This is what I call Productive Travelling

Day 4, 12 Sept 2017

It was lovely to wake up to homemade korean breakfast. Thanks again Haha :) As breakfast was served only at 9am, 9am became the time we wake up in the days that we stayed in her airbnb. Consequently, we struggled to follow our itinerary because on most days, the first activity on our list starts at 8am. Yes, that was why the pace of our trip feels so rushed. One thing about travelling is that not everything will go as planned and it's perfectly alright.

Anyways, the egg rolls & seaweed together with rice were good. First korean breakfast cooked by a korean herself hahah. Thank you so much. We left for the olympic park at Gangnam via cab. The weather was very sunny today but that gave me more room for my photography. :) The only downside to that was that we were perspiring a lot after walking up and down hills around the olympic park. At the open field, where a famous lone tree stood, we saw many tourists and elementary school kids on their field excursion. There was an event where there were many college school girls. I believe it was like a broadcast because I saw some reporters and a drone too. Okay but that wasn't the point cos the beautiful korean girls were what caught my eyes. Hahah. And yes, at olympic park, the hills and slopes showed no mercy to my ankles and I walked until my legs died before we even took our first ride at Lotte World. :(

Lotte World: In all honesty, the rides were pretty kiddish and could be more thrilling. Though there are some rides which I enjoyed and would queue again if we had the time. I recommend the French Revolution & also Atlantis. We actually spectated a performance at the indoor stage but funny how most of the performance crew were caucasians. Hahah. Overall it was not bad, it was much more entertaining than I had expected. Some of the songs were even stuck in our heads for the rest of the day hahah. Next up was a haunted house hahaha, I swear it was damn lame (there were no scare actors inside at all) but apparently Nathan being a scaredy cat felt that it was actually scary hahaha. Wtheck man. Was expecting humans inside to scare us.. I guess I forgot how it was like 4 years ago.

After a slow and boring hot air balloon ride, we explored the outer segment; Gyro swing. It was hands down one of the best rides in lotte world. I enjoyed myself a lot and it was definitely worth queuing for. Thanks teng for accompanying me to take this ride. :) The lotte tree swing was a mistake though.. it looked fun but nathan and I got super dizzy after that ride hahh.

We also went for a sleepy & lame sinbad boat ride sth like madagascar haahh. I almost fell asleep.. Seen plenty of such rides before. Kind of blessed because I have been to so many theme parks in the past 2 years. We dropped by the souvenir shop and I saw one really cute plush called lotty. But right, it cost 23000 won so I gave it a pass. Hahah. Here's a picture if you were curious how cute it was.

We cabbed to COEX aquarium and I really enjoyed the 2 hours spent there.

Outside the COEX mall was the Gangnam Style statue:

Just love walking slowly through the aquarium and admiring the marine animals. The COEX, aquarium i would say it loses out to singapore's but they actually have a wider range of animals. You can find more creatures here in fact. What I felt was better about Singapore's aquarium is the huge glass wall. It's quite hard to beat that hahah. Despite that, I would still recommend the trip to COEX aquarium. I never thought it would be therapeutic to watch marine animals haha.

Coex mall was part of our plan but we didn't actually shop there, probably cos of the late hours that most shops were about to close already. Instead, we went to the building beside it - SM Town headquarters. But this was when my legs died completely. My limp was so prominent and the pain was so great that walking was almost impossible. We scaled the levels of smtown office and we really loved what we saw. If you are a KPOP fanboy/girl and are huge supporters of Red Velvet, EXO and SNSD, this place is kind of a heaven for you.

They sold many merchandise, albums, posters. Also, outside the SM town cafe, there were awards put up on display. On the top level, there were theatres that screened holographic concerts. I swear almost everywhere we headed in this particular building, the gender ratio was 1:4. With men being the one. Hahaha feels so awkward! The cafe was lovely too but the beverages and desserts were simply overly priced. I did not get anything in the end!

Anyways even though it wasn't that late in the night, we were kind of beaten and tired due to the prolonged walking and many places we visited today. I can safely say today was one of the best days so far in Korea, it was productive as we managed to visit the places we had in mind and we did have lots of fun. Tonight feels really good! :) We ended the day with supper at the local convenience store (CVs for you) nearby our airbnb. I must say what Singapore needs to adopt from Korea's convenience stores are the instant food. The burgers that you can find here are comparable to some fast food chains and it's really tasty. Furthermore, they had tables and chairs specially catered to hobos like us. Not sure what's wrong with me, I just have a thing for overseas convenience stores. Hahaha :x

Btw I have something interesting to share. My pal Nathan bought jjajangmyeon cup noodles and cos he had not eat this version before, he was unsure of how to cook it. Appearing lost, the staff from the convenience store offered to help. He began mixing and cooking for him. So kind and thoughtful of the staff.

I was really shocked at their amazing hospitality and helpfulness. :) Koreans are such nice people and it's a blessing to receive kind gestures again throughout this trip. Hahaha. :) Anyways it's almost 4am already. Jaljayo good night! :) I will see you in the next entry!