Side-note for Muslim travelers: Even if you're following a Muslim tour, when you see "Continental Breakfast" spread in the hotel, please do not assume that all food served is halal. Do check with the servers - they're always more than willing to confirm to your queries -- I'm saying this because I thought it's common sense. But apparently not everyone thinks like me, because there were a couple who went after the non-halal sausages and stuff, assuming they're halal. Check, ok? Good.)
I'm pretty sure this was McD's plate - I L.O.V.E.D the omelet
(why I didn't snap a pic of my own plate? Aish. . ~)
After breakfast, all of us hopped on the bus -- we're supposed to be heading to a place full of fluffy stuffed animals (can you guess?), but our bus driver stopped at the roadside and our tour guide asked us all to head out.
I was a bit weirded out on why we're stopping in the middle of two ordinary roads, until I saw something pink. And lots of it!
Lo and behold, after walking a bit further from where our bus driver stopped, we saw glimpses of pink-colored trees!
My beautiful cherry blossom sakuras!
Everyone was squealing at this point! (right? I didn't think it was just me, haha. . But, in my defense, most of the girls squealed ;p)
We were crossing a normal, functional road to get there, so Mr Park was busy shouting that we cross carefully (though I think my brain wasn't really paying attention - you can SEE sakuras like so darn near ~ hel~lo!).
The moment I actually stood at the edge of the road, I remember standing there, stunned and in awe. My goodness me ~ they are even more beautiful than I have ever imagined them to be. .
If you have seen the movie "Para para sakura", where the girl leads Aaron Kwok to the garden full of sakuras and they break into the cute group dance where the cherry blossoms are freely flowing to the ground because of the blowing wind ~ this was EXACTLY like that. Only more magnificent to watch live.
*sigh*
The *entire* long road was COVERED with sakuras!
And this was a normal road ok, where people live and go to work and stuff - it's not some park. And however stunning it looks in the pictures, it doesn't do half the justice of what it really was =)
Beotkkeot, jeongmal ippeo!
If I could just stay there, I would've.
But, there were other places to go to in the itinerary~
FYI, cherry blossoms don't bloom all at once, all over Korea, all year long.
They only bloom in early spring, thus signaling the farewell of winter season, and they do so in stages, normally led by the southern regions (like Jeju) to the more central regions of Korea (like Seoul).
And they only last for about one week. So, if you're luck, like we were, you'll get to see them :)
Next up: Teddy Bear Museum
I think TBM really became a landmark to visit by Kdrama fans after Goong came out - right?
It's basically a museum full with stuffed bears, portraying various well-known figures and eras of mankind, but in a bear-kind-of way.
There's an indoor as well as an outdoor bear monuments/statues for you to take pictures of/with, including:
I'll tell you a bizarre story though.
After finishing our round with the teddies inside, all 3 of us went outdoors to the park to aim for cute teddies to pose with.
In the midst of that, I noticed that my cam was running out of memory space (siapa suruh tak clear dulu gambar before depart to Korea?). So, I stopped and sat at one bench while Natni & McD posed for pictures with this bear-celebrating-birthday teddy not far from me.
So while I was busy looking down at my camera, pondering upon which picture to delete and not and pressing over buttons, I heard this bustling sound -- I stole a glance for a second before looking back down -- groups of schoolkids were out and about (our lead mentioned that their curriculum includes tours to places like this as part of school activity, so it was normal).
Me: Delete. Don't delete. Delete. Delete.
"Hi!"
I looked up -- a cute Korean girl, probably 15 yrs old, was smiling at me, and she had a bunch of friends around her, maybe 8 or 9 of them.
So I smiled back and said hi.
Girl (with a camera in hand): "Can take picture?"
Side-note: On average, Koreans can't really speak/understand English well, so the fact that this girl can, was a rare occurrence.
Me (about to stand up): "Sure~"
This is where bizarre starts.
5 or 6 girls came rushing at me and sat down next to me, left and right. Rushing, seriously.
Wait, I thought I was supposed to take YOUR picture?
Why am I IN the picture too? LOL!
"Hana, dul, set!" (Korean for 1, 2, 3!)
Snap!
"1 more!"
What the-? Serious tak faham budak2 ni, haha. .
The 5/6 girls changed with the rest who were standing when we took the first snap.
"Hana, dul, set!"
Then all of them stood opposite me, in a row, bowing and all.
"Thank you 2x!"
I was grinning at the end of this, while thanking them too.
Kids, I'm not a celebrity k. Haha~
Girl: "Where are you from?"
Me: "Malaysia."
Group: "Uuu. .~ Malaysia, Malaysia!" (like nodding, as if they know the place)
Then again they said thank you, bid goodbye and went off while I was still semi-perplexed.
My conclusion: They probably don't see a lot of foreigners around (particularly like us, wearing headscarf) so a picture snapping session can be proof that they've met an alien species in Korea
A thought struck me then -- I didn't take a picture with them using my own camera! Dang it -_-'
And since Natni and McD were busy snapping pics of themselves too, so. . double dang~
After that we went to a restaurant for lunch, before moving on to see Cheonjiyeon Waterfall, where we ended up seeing more cherry blossom trees in the park.
Next stop: Seongeup Folk Village
This place basically replicates how the folks lived back in the 19th century in Korea, and pictures their environment and surrounding so that the visitors know what it's like to have been in that age.
-Seongeup Folk Village (Credit: VisitKorea)- Moving on --> ATV-Riding
Our itinerary was for the spring season, and among the activities which we were looking forward to (esp. miss Natni) was this -- ATV! (I think it stands for All-Terrain Vehicle, but you can always google it out ;p)
Prior to actually riding the ATV, they had us all suited up in the full green army gear from head to toe, complete with gloves and helmets on. So if after all that you still don't feel like buffed up to fight, I don't know what will. And of course, we were given a couple rounds of practice sessions before going out on the actual terrain (we don't want people skidding off course do we now? :p).
Since it was our first experience maneuvering the vehicle, it was pretty exciting (wasn't that hard really - somewhat like driving an auto-car -- you only have the accelerator and the brake) :D
We also saw several pictures of the Jewel in The Palace at the ATV center's Wall of Fame, but I'm not quite sure of its relevance (if there were scenes filmed somewhere there, I mean).
Next: Seongsan Sunrise Peak
You can easily see a very beautiful spread of luscious green and sea. Cantik~!
When we got there, the wind was blowing furiously (so furiously we were almost freezing!).
Obviously the trick to experiencing the pretty view here lies in the height to which you're able to reach. Simply saying, the higher the altitude (which is also directly proportional to the distance you're covering on foot), the more of an eye-candy it'd become.
Easier said and done, since it was really a *huge* area of ground to cover.
As an alternative, you can just take a look on some of the shots we took ;)
At the far bottom of Seongsan Sunrise Peak's entrance (credit: Cosmojin Tour) We were then all ushered inside the bus to make a move to Seopjikoji but we stopped midway, when we saw a place which was full of these yellow rapeseed flowers. Apparently it was its blooming season, so all of us went out to take several shots before proceeding with the journey~
Back inside the bus and the night was slowly creeping in. It was very fitting to then go visit the infamous Mysterious Road.
What was mysterious about it?
Well. . At one point, our bus driver stopped the engine and the bus continued going uphill on its own. Not DOWNhill ok -- UPhill.
Sounds weird, right?
It was surreal to experience, but sure, science & physics had an explanation for it -- it was apparently a result of an optical illusion, in which the ground and environment played its part. And I've been told that there are several other places in the world in which these things happen. You can always google "gravity/magnetic hill" for a more detailed explanation.
Next: Yongduam Rock (Dragon Head Rock)
Dragon Head Rock (credit: Visit Korea Official Site) Can you make out the dragon head in the picture above?
Well, when we came here it was already night time so it wasn't as clear (to see in pictures).
The waves did look fierce though. .
And. . .
Last but not least -- dinner time!
Allow me introduce you to one of the most popular Korean food = bibimbap :D
Bibimbap literally translates to "mixed rice". It is basically a bowl of rice topped with seasoned vegetables and chili pepper paste. There can be other additions to bibimbap though -- in our case, it was eggs.
I can now officially certify bibimbap as miss Natni's favourite dish ;p
It was only then, with our stomachs completely full, that we finally get to go back to the hotel, lie down for a bit, before drifting off to sleep -- the next day we would have to say goodbye to Jeju-do~







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