A Week Of Escapism

Day 1 - Arrival..
The plane set off around midnight. By then everyone was damn sleepy, but they made a heck lot of noise on the plane and I had to ask them to shut up. Plane food was spanish omelette, damn nice! Following much half sleeping and half waking, finally reached Incheon Int'l Airport, Seoul, at around 0700hrs Korean time. Felt weird to have to turn time ahead one hour, haha.

The country felt like it was over air-conditioned at first..haha. Luckily our bus was warm and comfortable. Spent the rest of the day going to a Korean school. They had lotsa performances for us, including a superb dance and martial arts performance. Had some interaction too. But I went to talk to the teachers instead, coz I waS there as a "teacher". And got present too! Haha. It's nice to be a teacher on an overseas trip. But had to interact with the Korean teachers instead of the students. Came to a few points when I was totally speechless. Well, guess I'm still on the youth frequency..haha.The boys were rather disappointed as it was a boys' school. Same for the Korean boys. Coz they only got to see 4 girls - The two female teachers and two girl ventures. Well, that's too bad for them.

Lunch was ginseng chicken soup. SIMPLY SHIOK! After that we visited this place called Frasier Suite and then Kyongbok Palace, an old chinese style, emperor sorta palace, cool. Next was a visit to the Korea Food and Culture Institute, where we learnt to make..KIMCHI! Looking at the way it was prepared, I decided not to eat too much of it anymore. So much salt!!And we had our personal pack, which I..threw away thru the trip..haha. And I got a chance to wear Korean traditional costume, how cool is that? Haha.

Day 2 - Everland..Hite Beer factory
Highlight of the day was a trip to one of the supposed best amusement parks in Korea, Everland. It's managed by, guess who, Samsung! Weird eh? I realise that Koreans have very strong domestic brand loyalty. Every single electric appliance is either Samsung or LG. No Sony, Pioneer, Philips etc. The rides were just alrite lah, I thought Taiwan's were more thrilling. Must go Taiwan if you have a chance! Nice food, shopping and entertainment! But in Everland there was an animal safari. We got really up close and personal with super big bears, lions, tigers and lion-tiger crossbreeds (dunno what you call that..). Damn cool! The bears were soooo cute!

After that we went to this beer factory. Damn sian. The ventures were all underaged so they didn't offer free liquor and beer testing. Well, it was rather boring all the way, looking at machines and stuff.

At night we went to Dongdaemun market, a popular shopping area. But with the limited time and trying to keep the ventures together, I only managed to grab a can of drink. Really.

Day 3 - 38th Parallel, Aqua World
Went to the 38th Parallel, the closest point where we got to catch a glimpse of the more mountainous North Korea. There was another huge Buddha statue and another of St. Mary facing the direction of North Korea. Symbolic of the wish for peace I guess? One of the boys bought some boiled worms and couldn't finish it. In the end I actually suggested playing "zhong ji mi ma" and ended up eating 20 worms..yikez! Tasted like prawns but the thought of them gave me the yeeks.

Last but not least, Aqua World. Tried 45 degree and 20 degree dips and jacuzzi massages. Also a 87 degrees sauna. Super shiong man! And then we went outdoor to this man-made hot spring.With the cold weather, it was damn shiok lah of course!

Day 4 - Mt. Sorak
Scaling Mt. Sorak was so cool, literally! It's like climbing in air-con..shiok. And there was a huge Buddha statue at the area. i went to pray in this temple and actually realised I was kneeling on the monk's cushion (red colour I think..). So xia sui after one of my juniors told me. But then, ignorance is bliss eh? Haha. Anyway, the view on the mountain top was simply breathtaking! One of the ventures tripped and his nose bled quite badly. Gave me a scare when I realised it was a cut and not a nosebleed. Luckily it was manageable. And that I didn't leave any blood stains on my roomie's gloves. (It's black lah, so cannot see also..haha)

Day 5 and 6 - Skiing!
Spent a large part of the 5th day travelling to Phoenix Park Ski Resort. And had a night ski lesson. Couldn't even balance on the ski at first and the shoes were damn tight and difficult to walk in! But then gradually it became damn fun. It was damn cold lah but skiing raised our body temperatures so it didn't feel so bad. Once again, it's damn shiok to ski! Wanna learn snowboarding some day. But there were a lot of crashing here and there of coz. Into pple, into fences etc..haha. You wouldn't believe how pple can just "langa" when walking on the snow, esp. beginners. Sometimes I went so fast on the slope I found it damn hard to control and then just "shi jiao chao tian"..haha. But all the bruises and stuff were worth it! Really must try skiing again someday! And we got certificates to certify us as amateur skiiers.

Who needs ski instructor? $100 per hour..hahahah.

Day 7 - Home Sweet Home
We had some last minute shopping at a local shopping area and I managed to grab what I could in the short time. Some christmas cards as well as shirts, magnets, cups etc. Really too little time to shop! Managed to get a super nice looking calendar too for a reasonable price, damn stylo! Then we were brought to this supposedly duty free grocery market, where foodstuff was sold at exorbidant prices. Really crazy prices lah! It's just another place to cheat us tourists. But of course we just bought lah, since we didn't spend much and didn't have much shopping time before that. Bought some biscuits and tangerine tea, ginseng tea. In Korea, everything also can be ginseng lor. Including ginseng chewing gum! What the heck?

During the long 6-hr flight, food was spicy monkfish, whatever monkfish is. It tasted bad. It was such a pity it didn't snow there. Sighz. When we left, the temperature was about -8 degrees, really super freezing.

This whole trip really not enough shopping time lah. Now I have to "ration" my souvenirs and gifts, kaoz. But it was a good trip. Really really enjoyed the escapism for a while. The thought of stuff to do back in Singapore sucks lah..haha. And I got to know my ventures better, including the new year one batch just invested. Really enjoy being with them, at least I feel more appreciated and more "useful". And it's a very nice feeling to watch the boys you train grow up and go to army and stuff.The best achievement is when they join you alongside as an adult leader. Then you can see the "product" of your work and nagging and training. Just like being a teacher.

Well, another half a month of holiday to go..time flies!