The next few days will be posts on the Korea Trip,
and they will be image-intensive!

Finally pieced them all up together,
and I also received the helpful information sent by the Korea Tourism Organization about the exact name and location of the places we visited throughout,
which I reckon will be utmost useful for your trip if you are going/ or planning to go Korea!
At the same time, it can be useful for you to know what to look out for when you are booking for tours or even,
planning a free and easy trip.

Before I begin again,
A BIG THANKYOU to Korea Tourism Organization (notably Caitrin & Ms Park cum colleagues from the head office there) for hosting us all with great hospitality,
and provided us with great food, logging and a wonderful itinerary to explore more of Korea that I never thought or knew before,
be it educational, culture or for leisure fun.

Definitely one of my most fruitful trips.

***

I joined along four other fellow Singaporeans and flight timing was pretty good,
we arrived at InCheon International Airport as early as 6AM korea-time in the morning, an entire day to kick start the journey.

My travel companions were seniors of the travel industry, and here are three of them:

Fiona, Victor & Fung.

We had to gather with friends from other countries who will be arriving a couple of hours later than us,
so the best thing to occupy the morning was to have a hearty breakfast at Mcdonalds!

It's kinda like a must-do thing for me whenever i visit a country,
because no matter how international Mcdonalds is, their menu are catered to the different countries,
and they never fail to surprise me with something interesting or appealing.

this is one, not that interesting, but appealing rather. ;p

hotcakes! prefer our local hotcakes butter though..

I wanted to get a prepaid card, and apparently there is only book store that sells it there in the entire airport.
It was not exactly worth it to purchase one, but they do rental of sim card as well (means you have to return the sim when you are heading back to your country),
and if im not wrong, rental about 58USD which gives you only 55 minutes of talktime.
you can subscribe to 3G or increase talk time by purchasing with your credit card at the store too.

If you are interested:
SIM Card Purchase 
You can purchase a prepaid SIM Card that can be used in Korea and most foreign countries.
Location: GS Books, 1st Floor of Incheon International Airport
Hours: 07:00 – 21:00
Tel: +82-32-743-5654
Help Desk: +82-505-648-7000 (English, Japanese)
E-mail: kimjin@simcardkorea.com (English, Japanese)  

Anyway, my korean friend told me I should just RENT A PHONE (i saw a few booths there having this sign, but didn't go check it out),
and it's much cheaper.
Not sure about this, maybe I can update on this if i go again next time heh. :p

We left the airport about two hours later,
and weather was around 5 degrees Celsius then.. and we are out!

Welcome drink on the bus, roasted tea <3

The first stop was to Changdeokgung Palace, second royal villa,
known to be the main palace for many of the Joseon kings and is the most well-preserved of the five remaining royal Joseon palaces.

Everybody was feeling cold!

Team Singapore! Fiona, Victor, Caitrin, Fung and myself.

The friends from other countries, mainly Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand etc.

Our very patient and friendly tour guide.

More of the palace, and you should visit it for its rich culture.
It is one of the five grand palaces built by the kinds of the Joseon Dynasty,
and was quite badly damaged by the Japanese Occupation.
But glad that there are still remains of the original architectures, so it's worth a visit.

Friends from Vietnam!

Caitrin, one of the joy bringers of the group!

We headed out of the palace and spotted this van outside selling food..

The lady was selling really cute looking pancakes,
and don't judge it just like that.. they are really delicious pancakes stuffed with goodness!
Little cinamon pancakes with red-bean fillings.
Please try them if you spot them along the way!

We had a good hour or so touring the gorgeous palace and next up was lunch at a famous cafe/restaurant.

This place is known for their Ginseng Chicken- Samgyetang!
We were told that they are one of the best around, and there's always a queue outside as well.
Restaurant Name: To Sok Chon

Ginseng chicken stuffed with glutinous rice boiled in a broth of Korean ginseng, dried seeded jujube fruits, garlic, and ginger.
This was really satisfying for the cold weather especially!

Lunch didn't take too long before we all left to head towards the N Seoul Tower,
also known as the Namsan Tower or Seoul Tower and is one of the biggest attractions in Seoul.

Cost about 7500 won as seen by the ticket for a round trip of cable car.

There was a need to sit the cable car up,
walk a distance up to reach the tower before we are able to head up to the observation deck.
And the view upon sitting in the cable car was splendid enough..

Looking out from the cable car.

Walking up to the tower..

And here we were!

Spotted a sweet couple sitting right at the corner and I could imagine how magnificent the view is at the top of the observation deck already..

Fiona was another joy bringer to the group that brought us so much laughter with her life experiences cum bubbly character.
These cabbages are looking good for a snap shot, especially the purples ones!!

Reached the observation deck.

True as what i have imagined, you can walk see the entire city view at the top and the view was simply breathtaking!
So I have heard it's best to go at night, before that's when you can see the whole city all light up, and view will be so romantic.
P.S: One more point to note for me if i go back to Korea again. hehe

cool and sweet..
It's a well known place for lovers to visit as well.. and you will know as you read further!

They have caricature there as well.

And as we exit the observation deck, there was this place that I saw in Korean dramas or pictures but never knew it was just there..

the love locks!

Pretty massive, and the locks were so interesting, some designs were extremely unique and amazing..

…But we were rather amused by some as well. :p

woah this person really wants to chain up his/her partner. heh

and spotted a Churros at the small cart outside, could never resist getting a stick!

yum!

 
Time to leave and definitely one that I will be back again to visit it at night!

Our day was pretty packed so far and you can see,
but there is just too much to visit in Korea though I have been there before,

The next stop was Insadong (Jongno-gu district), and the place is connected to a multitude of alleys that lead deeper into the district.
And it is known to be the largest market for antiques and artworks in Korea!
 
It is a place that you can see a lot of creative items or handicrafts along the way, so if you are keen on those really unique crafts,
it might a good place for you to get them!

We didn't spend much time before we head to learn how to make KIMCHI @ Kimchi world,
which is a walking distance from Insadong!

finally a place in getting warmth and resting the feet!

our teacher.

Yee pei from Malaysia and Caitrin from Singapore looking all so excited and ready to start!

And lovely friends from Thailand tooo

first up, learning to cook rice cakes before making kim chi!

  

delicious! hehe well, for our efforts as well, thumbs up!

making kimchi next, and guess what?
We can bring the kimchi home and it's still sitting in my fridge now!
I heard we can keep it for about a year too.

our fruits of labour!

MBC was there to film our experiences as well!

It was about evening when the cooking workshop ended,
and the representatives from Korea Tourism headquarters actually arranged a really sumptuous dinner for all of us at a very cozy place.

As you can see, we were really pampered with great food at this restaurant,
and they have customized set menus for the guests.
Restaurant Name: Han Miri

And we ended the day by checking into our hotel, will share more on this on the next post!

I'll be back for more on the next day's journey, and each day it's getting exciting,
For ladies who are looking for chic & comfortable boots, especially for your Winter Wear…..


….this is one from Xquisis that you might have already spot on- comfy and high cut!
Love the camel brown shade and it's a two way fold boots.
one of my loved boots for the trip!

***

Two lovely pieces for outfit of the past week!

A flowy swirly coral dress from Frockettes that is looking great and vibrant as it is,
and I like the flowy design at the bottom!

And mesh design is also one of my favourites, they kinda make the look a tad more dressy yet not too revealing or not too much,
and this mesh dress from frockettes is looking lovely in this apple green shade!