Day 5's breakfast was a little better than Day 4's but still...not very delicious so once again, I didn't eat a lot for breakfast. In fact, we predicted that the breakfast would be almost the same as Day 4 so we bought a bun each the previous night from Lotte Hotel. I ate the bun while waiting outside the place where they sold ginseng and the bun was omfg good.
First stop of the day was Cheong Wa Dae, or better known as the Blue House. Korea's equivalent of U.S.' White House. The security there was pretty tight and I somehow pity the security guards becuase they have to stand under the hot sun for hours while clad in uniforms that covered almost every single part of their bodies.
Me and the tour guide, Linda.
On the way to Cheong Wa Dae, Linda gave us some facts about the place in Chinese and this made the English-speaking uncle pretty angry because well, he couldn't understand her. He made a big fuss out of it by saying out loud that he didn't know what she was talking about and that made me want to walk over and punch him in the face. First of all, most tours to Korea are Chinese-speaking tours and it's stated when you sign up for the tour so what are you complaining about?! Secondly, Richie, the Singapore tour leader, is going to give an English translation later anyway...why are you so freaking impatient?! I overheard him talking about him going to another tour agency to complain because he felt that the tour sucked. According to him, the tour agency refunded him $50(or something) per person in the end and to him, giving a refund=admitting that their tour sucked. Seriously...no lor! I think that they refunded him the money so as to please him so that he would shut up and get out of their faces. Okay, too much bitching.
Li Ming and me waiting for the others to come out of the toilet/finish taking photos.
Next stop was Gyeongbok Palace, which was like 5 minutes away from Cheong Wa Dae.
Since both of us have been there before, we decided to stand under the shade and talk instead of walking around again. One Korean uncle overheard us talking and realised that we're not from Korea so he came over to chat with us. -___- He offered to take a photo for the both of us and gave me a map of Seoul's subway. Nice uncle but still -_____-. Oh, and he said that we were pretty =D Should I be happy? Hmmm.
Damn cool innovation. Stick-like things are placed there to prevent birds from resting there and hence, shitting there. Cool right!
Richie and me. I am so freaking short can!
Li Ming wanted to be a ninth-grade officer (jiu pin guan) but that picture was taken too far away, with my lousy photography skills, so it was not that visible. Here is her being a sixth-grade/fifth-grade officer.
Me as a first-grade officer (yi pin guan). Whee~
Me and Kenny, the photographer.
My "artistic" photo at Gyeongbok Palace. Li Ming and I were a little wtf-ed when we were asked to pose with our backs facing the camera. I like how the background is blurred out although I look stupid with my sunglasses hanging from my neck like an old grandmother. Oh, and the photographer said that I was pretty~ Whee~ Seriously, I had like a few people in Korea who told me that I was pretty. How come that never happens in Singapore?! Boo.
Went to buy ginseng next and I bought like USD815 worth of ginseng. OMG, I'm so going to die when the bill comes. Shit. Lunch was chicken steamboat plus rice cake. Side dishes included kimchi (obviously!), seaweed, some other dishes and pickled radish! Whee~ I love pickled radish. I ate like 2 plates worth of it can! Kept asking for refill...so paiseh.
Shopping came after lunch and all the men on the tour were visibly unhappy. Of course la, pay for wife, hold purchases for wife, wait for wife, nothing else to see somemore...of course buay song lo. All the women, except for the both of us, were listening attentively to the saleswoman's skincare tutorial and trying out the products at A+ Cosmetics.
While waiting outside, I had nothing else better to do so I decided to take photos with the bus. -_- Engaged Li Ming's help to do so and one of the bus uncles(from another tour) thought that we were trying to take photos together and offered to help us, even though we did not have the intention of doing so. Eh...why got so many offers to take photos for us one?!
Next stop was the amethyst place and I was totally not interested in it so I sneaked off to the bus to catch forty winks. In fact, I slept so soundly that I did not realise that the bus had actually moved and when I woke up, I was outside The Face Shop instead of the amethyst place. I rock.
On the way to the airport to take a flight to Jeju Island, Kenny started selling us the photos that he took because he was unable to go with us to Jeju Island, i.e., not going to see him anymore. Everyone just chose whatever photo that they wanted and paid up...all except for one...the English-speaking uncle. One photo cost 5000won and if you want to pay in USD, it's USD5.50 due to the exchange rate that day. He was complaining that it was more expensive in USD and said that because he's buying the photos, he has lesser Korean won left. In fact, he kept going on and on and on and on and on...that Richie had to come over to settle the matter with him. The uncle still had the cheek to ask for discount although photographers do not earn a lot from the photos and they have to help out with food and luggages. The uncle was telling Richie not to ask so much tips from him because he had not much Korean won left. WTF is wrong with this guy?!!!! His wife was nice enough to intervene by saying that Kenny helped them alot and asked him to just buy the photos. He's the kind of people that makes me ashamed to be a Singaporean sometimes. Bah.
Kenny's drawing.
Reached the airport and while waiting to check-in, the uncle was still talking about the prices of the photos to 2 unwilling listeners. Kaoz. Macam radio like that. Oh, and while waiting near the pillar (note: totally not blocking the way), some Korean woman went to push me away so that she can walk on. WTF. If the airport was very packed and there was no place to walk, I'm okay with it if she pushed me away...BUT...there was nobody there and there was so much space beside me and she just had to walk on where I was standing. -_- Koreans like to push their way through seriously. I was telling my Korean teacher about this in class after I came back and she proudly told me that they do not have a habit of saying sorry after they push people away. -_________-
Had dinner at Lotteria, Airport branch. Lotteria is like damn freaking good!!! It's officially my favourite fast food outlet for now and there's none in Singapore. Damn.
The thing that vibrates/beeps to tell you to collect your food from the counter when your food is ready. Cool. The Lotteria branch at the Teddy Bear Museum doesn't have this but have a screen that flashes your order number instead. Then again, I prefer the Singapore/Malaysia way where the staff comes to your table to give you your food. I am lazy...cannot ar!
Me with my shrimp burger. My hair's freaking messy because I was too tired to be bothered to comb my hair after waking up in the bus. Anyway going to sleep in the plane again what...comb for what. Heh.
And indeed, I slept in the plane to Jeju Island...for the whole 45 minutes somemore. Reached Jeju Island and went to the hotel with the lousy toilet bowl that takes at least 2 flushes to flush everything away. I hate toilet bowls with lousy flush functions. Anyway, end of Day 5. More pictures at http://mizu-kioku.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=145
First stop of the day was Cheong Wa Dae, or better known as the Blue House. Korea's equivalent of U.S.' White House. The security there was pretty tight and I somehow pity the security guards becuase they have to stand under the hot sun for hours while clad in uniforms that covered almost every single part of their bodies.
Me and the tour guide, Linda.
On the way to Cheong Wa Dae, Linda gave us some facts about the place in Chinese and this made the English-speaking uncle pretty angry because well, he couldn't understand her. He made a big fuss out of it by saying out loud that he didn't know what she was talking about and that made me want to walk over and punch him in the face. First of all, most tours to Korea are Chinese-speaking tours and it's stated when you sign up for the tour so what are you complaining about?! Secondly, Richie, the Singapore tour leader, is going to give an English translation later anyway...why are you so freaking impatient?! I overheard him talking about him going to another tour agency to complain because he felt that the tour sucked. According to him, the tour agency refunded him $50(or something) per person in the end and to him, giving a refund=admitting that their tour sucked. Seriously...no lor! I think that they refunded him the money so as to please him so that he would shut up and get out of their faces. Okay, too much bitching.
Li Ming and me waiting for the others to come out of the toilet/finish taking photos.
Next stop was Gyeongbok Palace, which was like 5 minutes away from Cheong Wa Dae.
Since both of us have been there before, we decided to stand under the shade and talk instead of walking around again. One Korean uncle overheard us talking and realised that we're not from Korea so he came over to chat with us. -___- He offered to take a photo for the both of us and gave me a map of Seoul's subway. Nice uncle but still -_____-. Oh, and he said that we were pretty =D Should I be happy? Hmmm.
Damn cool innovation. Stick-like things are placed there to prevent birds from resting there and hence, shitting there. Cool right!
Richie and me. I am so freaking short can!
Li Ming wanted to be a ninth-grade officer (jiu pin guan) but that picture was taken too far away, with my lousy photography skills, so it was not that visible. Here is her being a sixth-grade/fifth-grade officer.
Me as a first-grade officer (yi pin guan). Whee~
Me and Kenny, the photographer.
My "artistic" photo at Gyeongbok Palace. Li Ming and I were a little wtf-ed when we were asked to pose with our backs facing the camera. I like how the background is blurred out although I look stupid with my sunglasses hanging from my neck like an old grandmother. Oh, and the photographer said that I was pretty~ Whee~ Seriously, I had like a few people in Korea who told me that I was pretty. How come that never happens in Singapore?! Boo.
Went to buy ginseng next and I bought like USD815 worth of ginseng. OMG, I'm so going to die when the bill comes. Shit. Lunch was chicken steamboat plus rice cake. Side dishes included kimchi (obviously!), seaweed, some other dishes and pickled radish! Whee~ I love pickled radish. I ate like 2 plates worth of it can! Kept asking for refill...so paiseh.
Shopping came after lunch and all the men on the tour were visibly unhappy. Of course la, pay for wife, hold purchases for wife, wait for wife, nothing else to see somemore...of course buay song lo. All the women, except for the both of us, were listening attentively to the saleswoman's skincare tutorial and trying out the products at A+ Cosmetics.
While waiting outside, I had nothing else better to do so I decided to take photos with the bus. -_- Engaged Li Ming's help to do so and one of the bus uncles(from another tour) thought that we were trying to take photos together and offered to help us, even though we did not have the intention of doing so. Eh...why got so many offers to take photos for us one?!
Next stop was the amethyst place and I was totally not interested in it so I sneaked off to the bus to catch forty winks. In fact, I slept so soundly that I did not realise that the bus had actually moved and when I woke up, I was outside The Face Shop instead of the amethyst place. I rock.
On the way to the airport to take a flight to Jeju Island, Kenny started selling us the photos that he took because he was unable to go with us to Jeju Island, i.e., not going to see him anymore. Everyone just chose whatever photo that they wanted and paid up...all except for one...the English-speaking uncle. One photo cost 5000won and if you want to pay in USD, it's USD5.50 due to the exchange rate that day. He was complaining that it was more expensive in USD and said that because he's buying the photos, he has lesser Korean won left. In fact, he kept going on and on and on and on and on...that Richie had to come over to settle the matter with him. The uncle still had the cheek to ask for discount although photographers do not earn a lot from the photos and they have to help out with food and luggages. The uncle was telling Richie not to ask so much tips from him because he had not much Korean won left. WTF is wrong with this guy?!!!! His wife was nice enough to intervene by saying that Kenny helped them alot and asked him to just buy the photos. He's the kind of people that makes me ashamed to be a Singaporean sometimes. Bah.
Kenny's drawing.
Reached the airport and while waiting to check-in, the uncle was still talking about the prices of the photos to 2 unwilling listeners. Kaoz. Macam radio like that. Oh, and while waiting near the pillar (note: totally not blocking the way), some Korean woman went to push me away so that she can walk on. WTF. If the airport was very packed and there was no place to walk, I'm okay with it if she pushed me away...BUT...there was nobody there and there was so much space beside me and she just had to walk on where I was standing. -_- Koreans like to push their way through seriously. I was telling my Korean teacher about this in class after I came back and she proudly told me that they do not have a habit of saying sorry after they push people away. -_________-
Had dinner at Lotteria, Airport branch. Lotteria is like damn freaking good!!! It's officially my favourite fast food outlet for now and there's none in Singapore. Damn.
The thing that vibrates/beeps to tell you to collect your food from the counter when your food is ready. Cool. The Lotteria branch at the Teddy Bear Museum doesn't have this but have a screen that flashes your order number instead. Then again, I prefer the Singapore/Malaysia way where the staff comes to your table to give you your food. I am lazy...cannot ar!
Me with my shrimp burger. My hair's freaking messy because I was too tired to be bothered to comb my hair after waking up in the bus. Anyway going to sleep in the plane again what...comb for what. Heh.
And indeed, I slept in the plane to Jeju Island...for the whole 45 minutes somemore. Reached Jeju Island and went to the hotel with the lousy toilet bowl that takes at least 2 flushes to flush everything away. I hate toilet bowls with lousy flush functions. Anyway, end of Day 5. More pictures at http://mizu-kioku.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=145
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