First social network based deal site in Korea for expat and foreigners in Korea like a Group coupon, offering discounts for the best stuff to do, eat, see and buy in Seoul
2011년 8월 30일 화요일
8/13~8/15 Busan in Style with DealiciousKorea
August 18th, 2011 marks the 66th year since Korea has been liberated from the Japanese colonization. DealiciousKorea decided to use this opportunity to acquiant our friends with the Southern part of Korea - BUSAN.
For this occasion, Henry once again, pulled out his magic wand to bring us the deals of highest quality at the price offered.
- First, we rented out 3 Starex vans (accomodates 11 people per vehicle) at the third of the market price and a sixth of a round-trip KTX ride.
- Second, DealciousKorea's lodging was right at the Haeundae beach (behind Bennigans), not Gwanganli. Hello Guest House was only built in 2011 and offered the newest facilities, including BUNK BEDS!!
- Third, we all got to go to Club Mak Tum for free!
- Fourth, our package included a dinner at The Party, rated the best hotel buffet in Busan.
For Mak Tum and The Party, we have to thank our friends who helped us set the deal. Mak Tum never had to work with us to fill out the club since their is always a 100 meter line out the door, especially during the vacation season. Furthermore, The Party is PACKED every dinner, whether it be a weekend or week day--The Party's management never had to set this sort of deal for us either. Thank you once again!
Remember how our bus for the Pirates of Naerincheon event ran into some problems? To avoid such situations, we made sure to drop by a car center before we left for Busan.
Nick's idea. So that we don't get confused as to which van is our van.
Took a while, but we finally arrived at Hello Guest House, right by Haeundae.
Herbie and his friends
Beds!!
Flat screen TV
And breakfast provided :)
Then, we headed over to The Party, one of the top 3 buffets in Busan!
And we went to Club MAK TUM!
Under the 'penus' tower
It was around 11PM. Look at that line.
In the club part.
As we are waiting.
In our VIP room Part 1.
In our VIP room Part 2.
It was around 3AM, and the line is still stretching far back.
Then, a few of us went straight to bed, a few went to drink at the rooftop of the guest house, and others conitnued to party throughout the night.
Next day was Sunday, which meant a Church day for Henry and Herbie. Henry convinced me and Woohyun to tag along to Church under the promise that he will buy us 밀면, Busan's special noodle dish. We were all slightly hungover from the previous night's playing but managed to actually pay attention to the sermon (except for Herbie, who slept through a good 90% of the service).
Then...we had LUNCH!
밀면 with broth
Herbie looks like that cuz he just woke up from Church
Hungover Woohyun
밀면 without broth
After lunch, we went over to Haeundae to hang out, went shopping, had more food, and..drove over to Gwangahnli! When we got to Gwangahnli, we split up, and the DealKo team with a few other friends drove to Yasumi, an izakaya owned by Henry and Nick's friend.
Oh, and before we headed over to Yasumi, we decided to hang out at the Gwangahnli Beach for a bit.
Margaret, Me, and Gloria
Sohyun and Woohyun
Herbie and Layne
Layne and Aidan
Woohyun and Nick
And..we went to Yasumi, where we ate a lot, drank a lot of Busan's very own sojus, and celebrated Henry's 3X birthday.
Entrance
Hanging out
Our friend cooking
Okonomiyaki
Yakidori
Okonomiyaki posing
Happy birthday, Henry!
Henry wishing for a new car
He looks 21 :)
Afterwards, some of us went back to Haeundae to hang out while others stayed in Gwangahnli. Henry and Woohyun went to Mak Tum to say hi to the manager (and then got drunk and dance throughout the night), Herbie and I, with some other friends, went over to a bar, and Nick..being the old man he is took it easy and stayed at the guest house.
Now, on day 3, which was a Monday and also the day that we were going to head over to Seoul, I had Henry promise to take all of us to try 돼지국밥 (pork soup..does not sound very appetizing, but it's actually delish~). Fortunately, most of our peeps also wanted to have some of that 돼지국밥, and we all headed over to a random 돼지국밥 restaurant by our guest house.
Walking over
Woohyun explaining to me why I should get on the van that he is driving (lucky that I did!)
Waiting for food
Sadly, we did not take any pictures of the 돼지국밥. We were all (at least the people with a camera) overwhelmed by the thickness of the soup and flavorful meat.
After we were done eating, we had a pepper eating contest..
Then, we checked out and left for Seoul!!
Bye Hello Guest House
Bye Busan Baby
We actually never went to that hof..
It took us...6 hours to get back to Seoul. Luckily, I was in Woohyun's van, and aside from the sudden panic of being low on gas, we got back safely to Seoul. As for Herbie's van, its fan-belt got disconnected, and the Herbie van folks got stranded for an hour or so.
Lesson from the trip: Take the KTX or get a charter bus or take the plane.
As for the Busan trip this time, van travel was the most affordable..hopefully next time, we can actually travel on a private jet..
Fenchurch Korea...The first time I've ever seen its clothing (at least when I was exposed to the brand with awareness) was when I met Henry for the second time. We had a meeting almost every night, and Henry always wore the same old sweater that said Fenchurch on it. Initially, I thought it was some sweater made by a church for an in-church group.
Then, we had our first opening party, which led me to realize the value of Fenchurch wear.
Dae-Joon Kim--Henry's old friend from Busan and the CEO of Fenchurch Korea.
Dae-Joong Kim, Fenchurch's very own CEO in Korea and Henry's old friend, decided to provide us with 50 Fenchurch t-shirts. My initial thoughts were 'Why would we want to wear some church group sweater?' until I looked online to find out that Fenchurch is a fairly well recognized brand in Great Britain. Not only that, its articles are EXPENSIVE! I mean, a t-shirt costed 49,000 won. A t-shirt!
Furthermore, when I saw the long line at the door of Soundholicity with people waiting to get the Fenchurch t-shirt, I came to observe the marketability of the Fenchurch brand.
Look at that line!
So..it took me a while to realize what Fenchurch was, but I was not alone. Most Koreans or foreigners in Korea do think Fenchurch is a name of a church. To spread the name of Fenchurch throughout Korea, Mr. Kim decided to team up with Coupang, one of the leading social commerces in Korea and of course DealiciousKorea, one of..the world dominating communities to be.
I am especially proud to present the Fenchurch t-shirts on our website at the lowest price in Korea. Cheaper than Coupang, cheaper than any other Fenchurch dealers.
A 49,000 won shirt is now 9,500 won through www.dealiciouskorea.com. I know what I am getting my mom and sister for Christmas ;).
- Not because of the quality of the show but more because of the way that it was organized.
Because we had such a good turn out the last time we had the Nanta discount deal, Henry and Herbie managed to talk to the manager, and we were able to get 30 discounted seats for Fever Night.
Originally the 30 seats had to be in some combination of 1st and 2nd floor. Then, some other organizational issues popped up from the Nanta side (e.g., no 2nd floor seats being available, emerging the 8:00pm show with the 10:30pm show, etc.), but DealiciousKorea was lucky enough to use the opportunity to get all of our 30 seats as 1st floor seats.
Now, the deal seemed to be working out perfectly, and since we had done the same event before, the DealiciousKorea gang decided to focus more of our time on working on the website and specifying the Busan Trip.
BAD IDEA..........................
Stupid thing DealKo did #1: Announcing the wrong show time
Yeah..The show time was 8pm. We wrote 8:30pm. We had 8:30pm on for 2 weeks. None of us saw it.
Stupid thing DealKo did #2: Not double checking the guest list
We missed 2 people our guest list. First time that has ever happened, and something that will never happen again.
Just when we thought we got the worst of it, our friends had issues with getting the 1 free drink deal at Mansion (included in the event, sponsored and planned by Nanta). Herbie probably lost 5 lbs from all the stress that night...
All in all, despite the mishaps, the show itself was wonderful, and we were once again reminded that this was THE must see show in Korea.
Not valid in Yongsan US military base unit 8, Yongsan Town House, Osan Airbase, Yeoju Chelsea, and Ocean World
Not valid with other offers.
All DealiciousKorea terms apply.
The Scoop: What gives you that wake up jolt in the morning and restless afternoons? What gives you an excuse to take a break from whatever you were doing? For many of us, the answer is COFFEE. Sadly in Korea, coffee is expensive. That $1.50 cup of today’s coffee in the US is $3.00 in Korea. A cup of latte that you can get for $3.00 in the States is over $4.00 in Seoul, and in some cafés, you are even charged for ice!! We here at Dealicious Korea understand your need for the caffeine. This is why we are bringing you this 50% off deal for a Starbucks caffé latte. Now, don’t feel like you are overspending your money on some black water and milk. You deserve it, and you need it to get through your day.
I don't even remember why I went to Soundholicity. I mean, I went to meet Michael Suh (Good Times Productions), Herbie, and the owner of Soundholicity. We had a few questions to ask, and afterwards, we were supposed to part.
However, one discussion led to another, and we eventually ended up planning a summer themed party. We came up with an idea of having a stop light party with waiters like a booking club. These waiters, we first wanted to call them cupids, but since the majority of the cupids were and are still overweight (majority meaning the DealKo board members), Victoria and I came up with the name "Cupig."
Cupig #0: Woo Hyun!! The ONLY ONE WHO TOOK OFF HIS SHIRT!!!
Cupig #1: Jaime, DealKo VIP member
Cupig #2: Herbie, DealKo Board Member. Trying to cover his stomach with a fake six pack.
She just wanted to try on the costume.
Cupig #3: Nick, DealKo Board Member. Nick is currently on a diet.
The fat cupigs and Layne.
With all of the costumes on, we got ready to get the party started.
Setting up the table.
Turned on the television screens.
Doors open!
Come in~!
To ease the mingling process, our friend Ginny and Nick the Cupig went up on stage to MC and lead group games for alcohol prizes.
Ginny and Nick, Cupig #3.
Dance to win a bottle of Tequila!
And the party really started..
Music presented to you by Dante.
Overall, it was a great night (or so I hear) despite the rain.
