Part 3: Trip to South Korea :)

Part 3: 29 October 2010 - Mount Sorak & Goseong-gun Unification Observatory Park

It was Laila's birthday. Because of her, I have realized my dream to go to Korea.

I was completely forgot her birthday. Thanks to Aishah, our tour leader remembers it.

Our tour guide sings the famous '3 bears' song to Laila. This song is like our 'Rasa Sayang' song for Korean people.

She is happy. Everybody is happy..

Anyway..

Mount Sorak. This mountain is situated in Gangwon province South Korea. Also called as Seoraksan National Park.

My 1st reaction when reached there was...SO FREAKING-ly BEAUTIFUL!

Vain Pic Under The Tree :)

No wonder some people claimed that the main season for Sorak Mountain is autumn because of..wait! Let me quote.. ' The autumn colours in the area are considered amongst the most beautiful in Korea. The red and yellow forest is interrupted by rocks and small mountain streams flow amidst this.' Emm...take that~

I was hoping for a cable car ride to the highest peak of Sorak but it is not included in the package. I was a little bit disappointed then but somehow of relief after saw a long queue to the cable car ride. Other tour guide mentioned to us that she is waited for 1/2 hour already... Dang! Nevertheless, I am so not going to ride cable car if I have to endure for 2 hours of queueing.

A little bit farther from the enterance, there was a HUGE Buddha statue (statue ke, whatever la). At the forehead got some real stone, I think it was ruby. And I am not fancy taking picture of Buddha.

Walking further ahead..

Some of elder people in our group decided to stay at the main entrance after our tour guide said it will be a long walk to the temple.

Reached the temple and I do not think I fancy the temple though. Except for the pure spring water that they said got some healing power. I decided to drink it. Nothing happened to me though. After about 20 minutes there, we walked down the mountain and enjoyed the scenery & weather there. Oh, wait, didn't I said that I really HEART the weather? I think autumn is the BEST! I am not sweating...that is the thing I like the most :)

At the back is the spring water that I talked about earlier

On the way back to the bus, I decided to bought kat Ahjussi tepi-tepi tuh jagung bakar or corn. TAK SEDAP langsung. The corn tastes like all starchy, keras and tasteless. Very different with our jagung. Time-time nih..appreciate sungguh Malaysian's food. I took more than 1/2 hour to eat half cob :(. Before I throw it away.

Next time tau le jagung kat Korea memang le tak sedap langsung!

Next..after we had our lunch and yes..again vegetables steamboat :(. this time around I brought with me, the Tomyam paste. The meal become tastier. Thank god.. Bought some delicious apple from Ahjusshi. :)

Our next destination was Teddy Bear Museum. I am so not fancy teddy bear..I always thought the teddy bear farm is the one in Goong drama (Princess Hour) but apperantly it is not. Oh..wait..That teddy bear museum is in Jeju Island. Dang! Took some pictures & acted like enjoying the place. Huh~

Sorry, teddy bear is just not for me, huh :(

Next stop is....Goksung Unification Observatory. It is situated in Northern part of South Korea. This is where people come here to reminisnce their memory of family member & relatives that been seperated and lived in North Korea. There is a memorial war center and explaining the history. We have to climb stairs to get to the observatory area. There, we saw the DMZ area (3km from the observatory area to the North Korea gate) & behind those mountain is North Korea. Me & Laila managed to talked with this one local people (came all over from Seoul, & mind you, it is more than 2hours journey) and he mentioned to us that this area is the saddest place for them (South Korean). With a teary eyes, he said to us that this is the place where he can appreciate the history.

In the bus, I started to have headache. Kak Nieza gave me panadol & tried to rest a bit. The next stop was Daepohang Fish Market. I decided to stay in the bus instead because of the headache. I was quite disappointed when people in our group said the visit to the market is the highlight visit of the day. :(

This time around we shifted hotel to Sorak I-Park Hotel. Before that, dinner. As usual...steamboat AGAIN!

The hotel..I-Sorak Hotel

Here we went to the supermarket at the hotel and buy some stuff for Everland trip on the next day! (Since they do not provide lunch). I bought some chocolate, coke & halal Pringles. Hahahaha. Looking for lip balm here and do not found Chapstick here. Btw, I want to buy only Chapstick, no other brand. :) Bear in mind, the weather is so dry and we need to have lip balm. Aku degil sangat taknak bawak dari Malaysia kan?

Again, at night. The weather seems colder. I wonder how winter would be like? Saw Rain again on Win-Win talk show. Along with Daniel Henney. :). Gi-Kwang of Beast so cute in the talk show!

Next day..Part 4: 30 October 2010 - Everland & Seoul..