This is long overdue, but I really wanted to put down some thoughts about my trip so I don't forget how fulfilling it was.
Day 1
Was welcomed by the cold morning at the airport waiting for the bus. Tired after working a full day just the day before, plus the overnight flight (with bibimbap at like 4am), but excited! My first day of a big vacation in eons! Reached our serviced apt to find out that we couldn't check in till afternoon. Bleah. So we headed to Gangnam where we had yummy subway sandwiches (not Subway brand... i just mean the ubiquitous sandwiches found in all subway stns), checked out some shops and stoned/peoplewatched at Coffee Bean. The rest of the afternoon was spent checking in and catching a nap, before dinner and shopping again around Gangnam. A nice moderately-paced start to the wk!
Day 2
The day I became a pro at navigating my way around the city. Not that it's a major feat, cuz the subway system is impressively efficient and idiot-proof. Went to pay for my DMZ tour, shopped at Dongdaemun (nothing fantastic) and around Ewha Women's Uni (highly recommended), then back to Gangnam for coffee with Cal and her counterparts. This was when I learnt the painful way how to estimate the fastest way to get from stn A to stn B - number of stops doesn't necessarily mean it's faster if it involves more line changes. Evening was spent walking up to N Seoul Tower, then windowshopping (for me) at Myeongdong.
Day 3
Helped Cal a couple of hrs at the exhibition. Fun! How many people go to Korea for a holiday and get to go to an education exhibition (and get an Exhibitor Pass)?? :P Headed down to Bukhansan National Park to spend the afternoon walking among the trees in the rain. Wintry beauty. I loved the moments when the woodpecker did his stuff. Moments I knew God orchestrated specially for me because He knows I get very uplifted and happy. :) Took a contemplative hour-long subway trip back and had a quiet evening exploring the area around the apt using my favourite walk-randomly-cuz-i-have-a-gd-sense-of-direction technique.
Day 4
Met Dahye to go to the largest church in the world. It was gd, as always, to know that I have a family that I belong to regardless of where in the world I was at, and in spite of language and cultural diffs, we all still worship the same good God! Dahye continued to bring me round the rest of the day. Went to prayer mt, went to the new satellite town, ate Krispy Kremes, had dinner at her place. Camera card also went wacky which gave me mild heart-stopping moments. Thank God we managed to salvage the photos though.
Day 5
Packed to leave for Jeju, but not before dropping by Geongbukgung to check out the palace. It was beautiful! The location and architecture were awesome, even though it was obviously refurbished. Had a zoomzoom tour of the National Musuem too, since the tix price included that. Headed off to Gimpo airport where I had to recharge Cal's camera as I had plans of visiting the Teddy Bear Museum first thing after landing. Unfortunately I could not manage to get my intentions across in spite of all my gestures. Decided against it since it'd mean a very rushed zoom around the museum anyway, which is never my style. Checked in alone to my drab, dreary and darkly lit hotel. Dreary enuff to make me go 'hmmmmmmmm' (which tells a lot!) but I didn't feel overly uneasy in the hotel so it was ok. Did the usual exploratory walks around the area and realised that... it's really a retreat, at last. Don't even have pple to ka-jiao you cuz no one could speak English!
Days 6+7
... were a big blur of getting on and off the tour bus and doing super touristy stuff. Visiting rocks, tangerine farm, botanical garden, short cruise, korean drama film sets, museums, horseriding, acrobatic entertainment, folk village... and i'm sure i missed some parts too. Anyway, my hotel was overrun by 400 highsch boys on excursion. Their English teacher was absolutely delighted to find that I spoke English, thus giving himself a gd opportunity to practise his English. So, for that whole dinner, i enjoyed finding out more abt Korea from him, but had to endure 400 boys looking at us and talking among themselves about the young Chinese girl who was having dinner with their middle-aged stout high-sch teacher. Sigh. I also thought my neighbour (a Korean auntie) was getting murdered that night.
Day 8
Went in search of the Coffee Prince shop with Cal and found it after some minor hiccups. Then spent 6 solid hours in Lotte World being very, very happy indeed. :D
Day 9
Had an early morning rush to reach USO by 8, as we certainly didn't want to miss the trip that we were so looking fwd to. We had to run, cuz we stupidly missed our stop while chatting. Anyhows, made it, and went to DMZ, JSA, 3rd Tunnel and Dorasan Station safely. That night was spent at the jimjilbang. Which still makes a lot of my friends incredulous that I actually enjoyed the jimjilbang exactly as how the Koreans would.
Day 10
Lazy day, lazy morning. Just basically preparing to leave.
