the power of deal-of-the-day websites

i have recently found a new hobby & that is surfing all the deal-of-the-day websites for the juciest and best deals! Such sites have been in existence since 2008, but it was only recently that they started gaining in popularity.

There are currently 4 of such sites that I know of operating in Korea.

1: Groupon

2: Ticketmonster

3: Coupang

4: WeMakePrice

It seems that all the sites operate pretty much the same way, with nothing much to differentiate them from the rest. The only thing that would make them stand out would be the 'deals' that they can offer the consumer. I mean, no one would really care which site they are purchasing from as long as they can get the 'best' or rather, their desired deal. I suppose that if the site is able to partner with 'good businesses' (and i use this term rather loosely), it'll help bring in more revenue.

Another thing about these sites that annoy me is the layout. I think that they should categorise the deals in a more orderly fashion, instead of just placing them in the side bar.

That being said and done, I have already made 4 purchases off 2 sites yesterday.

#1: KFC Twister meal for 2,650원 (50% off)


#2: 1 Mth gym membership for 30,000원 (80% off)


#3: Entry to the N Seoul Tower for two at 9,900원 (45% off)


#4: Trick Eye Gallery for 6,500원 (50% off)


as you can see, i have been getting a little too 'click happy'. but then again, only the 1st 2 deals are for myself. the other 2 were purchased for my friends who are currently visiting korea. :)

well, its only 8 more hrs till the next deals appear! can't wait to see what they have in store for me.. ;)

삼척 - 12월21일 ~ 22일

kinda late to be blogging abt my Samcheok trip 3 months later, but i guess its better late than never. :P

headed to samcheok over in gangwon-do for 2D1N with jieting, becky, kelvin, janet, weiling & zhengyu.. the entire bus journey took approx 3.5hrs?
i must say that travelling in winter is not v fun cause of all the excess baggage that u'll have to bring along.. n knowing me, i have loads of extra rubbish... >_<

anw, we stayed at this really quaint pension, Rose Valley which was the filming site for a few korean dramas/movies!


view from the front!

the girls stayed in 화목


while the guys stayed in 소망


we wanted to dump them in 사랑 or 낭만 or even 신혼 but they were so adamdant against it. Pity..

Anw, samcheok's a quaint little seaside town that's pretty near donghae. would have loved to check out the caves, but there wasn't enough time. >_<

We settled for a lovely bike ride along the ocean instead! The Samcheok Ocean Rail Bike! It cost 60,000won for a 4 seater. They do have 2 seater bikes as well! The view along the way was really lovely!


the entrance of the rail bike station!


rail bikes


view on the way


view inside the tunnel

i think we went thru 2-3 tunnels along the way & each tunnel had a different theme to it.. lovely dioramas though..

we took a stroll along the coastline after we were done!


the obligatory group photo on the beach (courtesy of my wonderful timer function)


welcome to rose valley!

i guess it was a pretty relaxing trip in all.. though it would have been nicer in either spring or autumn..

to round off the end of the work week...

my haul of books! with 2 more on the way!!! :)

received 4 out of the 6 books i ordered via Book Depository on Tues. However, the postman left my books in no 525's mailbox instead of mine! (no 524). n it wasn't the 1st time that this happened! Thank God i managed to claim my books before anything happened.. its peculiar how they can't seem to tell the difference between 524 and 525.. its not even written in korean for goodness sake.. weird..

the new project that i'm on is pretty interesting.. learnt a lot more abt the korean banking system & the differences from the SG banking system. i realised tt SG's banking system is really transparent & a lot more stable. the korean banking system seems to be a mishmash of various small players & a few big fish that eventually swallow up the small ones.. loads of M&As, loans, suspensions going on around here.. in fact, they just suspended 8 savings banks due to a lack of liquidity/failure to meet the BIS ratio(capital ratio).. still prefer banks over manufacturing/regular companies for some reason. its a lot more challenging but yet interesting.. :) hopefully i'll get put on more of such jobs.. hehe. nice Ms and SMs make a whole load of difference. :)

i think i'll try heading to Onnuri this sunday.. think i still prefer english sermons.. hmm.. something's missing somewhere. hopefully i'll find the missing piece to this puzzle on sunday..

2nd week of work!

as the 2nd week of work draws to a close, i suppose its time to evaluate my 2 weeks spent at work. it has been somewhat mild to a certain extent, with not much being asked of me yet. i suppose its cause i'm new + the fact that there are no new jobs on hand at the moment. but well, i've been enjoying this lull in my new job before the jobs start coming in!

thank God for nice mgrs/colleagues/partners who have been ever so willing to show me the ropes. :) am quite excited as to what my 1st job will be. hopefully it'll involve some travelling (crosses fingers). not to china though!

i wonder when spring will come... the weather is nice and all, but not having the house properly heated is a pain. >_< i suppose i'll have to move once the lease is up.. grr. its a pity cause the location is really pretty gd. close to my office n all. there are a few direct buses from my place to the office & its pretty convenient overall. :)

will be heading down to 종로 later to look for the 학원.. its time to start korean lessons again.. plus, the sales have already started & its seriously tempting.. but i shd not shop in order to save for my planned upcoming Europe trip in sept! i'll be setting aside $3,500 for the trip. i hope its enough! it will be fun watching all the Disney characters speak in French. hehehehe.

managed to take more pictures of the office! will post them up v soon! ^^

Nami Island!

went off to Nami Island! we took the KTX to Gapyeong city. took us 1.5 hrs!! freaking long...but the journey was pleasant enough. the scenery i saw on the way was really nice! n travelling in the train was just like how i imagined it to be as i've read in books. it was drizzling on the way there, so it was really cold when we got off. actually, i kinda prefer it this way. hehe. cause it means that we can kinda experience the cool weather without all the snow n blah. if u get what i mean.


















i love how the KTX train stations look. super old sch and all. check out the waiting room pictures a couple of pictures above. its so totally old fashioned! i love it. straight out of a storybook. :) the weather that day really was perfect despite the slight shower. it was kinda cold though...

we took a cab from the station over to the ferry point to Nami Island. it was quite a short ride. hehe. :)

i like how they call Nami Island, Naminara Republic. kinda like its a country in a country. well, it did feel like another country for a moment. esp since we had to take a ferry over n all. Nami Island was totally uncluttered & the air was really clean n all.











Nami Island was totally cool! but there were a lot of tourists there though. n we saw ostriches! ok. 1 ostrich. but still.. it was allowed to roam freely on the island which i thought was really cool. there were bicycles for rental as well. 2 seater/4 seater. hehe. we wanted to rent them initially, but decided against it in the end as it was kinda troublesome. but we didn't really walk round the whole island which was quite a pity. :( if only we had more time. the island was really picturesque & it was super cooling as well. there were loads of sculptures & winter sonata memorabilia scattered around the island as well.




























we had old fashioned dosirak(lunch boxes) for lunch. the food's kept in a metal lunch box, which is heated over a strong fire. u have to wear gloves n shake the tin box to mix the food well. its really not too bad & it was quite an experience eating from that. apparently, this used to be how students would eat in the old days.



























headed for chuncheon next! we had to take a bus from the dock to the intercity bus terminal.







we had dakgalbi here! its supposedly the famous chuncheon dakgalbi!! but all i can say is that its very spicy!














it was raining & freezing @ chuncheon! my teeth were like chattering.... super super super cold! think it was like 15 degrees plus wind & rain!

but it was an enjoyable trip overall. :D