Jeju-Seoul Korea (Day 4 - June 2012)

We were woken up at the unearthly hour of 5:20am.. admittedly it was tough going since our family holidays were mostly free & easy.. and my previous experience of a package tour was 17 years ago.. during our honeymoon to Europe! After a breakfast of porridge, chinese dumplings, fried eggs and vegetable dishes.. we left for for the airport to catch the 8:30am flight back to Seoul. 


 
First stop.. Everland Amusement Park.. where they filmed the engagement scene from the recent K-drama King2Hearts. We boarded the Skyway which took us down to the Alpine Village for lunch.. fried fish and pork fillet.. with self-served kimchi and yellow pickled radish. We could see the large roller coaster and hear the screams from way up there.. it was reported to be very fast since the wheels ran on wooden tracks that gave less friction as compared to steel?


We didn't have to queue at the Safari World since there was a prior arrangement made with the establishment.. and we could board the bus at the appointed time. We saw lions, tigers, ligers (a result of crossed breeding a lion with a tiger) and bears.. sad to say.. these bears had been taught a few tricks to entertain visitors.. and were given biscuit treats if they sat on their behinds and waved their paws or salute.

After the short tour, we were given time to wander around on our own. My sister and I went for the Space Tour.. a fun 4-D experience with Korean cartoon characters.. whereby I had to duck and dodge the on-coming fireballs or fist of the enemy on more than one occasion.. injected with loud 'OOOHHs' and 'AAAHHHs' when we flew over the waterfall and into the ravine. 

We ventured into the Mystery Mansion next.. where we were seated on a rotating cubicle and used laser guns to shoot at the spectres.. I think I was probably the lowest scoring one?! The Rotating Mansion gave the optical illusion and feel of almost going up-side-down.. rather like going on the 'Pirate Ship' except that it was ineffectual once you closed your eyes. 

Finally, the Amazon Express.. a water rafting ride that had Frances' mum quite drenched on the exposed parts.. since the plastic sheet only covered the lower half of the body.. her facial expression was priceless as she was totally caught off-guard! Ha Ha! Well.. I DID warn everyone BEFORE the ride.. 

We leisurely walked around the beautiful flower beds and water fountains at the Four Seasons Garden and Rose Festival Garden.. before cooling off a very hot day with ice mocha and churos.. sweet! But alas.. we had to make a long detour on out way as I was somewhat disorientated.. no surprises here.. and finally arrived 5 minutes late back at the main entrance.. where everyone was already waiting...

It was evening when we arrived at the Premium Factory Outlets.. but ended up not buying anything despite being sorely tempted by the cheaper Coach handbags. Dinner was BBQ pork chop and we headed to Phoenix Park Hotel which had free wifi even in the room! YAY!!! No more hanging around in the lobby tonight. I realised I got sun-burnt on the shoulders and was a definitely a shade or two tanner?! Time to slather on body lotion to avoid the peeling and the pain..