Taking a Look of a Different Singapore during Christmas Eve
[Monday 2012 December 24 morning till late afternoon]
Becoming a tourist in our own country for the day. Cruising down the Singapore River, taking in the tourist attractions thru another perspective. We were lucky as December is a wet month but it didn’t rain at all although the day seems gloomy at times. After the 30 minutes river cruise, we proceed to one of the latest tourist attraction > Gardens by the Bay.
I had the intention to go for another river cruise, this time in the evening to take in the sunset view as a good end to 2012 but weather had turned even gloomy… had rained since late morning… (T_T)lll
By the way, the rain finally stopped around 2200hrs +
Happy counting down to 2013! Happy New Year!
Towards better economy / opportunities / safety (such as transportation; personal; health etc) to all!
Morning Hippo River Cruise
Gardens by the Bay
> Within Flower Dome
![[http://www.flower-meaning.info/hibiscus.php] When a hibiscus blooms, it simply means that it has been a nice summer...](http://usaginotabi.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/img_1466.jpg?w=140&h=105)
>Within Cloud Forest
Bus journey to Jeonju was uneventful. We reached Jeonju Bus Terminal around 1320hrs. Liked the interior design of the bus terminal > I think the designer had took in the consideration that elders and travellers might not have the extra strength to carry their luggages up the stairs, so they had designed a ramp within the building (like those multi-storey carpark) to allow the elders and travellers like us to drag or push our luggages effortlessly. Once reached the terminal, we bought our return bus tickets @ ₩19,900 per person departing on 5 October 2012 1030hrs.
Stepping out of the building, we decided to take a cab to our accommodation. The first cab driver could not read the korean character on my ‘book’ and gave up his q to allow the 2nd driver to drive us to our accommodation. Going with a rough idea of the location of the accommodation, we took some mis-turns and finally found our accommodation right in the midst of Jeonju Hanok Village. Language barrier was really present in Jeonju as we guessed and tried our best to understand each other. Ilrakdang, although booked and settled payment online, didn’t seem to be ready for our arrival… The owner had actually wanted to put us in their son’s home as the room was not ready for us.
As we would be going visiting both Nami Island (南怡島, 남이섬 or Hanja 南怡섬) and Petite France (쁘띠 프랑스) on the same day, we decided to start our day early. Breakfast in Namsan Guesthouse 3 was simple… they provided cup noodle (to get from their reception area 1 cup for 1 guest), bread and coffee. Unfortunately, this morning, there was a inconsiderate family who hoarded one of the breakfast table at the common area while the remaining 2 tables are occupied. The rest of the guests had to have our breakfasts standing. Guess these people thought the breakfast area is a ‘hotel lounge’?! We left the guesthouse at 0850hrs, did a stop at the convenience store for YSL to get her T-money pass.
We were still undecisive whether to visit Nami Island or Petite France first when we boarded the bus. The ticket for the bus costs ₩5,000 and allowed you to hop on and hop off at each stops, just have to show the ticket again when you board the bus. But since the first stop was Nami Island, after clearing the massive traffic jam, we thought it was better to alight and covered Nami Island first, just in case we could not covered both spots due to the traffic condition.
But the crowd was really making enjoying Nami Island quite an impossible task, and we took the ‘easy’ way out by taking a ride in the electric car which do a round-about trip in Nami Island. We did say to ourselves that we did not do justice to Nami Island and should be back to enjoy it at slower pace when it is out of tourists season!
We left Nami Island in ‘record time’ and went back to take the bus to Petite France. Admission to Petite France is ₩8,000 per person <was wondering if there is a demand if Tour Agencies would consider drafting an itinerary to enjoy both Petite France and Nami Island with the option to stay 1 night either in both places>.
As Petite France was relatively small, we could cover it within 1 hour and had time to enjoy a cup of coffee before making our way back to the bus-stop to wait for our bus back to Gapyeong. * Really glad we bought the ₩5,000 day-pass bus ticket because it was the last bus of the day and priority were given to people with the day-pass. There was still quite a lot of them left ‘stranded’ as the bus could not accommodate all of us. Maybe those who drove there, could have ferried some of these fellow travelers to the nearest train station?! We were back in Gapyeong around 1905hrs, waited for a short while before taking the bus back to Dong Seoul Express Bus Terminal. We reached Dong Seoul at 2025hrs, bought our bus tickets for Jeonju at Level 2 Express Bus Counter and headed out for our dinner (2 bowls of noodle soups and 1 plate of tteokbokki for a total of ₩10,000) right outside of Dong Seoul Express Bus Terminal Building. Back to Myeongdong around 2120hrs, walked up to N Seoul Cable Station, with the intention to visit N Seoul Tower but looking at the crowd again, plus the cable station will stop its daily operation at 2300hrs, we dropped the idea and went back to our guesthouse to rest and get ready for our next day bus journey to Jeonju.
MM brought us to THE OFFICE to stock up our favorite skincare products, which we brought back to Namsam Guesthouse 3 before going out again.
Time was around 1530hrs and MM said we will start eating our dinner slowly! 
These photos does not represent all of what we had ate as Koreans like to serve their food with lots of side dishes… We started eating from 1530hrs + and stopped around 1900hrs. We had great fun catching up wih MM, lots of talking, eating and drinking… totally dead-beat towards the night that MM took a cab home while we slowly walked thru Myeongdong Shopping Street back to the guesthouse. Tomorrow will be another long day.
Studying the map again, realised that Cheonggyecheon (청계천 or Hanja 清溪川) was located within walking distance from Insadong, so I backtracked towards Jonggak Subway Station. Jongno Tower was at Exit No.3 of Jonggak Subway Station, walking pass Jongno Tower, crossing Gwanggyo, you would find the staircase to walk down and walk along Cheonggyecheon.
Reached Cheongyecheon in the evening, as the day was still bright, I went down to walk along the stream towards Dongdaemun (half the distance of the entire stream). There are 22 bridges over Cheonggyecheon, near to Dongdaemun was bridge no. 15 known as Malgeunnaedari. As day turns dark rather fast, I could only turn back at bridge no. 8 Seungyo before it got too dark. 
Tonight also marked the last night I stayed in Seoul Tower Ville, I would be shifting to Namsan Guesthouse 3 when Julie arrived tomorrow morning. Although there was daily uphill walk from Myeongdong to get back to Seoul Tower Ville, I had enjoyed staying in the very comfortable room, excluding the inconsiderate neighbours…
Insadong, Samcheongdong and Bukchon made me feel the tradition are keeping up with the modernization… It was not left behind.
As yesterday was caught in the rain and couldn’t enjoyed Insadong, I was back for a second visit. Although it was a weekend (and only 1 day difference), it was soooooo quiet. Many Koreans had gone back to their hometown or their parents’ hometown to prepare for Chuseok [추석] on 30 September 2012. Chuseok is a 3-days public holiday in Korea although most of other Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia did not classified it as public holiday. Chuseok is known as Mid-Autumn Festival [中秋節] in Singapore and Malaysia, we celebrated by having mooncakes (traditional one are baked with lotus paste filling) with chinese tea with families and friends while children carried lanterns…
I liked the alleys in Insadong. Although quite a lot of the shops in these alleys were closed due to Chuseok, I enjoyed the opportunity to walk these alleys quietly. Enjoyed the walk so much that I decided to extend the walk to explore Samcheongdong and Bukchon. If you loved walking in the city, I think you would enjoyed this route too…
Since it was raining, I asked her if she has other places to explore, and she mentioned she need to go Kwangjang Market [광장시장] (Jongno 5-ga Station) to get silk cloth, Namdaemun [남대문 / 南大門] for brooches and then proceed to MyeongDong to meet up with her friends. I asked to tag along and she agreed. We spent some time wandering around Kwangjang, trying to find a shop no. 187 which was supposed to be selling silk at very reasonable prices. Kwangjang also have many stalls selling different goods, both edible and daily goods. When we found the shop, it was a shop selling buttons… (T_T)lll Still, Zarina was able to get her silk after browsing more shops. Then we took another train to Namdaemun for brooches hunting. It was really an eye-opener for me to see so many stalls side by side selling huge variety of accessories (necklaces / ear-rings / brooches etc). Was still raining but had great fun before heading back to MyeongDong for short rest while Zarina went off to meet her friends.
Only get out to travel to Samgakji Kooridoor to settle payment for DMZ tour reserved on Saturday 6 October 2012. Bought snack from Samgakji Station as I passed by because the aromatic smell was too irresistible.
Back to MyeongDong, did a big loop, no sales person in MyeongDong ‘pestered’ me to buy things… Guess I really don’t look / dress like a shopper… Tiger Balm was sold in MyeongDong for ₩6,000 a bottle! Back to Seoul Tower Ville to rest further from too much walking in Gyeongju. I got to watch ‘Running Man’ in HD!
Walking to the museum leads me to pass Wolseong Moat and Gyerim Forest before reaching the museum. Free Admission to the museum. As I only had less than half a day, I could not covered the entire museum > only managed to cover the special exhibition hall and the main hall. *Museum Volunteers are on ‘duty’ on Wednesdays in the main hall. I had the opportunity to meet one where I was blessed with more indepth knowledge of the exhibits. Non-flash photography are allowed in this museum too. Not going to upload the countless photos taken in the special exhibition hall and main hall because I believe a actual visit would do more justice to the museum. I would definitely be back to cover the museum, maybe even allocate an entire day for it.
Rushing back from the museum around 1110hrs to check out of Sa Rang Chae, I found I have some time to enjoy my lunch (walking distance from Sa Rang Chae too) before leaving collecting my luggage, took a cab from Sa Rang Chae to the Express Bus Terminal ₩2,200 to catch my bus.
