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South Korea Winter Trip. Day 9: Seoul - Kuala Lumpur

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Mmmm... Dah nak balik  (it's time to go back). There's not much we can do when we get to the city of Seoul on the 4th day, and then we visited interesting places outside the city in the following days. So we decided to grab a taxi and had a half-day city tour before our midnight flight back to KL. There are 5 palaces in Seoul: Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung, and Gyeonghuigung, where we intend to visit one of them. Changdeokgung was the principal palace for many kings of the Joseon dynasty and is the most well-preserved. The historic site was heavily damaged during the Japanese Occupation between 1910 and 1945 and is the second palace after Gyeongbokgung, the primary palace. We loved the atmosphere of the site, such that it blended with the natural setup throughout the palace, as you'll see in the photo essay below. Brief description on the palace The Main Hall The Queen's Hall Moving on to the nearby site, we stopped at Gwanghwamun, the main a...

South Korea Winter Trip. Day 7-8: Damyeong Ski Resort

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Even though it is the third tallest peak in the world, Kinabalu never gets snow due to Malaysia's tropical climate. So, one of the things we must do while in South Korea is to experience snow for ourselves. The several ski resorts in the neighboring provinces of Gangwon-do and Gyeonggi-do were on our list of potential destinations. As I was looking at ski resorts in the Seoul area, I was immediately pulled to Vivaldi Resort due to its 24-hour operation. We opted for a 2-day, 1-night ski package with Sally Tour to make our almost 2-hour bus trip from the city more convenient. When we got to the Vivaldi Resort about 11 a.m., it was still too early to check in. We choose to check out the ski park. The resort was clearly overrun with vacationers and skiers during the weekend, as described in the reviews. There was a lot of activity in the park and music could be heard just about everywhere. There wasn't any snow outside the resort Lapar le pulak... makan snek le dulu It's main ...