South Korea, eh!!!

Are you ready?!?!?!

Because we are!!! Khaliun, Fozia and I have become great friends over the past two years after bonding over

Estella Hwang

We're just about to board our plane in YYC to connect to YVR and arrive in the vibrant city of SEL. Estella Hwang will be meeting us at the terminal and will be our personal tour guide AT NO COST =D. Born in Seoul and knowledgeable in Korea, we would pick no other local to enjoy our journey with in S.Korea.

So off we go across the Pacific. See you tomorrow.

Hello S.Korea!!! I can't believe that we are finally here, and what a warm welcome too. Estella met us at the arrivals and helped us with our luggage and we headed off to our hotel by the Cheonggye Plaza. Due to the time change, we decided that we were going to call it a day and start off early tomorrow morning

Our first full day in Seoul will be spent touring the COEX Aquarium, the Hanok Village and end the day with a Han River dinner cruise.

Hanok Village is located in the central district of Seoul. A Hanok is a traditional Korean House. Certain parts of this village was rebuilt and preserved to allow tourists and Koreans alike to get a sense of past life in Korea's history. Numerous Hanoks are spread throughout the compound and a pavillion and pond was also put in place to complete the atmosphere.

For more information on the COEX Aquarium, go on
visitkorea.or.kr

Our Han River cruise will have us float by the Seoul city scape and enjoy a relaxing meal and interesting Korean cuisine.

Today, we take a tour of Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Dongdaemun market.

Gyeongbokgung Palace is the main and also largest of all the Five Grand Palaces located through out Seoul. Numerous reenactments are up for show in this palace and we watched what the Changing of the Royal Guards ceremony would have looked like in the past.

After half a day spent in the Gyeaongbokgun Palace, we head across the city to Dongdaemun market in the afternoon for some prime shopping time. Dongdaemun market is the most popular shopping district in Seoul for the variety of products available in the 26 malls within a 5 block radius. Products from top designers to local Korean artifacts can be purchased in this district market. Shopping here was like a dream come true. Of course, it was hard to understand what the sales associates were saying but some English communication helped us understand them better. As it is frequented by numerous tourists, most stores were able to add some English words into their Korean language phrases. Thankfully, we had Estella with us as we don't know how much South Korean Won would have regularly charged for locals instead of tourists.

For more information on the Dongdaemun Market, visit
visitkorea.or.kr

We ended the night with dinner at a popular karaoke establishment where we had our own private room to embarrass ourselves in.

Today, Kristine, Fozia, Estella and I went to the Seoul Olympic Park and Lotte World Adventure.

The Seoul Olympic Park is a famous landmark for not only Seoul but for South Korea as a whole. As the Summer Olympics of 1988 were held in this city, the Olympic Park had numerous facilities geared towards the active and natural life. The park itself is eco friendly and exotic wildlife can be found withing it like swans. We visited the Olympic museum which had three exhibition halls commemorating the '88 Olympic Games.

For more information on the Seoul Olympic Park, visit
koreatravel.or.kr

After our visit to the Olympic Park, we headed over to Lotte World Adventures, the worlds largest indoor amusement park.