Today will be a pretty long day, not because we had a lot of activities lined up, but because we'll be making our way to Jeju Island, for me at least, this is the highlight of the trip.
Since our flight isn't until the late afternoon / evening, we had several activities planned enroute to the airport.
We had some time to sleep in this morning so our first activity happened around 10:30AM, and it was a visit to the Wine Tunnel.
Called the Wine Tunnel because a tunnel was actually used to store the wine bottles. The temperature is around 15-16 degrees C and humidity is controlled. Nothing special was planned other than a simple wine tasting.
All seated and ready for the wine tasting.
Some guy was explaining the qualities of the wine we were about to taste, I honestly do not remember what was being explained.
And finally, on to the free wine!
It was nothing fantastic really.
After the tasting, we had roughly 20 minutes to walk about and to purchase wine for those who wish to. The end of the tunnel was locked, it was just rows and rows of wine.
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After which, we proceeded to lunch, which is also the place where we will be plucking cherry tomatoes and experience making Korean Mua Chi (Rice Cake).
We arrived early and the restaurant wasn't ready to serve us.
I wandered off the farm area behind the restaurant with Yi Hui, one of the new people I met a day before.
The entire place was just very quaint and lovely.
Some of the tools used for farming, no doubt:
There were a few locals around and we presumed they were the owners of the farm. They didn't stop us from wandering about. Guess the two of us looked harmless enough.
Even the dogs left us alone and seem disinterested.
After about 20 minutes, we were told lunch was ready and we headed back.
Naturally, lunch was... more steamboat.
It was also the first meal we dined like most locals, seated on the floor.
After lunch, we proceeded to the tomato farm on this sorry excuse for a tractor ride.
It was a very bumpy ride.
After trying not to fall over (the young folks were standing so the elderly and kids could sit) for 10 minutes, we arrived at the cherry tomato farm.
Here's Mr. Kim (aka Superman) handing out boxes for us to keep the tomatoes.
The tomatoes were pretty sweet, but I didn't eat many.
We next headed back to the same place where we had lunch. Now to experience making Korean rice cake.
Our two Mr. Kims setting the tools required for making the rice cake.
Our 'instructor' for the day:
She was complimenting how good Singapore was while teaching us how Korean Mua Chi is made.
Step 1: Cooked glutinous rice
Step 2: Hammer it!
Step 3: Continue hammering it until it's flat!
Step 4: Roll it up!
Step 5: Hammer it again!
Step 6: Roll it up some more and repeat steps 2 to 5 until the auntie tells you to stop!
Step 7: Bring in the grind peanut powder and mix it with the hammered rice cake.
Step 8: Cut it up!
Step 9: Cut some more into bite size pieces!
Step 10: Ready for consumption!
I don't really know how to describe the taste, but it was certainly different from the Mua Chi we have here at our pasir malams (night markets).
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We then proceeded to the domestic airport for our flight to Jeju.
By the time we arrived in Jeju, it was near dinner time. Hence, our first activity at Jeju would be at dinner at this seafood restaurant.
It serves super fresh seafood!
So fresh that the certain seafood on the cold dish were still alive!
And of course, what's a Korean meal without steamboat.
This was also the restaurant, where at one point, one of the staff went about with a live Octopus, feeding people with its tentacles!
It's still alive!
What they do is to get you to bite one of the tentacles, and they cut it off. And while the damn thing is still wiggling, you are to bite and shallow it!
A few of the folks on tour tried it, while others were pushed into doing it. For instance, Yi Hui was one (un)lucky folk to be shoved a live octopus into her tummy. Cool stuff!
Think this is gross? Go watch Taboo: Gross Food on NatGeo, the food featured in the show are way worse!
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After dinner, we checked into our hotel in Jeju and will be staying here for two nights.
This hotel gets zero points for naming creativity.
Wah lau, T.H.E. Hotel, lydat also can. It's as if the management was going, "Okay folks! We need a name for our hotel in 5 minutes! What've you got?!"
We had some time to walk the streets of Jeju near our hotel.
Was walking around and I saw this...
The Face Op? Do they offer plastic surgery now? Haha.
And had time to try one of it's fast food outlets - The Lotteria. They had this buzzing device that notifies you when your order is ready. This is similar to what Party KTV in Taipei uses. Pretty cool.
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This pretty much concludes Day 3. We were warned that Day 4 will be a freaking tiring day. As it turns out, it was the most packed day of the entire trip! More to come!
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