Challenge to the Max: Viper then Seoul (Day 2)

Our next day was as relaxing as ever. We woke up around 8.30 am then had our breakfast given by the hotel. We toast our own bread and drank coffee at the rooftop. The cool breeze was nice.

The first stop for the day was to Gyeongbokgung palace (entrance fee 3000 won). The place is quite big.

What really confused me was the explanation given by a tour guide between the difference between the queen's resident and the concubine's resident. The concubine's residence appear to be very well maintained. I kind of feel that it is unfair.

 Overall the place was nice and we managed to see some Sakura before spring. There were also royal guards standing there on duty.

Without further delay, we headed to the Bukchon Hanok Village (no entrance fee required, yay).

The place consist of residential area as well as tourist spot so we had to remain an acceptable level of silence. The tourist information center will provide you with a map on the places of attraction there. You can even wear Hanbok dress, learn to make Kimchi there.

 For lunch, we ate at this Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup that costs 45,000 won for a 3 person set. The Ginseng soup and fry chicken were excellent.

We were all stuffed  with energy to continue walking. We  walked and stop by for some snacks before heading to our last stop View 8: Samcheong-dong stone stairway and exit towards samcheong-dong road that was famous for the cafes.

As we were in a hurry, we had to compromise on the cafes there and head towards the train station.

Since we book our Nanta show (a comedy, musical cooking performance) at Myeong Dong, we headed there and collected our pre-book tickets.  The Nanta show was engaging, fun and entertaining. The performers were really talented.

Since it is late afternoon, there were plenty of stalls below selling food. Food was amazing.

The Korean Mandu

 Jajang Mian

 Korean pancake

Topokki (Korean rice cake)

As the night is still young we went to Dongdaemun area to look at clothing, DDP plaza's night view.

There were plenty of live night performance there to entertain tourist.

 Most of the plaza's allow tourist to bargain but nothing caught my attention. We went for Lotte mart shopping to grab our souvenirs. I really like the tax reduction via counter for tourist who shopped at Lotte Mart. We overbought stuff and my terrible skills of organizing groceries cost us the price of 2 big carrying bag. Hence, my improvement project of the year: improve organizing groceries skills in grocery bag.  That was tiring and back to rest.

Challenge to the Max: Viper then Seoul (Day 1)

It was an exciting weekend for me and my siblings.

We took the first step and joined Viper challenge which starts at 12am,the final session. 

The challenges such as the monkey bars and climbing wall type of obstacles are a pain for me. Makes me wonder if I trained myself correctly for this event. Thankfully, the organizer arranged volunteers to help those in need (me, haha). 

Despite the help given, there was no one to help at the "Eliminator ". Miraculously, we made it through all the obstacles and finished around 3.30am.

Here comes the adrenaline rush, we had a flight to catch at around 8.30am which requires us to reach the airport by 5.30am. We drove like mad back to our house and get ready ourselves in 30 min. Phew, luckily the place we stay was not far from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Although we agreed to further challenge ourselves by not sleeping for that day, we doze off immediately at the plane. So much, for our determination.

We arrived at Seoul at around 4pm local time. Unable to read and understand Korean language, we began our journey in this foreign land by looking for the customer information center. By showing them the docs that we had printed out, we collected our pocket wifi. Our lives gets easier from there. 

To reach our hotel, we need to claim our AREX ticket that we bought online. Since there are 3 of us, 3 tickets for us to go to Seoul Station & 3 return tickets. Due to communication error, the receptionist issued us all 6 tickets in one go with the train being less than 5 min left. Yeap, the other 3 tickets kind of serve as souvenir only purposes. Hence, just claim the ticket that u need to use for that day only. Very important.

The AREX express was comfortable with only one stop at Seoul station.You can doze off until the one and only stop. Once we arrived at Seoul station, we got lost awhile with the entrance. We stayed at 24 guest house premier which is very near to the station if u take the right exit (exit 11 then walk along the road).

Since we are exhausted, we had our dinner at the food court at Lotte Mart. I really like the number coding system. When u cant read their words, you can just type the number listed in the menu in your phone and show to the cashier. There will be numbers in the receipt for each order and you collect it when your number shows on the screen. No miscommunication . Haha. Aside from the Korean delicacies, I find the Western food impressively good.

We stop by convenience stall for some snacks and start our supper fest back at the hotel.

Ta, da end of Day 1.   

A cafe story

When u can't afford overseas trip, a day trip nearby is equally meaningful. 

My first cafe Malaysia 2016 exhibition experience at January 2016.

I took leave today for some  self rejuvenation time.

After a quick swim and lunch, I headed to Matrade centre at Kuala Lumpur for this cafe Malaysia exhibition.
Upon arrival there were many people queuing for registration. What really impressed my was the door gift, a nice cute tumbler.
Without hesitation, we brisk through and help our self with the free sample of coffee.

 

There is an increasing trend of customised tablet coffee with bitter taste, Low calories creamer, etc...

While walking, someone offered me freshly baked curry puff. Yummy.Coupled with coffee, it was heavenly. 

On TOP of that, we discovered an interesting fusion of mango , green tea leaves.  The owner actually mixed green tea leaves with, flowers, other dry fruit extract which gave tea a different aroma. The mango green tea was my favorite.

My last and final impressive discovery was the coffee Mug made from tempered glass that is drop resistant with a cute design. If it was not that costly (RM85-RM100 range because it was made and imported from Australia), I would have bought one as a gift. Well, can't convince myself to buy that. 

hong kong day 6 and 7

Day 6 begin with a heart warming congee breakfast from "mui kee congee" shop at Mongkok.

Next, we headed to causeway Bay for shopping. As this is not their sale season, there were not many sales in the shops. In the brighter side, we indirectly narrow down our choice. Fortunately, they have a bazaar sale which sells branded goods at reasonable price.  I got a Ck bag for 300 HKD
. We had our lunch at Ho Hung Kee, a Michelin one star restaurant famous for wanton noodles. I like the " cheong fun " a lot.

We spend the rest of the day shopping. There was a discounted branded goods Bazaar going on and there are great deals if you search thoroughly.
We ate some snacks near the ladies market for dinner.

fake 'shark fin soup"

ice blended coconut

grilled squid

End of day 6 and we went back the next day. Nothing much for day7 so that's all for the Hong Kong trip. I enjoyed the trip, it is a great place to shop for branded goods when they have discounts.

Hong Kong day 5

Day 5 was Disneyland day. Yay, time to relive my childhood.  Since this is my first trip to Disneyland, I am very excited.

We started our Disneyland trip with jungle river cruise at adventure land.  The ride was fun, like the hot air effect.

Next, we watched "festival of lion king " performance.

 I had always love lion king since young. We move on to Tarzan's treehouse before moving on to the next area "grizzly gulch " for the roller-coaster.

The ride was full of surprises even for an adult like me.  Haha.  After that, the next area was "mystic point " for the mystic manor ride. Interesting and pleasant ride.

Our next stop was toy story land. We tried the toy soldier parachute drop and the RC racer. Both were fun.

I am glad we stayed for the night parade (7.30pm)and the fireworks at 9pm. Both were amazing to watch.

Cute Mickey waffle.