Seoul - The fruitless and the fruitful

Day Five - Yeoju Premium Outlets

This day, we spent 1.5 hour on the coach to reach the premium outlets. Make that 3 hours on the road, to-and-fro. AND fruitless!

Perhaps we were too choosy. Or we set too high expectations. The things there didnt really meet our expectations. They were either very ugly past season stuffs or verrrry expensive past season stuffs tt the general public didnt fancy during their time in the boutiques. We saw Shoi's Gucci selling for around S$2k over there. Retail price was at S$3k in Changi Airport... S$2k for a premium outlet pricing was still kinda high...

Not many people know about this chain of premium outlets in Korea. It's actually the same as the one in USA :) I very smartly checked out the itinerary of five star travels during the trip planning ;) A guide of how to get there detailed below, even though that's the first and the last for us! :)

Brekkie to kick start the loooong day! Cuppa dosage. Paris Baguette.

There are several ways to get there:

1. Book a day tour with a tour agency. There's one that ties up with the Grand Intercontinental Hotel. KRW 16k/pax. Less flexible timing - Only departs on weekend. Go at 11am and back at 5pm.

2. Take a coach on your own. KRW 9.8k (exclusive of KRW10k for each cab ride between coach terminal and outlets) Own time own target - Anyday of the week. Last bus ends at 10-11+ pm. Not sure about first bus' timing though.

There are several places u can hop onto a coach. We opted for the Nambu Express Terminal (Metro station name) bus station. Follow the signs that will lead you to the ticket counter.

Coaches depart on a 30 min interval! :) Quite fast. You can buy some titbits at the mamashops to nom along the ride. You can also do some light shopping at the terminal while killing time..

We caught sight of this along the way...

Luncheon done at Yeoju Outlets was a simple affair. The only one sucky meal we had while we were in Seoul :)

The man went from happy to excited to sad...Can you believe all the travelling and we bought NOTHING?????!!!!!!

Back in our common favourite - Myeongdong!!

Dinner in a pub ;) They served finger food like below to go with beers...

Chicken drumlets served with korean chilli, rice cakes, korean fish cakes and vegetables. With cheese meltz over top ;)

Fried platter

Seriously TWO orders were a little too much for us. But most Korean restaurants require u to order TWO portions if TWO pax go in. We ended up overeating every meal, every day...

Special effect with my man's study of the point and shoot ;) you know how to make the background blur??? Granted, he got his DSLR wish :)

More photos around Myeongdong, the bustling street :) We caught a show this night. Iron Man II!!

Another day, another ice cream. Was either 32cm or 30cm :) Icecream was hard and solid. Weather was perfect for zero mess ;)

Day Six - Fruitful Day. Office, COEX, Itaewon, Myeongdong, Lotte
We were disheartened from Monday's shopping and decided it was going to be a fruitful day.

The getup was fantastic. that Namdaemun jacket fitted the outfit reaaaaaally well.

I told N to help me get a pic ;0)

"Please DO NOT include my ugly CROCS!", as chanted in left hand pic. Shows how MEN cannot understand SIMPLE instructions.. O_o

The flowers along the roadside were beeeeeaaaaaaauuuuutiful. The greener pastures on the other sides :)

We headed for office to find his collic. Genuine premium Korean beef. You need to have good contacts to find one :):)

So we went supermarketing...

Beef shopping below. The butcher came out to help. It's good to have friends in foreignland. Has been a very blessed trip so far..We are thankful for great friend and people around us :):)

Also got 5KGs of honey!!!

Went back COEX for luncheon and settle down the perishables before continuing shopping part II!

Mr Potato is MAJOR LOVES!!! We had to have it again and again and again and again...

There is a food court within COEX, so we settled there with our tub of potatoes :):) Whoever said go Korea eat Kimchi until sian obviously signed up for tour packages! Cos we have been enjoying good food thus far and have no kimchi complains!

Headed Itaewon for some Tumi shopping until tired. We popped by the double storey Cafe Nescafe for some chillax. Checking out the building....and the couple making out behind me... ;p

The interior design...

If you havent noticed, I got those ugly crocs changed out ;) Got these from Itaewon. The ONLY pair. Even the collics were taken aback why I bought so little?!!

AND THEN!!!!

We headed to Myeongdong (again) for the Lotte Departmental Stores. DUTY FREE!!!! Spell F.R.E.E!!!!

And I am very sorry my girls whom I bought Misshas and Skin Foods for, I didnt know there was a counter within the Lotte Dept Store :( Could have saved some $$$$. Still, very cheap already laaaaa....

Ended up buying something I have never been eyeing...the man double insisted that it looked nice! So there goes!

"ARE YOU REALLLY BUYING ONE FOR MEEEE???"

Excited much while saleslady went to bring out my piece ;)

And we walked out empty handed. :(:( left with a collection slip so that explains the picture...Duty free stuffs, other than skin brands, have to be collected at the departure hall...

I had to wait another looooooooooooong day....;p

We shopped a while within the hugeass COEX shopping mall and found the aquarium...it was closed....
Me: "WHAAAAA!! Dear dear!! you see?! got aquarium!!! We never get to go!!"

N:"What's there to seeeee? You swim with them before what....."

That's true....So, we took a pic for momento of our footprints there :)

Dinner was done at the Black Pig restaurant for the 2nd time. 1st time was with Doc P, so there werent any pic of that dinner... hurhur...you know how it is when you meet new people, you dont wana look too ridiculous taking pictures of food :)

The signage and the pig statue. Right opposite Seven Star Casino (or something like tt la)

The interior. You can sit on the floor or get a table.

The free flow of side dishessssss to tentalise your buds first :)

Then comes the mains! BLACK BAMBI!! The below was a fantastic slab of pork!! Juicy, tender and succulent..

The verrrrrry unhealthy pork belly.

N demonstrates how to savour a good rib....get your bibs ready!

And I tried to take pictures for him with the steam vacumn and the cola..But it was reallllly tough! You see why...

Me:"Can you pleeeeease OPEN your eyes????!!!!!!"

Took me great pains, and him great effort, to get this one!

Fruitful day. 2KGs premium GENUINE Korean beef, 5kgsss of honey, a bag and a tough photo!

And the following day was HOME SWEETEST HOME!

My last meal on the plane back. I opted for Korean bimbimbap :)

And a pic to end this uber loooong post!

Super loooong post. Just thought I would get this up asap before an overkill of pics from next week! And the loooong awaited besties are coming over too! Spell F.A.N.C.L now! heee :) good to have great friends all over! :):):

N is going on an EXOTIC trip this week. Perhaps he will accept this request to write a post or two while I am not around ;p heh heh!

Honeybee! I know u r reading this!! Have a gooood trip! ;p