Day 2 - Coby goes to DMZ!

It was on our itinerary last year but since there was some news concerning North threatening the South, we decided to ditch the idea of going to DMZ. Since this will be our "last" chance for us to go to DMZ (Korea for that matter) we decided to go this time.

After some tremendous search for the cheapest available tour package, we found Adventure Korea! Its 40,000 KRW and it covers the tour plus lunch! It was a bit difficult though to pay for the tour because we are coming from abroad and sometimes wiring money to a bank from another country is difficult. I'm glad that my bank caters to free international bank to bank transfer. It took a while for it to be confirmed and it almost did not get to their bank account on time because I just did the transfer a week before the tour. Phew! I learned about Adventure Korea upon researching doing paragliding in Korea and apparently, they do DMZ tours as well.

our tour group

Day 1 - Autumn in South Korea!

I (actually we), spent 8 days in South Korea last November, hoping to see the lovely autumn colors and the first snow. We didn't get to experience both, but still its an experience of a lifetime. I don't know if I'll get to visit South Korea again, but it will not hurt if I will! Darn the thought itself makes me feel giddy. It is rather a sad thought that I'll not be visiting the websites catering to tourist who wished to visit Korea because it will not have a use for me for the moment. Every blog entry that I'll post about my recent trip in Korea will be bittersweet. I'll try not to be nostalgic sniff..sniff.. I hope I'll get to finish all before anyone starts to plan a tour to Korea next fall and I hope that my blog entries will be a little helpful, just like the other blog posts that I relied as I plan our trip to Korea.

The planning stage was not that long compared to our first trip. We are not that excited or maybe its mixed with stress. I didn't get to check thoroughly our itinerary especially the last 2-3 days, thus we got to pay being lost and spending an awful time walking on the streets of Seoul with less than 10 degrees Celsius brrrrrr... its a big deal for a couple of tourists from a tropical country and living in the Middle East for more than 5 years. 

We arrived at around 8pm at Incheon International Airport. This time we did not look around the airport, we head straight to the convenience store to reload our T-Money. Ugh! I remember losing my old T-Money on our 7th day with more than 20USD still stored. You know that moment you know that when you put it there it will get lost but you put it there anyway, and then it got really lost and you ended up hating yourself for getting that warning but ignored it. Silly me. As usual, I exceeded my trip budget that's excluding airfare and hotel, which I've already paid in advance. Its funny that on the first few days we are splurging and on our last night counting our won (Korean currency) down to the last coin. hehe!

Fall for fall

As I am watching Korean dramas, I can’t take my eyes off how beautiful the background is! The landscape that comprises of yellow, orange, crimson, brown and green trees that reminds me of how wonderful and great God is.  And I can’t wait to see it for myself. I just hope I’ll be not lazy in taking pictures because I am most of the time and I usually regret it when I will write a blog and not to have a picture. Hehe!

Having been born in a country where there are only 2 seasons, my fascination over snow and the changing colors of the leaves during fall is always there in fact, experiencing the two other seasons are on my bucket list. The only thing that I can relate with countries having 4 seasons is summer so I’ll skip that. Summer is more fun in the Philippines!

Last 2013, I’ve experienced spring and sakura, though not in Japan but in Seoul.  The cherry blossoms are lovely. I really like that its not that hot and not that cold. Although some trees are still yet to show some life (leaves). And so as we board the plane to Manila, we vowed to comeback. I can’t remember if we talk about going back during fall, but I guess we did! In Dubai, I’m not quite sure why they coined the colder months as winter. But I guess relatively to the months where the temperature gets as high as 50 degrees Celsius, I’ll take it. I’m grinning right now because I realized that there are hundreds of stores here in Dubai selling mink coats that I’m dying to have one and yes with especially the one with a fox’s tail ok, I actually want the one with the head! Thanks to SHINee’s “Dazzling Girl” promo pics! But of course it will be downright silly because it doesn’t snow to where I live.

image credits: dramabeans.com, kjtamusings.wordpress.com and seoulbeats.com