Can we have this program in SG as well???

Saw a piece of good news from Korea.net just now.

"The government has stepped forward to help workers have a relaxing, refreshing get-away all while incurring a smaller financial burden. 

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) will soon kick-start a program to have companies and organizations support half the expense that their workers spend on domestic leave.

Through this program, workers will be given a special “travel card” onto which their companies can put money. The government encourages companies to cover up to 50 percent of an employee’s total domestic travel expenses. Vacationers can use this special card to make reservations, at leisure facilities, theme parks or on transportation during their time off. 

The culture ministry has designated the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) as the program’s organizer. The KTO will launch a test-operation targeting some 3,500 workers at small- and medium-sized firms for about six months from January 20 until July 15.

During the test-run period, workers themselves will be expected to pay 50 percent of their travel expenditures. Meanwhile, the rest will come from both companies and the government, which will split the bill and pay 25 percent of the total cost each. 

On January 20, the KTO will launch its “Vacation Support Service for Workers” homepage (www.thehappy.ezwel.com) as part of the project. The website will offer a “one-stop service” that enables vacation planners to get an overview of all tourist attractions and nearby accommodations across the nation. 

Users also have access to a wide range of travel information, such as admission fees to certain tourist spots or transportation fees, while they can book and pay at once at the site, too.

"This support project will boost demand for domestic travel and make it easier for vacationers to spend money while on the road, which will then increase sales in other related industries, as well as the tourism industry,” said the MCST in a statement."

Omggg...Can we have this program in SG as well???  This program sounds really good for both the workers and the economy. I am looking forward to the "one-stop service" on KTO website. Personally, I think the Korean government is doing a great job in making Korea a tourist friendly place to visit. I loveeeeeee 대한민국!!  

Dinner at 보스바비큐 (싱가포르)

Another outdated post ㅋㅋㅋ
20 Nov 2013.
Emily and I went for dinner at 보스바비큐(Clarke Quay).

There was a company event going on and we saw many Koreans inside.
GOOD!!! Makes me feel at home ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ

Spoilt for choices.....
Can we have allllllllllllllllllllllll??????

We ordered 된장 찌개 Doenjang Jjigae.

Emily took her soup and I ate my soup with rice ㅋㅋㅋ
The soup was delicious but we felt the prawns were slightly overcooked and not very fresh.

BTW, there were 4 prawns in it.

Here comes our fried chicken and seafood pancake 해물파전 ^^
Thumbs up for the fried chicken!!!
We couldn't have enough of it  냠냠 ^^

 해물파전 Seafood pancake was a disappointment.
The prawns and squids were chopped into small pieces and too much flour used.

Complimentary sweet corns came as a surprise towards the end of the meal. The waiter did not inform us that this was complimentary. He put it on our table, smiled and walked off. Both of us love sweet corns and this was delicious ^^  

Nice ambiance.

Many online reviews stated that its pricey to eat here. 
We totally agreed. We came becos we had a Groupon voucher.
However, we decided that we might be back even without having any Groupon deals becos service was good and we liked the ambiance.

Sinful lunch at 주신정 (싱가포르)

 

This post came late. It was a Sunday, 10 Nov 2013. The couple and I went for a lunch buffet at 주신정. We went to the outlet at East Coast Park. Its been quite a while since I came here and the food is still as good as ever. Jo is a meat lover. This buffet lunch suits him perfectly becos its free flow of meat. Ermmm...the thought of the amount of meat we ate or rather he ate makes me feel like a carnivore...ewwww...We ate a total of 8 slabs of pork belly, pork collar, marinated pork and marinated chicken. 5 slabs of pork belly were "devoured" by Jo alone @_@ This is really worth the price becos each person paid about $35 including free flow of pork & chicken, soup with rice, 1 piece of watermelon, free flow of cold brown rice tea and a complimentary drink. The couple did not like the complimentary drink at all but I love it! I forgotten to ask what was it called. Was it 수정과 Sujeonggwa?? Jo loves his 순두부찌개 Sundubu Jjigae, while WW and I ordered 된장 찌개 Doenjang Jjigae. Jo has been asking us to go for this lunch buffet again...Oh dear.  Lunar New Year is coming and I am worried about my waistline!!

. 

20 Oct 2013 - 정말 고마워요

It was about 11.20am when I got on the Arex. Its always so depressing to leave my second home. I look forward to be back again. I look forward to see 재 again. At about 11.41am, I received a call that made my day ^^ So happy and thankful to hear from him again before leaving my beloved Korea. Although I did not expect this call but it means so much to me. 정말 고마워요. 네 I miss you so much already.

I checked in my luggage and went to the tax refund counter becos I still need to have my tax free forms validated. OMGggg....super long queue...

Can I use this??
A tourist was trying to figure out how to use this and approached a staff who was standing around.
After some communication, the tourist was advised by the staff to join the queue.
I am not sure why though.

Omggg....another super long queue. This is the tax refund claim counter inside the transit. You don't have to come here if you have claimed back your cash at downtown. You only need to queue once to validate your tax free forms at the tax refund counter mentioned in the above picture. 

Remember I did not managed to claim my tax refund from Global Tax Free(Orange logo) at Myeongdong? Yeah cos I did not have my Visa with me. I had 4000 won to claim back from Global Tax Free. Hence, if I want my 4000 won back, I will need to join this queue. Oh...forget it. The queue was too long. 

However, it is not always long queue here. I passed by this counter again after I finished shopping. There was only one person in the queue, so I went in to claim back my 4000 won ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ I am so money minded huh??  Hahahaa there's no queue, so why not? Such a waste not to claim back the cash when its so easy to claim back. 

(Just fyi, Asiana has a partnership with Unicef, whereby flight passengers are encouraged to donate coins or even spare currencies to UNICEF programmes helping children in over 150 countries around the world. I think there should be a few other major airline carriers doing the same.)

I  went to the Asiana Lounge becos I had a free voucher to eat there.
Not hungry but I went there to take a look.

아...Dongwha Dutyfree!
I came here during my first solo trip *wink

I found myself a seat by the window.
There were ramyeon, fried rice, sandwiches, bread, assorted croissants, spaghetti and mini salad bar.
They had a good variety in beverages, such as milk, juices, coffee, tea etc.
The spread was actually better than the one I had at Changi Airport Premier Lounge.

Oh!  Saw this cultural performance again. 

Finally, I am done with my updates for my Autumn trip 2013. Autumn trip 2013 was supposed to be the most relaxing trip compared to the rest of my trips, and yet I took a longer time to update. Anyway, I can now focus on my trips in 2014.  Actually, I don't have a lot to research for my upcoming trip since it will be a short trip and I want to make it a super relaxing trip. Omggg....Can't wait to be back in my beloved Korea once again!!!

20 Oct 2013 - 김밥 from 마포만두

I woke up with a craving for 김밥!
Most of the eateries including Isaac Toast near the guest house were closed on Sundays.
Therefore, I walked down to Sinchon for 마포만두.
Yeah. 마포만두 again.
This branch was near Sinchon Hyundai Department.
If I did not remember wrongly, the nearest subway station was Sinchon Station, exit 1. 

Menu is available in English and Chinese translations for this branch.

On my way back to the guest house, I went to 빚은 Bizeun to buy tteok ^^

Yeah..told you I fell in love with 떡 in this trip ㅋㅋㅋ

Tasted a bit bitter..
Not used to the taste of this 떡 but I don't mind to eat it again.

This was nice ^^

My 야채 김밥 at KRW2500 per roll from  마포만두. Luckily, I bought one roll cos this was quite filling. I don't like soft drinks but I wanted to try Cherry Coke. Bought it on the first day when I reach Seoul and did not drink it till now. This was a big can for me and I did not finish it. Well, it tasted alright. It did not have the medicine syrup taste if you know what I mean. Sigh...its time to check out ㅠㅠ

19 Oct 2013 - Cocktail in a bag

I walked back to my guest house after a heavy dinner at 마포만두.
Passed by Vinyl Cocktail Bar the second time for the day and decided to try out the drinks.
Have been thinking of coming here in my previous trips but did not have a chance to do so.
Since I passed by, so why not.
*Took this picture when I passed by during the first time.

Errmmm...I am not an alcoholic but I thought this is cheap.

Interesting.

My Long Island Tea.
Its cheap for such a big packet.
Almost regret when I saw this cos I am really poor with directions at night...
Can I make it back to the guest house with this???
Of course. I made it back successfully ㅋㅋㅋ
The alcohol content was not that high I think.

19 Oct 2013 - 마포만두 에서 저녁 식사



I took the subway to Hapjeong Station, exit 2 for my dinner at 마포만두.
Make a 180 degree left turn at exit 2.



and you will see 마포만두.

Yup  마포만두 Mapo Mandu.
I think 마포만두 has several branches in Seoul.

1. 바지락칼국수 Clam Noodles
2. 비빔냉면 Bibim Naengmyeon
3. 물냉면 Naengmyeon
4. 쫄면 Jjolmyeon 
5. 참치 국수 Tuna Noodles 
6. 해물우동 Seafood Udon
7. 우동 Udon
8. 만두 라면 Mandu Ramyeon
9. 치즈라면 Cheese Ramyeon
10. 떡라면 Tteok Ramyeon
11. 라면 Ramyeon
12. 육개장 Yukgaejang (I think they use beef here)
13. 비빔밥 Bibimbap
14. 제육덮밥 Stir fried spicy pork with rice
15. 오징어덮밥 Stir fried spicy squid with rice
16. 카레덮밥 Curry with rice
17. 해물순두부 Seafood Sundubu
18. 순두부 Sundubu
19. 황태떡만두국 Hwangtae Tteok Mandu Guk (I think 황태 is some kind of fish. This dish is something like Pollack with Tteok and Mandu all in a bowl of soup ㅋㅋㅋ.  Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.)
20. 황태만두국 Hwangtae Mandu Guk (I think this will be pollack and mandu soup. Pleaseeee correct me if I am wrong.)
21. 황태떡국 Hwangtae Tteok Guk (Ermmm..so this I guess will be pollack and tteok soup. Pleasseeee Pleaseee correct me if I am wrong.)

They have a wide variety on their menu but menu is in Korean only. 

21. 갈비만두 Galbi Mandu

22. 고기만두 Pork Mandu(I think its pork but I'm not very sure.)

23. 김치만두 Kimchi Mandu

24. 개성만두 Gaeseong Mandu (I think it consists of pork and some cabbage)

25. 모듬만두 Assorted Mandu

26. 찹쌀순대 Sundae (I think so)

27. 쌀떡볶이 Tteokbokki

28. 야채 김밥 Vegetables Kimbap

29. 오뎅 (2 sticks)

30. 바지락칼국수 Clam Noodles

31. 비빔냉면 Bibim Naengmyeon

32. 물냉면 Naengmyeon

33. 쫄면 Jjolmyeon (I wonder what's the difference between Bibimbap Naengmyeon and Jjolmyeon. Here's the recipe for Jjolmyeon from Aeriskitchen.)

34. 참치 국수 Tuna Noodles 

35. 해물우동 Seafood Udon

36. 우동 Udon

37. 만두 라면 Mandu Ramyeon

38. 치즈라면 Cheese Ramyeon

39. 떡라면 Tteok Ramyeon

40. 라면 Ramyeon

Place your order at the cashier and pay at the cashier when you have finished eating.

I was very hungry!!
So I ordered 개성만두 Gaeseong Mandu and 오징어덮밥 Stir fried spicy squid with rice.

오징어덮밥 was delicious but quite spicy for me ㅋㅋㅋ

I like the squid cos its very "Q" ie very chewy.

개성만두 Gaeseong Mandu.

I couldn't finish all the mandu....
...but I could not resist not to order becos almost every table ordered a tray of mandu.

Looks good but taste ok lah...
I still prefer Dim Sum ㅋㅋㅋ
No regrets to order though.
At least, I tried their mandu before ^^