DAY 10 - Leaving SEOUL

(Above)Strolling to COEX together

On our last day in Seoul, we did our last shopping at COEX





(Above) Nice contemporary electronic piano we saw.

We had a good lunch at Nooblo trying out their bean paste soup set with extra orders of noodles.




(Above)Menu at Nooblo. Many set meals on offer.


(Above)Set meal that we ordered.




(Above) we couldn't get enough of the tasty soup


(Above)Posing by the good looking telephone booths by COEX.

After our meal, we continued shopping till noon before returning back to our hotel to catch the bus to the airport.We had a relaxed trip to the airport since the helpful staff at Seoul Park Hyatt helped us to purchase the airport limousine bus tickets in advance and hired a complimentary taxi to ferry us to the city air Limousine bus terminal which was actually a kilometer away froom our hotel.


(Above) Gayle posing at the hotel lobby while waiting for our taxi.


(Above) Us posing in the taxi


(Above) Traffic jam ahead.


(Above)On the limousine bus to the airport


(Above) Spacious leg space on the bus.
At Incheon airport while waiting for our flight back home,we had a light meal since lunch was going to be served on board the fight.


(Above) Rice rolls for a light meal before our flight

We went to the duty free collection centre to hand in the duty free exchange bill to collect Gayle's purchase of SKII products.(See below)
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There was also a SALE at the duty free shopping area for sunglasses and Eugn purchased a Oakley sunglass for SGD$180 after currency conversion which is far cheaper than back home.


On the flight, due to some problems caused by SIA when they cancelled our air tickets by mistake which got us upset,they surprised us with a cake and wine.


In all, we had a wonderful and interesting trip to Seoul filled with lots of shopping and eating. We hope to make a second trip there in the near future.

DAY 9 in SEOUL - Dropping by Lotte World and COEX

Our last day in Seoul, we decided to drop by Lotte World to satisfy our curiousity and see what the hype about it was all about.

Lotte World which is South Korea’s version of Disneyland and Universal Studio is opened daily from 9.30am to 11pm.. Lotte World is a theme park packed with interesting rides, an ice-skating rink, parades, a folk museum, a lake, and much more. About 6,000,000 tourists come here every year and it is open all year round, regardless of what weather is it as a large number of the attractions are indoor or underground.

After breakfast at COEX across our hotel, we headed back to back to our hotel entrance where Samcheong Station is located. It was this time that we decided to take a closer look at their very classy looking glass encased bicycle station which is for train commuters to park their bikes secured and indoors so as to encourage bike commuting to the train station. Perhaps Singapore should take a learning point from this if they want to encourage people to cycle to work.




(Above)



From Samseong station, we took the subway line 2 and got a taste of morning rush hour(Above) and were glad to finally reach our stop and alight at the 3rd stop at Jamsil Station(Below).


We headed for exit no4 which is directly connected to Lotte World via a underground shopping arcade. Lotte World can be reached via trains travelling on or transfer onto Line 2 and Line 8 if you are coming from other stations or subway lines.


Arriving at Lotte World(Above) as it was still early, we decided to walk around the vicinity of Lotte World and actually found that the neighborhood was built around Lotte World as the central hive of activity. Both of us were attracted to the different shops catering to boys and girls(Below) - Eugin with Toy R Us and Gayle with Chanel.




Inside Lotte World, you can shop within the shopping concourse(Below) if you do not wish to spend the money at experiencing the rides at Lotte World.






(Above) Prices in Korean Won for entering Lotte theme park with and without ride fees.

For us, after taking a look at the rides, we didn't really find it very interesting and found the theme park abit run down like a upper grade amusement park below par of Disneyland or Universal Studio. So we decided to save the money and spend our time sjopping and eating. That did not prevent us from entering the viewing gallery where we could actually see the inside of Lotte World indoor section of the park(Below).




(Above) Balloon ride inside Lotte World.

We found it impressive that ice-skating was indeed very popular with Korean youths especially after inspiration from their Olympic ice skating medallist - Kim Yu Na. We spent some time watching young girls(below), as young as 5 or 6 years old undergoing training.





(Below) We took time off shopping to pose with the mascots of Lotte World - Eugin with Lotte and Gayle with Lorry








We also dropped by Lotte World's supermarket(Above) to look at all the delicious snacks there and buy some for teabreak. Enjoy the food spread.



















After returning to our hotel to rest, we headed to Nolboo once again at COEX to have our dinner. This time we chose a soup based dinner set. Actually they have so many different sets that we wished we had more time in Seoul to try them all. Some delicious pictures of our dinner to whet your appetite for Korean fare.









After dinner, we continued shopping. It's always a gigantic shopping experience at COEX with the endless rows of shops there from the familiar to the local fare.





So that was how we spent our last day in Seoul, leisurely filled with shopping and eating. Indeed we were sad to be leaving the next day but all good things must come to an end and we plan to go back to Seoul in the not too distant future to do what else- eat and shop to our heart's content.