Day 7 -13th of Dec- Seoul, South Korea (last day with tour)

Ginseng Shop.

The Korean guide, Cabin (mummy think he is very handsome ^^) and HK guide, Cherry.

MyeongDong. Hog Dog bun.

The giant ice cream ! Only 1000W!

Restaurant in Myong Dong. Finally, a Chinese Character is seen at a local restaurant. ^^


Myeong Dong Cathedral, situated in the heart of downtown Seoul, is both the Cathedral Church for the Archdiocese of Seoul and has become a symbol of the presence of the Catholic Church in Korea. In 1884, the first faith community in Korea gathered in this place which was then known as the Myeong-Nae Bang. Inside is a picture of the Jesus and His twelve Disciplines who are all wearing Korean traditional clothings. It seems quite out of the place to me.

One thing that struck me is the large pipe organ on the second floor of the cathedral church. It stretches across a total length of 200m. One word, magnificant. Sadly, I did not manage to take a pic of both the cathedral and the pipe organ itself. Firstly, the exterior was under renovation and the for the latter, my camera shot was not wide enough to capture a nice pic of it. Sad.


Behind is the Statue of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. It really get me nostalgic looking at this status situated in the backyard of the cathedral. I still remember it clearly from my kindergarten days. The innocent me who truly believe that she is always there to protect us from harm.

Mum and dad and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

The Crypt. Located beneath the main altar.
I particularly like this status of the Jesus. Plain, simple and cute.


Grotto of the Blessed Mother.
This was delicated by Archbishop Rho Ki-Nam on August 27, 1960, for peace on the Korea Peninsular. Mummy claimed that it is the scene in "Beautiful Days" but I doubt so.


Street of Myeong Dong.This is where Mum and I bought Korean actor's keychains and a Totoro key chain for Brother Goat.

That afternoon, we had our last meal with our tour and we would be on our own. Evy fetched us a taxi and it took about half an hour before we reached our hotel, Khungnam. From here onwards, I was the tour guide, Mum was the o.i.c for the vice tour guide and Daddy, the vice tour guide.

I led the way to the subway station and bought the T-money card. (something like the octopus and the easylink card.) Here, we met a retired Korean teacher. He offered his help to led us to Seodaemum near City Hall.
He was one cute old man. He took out a book that says "chinese and english conversation". He was smart too. I found this out after my tour. Koreans do not speak or understand more than two words in a English sentence and the old man knew how to converse in pure English. Bravo! I got to praise him. ^^


Nanta.
A musical with traditional rhythms and storyline, adding on is the universal elements of entertainment. Nanta contructs a humanistic and dramatic elements around the traditional Samulnori in a setting that was universally familiar, harmonious and relatable - a kitchen. The show was simply hilarious. ^^ The Korean version of Mr. Bean, plus the factor of more talents. They knew magic, wu shu, musical and adding on.


Dinner at staff canteen.
That night, we got ourselves bumping into a staff canteen with loads of cheap good food.

The Korean Aunty and Mum.
The lady is very friendly. She knew a few words in English and it came in very handy to us when we were ordering food. She was happy that her knowledge of English came in to use too I thought. She knew simple words like "rice", "beef" and "soup". With our limited vocabulary, we were also able to keep her entertained by saying "ToToKa"(intelligent) and "Aimayo"(how much is it). Mummy and her even exchanged gift. ^^

Statue of Nanta and me. Simply, the show made use of all this utensils on the statue to put up a magnificent performance.

Statue of Nanta with Dad and Mum.

It was ten by the time we reached home. First day on my own was a success. I was satisfied, happy.