LG Korea travelogue: Day 1!

Yay! We are finally in Korea! We landed at Incheon international Airport. I had the mentality that we will land in Seoul, turns out Seoul is 70km away from the airport, and that's super far, have to travel -__-

Trying hard to take a macro photo of the flight tag on my luggage and Beatrice insisted on squeezing into the photo. Ok lor, might as well take her with the tag :D

While waiting for our luggage, Wayne was telling us to adjust our watch to one hour earlier to accommodate the Korea time. If Singapore is 2pm, Korea is 1pm!

We had to unload our winter coat from our luggage because once we step out of the airport, it will be freezing cold! Took a group photo with the board which the guide was holding for us to identify him. We hereby begin our Korea journey! :D

We landed at 4.40am, but after all the collection of luggage ++, we officially left the airport at 6.30am, had to take a 1 hour bus ride to Seoul. Can you see the little speckles in the photo? It was snowing heavily! Everything was so unbelievable!

Got scolded in Korean by the bus driver after taking the photo above. He say dangerous to stand up take photo -__- Anyways, that's our guide! Pure Korean :D

Finally at 8.15am, we arrived at our hotel! By the time, the skies turn bright le!

Hotel lobby was on the 19th floor instead of the usual 1st floor. The view from the top floor is superb nice. Can see the snow fall all the way from the sky down...

On the first floor, they have a chart which has the weather forecast! It was -6 degrees, cloudy with snowfall! We were so lucky cos that's the only day it snowed.

Took a group photo at the hotel lobby while checking in :D

Got a little goodie bag with notes, travel bag etc from LG! The above is my official LG blogger pass which i'm supposed to bring around to everywhere i go! We are the bloggers representing Singapore. Feel so proud! Lol! Next up, my room! :D

Before this trip, I was like thinking how the room arrangement would be like... If 2 guy 1 girl, most likely the guys will sleep together, then the girl will sleep alone and vice versa. Little did we know that we are gonna having a room each! First time going overseas and having the room all to myself! So shuang! MUAHAHA :D

Upon checking in, we have a room each, but realised it's on different level -__-

My room is on the 12th floor! #1222 Left!

Had to tap our card at the sensor to gain access to our room :D

After which, insert the card for power! Most of us insert another useless card =/

Ta-dah! A HUGE room all to myself! First thing i did was to put down everything on the bed, and explore every corner of the room! That's what i always do when i stay at a hotel :D Btw, these photos were taken on the 2nd day, first day was messy =/

My room layout is different from the rest. I had the TV right infront of my bed! Super loads of channel, about 40 of them! There is even video on demand! No one know about the adult channel until Wayne warn us that we have to pay if we watch. Lol.

There is a writing desk with a lamp light at one corner! That's hardworking me, recording down every single detail of the trip! *flicks hair* AHAHAHHA! OK LAH! I was pretending to be hardworking only for the sake of this photo! Look real right!

The toilet is in a circle shape! Damn disappointed when i enter and did not see a bath tub. I was hoping at night before i sleep can soak in hot bath, in the end have to stand and bathe :( The above are my hair wax, moisturizer and DHC products!

The travel kit that comes with the "Goodie bag"! Consist of alot of things like tooth brush, tooth paste, shaver, conditioner, shampoo, soap blah blah blah...

Finally something special! THE TOILET BOWL! The seat is always heated so when you sit, it's super comfortable! Sometimes i sit for the sake of sitting. Then there is like alot of buttons, so i just sit down and try everything. It washes your butt for you too! A little spray of water directly at...Opps. Shall not go into detail. Lol!

That's basically my room! Shall not go into detail about the safe box, the cabinets, fridge, flask, cups, telephone etc. Time to explore OUTSIDE my room! :D

There's a vending machine on every level just in case you need some toiletries!

Condoms at only 1000 won! That's like only $1.20 in Singapore?! Buy buy buy!

Although it feels like we spend alot of time unpacking and exploring, it was only 9am when we gather. Time to hit the Korea streets and experience the snow! :D

Finally out to the streets where you get to see photos of Korea! Yes, I feel soooo hardworking! I can easily pass of a simple post to sum up each day of the trip but i decided to blog every single details so that the next time when i read about korea, i can recall everything! Enough of words, let's move on to the pretty pictures!!! :D

It's outdoors so we have to wear our winter coat and gloves! Above is a candid shot of me looking at my camera! Christmas decoration are everywhere -__-

Before we hit the streets, we took a group shot! According to the "time table", we are supposed to go for the City tour at Seoul tower! But then we decided to be anti social and give the tour a miss, INSTEAD we went to tour around the streets :D

Typical view of Seoul's street! Signage everywhere! Snow on the ground!

The photos seem abit over exposed, the only reason i can think of is... because light reflect from the snow thus the photos seem over exposed! So beautiful! :D

Beatrice and Shawn literally jumping for joy! I took this photo btw *flicks hair*

While the rest of the bloggers are climbing the slope up the Seoul tower, we were exploring the streets of seoul! Stopped by one of the store to see what they have!

Shawn was the one to start spending his Korean Won! Showing off his coins!

Actually the coins are quite useless, the cheapest thing in korea is like food and they cost at least 2000 won (SGD $2.50), and the coins comes in like 100 or 500 won form. So imagine giving 20 of the 100 won coins just to buy a sausage -__-

Stopped by Krispy Kreme to grab a hot drink!

Basically they are like our Donut factory or Dunkin' donuts, nothing special actually but we were not used to the weather so we decided to stop to warm ourselves...

Imagine living in HOT Singapore for the past 20 years whereby it's avg 26 degree and suddenly going to a place that is -8 degrees! 34 degrees difference! Lol!

An act chio photo of me with the furry hood :D

Our hotel is located at Myeongdong, which is one of Seoul’s main shopping districts! This is when we realised the things in Korea are not cheap. Did you realise shawn is wearing a different coat in the above photo? He bought a new coat! The old one wasn't thick enough, the new one cost like only 50 bucks? SG uniqlo sell it at $99!

Lots and lots and lots of boots! Can imagine Beatrice going crazy over them? Lol!

Sounds like almost half a day have gone but it's only 11.30AM (normally i'll still be sleeping at this timing -__-) when we gather back at the hotel to officially meet the rest of the bloggers from other countries, and it's time for lunch! Finally going to have some authentic Korean food! We are having Traditional Ginseng chicken! :D

Peektures! Wayne focus wrongly and focus the camera on me, then slowly blur out to Beatrice, then by the time reach shawn, it's blur le. Quite a nice photo though!

Took a bus to Korea Samgaetang to try their Korean Chicken Ginseng soup!

It was no longer cold indoors so we took off our coats and hang one side. This place has a very homely feeling! Can see the steam rising from the bowl?

The Korean Chicken Ginseng Soup! Full of onions, so irritating.

Taste kinda of weird to us though. Maybe we are not used to it. This dish is actually Glutinous rice wrapped with chicken on the outside and soaked in soup. I only ate the chicken =/ There is also little little bowls of appetizers like kimchi for us :D

Some people were drinking Soju, but me being a non-drinker, I opt for Coke :D

Candid shot by Beatrice! On the way back to the hotel for the "Amazing Race"

Back to the hotel. This is when Bloggers from 7 different countries sit down and introduce ourselves (Btw, Singapore is the only ASEAN country!) We were also briefed on the Amazing race challenge happening next! Sound so crazy right! :D

Finally bloggers from the 7 countries are gathered in one room! We started the ball rolling by introducing ourselves and our blogs. I was hesitating whether to say out my blog link. Imagine telling the whole room, "You think i care what you say?" =/

At first, we were thinking that we will be representing our country for this amazing race, so you know... being Singaporeans, the fastest way to get from place to place would be by cab, so that's perhaps our strategy but then, guess what?

We were split into teams! No shawn and beatrice for 6 hours :(

Each team was given 3 task to complete at 3 different places in Seoul and all we were given is a HUGE map of Seoul and a LG eve to help us in our mission!

One of our task: Find out the name of the Statue @ GwangHwaMun Square.

We had to find the exact location on the map and see how to get there.

After pin pointing the locations on the map, it was time to move off!

For every team, there is a professional video-grapher and photographer following us, capturing how we complete the mission. So everyone say cheeeseeeee! :D

Our only mode of transport to get from place to place: Subway

If you think Singapore's MRT line is complicated, checkout Seoul's *faints*

Because none of us are familiar with Seoul, and the guide is not supposed to give us any clues, we had to ask the passerbys, We had communication breakdown too.

First task is to actually get to a Karaoke near a famous university, then pick a song, and record a video of the team singing and dancing using the LG GW620! AHHHH!

Found it!!!!

No idea what's the song they chose to sing to so I just danced along :D

Team photo! Task 1 accomplished! :D

Of course, the purpose of this amazing race is not only to complete the tasks given to us but also to experience life in Seoul, we took their public transport, interact with the locals, get to know the history and many more! Definitely exciting ttm!

As i mentioned earlier, every team has a photographer & a videographer with us, i think our team made FULL use of the videographer by taking videos after videos!

2nd task: Take a photo at Kyungbok Palace! Full of snow!

Final task: Photo with the statue @ GwangHwaMun Square!

Overall, this 6 hours amazing race in Seoul was really fun and since we were split into different teams, we get to interact and make friends with the other bloggers from other countries, I realised they are quite influential in their country!

In fact, only me, shawn and Beatrice are lifestyle bloggers, the rest are all gadget bloggers! They can update their blog/website about the latest gadget news and they can get like 100,000 hits A DAY. Scary shit. That's 4 times xiaxue's hits. Wow.

After the 6 hours long Amazing race, we went back to our hotel, freshened ourselves and it's time to head to Samchunggak for the welcome dinner! :D

One of my favourite shot for this trip! The 4 of us from Singapore! :D

We had to sit with our team because there will be prize giving during the dinner! By the way, the bottle of beer i'm holding is not mine. I was just pretending.

Our welcome dinner was a Full course traditional meal!

The above food are heavily photoshopped. The food is not bad though.

Group photo with all the bloggers outside Samchunggak!

To end the night, we headed to a partyyy at the popular Gangnam night club! Don't ask me how come i can remember every single name of the places i go, the truth is, i'm referring to the itinerary while i blog, you think my memory so good meh! :D

Yes, i'm pretending with the beer again :D

The rest enjoying themselves on the dance floor! The club was quite empty as we were quite early. Shawn, Beatrice, Wayne, Arnold and me was quite tired so we decided to cabbed back to the hotel ourselves. Shawn and I almost died!

As in, we felt like vomiting because the driver was driving super fast and braking at the traffic lights. Motion sickness. Alright, it's finally the end of day 1! *claps* :D

PRELUDE | DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3| DAY 4