Where to get discount coupons for your Korea Holiday?

by BZMOMMY // April 6, 2016 // 7 Comments

One of the many important things to do when planning for your Korea Holiday, is to (in my humble opinion) print out all the discount coupons which you can find online. I simply love the discount coupons, and I used them for all my previous 3 trips to Seoul. Besides satisfying my thrill of knowing that I am smarter than the person next to me who is paying a full price for the same thing (I am evil I agree :p) , the coupons can actually help us to save some money to spend on other areas (like shopping for more face masks!).

Imagine, saving 6000 won (or 25% per ticket) for 2 persons’ admission fees to Alive Museum by using pre-printed discount coupons – and that’s 3 servings of Tteokbokki that I can enjoy from the street stall!

So what are you waiting for?

1. Korea Tourism Organization

Korea discount coupons 4

Direct link as at time of writing this entry : http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/IngEventMain.kto?func_name=couponList&lang_se=ENG&md=enu

2. Visit Korea Committee

Direct link as at time of writing this entry : http://www.vkc.or.kr/en/benefit/coupon.asp

3. Trazy

Direct link as at time of writing this entry : https://www.trazy.com/discount-coupon/seoul-korea

4. Konest – in Mandarin

Click on “优惠券”。

Korea discount coupons 2

Direct link as at time of writing this entry : http://cn.konest.com/contents/coupon_list.html

5. Travel Note – in Mandarin

Click on “优惠券”。

Korea discount coupons 6

Direct link as at time of writing this entry : http://www.travelnote.tw/coupon

6. ZaiSeoul 在首尔 – in Mandarin

Korea discount coupons 7

Direct link as at time of writing this entry : http://www.zaiseoul.com/coupon?l=coupon

7. Seoul Travel Pass

Korea discount coupons 5

Direct link as at time of writing this entry : http://seoultravelpass.com/travelpass/_html/coupon.php

8. Korea Grand Sale

If you happen to travel in Jan, Feb, Aug to Oct period, do check out whether the Korea Grand Sale is going on. There are many more coupons to use! Even if you do not travel within these periods, it doesn’t hurt to just click the site and check..who knows, they may change their yearly grand sale period! 🙂

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Don’t say I never warn you – you may be overwhelmed with the number of coupons which you can see in each of the websites above.

Here’s some of my personal tips to share :

The coupons are usually grouped by business types and/or areas. Some helping words for areas : 明洞=Myeongdong. 东大门=Dongdaemun 弘大=Hongdae 仁寺洞=Insadong 梨大=Ewha 新村=Sinchon 南大門=Namdaemun 市廳/光化門=City Hall/Gwanghwamun 釜山=Busan
Please take note of the validity period and the terms and conditions (such as minimum spend, discount or free gifts etc).
Some of the coupons are also “branch-specified”, example, coupon for Missha Dongdaemun branch is not valid for use in Meyongdong branch. For such coupons, there are usually a map on the coupon which will specify the branch that the coupon is valid for use.
Some of the discount coupons are the same across different websites, and some are not. So do your comparisons, you may be in for a surprise sometimes!
I will clip the printed discount coupons by areas first (eg, Myeongdong, Dongdaemun), and then arrange them according to my planned itinerary (Day 1 planned areas, Day 2 planned areas). I will then put them into a A4 size envelope and bring it along with me up the plane. No prizes for guessing why! (Leave me a message if you can’t guess why, I am happy to share with you my reasons :D)
Throw away the unused coupons into recycle bins in Korea before coming back. There’s no need to lug them back 😉

Ready for more discount coupons? 😀

When you reach Korea, look out for more discount coupons that are sometimes given together when you purchase T-Money card and/or sightseeing admission tickets. When you pass by Tourist Information counters, do pick up some free travel guide booklets/brochures/books. There are some books that come with pages of discount coupons as well!

Chicken Mushroom Stew

by BZMOMMY // March 22, 2016 // No Comments

Sometimes I felt so lazy to cook. Probably due to the hot weather, or there are just too many things to do instead of spending that 1 hour standing in the kitchen. I am lazy, I know. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a cooking machine that automates the whole process of cooking, including cutting, marinating etc, to serving the dish in the taste that the family like?

Found this recipe via the internet a few years ago and saved it in my phone. I can’t seem to find the actual link to the site anymore :(. It’s a delicious stew that delights the kids and the man in the house. The kids love the gravy with their rice and the man loves the gravy-soaked mushrooms.

Chicken Mushroom Stew

Author: Adapted from recipe found online

Recipe type: Chinese

Ingredients

1 Onion
A few slices of ginger
Some chopped garlic
Cooking Oil
10-15 pcs of Chicken Mid Joints
A handful of dried mushrooms - around 10 to 15
1-2 carrots
2 potatoes
(Optional) Enoki mushroom
(Optional) Snow peas

Marination

Light soya sauce
Sugar
dash of pepper

Sauce

2 cups water
5 tablespoons of oyster sauce
2 teaspoons of light soya sauce
2 teaspoons of sugar

Instructions

Preparation

Marinate the chicken and leave it for 4 hours.
Soak the dried mushroom for at least 4 hours, remove the stem
Wash the carrots & potatoes, remove the skin and cut to odd size small chunks
Cut the onion into small chunks.
Mix the sauces into a bowl, exclude the water

Cooking Time

Heat the pan, add oil and stir fry ginger slices and chopped garlic until fragrant.
Add onion and saute. (Picture 1)
When the onion gets transparent, add in chicken, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and stir fry about 3 mins. (Picture 2)
Add in the sauces and stir about 1 min. (Picture 3)
Add in the water (water should briefly cover the items in the pan and bring it to boil. (Picture 4)
Once the water boil, cover and simmer for about 10 mins under medium heat. (Picture 5)
Give a good stir. If you want to add Enoki Mushroom or snow peas, this is the time to add and let it cook briefly.
Ready to serve!

The original recipe uses 1 cup of water and uses corn starch to thicken the gravy before serving. However, the kids love the gravy and hence I add in more liquid and omit the thickening part. Besides, mushrooms and potatoes soak up liquid and hence this proportion of sauces work well for me.

Collages66-001

A bowl of warm chicken mushroom stew is perfect for a lazy mom like me.

This is one of the lunch box I packed for hubby and the mushrooms made him a happy man during his lunch at work. 🙂

BnB in Seoul – 5 things you need to know when renting a BnB during winter time

by BZMOMMY // February 27, 2016 // No Comments

Oh My Gosh.. a long time since I actually wrote here. It was such a busy period ever since my last entry (that’s Oct 2015!) – family travel, school holidays, Christmas, having a healthier routine, Chinese New Year, businesses, work – WOW! Everything seem to be happening so quickly and Dang, it had been 4.5 months!

We brought the kids to Korea in Nov 2015, together with my in-laws. We had a fun 11 days there and we got to experience the end of autumn and the start of winter (SNOW!). 2 seasons in a trip! We were fortunate to see the colourful trees, falling leaves and experience the first snow in Seoul. Though we were not able to try out skiing or sledding (as the snow was not thick enough and the skiing resort was not in full operation yet), seeing both seasons and the snow for the first time (for all 6 of us!) was already a very fulfilled trip!

This is the 3rd trip to Seoul for both hubby and me. Yet there’s still so many places we had not left our footprints, and so much to discover or to try there. In our previous trips, we stayed in hotels located in popular areas – Myeongdong and Dongdaemun. These are wonderful places to stay because they are very conveniently located and there’s shopping and eateries just at the foot of the hotel!

For this trip which hubby & I became the tour planner + tour guide, we decided to try BnB as it’s quite expensive to book hotel rooms for all 6 of us. If we go by per night basis, a hotel accommodation for 10 nights will be close to SGD$4,000 for 2 rooms!

After some research, we decided to book a room through BnBHero. This room can accommodate all 6 of us, a loft kind of room and is located in another popular area – Hongdae. It’s just 1 min walk from the subway station, and there are a lot of shopping and eateries around the residence. Best of all, it cost us about SGD$2,130 (including fees charged by BnBHero) for the 10-night accommodation!

The photos published on the website are quite true to what received us, a very much relieved to me. This is one of the risks that we all need to accept if we want to book a BnB room. I didn’t get to take much pictures of the room because we were busy with the kids and planning for the next move – there was hardly time for me to rest there, let alone taking photos. Besides, the kids were so excited when they saw the room and started exploring and “chopping” their beds with their smelly “chow chow” – making it almost impossible to take good pictures.

These are the 2 photos which I snapped, when everyone else were at the doorway. 😀

Pardon for the clothes 😀

Along with the many tips which you can find on the internet, on the things to take note of when renting a BnB (such as reading reviews, creating rapport with the owner, be vigilant and stay safe etc), here’s my tips for renting a BnB in Seoul, during a winter period :

1. Carpeted or non-carpeted?

If the room is carpeted, it provides warmth during winter period. You don’t get a cold shock that run through the spine when you were in that dreamy state and first land your feet on the floor. However, if you are worried about the cleanliness, or allergic to carpets, then go for a non-carpeted room. Read on other tips below to stay warm in a non carpeted BnB room.

2. Heating Facilities

There’s definitely some form of heating facilities in countries that experience the 4 seasons. However, it is important to know the type of heating facilities available in the accommodation – is it floor heating? room heating? Portable heating? Heating controlled by the building?

In the case of a non-carpeted room, it’s likely to have floor heating facilities. In this room that we rented, the owner also provided a portable heater – which is super useful when we woke up in the freezing cold morning, or after our shower. It’s a saver to the kids, to the elderly and even to me who is afraid of cold!

The owner had also provided bed heater for each of the beds. This is my first time knowing there’s such a thing (ok, I am sua-ku). Basically there’s a pad below the mattress cover and you can adjust the temperature, and it will provide warmth to the sleeper through the cold night.

3. Bedroom Slippers

Ok, maybe this is a weird tip. However, we will usually miss this out because hotels provide them! But it’s a saver in a non-carpeted room. So, do find out from the owner whether they provide these and enough for everybody, if not, bring your own (Daiso sells them at $2 each!) !

4. Clothes Hangers / Clothes Racks

Another weird tip, but important one. You saw that huge clothes rack in the picture which I took? It’s extremely useful during winter time and long stay because there’s just so many clothes to air for the 6 of us! Imagine the layers of clothes which we wore each day, and the wet jackets after being in the snow or sleet! We need to air them dry and the hangers, cloths pegs and racks are Important!

5. Hair Dryer

We may be so used to the basic amenities that are provided by hotels and this could be something which new BnB users may forget. It’s damaging to have wet hair after shower in winter – for the young kids, elderly and myself. It’s easy to catch a cold and a really bad one if we do not keep ourselves warm enough in winter. So blow those wet hair dry after shower, or use it to do a quick blow to dry wet clothes 🙂

There you go, 5 simple yet usually neglected pointers to consider when renting a BnB in Seoul during the winter travel. If you ask me whether I will rent a BnB again, my answer is a definite Yes!

Paid Surveys – 6 Legitimate Survey Sites that pay you for your opinions in Singapore

by BZMOMMY // October 10, 2015 // 4 Comments

I don’t like to idle. I don’t quite like the idea of spending my precious time doing nothing, or feeling bored.

So when I have some pockets of time available, I will participate in online surveys to earn points which I can accumulate to redeem shopping vouchers or extra cash!

Here’s some of the sites which you can participate, and I personally tested and redeemed vouchers or cash from!

1. Your Voice

http://www.yourvoice.com.sg/

Amazon Gift Card, Vouchers from NTUC, Waston, Robinson, Takashimaya etc. Points do not expire.

The redemption vouchers reached me in an amazing speed – within a few days!

2. AIP Online Surveys

https://sg.m.aipsurveys.com/

Redeem for NTUC Vouchers. EPoints will expire after 1 year from the last date you logged in to your “My Page”.

3. Your Say

http://www.yoursay.com/registration?c=SG

Minimum draw out amount via Paypal is $12.50USD, there’s a 2% handling charge and thus payment is $12.25 USD. Almost immediate deposit of the redemption amount into Paypal!

4. My Survey

http://www.mysurvey.com.sg/index.cfm?action=Main.join&r=MYSURVEY

Points expire 2 years from the date of last member activity (eg, logging in, completing survey etc). Redeem cash paid via Paypal or various shopping vouchers. Take note that they do not allow logging in the site doing surveys while you are overseas and they will suspend account if you do that – for reason(s) which I don’t know why? My account was suspended once as I might had logged in while in overseas (Ops, holiday also cannot stand having idle time).

My redemption for Paypal cash took about 1.5 weeks to receive.

5. Plus! Online Panel

https://plus.micropanel.com/a/panel.do?id=8916&languageID=0

If you are a Plus! cardholder, you are already part of this programme.

Earn LinkPoints which you can accumulate to redeem NTUC vouchers or offset NTUC partial purchase amount.

Best part : if you do not belong to the target audience whom they are looking for, you will still get 30 points most of the time by just clicking on the survey link!

6. Toluna

https://sg.toluna.com/

Earn points for shopping vouchers! Points earned will remain valid for 16 months, so remember to redeem the points! Exchange points for NTUC vouchers, or direct cash into PayPal account. It takes 4-6 weeks to process the payment. I applied it on 01 Sep, and only got the payment on 09 Oct.

There you have it, the 6 legitimate sites which you can earn a little extra. I have received cash/vouchers amount near to $300 from these survey sites ever since I started. It’s not a big sum if we look at the length of time that we need to accumulate to this amount. However, it is that extra way to change idle time to something useful for myself.

Hello, from us!

by BZMOMMY // September 23, 2015 // No Comments

🙂

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

by BZMOMMY // August 30, 2015 // No Comments

This is an easy bake and for a novice like me, it’s really not that difficult to make!

I cannot remember where I got this recipe from, and I knew that I did some modification to the original recipe. It turn out pretty well and even the kids love them!

I used Dilmah tea bags as that’s what available for me at the time I went to supermarket. You can use other preferred brands.

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

Author: Adapted from somewhere which I forgot where

Recipe type: Cookies

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter
70g castor sugar
40g brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
200g cake flour
3 earl grey teabags

Instructions

Soften butter under room temperature.
Place soften butter, castor sugar and brown sugar together and beat until it is creamy and fluffy.
Add in the egg and vanilla essence, and mix well.
Sift cake flour and baking powder into the mixture, mix well.
Cut open the teabags and pour the tea leaves into the mixture, mix well. (If the tea leaves are coarse, please cut them finely first)
Pour the mixture into a piping bag.
Line the baking tray with baking paper.
Preheat oven at 170 Degree Celsius.
Cut the tip of the piping bag (disposable), pipe the mixture on the baking tray. About 1.5 round for each cookie.
Bake for 12-15 minutes

Let the cookies cool down before storing them in a air-tight container. Enjoy! 🙂

Jubilee Weekend – SG50

by BZMOMMY // August 10, 2015 // No Comments

It’s the Jubilee Weekend here in Singapore! There are many activities around Singapore, some of them free and the rest with discounted prices.

We have 4 no-work & no-school (Friday to Monday) days. Initially I wanted to bring the kids to enjoy the free Science Centre /Snow City / Omni Theatre experience but we abandoned the idea as we reckon that it will be a day of queues. Instead, we enjoyed the holidays with a visit to Singapore Sports Hub and plenty of home-cooked food from my mother & in-laws.

We brought my parents to Singapore Sports Hub on Saturday. It’s a transformation from the old National Stadium which I think my parents will want to see and be there. Coincidentally there was a carnival by OCBC and we participated in some of old-school games there.

My dad triumphed the gasing game and from his smile when he threw the top down, I felt that he had re-lived his childhood once again. After that, my dad taught Dawn about the “go-li” game and Dawn tried the game together with him.

It’s always great to see the kids smiling and happy, and they are contented with their “sword” balloons which they queued up together and waited for it.

We took a walk along Kallang Basin and the scenic is beautiful! I guess it is a popular place for couples & families to come by in the night too.

We took a family photo with the National Stadium behind us. 🙂

We woke up early on National Day 09 August and watched the recorded Proclamation on TV.

We had also received the Proclamation of Independence Card in our household Fun Pack. I wanted to include this here so that the girls will remember about this one day when they read my musings. 有国才有家！

I was greeted with breakfast prepared by BZDaddy. Thumbs up for someone who seldom cooks! 🙂

That pretty much sums up our long weekend. I used the opportunity to rest and “nua” as much as I can. It’s a holiday that we rested and spent time with our family and love ones.

I went to Daiso and pick up this little case to house the Singa that was given in the Household Fun Pack. I had 3 because my parents and my in-laws passed us theirs. I housed them together with the Disney figurines as I didn’t want to buy an extra case. Do they look weird together?

Blessed with contest wins & extra cash!

by BZMOMMY // July 31, 2015 // No Comments

I am quite blessed this year, with a few wins that are significant.

Started the year with winning a Refa Active that is retailing at S$450.

Then, I got a $50 Le Petit Society shopping voucher in a contest hosted by Simply Her and had a good shopping spree over the internet.

And now, I won $50 for the Travel Smart Rewards auto spin – first time winning such an amount! You can read more about Travel Smart Rewards here.

Looking forward to more great wins! 🙂

7 space-saving items for small homes that you can get from Daiso in Singapore!

by BZMOMMY // July 26, 2015 // 10 Comments

I love Daiso. Everything in store is $2 each. Some finds in store gave me solutions to issues which I am stuck with before.

I shifted to a small apartment last year and the kitchen and the bedrooms are small at my first glance. I wasn’t used to the space, let along keeping all the stuff we had before into this small place, without cluttering the whole place.

These are my amazing finds from Daiso, and they helped me! These are some space saving ideas for small homes!

1. Wire Net

When the counter top or shelf space has ran out, explore the space on the wall & doors. You will be amazed with the extra storage space that you can create by just adding in wire net or racks.

The wire nets in Daiso

I created this space for my 2 girls to hang their drawings & art crafts in their small bedroom. The pinkish pegs are from Daiso too!

My household shelter (aka bomb shelter) has it’s entrance in the kitchen. The metal door is a saver to add space to my very tiny kitchen. Add some magnet hooks, with a wire net and a few baskets, that’s the home for the potatoes, onions & garlic!

I have 2 balconies and 1 of it is my little home garden. I hang up all my gardening tools and this kept my balcony tidy.

2. Extension Poles / Stretching Poles / Tension Poles

These amazing poles creates layers in spaces that you never once thought was useful. It comes in different length. Take the measurement of the space which you intend to create layers, and chose the correct length.

This is what I did for my kitchen, on top of the sink. I was frustrated initially because I can’t find a suitable space to hang some kitchen accessories. Simple solution by using the extension pole!

Check out the various ideas across the web! You will be amazed!

Idea & photo source from http://joyfulhomemaking.com/2011/10/organizing-those-little-things.html

Idea & photo source from http://www.jenthousandwords.com/2010/09/under-my-sink.html

3. Shelf Risers

Shelf Risers help to create another layer of space. Another useful point about such shelf riser is it reduces the need to take out everything when reaching for something that was stacked at the bottom.

This is from one of my kitchen cabinet. By adding the shelf riser, it adds another layer for me to stuff more things. 😀

Pardon for the mess…a little corner of my work place which I stacked small boxes or my packing tools box

4. Vacuum Bags

Tight with space in your wardrobe? Use vacuum seal bags to compact those winter jackets, or even clothes which you seldom wear but still want to keep. It can reduce at least or more than half of the space they originally will take up. There are different sizes of vacuum bags available. The most common ones are those that require a vacuum to “suck” out the air in order to compact the bag.

However, if you are like me who doesn’t have a proper vacuum machine at home, there are also bags which do not require the machine to do the job. And they are equally good! Handy to bring to travel too!

5. Fridge containers

When the living space is small, the appliances are smaller too. These little holders which can be hang on the fridge shelves are amazing little tools to add that space that you need to place the little packets of chilli or small items.

Here’s how my fridge door looks like after adding 2 of the holders :

6. Door Hanger

These door hangers simply just add a home to that pair of worn jeans (I wear my jeans at least 2x before a wash! ops!) or your hangbag. You know, instead of hanging them at the window which is quite unsightly sometimes.

7. Hanger Connector Hook

Most of the wardrobes are horizontal-challenged because we add new clothes more often than house-keep the old clothes. The wardrobes are seldom vertical-challenged as the standard wardrobe size will usually cater for long dresses. With these connector hook, you can turn the vertical space into useful space, for short items such as tops, skirts etc.

Besides the items mentioned above, I believe there are others amazing items which can give creative ways to make small living space keep more things and in a neater way. Share some of your great finds with me!

The cute things that a 4 year old will say – Part 2

by BZMOMMY // June 27, 2015 // No Comments

We were on the way to my mom’s house, with Eva at the back seat. Daddy was the driver (as always).

He drove over a speed hump….with a higher speed than his usual speed whenever he cross a speed hump.

Eva exclaimed : Papa, you not careful ah??!!

Daddy : Why?

Eva : I (felt a) bump and I flew up like a cute little bird!

Daddy : ……….

Me : [Laugh out loud]

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Daddy drove to a petrol station and left the car to pump and pay for the petrol. Both Eva and I stayed in the car.

* Peep Peep is the name of our car, name given by the 2 girls.

Eva : Mommy, why does Peep Peep need to take his dinner now?

Me : Huh? [wondering what is Eva trying to say]

Me : Oh! She needs to eat in order to continue to bring us to places.

Eva : Peep Peep only needs to eat once after a long time? Not like us?

Me : Yes, darling.

Eva : Why?

Me : Hmmm… Peep Peep has a big stomach!

Eva : Peep Peep eats so much! (she is satisfied with my answer?! phew!)

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