[Travelling Korea With Triba-East] What To Do in Daegu, Korea

Korea's fourth largest city, Daegu offers a peaceful, countryside feel that makes visitors feel at home immediately. The area is a major textile center for Korea, which is why it is also known as "Textile City" and is a major hub for metal and machine industries.

The most well-known sight of the city is the stone Buddha called Gatbawi, on top of Gwanbong, Palgongsan.

Romance Your Way In E-world

E-world is definitely a sight visitors would want to see in the morning as well as at night. E-world is the world's only European styled theme park which has a 220m high observation tower. The park holds 20 kinds of amusement facilities and rides, including a Sky Jump, Boomerang, Flume Ride, and Top Spin. The 83-floor high tower has an observation platform on the 78th floor. Visitors are able to have a picturesque view of Daegu even when using the toilet, which is a pleasant surprise.

At night, the 83 Tower Luminarie, which uses 8.3 million LED bulbs, displays one of the largest light shows in Korea.

Trick Your Eyes at Euroseum

Nestled in the 83 Tower (Daegu Tower) is also the Euroseum, where visitors can take all sorts of interactive pictures with friends and family.

Shopping at Seomun Market

The main products offered in the Seomun Market are fabric and textile products, such as silk, satin, linen and cotton, but this large market also offers a variety of other items, such as fruits, vegetable, dried fish, seafood, desserts, streetfood, shoes, herbs, ect. There are 4 districts in Seomun Market. District 1 offers linen and cotton while District 2 offers a variety of products. District 4 and District 5 offers clothing and assorted goods such as stainless steel tableware, ceramics, and cooking utensils respectively. This wholesale market offers the best bang for your buck with some bargaining possibilities, so it's definitely a place to shop for items.

Here, hungry visitors can find Kalguksu noodle, Boribap barley rice, Janchi-guksu noodle, flat dumplings, Korean sausage, fish case, Hotteok pancake, ect. Pork Alley is a short 11-minute walk away from Seomun Market.

Admire Murals at Mabijeong Village

The Mabijeong Mural Village is a beautifully decorated village that is the work of a single artist. Located a little way out of town is a stunning little hillside village that tells story after story with each painting. The legend goes that there was once a general who set out a rather unfair challenge for his horse. The general drew an arrow and let it fly. If the horse could out-run the arrow, then it was allowed to live. Failing that, the horse was killed and the villagers commemorated the memory of the horse by naming it Mabijeong, which means "the pavilion where a horse flew".

Murals decorate almost every inch of the 35 households in the village, all of which is accompanied by stories that a translation device can provide.

Hop on A Double-Decker Bus

Daegu City Tour offers all their tourist attractions at a glance on their double-decker bus, which operates from 9:30am to 6:40pm at a cost of 5,000won (with a 20% discount for foreign tourists). The bus starts from the Daegu City Tour bus stop, in front of Dongdaegu Train Station and moves to Pyeonghwa Market, Dongseongno, Gyeongsang-gamyeong Park, Modern Culture Alley, Seomun Market, Bangogae Seasoned Raw Fish Alley, E-World, Angirang Alley, Mr. Apsan Observatory, Suseong Lake Resort, Daegu Children's Hall, Kwang-suk Roak, Gukchae-bosang Memorial Park, and finally ends at Dongdaegu Train Station, which free embarking and disembarking with one time ticket purchase.

[Lifestyle - Travelling With Triba-East] Day 5 - 6: Vivaldi Park Ski World And Back To Kuching

How time flies when you're having fun. However, by the fifth day of the trip, I was starting to feel a little exhausted. At first I thought it was just my period being annoying, but it turns out I ate something that gave me stomach flu. :( That means the last two days for the trip was both exhausting and a total blur. 

As luck would have it, TribaEast, which had arranged majority of the trip for me, had planned for the skiing trip to be on the last full day in Korea. The trip was RM300 per person paid to TribaEast, so I paid a total of RM600 for the both of us prior to the trip. It was only when we were on the resort that we were told that the amount did not cover for the skii lifts, which cost and addiitonal 55,000won, adding a whooping 110,000won to our skiing expenses. That's an additional RM400+, so the skiing was actually RM500 per person and more than RM1000 for two of us. If I had known in advance how fucking expensive this was going to be, I would've gladly chosen to opt for the Seoul Everland park instead, which is RM138 per person. 

Honestly, I'm still quite pissed about this additional payment, since I was under the impression that payment to Tribaeast would cover the whole day. Evidently, they did not see the need for skii lifts since we could just play with skiing... on a small slope? For a whole day? Jesus. As you can tell, it really soured the experience, expecially since we were down to our last 150,000won and thankfully, had just enough to cover our trip back to the airport.

The rest of my experience had been good though, as you can see here: 

How To Plan a 6-Day Personalized, Budget-Friendly Tour To Seoul, Korea

Day 1: From Kuching, Malaysia To Myeong-Dong, Korea With Public Transportations

Day 2: Christmas Village, Snow Sled, & Strawberry Farm, Seoul, Korea

Day 3: Petite France & Nami Islance 

Day 4: Gyeongbokgung Palace, Insadong, Noryangjin Fish Market, Dongdaemun Design Plaza

As you can probably guess based on the track record we had so far, the day started really bright and early! The tour bus that TribaEast had arranged for us picked us up at the meeting point before the sun had even risen and we were both understandably groggy. Add that to the fact that the people leading the tour spoke almost exclusively in Cantonese makes for two very lost tourists (me & my bf).

Still, we were determined to make the most of the trip! First, they drove us to a skii-rental station where we were all geared up with the appropriate, and super fancy outfits!

Vivaldi Park Ski World is an hour away from Seoul. It has a total of 12 slopes and 10 lifts, including gondola, with a maximum occupancy of 20,000 people.

Different slopes are available for visitors for different levels, with beginner's incline with only 5 degrees and 9*, to a maximum of 28* for experts!

Since we weren't allowed to bring our belongings with us while we were skiing, we had to rent a locker as well. I would defintiely suggest paying for the locker, since losing your stuff is never worth saving that extra bit of money. :) The whole place is quite packed, and its easy to lose sight of your items when you're up the slope.

The tour that we joined included a mini introduction to not fall on your ass butt immediately as you step on the skiing boards. I swear, this is one of those things that's a lot harder than it looks, but it certainly has a steep learning curve. By the end of thirty minutes of painstakingly hiking uphill in too-heavy skiing equipments, we decided to ditch the beginner's class and make our ways up the skii lift.

It's a long, long, long queue up, and a short trip down. The queue is simply ridiculous, since we were there during the weekend. That means we spent half an hour to an hour lining up to get on the lift, and then ski down in all of five minutes. Rinse. Repeat.  When we were there, there were students who could bypass the queueing altogether, which made the lines even slower! I hated that.

By day 5, I wasn't feeling at all fine already. Everything was sore. This is compounded by the fact that in the middle of showering the previous day, the hot water disappeared. That means I was showering with cold water. In winter. Fuck that. 

My wonderful bf and waited with me in between each downward skii so I could rest a little, then resume skiing. It's a long, long, long queue up, and a short trip down. The queue is simply ridiculous, since we were there during the weekend. That means we spent half an hour to an hour lining up to get on the lift, and then ski down in all of five minutes. Rinse. Repeat.  When we were there, there were students who could bypass the queueing altogether, which made the lines even slower! I hated that.

We had fun though! It was just exhausting since I wasn't feeling my best. Thankfully, the horrible symptoms of stomach flu only started presenting itself after we returned from the trip, which was to say I spent the night in the bathroom. T.T  We managed to see this adorable mascot on the walk back though! ^^

My bf decided to have a Mc.Donalds dinner since they serve bacon with their meals! ^^ He loved it. The buns were more fresh than we're used to back hom, and bacon is delicious. We also ran across this silly thing on the way back. Hehe.

Unfortunately, the night was spent vomitting and basically just getting rid of everything in my stomach, which was awful. My bf was perfectly fine, but I was pretty much dying. Lol. We made our way back exactly the way we arrived, via train, since there was a toilet in the train that I knew I could use, and I didn't want to subject the poor bus to that.

We managed to get our hands on some pills to help with my stomach cramps and problems, which I took on the flight back and tried my best not puke my lungs out. :(

Nothing I took made me feel better, and I was sick and vomiting for an entire week after I returned from the trip, occasionally getting up to drink some water. 

What a way to end a holiday. It wasn't the best resolution, but that's the way life is. Messy, imperfect, and occasionally well, shit happens.

I had a good experience though, and it gave me this amazing picture that I'm really in love with. 

Most of the trip was planned with the help of Triba-East Travels, which I really appreciate. I'd love to plan my next trip wtih them as well. :) They have deals locally, in Malaysia, as well as in other countries, such as Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, and China.

Book Your Tour With Triba-East Travels Here

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[Lifestyle - Travelling With Triba-East] Day 3: Petite-France & Nami Island

Day 3 is another day of exploration! However, we only had 2 things on the agenda for the day, which is Petite-France, and Nami Island, two picturique destinations that promised a lot of beautiful pictures. If you haven't read already, here's the rest of my trip that was planned in conjunction with Triba-East Travels.:

How To Plan a 6-Day Personalized, Budget-Friendly Tour To Seoul, Korea

Day 1: From Kuching, Malaysia To Myeong-Dong, Korea With Public Transportations

Day 2: Christmas Village, Snow Sled, & Strawberry Farm, Seoul, Korea

Today's trip was sponsored by James, who was certain we would enjoy the trip with a tour group that they're affiliated with! 

Even though neither of us was fans of taking a billion pictures of ourselves with different backgrounds, we got into the mood and explored everywhere in Petite-France, which had so many quaint buildings and beautiful trinkets and historical furniture setting that we couldn't help but be swept up by it as well.

Every single place in the tourist attraction is worth a picture.

There's statues and armored guards. There's even a giant puppet that made me wonder if it'll come alive with the right motivation.

And fake wings for you to try on (though not literally)

At the end of it all is a quick presenation by puppeteers, who gave us an entertaining show that only needed music to tell their story. 

It left everyone entertained, but also ready to move on to the next destination: Nami Island.

Nami Island is one of those places where people would insist you go to, if only for the sake of saying you've gone. I'm glad I went, but it's not one of those places I would bother revisiting. Unfortunately, I'm not a big enough fan of Korean Dramas to want to experience their shooting destinations as much. Perhaps we went during the wrong season, but the scenery was a dull brown and barren land that bored me just a tad. Would I suggest you go? Maybe not during the dead of winter, when all the trees are dead and it's too cold to enjoy the scenic views.

The journey was interesting though! We had to go on a boat in order to get there, which required us to go through an 'immigration' check. There's no actual checkpoint though. XD I suppose you'd only get stopped if you looked super suspicious!

The island itself was one picture-worthy area after another, with plenty of opportunities for romantic memories. This would be the perfect setting for your wedding pictures!

If you're keen, you can actually rent one of their houses here on Nami Island.

Prices are a little steep though. If I remember correctly, it can go to more than 200,000won per night.

We searched high and low for something to eat, and then finally settled on Bento meals, which costs 11,500won for the both of us. 

It was barely enough to fill us though, so we looked for more things to eat. I decided I needed more vegetables in my life, and erm... corn is a type of vegetable right? He opted for a hotdog bun. The corn was 3000 won and the hotdog bun was 2500won. Neither tasted any good. If you're planning a trip to Nami Island, I would suggest packing some snacks along with you. There's a disapproving aunty sitting behind me while my bf fed me his hotdog bun. Lol.

Reenergized by the food, we continued our journey around Nami Island.

Fans of Winter Sonata would be able to recognize this route. Imagine snow and leaves and when things weren't so barren. XD

It was cold enough that there were ice sculpturs that didn't quite melt completely, but not so cold that it wasn't melting at all. Most of the sculptures were unrecognizisable, but erm... it's the thought that counds I suppose?

I wish this igloo was big enough to climb into. 

The decorations were adorable though~ ^^ 

We returned to the tour bus early, since we ran out of pictures to take at Nami Island. There's actually a SkyLine Zip Wire that you could try out that's within walking distance of the tour bus! 

If I'm not mistaken, this takes you directly into Nami Island. Lol. What an entrance that would be!

We managed to return back to Myeong-Dong way before the sun had set, which gave us plenty of time to do whatever we want (And eat whatever we want).

We decided to try and find our way to the Myeong=Dong Cathedral since guidebooks said it's worth a visit. After a million wrong turns, we managed to find our way! And the sun hasn't even set yet! Yay~ 

The view of the church at night is even more beautiful than it is in the sunlight. The flowers are set aglow. I imagine it's even prettier late at night, but we were already feeling quite exhausted from all the walking we've done.

By day 3, we had started to grow tired of the street food, so we decided to stop by the quiant eatery near our place that James and Jonathan had brought us to the first night. We ordered bimbimbap and a noodle pork stew that cost 12,000. These ridiculously huge bowls! Honestly, everything' s cheaper once you've wandered out of the hustle and bustle of the touristy part of Myeong-Dong. 

We also got some souvenirs (samyang noodles) from a stationary store (Alpha) of all places. Lol.

For dessert, we opened up the pack of strawberries we picked earlier, accompanied by a glass of soju. ^^

Afterwards I slapped on a sheetmask and called it a day. ^^

Total purchases: 59,350won - RM231

Tour was curtesy of James and Triba-East Travels. 

Book Your Tour With Triba-East Travels Here

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[Lifestyle - Travelling With Triba-East] Day 2 - Christmas Village, Snow Sled, & Strawberry Farm, Korea

If you haven't read already, here's the rest of my trip that was planned in conjunction with Triba-East Travels.:

How To Plan a 6-Day Personalized, Budget-Friendly Tour To Seoul, Korea

Day 1: From Kuching, Malaysia To Myeong-Dong, Korea With Public Transportations

Everything hurt on day 2. I was cursing whichever idiot who decided it was a good idea to hike up Namsan on the first day of our holiday (it was me). Day 2 started really early, even before the sun had risen, we were at the designated waiting area, which was next to a shopping mall and near a giant signboard that was alight with neon bulbs the night before. There were a couple of people there already, doing the same thing we were: waiting.

We wandered off in search of coffee and managed to find a convenience store with a coffe machine for 1000won per cup. I also bought a bun for 1300won to gnaw on during the but trip. ^^

The agenda for the day was to let the tour bus take us wherever they wanted. ^^ We make the perfect kidnap victims. Xin Yii, from Triba-East, had already purchased the deal for us and sent us the email for the confirmation. The tour group that she had signed us up for was Mandarin-speaking, which I assured her was fine since both of us spoke perfect mandarin. ^^

Once our attendance was taken and everyone was on the bus, we were told where we were going, which is to Christmas Village first, then Snow Sledding, and finally, Strawberry Farm! It sounded like a fun-filled day all around!

The first place we went to was Christmas village, where the main attraction was most definitely the fact that we could feed the sheep there! I love animals. And I love feeding animals, so this was so, so much fun. Everyone spent the better part of ten minutes overfeeding this overzealous sheep, and then we fed them somemore.

If you have a little extra to spare, you can also get into the cage with all the bunnies! All the bunnies!!

The only way you're allowed inside the cage with the bunnies is if you pay them. A family with two kids ended up shelling the money for that and I happily took pictures from outside. ^^ I just realized there's a fake sheep on a tree behind us. Lol.

There's also a couple of other attractions at Christmas Village. There's a couple of really friendly fluffy dogs who just want all the love. This fluffy pupper barks really desperately to get attention, and then you realize she (he?) just wants to play fetch and destroy your gloves. Honestly, keep your gloves away from this little devil.

The Christmas Village is has a number of little huts with Christmas decorations that are... er... to put nicely, a little on the eccentric side? Let's just say I wouldn't have gone into any of the huts if my better half wasn't there first.

If you're really enjoying your time, there're rentable houses as well!

We only spent a little over an hour here, since the tour guide also knew there wasn't much to do here to keep us occupied for too long, which was completely true. We weren't the first to return to the bus after exploring a little around the place.

Once everyon has gathered, our tour guide told us that we would be heading for lunch, since it would take a while to get there. Lunch was something to look forward to in itself. The tour bus brought us to a place where we will be served ginseng chicken soup, with chicken that had been fed ginseng!

It looks delicious because it is super delicious~ The chicken has been cooked to perfection, and the broth had a refreshing, ginseng taste that is as revitalizing as it is delicious. We finished half a chicken on our own. XD This delectable meal was my second favorite activity of the day, my favorite being strawberry picking!

After we've filled our tummies, we were brought to the next agenda of the day, which is snow sledding! It wasn't something I would've tried normally, but I was glad to have it in the agenda! Our tour leader said we would only be spending a little about forty minutes there, since that's usually how long it takes for her tour group to get tired of the game. Lol.

I didn't believe her at first! It's so much fun, why would anyone get sick of it! After sledding down the slope for the 4th time down the slope, we were both official sick of it. It was fun, but man, were we glad we followed the tour bus that designated just enough time for us to get our money's worth.

Afterwards, we moved to Strawberry farm for strawberry picking! I'm a big fan of strawberries. The ones we have in Malaysia are either too sour, or too expensive... or both if I'm unlucky. 

Strawberries were in season when we went, so we were lucky to be able to pick to our heart's content. Well, a box anyways. You gotta pay if you want more! We also got to make our own strawberry james to bring back! :D

Everything about this makes me happy. We each had a bottle to bring back from the strawberry farm in addition to a box of strawberries (each!). The best thing about this entire tour is that we only paid RM300 per person for it, purchase through Triba-East. Definitely worth every penny!

The tour group was so kind as to give us little snacks, heating pads, and a face mask to make sure we enjoyed everything about the trip, which is really going above and beyond. I'd pay for this all over again.

Afterwards, we were dropped off at Myeong-Dong, where we ate a ridiculous amount of food. I managed to get my hands on a few dozen sheet masks as well!

Myeong-dong is skincare and food heaven for sure! I managed to find Aland, where they stock Cosrx products on their shelves! I found that the prices were cheaper on bbcosmetic though, so I didn't end up buying anything.

Sheet masks, however, were really cheap since they have lots of buy 10 get 10 free masks deals available! I managed to get 10 It's Skin Tea Tree masks and 10 It's Skin Bamboo masks for 10,000won. I also got 20 assorted Nature Republic masks for 9,500won.

He's been looking at this since the first day, so we splurged a little and got the flower ice cream for 3,800won. It was yogurt flavored. XD He wasn't a big fan, sadly. We also had meatballs for 5000won, and egg cabbage sandwich for 5000 won, egg bun for 2000 won, chicken and dumplings for 8000 won, pancake honey for 3000won, and a few noodle cups for emergencies. ^^

Total Money spent: 55,700won / RM216.23 + Additional RM300 per person for tour.  = RM816.23

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[Lifestyle - Travelling With Triba-East] How To Plan A 6 Day Personalized, Budget-Friendly Tour To Seoul

Earlier last year year, I purchased a trip to Seoul, Korea and then forgot about it altogether. I hated planning. Between work, family, and a soul-sucking hobby, there was little time for me to do anything else, let alone plan a 6 day trip to Seoul. Thankfully, Triba-East Travel is there to do exactly what I don't want to do, which is to help me plan for my entire trip, no fuss, no headache, all the fun. XD

So, here's how I planned my 6-day personalized, budget-friendly Seoul, Korea trip, without doing much of the planning!

The Planning: Triba-East Travels

I talked to Triba-East via Facebook about purchasing a travelling packaged from them, a full 6-day package that includes food, accomodation, and all the activities planned out. However, Jane, who is one of the lovely ladies handling their social media handle, asked how old I was and upon realizing I wasn't the target group for the package (which is mainly for older groups), promptly talked me out of it. 

Her words were, "This package deal is more for older people! You'd be bored! We'll plan something else more suitable for you." 

And that's exactly what they did! They planned a 6 day itinerary for me, and helped me purchased all the tickets through them, so all I had to do was throw money at them, and once I was there, show up where they asked me to.

Granted, food and accomodation aren't included, but I could always figure out food once I'm there, and they recommended a few places to stay where it would be easier for their tour busses to pick me up. Win-wins all around!

Purchasing Experience

Purchasing tickets from them was a breeze since there were multiple payment options available. They work with MOLPay, which accepts most bank transfers and visa/mastercard. I went with bank transfer, since that's usually how I kept track of all my online transactions.

Do keep in mind that they need time to process your payment and then more time to provide the E-tickets! The Vouchers can be downloaded 3 days prior to departure, and it's all on you to get that downloaded and brought along with you for the trip!

Budget Plan

Perpetually broke-ass person that I am, I needed to work with a budget that I could handle. Planning with Triba-East makes this perfect, since we were working with a pre-determined budget of under RM2k for 2 person, excluding hotel stay.

I ended up going with Airbnb, staying the 5 nights for a total or RM925 in the heart of a Skincare addict's wet dream, Myeong-Dong. The room ended up being super, super tiny, but it wasn't too bad considering the price of ~RM200 per night. 

The flight tickets, which I bought 3 months in advance from Airasia.com.my, was a total of RM3570.34. 

By paying for the tours beforehand, with a promise of not having to shell out more, I could just bring the money I needed for food. I prepared RM10,000 for food and miscellanous expenses. 

Book Your Tour With Triba-East Travels Here

I also do quick, short reviews on my instagram so if you're up for it, do follow me here too! :D https://www.instagram.com/peachy_amy/ And Like my Facebook page? :D https://www.facebook.com/MalaysianBeautyHaul/