Diary

I’ve booked flights and a hotel to visit Seoul, South Korea. I decided I wanted to go after reading the book In Search of the Elusive African Natto. The author mentions cheonggukjang, a Korean dish similar to Japanese natto, and I’d like to try it. I’d also like to visit the DMZ, which is discussed in the book as well.

The trip costs roughly ¥35,000 on Trip.com—actually about ¥33,000 after applying a points discount—and the DMZ tour is around ¥5,000. I’m hoping to keep the total under ¥50,000.

References

• Discovering Natto: In Search of the Elusive African Natto – 008/100 –
• Cheonggukjang – Wikipedia
• DMZ Tour from Seoul – Trip.com
• Seoul Flight & Hotel Package – Trip.com

Original statements

I booked air tickets and hotel to visit Seoul in Korea. I became to want to visit Korea, as I read the book “In Search of the Elusive African Natto”. This book pointed out Cheonggukjang in Korea which is a food likes Natto in Japan. So I would like to eat it. Additionally I would like to visit DMZ, this was also written in the book.

The travel costs about 35,000 yen on Trip.com (actually, I paid about 33,000 yen with point discount). And the DMZ excursion costs about 5,000 yen on Trip.com. I hope that all of the costs will under 50,000 yen.

IELTS Improvement Points

-Collocation: book flights
　→ Natural verb–noun pairing for purchasing air tickets; sounds fluent in travel contexts.

-Collocation: keep the total under [amount]
　→ Common budgeting phrase showing control of costs; useful in Task 1 data commentaries.

-Collocation: apply a points discount
　→ Typical expression for using loyalty points; demonstrates precise verb choice.

-Template: I’d like to + base verb
　→ Polite way to express desires or plans; handy for Speaking Part 1 and Part 2.

-Template: I’m hoping to + base verb
　→ Signals a future intention with slight uncertainty; adds nuance to goal statements.

-Template: after + ‑ing (e.g. after reading)
　→ Cohesive device linking actions and results; shows complex‑sentence control.

-Vocabulary: roughly
　→ Adverb meaning “approximately”; ideal for reporting figures without over‑precision.

-Vocabulary: Demilitarised Zone (DMZ)
　→ Specific geopolitical term; demonstrates range and topic flexibility.

-Vocabulary: similar to
　→ Comparative phrase richer than simple “like”; helps vary sentence structures.

-Vocabulary: mentions (as in “the author mentions”)
　→ Useful reporting verb for summarising sources; raises academic register.