25 Mar 2022 - Checking out the Emart at Sinchon

Strawberry in season ~~~~

Really happy to see so many pretty strawberries!!

I think I ate the most number of strawberries in this trip.

I thought this was not cheap but after going around several supermarkets and markets, this price was really good. 

Curious how this taste like.

Ohhhhh

What a surprise! 

I knew there are BCH outlets in Korea but my first time after covid to see this packaging in supermarkets.

My favorite brand for mandu ^^

So sad this is not available in SG.

Even sadder it is also not available for online purchase to SG...

I endured not to buy cos I will only be back home at night.

OMG can't wait to buy and try!!

Chee Cheong Fun????

This too surprised me!

We bought this to share. 

We ate this at the Gyeongui Line Book Street which was a few streets behind the emart.

Not all of them were sweet...only a few :(

경의선 책거리 Gyeongui Line Book Street is about 10-15mins from Emart (Circled in red beside Sinchon Station exit 7/8).

This emart outlet is not big compared to the one in Yeoksam and Yongsan but still there were things I have never seen before.  

25 Mar 2022 - Back at 월강부산돼지국밥

Met up with my SG friends today at Hongdae and brought them to 월강 부산돼지국밥 

Still as good as before.

Now they changed it to ordering via kiosk and they open at 10am(previously they opened at 9am).

Gosh........I miss this damn much!!!

It is not shown in my picture but this place is still very generous with their meat servings.

Meat lovers will love here.

24 Mar 2022 - Yummy mandu from a neighbourhood shopping mall

Came to this building to buy mandu.

I think this building is called, 은마종합상가 .

About 25mins walk from where I stayed.

There are several entrances in this building and the mandu shop is at the basement.

I was in a rush so no time to look around.

I was busy looking so I did not take a lot of pictures but there were quite a lot of things.

I will definitely be back again cos it looks like an interesting place to check out.

Came here becos heard this place sells nice mandu.

어떻게....

I like them all....

I bought the meat mandu 고기만두, kimchi mandu 김치만두 and red bean mandu 찐빵.

Meat mandu 고기만두 and kimchi mandu 김치만두.

Red bean mandu 찐빵.

This is the healthy version.

You can see the real solid red beans in it.

This meat mandu 고기만두 tasted like the SG meat dumpling in bread texture.

It looks like the 大肉包 we have in SG but tasted like dumpling 水饺. 

Quite nice.

My favorite is this kimchi mandu 김치만두 ^^

This building has many things under one roof, which I find it very convenient for the residents staying nearby.

I will definitely be back!

Nearest subway station is Daechi Station, exit 3.

Once you come out from exit 3, you will see the building.

24 Mar 2022 - My first meal back home

It was around 3pm when I reached here. 

You bet I was starving...

I ordered the one in Blue.

My 오징어콩나물국밥 Squid Beansprouts Rice Soup 8000won.

Add some hot soup and mix in the seaweeds.

Dipped the bean sprouts into the mixture and EAT!!!

Yummmmzzzzzz ^^

 Less than 10mins walk from Gangnam Station, exit 10. 

24 Mar 2022 - A trip to the Gangnam-gu Community Health Centre 강남구보건소

I booked my arrival PCR at Incheon airport at 8.30am but I was able to clear immigration earlier.

Upon collecting my luggage, I was guided to the PCR centre.

Everything was done very smoothly and fast. 

By 8.29am, I was on the taxi to my accommodation.

Just go to the taxi counter shown in the picture, tell them your destination and type of taxi you preferred.

I took the normal type to Gangnam area (opposite COEX) and the fare was 65100won.

Got tested at 8.17am and the result was out at 10.34am ^^

Finally, everything feels real!!

I took a bus to the nearest health centre, Gangnam-gu Community Health Centre 강남구보건소 to have my vaccination records registered.

No queue when I was there.

A note given to me at the airport when the staff checked my documents.

Although there was no need to scan QR code anymore when entering supermarkets, restaurants etc, I just wanted to register my vaccination status. 

Nevertheless, I was given only this paper certification.

The staff who attended to me at the Health Centre did not speak much English.

I showed him the COOV app and he said I can only register in this app if I had an alien identity no.

I confirmed with him a few times and he was very sure.

Hmmm...so was the information given on the paper on the website insufficient/wrong?

I was kinda disappointed becos I wanted my vaccination status to be registered in the app :(

He gave me this note to understand better..................

He also added that if my Korean contact number is changed, I have to update the centre again, not via website..............

Anyway, whatever I have shared here was what I have encountered during my travel period. 

The regulations keep changing, so please read and update yourself with the latest news from the relevant authorities. 

23 Mar 2022 - 드디어 ~~~~~

Finally, my turn to fly back to my home sweet home.

I was filled with jealousy whenever I see people with their luggage at the airport.  I was excited when I finally booked my flight.  However, when I started preparing my itinerary, I started to worry this and that and ended up not having the mood to plan.  This was the most stressful trip I ever had in my life. Stressed becos of the documents to prepare and the pre-departure PCR result. 40% of my mind was always thinking of what necessities to bring rather than what clothing to bring.  Necessities such as anti bacteria wet wipes, ART test kits, throat spray, supplements, extra masks, fabric spray, zappy spray, medicines and even disposable gloves.  Of course, all these can be purchased in Korea but I was preparing for the worst if my arrival PCR results turned out to be positive.  The other 50% of my mind was always thinking about the documents required.  I was really worried that I would left out anything.

To be honest, I was so stressed that I became paranoid at many things.  I started wearing face shield 3 weeks before my trip since I have to attend to many different groups of people everyday in my nature of work.  Many people said so what if you caught this virus. It is inevitable.  Yes, so what.  I totally agreed but the inconvenience is really what I hated. Most importantly, the last thing I wanted was a negative pre-departure PCR result.  That was why I felt extremely low before my flight and did not feel like telling anyone that I will be flying back home soon.  I simply could not feel any joy until I got this result.  Upon getting this result, I was like 60% relieved cos I got the license to fly. The other 40% would be my arrival PCR test in Incheon airport.  Anyway, here I go! 

My flight was about 50% full.

This fish set was quite yummy ~~

Slippers, tooth brush and tooth paste were provided.

If I did not remembered wrongly, these were also provided during my flights just before covid.

I shall not touch on the immigration procedures since it keeps on changing.

My license to fly

The staff will check your documents here. 

During my period of flight, the website for Embassy of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of Singapore indicated,"If your arrival time in Korea for your flight is on / after 20 December 2021, travellers must undergo the PCR test within 48 hours of departure. For example, if the VTL traveller is taking the flight on 20 December at 2300hrs, he/she may take the test on 18 December from 0000hrs onwards."

My flight was 23:30 on 23 Mar 2022. The staff pointed to the date on my PCR test result, 21 Mar 2022. She kept saying,"안돼"  All she kept on saying was,"안돼". Which means "NO. Cannot." So I asked her,"왜 안돼 요?" She still said,"안돼" and asked for my boarding pass. I showed her my boarding pass and she reluctantly let me pass. Till now I do not understand why.  Am I in the wrong or did she give me chance??????????????????  My SG friends said I was right.