Stories from The Wonderful World of Bears

Day 5 started off with a trip to Everland in Yongin. It was such a magical musical happy place. You could feel the happiness in the air. Music played all the time and you could almost believe that you were living in a musical and I expected multitudes of dwarves or gnomes and fairies, coming out to greet me and tell me that I could live there forever. Haha. Loads of kids there and also very fun. I guess if I DO go to Gold Coast or Disneyland I might feel the same way. But you see, everyone, including the candy floss sellers, to the toilet janitors, to the ride operators smiled and waved happily at you. A more cynical me might have thought that they were all just high on something.

My mom was sporting enough to go on a couple of rides with me. We shot ghosts in a haunted house, swirled 360 degrees upside down, round and round in another spirit infested house. Also had some wild water ride, a 3d moviemaster adventure and visited all the animals at the Animal section as well. There was also a European section, with beer gardens, French rides, and a new mega roller coaster ! I had a great time playing in the merchandise store. It was just full of cute stuff. I could live there for a couple of days, I think. I think I love theme parks.

We drove all the way to Seoul and saw a few things, including flowers, bridges and roads. However one of our stops for the day was the Walker Hill Casino. This picture is specially for JenBear, SLBear and MichyBear to show that I can still wear this Tommy Hilfiger top presented to me by them for my 18th Birthday ! Good choice guys.

And since we could not take pictures in the casino, I went to the toilet and took pictures of one of my chips. It is great to know that you are holding a 10,000 denominated chip. And I had a few of these babies. Unfortunately, even thought the number is 10,000, it is worth around Rm30. So sad. Could only buy a top when we stopped by at Dongdaemun later, one of the premier shopping places. Shopping = no photos.

The morning of Day 6 started off with kimchi making after a breakfast of porridge and soya milk in a Chinese restaurant. We were taught by a kimchi master who told us all the steps required. It was fun, actually, and the chilli used smelt very good.

Kimchi making was fun and very squishy. Many people made orders and then later on tried on some Korean costumes. The hats were hard, and would have clashed with my hairstyle, so here I am, carrying it. People had lots of fun here, and some even tried on several different colours and styles.

In addition to kimchi, another important part of Korean culture is its ginseng. Famed worldwide for their healing properties, we visited a ginseng outlet, where we were lecture (yawn) on these properties. The most fun part was the naming of weirdly shapes ginseng, and also finding out that you could have male or female ginseng. Below, is a male ginseng. HAHA. Guess who wants a piece of that ?

I found a branch where I was actually standing next to it !! You will not believe the amount of branches I saw while on a bus, or far away in the distance......

Shopping at Myeondong was next on the cards. This was a couple of blocks of shops and several buildings which again was full of fashion and accessories. Also you could find many restaurants and cosmetic shops. Obviously, as was busy shopping, no photos were taken, other than the one below in which we witnessed a movie ? commercial ? being filmed, where the guy was slapped. Since they did several takes, it mean that he had to be slapped several times. No it was not Rain.

After some grabbed dinner as well, we converged and went on this little theatre in the city. We were there to watch "Break Out" which was a dance production that featured several inmates trying to break out of prison, by breakdancing. It was superbly funny though the ending was weird. Really interesting to watch and was a good way to experience Seoul at night. Later on, there was even and offer for people to go for more shopping at Dongdaemun, since the shops would stay open till 4. Amazing. Amazing. And wonderful for shoppers.

As it was the last day, we only had time to visit Namsangol Hanok Village. It is a traditional village with Korean houses from the Joseon dynasty. Since it was a hilltop, we could also see Seoul Tower in the distance.

As you can see, old houses make a good backdrop for photos, and I can assure you that there were many more, but I fear for your sanity if I post all of them up.

And of course I could not resist taking a last photo of a Standard Chartered branch. This one was located at Insadong, which is sort of like an antique and hand crafted souvenir street. There were many old locks and brushes and books and furniture as well as many types of porcelain wares and funny little shops which sold tea. All in all, it was a fantastic place to be, and you can bet your money that I would be willing to come here again, even if it was just for the shopping and the experience. Amazing.