I did not blog for quite a long time, because was really busy. I went to Seoul from 12 to 16 November 2009 for holiday. It was an enjoyable trip, especially the shopping part of the trip. The exchange rate was HK$1 = 0.007, really regretted I did not change Korean Won when it was HK$1 = 0.005 few months back. I joined Wing Onn tour package, the package price was HK$3,299, after including tour guide tipping, airport tax and fuel surcharge, the price was HK$4,061.
Day 1
It was a midnight tour, I went to the airport at about 10.30pm on 11 November 2009, and the flight was at about 12 + am. I took Korean Air flight, sitting at level 1. I can’t sleep at all during the journey; it was so uncomfortable and a little noisy. Just imagine the air stewardess serving “supper” at about 2 to 3 am. It was so crazy. I arrive in Incheon Airport at about 6am+. The temperature was about 10C. The tour guide gave us 30 minutes to wash up before leaving the airport.
Our first destination was Walker Hill Casino at Sheraton Walker hill Resort. We were there from about 7.30am to 8.30am. Next, we went to Coex Mall. The mall was so-so only. We then started our journey to Sun Cruise Resort, our hotel for day 1. The journey took us about 4 hours. We reach the hotel at about 4.30pm. The resort has very nice scenery, the hotel has the shape of a cruise, and it’s located beside the sea. All rooms have sea view. I make full use of the 1 hour free time to take pictures before we meet up for dinner at 6pm.
Day 2
My room is located at 7th floor and I will be able to see sunrise at my room. I was supposed to wake up at 6.45am to see sunrise, however there were heavy clouds blocking the sunrise, hence I did not manage to see the sunrise. Our first stop today was Jeongdongjin Station to take pictures and take the train to see the scenery from this station to the next station. The unique attraction for this station is it is located along the beach and you can enjoy the sea view on the train. After that, we went to a museum to see a submarine from North Korea “spies”. We then left for Phoenix Park (“PP”), our hotel for day 2, to enjoy hot spring. PP was not a very big hot spring area. It has indoor and outdoor hot spring. I started with the indoor hot spring. It was so cold, about 8C and the hot spring I tried on was 39C to 42C.
I then went to the indoor hot spring. I started with the 39C hot spring for 10 minutes and then move on to the 16C cold water to soak for 10 minutes as recommended by the tour guide. I was shivering like crazy as it was really cold and I could not stand it and felt giddy after 5 minutes. I got up immediately and felt giddy too after I got up.
Day 3
I just realized that PP was the filming location for Endless Love last night. After inquiry, I know that all guess can go to the suite that Won Bin stayed to take pictures. Hence I woke up early on day 3 to take pictures at the suite. It was quite far from my hotel block (10 minutes) and the suite was quite old (since the drama was filmed 10 years ago). The suite was quite isolated too, but I managed to take some pictures as remembrance.
We then went to Ever land (Gyeonggi area). I visited the Safari Park and tried the large “mini rafting”. We went to dongdaemun after that but tour guide only gave us 1 hour and 15 minutes to shop. Definitely not enough. I managed to buy 4 dresses and 1 jacket in this limited time at Miglore. I was also able to communicate with the sellers and bargain for cheaper price, in Korean language. I am quite good at language. We then checked in to Imperial Palace at Gangnam area. It was supposed to be a 5 star hotel, but nothing spectacular to comment on the hotel.
Day 4
Today, we went for some sightseeing and visited the ginseng shop. We then went to make kimchi and tried on some traditional Korean costumes to take pictures for remembrance. We had “Hokkaido Long Leg Crab” for lunch. This was the best meal for the trip. The last stop was Lotte World. I decided to spend just 30 minutes in Lotte World and then left to Dongdaemun. I think I am quite clever, haha….managed to take the subway from Jamsil to Dongdaemun Stadium, without getting lost. We went to Hello APM and Doota and shopped from 7pm to 10.30pm. We also managed to go back to the hotel via subway. This journey only cost 6,000 won. But my tour mates who took taxi spend 180,000 won!
Day 5
Last day, felt heavy to leave Korea. We went for some sightseeing, visited the purple crystal shop and “tung chung chou” shop. We then went shopping at Myeongdong. I had ginseng chicken for lunch. I managed to buy a lot of cosmetics here…. The best 1 stop shop for all cosmetics brand. I bought the below brands…
Skinfood – a lot of cosmetics and skin care and they will give you a lot of samples but mostly cheap samples eg shower gel, price about 50% to 65% discount from HK retail price
Missha – better quality skin care products compared to skin food and they will give you more expensive samples eg sheet mask, hand mask, price about 40% to 60% discount from HK retail price
Hanskin – very good quality skin care product especially the BB cream. I will buy more hanskin next time to Korea. This brand is not sold in HK.
Etude House – seems that I did not survey this brand and it appears to be very cheap, popular and good too. I will buy more products of this brand next time to Korea, I think it is better than skinfood. This brand is not sold in HK.
Laneige – price is not much cheaper compared to HK, it is much more cheaper if were to buy from the airport from AK duty free shop
G&M Silran – this stupid brand is recommended by the tour guide, it is obviously he will receive commission. It is also the most expensive product among all the brands. A moisturizer cost me HK$200 compared to skinfood, missha or etude house A moisturizer cost me HK$200 compared to skinfood, missha or etude house which cost less than hk$100
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Conclusion
This trip was enjoyable with good accommodation and food. The only thing I dislike is the photographer that forcefully takes pictures for you (required by Korea tourism board for all tours) and “forces” you to buy. The photographer managed to take only 4 to 5 pictures for me, but has developed >20 pictures (editing it so that it will look different) for me to buy. Although it was “voluntary”, he asked me why I didn’t buy more pictures when I choose to buy some of the pictures only.
I felt so happy after buying so many things in Korea, and want to visit Korea again next year, to buy cheaper and good quality stuff.
Broadcast period " 7 Oct to 26 Nov 2009
