:)
Oh by the way, realized I didn't show the Grand Hotel room... LOL! This was much spacious than Park Hotel.
Anyway, back to our day trip...
Our tour guide was a 40+ guy, named Chan Soo. He called himself Chance, easy for foreigners to call him. He drove his own car to pick us. His car was nice! Comfy de ne!!! :) Anyway, I was surprised that the journey was 3 hours! LOL! I totally have no idea what or where I was going... I leave all the planning to Ah bee... Cos I am LAZY. LOL!!! :p
Lucky lah... At least I can rest relax in the car during the journey!
We started to leave the crowded city and driving towards the countryside... Nice!
Chance Oppa told us he heard it snowed yesterday night at Mount Seorak! OMG! Really?! I hope I wore enough to tahan the cold! And the funny thing was... Ah bee (hearing that there was snow) took out her heat pads and started passing me some. When Chance oppa saw it, he was surprised! He then laughed and told us that it is very very RARE that people will still use heat pad in April. Cos April is considered warm to the Koreans. LOL! He said that he is going to tell his friends that 2 ladies from Singapore brought heat pads to Korea in April! Well... We cannot tahan the cold compared to them mah... We are from the Tropics leh uncle!!! Huh! :p
We drove for 1.5 hours and stopped for a toilet break. Oppa bought us some potato snacks to snack in the car... :)
Finally, we reached!!! At the foot of the mountain, we can see the snow forming at the top! How exciting!!! :)
Oppa parked his car and off we go!!!
From the bottom, we can see that the top seemed super cold!!! Looking forward!
I really thought we are supposed to CLIMB up to the top lor... I was getting cold feet already!!! :(
Then, when Oppa said that we will take the cable car, HENG AHHHH!!! Thank God! Hahahahahah!!! I was so happy!!! :p I love cable cars!!! :)))
Up up up we go!!! Yeahhhh!!! So fun!!!
And while the cable car was climbing up the mountain... We saw more and more snows!!! :)
We were nearly there! And OMG! The mountain was already covered with SNOW!!!
The scenery was really nice! I didn't expect to see snow, really!!! OMG so OMG!!!
Finally we reached the mid-point! We got off the cable and Oppa told us to follow him... Cos it snowed the night before, the steps up the mountain are now frozen to ice and very slippery cos the ice is melting. So we have to be really careful!
So OMG de lor! I really have no other words to express my feelings now. I was feeling so excited and until now I can still remember the first sight I saw the snowy scenery in front of me. Knowing that the temperature should be cold (I think 4 deg), I better keep my iPad close to my body, attempting to use my body heat to keep the iPad warm so that it would not "freeze" like my poor iPhone. I now only have my iPad left. If anything happen to my iPad, then.... I would not have any more nice photos of Korea!!! :(
After I ensure my iPad is safe, I put my hands into my pockets and grabbed tightly to my heat pads (now safely tugged inside my pocket), We started to walk up the mountain, following Oppa.
He walked very fast! But of cos lor... He had been climbing this place many many times leh! Not like us, so suakus! LOL! And when he saw us putting my hands into our pockets, he told us to keep our hands out cos if we fell, we can use our hands to break the fall.
Hmmm... True lah.. But then... Cold leh! And I have to protect my iPad leh! My iPad more important than me. LOL! *roll eyes*
Anyway, the walk up the mountain was actually not that bad. There were stairs but very slippery. And many people are walking. So we walked a bit slow too. I really enjoyed the journey up the mountain! The snowy scenery was super nice de!!! So I stopped every now and then to take photos of snows and the trees.
Actually my hands were really cold! I tried to keep my hands out of my pockets, but really cold de lor... I only took them out to take photos! Anyway, since the stairs up the mountain were quite OK (and I have a good pair of boots!), so most of the time, I rather kept my hands inside my pockets, holding onto the heat pads! Thanks so much to Ah Bee!!! *Muacks!*
Wonderful journey... I kept walking and walking... How long more?? Do we really have to climb up to the top???!!! Really??? Don't scare me hor... I kept telling myself not to scare myself.. LOL!
And then... There are no more steps! Huh?!?! Then how?
Oppa then started climbing up the ROCKS and STONES. I tried one and find that I cannot balance! Cos the rocks and stones were slippery! I was screaming and lucky Ah bee came to hold me and I hold onto her to get down to the safe steps. So I asked her to go follow Oppa up so that she can take good photos and see the best scenery. Apparently that was the last stop.
So I started my journey down... While Ah Bee and Oppa went up the mountain to take some photos...
Anyway I already have all the nice photos and I was very happy liao!!! :)
So after a while, Ah bee came and we started to go back to the cable car. Of course... Must stop at toilet lor! Ah bee very bo liao leh.. Snapped my photo when I'm coming out of toilet... Strange de lor.. Why I always go toilet and Ah bee never seems to go toilet often??? Hmmm... Either she's a camel or my bladder got prob! Hahahahah! :p
When we boarded the cable car downhill, we saw a temple and a big Buddha.
We reached back to the foot of the mountain and started to walk to the temple nearby.
After climbing the mountain and walking a quiet temple, it is time for lunch! Yay!!! :)
After lunch, Oppa needed to take a short nap cos the journey back to Seoul is another 3 hours. So he will dropped us at a local market, Sokcho Fish market for an hour while he take a nap.
The local market was interesting!
Ah Bee managed to buy some spicy sauce for her friend, Jesslyn... So nice of her! Although I find the sauce a bit disgusting... :p
Although the market was full of seafood, we saw many stores selling Fried chicken take-away or delivery services. Must be due to that popular drama "Love from the star" that many Koreans started to want to eat fried chicken! Lots and lots of fried chicken take-aways!!! We were really tempted to buy some too... But we knew we can't finish it cos the servings were huge. I think these are for big families...
The market was small and after a while, we finished walking the place and as it was getting colder and colder, we decided to hide inside a nice cosy coffee cafe for a cuppa of warm drink!
The Cafe was nice! And of course we chose to sit besides the heater! LOL!
After a good cuppucino, time's up and we went to look for our Oppa... Hope he had a good sleep!
Oppa then brought us to our last destination of our tour, the Sokcho Lighthouse Observatory.
And OMG! We have to walked up a super long bunch of steps de lor!!! As usual, Oppa was running in front and then Ah bee.. Then lastly, I am struggling behind...
Finally I reached! The scenery was nice! But it was super cold cos of the strong winds!
Anyway, it was nice to be standing out there looking afar! And after that, we embarked on our journey back to Seoul.
Oppa drove us back to Seoul and we saw beautiful sunset. Happy~~~
After we reached Myeong Dong, we thanked Chance Oppa and we went up to our hotel to put our stuffs and decided to go opposite to have our BBQ dinner!
Ah bee was soooo looking forward to this as she love BBQ meat! Lol!
As I don't really eat pork, I ordered the kimchi tofu and rice!
The rice was special, right? It was bamboo rice and when opened, there is a piece of charcoal on top... Donno what's that for, but who cares! It is nice rice! :)
Anyway I tried to eat BBQ the Korean way - wrapping on a piece of raw cabbage! Well... It tastes ok lah.. But at least I tried! Always see actors and actresses doing this in dramas... LOL!
And of course, I cannot eat without beer!!!
I am Happy!!!
It has been a very tiring day and I am glad I survived the mountain climbing trip!!! Yay! I was very glad I bought a new pair of boots for this trip cos the shoes had paid off really well! I am safe and sound and no falling! :)
Looking forward to the next day to Nami Island!!! I hope I can get to sleep in a little bit more...
:p
