130429 Taegonggak

took xm to explore a bit of yonggin - nothing much actually. supposed to go for the korean folk village and everland but cos i've already been in both i didn't feel like paying the ridiculous entrance price for both to enter again. so we stopped by just to take a look at the outside, and had al-pab (my fav!) - which xm was sort of addicted to too eventually. heh.

noon flight over to jeju. it was just a 45mins flight, but after another hour or so bus ride to our hotel, it was already night.

and i really like this hotel because it's so cleaaaaaan and pristine. hehehehe.

only thing was there's like 90% singaporeans staying here so we eat breakfast with our local people everyday. there's just something i don't like about meeting your own kind in other countries, unless you know them. oh well.

was told by my friend that hallabongs are pretty famous here, and just right outside our hotel there's a shop selling them! it's rather expensive though... 5k for an orange. omg. (we later saw much cheaper ones, though it was too late since xm went to buy this, lol)

since we still have some time, went out to eat a traditional black pork jeju meal.

look at the grand spread!

i especially like the steam egg!

and that was our grand feast for the first night.

and passed by my leejunki poster on one of the stall's windows... selling pillows and beds. don't know what's the relationship between arang and that. hey! you need permission from him you know?!

back in our hotel... we bought the salonpas to heal our hurting muscles while hoping it'll turn better tomorrow. hoho.

good night~~

130428 Sunrise, Naksan Temple and the Seokcho Market

we woke up soooooo early like 4.30am????
just to catch the sunrise. well, actually i've never seen a sunrise in my life so i guess it's a good experience. but we reached really early and even took a taxi when we could have just walked over.

but there were people who were earlier than us... and couples hugging each other in the cold.

i meant to spam all the 300 photos that xm took while we waited for an hour looking at the orange ball slowly rising. but i shall not bore you with the same pictures. or they are technically not the same, since the ball is in a different position.

was so cold i was in winter wear. hurhur.

and then the view of the market area while we were waiting... from dusk to dawn.

we then walked back to our hostel to have breakfast at the lovely cafe.

and we finally get to see the hostel dog! so big and white and flufffffy, but he bites if you try to touch him. ouch. not that i'll risk my hand.

since there's not a lot we can do, we got stuck with the option of visiting a temple. a great big temple in fact - uh, i'm not sure if that sounds more appealing. ok, a grand temple on top of a mountain with a sea view. (more climbing, great..........................................!)

we missed our bus stop and had to loop the bus back and paid a double fare. grah. so unfriendly! managed to reach the must-see temple in the end. of course. not that i wanted to reach.

so how about i spam some temple shots, since i went through great difficulties to get here?

and we have to climb a loooong winding path...

the rock says 'the way to realising your dream'. which is just about true, since i wanted to get over climbing the top quick.

and great goddess statue at the top with the sea view...

and what's a temple if you don't have those wishing wells, and stuff that you have to spend money on to grant the wishes that never come true??

still, i managed to throw a 10 won in the urn at the first try. awesome!

xm was wondering if the gods in korea understood english / mandarin. went ahead to write her wish and rang the bell anyway. if you're a god you must be fluent in universal language right.

and time to head down...

great big pond in the middle!

stopped at a museum with all kinds of rocks.

had tea for a while but it started to rain. thankfully it wasn't so heavy but we still ran out all the way. and we're out!

ooh fancy horse carriage with blasting music! this marks the end of our temple trip..

went over to the shopping district afterwards. bull looks familiar? heh. (no, not that it's my friend!)

this place is supposed to be a filming area for Autumn in my Heart. but i don't remember the scene anymore.

and it seems that this restaurant was featured in a variety show. too bad i don't watch it.

and on our way to buying our famous hoddog + famous chicken - which is the 2 MUST TRYs in seokcho, passed by some couple statues.

there's so many chicken imitations, but this is the best. it tastes awesome cold and hot!!! what a mystery!

we took like an hour+ to queue for the hoddog, but it was so worth it!!

YUM! felt like getting more pieces because we queued so much for it, but one piece really fills you up. it's drowned in oil though so it can get kinda queasy if you eat too much of it.

after that it was time to leave seokcho. we stayed the night at yongin while preparing to fly off the next day to jeju~