2013 SPRING IN JEJU & SEOUL PART 1

Adventurous us made an impromptu decision to do a 12-day free-and-easy trip to Jeju and Seoul for a temporary hideout from the hectic Singapore. We had not been to Korea before nor did we speak Korean but that did not stop us from doing free-and-easy! We have long heard of the natural beautiful sightings in Jeju and the limitless shopping and food in Seoul. So...... HERE WE GO!! :)

A brief itinerary of our 12-day Korea trip:

4d3n at Jeju

8d7n at Seoul

We took SQ flight at a promotional rate of SG$728/pax. SQ flies directly from Singapore to South Korea and the journey is about 7hours. Our flight took off at about 2pm at Singapore Changi Airport and we landed at Incheon Airport, South Korea at about 9pm. As the last domestic flight to Jeju ends before 9pm, we spent a night at Incheon Airport Gogo House. 

Incheon Airport Gogo House provides pick-up services to and fro Incheon Airport. Upon landing, we approached the Information counter for assistance to phone Gogo House for the pick-up service. The driver speaks little English but is sufficient. Gogo House is about 3mins drive from Incheon Airport. It is like an apartment style, with a huge living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and balcony! Too bad we were there only for a night (7hrs to be exact) before we rushed off to Gimpo Domestic Airport the next morning. 

While waiting to board

Living room at Incheon Airport Gogo House. Isn't it HUGE!?!

At 6am, we took the pick-up service back to Incheon Airport so that we can catch the Airport Bus to Gimpo Domestic Airport for our flight to Jeju Island. Though there were some communication breakdown, we managed to get bus tickets. We took about 30mins to reach Gimpo Domestic Airport. Airport Bus is recommended as the bus stops right in front of Gimpo Domestic Airport as compared to AREX Airport Express (train service) as it stops at Gimpo International Airport instead. You will then have to make your way to the Domestic Airport. If time and convenience is of essence, I would recommend Airport Bus. :) 

Bus ticket to Gimpo Domestic Airport. Bus Stop 12B.

We bought our Jeju domestic flight from Eastarjet at about SG$145/pax. The Eastarjet counter (right side of the airport) at Gimpo Domestic Airport is easily identified for its huge red signboard. The check-in process was smooth and pleasant! As this is a domestic flight, we are required to check-in 40mins before flying. 

The journey took about an hour from Gimpo Domestic Airport to Jeju International Airport. As soon as we landed, we took a cab to our hotel - Goodstay December Hotel. 

Goodstay December Hotel is a 5mins ride away from Jeju International Airport. Being in the city area, it brings convenience to the hotel guests, especially with Paris Baguette Cafe in the vicinity! As for the room, it is comfortable and clean.  

Street near Goodstay December Hotel

Spot Paris Baguette Cafe opposite the hotel?

YES! It's Paris Baguette! 

Bread and pastries at Paris Baguette

And more pastries....

The green tea is awesome!
I have been searching high and low for this green tea bag at Korean supermarkets. 

We read about how convenient the bus services are in Jeju so we decided to try with the public buses on our first day in Jeju. To our surprise, the bus services and destinations were written in Korean. We struggled really hard, but obviously, we couldn't decipher a single character. At the bus stop, we met a really nice university student who helped us by stopping the bus and informed the bus driver of our destination. We took the bus to the Jeju Intercity Bus Terminal to catch another bus to our first destination - Jeju Folklore and Natural History Museum. 

Bus stop with only Korean characters

With the help of the staff at the bus interchange, we managed to hop onto a bus heading towards Jeju Folklore and Natural History Museum. The bus does not stop directly at the Museum, hence, we had to navigate our way. We walked about 5mins from the bus stop. As it was Spring season, the weather was cooling and we saw SAKURA! 

The outside of Jeju Folklore and Natural History Museum

Entrance of Jeju Folklore and Natural History Museum

Famous Dol Hareubang (Grandfather) at Jeju Island

SAKURA!

Pretty sakura :)

 After a walk in the Museum, we took a bus back to the bus interchange. We boarded another bus (about an hour) to Halim Park for the Flower Festival. 

Conical trees at Halim Park

Pretty tulips

Beautiful flowers and trees along the sides of the walkway at Halim Park

With many grandfathers guarding the park

When we were about to leave Halim Park, we saw this beautiful beach - Hyeopjae Beach!! We braved through the strong freezing wind to capture the awesome sunset! 

Beautiful sunset at Hyeopjae Beach

White sandy beach

The day was ending so we took the opposite bus back to the bus interchange. We got lost on our way back and had to cab to hotel. We had our dinner at one of the restaurants near our hotel. Since we don't speak Korean and the restaurant staff don't speak English, we had to resort to 'sign language' for our food orders. It was fun though. 

Restaurant near hotel

We managed to order Ramyeon and Gyoza with 'sign language'

With this, we ended our first day in Jeju. :)

HONG KONG & MACAU 2013 PART 4

Our last stop - Disneyland Hong Kong!! 

We woke up early to pack our luggages just so we can be at DISNEYLAND at the earliest possible time! :) We took the MTR from Yau Ma Tei station to Sunnybay station. 

We stayed 1 night at Disney's Hollywood Hotel, bought 2-day admission tickets, topped up with buffet dinner and buffet breakfast for the next day. We played rides, watched parade, took selfie and enjoyed fireworks! The fireworks were SPECTACULAR!! 

Room for 4pax at Disney's Hollywood Hotel

At the entrance of Disneyland

Disneyland's parade

Mystic Castle 

One of the walkways

Pretty sunset at Disneyland

At evening time, we took shuttle bus to Disney's Hollywood Hotel for our buffet dinner

Buffet dinner includes crabs and prawns

Desserts with Mickey-faced shape

After dinner, we took the shuttle bus back to Disneyland for the AMAZING FIREWORKS!  

More fireworks!!

And more fireworks!!! :)

HONG KONG & MACAU 2013 PART 3

Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China. It was previously ruled by the Portuguese and this explains the beautiful design of the buildings. 

Travelling from Hong Kong to Macau is as easy as travelling from Singapore to Batam or Bintan. We took MTR from Yau Ma Tei station to Sheung Wan station. On top of Sheung Wan station is the Shun Tak Centre where the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal is located. As we were travelling on a weekday, we bought our ferry tickets on the day itself. We took Turbojet and it cost HK$159/pax from Hong Kong to Macau. As we were unsure of the return time, we did not get the return ticket. The ferry took about 1hr and the immigration clearance took about 15mins. 

Almost everyone who travels to Macau visits the casino. What's good is that the casinos provide shuttle buses from Macau Ferry Terminal to the respective casinos. The shuttle buses are located at the opposite of the Macau Ferry Terminal. After visiting one of the casinos, we took the shuttle bus back to Macau Ferry Terminal to catch a public bus to Senado Square. 

Senado Square has plentiful of awesome buildings. After walking around, we proceeded to Ruins of St. Paul's for some photos and selfie! 

Beautiful buildings at Senado Square at Macau. 

At the bus stop opposite Senado Square.

Ruins of St. Pauls' 

View of the buildings in front of Ruins of St. Pauls'

 With this, we went back to Macau Ferry Terminal and took a ferry back to Hong Kong for some street food beside our hotel. 

HONG KONG & MACAU 2013 PART 2

What are the food items that come to your mind when you think about Hong Kong? 

1. DIM SUM! Yes, dim sum is a must when you are in Hong Kong. My favourite and must-go dim sum place is Lin Heung Tea House. Lin Heung is a traditional dim sum restaurant where many old folks read their newspapers while sipping hot tea and savouring dim sum. It is usually crowded with locals and foreigners, and some dim sum items may be sold out by late morning. Thus, it is advisable to reach Lin Hueng early and spend some time waiting for tables. This is definitely worth the wait for the dim sum is heavenly good! 

Lin Heung is located at 162 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong 

Front of Lin Heung

The moment auntie pushed the dim sum cart, everyone rushed to snatch for the limited quantity of dim sum! You must be thick-skinned enough to squeeze your way through to get yours. See how stressful the auntie looked! 

2. ROAST MEAT! Be it roast chicken, roast duck, roast goose, roast pork, you must eat them! We tried a few roast meat shops around Mongkok, Yau Ma Tei and Central. For the thrifty, you can satisfy your cravings at Mongkok and Yau Ma Tei. For the spendthrift, you can have yours at the infamous Yung Kee Restaurant located at 32 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong.

Roast meat at Mongkok area. There are many roast meat shops along the same stretch, just take your pick. 

Roast meat at Yau Ma Tei area. They also sell rice noodle rolls (chee cheong fan - at the top right corner) and rice noodle rolled over fried doughstick (zha leong - see next photo)  

Zha Leong. Very tasty doughstick wrapped with rice noodle roll, served with soy sauce. 

Roast goose, roast duck and roast chicken at Yung Kee Restaurant at Central.  

3. SCRAMBLED EGGS! At Australian Dairy Co. Yes! I can hear your screams... This has got to be the best scrambled eggs I've eaten! The queue is forever long, but the wait staff are fast at clearing the queue, by shoving people in and shoving people out. This is not a place for you to eat and chill because you will be shoved out once you are done. So, you order, take photo, eat, pay and leave with satisfied stomach :)

Australian Dairy Co. is located at 47-49, Parkes Street, Jordan, Hong Kong 

Check out the queue stretching till the end of the black car.

Scrambled eggssss!! Each set consists of scrambled eggs and toast, ham and macaroni soup, and coffee/tea. You can upgrade to cold drinks by paying a little more. 

4. HUI LAU SHAN! The irresistible mango desserts that make everyone goes ga-ga about, especially during summer season. This is located almost everywhere. 

Mango platter (left) and Mango Glutinous Riceballs (right)

4. EGGTART! There are 2 types of egg tarts, flaky crust and pie crust. Portuguese egg tarts have flaky crust while Tai Cheong Bakery egg tarts have pie crust. Tai Cheong Bakery egg tarts are soft, tasty and simply perfect. There are a few outlets in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Territories. The locations can be found at http://www.taoheung.com.hk/en/brands/tai_cheong_bakery/index_p_2.html. 

Tai Cheong Bakery egg tarts 

HONG KONG & MACAU 2013 PART 1

Hong Kong is always about FOOD AND SHOPPING!! However, this time round, we decided to do a food-and-sightsee family trip. :)

We took SQ flight that cost about SG$368/pax.

Before taking off.....

Smiling bright sun! 

Rare sightings of CIRCLE RAINBOW!! with the plane's shadow! 

The flight took about 3.5hrs from Singapore to Hong Kong. After landing, we took Cityflyer bus A21 from Airport Bus Terminus. Bus fare cost about HK$33/pax.

Shortly after 40mins, we alighted at the bus stop after Waterloo Road, Nathan Road and Yau Ma Tei MTR. The bus stop is after the traffic lights, beside Mannings shop. Our hotel, Kings de Nathan, is located at the opposite side of the bus stop. We chose this hotel for its convenience to MTR and airport. The rooms (both double room and twin room) and toilet are also relatively larger and cleaner as compared to the nearby hotels. You can visit http://www.kingsdenathan.com/ to check out their rooms and reviews!   

Twin Room, we combined the beds

Spacious and clean toilet!

Standing shower area

After we checked in, we took a cab to Garden Road Peak Tram Lower Terminus. We bought the 3-in-1 combo that consists of return tickets for Peak Tram, entry to Sky Terrace 428 and entry to Madame Tussauds. It cost HK$310/pax. While at the Sky Terrace, we took only a few photos since it was foggy. 

Long queue at the Peak Tram Station but the queue moves really fast due to the short intervals of trams. Meanwhile, we took lots of selfie! :)

Tram and the driver. Our turn to board soon. 

The tram tilts at a steep angle but commuters are busy taking photos.

Madame Tussauds Hong Kong ticket counter if you decided to visit. 

Just one photo from Madame Tussauds so that you can have more surprises when you visit the place!

We took the Peak Tram back to the lower terminus to catch the bus to Central Star Ferry Pier. From Star Ferry Pier, we took the ferry from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui, cruising across the Victoria Harbour. This is the alternative mode of transportation other than the MTR. Each ride cost about HD$2 and it is payable via the Octopus Card. 

Onboard the Star Ferry

Awesome view! 

And.... we are reaching the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Pier

So we took the MTR back to Yau Ma Tei for steamboat dinner. This is what we always see on TVB drama, "da ping lou". This steamboat place is located on the right of our hotel. 

Yuan Yang Steamboat

The next day, we went to Lantau Island to witness the renowned big buddha statue. We took MTR from Yau Ma Tei station to Tung Chung station. After which, we took the cable car at Tung Chung Cable Car Terminal to Ngong Ping Village. As we went on a weekday, the queue for the cable car ride was reasonable. We took the round trip crystal cabin for the awesome view right under us! The round trip crystal cabin cost HK$235 while round trip standard cabin cost HK$150. The crystal cabin is highly recommended for it was featured in the Korean variety show, The Runningman! 

Queuing for cable car. Special queue for crystal cabin. 

View from cable car on our way to Ngong Ping Village 

View from crystal cabin! This is the path where the runningman crew placed the huge Korean characters for one of their missions! 

On the cable car reaching Ngong Ping

Some shops along the Ngong Ping Village

The wishing tree

This is the place where the white-haired Mr Chang is hiding. The runningman members were required to search for him to verify if the gold pieces they were holding on to were real gold.  

Black sesame paste and beancurd from the shop shown above

Big Buddha from afar. 

Big Buddha from the foot

While on the way up.....

And we reached! After a few break points :)

View from the top. Yes, it was foggy too.