Korea Day 1 - Seoul - Cheju

Lil Isaac fell asleep shortly after the plane took off and I was counting my blessings - a little too early. He didn't quite like sleeping on the plane but who would? He couldn't find his perfect position and spent the night fidgeting and whining and making a half-awake mummy walked him in the ergo along the narrow aisle. The walk made me concluded that I am too fat to be an air stewardess. I kept bumming into the people seated at the aisle. Lol. I hope I didn't disturb too many people in their beauty sleep.

Mr Uncooperative finally fell into a deep sleep but shortly, the air stewardness started preparing for landing. Sob. Mrs Panda was visiting Korea! Then Lil Isaac didn't want to wake up when he was supposed to. Win.

Despite being sleep deprive, I was excited to start my holiday when the frost on e windows greeted me just as we first landed in Seoul. And of course tired kids who didn't want to wake up. Lol.

It was a tiring first day with plenty of walking. Our local guide, a 3rd generation Chinese, Dawson, greeted us at the Incheon airport and we started changing into our thermal wear and top on layers and layers of clothing. It was 4 degrees outdoor and the first short experience with cold, a walk to the bus, wasn't that bad. In fact, I quite enjoyed the walk and blowing "smoke" into the air.

I found Dawson really corny but enjoyed his companion as the tour proceeded. He kept repeating his points and I found him quite a nag initially, especially when we were so sleep deprived. Lol. He entertained us with plenty of cold jokes as we familiarize ourselves with him, which made the long bus rides bearable.

Our first stop was to Korea's "Istana", known as the "Ching Wah Tai" (CWT). That was also our first real experience of Korea's chill. We were all wrapped up like bah changs.

It was indeed very cold for us who are used to 30ish degree temperature, even with the 3, 4 layers. The only reason why we were glad to tour CWT was bcos part of it was indoor, away from the chill. Warmth never felt nicer. Lil Isaac had his dog ears beanie on, which he didnt really like and he yucked it off after 5 mins. Chey.. the beanie is so cute, I would have wore it if it could fit my head.

Then it was a kimchi making experience. See, we all looked so expert. The kimchi that we made were not given back to us but donated to some needy families. Kimchi was available for order and they delivered it to the airport on our departure day. Luckily, there wasnt much time given to offer and Popo eventually did not order the kimchi. Otherwise, I cannot imagine how much we will have to lug home. Popo loves the kimchi.

We were also given the opportunity to dress in the Korean traditional clothes. We only dressed up the kids as we were too tired to put on and peeled more layers. We had been doing that the whole morning. Putting on layers and gloves and scarves to get off the bus to our destination and putting them back thereafter when we were back on the bus. We were usually the last to be done cos the kids are too young to cloth themselves. Phew, tiring work. At times, the kids also needed to be coaxed to put on the layers, especially when we were in the heater warm bus.

I found this picture exceptionally sweet. Lil Isaac really did enjoy J's companion.

After that was spent shopping at dongdameng. Lil Shauna spent a lot of time shopping for the 3Fs. She had been nagging since we alighted the plane that she wanted to buy something for them. I also got Lil Shauna a sweater. What we had for her proved too weak for the winter cold. We didn't buy anything else. The streets were crowded with winter wear, really nice and fanciful ones but useless back in Sgp. Ah yee chose to shop on her own. It was impossible to shop with popo and the kids.

The outdoor cold proved to be too much for us. After a little walking on the streets, we headed back to the mall and enjoyed nice ice creams instead.

We flew to Cheju in the late afternoon. The above picture was taken at the domestic airport. The huge teddy bear is a symbol of the iconic Teddy Bear museum in Cheju.

We turned in for the night after touching down in Cheju and checking into the hotel. We were glad to find 2 double beds and a bath tub in the toilet. Every room comes the 2 huge beds. The kids had a nice dip under Daddy Lim's supervision while I packed and unpacked for the day and prepared for the next. This became our routine every night. Surprisingly, we survived pretty well even with minimal help from Popo. In fact, I found it messier and infringing when Popo tried to help and even chased her back to her room. We needed Popo's and ah yee's help with carrying the stuff and manning over the kids at times but largely independent. I felt like real parents. Lol.

Daddy Lim was very fascinated by the electrical kettle in the room that lits up when it is powered on.

We turned in shortly for the night. The kids didn't quite seem to enjoy the trip yet. Too tired and too much shopping that they didn't quite enjoy. Lil Shauna kept asking if we were in Korea yet. So funny.

Mummy Lim