Korea Late Winter Sonata 2015- Taking Korean Air to Korea

We booked our tickets pretty late, around Jan and therefore the prices were a bit on the high side at SGD910 each. That being said, the cheapest I ever seen for our timing is around SGD 50 lesser for each pax.

Between the 3 airlines which flies direct to Incheon (KAL,SQ & Asiana), SQ had the cheapest due to a promotion but the timing was a bit off with a departure at noon. KAL had the cheapest however at my desired timing.

We took a 1.30am flight to Korea, touching down at 8.30am (Korean time). As usual, I knocked out as soon as we boarded, waking up occasionally when the flight attendants passed.

The flight was quite empty and we got the whole row to ourselves and I got the extra pillow for my back.

One thing I love about KAL is the USB charging port next to the inflight entertainment. Since I am sleeping most of the time and listens to my own MP3, this is important as I can charged my phone at the same time.

It's been quite some time since I last took a full fledged carrier so I am not sure whether this is available on SQ or Asiana flights or not.

The inflight entertainment and catering was a bit on the disappointing side. Perhaps it is just not my cup of tea.

Inflight meal on our return flight

Ice cream served

Cabin crew were polite and friendly but I did not interact much since I was sleeping most of the time.

We found by chance that by producing your boarding pass of any Korean airlines that you took to Korea (KAL, Asiana, Jeju Air), you are entitled to 2,000KRW off the Express Arex train from Incheon to Seoul Main Station. The lady at the counter was however a bit surprised when we told her we flew in via Korean Air. Not sure why.

Besides this, 1 big perk that we found out is during our return leg.

We were checking with the information counter in Seoul station airport railway wing on where to purchase the train tickets. Again, the guy seems a bit shocked when I mentioned I am taking KAL home. It is later on the flight I realized there isn't much Singaporeans on board.

Anyways, we were told that those taking Korean airliners could do a city check in at Seoul station and it would saved us a great deal of time later at the airport. Not sure how but we followed the friendly guy who even helped to carry both our luggage.

My pork stew at the airport

Mr Love finally got to eat KFC in Korea

There is also discount on the return tickets to Incheon by showing them our booking tickets for KAL . The check in counter (at B2) is to the right of the train tickets counter, right at the end. We did a check in and were issued boarding pass. However, we did not check in our luggage as I would need to show the customs the items for tax rebate.

We were directed to the immigration counter beside the check in counter and had our passport chopped with the exit stamp. Was pretty surprised as it would have meant that we had officially exit Korea even though we are still in town.

The city check in we did in Hong Kong only allows us to check in our luggage but not the immigration part. So I am curious about this process.

Before we left the immigration office, I saw a sign instructing us not to join the normal immigration queue at the airport but instead take same route as Diplomats. I am still not sure what is in store for us.

Platform is at B7 and we are off to the airport.

After the collecting the tax rebate stamps, we proceed to check in our luggage at the KAL counters. There is a priority queue for those who had a boarding pass issued but need to check in luggage after the customs.

We decided to go into the departure gates to have lunch and was wondering what to do since we had an immigration chop already. The queue outside was pretty long and if we lined up with the normal queue that it makes no sense for us to go through the city immigration earlier.

Turns out, there is a small door by the side of the departure gates and we went in there. Told the personnel manning it that we had already went through the city immigration and showed them our immigration chop. They directed us to the express lane which was indeed used by diplomats and we cleared the check in 5min. Fast!!

Had we queued up with the normal queue, it would take us about minimum an hour given the large crowd.

We were pleased to have found this way and was able to avoid the long queues. Perhaps, those who are going to Korea can consider taking Korean Airlines if you want a fuss free immigration process.

New bags

I went to Seoul with the idea of visiting the Lapalette flagship store in Myeong Dong to buy a bag there. It was pretty easy to local the shop and we found it in no time on the 1st day we reached Seoul. They were having a 10% sales on all normal priced items and more on past season items.

Frankly speaking, the designs were a bit disappointing. Unlike the past seasons where I had laid my eyes on, current season designs were not that appealing. However me being me, I managed to buy 1 home at the SGD 316 with the exchange rate at 793 with OCBC card. This is before tax rebate. I got rebate of around SGD20 at the airport.

Myeongdong Flagship store

 I actually did not know the price of this bag in Singapore but since I am there with the purpose of buying and it is within my budget, I decided to just buy. It was a bit difficult to get it home though. Since it was a hard structure bag and it took up half a compartment of our luggage.

There was 1 inner compartment in the bag and a big compartment with a zip on top of the bag. I couldn't really put in much things but it was just nice for work with an umbrella, a wallet, a pouch, a handphone and my keys. Mum commented that it was too ladylike for me. Muhahaha

My new bag from Korea

I got a surprise yesterday when the hubby asked early in the morning when we woke up whether I have any bag in mind to buy recently. I was thinking, hmmm I just brought like a week ago? Turns out that he had just got his bonus payout and it was a bit more than what he expected. He decided that he could get me a bag of my choice.

Don't ask me why bag only but not other things. I didn't know and didn't ask. I have learn over the years to just accept without questions asked. After checking his budget, I immediately went into shopping mode. It was not a high budget but not too shabby to start with.

Still I was spoilt for choice.  The mode of shopping is to visit Deluxemall forum. This forum is 1 of my favourite where sometimes I am able to find super good deals and  I am too lazy to go out to shop recently. Of course, I must exercise caution when buying too since there are sometimes scammers.

I went through the pages for fun in nearly every brand and suddenly came across a deal that looks too good to be missed. It was a sale for Coach Borough Bag. The very same bag that I initially wanted Mummy and Bro to help buy back from the US when they visited last year.

They didn't in the end as it was the latest model back then and they only visited outlets with the tour group. Unlike the other Coach designs, this bag was with a modern Office Ladies look complete with block colour material.

And so, the rest is history. Turns out the seller was a tai tai who brought the bag on impulse for Chinese New Year last year and she didn't even used the bag since all the cards and papers are still intact. She had sought to sell off the bag at 50% of the price in Singapore boutiques which is maybe around the price on US website.

I was excited to found such a deal and immediately sealed it with the seller. One might feared that the bag might be used before but when I checked the bag there were no signs of usage. Even if there is, she hide it well as I couldn't detect any.

This is not my usual colour of choice for bags -Bright red. But for no apparent reason, I had initially wanted it in this colour when I first set my eyes on this design. So I take it as it is fated to be mine, hurhur.

Coach Borough bag in Red

Anyhow we went to collect the bag without further ado and ta-dah I have a surprised new bag from Mr Love. Happy to bits.

New bag

Travel Companion

We are back from the Korea trip on last Saturday  but I have yet to upload my pics or blog about.

Out of respect for Mr Lee Kuan Yew who had just passed away, I shall defer the posting of photos till after his funeral. 

After all, it doesn't seems appropriate to post the happy pics in the mourning period.

Anyways a brief description of the trip. We spent 10days in Korea, 3days in Busan,1day in Jeongdongjin,1 day in Gaypeong,1 day for DMZ tour,3days in Seoul and finally the last day we took a noon flight home.

It was not Mr Love's favourite destination of all but he gave in knowing how much I wanted to go for the trip. It was not without hiccups. I fell sick there twice with high fever maybe due to not well prepared enough for the cold. Seriously I rather be the one sick rather than him since it was torturing to continue the trip while being sick.

But I do appreciate the we time we have together, away from comfort of home, burden of work, distractions from family etc. It is just the both of us in a foreign city and we only got each other. I always love this kind of feeling which is why we try to go on an annual trip.

Going on a trip even with your closest one is not easy. It's a do or break thing. Many a time, either one will have to give in. For instance, Mr Love is recently obsessed with a online game where he need to win 3 sets a day in order to gain extra bonus or something on that context. He would park himself on the couch every night when we reached the apartment and try to hit the quota.

Sometimes, I would get frustrated for not going to shower and rest on time but many a times I need remind myself that we are on a tour and need to maintain the good ambience. 

Mr Love on the other hand gets irritated easily if things don't go that smoothly during tours especially if we lost our way. There are sometimes I didn't know where the heck we are. I knew he was not very pleased since he would expect me to do my homework already. But he would wait patiently for me to sort things out this time especially without the help of wifi, I only can rely on either gut feelings or to ask the locals and try understand them. 

I always remember a older girl friend once told me that if you are able to travel with the person and survive without much quarrel or argument, then this is the person you can spend your life with. I always remember her words and every time when we go overseas, I remind myself this is the guy who I decided to spend my life with after travelling with him once before our marriage.

Of course, over the years our travel habits did not change. The only thing that changed is our mindset or thinking. But most importantly, we are usually able to find back the initial feelings we had for each other during the trips and bonded closer after each trip.

This is my travel companion, my life long partner. I look forward to more trips in future where we can create more of our own memories :)

A Great Loss

We woke up to a different  Singapore yesterday. A Singapore without our founding father -Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Mr Lee had passed away peacefully on 3.18am on Monday morning (23rd Mar 15) as per the official press release. This ends nearly 2months of suffering for him as he was warded for severe pneumonia in early Feb causing him to miss Lunar New Year celebrations.

The days leading up to his death, reports came out that his health is worsening and at 1 point there are even fake reports of him passing on.

All these happen while we are still holidaying in Korea and we keep checking our Facebook for updates about his health. As much as we hoped that Mr Lee Kuan Yew will be here to celebrate SG50 with us, we also hoped that he would not have to suffer by holding on. I recalled he once said that he wanted a quick death in an interview. By praying that he will hold till Aug is like hoping he will suffer more with his poor health. It's a tough choice of what we should  pray for.

While I may be unhappy about the general policies of the political party that Mr Lee Kuan Yew founded and lead and advised till a few years ago, I believed strongly that he did us good.

Without him, I will not be entitled to a world class education though its stressful.

Without him, I will not get to enjoyed the world class public transport system although now its worsening.

Without him, I will not know how important racial harmony is and learnt how to coexist with people of different races&religion. There is no Chinese, Malay or Indian. We are Singsporeans and are all treated equally.

Without him, I will not be able to travel so freely with our ever so recognised passport. He put our little red dot on the world map and made us famous be it of the correct or wrong reasons.

Without his iron fist ruling, we wouldn't be as safe as we are now. It is when we travelled then I realised how much Singapore had shaped me into a fine person with my education and the laws.

Whenever others knew we were from Singapore, they treated us with more politeness knowing that we will reciprocate. This, I believed takes a long time to let the world know.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew dedicated his whole life to build the Singapore where I grew up and called home. He had visions of what many didn't have and that brought us this far in our achievements. He had a stronger will power than us commoners and thus earned him of his status as our founding father.

As his life comes to an end on this very sad day, I hope he finally have time to rest and joined his beloved wife in heaven for some much needed couple time.

Dear Mr Lee Kuan Yew, thank you for building us the Singapore that we are proud to call home. There will never be another man who will have the same good vision as you, same fighting spirit as you and as selfless as you to contribute to our country. I hope you will be well wherever you are :)

Hello from Busan

It's been 4 days since we started our Korea tour and its our last morning in Busan before moving up to Seoul for 2nd leg of the tour.

So far,we love the cold cold weather although sometimes it's freezing our asses off when the wind blows.

Mr Love was surprisingly in love with Korean cuisine,making life much easier for me during meal times since he pretty much have no complaints over what we are eating. It's a chore to get him to eat anything besides fried chicken if you know him well..

Unlike what I have heard,Busan is actually pretty interesting. Those who told me other wise might mean that there isn't much shopping to do here but I wun mind. The sights we went to are breath taking and the people here are friendly and helpful!!Many a times when they see us looking lost,they will offer help without us asking. Even the grannies offered their help though they only spoke Korean. I'm so touched by their great hospitality. Hopefully Seoulites are this helpful too:)

Thank you Busan for the great 3 days here. I hope I get to see you again real soon

Wisdom and Patience

Dear God,

I pray that you can grant me wisdom and patience to overcome the challenge faced this week. In midst of all the work I need to clear, all the stupidity of the inconsiderate people and problems faced, I hope you will bless me to go through all of them and emerged stronger than ever.

I know I can put my faith in you and will get through these.

Love,
A very tired Lele

My favourite month of year is here

March is finally here. This year, it is really a month of celebrations. Besides still in CNY where we are still doing house visits to Mr Love's relatives. Partner is getting married in a week's time where I am tasked to be the gatecrash IC & MC of the dinner. March is also the birthday month of 2 other sisters besides myself and of course our 7th Year ROM anniversary.

This year, we finally managed to plan my long awaited trip to Korea departing on my birthday. Its 2weeks away but I am far from ready. Am still doing last minute read up and planning and luggage are still near empty though I reckon packing will be fast.

I foresee next week to be a crazy week where Mr Love and I will rush like mad to clear the work load before our 7days absence from work. Besides that, I would like to find time to juggle planning, packing and liaising for Partner's wedding preparation. Man, just thinking of it makes me tired. Muhaha But I am sure it will be all worth while.

As we countdown to the trip, I got more excited. After all, I had dream of going on this trip for the longest time and keep getting push back.

I hope Korea will be good to us and Mr Love will then be agreeable for future trips.

Till I am not so tied up, then I will update more on the recent events:)

Happy March and Spring Peeps, I hope your March will be as good and exciting as mine!!