Korea Winter Discovery --- Day 4

Day 04 - Jeju/Seoul/Kyonggi-do/Gangwon-do

Temp: -7c to 8c

Namseoul Plaza Hotel

Day 4 out of 8. Today marks the end of the part of the trip in Jeju. The group woke up early for breakfast as we need to catch the early flight from Jeju International Airport back to Seoul.

The group had breakfast at the hotel's cafe, so it was international buffet breakfast for today. The spread served in the hotel was quite good in term of variety and taste. Finally, a change. Usually Korea's buffet breakfast are costly, hence most of the time we always eat out, if im not wrong, the breakfast here cost almost SGD40+.

salad bar


better than Mcdonald's


juices

enjoying...

After breakfast, we departed to Jeju International Airport, and since there were some spare time, we explored around the airport for some souvenirs. Sadly, we did not manage to purchase anything at the Airport as the price was relatively higher.

Jeju International Airport

Bye bye Jeju

Since this was another domestic flight, we did not expect much in terms of service and the plane model. The airport looks very much like in Hawaii, a tropical feeling.

Asiana Airlines Flight OZ 8904

Airbus A321-231 - HL-7703

Delivered on 13/06/2001 (5 years 7mths+ old plane)

0904h - Flight OZ 8904 took off from Cheju

OZ 8904 at Gate in its new livery

inside the plane...at least there's tv so no more manual safety demo

1013h - Flight OZ 8934 landed safely with no bumpy rides at Seoul Gimpo

Gimpo International Airport, Seoul

The control tower

It was another long journey(about one and a half hour) from the airport to the next destination, Everland at Gyeonggi-do via Highway 1. And boy, we do have a new member, the Korean Photographer aka "nan-yong" (term coined by ignorant lady)

FYI: Everland is a theme park in Yongin, a suburb of Seoul. Everland is South Korea's largest theme park. In 2002, Everland ranked sixth in the world for amusement park attendance. Along with its main attractions, Everland also includes a zoo and a water park known as Caribbean Bay. Everland is operated by Samsung Everland, which is a subsidiary of the Samsung Group.
Everland is often compared to Disneyland by those who have visited both parks, as some consider the architecture, scale, themes and general atmosphere to be very similar. Everland is divided into 6 distinct zones; Global Fair, Zoo-Topia, European Adventure, Magic Land and American Adventure and Caribbean Bay water park which sadly requires an additional ticket.

Everland, Seoul

Hyped up and ready

take a free ride...

descending...

First stop for us in Everland is Zoo-topia, which is the animal themed portion. We took the safari bus which allows us to view the animals in their 'natural' habitat... So instead of them being caged up, we were trapped inside the bus. It was an eye opening ride as we get to witness bears that can perform various stunts in the command of the bus drivers and LIGER, which is from the cross breeding of tigers and lions.

on the bus

Liger

white tiger

posing bear

the safari bus

Next stop was definitely American Adventure where all the thrill rides are. We tried on the Rolling X-train, which is a roller coaster. It was certainly a good warm up for our heart and vocal cords... Some of us moved on to 'Eagle Fortress', which is another roller coaster ride, however, we were seated on a suspended carriage, something like a basket that can swing laterally as it moves along the track. This was one of the must-try ride if you visit Everland. Due to tickets provided to us(Big 5), we needed to strategise which rides were worth it... Raymond and Eugene tried the Viking, while Jay, Leong and Kel opted for a less thrilling ride, the Ferris Wheel... We gave Double Rock Spin a miss due to the amount of time we had as the queue was extremely long.

Double Rock Spin

rolling X-train

the viking

eagle fortress

still alive

town market

inside the Ferris wheel

view from the wheel

the Ferris wheel

the european-style village

Soon, it was lunch time and there were limited choices for us due to the language barrier and we did not want to spend too much time on lunch as the clock was ticking... every second counts... So we settled for Burger Cafe, which is only available in the theme park.

The price of food was acceptable and the service was good, however, the food did not satisfy our taste buds. It was by far the worst meal we had in Korea. Yes indeed, it had such a nice environment & nice menu, but the food did not meet the grade.

Burger Cafe, Everland, Seoul

looks good

tasted yucky

Of course, being obsessed with photo-taking, we took numerous photo at various points of time while fully utilising the facilities(decorations) in Everland...

enchanted...

Tick-tock... it was time for Raymond's shopping spree at each destination again... so while he went shopping with Eugene, the others went for a sled ride(aka Snow Buster) down a snowy slope, and the best thing of the ride, it does not require a ticket... We were practically running up the slope as the clock was going to strike soon...The Snow buster was sure like a gold mine, it was another exciting cashless snow adventure, while Ra prolly had an exciting cash-strapped shopping spree.

down the slope, defintely better than that inferior sg snow city

with the mascot

Caught a photo with the mascot before we exited from the theme park... Overall, a fun filled afternoon in Everland. The rides available totally put Singapore's Escape Theme Park into shame, especially when comparing the scale of the roller coaster(which Escape's is more like a ride in pasar malam) and the Ferris wheel.

bye bye Everland

Before dinner, we made a stop at the ski equipment rental shop to rent out stuff we need for skiing tomorrow( Yesh!!!)... paid 10000W for a pair of gloves.... well... at least we get to keep the gloves.

ski equipment rental

After the two 'special' meals yesterday, we reverted back to the usual meal of hot pot... it was defintely a meal we all look forward to as compared to the inferior meal we had at Burger Cafe.

before

after

side dishes again...

eating is fun...

enjoying dinner....

After dinner, we travelled to our lodging for the night, Phoenix Hanwha Resort. It was the night of the trip!

Pheonix Hanwha Resort

Each apartment(for two) was fully equipped with kitchen facilities, two bathrooms, a living room, and two bedrooms. These two bedrooms are different such that one had beds for 'normal' sleep and the other was bare, with only blankets provided for guest to sleep on the floor. According to Sean, this is known as 'meng tu' where there is a central heating system under the flooring so it will warm up the blankets and it was extemely comfortable. In fact, most Korean home does this during winter. Extreme spacious, in fact the whole group could even share a room!

the apartment

... this or

that...as usual, Ra covered the hideous mirror with a bedsheet

At Pheonix, not only the accomodation was good, even the programme lined up was superb. There was a welcoming party for all guest which includes performances such as magic show, which Kel got invited on stage.

kel on stage

having fun

after the party

After the party, it was time for our nightly exploration, sadly, there nothing much surrounding the resort so we walked to the venue for skiing for some photo taking in the -5c temp...

posing and....

playing around....

Of course, after utilising energy for walking and posing(lol), we needed to replenish what we had used... so for supper, we decided to make full use of the kitchen and cooked our own meal(actually, cooking was done by Eugene and Aaron, the rest of us were slacking.)

chefs for the night

tibits

instant noodles, with sauages

group photo, Phoenix Hanwha Resort, Seoul


After the delicious supper, we retired early in anticipation of a tiring day tomorrow..... YES... it's skiing time!!!!