What a Wonderful World: South KOREA

… continued from Day 3 entry

it's Cherry Blossom !!!

Inhale-Exhale…Inhale-Exhale… Ok, I’m ready to continue

Ga Ja! Off to Itaewon Street, Yongsan-gu for breakfast, cause hotel’s breakfast is too expensive. On the way there, we pass-by one street that full with the cherry blossom trees along the roadside. We requested the bus driver to stop just for a while for photo taking. Yeay!!!!! Marvellous! Magnificent! Awesome! LOVELY!! Beautiful! I can’t believe I finally managed to get close, touch and smell this wonderful flower. It’s start blooming from the southern part of South Korea to the north. And they expected the flower starts blooming in Seoul early of April this year. And.. this flower only blooming for a maximum of 2 weeks only! sekali seumur hidop. Then, we across the Han River by using the Mapo Bridge; the filming place for ‘The Avenges II’.

Breakfast at Taj Palace Indian Restaurant (on the 2^nd floor; above National Food Mart – a Halal grocery store), Itaewon Street. The buffet food was nice & tasty; and the restaurant is clean with a nice ambiance and decoration. Mogo mogo!! As for lunch, we had our buffet meals at Maharaja Restaurant. Need to walk along a small alley behind Mr. Kebab (hardly to find it without using the local guide services). It’s an Indian + Pakistani cuisine, but apparently we don’t like the taste very much. Besides these 2 restaurants, there are plenty of small Halal Restaurants at Itaewon Street especially along the street to the Mosque, such as SITI SARAH Melayu & Egyptian Food or MURREE Tandoori & Curry Muslim Food. I never had known that the Mosque is at the hill-top. We need to climb the hill (tak larat sebenarnya especially after meals), plus another few stairs to reach the mosque *semputtt*. But it’s totally worth once you were standing in front of this grand and beautiful Seoul Central Masjid. The toilet & tempat ambil wudhuk is at the behind (outside) the mosque.

Not too far from Itaewon Shopping Street, we headed to Namsam Tower or N-Seoul Tower at Namsam Mt. It’s a landmark of Seoul. This tower is not the tallest tower in Seoul, but it’s famous because it was built on the highest point in Seoul. Entering the Namsan Park, we were welcomed by a weird smells from the Ginkgo Trees. Oppss! The bus brought up to the highest point where the bus can stop and drop its passenger. Yet, I still can see a lot of local people are walking up to the mountains from the downstairs. Wow, energetic sunggoh! *kagum*. From that point, we need to climb up to the tower around 150m away. Yeap! 150m only but it’s a steep mountain!! *semput lagiii…kantoi x pnah exercise* Finally… we arrived at the peak, ignoring the crowdedness and went straight to the “Locks of Love” area. It’s a new trend to show your love message or a signature of couples so that they never separate, after they wrote their names on it, locked the padlock and throw away the key. Some other countries were also practicing this new trend. The padlocks are too many (love is everywhere - i guess); some already rusted – thus for the new padlock they are using a colourful rubber cover; some are changing the trend by using the phone casing??; some are locking their padlocks at the lamp post; and we say some participation from Malaysia too. Here, we can see the whole view of Seoul too. On the way down, we need to extra careful ‘cause it’s steep and my toe hurts ;( because of it.

To IBC Cosmetic Duty Free, they are promoting their local brand of Coreana. Remember my previous entry about the “Gentleman’s Dignity” Drama?? The actress on the drama, Kim Ha-neul is the ambassador of this product. She’s so gorgeous!! I like her but sorry I can’t support your product even its effective ‘cause the price is way too expensive!! One face moisturizer is about RM 150. *gulp* There, I bought myself an Aloe Vera product for 300ml only for 5,000 won. Surprisingly cheap… In KL, 50ml for RM60 ;(

Passing by the Presidential Blue House; of course we are strictly not allowed to enter that Cheongwadae because it is the official resident of the South Korea President. I’m thinking the “King of Ambition” Drama when I saw this Blue House.

Located a short distance away is The National Folk Museum of Korea. The museum closed at 5pm, and we arrived there at 4:45pm. Luckily, our tour guide has bought the entrance ticket in advance. For 15mins, we speedily went round those 3 halls in the museum. As the result, we don’t understand a thing. We only managed to view some original noble costume, old painting, traditional women’s accessories etc.

Then, to the GyeongbokPalace, built in 1394. There’s the painting of the original layout. Wow! Nowadays, they only restore for the main buildings only as the original palace took a huge space. Bilik2 gundik dah xde… we entered the Palace from the back door (kitchen). I never watched “Jewel in the Palace” or Dae Jang Geum Drama; but they said that Drama is about the King’s food preparer… From the kitchen, we went ahead to the Queen’s room and King’s room (Gangnyeongjeon & Gyetaejeon). Towards the entrance giant door, we found Pink Cherry Blossom!! I love pink and I love it! In front of this palace is the Gwanghwamun Square where the King Sejong’s statue and Admiral Yi Sun-Shin were placed. The bus parking lot is at the left side of the palace; from there we can view the Blue House and the Bukaksan Mountain. 10,000 won note is using the face of King Sejong the Great.

Quick shopping at Namdaemun shopping street. My sister bought Idol’s original merchandises (mahal r) like calendar & poster; set of 4pcs of fridge magnet at 7,000 won (after bargaining); and my best buy is the face mask, set of 10 is for 5,000 won only (1 pc at RM1.50?? Jin Jja?? biar betul?? Kat KL sekeping paling murah pon RM5) then I bought 3 sets. Some shopkeeper can speak Bahasa. And I saw few illegal money changers – using a small wooden table only. Boleh percaya ker? An dwae!

We were in rushed because we don’t want to be late for the FantaStick Show. Not ‘fantastic show’ – a big no no no. The show began at 8pm and we gotta front seat – the 1^st row - closest to the stage. “Omo”. The ticket price is 50,000 won per person. Genre : romantic comedy. Gukak means Korean oriental traditional music. This performance is a combination of both traditional and modern music. The named it as fantaSTICK because they use a lot of drumsticks in this 1 hour show. But they are also performing by using their traditional string instrument like Gayageum, Haegeum & Agaeng as well as Daegum (flute) and percussion. This comic music live show includes singing, B-Boy break-dancing, body language, audience’s involvement etc. That cute fat guy is the funniest among the performers. This tourist show in Seoul is seasonal. Previously, the Korea Tourism Org, promoting the Hi-Jump Acrobatic Show or Nanta Cooking Show or Gangnam K-Pop Show.

Ok, it’s the final night in South Korea. Good night CN Blue, EXO, 4Minute, Beast, FT Island, Girls Generation, SHINee, Super Junior – good night, Yesung oppa! Good night, Lee Min Ho, Woobin, Minhyuk, Lee Jong Suk, Kim Soo-hyun, Park Shi Hoo, Hyun Bin, Kwon Sang Woo, Chun Jung-myung, Choi Minho, Jo In-Sung ^_______^

** to Namsan Tower, you also can try the cable car. My colleague who stayed at one of the guesthouse somewhere at Jongno-Gu area last May told me that the rate is 6,000 won per adult for one way ride, and return at 7,500 won.
*** besides Gyeongbok Palace, there are Deoksu Palace & Changdeok Palace as the alternative KOREAN Palaces because Gyeongbok Palace is closed on every Tuesday