Trip to Korea

We booked this Korean trip during last year's Matta fair. It's a 6 night trip with 2 nights in Jeju,  a night each in mountain and ski resort, and another 2 nights in Seoul. we took Korean air and reached Incheon airport at 7am. While waiting for the rest of the transport we bought some bread at the bakery in the airport.

 a nice lady offered to take a photo of us when she saw me snapping my children.

 lepas tu offer sorang2 amik gambar. Siap suruh pose tu

 The lady that I was referring to. She showed me several photos of her in KLIA. Siap belanja irfan macaron and drink lagi.

Irfan enjoying his free snack.

First stop - we went to Grevin wax museum. 

It was snowing here.

Apalagi, suma amik kesempatan berphoto session la. 

Took many photos inside the museum too.

 People said that he is short but he's still  taller than me

 Yang ni tak payah cakap...mmg tinggi

 The Queen is more my height...hihihi

After museum, we went to Indian buffet lunch. While eating the snow gets heavy, suma cepat2 makan and went outside to take photos. Then we went to Gimpo airport to take a 45 mins domestic flight to Jeju. We reached jeju around 4.30, as we land, i looked outside and saw the sea with some old building nearby, it was beautiful. I felt like I landed in a quaint town. I was told later by our guide that there are no secondary school in Jeju. So only old people and small kids here with 560k population.

 After solat we went straight to dinner. Tonight dinner was in a seafood steamboat restaurant. There's an abalone for each of us.

The soup was just ok but the seafood was good.

the side dishes- kimchi, seaweed, grilled fish, dried squid and some vege.

Our hotel in Jeju- Hotel Shamein.

Tangerine tree outside our hotel. I saw some tourist just pluck the tangerine and bagged it.

After breakfast in the hotel, we went to Haenyeo or sea lady museum.

their suit for diving. In Jeju history, the divers were known to be independent and determined divers as they need to be to support their families. According to our guide, the Japanese tried to find out how the divers managed to hold their breath for a long time under the sea. Their conclusion: Self sacrifice concept of the haenyeo.

Their boat?

Nest stop- Aquarium

snapped many photos here, but the lighting was not good.

Outside the aquarium

After aquarium we went to Seopkopji beach. It consist of 2km beach stretch with stunning view- just like in many korean dramas.

View from above

 

 sotong bakar, anyone? 

 After seopkopji we went to Sunrise Peak, at the eastern side of Jeju.

Sunrise peak is a Unesco heritage new natural wonders, a major attraction in Jeju.

Climbing to the peak

We're here!

enjoy the wefies!

Went to lunch after that. Lunch was fish exclusively found in Jeju.

Sit -on-the-floor lunch

 Many interesting side dishes

 Fish and other seafood in spicy broth

 the rice is serve in a metal bowl in a wooden box.

 First time i saw this flavour in a potato chips. A new taste for me- sedap!

After solat we went to Jeju folk village. it is the southern part of Jeju. About 50 percent of folk village are used for korean drama setting.

Just look at the pavement

 Our tour guide was telling a story of the wooden structure and the sticks.

Irfan posing as the Grandfather statue

Miniature land is the next stop.

Mostly interesting buildings from all over the world. Took many photos, but mostly in DH phone.

About 50 mins from Miniature world, our bas lalu mysterious road,where it looks like it's going uphill, but it s actually downhill. The road was found by a taxi driver..

 Last stop, Teseum/ teddy bear museum-Nothing to shout about, you can give it a miss.

This place makes colourful photo though.

Dinner was green tea seafood pancake. yummy! I've googled this recipe and intend to make it soon.

also on the menu- spicy fish soup- sort of like asam pedas ikan. Next stop- Nami Island!

Conference in Bangkok

Last December I went to a conference in Bangkok.  Since DH is not following, I offered my mom. I booked an earlier flight so that we can go shopping and sightseeing before the conference starts.

The view outside our room. The conference venue is about 200m from here. Right in front of BTS. So after checking in, we went out for lunch. Took the bts to MBK and ate at my favourite restaurant here. 

ordered salted egg yolk squid and sesame chicken.

and of course tom yam....yummy!

after some shopping in NaRaYa we went to Asiatique. The free shuttle boat ride is something that you can enjoy even though you have to stand the whole way.

dah sampai...selfie dulu

photo with the ferris wheel... it's a must

after some light shopping we had a drink

Jalan lagi....saw this area full of love padlock...either this is new or I missed this when I was here with DH. after Asiatique we went back to hotel and had a good rest. we walked 11km today.

The next day early morning I bought some bread and had my coffee in McD near the hotel. Before conference starts...wefie..I found out that my poster presentation is the next day instead of today and I can only put up the poster tomorrow morning....sigh..tumpang poster kat bilik kawan yang tinggal kat hotel ni...such a hassle to bring the poster everywhere you go.

during the break I went to the booths, got a few samples, tried some samples etcs

wefie lagi.. with some of my colleagues and students

with my boss, colleagues and students

Lunch was a packed affair. just make sure you took the vegetarian or seafood version.

Malam tak de event so we went to to Bangkok Fashion Outlet...and had dinner nearby.

a turkish dinner

ayran drink- i had this in Turkey, this one is creamier

if I remembered correctly we ordered pide with feta cheese and kofta

we ask the owner to take our photos but it didnt came out clear

on our way back...

the next morning i had coffee at the conference hall and put up my poster. During the poster session, I waited quite long for the judge to come. In the meantime, i go through some of the participants posters. Had some interesting talk too today.

In the evening, I rushed to Jim Thompson factory outlet.I  googled the map at the hotel and took the photos. My mom did not join me as she joined a  group tour to a rose garden. When you go out alone, you just have to look like you know where you are going, even though you are not sure it is the right way. This is my favourite level..

silk ties at 300 baht...cheap, no? at the airport boutique the price is about 1500  baht  

Bags...very good quality I was told by my colleague. I did not buy any since I have already bought one in MBK.

silk cushion cover....so prettyyyyy

household stuff

the uppermost level, thye have a small cafe with some edible stuff like peanuts, dried fruits, cookies, teas, coffees etcs

The lower levels is actually textiles...cotton, linen, silk. i saw a Malaysian couple looking for textiles here.

my loot at JimThompson ;-)  . after the quick shopping I went for a foot massage nearby. then rushed back to hotel as I had dinner tonight.

You are encourage to wear traditional costume for the dinner.

Most of the Malaysian delegates. The photos session is before we practiced our performance for the night. Nasib ada students...the rest of us just did what the students asked us to do.

the next day, we went to MBK again to do some last minute shopping.  Waited for the shopping complex to open.

Again, we ate at Yana. The iced green tea milk. Sedap but fragrance is too strong.

I ordered pad thai and my mom ordered basil chicken rice if I am not mistaken.

after lunch we went back to hotel and pack our stuff. Took a cab straight to airport. Road to DMK airport was badly jammed. At the airport I bought this macadamia cake. surprisingly it was good. I did not have any problem with my flight but some of my colleagues and students did. Their flight was delayed or rescheduled and they end up arriving late at night. All in all, it was an enjoyable working trip.