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blue pin: visited; yellow pin: transit;

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Day 114: Seoul (Korean Wedding)

We attended his colleague's wedding that was held at a wedding hall. I love everything about it, the interior, flowers, food, and the efficiency!! In Korea, the wedding is usually held in the afternoon and only lasts for 2-3 hours, compared to Singapore which took all night and hardly on time!

The entire wedding looks so perfect and well arranged. They even have musicians playing a couple of songs. Sweet :)




The runway


So romantic!


Very nice flowers!


Five-course western meal.


Tteok (traditional rice cake)


The moms in hanbok.


The newlywed couple receiving marriage advice from an elder family friend.


The wedding hall

The food came very fast, we hardly stopped eating until everything was over. :P


Herb green salad with smoked salmon.


Green salad with kiwi dressing.


Pan fried beef tenderloin with king prawn.


Second entrance


Cheese mango mousse cake.

After the wedding party is over, the couple will go through the ritual (probably is like our Chinese tea ceremony) witnessed by their relatives.



Saturday, October 24, 2009

Day 113: Seoul (Unhyeongung, Gwanghwamun Square, Gyeonghuigung)

Glorious autumn colors at Unhyeongung


Ginkgo tree is now my favourite!











I don't know what this building is, it's behind the palace.


European style building


Maroon color leaves




Bloom while everything else dies.

Gwanghwamun Square
The new King Sejong statue was unveiled on the Hangeul day (Oct 9). He is best known as the king who invents Hangeul (Korean characters).


The Great King Sejong




Hangeul characters


Giant banner near Gwanghwamun square


He likes to read history, I had a hard time to persuade him to go to our next destination.

Gwanghwamun Square in summer: click here.

Gyeonghuigung
All the palaces look the same! Thankfully there was a Kimchi Festival on that day.


Love Kimchi Festival 2009


Showcase many types of kimchi


Display of king's meal. He eats buffet every day.




I love kimchi!!






Perfect couple in matching tops. :D

By the way, the Jeju black pork is delicious!!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Day 107: Trekking Mount Sorak (2)

We had a clear blue sky, a great day for hiking!


A busy day at the national park.



1. Sogongwon Park - Biseondae Rock Platform (3 km)


The riverbed was dried up.




Took a break here.


Big mistake! His feet were numb soon after. :P





Continued our journey by following the water stream.




Fibre glass vs wooden hiking stick. :P

I didn't find it useful to hold on to the hiking stick, threw it away not long after.


Rock climbing!


Finally we reached Biseondae.


Not as pretty as in the description. :P


Biseondae rock carving.

We had our lunch here, and then continued to our next course. From Biseondae it branches out to two trails, we chose the shortest one to Geumganggul Cave.

2. Biseondae Rock Platform - Geumganggul Cave (600 m)
I thought caves were usually at the lower ground, but this one is not!


My fellow trekkers, twice my age and double the energy. They walked so fast. :P


Beginning of the trail.

The trail was getting treacherous, and it was all the way up almost vertically. We stopped many times, trying to catch our breath and I almost gave up twice. Compared to this, what we did the day before seems like 'a walk in the park'.


A real hiking.


Finally we reached a transit point.


Saw another daredevil.

There was no turning back after climbing so high. Of course we must continue!


One-third to go.

From now on, we had to climb the stairs that were installed on the side of the cliff. This is the most craziest thing I've ever done in my life.


See how steep it is.


And it's a two way lane.


Sure die if something happened to the stairs.

Many stairs after, we reached the cave. What a surprise, it is a small Buddhist temple.


A small sanctuary.


Lanterns hung on the cave ceiling outside the sanctuary.


This is the nun's desk and all her necessities.

I had so many questions in my head: Does she live here? If not, does she climb up here everyday? She is quite young probably in her mid 30s so that's possible. And how to go to toilet?

Other than her, there's another middle aged guy selling souvenirs and coffee!! You could still get a cup of coffee all the way up here. Koreans are amazing!

We stayed here quite a while and saw many people come and go. Some were very old and had problem walking, also saw a few 5-6 year old kids as well. Luckily I made it here, if not what a shame. :P


View from the cave.

The way down was quite as bad because both my legs had turned jelly after climbing so many steps up. I didn't think I could made it without hubby. I hung on to him all the time for my dear life. :P


That was where we were earlier.

We had our last chance to try Dongdongju (rice wine). These few days we had seen many Koreans drinking this. I didn't quite like it, my face turned red after one bowl.


Dongdongju

Went back to our guesthouse to get our luggage and heading to the Express Bus Terminal. The bus were all fully booked and we could only get on to the 7.30 pm bus. Reached Seoul 4.5 hours later because of the traffic jam. I was exhausted.

I think I've done enough hiking. :)