Day 2- Gamcheon Culture Village, Nampodong, Jagalchi market, Busan Tower and Yongdusan Park

Anyeonghaseyo! :) On the next day, we thought of having an early morning stroll along Haeundae beach. However, upon hearing the raining sound once we stepped out from our hotel room, I just dropped the idea and trudged back to our bed in dismay. Being a lazy bump, I continued with my beauty sleep while hubby decided to go ahead with his initial plan *ZzzZzz*

A walk on the long clean beach in the morning 

High-rise condos near the beach

Awesome beach for picture taking despite drizzling

When hubby finally done with his morning stroll, I was awake just in time for light breakfast. As we did research well on where we wanted to eat in the area, we headed straight to the place in Haeundae market. We were looking high and low for Granny Gukbap, however, we did not find the restaurant and so we just settled for a decent place along the street.

We had Gukbap (pork and rice soup) and kimchi pajeon (pancake). 

It’s just perfect for warming us up（*^＠^*）

After the heart-warming meal, we headed our way to Gamcheon Culture Village or better known as Korea Santorini. With our pre- planned itinerary, we took the Subway Line and walked to a nearby hospital where the bus stop was right in front of it. We took Bus 1 which took us to Gamcheon Culture Village which is located at the top of hill. Korean bus drivers can be quite nerve-racking, mind you! So, be sure to hold tight if you are standing on the bus!~

The morning fresh air in Gamcheon was especially refreshing. Probably due to the place is far from city and has lesser amount of vehicle which makes the morning air fresh. We were greeted by colourful galore of houses. With pastel paints, quirky arts and brightly coloured wall murals, Gamcheon Culture Village reminds me of colourful houses in the Netherlands. Just feel happy looking at it (❁´◡`❁)*

Wavy rainbow sculpture stands ∩__∩y A rather interesting optical illusion

Selfie against Colourful Background.

Us posing against the colourful “cottages” #^_^#

View from the observatory deck 

Hubby’s comical act with his umbrella antic ^_^;

Mural of a huge fish which made up of painted wooden fishes.

However, we didn’t manage to find the huge fish as it was raining at that time and neither did we follow the path pointers to find the way.

Due to heavy rain, we didn't explore very much of the village and headed to a nearby café to have a cup of cuppa instead.

Small little caffe in GamCheong ^^ I noticed that most of the cafes in Korea are self-service and in fact the staffs are a little on the non-smiley side compared to those in Taiwan. 

Selfie against Pinned Up Notes

After the cultural visit, we walked to Nampo-dong area in Busan for shopping and sightseeing. 

Shopping in Nampo-dong is highly recommended for skincare and cosmetics. There had the biggest variety of products such as Etude House, The Face Shop, Skinfood, Nature Republic, Missha, Tony Moly, Innisfree, Holika Holika, Too Cool for School etc

Here’s my shopping haul: 

Too Cool for School’s Best-Seller Egg Mousse Soap, Pore Solution Mask & 2-in-1 Lip Scrub what comes with lip balm as well. Am loving their quirky packaging, not sure how it works though ^_^;

And they're so generous with the samples ^_^" 

After some warm up shopping, we settled down at little Korean Dessert Cafe in Nampodong. Since Caffe Bene is making a wave in Malaysia, we were intrigued to try some of the shaved iced cafes here.

Our yellow powder bowl of “Sul Bing” with chunks of NY cheesecake and bits of almonds. Loving their mildly sweet powdery flavoured iced (❁´◡`❁)

After our cheesy weezy dessert, we decided to travel up to Jagalchi market, Korea's largest seafood market. We were stunned by the enormous octopuses that were displayed along the street. Most of the seafood there were gigantic in size and too bad we did not get to try the octopus raw.

The street is brightened up by mini flags of the various countries

Plenty of shops selling seafood along the street outside Jagalchi market

We popped over to BIFF (Busan International Film Festival) in Nampodong which is 1 station after Jagalchi market. We wanted to do shopping and snacking around the area.

As there’s not much shopping to do around the area, we decided to walk up to Busan tower which is just a stone throw away from BIFF. On our way up...

Selfie Against Yongdusan Park

Little temple before the tower. There were also statues and mini exhibits and museums. We took our time taking pictures before we got to the tower itself.

To reach there we were just climbing up the staircase. 

Feeling the love *love locks*

Posing with "Choi Ji-Woo" #^_^#

We eventually made our way to the top and were in awe at the panaromic view from Busan Tower

There were actually two levels at the top. The lower level is for chilling out with a small little cafe whereas the upper level is just for seeing the sights. 

360-degree observation platform (Night view)

The neatly tucked city

Magnets filled with messages

Selfie Against the Panaromic Night (With Sleepy Face)

We wrapped up the day by having some Korean noodles at one of the restaurants nearby. 

It was a tiring but awesome night with alot of sightseeing and beautiful sceneries. Till then, next entries with more beautiful sceneries, exciting adventures and ...

XOXO

sassycat

Day 1 - Busan (Haeundae Beach)

It’s my first time to visit Seoul as my birthday getaway as cheap flights were available back in February. We managed to book the airline tickets for RM750 per pax, inclusive of 25kg luggage. With our itinerary planned for the trip, we are ready to visit our much anticipated country {{{(>_<)}}} Although we had some hiccups to the trip initially whereby D only renewed his passport a day before our trip, only to find out 3 days expired upon checking in online @.@ Apparently, you cannot travel overseas with a passport that will expire within the next 6 months, not even afew days before 6 months. Thank God he can collect the renewed passport on the same day after waited for 7 hours plus, just before they closed at 10pm, and despite their system down. Phew!~

The next morning, we were all geared up and headed out to the airport. We planned our flight to arrive at 2pm so that we could check-in at that time. Theoretically, it is a good plan as we will have at least half day of Sunday to explore. However, when we reached there, it was raining for full day ︸_︸ Despite the temperature being around 19 degrees and raining, this did not deter us from exploring further as we stopped for photos around Haeundae beach. 

Upon checking in our hotel at Cloud 9, we started off with an authentic Korean dinner at this cosy Korean restaurant we found in one of the side streets.

Our cosy little room with friendly service. They even provide FOC laundry service ∩__∩y

Haeundae market & best BBQ pork Kr restaurant 

Every meal in Korea comes with a lot of side dishes（*^＠^*）

Loving their green veggies and kimchi bean sprouts so I even asked for a refill ^_^;

I ordered my all-time favourite kimchi soup and it's served in this heated stone pot.

In Korea, we had to cook our own meat. So, we grilled our marinated pork and it was superb!

Once we were done with our meal, the waiter suggested that we poured tea into the Stone-pot to signify the meal is delicious. It is just one of the most classic ways to finish up a Korean meal  ~*.*~

After the sumptuous meal, we were eager to stroll around Haeundae beach to enjoy the night view. 

I was tempted to shop around as the shops were still opened at night but ended up in an ice-cream shop instead. We were given some exotic seasonings such as curry, wasabi, garlic, green tea, herbs, salad etc. to spice up the ice-cream flavour. I gave curry salt a shot and it was not too bad actually {{{(>_<)}}}

My raspberry ice-cream with a hint of curry salt and D’s mango ice-cream with wasabi and garlic flavours *eeewwwwww* 

That’s all for Day 1 Korea trip. Good night! Stay tuned for more of our Korean adventures, my shopping haul, foodie post... and breathtaking Korea views!!!  

XOXO

sassycat

Holland trip- Day 5

We went to Belgium on our next day and since we just wanted to tour around Bruges, so we opted for a more economical way by taking a train which costs Euros75 for a two way trip and it’s around EUR$34 per person for 1 way trip. It took us 4 hours to reach Belgium and we took around half day to tour around. And these trains were very frequent, up to 4 times in an hour!

We reached Antwerpen Centraal, one of the most beautiful stations in the Belgian city.

I was impressed by the architectural and design of the historical station ★~★

Upon reaching Belgium, we took a shuttle bus to tour around instead of horse cartridge which costs a bomb. It took around 30-35 minutes to tour around, and the shuttle is available every 30 mins with the driver acting as tour guide along the way.  

I took a picture of the shop with all sorts of cute knick-knacks ^^v

It was a really nice sight in the historical city, but too bad we were not allowed to drop off so there were only few pics.

Stop for some light refreshments =)

We even visited an art museum and spotted some unique and attractive artwork.

The Markt (Market Square),

We entered a chocolate shop which caught our attention.

The irresistible Belgian chocolate Xxxx ❤

We ended up with a handful of chocolates ranging from green tea cream to pistachio filling choc *yummssss*

We just walked around Bruges and didn’t go to other cities as we were rushing back for the last train. 

Last photo before on the few hours we spent in Brugge, Belgium ( ^_^ )

We were just right on time for dinner as we head back to town for our Indian cuisine :)

It's a wrap for 2013! More trips to come in 2014 ^^ Happy New Year  (❁´◡`❁)*✲ﾟ*

XOXO

sassycat

Holland trip- Day 4

On the next day, we opted to tour around Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands. Upon stepping out of Central Station, we immediately noticed the difference as there is no cutesy flowers or windmills but shining silver skyscrapers and harbours around us. The city is much modern compared to Eindhoven.

As soon as we arrived at the Centraal Station, we followed the signs to the VVV, inside the main station. The station is huge compared to other stations we’ve been to. However, it does not sell 1-day tour city tickets and we were directed to the tram station (across the way) where we need to join the traditional queue to purchase our tickets instead.

While we're waiting for our tram to arrive ^^ 

Spotted a cute girl who hid away from my camera lense #^.^#

Our traditional hop on and off tram finally arrived ∩__∩y

We got ourselves a 1-day ticket, for 7-Euros ^^

The impressive architecture which is unique in its own way @_@

We stopped at one of the location to explore the place. To our delight, we spotted a rare chocolate shop hidden in the street. As soon as we entered the Chocoholic store, we were seduced by the amazing scent of chocolate, and greeted by a warm smile. 

The shop although slightly hidden in the city, offers everything that a chocolate lover will want. There were a variety of chocolates namely chocolate truffles, bonbons, chocolate boxes, chocolate sprinkles and their very own homemade cocoa mix. And you could see how they were making their chocolates! The almond chocolate caramel is my favourite! We noticed that their chocolate milk is creamier and thicker compared to the ones we bought in Belgium. 

Next, we moved up to look for our lunch. As we wanted to try some Asian cuisine to warm up our stomach, we were so excited when we stumbled upon a Hong Kong restaurant ‵(*>﹏<*)′

Missed the heart- warming wantons and Yong Chow fried rice {{{(>_<)}}}

We continued our breezy 45 minute train ride around Rotterdam Centraal (a wonderful iron lift bridge view) ^^

We somehow still managed to spot a windmill =.=

The magnificent Port of Rotterdam ^^ Apparently, it is the largest port in Europe. We didn’t take a ride on the boat as it was too late and we were tired…

After wandering the city for awhile, we hopped on to the tram again to return to our station.

Upon return to our hotel, we strolled around for dinner and we saw this place that smelled like yummy freshly baked stuff, with long lines. The place is called Pak Doner, selling delicious Kebab. We ordered the Middle East-style breaded chicken breast and salad wrapped with pita bread for us to share. It was as good as it looks!

I ordered hot chocolate to cap off the meal and it came complete with some snacks including kroketten and frikandellen ^^ Frikandel is a Dutch snack, a sort of minced-meat hot dog while kroketten is mashed potato filled with meat filling. Hope they are selling it here one day!

That’s all for the day before we head off to Belgium the next day ^^v

XOXO 

sassycat

Holland trip- Day 3

On our third day trip, we met up with Sjoerd’s parents who were happily brought us around. They were the most friendly and welcoming couple ever! After much discussion on trying to figure out what we wanted to do, we just ended up deciding to go to Kats, the rose garden as a replacement for the tulips that we missed out, Zierikzee and The Mill.

Upon arrival, we were treated with delicious apple strudel and a nice cup of hot coffee.

I even took a pic of their lovely home #^.^# 

As an avid fridge magnets collector, each of the family members has been collecting fridge magnets from different countries for years.

Posing with the couple at the entrance of Kats rose garden.

We were amazed with the large varied of roses in the garden O.o

More roses.

When nature meets art.

The artworks on display belong to the students whom compete for the modern art competition.

I just don't get Modern Art in the garden.

We knew time was short, so we set off for the famous bridge and tower scenery of Zierikzee.

 Closer view of the bridge.

Then we went on a walking tour of the town, through some quaint streets.

We drove past the storm control system, which is similar to hydraulic system. According to Peter, this system was part of a project which developed after a devastating flood in the 50’s and it took 20 years to complete in the 70’s. It is amazing to see the amount of engineering and hydraulics to ensure that the sea stays at bay.

We then went across the town and I took photos of a windmill and a mini playground at The Mill.

We eventually settled down for some tea breaks and further chit- chatting. 

Photo from top left to bottom right (Hot Choco + Cookie), Poffertjes (small, fluffy pancakes), Hot Mint Tea and Waffle. Apparently, hot mint tea is quite popular in Holland. It's usually served in a big glass, piping hot water with fresh mint leaves …I ordered waffle with loads of strawberries. Best waffle ever!

After the wonderful snacks, Peter took us on a walking tour on the beach before sent us off to the railway station. We were really thankful to Peter and Loor for taking care of us! We enjoyed our short visit so much, hopefully, they can come to Malaysia next year where we will be more than happy to bring them around  ^^

P.s: Tomorrow we are off to Rotterdam where we spent the day sight-seeing  

XOXO

sasycat