Seoul + Busan 14th March - 21st March - Day 2

Day 2:
One Mount Snow Park
Namdemum Market
Myeondong
Lotte Department - MCM Bag

Same thing happen to my plan again  I didn't calculate the travelling time and end up the kids didn't get to the Snow Park to enjoy. As we are travelling in huge group, our 'another half' who didn't came with us has fixed a time to meet at the next destination. Time travel to One Mount through and fro took us nearly 3hours! Yes, I'm not kidding, you can check their station map. Our friends did not get any data sims card and none of their phone are working (switch off) so I am left with 2 choices. Abandon them and let them wait and worry or make the kids sad, I made the 2nd choice 
The kids are disappointed, I felt bad and had a fight with my husband too...

To go to One Mount take the train to Juyeop Station (Seoul Subway Line 3), Exit 3. We went to the exit near Diaso, near to the store which is selling the skewer food. You should see a park after the traffic. From there you walked all the way straight, cross the bridge, by now you should see One Mount on your right.

You should see this park

View from the bridge

Next stop Namdemum Market

Exit 5

Pet Shop in front of the exit

   

Our Lunch in a Tent!

Next stop: Myeondong

From the main road near to Hoehyeon Station Exit 5, turn left and walked towards to Shinsegae, it will take you to Myeodong in about 15mins walk

 

Our dinner back in Myeodong after my friends got their MCM bag. There is a Lotte departmental beside Uniqlo. 

Dinner cost about $25SGD per pax, having a meal in Seoul aren't that cheap.

Seoul + Busan 14th March - 21st March    Seoul Day 1 Seoul Day 2 Seoul Day 3 Seoul Day 4 Seoul Day 5 Seoul Day 6 Seoul Final Wrap Up

Seoul + Busan 14th March - 21st March - Day 1

Day 1:

Arrived Seoul at 3pm (Korea time), wanted to take the express train but we miss the timing so we took their normal train called Korail to Seoul Station - around 1hr and 15mins

Lotte Department Store - MCM Bag

Dinner

My planned itinerary didn't work out. We are lost when we are trying to find our hotel after alighting at Seoul Station. My friend aunt said tripadvisor advised not to take the exit 7 due to the stinky smell of the homeless sleeping there so we went to tried another exit but end up lost! Thankfully for a kind soul who lead us back to our hotel but the way there was very tedious! Lugging our heavy luggage up the flights of stairs plus my little tods and the cold weather. It was so bad and Lotte Department store closed at 8pm!  After checking in we went back to Seoul Station to filled our hungry stomach since the place we wanted to go has closed. We just hop into a random restaurant below the station and went to Lotte Mart to shop for some groceries. 

PS: Don't just copy people photo without asking, this will only prove how cheapskate you are!!!

Airport train to Seoul Station

Dumplings & Rice Cake Soup is very nice!

The meat selling in Lotte Mart is so fresh!

Diaper at Lotte Mart

Diaper at Lotte Mart

No plastic bag! 

Our Corner Suite room at Hotel Manu

We actually found a shorter and easier way to the hotel.

1. Exit Hoeyeon Station, exit 5

2. You should see an optical and pet shop in front of you when you exit 5 (namdaemun market)

3. When you see the main road on your left next to the local food store, turn right

4. Walk along that stretch where you should see a market store on your right and accessories shop as you go

5. You should pass by a overhead bridge and 'Seven Luck Casino' should be on your left

6. In total is only about 10mins walk from Namdaemun Market

Seoul + Busan 14th March - 21st March    Seoul Day 1 Seoul Day 2 Seoul Day 3 Seoul Day 4 Seoul Day 5 Seoul Day 6 Seoul Final Wrap Up

Seoul + Busan 14th March - 21st March

Hello! I'm back from 'Kimchi Land'! Sad to say that I never enjoy this trip as much as my previous Gold Coast holiday. When I'm back to work, some of my colleagues asked how is it and so on... and my reply to all is only 1 word! Is 'S**K'!! Probably because is a city place where you will wish to cover as much as possible unlike in Australia but end up too many hiccups. Bad planning, too much time wasted on travelling around and totally not baby friendly!

Seoul is not a place for babies! I travel with my 15 months old and regret lugging my stroller which I only used twice. And is not easy to find baby chair (high chair). I only found it in their food court at Pororo Park and at their fast food chain in Busan. Unlike Singapore, almost everywhere you can find at least 1 high chair! In regardless how dirty it is but at least you can simply find one. And I realize they hardly bring baby out and they hardly used stroller too. Their MRT station is not stroller friendly too. Thou they have a gate beside for you to push your stroller or wheelchairs but I don't see any baby pram inside their train! I even witness people jumping over or climb underneath the gantry of their station gate   I wish I could tell them to tell to try this 'stunt' in SG! Lol.... There was a day when we are having our dinner at their food court at 'Doota' located in Dongdaemun, I saw this mum feeding her tods in her carrier! I felt sorry for her and realize probably this could be one of the reason why they hardly bring their babies out to have a meal.

Seoul is a bad experience for me, I will probably be back again only when my boy is much much older. Having to carry a '10kg' daily and a '5kg' baby backpack is no joke! Their station is similar to Hong Kong! Flight of stairs and is like never ending stairs! But but but they have vending machine inside the station and to my surprise, their train are still very clean! If this is happening in our train, I can't imagine riding in a rubbish truck Lol!!

Note:

Plan your itinerary well

Give extra time allowance 

Best to calculate the travelling time (which I miss out)

Find the exit of each places you need to go (Seoul has 9 Lines and about 8 exit for their station)

Prepare your place of interest in both English and Korean (Out of 10 we only manage to get 1 or 2 who will help us. Try to get student, they usually can communicate better)

Print out their station map (It really comes handy)

Get data sims card

Flying with baby:

Try to fly at the time he/she naps

Try to avoid red eye flight in case your little can't sleep the whole flight will be disturb

Prepare extra feed if you giving formula

Prepare blankets or their comfort toys for them when they nap in the bassinet

Extra diapers in the bag

2 sets of clothes in case they dirty or poo on their pants

Wet tissue is a must!

Snacks, biscuits

Water bottles

Something to suck on to ease their painful ears ( I'm thankful that this never happen on my boy)

Extra water for milk

Hot flask

Toys to entertain them, Ipad or load new videos on your phone

New toys! (this can help entertain them a little longer)

This time round we flew with SQ, here my review comparing with Qantas

	SQ	Qantas
Bassinet	Lower, Easier & comes with blanket	Above our head (when sitting down), difficult to place baby in, can be dangerous
Food - Adults	Chicken or Fish	At least they have beef :)
Food - Baby	Infant meal - Bottle food (puree) Child Infant meal - almost the same to kids set but how can a 15mos old eat Seafood Spaghetti?	Infant meal - Packet food (puree, quite a huge pack and they also offer to help warm it up)
Freebies	Baby gets toys and kids get drawing kit etc…	Not for baby but for my older child
Stroller handling	They use a plastic bag to wrap up your stroller	Nothing for my past experience
Service	1. My boy needs to be in his carrier when the flight takes off and land so that he won't struggle and wriggle like a worm but SQ refuse to let me use it no matter how I reason with them 2. They could be too busy to compliment or maybe not their culture to do so 3. On the return flight, there was a irresponsible parents who prefer to glue to the tv & their tods was so noisy and disturb my boy nap. Thankfully the stewardess find a quiet area for me so I can peacefully rock my boy to sleep 4. SQ saw me carrying my boy to nap but told me they only can keep my food for an hour max	1. More flexible in the carrier issue 2. They compliment my boy for been a good baby on flight 3. Qantas offer to warm up my food when noticing I am carrying my boy to nap

Sorry for the long naggy post, please stay tune for the next post for my days in Seoul and Busan!

Kids set!

Child Infant meal!

Prima Tower Revolving Restaurant - Dim Sum

I have never been here and hub also wanted to tried out their food. Hub drove in (look so industry to me) and not sure where to park and we found a valet outside the building and he park for us. Like others who had said, the lift won't bring you up directly to the restaurant. You got to take a escalator and than a few stairs to reach the place.

At first I don't feel it is really turning till I went to focus on the floor and started to feel a little giddy  Looking through the menu and comparing to 'Bosses' located at Vivo, I find their price is still reasonable. Range from $4 and above for their dim sum but for Bosses is $5 and up! Their ala-carte dishes is quite expensive, which is a mistake that we ordered.

Can you see the 'turning'? Feeling amazed, please pardon me 

Here the food we ordered:

Appetizer 

Custard Bun 'Liu Sa Bao' - Fluffy bun, get prepare for 'finger licking good'!

Xiao Long Bao - Average

Steamed Pork Ribs

Pi Pa Duck or Herbal Duck, sorry I forgotten but not really fantastic and expensive

Fried Seafood Noodle - Another expensive dishes which taste from those Zi Char store in Kopitiam

Overall, I feel their dishes are mediocre, I only like the custard bun. I guess this will be my 1st and the last time here. 

Total damage: $90 

Address:

201 Keppel Road, Singapore 099419

Phone: 

6272 8822

Opening Hours: 

Mon - Sat: 11:00 - 14:30

Mon - Sat: 18:30 - 22:30

Sun & PH: 10:30 - 14:30

Sun & PH: 18:30 - 22:30

KL Holiday 31st Dec - 3rd Jan 2015

I will sum up and make it short and sweet for my 2 days in KL. We stay at Dorsett Regency, Deluxe room which has a queen bed and a single bed. My boy and I slept the big one and papa enjoy his single bed but it was slanted! Thanks to Olivia Blog for recommending the taxi driver as we tried asking around it was not as good as the one she intro (very reasonable price). Check out her blog on her KL trip and in case you need a taxi to KL too!

We manage to get our room at 3pm! Service was not as good as PD, wifi is weak, hot water shower took 15mins to warm up! Called maintenance a few times but nothing could be done! If not for the location and price I won't choose here!

No toothbrush!

  We went to Pavilion Shopping mall to grab our lunch!

Our simple lunch is located at the foodcourt, the only place which we can find baby chair. We went to shop around, had some teabreak before heading back to checked in and let baby rest.

Clean changing room at Pavilion Mall!

Dinner time we went to Chinatown to look for Bak Ku Teh. Travelling with a baby aren't easy peasy especially when comes to mealtime. Unless you have a good stroller which I saw, it can be tilt high up like a high chair. I am glad that hub made a good decision not to bring stroller because I realize all escalator in KL comes with a pole in between for safety issue which can be a hassle too. 

Claypot Chicken

Veg

Steamed Fish, not fresh, stinky and not nice at all

Ba Ku Teh, so-so only

Thankfully we found this place with highchair for dinner but the food is so-so only. Is located at the end of the street market, facing a bank. 

Day 2 in KL

Our breakfast at the hotel! I don't understand why is their bread so hard like rock!

 Brought baby to Aquarium at KLCC! And got my happy buy, Jelly Bunny! Is a jelly shoe, another version of Melissa but cheaper 

Hello Stingray! 

We went over to Lot 10 Hutong for lunch and realize BB Plaza area are closed for renovation. It used to be my favorite shopping place   Hutong is like our foodcourt but sold all KL local food, located at the basement. And we were looking for nursing room and there is none in this mall and I suddenly saw Isetan! Haha... if not I will need to change my boy openly in the public!

Hub said, this Ba Ku Teh cost about $18RM! 

Hokkien Mee is nice!

Dinner time we went to Mid Valley mall. Taxi was expensive, it cost $25RM to reach there! Dinner was simple, we just settled at their foodcourt. The food wasn't cheap too, average about $12 each. Their living expenses here are pretty high too! And we took their train and transfer to monorail back to hotel, so much cheaper! $2RM per pax! 

The crazy Magnum place!

Train

Monorail 'ticket'

Day 3: Sis in law got a taxi (which I won't recommend because it squeezy and stuffy!) for a half day tour before heading to airport. We had Nando's at KLCC, is more worth having it in Malaysia as they are cheaper than SG!

Batu Cave

Their T2, which is their so-called Budget terminal which hub said he feels like no aircon and so warm! Budget airport even aircon also must budget? 

Home sweet home and back to reality! Holiday is always tired and not enough! Looking forward to my 'Annyeonghaseyo' trip in March!