Revisiting Korea (June 2007)

Annyo hasaeyo!!
My mum, sis and I went on a Hong Thai tour package in June 07, this time its an all-girls' trip! Thumbs up for our most humorous Korean tour guide, Michael, as well as for our meticulous and cheery Singapore tour leader aka "Nanny", Xiao Yan!


Korean Cuisine
Ahh... I have to say I'm rather pleased with the BBQ pork & lettuce, the cabbage steamboat, the seafood steamboat, the ginseng chicken soup, the hotplate mixed rice, the sulphur-fed duck soup, the sweet jeju tangerines, the kimchi, the seaweed... wow did I eat that much during the trip?!





A Beary Romantic Story
A Korean legend goes like this: Once upon a time, a bear and a tiger prayed to become human. Their prayers were heard by Hwan-ung, the son of Hwan-in (who was the God of All and the ruler of Heaven), who decided to put their faith to the test. He gave the bear and the tiger some garlic and mugwort, and instructed them to eat only these for 100 days. The tiger eventually gave up, but the bear persevered and was transformed into a beautiful woman. The bear-woman was immensely grateful to Hwan-ung, and later become his wife. They had a son, who became Korea's first king.

Today however, real bears are unfortunately less revered in Korea. The Korean moon bear, which derived its name from the crescent-shaped white patch on its chest, was declared a protected species by the Korean government in 1982. The species now stands dangerously close to extinction with only 10 bears left in the wild, their survival threatened by poachers.

Nevertheless, the bear still remains a cute symbol for children and for many of the young-at-hearts. Just look at this warning sign spotted at Mt Seorak:


Over at Jeju, The Teddy Bear Museum houses 3 storeys of cuddly furballs, I wish I can bring them home! But my ever-so-practical mother reminded me, "You still have tons of these bear-bears at my house, collecting dust ah!" Sigh, byebye my furry friends, til we meet again...

First Post!

I figured that I should keep a record of all the experiences from my holiday travels, so here it is, ladies and gentlemen, my little travel log!