Pore shrinking in Korea

I went to CNP skin laser clinic for a laser treatment when I was in Korea last month. I had an Intracel treatment that promise to shrink the pores, lift the skin and improve the overall texture. I went to the new branch in Yangjae. As you can see, it's really cosy and professional looking. 

 

There’s even a coffee and tea machine that I wasted no time in trying, hehe.

 

 

From Busan to HwaGae Cherry Blossom Festival

I spent my 3rd day in Korea in the rural side of Hadong. I ventured out in seek of the HwaJae Cherry Blossoms Festival and to seek out the famous marriage road !

 

How to get there:
Start at Busan Seobu Bus Terminal. Buy a 13,300 ticket for HwaGae Bus Terminal. The journey should take you around 2hours 30 mins. Yes, it's a Long, Long ride. 

Bus timetable:  http://eng.hadong.go.kr/sub/05_01_02.asp

Official website: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_2_1.jsp?cid=700651 

 

As a tourist who speaks no Hangul and barely did her research, my adventure is no short of mistakes and hilarious antics. Continue reading to learn how a potato like me managed to reach Hwagae.

5 reasons why you need to visit the Dolomites

Probably the most underrated part of the Alps on our side of the world, the Italian Dolomites is a sight like no other. While most Asian travellers flock to well trodden destinations like Chamonix, Mont Blanc or the Swiss Alps. The Dolomites is a long standing favourite of locals as both a ski resort and a summer getaway. 

Standing at some 10,000 feet tall, the Italian Alps is a magnificent range of chiselled granite and plunging valleys that looked like it came straight out of J.R.R Tolkien's books. Who knows? Maybe Tolkien was inspired by the place.

Here are 5 top reasons why you need to make the Dolomites your next travel destination. 

 

Captain America: Civil War

5 days after the premiere of Captain America Civil War, I finally caught it! I didn't bother myself with any trailers save the endless Audi and WHIH advertisements looping on YouTube. But I've been anticipating the movie a lot. 

* Updates: I finally caught the movie again with a prime seat and now finally understand the story build up! Everything made sense hahaa
 

 
The movie runs for approximately 2 hours and 20 min. The plot of this instalment centres around the diversion of the Avengers as political, societal and emotional pressure weighs on our heroes.

Busan: Dalmaji-gil Road & Namcheongdong Cherry Blossom Road

Day 2 of my #YoloKorea tour for the seasonal Cherry Blossoms! I returned from Jinhae very late the night before and had a 14 hours (layover included) flight to Korea. You can imagine the amount of effort it took to roll out of bed the next morning.

After Jinhae's famous Cherry Blossom Festival, the next event I wanted to attend was the Hadong Cherry Blossom Festival. Hadong was even further than Jinhae and given my risen hour, it was clearly not a good idea to proceed. So I seek my lovely hostel manager's travel advice and went to Dalmaji-gil road instead! 
 

Korea Shopping Haul !

Even though I went to Korea mainly to catch the Cherry Blossoms, I didn’t waste the chance for a good haul. So I set aside more time to go shopping during this trip hhehehe. Here is my haul video!

 

Day trip to Jinhae Gunhangje & GyeongHwa Train station

Everyone should probably know how obsessed with Cherry Blossoms I am, having flew to Japan twice in a row to catch it. This year, I decided to do something different. I decided at the very last minute to fly to South Korea for them. Yes, It was a blizzard and frivolous arrangement. 

In case you’re interested, Cherry blossoms are called beotkkot in Korean.  

I didn't feel like going to Japan again because I've been there 3 times last year and the bloom I witnessed last year left me entirely satisfied. Fuelled in part by the fact that the flights were all horrendously expensive, I ditched Japan and hopped to South Korea instead! After all , it's been 5 years since I've been there! I want to make an entry about how I plan my itineraries/trips to make it both fun and budget friendly but I don't think anyone would be interested haha. 
 
Anyway I flew into Busan via Vietnam Airline, had a longgggg layover in Noi Bai Airport and finally arrived in Busan. And after checking into my lovely hostel, sped straight to Jinhae. Check out my vlog below!
 

 

Noi Bai Airport, Terminal 1 Sleeping Pods

As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, I had more than 17 hours of layover in Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport. I spent 6 hours and 40 minutes lingering in the departure lounge for my first trip. And then spent another daunting 11 hours and 10 minutes in Noi Bai Airport Terminal 1 for the return trip.


I couldn’t stand the idea of lounging around the departure lounge for 11 hours in the wee of the night so I decided to try Noi Bai Airport's new Sleeping Pods. Prior to booking the pods, I considered the possibility of getting a normal hotel room outside of the airport since they were much more affordable, bigger and had all the proper facilities. But the reviews made me a little scared and I didn’t want to risk missing my flight, so I went with a sleeping Pod instead.

Photo from http://noibaiairport.vn/

I arrived at Terminal 2 but rented a pod at Terminal 1 because Terminal 2 only had Twin beds and I didn’t want to waste my money renting an extra bed hehee.

Noi Bai Airport Terminal 2, Departure Lounge

For my Spring Korea trip, I flew with Vietnam Airlines and spend more than 17 hours in Noi Bai Airport. For my first layover of 6 hours 40 minutes, I choose to stay within the Departure/transit zone because it was a little too late to venture out. Coupled with the fact that I had to rush back to the airport to check in for my connecting flight meant I only had less than 4 hours to do any sort of touring. Check out my review of Vietnam Airlines here!

Noi Bair AIrport has 2 Terminals. Terminal 1 is older and as of current, only serves domestic flights. Terminal 2 has just been opened in January 2015, is spanking new and serves international flights. If you are coming into or flying out of Hanoi, it’s likely you will be going to the newly opened Terminal 2. Which is good, because Terminal 2 is so much better!

I wanted to write this entry to share my experience at the Noi Bai Airport Terminal 2 Departure/Transit zone because when I did my own travel research, the lack of information online was so frustrating. So here’s the low down!

 

Noi Bai Airport Website: http://noibaiairport.vn/HOME/Default.aspx

 

 

 

My Vietnam Airlines Experience

For my recent blizzard Korea trip (blizzard because I was crazy enough to decide and then buy the plane tickets 2 days before flying. It was my most frivolous trip yet haha) , I flew with Vietnamese Airlines and had more than 17 hours of layover in total, in Noi Bai Airport. 

 

 

Being the Budget conscious traveller I am and having bought my tickets this late meant I had little flight choices. I went with the cheapest flight from Vietnam Airline. It cost me $496.03, tax and booking fee included. 

Vietnamese airline offers a wide range of flight timings to Seoul and Busan. However, they pretty much all have layovers in Hanoi Airport. check out my short write up of my time at the Hanoi Airport transit/departure area. 

Having layovers twice meant I took 4 different air planes. And I'm here with a short entry about my experience with Vietnam airline.