Began the journey with sumptuous breakfast at Tous Les Jours. Grabbed a copy of 1st Look featuring the Mnet Asian Music Awards which was held in Singapore recently. I didn't have a good chance to catch these stars because of the examination period. This copy arrived in time as a souvenir.
We arrived at Gapyeong Station by train. It's rather 'convenient' to travel to Nami Island. You'll understand why I left invented commas later. Standing in the temperature of approximately -3 degrees, waiting for the shuttle bus that never seems to come is not fun at all. And when it came, the bus was quite crowded (my standard of "crowded"). We even considered taking the second bus. But we decided to squeeze up the bus. Apparently, more couples managed to squeeze up. I must say, it is really squeezy! Please remember we were wearing layers of thick clothes too. The very first time I took such a crowded bus was at Taipei towards WuLai where the passengers were mainly aunts. Their groceries stink the entire bus. This time, it was filled with young couples, minus the groceries.
We arrived at dating hotspot, Nami Island, after taking a 5-minute ferry ride from the wharf. Not only was it filled with tourists, it was also filled with young couples who want to spend Christmas Eve together. Everywhere is covered by the snow that fell the night before, the most beautiful scenary you can ever get. It is the filming location for Winter Sonata, featuring Choi Ji Woo and Bae Yong Jun, which took place in 2001; 11 years ago. I have never watch Winter Sonata despite my love for Korean dramas. The impact must be rather strong for it to stay as a tourist attraction for a decade.
I was caught by this couple, asking me to take a photo for them, sitting behind two plastic snowmen. It's rather funny for me to try speaking some broken Korean to them. I appreciate their understanding. Thank you very much. Okay, that two plastic snowmen (that never melt), is also part of the drama scene where they kissed? I think they kissed. How sweet...
Lunch was at a barbeque restaurant located on the island itself. We picked the outdoor table so that we won't smell of barbeque. Savouring delicious local cuisine in the cold, another rare experience. Lettuce, meat, cooked garlic and cooked onions are the best combination. ^.^ Another bite of green chilli, that's how Koreans eat, I think. Raw garlic reminds me of wasabi, but it stinks more than wasabi. My sister definitely lose out in eating such good things. All she eats was kimchi, bean paste stew and meat.
After taking some shots using my polariod, we left Nami Island in the late afternoon. We got kinda lost when we were back to the mainland. With much help from the staff, we found our way to the bus stop. The queue was... extremely long. The long wait in the cold send chill down my spine. It's not like that place is creepy, it was really cold. We gave up on the shuttle bus and hopped on the cab back to the station.
We returned back once again to Dongdaemun and had our dinner settled at Kraze Burger (Doota Mall). It's Maximum burger (above), suppose to be spicy but didn't seem to be. They said free flow of cola, it meant that the staff would automatically refill for you. Unlike here, where the menu mentions free flow, no one refills the empty cola cup at all! Do I need to request for free flow?
It's weekend, banks are usually closed and we have already ran low of money. I can remember how unsightly we look. We managed to squeeze out some cash for a blouse, two sets of glasses and a pair of earrings.
To conclude the day, I thought this advertisement looks hilarious. Enjoy!
Next time when you go Korea, put this on your must-do-list: Make new glasses. The optical shops I visited make lens at only 20,000won. Look Optical shop has frames as cheap as 12,500won. 2pm and T-ara are the spokesperson of the shop. I made mine at Good Morning City. Frame was 55,000won and lens was 20,000won. Together with my sister's, the boss charged us a total of 100,000 won. Can you believe it?! And we managed to collect it in an hours time instead of the usual one week.
