closed down and we ended up at Toda Cosa buying cosmetics and skincare products. Then we just popped over to one of the restaurants to have a hot plate fried vegetables and we headed back to the hotel for an early night.
30 Dec 2006
We took a taxi from the hotel to the Kangnam Express Bus Terminal
(Seoul Express Bus Terminal) to catch a bus to Gyeongju. The one-way bus ticket from Seoul to Gyeongju on a express costs 26000 won per person and the journey take about 4 and a half hours. When we reached Gyeongju, we managed to get some tourist information at the centre and found a hotel near to the Express Bus Terminal called Gyeongju Park Tourist Hotel. The double room was 63000 won per night and once we checked in, we immediately went to look for lunch nearby. We found a restaurant selling rolled sushi and rice cake in chilly paste sauce. Costs us only 4500 won.
After lunch, we walked towards Tumuli Park which is the royal burial grounds for Gyeongju and Gyeongju has a history of 1000 years. We spent about 2 hours around the park. Then walked our way to the UNESCO wolrd heritage of the observatory and the ice storage house. THen the sun started to set spreading golden rays across the sky. The park turned into a totally different scenery in the night and we managed to capture the magical moments amidst the 
freezing temperature. Immediately after completing the shoot, we ran across the road to grab a quick dinner. Thereafter, we walked briskly, and I mean really briskly back to the hotel. Despite the cold weather, we stopped at a supermarket near our hotel to grab an ice cream and also bought different Korean instant noodle and sauces.
31 Dec 2006
Our plan today is to visit the Bulguksa Temple and the Grotto
which are also 1000 years old and also declared as one of the world heritage by UNESCO. We took bus No. 10 on the opposite road from our hotel and the fare was 1300 won per person. Journey took about 30 minutes to reach the entrance of the Bulguksa Temple. We were supposed to catch the 940am bus to the grotto but we could not find the bus stop. The bus stop for Bus No 12 is actually located in the parking lot 800m from the tourist information centre in Bulguksa down the sloping road and the bus operates once every hour at 40 minutes past the hour. We then decided to venture Bulguksa Temple first then only the grotto. Sad to say when we reached the grotto we were not allowed to take any photos of the Buddha inside the grotto but the view from the hilltop temple was magnificent.
We already bought our bus tickets back to Seoul for 4pm, so we had to rush back to the Express Bus Terminal. Unfortunately, as it was New Year's Eve there was a massive jam going towards the Grotto and the bus was probably stuck in the jam on the way up. We managed to arrive back to the station in time for our bus and we reached Seoul at 8:20pm.
We took a subway to Wangsinmi station and looked frantically for our Best Western Hotel Vision. Finally, we had to call them to ask for directions. After a hot shower, we went to Dondaemun Stadium hoping to catch the counting down for the New Year celebrations. We had a quick dinner in front of Migliore department store and then went shopping at helloAPM and Migliore and we overheard the countdown over the PA system and there was no bigtime celebration outside. We headed back to the hotel at about half past twelve.
1 Jan 2007
We abolished our plan to go skiing and the hot srping when our bodies decided involuntarily to rest in bed until way past 11 in the morning. We only moved our butts out form the hotel room at noon time and we took a train to Euljiro-1-ga and walked out from Exit No. 6 and found a place which serves delicious Korean style porridge. After stuffing ourselves, we began our shopping spree at the Myeong-dong area. Unfortunately, as it was a public holiday in Korea, many of the shops were closed including big departmental stores such as Lotte and Shinsegae. We went through each and every street in the area and took a break for tea at a French cafe. We continued our shopping and finally ended up at the restaurant that serves great Kalbi beef, Korean barbeque style. Dinner costs about 24000 won for two persons but good value for money.
2 Jan 2007
Returned home safely.
Arrived in Seoul at 8:30am in the morning with a welcoming temperature of negative
10 degrees Celsius. Very very cold and chilly morning but with excellent sunshine. We took a limousine bus No. 600 which costs each of us 7500 won to Novotel Ambassador Gangnam. The journey took about more than an hour due to the heavy morning traffic. When we alighted at the Novotel stop, we were again greeted by the cold wind again while we started our hunt for our hotel (California Hotel Yeoksam) for the night. The hotel was about 2 minutes walk from Novotel. The receptionist at the hotel was very helpful or tried to be helpful when we asked about Gyeongju and skiing. Hotel looked like a 'love motel' but the room is a reasonable size and clean.
It was about lunchtime when we left the hotel, so we walk towards Yeoksam station and found a little eatery selling HOT steamed dumplings. We also had BIBIMBAP (rice cooked in the stone pot). The meal costs us only 7000 won, much cheaper than expected. We continued our walk to the station but detoured to a magnificent church along the way. From Yeoksam station, we took the train for about 21 stops to City Hall to visit the Deoksugung Palace and to catch a glimpse of the changing of guards. When we reached there, it was 3pm and we waited in the cold for quite a long while before the changing of the guards began. From Deoksugung, we walked towards Gyeongbokgung but it was under renovation and we did not enter. After a short stop at a sidewalk cafe, we proceeded to Insadong, supposedly the tea cultural street in Seoul. It was quite a disappointment to see that many of these traditional shops are selling products from China instead. We tried some rice cakes and chestnuts from the roadside stalls and then went to Jonggak station to take a train to Hyehwa station for dinner.
When we reached Hyehwa, we looked around for the Nol Boo restaurant but was finally told that it closed down and we ended up at Toda Cosa buying cosmetics and skincare products. Then we just popped over to one of the restaurants to have a hot plate fried vegetables and we headed back to the hotel for an early night.30 Dec 2006
We took a taxi from the hotel to the Kangnam Express Bus Terminal
(Seoul Express Bus Terminal) to catch a bus to Gyeongju. The one-way bus ticket from Seoul to Gyeongju on a express costs 26000 won per person and the journey take about 4 and a half hours. When we reached Gyeongju, we managed to get some tourist information at the centre and found a hotel near to the Express Bus Terminal called Gyeongju Park Tourist Hotel. The double room was 63000 won per night and once we checked in, we immediately went to look for lunch nearby. We found a restaurant selling rolled sushi and rice cake in chilly paste sauce. Costs us only 4500 won.
After lunch, we walked towards Tumuli Park which is the royal burial grounds for Gyeongju and Gyeongju has a history of 1000 years. We spent about 2 hours around the park. Then walked our way to the UNESCO wolrd heritage of the observatory and the ice storage house. THen the sun started to set spreading golden rays across the sky. The park turned into a totally different scenery in the night and we managed to capture the magical moments amidst the 
freezing temperature. Immediately after completing the shoot, we ran across the road to grab a quick dinner. Thereafter, we walked briskly, and I mean really briskly back to the hotel. Despite the cold weather, we stopped at a supermarket near our hotel to grab an ice cream and also bought different Korean instant noodle and sauces.31 Dec 2006
Our plan today is to visit the Bulguksa Temple and the Grotto
which are also 1000 years old and also declared as one of the world heritage by UNESCO. We took bus No. 10 on the opposite road from our hotel and the fare was 1300 won per person. Journey took about 30 minutes to reach the entrance of the Bulguksa Temple. We were supposed to catch the 940am bus to the grotto but we could not find the bus stop. The bus stop for Bus No 12 is actually located in the parking lot 800m from the tourist information centre in Bulguksa down the sloping road and the bus operates once every hour at 40 minutes past the hour. We then decided to venture Bulguksa Temple first then only the grotto. Sad to say when we reached the grotto we were not allowed to take any photos of the Buddha inside the grotto but the view from the hilltop temple was magnificent.We already bought our bus tickets back to Seoul for 4pm, so we had to rush back to the Express Bus Terminal. Unfortunately, as it was New Year's Eve there was a massive jam going towards the Grotto and the bus was probably stuck in the jam on the way up. We managed to arrive back to the station in time for our bus and we reached Seoul at 8:20pm.
We took a subway to Wangsinmi station and looked frantically for our Best Western Hotel Vision. Finally, we had to call them to ask for directions. After a hot shower, we went to Dondaemun Stadium hoping to catch the counting down for the New Year celebrations. We had a quick dinner in front of Migliore department store and then went shopping at helloAPM and Migliore and we overheard the countdown over the PA system and there was no bigtime celebration outside. We headed back to the hotel at about half past twelve.
1 Jan 2007
We abolished our plan to go skiing and the hot srping when our bodies decided involuntarily to rest in bed until way past 11 in the morning. We only moved our butts out form the hotel room at noon time and we took a train to Euljiro-1-ga and walked out from Exit No. 6 and found a place which serves delicious Korean style porridge. After stuffing ourselves, we began our shopping spree at the Myeong-dong area. Unfortunately, as it was a public holiday in Korea, many of the shops were closed including big departmental stores such as Lotte and Shinsegae. We went through each and every street in the area and took a break for tea at a French cafe. We continued our shopping and finally ended up at the restaurant that serves great Kalbi beef, Korean barbeque style. Dinner costs about 24000 won for two persons but good value for money.
2 Jan 2007
Returned home safely.
1 comment:
Wah Leow weh! very nice photos u got....
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