Korea trip 2005- Off to see some snow in April -Day 1

I have made a trip to Korea every year from 2003 to 2007. I stopped in 2008 because of the arrival of my little girl. All these trips have always held special memories…from the food to the people to the places. I have posted the 2003, 2004 and 2005 trips on Joon’s Family’s site. But somehow, the 2003 trip posting got deleted with spring cleaning on the site. I didn’t have time to write about the 2006 trip and my 2007 trip is written here…half way. The mega concert coming up brought back memories of the April Snow concert (which I mentioned in my earlier post). So I thought I’d re-post it here. Of course, many things have changed since then and some of the information may not be correct anymore. But it is also a lazy way out for me tonight as I still have about 3 clips to upload for CN Blue’s showcase onto YouTube. ^^ So for now, please enjoy this first and I will find out and edit with the updated information later.

Korea trip 2005- Off to see some snow in April
Has it been a week already since we got back? Seems like only yesterday when I was still shivering away at the stadium stage, watching him.

I think all of us left our hearts in Baeland….

Happiebb has conveniently left the trip report to me. *evil. But she’s covered the highlights of the trip already, so where do I begin?

I guess I shall start from the beginning. Ok, don’t complain if my postings gets too long-winded ok. Unfortunately, I’m quite lor-sor too.

Off to see some Snow in April

Day 1- (19/20th Apr, Tue, Wed)- Part 1
On the 19th April night, 17 excited ladies were at Changi Airport at about 9pm. All ready to go. 1 member had already gone off earlier on Korean Airline (this was one fan who was determind to be there by hook or by crook, you know who you are

Somehow, going to Korea nowadays always holds some sort of promise, excitement, expectations. Is it because we’re breathing in the same air as him? Or the remote passivity and dream that we may just see him? I don’t know. Someone said that she went to Korea some years ago but never found it interesting unlike now. I replied that’s because you discovered a certain man called Bae Yong Joon. That changes everything.

We reached Incheon Airport at 7am on the 20th May and of course the first thing some of the girls headed to was the LG handphone rental place. Once upon a time, long, long ago, some of us thought that by renting LG phones, you can get his picture as screen saver. Of course we found out that it isn’t true eventually but his fans continued renting LG phones. Why?- because you can get his pamphlets, postcards and paper bays etc. hahaha!

(I must admit I didn’t scan these pics. They were posted by lovebyj people but these are the postcards available at the airport)
At the back of the postcards, there’s 3 lines on “How to Learn Korean”
– Hello = Annyung ha se yo?
– Thank you = Gam sa hap ni da.
– I Love You = Sa rang hap ni da. (now that’s really useful.hahaha!)

Most of us stay at Mr Park’s Motel when we are in Seoul. It’s not a hotel but a motel. However, both Mr and Mrs Park are wonderful people. The place is cheap (about 30,000won per room per night) and clean enough. And it’s just opposite Myeong Dong, the main shopping belt. Most important of all, Mr Park speaks English, Japanese and is learning Chinese now.

Going to Mr Park’s Motel
Myeong Dong Guest House
#17, Namsan-Dong 3-Ga, Jung-Gu, Seoul, Korea
Tel: 82 2 755 5437/5436
Fax: 82 2 755 5438
Hp: 82 11 350 5394
Email: bravoinn@yahoo.co.kr

You can take a direct bus from the airport to the motel. It will stop opposite Sejong Hotel, which is opposite his motel. Bus number 605-1. Cost is 7,000won. Turn right when you come out of the airport. It’s almost towards the end of the bus terminal. Make sure you have Mr Park’s number, just in case……

It was cloudy that day, which meant that it was colder than expected. I knew that I was going to be frozen the moment I stepped out of the airport…Brrr….

And the best way to keep warm is to have Ginseng Chicken. Yummy. The restaurant we tried at Myeong Dong sells only ginseng chicken and fried chicken (yes, only chicken!). It’s got 3 levels and seems to be very popular with the locals. BTW, you are supposed to put lump of salt into the ginseng chicken. That’s what makes it delicious!

Ginseng Chicken Restaurant
Yeong Yang Sen Ta Bun Jeom
영양센타본점
#23-16 Chungmuro 1-Ga Jung-Gu

Whilst in search of a bank, Jos and I discovered something new in the Myeong Dong subway arcade…

Look what they are selling!

But what really, really stole my heart were these 2 items..

Day 1 (20th Apr, Wed)- part 2

Ahh… Myeong Dong is always exciting with its shops and restaurants. BTW, seems doing your hair in Seoul is quite cheap. A couple of the girls did theirs in Meyong Dong and said it was very reasonable. Errr… we also saw a few plastic surgery and beauty clinics…The temptation of having a liposuction was very, very tempting. It got even more tempting by the end of the trip where we all gained a couple of kilos with all the eating. 😕

But, this café, you must try! It’s a green tea café. Everything in the café from coffee, tea to cakes and brownies all have green tea as it’s ingredient. It’s sinfully “healthy”

Our “healthy” desserts….

In Namdaemun, you can also shop for seaweed. Remember to bargain! And we found this little treasure shop where they sell artistes’ memorabilia. This was what I bought. I also bought postcards, which had 6 different types of pictures, all in drawings. I think the postcards were either 2,000 or 3,000won.

The shop also sells BYJ umbrellas. It was really, really nice but at 20,000won, it was a little out of reach for me. Shall ask Julie or Esther to bring theirs at the gathering..

Amazing how his photos always get us excited and we never get tired of looking at the pictures