Cheonggyecheon Stream (청계천) & Cheonggye Plaza (청계광장)

I think I went to Cheonggyecheon Stream (청계천) & Cheonggye Plaza (청계광장) twice (or maybe thrice?) when I went to South Korea 2 years ago. The first time was during the day and the second one during the night as I read Cheonggyecheon Stream offers different experiences during the day and night. #sistamak

The first time I went to Cheonggyecheon Stream, I actually walked from the Cheonggye Plaza to the Dongdaemun Fashion Town and back to the Cheonggye Plaza again. That was like almost 5-6 km or 5 hour-ish walk. Tak tahulah masa tu fikir apa like hello, I'm a couch potato through and through kot, but at the end of the day, kaki memang jadi jelly habis.

Tip: Bring bug spray if you intend to walk from the Cheonggye Plaza to Dongdaemun Fashion Town or Supyogyo Bridge.

I thoroughly enjoyed the walk and the view of the first hour but after that I became a grumpy ass as I didn't know the end point or how long it's going to take me to finish the whole course. #mohonjanganjadimacamsis You'll walk pass a lot of bridges, most of them having their own significance. I obviously was illiterate about the bridges so my reactions were mostly like these, "Eh, ni macam outdated sikit," or "Eh yang ni kenapa macam ni?"

You'll also see a lot of murals (?) along the way. I think of of them has a history behind it. I learned about it earlier this year while watching Battle Trip. All I can remember about it when I was there, "Agak-agaknya apalah yang nak disampaikan by this thing?" sebab lukisan dia panjang gila and there was description about the whole thing which unfortunately, written in Hangul only.

Tip: If you're short of time, just lepak dekat Cheonggye Plaza cause that's the probably the prettiest part of the whole stream.

It was a different whole story when I visited the place at night. I only lepak at the Cheonggye Plaza area cause #nobodygottimetowalkanymore It was more crowded at night with a lot of couples being lovey dovey #ohmypoorsinglesoul #justkidding I think it's due to the lower temperature at night. It was breezy when I was there so, it was a pleasant night to spent outside.

Tip: Kalau rasa hati tu cepat sendu tengok couple being lovey dovey disarankan jangan datang Cheonggyecheon Stream dan Cheonggye Plaza waktu malam. Nanti makan hati pula :p

I personally like my night visit more than the day visit because there were so much stuff happening at night due to Seoul Bamdokkaebi Night Market (서울 밤도깨비 야시장) and it was really breezy. Though I have to say that I'm not sure if I want to come visit this place, again. lol!

Discover Grizzly Bear Tour: A Tour By Discover Banff Tours

p.s: All the pictures in this post are of the low quality due to my phone problem T_T

Earlier summer this year, I had a chance to join a tour by Discover Banff Tours called Discover Grizzly Bear Tour. I was excited about this tour as Discover Banff Tours promotes a guaranteed grizzly bear viewing. Little did I know that the grizzly bear is a refuge bear instead of a wild bear. More on that later.

Places included in this tour are Takakkaw Falls, Emerald Lake, and Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. Unfortunately, the road to the Takakkaw Falls were still closed when I went for the tour. So, we skipped the Takakkaw Falls and went to the Emerald Lake straight.

Tip: Bow Valley Parkway and roads to Takakkaw Falls, Moraine Lake and Peyto Lake are usually open around mid/late June and close around early October depending on the amount of snow that we received in the winter. So, plan accordingly if you want to see these places.

As you may or may not remember, it was very cloudy when I went to the Emerald Lake for the first time, so I didn't get to see the pretty Emerald Lake like the ones posted on the internet. Honestly, it was cloudy everywhere we went on that day. Oh well, it was the end of May. That's the kind of weather that you'll get here in the mountains.

Tip: If you really want to come to the national parks or provincial parks located in the western Canada for sightseeing, the best season would be the summer season - mid/late June to end of August. However, do note that these months are the most expensive months as well.


It was such a short stop at the Emerald Lake. Think we were given around 20 minutes? There were not as many people as I expected but there was a group of Chinese tourists when we were there. Also, there was a couple doing their wedding photoshoot. Absolutely gorgeous! We then stopped for about 10 minutes at the Natural Bridge when we were on our way to the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort.

Like I mentioned in this post, I didn't get to appreciate the beauty of Natural Bridge on my first visit. That is due to the short time given by our guide on top of the cloudy weather and muddy water. You'll understand if you see the picture above.

After the short stop, we headed straight to the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort for our lunch and grizzly bear refuge tour. Technically, it was my second time here. My first time here was when I went for the snowmobile tour last year. It was good to be back :)

We had our lunch at the Eagle's Eye Restaurant which is the highest restaurant in Canada. #cooltakcool Well, I skipped my lunch because it was Ramadan so I could only imagine that the lunch provided were delicious based on the plating and appearance. Anyway, we had to ride the Golden Eagle Express Gondola first to reach the Eagle's Eye Restaurant. It was quite a long gondola ride but not as long as Sunshine ones. The view along the way and at the top? Magnificent!

After lunch, we headed down to the base and took a chairlift ride for our Grizzly Bear Refuge Tour. This was my first time riding an open chairlift ride, so I was really nervous. There were 2 other girls with me but it was their first time as well. We requested to the lift attendants to stop the chair masa nak duduk. Kemain panjang doanya masa naik chairlift tu. Haha.

Actually, we almost didn't make it to our Grizzly Bear Refuge Tour due to miscommunication between our guide and the bear's caretaker. Thankfully, she allowed us to join the tour for a bit. Otherwise, memang rasa macam tak worth it la the tour. Once we reached the sanctuary (okay, tak sure the exact word apa but hopefully you get the gist of it?), we were greeted with the sight of Boo, the grizzly bear.

We then were bombarded with lot of details about Boo along with other information regarding grizzly bear behaviour. We also learned about the efforts they are putting to ensure Boo's survival and other bears around the world that happened to have the same fate as Boo. All this happened in about 30-45 minutes?

I found Boo really huge but the guide mentioned he's at his lightest weight when we were there. He weighed around 300 kg when we were there but the guide said he can easily reach 800 - 1000 kg, if I'm not mistaken when he's ready for the hibernation. #coolgilaokay

All in all, I had enjoyable day during the tour. I learned so much about grizzly bears that I hope other tourists will start educating themselves about bears before coming to national parks. I also managed to visit Emerald Lake for the first time and see magnificent views of the mountains in Yoho National Park and Golden.

Digital Media City (디지털미디어시티)

I'm not sure if I got the place name right but this is where the MBC World (MBC 월드), and few other broadcasting companies like SBS and CJ E&M located at. This place also has been featured in countless Korean dramas and variety shows. Like I mentioned before, this place might be one of the best places for celebrity spotting if you're into this kind of thing.

Tak tahu shooting apa tapi rancangan dia pasal pets. Anjing di comel gila!

I think there was a music show recording at the SBS building because there were long line of fangirls sitting outside the building. When I was done with my tour at the MBC, the lines were gone. Seriously, what a dedication, sitting outside waiting since I don't know when just to see their oppas.

Anyway, I didn't get to see a whole lot because it was hot that day and all I wanted to do that day was to sit or walk under the shade. Unfortunately, there was no or minimal shade at the area, which is why I left after about an hour.

Personal anecdote: Kena halau dari SBS Building because I accidentally went into their building and sat in the lobby #ineedairconditioner Malu gila sehh but what an experience, eh? Thankfully the guard halau baik-baik siap bagi extra 5 minutes for me to catch my breath.

Lepak sini sat sebelum kena halau :p