our packaged tour was supposedly hk, macau, shenzhen. we're scheduled to watch a play in shenzhen. we even got our play tickets already but as it turned out, the play was moved to december. 4 of the group decided to move the trip to december and still watch the play and 2 of us retained the orig sched but changed shenzhen to beijing instead. yey! when i learned that the play was cancelled, it's the first thing that i thought of. push through with the travel but change shenzhen to beijing. it will be my first time to travel there. good thing, my friend thought of it also eventhough she's been there thrice already. yey!
10.27.09
hk, macau
8am dep. mnl hk flight. first time via hongkong express . the plane is nice. the snack is good.
arrived at hk at past 10am. found our tour guide and was advised to wait for others to arrive. we thought that we'll be going directly to skypier for our ferry trip to macau but as we found out, we were to join the other tourists in a bus. they'll be dropped off at their respective hotels before we were sent on our way to macau at tsim sha tsui ferry terminal. wasted a lot of time during the bus ride there. gosh! by the way, here's our bus at the hk airport..
finally, on our way to macau. here's our ticket given to us by our tour guide. rode the ferry.
and after a few hrs, arrived at macau, was picked up by our macau guide and we're on our way to our hotel. taipa square hotel. by the way, we traveled with some filipinos too. they are retired teachers and the tour was a sort of a treat for themselves. they were to be dropped off at the venetian. wow!
at about 4pm, *and we thought we'll be there at 12 or 1pm..gosh*, finally checked in and rested for a few mins in our room. here's the hotel's corridor near our room.
here are some shot of the room.
nice room by the way.. so after just a few mins, went out and headed for coloane. this is what we really planned to visit in macau coz both my travel buddy (she's also the one who's with me in japan just this mar 09) and i are big fans of princess hours. i'm not really good at remembering the places shown in the series so i'm grateful for her coz she remembers it. she'll tell me the place and i'll just research for details on how to go there. great team up. anyway, just to be sure, we also asked the staff at the hotel re coloane and they told us that it's better to ride taxi coz buses going there are few. it's already late so we rode the taxi as what was advised and we just showed the chapel of st francis xavier in the macau guide given to us by the hotel staff to the driver. the fare as i remembered is about 60hkd. a bit expensive but it's ok at that time coz we're in a hurry. hehe.
arrived at coloane after about 10mins. yey! it's not dark yet. hehe.. we were dropped off in front of st francis xavier church.. here it is.. princess hours.. woohoo!
and biblioteca which was also shown in the series.
and a temple at the end of the street
dead end already so went back again to the church area going to the other side..
passed by the church area again.
there are dried fish stores there and a dock...
went back to where we first entered the town square
and headed directly to the famous lord stow's bakery. we passed by the store earlier as we went directly to st francis xavier.. you'll never miss the store when you go to coloane.. it's just in front, sort of, entrance of the town square. it's a small store. when we were there, there were a few tourists taking pictures of the place and buying and eating the famous egg tart!
and here's the plaza just across the shop.
and a residential area across the plaza.
and here, my travel buddy told me that this store was also shown in a scene in princess hours.
decided to eat our snack at the plaza. the egg tart is maximum umai!
after eating those delicious egg tarts and resting a bit, decided to go to our next stop. done now with coloane town square tour. yeah! rode a taxi now going to the venetian. it's really grand. got a few pics here..
the canal...
st mark's square...
had dinner at the food court. forgot to take a pic of the food but it was delicious. it was steamed chicken with vegetables. roamed around a bit and decided to head back to the hotel. we just walked. we asked for directions from one of the security outside the hotel. he's probably thinking we're a bit crazy coz we told him that we're going to walk from the venetian to our hotel. haha! as we found out, it was really a long walk. about 20-30mins i think. some pics i got while we're walking.
we got a little bit lost and we decided to cross at the middle of a major road coz we realized we're on the wrong side of the road. we had to jump over some bushes to get to the other side. hehe... this is where we crossed.. the pic's a bit dark though. sorry.
good thing there are only a few cars then. had to ask again for directions twice and finally managed to find our hotel. yey!
yup.. am still on mj mode. ^^
to all mj fans who stumble upon this blog, if you haven't joined yet, please do and be a part of his portrait.
here's the link -> michael jackson tribute portrait
i took these pics nov 1. it was a beautiful day. although it's a bit cold, the sun was shining brightly.
got this from this article. i wasn't able to take a pic of beijing in snow coz we're stranded at the airport for hours and we were already headed for hk. gosh! i wish we've stayed for even a day or the snow came in a day earlier.. that will be awesome!
by the way, the snow was artificially induced to address their drought problem. they were expecting rain but it snowed instead.
olympic park
11.1.09
concert day.. hehe...
anyway, i was late in meeting my singaporean friend coz i went in circles going to the olympic park. i alighted at gubeundari station and went back to gangdong transfer station twice coz i found out that i'm on the wrong train. i keep on going to sangil-dong when i should be heading to macheon.. haha! anyway, found out that both trains run on the same track. you just have to wait for the right one. it also has a sign on where it's headed on the top and in front of the train. i didn't notice it the first few times i rode it. gosh!
so finally, met my new friend and we immediately headed for the concert area.. story post here -> aaa in seoul
while waiting for the concert to start, went around the area and decided to look for something to eat. anyway, there's this one booth that gives free food. haha.. my friend told me to come with her so we went and the staff on the booth then place a band on our wrist. i think this is for another event happening there in olympic park, in another gym, but since it's probably free, they let us join and even gave us a food stub. so after getting our band, we headed for the food stand and we got these..it's good.
it's like made of rice or is it fish or squid? hehe. my friend got the spicy one, the one with the red orange sauce.. heheh.. that's already our lunch for the day. haha. but it's ok coz we're very excited for the concert.
after the con, went to try our luck for the next concert but all tickets were already sold out.. kaytee managed to buy the last one.. haha! decided then to have dinner at a nearby bread place. and after buying con goods, my friend accompanied me to a bookstore.. story post here -> magazines from seoul
great day. slept early. early morning flight the next day.
11.2.09
going home
our plane. pic taken at about 8am.
10.31.08
nami island
nami day. it was raining when we left the hostel. our trip to korea will not be complete without a visit to nami so we didn't even think about canceling the nami visit. hehe. on our way to the subway.
our destination, cheongnangyi subway station at line 1. exited the station and went to train station just nearby. as far as i remember, the fare is 4000 won one way and travel is about 1.5 hours.
we were almost late. we had to run and enter the nearest car eventhough it's not our car yet coz it's only a few seconds before the train leaves. and as we found our seats, the train moved. that was close. haha. gloomy outside
arrived at gapyeong station and there we rode a taxi that will bring us to the ferry station or namiseoum. it's about 5 min ride and costs about 3500 won.
view from across the ferry station. parking area.
ferry terminal
our ticket
rode the ferry and traveled for about 5-10 mins.
and as we arrive at nami island, we saw this. yey! there's philippines..
here's the main entrance
and since we are in bit of a hurry, we decided to ride this.
i forgot how much we paid but shared between us 5 friends, it's reasonable enough. our guide is also nice enough to allow us some time to stop and take some pics.. he even took our group pics.. here are some of the pics we got as we toured the place. and the stars of winter sonata.. yes!
the famous line of trees
group pic.. a bit blurry though. the one who took the pic must have been cold. heheh..
some other pics of the place..
autumn trees.. amazing!
after about an hour and a half, decided to return. we're already on the other side when we remembered that we have left some things at the coin locker in nami island. haha! we then told the crew of the ferry that we need to return coz we forgot something. he allowed us to go back to the ferry along with the new batch of tourists. heheh.. so, tess and i went back again, got the thing we forgot, and while waiting for the next ferry, took some pics again. hehehe.
when we returned to ferry station, our friends were not there. we're looking around when we heard someone shouting our name. hehe. they're were already in a restaurant just in front of the ferry terminal. the lunch was delicious.. pics here..
and while eating, saw this.. heheh. definitely, the owner is a fan of ssh.
unfortunately, i wasn't able to get a pic of the resto from afar. it was at an elevated location. anyway, here's a pic taken from inside and outside of the resto..
when we left the resto, they were preparing a lot of food on every table. probably waiting for the next batch of tourists to come. took a cab again going back to gapyeong station. our ticket
took a pic of the train tracks..
along the way, passed by this armored tank. cool!
we headed now to insadong to meet a friend.she was the one who helped us in getting our tix going to jeju. yey! thanks again belith..here's her office.
we were treated to a snack in a resto in insadong.. and after that, we headed for another round of shopping. heheh :D saw this while going around..
after going around for a bit, we headed for our next destination. we met with mr kim who is a colleague of my travel buddy tess. he insisted on treating us and we had dinner at a local resto near lotte world. i was able to finally taste soju. just one shot though. i'm afraid of what might happen to me if i keep on drinking. yep. felt hot in my throat..heheh..
great day!
10.30.08
seoul
we then decided to stay at kbs for a while in the hope of seeing some big stars. hehe.. we stayed in a cafe inside their audience services. had our lunch then.
no stars though, just a lot of office workers having their lunch. heheh. anyway, headed now for our next stop. i think it was SBS then. we walked to where it was supposed to be but when we inquired about it from a person we saw in the building, we were told that it's not there anymore and was pointing to a place we don't know. hehe. anyway, we decided not to go there anymore and just walked to where MBC is. we crossed the park again... i think we walked for a few kilometers then.. hehe.. along the way... GTV...
kbiz...
two towers? forgot what this building is. sorry.. heheh..
so we went through this. walked for about 15mins i think and we've finally reached MBC. it has 2 buildings that are parallel to each other..
unfortunately, they don't have studio tours or exhibition hall. off to our next stop. 63 city is just short ride from mbc but we've had enough of walking then so we decided to ride a cab instead. here's the ticketing area and our ticket
on our way to sky art.. elevator ride.. they have the kitty exhibition during our visit..
sky deck view..
kitty exhibit..
cute hello kittys...
and here's a machine wherein we can put in a coin, turn the wheel, and we'll have a small korea souvenir based on the design we choose. cool!
done with the sky deck, had a short tour below.. there's seaworld but we didn't go in anymore.. went for our next stop.. four seasons house. took a cab again.. we just showed the map to the driver and good thing he knows it.
on our way to four seasons house.
and here we are... arrived at the place..
it's my 2nd time at four seasons house, as well as bedeth and tess, so we didn't go in anymore. we just waited at the reception area and had our snack while our other two buddies went in. by the way, i gave in to the urge.. heheh.. and bought a signed cd. woohoo! i love spring waltz songs and was happy with the purchase. yup. personally signed by lee ji soo.
some pictures outside the house
and inside the house. themed rooms for each of director yoon's drama and movie.
spring waltz...
summer scent ...autumn in my heart
snow queen...
winter sonata....
reception area. goodies for sale..
group pic. yey! nice!
and then we asked the staff, who i think recognized me from last year's visit.. hehehe.. if she knows where the coffee prince coffee shop is. although we had an idea where it is, we asked her so that we will not waste any time looking for it. she then took a map and showed us where to go.. it's about 15min walk from where we are, if i remember correctly. we had to pass hongik university
.. and lots of blocks. i can't remember how many. anyway, the block where the coffee shop is has a flower shop..
once you see this, enter the block, few seconds walk and you can see the coffee shop on the left side of the road.
yup. this is it..
inside...
full day! yeah... ^^
10.30.08
seoul
it's tv stations day and more today. heheh..
after having our free breakfast of bread, spread and instant noodles at the hostel, we left for myeongdong mrt station.
the group in front of the guesthouse..
kbs first. so from myeongdong, headed for yeouido station line no. 5. on our way to the park.. got this pic. so cute! hehe..
and just across is the yeouido park.
beautiful autumn leaves
as we enter the park. lots of buildings..
we found a tourist info booth and inquired for directions. they also gave us map guide of the park. here's a park guide.
a few mins walk and we're here.. yey! kbs.
i've emailed them asking if it's possible for us to tour the studios and they replied that they have don't have studio tours but they do have an exhibition hall which is free. it's open all week. opening hours: 930-1730. they've even emailed me a guide map on where it is. they were very nice and responded immediately to my inquiry. thanks!
just outside the studio hall
and as we enter the hall, we were given a guide of the place.
and then we saw lots of kids sitting on the floor listening to their teacher. so cute. and there were a lot of monitors around showing various kbs show. there's also this cute bench..
where you can sit or do anything in front of it and you will see yourself in a tv in front of you.. cool!
before going on with our, gotta take our pics with those cute little kids..
as we ascend the stairs, saw a lot of kbs stuffs on the wall..
and a kbs camera on display.
and saw these.. cool! i just wished we saw some big stars. heheh..
some kbs infos..
by the way, we're being followed by the kids we saw earlier at the entrance. haha! they're also having a tour of the hall.
this is cute. got some pics here also.. the kid newcasters. yey!
and some sports stuffs as we proceeded with the tour..
some sort of a tv show recording.. from above..
the whole kbs builing, illustrated..
approaching the kbs drama exhibit hall.. kbs drama hall..
when we reached this area, we were then approached by a kbs staff and asked us if we wanted to see a short 3d feature on seoul.. cool..
and here are my buddies with their 3d glasses. haha.. we need to leave the room asap though coz the kids on tour are already waiting outside for the next screening..
more kbs drama pics..yey!
kbs entertainment hall.. there's an area there where you can stand and do weather reporting. cool! and you can see yourself on the monitors around it.. hehe.. here's one of my buddies..
another kbs camera
more kbs stuff. cute!
our self guided tour took about an hr.. and just outside.. cool!
ewan ko ba pero tuwing nakikita ko sa telebisyon o naririnig ko sa radyo ang pagpapakita ng lubos lubos na pagmamahal ng sambayanang pilipino ke tita cory e hindi ko maiwasang maisip na "ano kaya kung si...... malayong mangyari ang pareho kay tita cory".. masama man isipin pero yung talaga ang nararamdaman ko.. hay.. bad.. sorry po..
i-share ko na lang ito.. parang pareho kami ng iniisip o kaya yung katulad ng sabi ng kaopisina ko na marami din sigurong tao pero mga nagrarally laban pa rin sa kanya... hahaha! anyway, galing sa paborito naming dyaryo sa bahat.. ang bulgar...
isama ko na rin ito.. hahahah!
paalam tita cory..... salamat!
Recent Comments
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Claire Kokomi said:
hi lyn! gosh i so love all the posted pics. am too liked summer scent, spring waltz, snow queen &... read more
on ...south korea 2008... day 6... part 2 -
Undying Lands said:
hahaha.. ano ba mars.. panoorin mo na.. mawawala na yung bahay ng springwaltz dun sa korea di mo pa napapanood.... read more
on ...south korea 2008... day 6... part 2 -
marszz said:
naman! hanggang ngaun nde ko pa napapanuod Spring waltz. XD kawawa. read more
on ...south korea 2008... day 6... part 2 -
claire, nako.. me mura ng fare ang cebpac kaya pag me konting pang-finance e goooo.. hehehe :D read more
on ...south korea 2008... day 6... part 2