Day 6 we were at Seoul and the tour guide brought us to Blue House/Cheongwadae (青瓦台及昌德宫). This is where the government office is held in and the wide landscape park surrounded it(something like our Parliament House + Istana).
One of the photos you see below has a phoneix and beside the phoneix got a hill right? Do you see two 'rounded' white patches on the hill? Ya, that's is the "eyes" of the hill, representing as the dragon and phoneix (龙鳯配), that oversee the prospersity and well being of the nation/government. Unique natural structure right? There is a "family statues" of one of the photo - that represent unity and warmth in each family. Heard of 有家才有国? In Korea, fillai piety is also emphasis and very importance. So the guide also told us to take snapshot of that particular angle in hope that we will be blessed as well. :)
As we visited the palace/government office area, due to security purpose we aren't allow to take photos, but we were brought to a place whereby different national ambassadors will occasionally gave off their national treasures as soveneirs to Korea in the form of goodwill and respect to their relationship as bilateral partners or associates.
Cheongwadae consists of the main office building and its annexes. The main office building includes Presidential Office, audience room, conference room, and official Presidential residence. The annex accommodates the office of the Presidential secretariat, the office of Presidential security, Chunchugwan (press center) and Yeongbingwan (reception hall). Also, there are wide gardens, ponds, and rear gardens connected with Bukak-san in the Cheongwadae compound. The main building has a hipped-and-gabled roof, which is the most refined and beautiful style among Korean architecture, covered with Korean style blue tiles from which "Cheongwadae" takes its name. Approximately 150,000 tiles compose the roof of Cheongwadae. Each was baked individually, which makes them strong enough to be used for over one hundred years.
We are not allow to enter the Blue House (police and guard personnels were on standby at gates), so the coach driver just drive pass around it for us to have a rough idea of Cheongwadae is. (Cannot even take camera shots as they have the special detector that will sound if flashlights are detect. -_-''') Imagine he took about 30mins to do a complete round before exiting? That just proves how huge the area is.
(source from the wikipedia website)
After the visit to the Blue House, we set off to the most expensive meal of the tour package, called 韩廷食. Quite a lot of dishes as well, mostly closed to Chinese's acquired taste. But I guess the most expensive thing is the 牛肉串 (which my family don't eat). I like their rice coz is red bean-lookalike inside plain rice, cooked in bamboo, giving that sweet lingering taste. But their sushi tasted a bit unusual la, think their vegetables are preserved already then wrapped up (unlike the Jap ones, whereby they used fresh veg). Still got steamed pumpkin and 小龙包. Hehe.
After lunch we were brought to Coex Hall to shopping. Upon shopping, I spot a restaurant opened by famous actor Jackie Chan. Haha! Not bad leh, can open a shop in Korea also showed his popularity. Anyway, we just bought some silk pouches and some long jeans.
The final part of the day was at Lotte World Adventure (about 50% of Everland). But on our way to there was super jam lor, think is on weekend (btw, the place only opens from 5pm onwards) and children over there are having school holidays as well, so understandable la.
By the time we reached there, quite dark already (that's why my outdoor photos are super dark/blur). Didn't take too much rides as well la, coz super duper long queues lor. -_-''' But their ice cream not too bad. (must be think I am crazy to take ice creams in such cold weather. But indoor they got tune up the heater which is quite warmer, plus the ice cream look appetizing and we are thirsty, so ya. haha!)
Anyway, this is an indoor and outdoor amusement park. It is also the filming site of the Korean drama serial, "Stairway to Heaven". Remember the merry-go-round?
The indoor is split into 6 main areas (3 levels in all). 1) A big stage arena whereby clown and acrobatics performances took place (we managed to see part of it and got mini fireworks to welcome vistors), 2) museum whereby they kept those Korean culture related stuff, 3) soverneir stall shops selling necklaces, hand drawn pictures, etcs, 4) food centres/stalls, 5) amusement rides and 6) an indoor garden whereby you can see butterflies/worms/flowers. For the games we just took about 2 rides and played those shooting/hitting games. haha!
As for the outdoor, mainly are some castles and adventurous rides la. The other reason for the crowd is that outside super cold so not much people, hence a lot of them hide indoor which results in "unbalance" of the inside-outside space availability. Anyway, we just take snap shots of certain structures to our best ability (coz super cold, very dark to see anything as well).
A wrapper I gotten from Lotte World coz I bought some necklaces:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j241/hippo1985_photos/personal/lotteworld.jpg
After that, we went back to Seoul Garden Hotel to pack up as we are leaving Korea the following day. The last day, the tour guide brought as to a Kimchi Making Sessiom (the same place we can try some Korean dressings), Amethyst Factory (where ornaments purple gem crystals are made) and a park whereby they kept some olden days how rich people stayed houses.
