Korea Trip Day 5 - Jeonju - Seoul

Day 5 we woke up and prepared to take our breakfast at the hotel, and to our surprise: it was snowing outside! Actually the tour guide said at Day 4 should have snowed (due to weather forecast) but it didn't. So it came as a surprise when it really snowed the next day. But when it started to snow, oh my, really cold leh. About -11 degree celcius. -_-'''. It was my first time seeing snow, so was pretty excited (although not very heavy yet, more like small flakes). haha! But since it is not that heavy, only certain parts of our journey has snowed. (That's why later my photos not every place has presence of snowing. But the chilling wind is quite frequent.) The guide told us we are pretty luck to see snow, coz the period we went is still quite early (based on their previous years) for snowing to occur.

Anyway after that, we are travelled about 1.5 hours of coach journey and reached Sangsoo Herbland (相洙香草农圆). This place is whereby many kinds of plants are grown and their essences/nutrients are used to make drinks (mineral water and tea), cosmetic-related products, honey, aroma-therapy usage, etc...but it is one's personal preference whether it is good or not la, coz some smell are pretty distinctive/heavy. This place is also a fav place for many countries TV representatives to interview from.

Ever see a super duper hyper active host? Tell you, if you go there really must meet the host, or rather the owner of the herbland. You look at him like 50-60 years old, but his action are like those 20+ type. He took up a small pot of young plant, brush them across everyone's nose (took everyone by surprise) and tell us to smell them. And he did that for about 10 sets (because different smell altogether). lol. Not only that, while he talks, he bangs on the side wall of the conference room, to gain our attention. And he talks loudly, rapidly and later glee at us. OMG! Got one demonstration very funny. Was that he ask two couples to stand up on stage. How it goes...One male after eating one of the plant's leaves (the plant can arouse that particular sense), need to show how much he loves the other female. Damn dramatic and everyone was laughing cause quite awkward ma, especially the couples up there are about 35 and above! :P Also got Q & A session, he "threw" their specially made mineral water (contain flavours like lavender, mint) bottle to the person who answers correct as a reward. But very interesting and joyful demonstration he made that make us excited to understand the plant's characteristics. 讲到头头是道, 你不信都不信. He has my admiration (especially at his age and his 'craziness')!

After the demonstration, we were brought to walk through their big compound garden to have a look at the plants. Some is in greenhouse effect, whereas others are propagated. Indeed it was a splendid variety of plants/flowers and I like one that has the smell of chocolate. heeh. There is also a soverneir shop that sells their products. I bought 2 small boxes of tea and perfume.

To know more about the herbland, click on the pamphlets that I have cropped and uploaded:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j241/hippo1985_photos/personal/sangsooherbland_1.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j241/hippo1985_photos/personal/sangsooherbland_2.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j241/hippo1985_photos/personal/sangsooherbland_3.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j241/hippo1985_photos/personal/sangsooherbland_4.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j241/hippo1985_photos/personal/sangsooherbland_5.jpg

After about an hour at the herbland, we headed to Everland (爱宝乐园). It is a super big theme park cum zoo (given about 4 hours to sightsee)! Something like Disneyland. But as it is super cold, the big space allowed more wind to enter through, so it super cold lor. Because of that, many things we didn't try out (especially those adventurous rides) coz too cold to move actively to each part of the park. lol. The park is divided into three main areas - top, middle, bottom. To reach the bottom you need to take a special type of transport (something like a cable slide). When we reached the bottom, the guide took us to their wildlife zoo area whereby tigers and bears were most commonly kept. The bears were very cute and obdient (the driver microphoned them to sing and the bears pranced along. They were rewarded with food if they successfully performed the required). We are quite close in contact/proximity with them (except the windows are not opened for safety reasons), so it is an interesting experience.

After a visit to the zoo, the tour guide said we can feel freely to sightsee other places. So we went to a mini-farm whereby you can see animals like cows, ducks, pigs, swarns, chickens; another area of insects/creatures; night-life animals, monkeys, etc. Pretty educational as well, and a good hiding place from the cold wind outside. haha! Coz the mini-farm is designed either indoors/or with proper enclosure/shelter, so most of hide there from time-to-time to avoid the shrilling cold wind and at the same time resting.

There is an area where specially designed christmas trees (or rather for a special theme, which changes from different quarters of a year) are placed. Awesome, especially the purple bells on the christmas trees, giving a very dreamy yet classy feel. While we were walking around the area, we saw got a choir there singing christmas carols (performing Korean version of typical English Christmas songs). Personally ar, really ke lian them leh. Although wear long overall, but imagine so cold le (outside somemore!), still got to stand there and sing well. Pathetically only like about 10 floor audiences. -_-'''. That's what they meant by professionalism ba. We meet a santa dressed entertainer and he gladly took photos with some of us. Got a train ride round the place as well. After that we took some rides la. We took merry-go-round. lol. Like a bit childish hor? But the last time I took that was about 10 over years ago la, so kind of sweet relishing. hehe. Then we sat on a teacup rotating ride and a mini-rollercoaster ride. Dare not sit the super high one, later scared 冻疆 (you feel your nose like going to drop off liao). haha.

I believe if it was during other seasons, it would be a fun place for everyone of all ages to enjoy. At least don't have to spend time hiding la (really tiring), and can be more active plus adventurous to participate in the games and rides. And the feel of openess (not much building but specially designed structures to fit certain themes) is nice as well. One can feel a certain feel of 童真 when they see certain structures. Imagine the house designed like the storybook "Hansel and Gretel"? hehe.

It was super cold though, cold until I see my people in my tour group came back with mouth and ears covers. :P And the kids bought those super big head (got horse, wolf, dog) head cover mask. quite cute but not practical coz it is a bit unbalanced. lol. The sunset was very beautiful and scenic especially with the pine trees behind and that purplish-red contrast. After that, we went back to our hotel to pack up and travel to Seoul, where it should be warmer than Jeonju.