Adrenaline..

Seoul Day-14

May 26, 2013

Couldn't really believe it, but today was the last day of our activities together before going on separate ways tomorrow.  We were going to an amusement park for today and have fun to out heart contents. Since the park was really far, we were supposedly to leave the temple by 7:30a.m. but we were pretty much behind the schedule. We missed a subway and to make things worse, we also missed a bus that only come once in about 40 minutes. And although all of us managed to squeezed into the next bus, all the seats were taken and there were many people who were standing including us. It felt like all of the standing passengers were touching each other and that made me extremely uncomfortable and to topped it all, that was not a short ride. If I was not mistaken, it took about 40 minutes to arrive to our destination where we took another free shuttle bus to Everland.

Everland entrance

Although it was still morning, a lot of people were already gathered in front of its main gate and everyone seems to be in a happy mood, especially little children. Interestingly, for the first time, I heard there was such thing as foreigner discount. I don't think I ever heard or received this kind of discount before and it amazed me. So being a foreigner does had its own merit I guess. Another thing that attract

Her outfit looks so pretty and cute! >_<

my attention was how pretty their outfit was. It was pink and gave a sense of gentleness and it was complemented perfectly with wide-rimmed hat. Stepping into the theme park felt like stepping into some magical land thanks to the music that kept on playing and bright colored props they use such as a huge colorful tree.

While I and Jon on Double Rock Spin. It
was awesome!

It was a huge park with a lot of rides available and interesting places to see. The park was divided into several categories such as American Adventure, Magic Land and Zootopia. However, most of the popular rides had a pretty long line waiting and consumed a lot of time. For instance, for one of the ride that I, Jon and Spencer rode, Rolling X-Train, we had to wait in line for about half an hour before our turn and the ride does not even seemed to last for more that 1 minute. But since that was the first time I rode roller coaster, I was kind of glad it wasn't super long or else... However, due to all these waiting, we don't have enough time to ride a lot of the other rides we decided to visit shops and the European Adventure. It was really pretty with flowers everywhere and that was the place where most families

Taking a break..

chose to rest and eat their snacks or lunch. In these area, there was a rose garden where a lot of couples were strolling around while holding each others hand. Indeed, with all the full-bloomed roses shaped into hearts and faint sweet smell of roses, it created a rather romantic atmosphere.

Forever alone =.=ll

But then again, couples in Korea were pretty different that couples in Malaysia or in the States. Firstly, as being mentioned in Korean textbook that we used last semester, in general Koreans like to touch, things and human, a lot. For instance, its pretty common here to see high school or college girls linking arms while walking and shopping or guys putting their arm on their guy friends. And in dating culture, although there were more couples kissing openly in public in the US, I think Korean couples displayed their skinship more. It was rare to see couples that were not touching each other in Korea like holding hands, hand on the waist, girls linking their arm

Pororo couple.. hmm..

with their boyfriend or guys leaning on their girlfriend's shoulder in the subway. Another dating culture that was really obvious in Korea was the way they dressed. And I dare to bet that 98%, if not 100%, couples in Korea own at least a matching cloth or accessories with their partner. It could be anything like similar but not the same colored shirt, stripes t-shirt, shoes, pants, matching animal ears or even the exact same shirt. It was as if their skinship was not obvious enough to declare they were dating, matching apparels helped to bolster their silence declaration. While I think it looks pretty funny sometimes and I don't think I would be able to do that ever, there were some couples that looked pretty cute wearing matching attire. All of us became more aware of matching couples since one of us secretly collecting pictures of these couples as his collection. And I was sure in Everland, he would managed to snap a lot interesting pictures.

Its Caribbean Bay, people! 

We had lunch in one of the restaurants available in the area and luckily they served seafood spaghetti. When we were done, all of us except Aidan and Brandon left Everland and went to Caribbean Bay which was right next to each other. I could never believe that I actually would be able to go that place ever since I first saw it being promoted by 2PM, SNSD and Bae Suzy  in YouTube. Thanks to hundreds of people there, I managed to blend in(or I believe so) and join the rest and play together. However, getting into the women changing room gave a rather big shocked to me. Although I was perfectly aware of how Korean would be naked in "jjimjilbang" and thus I was supposed to be sort of prepared

Just being a little bit crazy.. =p

for it, I guess knowing and experiencing things were two different matters. I really couldn't take it and it felt extremely, extremely weird to me. I was basically rushing from the locker to the restroom to change and went out. We were in the wetworld for about 2 hours and as we came few days too early for all the rides to be open, the lines formed for the rides were much longer and time consuming. In the end, we only managed to ride one attraction and just swam around.

Dessert hunting begins!

Around 5:30pm, I decided to go home early with Prof Ahn, Elise, Spencer, and Christine as Elise and Spencer need to pack their stuff since they were leaving early in the morning in the next day. It was a long way back and took about two hours before we arrived at the temple. As we were pretty hungry, we dropped our stuff and went to dinner right away in Blacksmith. It was an awesome dinner and since I didn't made it on time to order for dessert, we went to a dessert/cake hunting before we headed home. Most of the cafes were closed since it was pretty late but luckily we found one and I bought one of my favorite dessert, blueberry cheesecake.

Picnic Day!

Seoul Day-13

May 25, 2013

I woke up feeling rather hyper today for we were going for  picnic and it had been quite a while since the last time I've been to one. So, the plan was we would go to a supermarket or some sort of and buy what we wanted to eat during our picnic and we would go picnic!

Therefore, we walked from our hostel to Lotte Mall and went to the basement floor where the groceries and cooked food were sold. Prof Ahn gave us some time so we could chose what we want and he would pay all of them all together. While I felt like there was not that many options were available for biscuits and other pre-packed food, It was certainly hard to chose food for the "cooked-food-section" or as in Malaysia I would called it "food court." I wasn't sure if that was the best word to describe it though. There was wide range of food such as breads, cakes, salads, japanese food, Chinese food and many more. Most of us ended up buying fruits and other healthier snacks while I bought tuna kimbap and chocolates biscuits for myself. I also bought some buns for myself. It took us a while to be done and we were then off to our picnic destination by subway.

Talk about diversity.. ^^

Professor Ahn chose a park located next to Banpo Bridge so we could see the beautiful Rainbow Bridge at night. When we arrived, apparently it wasn't really the kind of park that I had in my mind where there would be flat ground with green grasses and people lying down on mats. Instead, the earth was covered with some type of yellow-flowered plants which looked really, really pretty. The plant was pretty tall, so I could hardly see anything over it and when the wind was blowing, it danced to the wind and sent a sense of calmness and peacefulness to me. I don't really remember who did, but someone told us that it was canola and for a moment, I

was amazed how technology managed to squeeze vegetable oil out of that slim, slender plant.

Working on my cross-stitch

If we continued to walk, we would eventually arrived at the greenery field that I imagined but it was such a bright day and all we wanted was to find a shade somewhere. We ended up hanging out under three gazebos and started to munch on whatever we bought earlier. Then, some us took a bench each and slept while some just lie down on the floor and started chatting. I wasn't that sleepy and it was so hot that I preferred my body won't be in contact of anything which I thought would prevent the wind from cooling down my skin. Luckily I brought my cross-stitch project and continued to work on it. I wonder when would I be able to finish it off..Hmm..

Like a boss..He was sleeping while keeping the
kite in-check.. ^^

After about two hours,  Nadia decided to leave to buy some stuff while Christine went home as we still had couples of hours before sunset and the Rainbow Bridge begin. The rest of us then moved further closer to the bridge and finally found a perfect spot on a grassy land next to an almost bald tree. Prof Ahn bought a mat and a kite so we had something to do. He then fly the kite while Brandon and Aidan took turn "taking care" of it, making sure it stays in the air and not tangled to other kites. Some of us continued to

The kites..One of them somewhere was ours.. =]

take a nap while I continued my cross-stitch while observing the people around me. Looking around, it felt like picnic is really one of Koreans' favorite leisure activity either it is done with family, friends or even lovers. All of them has mats and some seems to even came prepared with tent as they usually picnic from morning to late evening or even until night. Some has has more convenient things like inflatable air bed and electrical hand fan.

Picnic site..or maybe camp site instead..

This is one of the sides that I got to know when I came to Korea and I really, really like it.  Usually during picnics adult would relax and chat among themselves while keeping an eye on their children who usually playing around their tent. Besides, I think the government had a done a really good job at ensuring recreational places are as convenient as possible by providing many facilities to the visitors. This was the second park that we went together, or the third park if Green Plugged Festival was counted as one, and I've seen many more while subways and as

A boy was trying to teach his
brother to use roller-skate

far as I was concerned, all of them seemed to have small mart, restroom, and exercising sites nearby. In addition, the parks also have bicycle and pedestrian lanes and most of the big parks offered bicycle rental. In fact, it was not only adult single bike, but also tandem bicycles and bicycles for children. It was really convenient and complemented with the beautiful view of the Han river, it was surely a big hit.

Pretty isn't it..? =]

Without we realizing it, it was almost sunset and unfortunately Kali had to go home as her allergic attack was getting worse and Nora agreed to accompany her. I felt really bad for her as there as only about an  hour and half left before sunset and she had endured for so long and yet she couldnt see the Banpo bridge. Nevertheless, that was the best choice as health condition should be anyone's first priority. We called for chicken and pizza delivery and it took really, really, really long before it arrived that it made me thinks that maybe they were not just cooking the chicken, maybe they had to catch the chicken first, just like what my mom used to say when my father took so long to buy a chicken at the market. When it finally arrived, all of us ate like we have not eaten for days and thankfully I still had my kimbap as my dinner.

The beautiful Banpo Bridge!

Revived, we gather our things and threw all the trash away including our uneaten watermelon as it turned bad thanks to the intense heat of sunshine. Such a waste. Maybe we should allocate some sort of budget or estimation of how much each of allowed to spend so we won't waste a lot of food. Then, we walked to the Banpo bridge and not surprisingly, there were already hundreds of people were waiting for the performance to start. Some even brought super expensive looking camera and wore an expressionless face. And when the show started, it really lived up as Guiness World Record as the longest fountain bridge. We took group photos and for once I actually thought my camera was worth to buy. Well, usually, my iPhone's camera seemed to produce better, clearer pictures than my camera so I used it more than my camera but finally, the investment had paid off. We then walked across the bridge to the other side of Han river and thankfully, took cabs to go back to the temple.  

The Past and Present

Seoul Day-10

May 22, 2013   

Say cheese!!

Today, we were going to have lunch before we started our exploration and thus we left the building about 11a.m.. As we have never tried food served in temple before, it was decided that we would go to Jogyesa Information Center and we would have lunch on the second floor of this building. However, when we arrived, apparently we were a bit too early and the restaurant was not open yet.

An interesting lady. Guess
how old is she. =]

Therefore, a young lady suggested us to do some other activities while we were waiting. Since we came in a rather big group and there were three different activities, we had to be divided into three different groups. My group was the first to have tea while chatting with the female monks. We were taught on how to hold the little tea bowls and how to drink the tea. As I looked at the bowls, it reminded me that during a short visit to U of M Museum of Art, it was mentioned that Korean tea bowls were once coveted by many to be used in tea ceremony especially among the Japanese . Mostly came in the form of celadon glazed or white porcelain, it was well liked for its plainness and simplicity. As we talked, we asked a bunch of questions to the monk such as what was the deciding factor that made her decided to become a monk and how she meditated. Unlike the typical idea of meditation that we could find by google-ing image (a person sits cross-legged with eyes closed), she was capable to meditated pretty much all the time, while eating or talking, although it was pretty difficult when she first started. Secretly, I coveted her ability and hoped that one day, I would also be capable to do zikr as easy as breathing.

My masterpiece! ^^

After a while, we switched to another activity which was coloring some sort of geometric pattern which called as mandala using water color. We were supposedly to clear our mind and let our inner self to express itself and one of the monks seems to know how to read our characters/personality based on our creativity. However, I wasn’t sure even sure myself whether I cleared my mind or not and being pretty hungry, was not helpful either. I wished there was enough time to try the third activity which was using colored salt, but nevertheless I was really glad when we could finally go to the second floor and had our lunch. All of the food was vegetarian, so both I and Elise could eat everything and luckily I wasn’t being greedy as the only rules set in this kitchen were that one must only take what he or she could eat and must finish it all.

Hyangwonji Pond and Bugaksan

Soon enough, we walked to Gyeongbok Palace which was only about 10 minutes walk from Jogyesa. The moment we arrived, it felt like I stepped into Korean historical dramas as there were few guards standing at the Gwanghwamun Gate wearing Joseon’s attire. As we walked inside, few historical dramas’ scenes flashed into my mind such as The Moon Embraces the Sun and Dr. Jin. I used this long awaited opportunity to explore the palace with Christine and Elise. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to visit the structure that I wanted to visit the most, Gyeongharu Pavilion, as reservation was required. Nevertheless, we managed to visit a lot

Guard changing ceremony

of other buildings such as Taewonjeon shrine, Gyotaejeon, Geoncheonggung residence, and Hyangwonji Pond. But it would be better if we could look into the interior design of every building as most of them were closed to the public. But my disappointment were replaced satisfaction when we could watch the entire guard changing ceremony.

Chunyeo painted with dancheong.
The lower part is the bracket system.

Every time I see Korean traditional building, the first parts that I like to see is its “chunyeo (추녀),”  slanting curved rafter at the corners of the eaves, and the lower part of the roof. The use of Korean traditional decorative coloring called “dancheong (단청)” makes it really pretty and colorful. However the wooden structure under the roof seems pretty complicated that it makes me wonder how they made it in the old days without using a nail but interlocking wooden brackets instead. Another interesting feature of Gyeongbok Palace was the existence of animal-shaped ridge tiles at the roof corners.

The roof of Gyeongharu Pavilion.

It was believed that these animals would protect the building and prevent bad lucks. Different buildings seems to have different number of animals. For instance, there were ten animals on Gyeongharu Pavilion’s roof, but there were only six of them on the Gwanghwamun Gate. Therefore, based on the number of the animal figures, we could figure out the importance of the infrastructure as the more important it is, the more ridge tiles would be placed on the roof

The map of Seoul

Satisfied, I left the palace with a happy feeling and we went to Seoul National Museum. The museum was not really big and the main exhibition place was basically only on the second floor. Nevertheless, there were some cool things such as the miniature model of Hanyang and also the current Seoul. We didn’t really spent a lot of time there and went to Cafe Ato to have something cold as it was a pretty hot day. Most of us chose either affogato or ice-cream with brownies except for Kali who decided to have lemonade instead. I chose the brownies and it was definitely one of the best desserts I ever had. When we left the store, some of us decided to go back to the temple with Nora whereas some of was went to Myeongdong area.

Ice-cream with brownies. What do u think? ;p

This restaurant has an elegant
feeling to it.

Blacksmith, an Italian restaurant, was chosen as a place for our dinner today. All of us ordered some sort of pasta while a pizza became Elise’s choice. While we were waiting, we were served two types of buns and sort of oil which was pretty delicious. To my surprise, apparently one the bread was made using octopus’s ink as one of its main ingredient which turned the buns into a black buns. When the food arrived, my first thought was it wouldn't be enough but luckily it was satisfying. After our dinner, some of us left where the rest of us wandered around with Prof Ahn and Nora. We came across a Hello Kitty Cafe and since all of us never been into one, we decided to try. Besides, I doubted anyone would go in these kind of cafes alone. It could just be me, but I think its gonna be awkward to go alone not to mention kind of sad and lonely. We had a waffle and some hot drinks while chatting happily. Some of us even decided to buy Hello Kitty’s

Pink enough?

merchandise as memorabilia and souvenirs. We walked home happily through Bukchon Hanok Village, but of course, since it was late at night it was hard to see around or snap any good picture. I was extremely happy today for I got to see what I wanted to see and as a bonus, awesome food for the whole day.

Aren't these cute? >_<

What a beautiful day!

Seoul Day-9

May 21, 2013

The weather was pretty mice today. It was really bright and sunny. Therefore, although it was not even noon yet, it was already pretty warm and stuffy in the templestay. We pretty much had a free day today before we had to gather at 6 p.m. instead of 11.45 a.m.. However, despite the good weather, I spent most of my time in the templestay except for lunch. 

Before I started..

Rice balls making in progress

There were six of us and we walked towards Samcheong-dong and chose a restaurant which served tonkatsu as one of its main speciality. I ordered fish roe rice balls whereas the others ordered tonkatsu and fried rice. It was so interesting and sort of interactive I would say. It felt like I was doing some sort of hands-on-activity. It came with in a big bowl and I have to make the rice balls by myself. Since I never really made one, I was pretty excited. Not to mention, it was delicious too.

Final product.. =]

Cheonggyecheon during the day

Around 6pm, we had gathered and made our way to Cheonggyecheon. Then, we walked along Cheonggyecheon while chatting among each other. Unlike at night, Cheonggyecheon had a different vibe during the day. In comparison to the romantic atmosphere and awkwardness to be alone at Cheonggyecheon at night, it felt pretty normal during the day. Another difference that I noticed was although there wasn’t as many as young couples that spent their time together at night, there were considerably a lot of middle-age couples hanging out along the river. Most of them were just sitting or walking leisurely while sharing stories.

Bindae ttok

We walked for quite some time before we went to Gyeongdong Market. The market was really, really crowded and it offered it a lot of things. I knew that there are many types of kimchi, but I never knew there are a lot of them. I’m pretty sure I saw at least more than 10 types of kimchi were being sold there. But what attracted my attention the most was a rather big paw that was being displayed as one of the dishes. However, as I was almost left behind by our group, I didn't have the opportunity to snap a picture of it. While we were there, we stopped at one of the restaurants to try “bindae ttok” and some other Korean dishes like “haemul pajeon”. It was pretty good but I don’t really like it since it was really oily. It felt like as if I was applying a layer of lip gloss almost every time I put it into my mouth.

Interior of Doota mall

When we felt like we could eat no more, we left the restaurant and went to Dongdaemun Market. On our way, we made a little detour to see Dongdaemun, one of the Eight Gates of Seoul to snap pictures. However, when we arrived at Dongdaemun Market, I was slightly disappointed. I was expecting to see something like Namdaemun market or like the one we have in Malaysia called “pasar malam” or “pasar minggu.” Instead, we were presented with a big shopping mall where one could buy future designers’ goods. Most of the clothes were really pretty and cute and I think it would suit younger generation’s taste well.

Merchandise that has
just arrived

In the end, some of us left and went to the adjacent building. Unlike Doota, there were a lot more cheaper things although most of the shops were closed. Besides, I’m not sure how to put it, but it seems to me that the stores would most probably attracted “ahjummas” rather than young adults. Not only after almost 2 hours of wandering that we knew that there were other shopping sites were nearby. This time, it totally fits my imagination. People were streaming in and out from everywhere and there were a lot of bags of cloth waiting on the pavement. Apparently, most of the stores would receive stocks of goods at night from all different places and these were the bags that was laying at the sidewalks. 

The first time I've seen someone bargaining
through phone cal

Bargaining skills is definitely useful while shopping on these kind of places. Along the streets, there were a lot of people selling fake branded items and although it was not as expensive as the real thing, it was not super duper cheap either. Usually, the sellers would have sort of price floor for the things they are selling and but they would tell higher price to the customers. Customers who are not used to these system would probably just pay the price but if they try to bargain, they would definitely get a lower price.  Honestly, I was kind of happy with myself tonight as I managed to bargain a bag for Kali in one of the underground stores. It wasn’t a really a big accomplishment and I’m pretty sure that everyone would actually be capable of getting a better deal if only they could speak the language. In fact, the shopkeeper himself said that he would the price because I could speak Korean. But still, I was happy and a small matter at it was, it made my day. =]

Colorful Day..!

Seoul Day-8

May 20, 2013

“Tomorrow might be a looong day”, was what exactly I thought since we were informed that we might do some hiking again today, except it was going to be a different location this time, Namsan Tower. As usual, we gathered at the “common room” before we left our hostel together.

"Kongguksu" - the green things was not only cucumbersbut also the noodles

Our first destination of the day Myeong-dong area. Since almost of us were hungry, we went to a famous restaurant, Myeongdong Gyoja, which was famous for their “kalguksu”. Since their “kalguksu” use chicken broth and has meat dumplings, both I and Elise ordered “kongguksu” instead. However, unlike the one that Elise had in Shinchon, this time it came with green noodles. Indeed as we were told, the dishes had strong garlicky flavor including its side dish, kimchi. Although it was open for less than half an hour, almost all the tables were already taken and I was glad we came in earlier or else we might not be able to get any seat.

Myeongdong Cathedral

While in Myeong-dong, we were also given some time to explore the place and went to Myeong-dong Cathedral. Before we visited the church as a group, I already visited the place with Nora and Jon during our free time as I remembered watching it in a Korean drama titled You’re Beautiful. It was built in the 1890s on a hill under a supervision of a priest. During that time, one could easily see Gyeongbok Palace from this hill but today, thanks to rapid development of buildings around Seoul, the view was completely blocked by tall buildings built in between these two magnificent structures.

Locks of love

From Myeong-dong, we walked through some small, winding alleys until we reached the base of Namsan. Although I wouldn’t really mind climbing the mountain, I was secretly thankful when another option was opened to us which was riding the cable car. It was only at this moment that we finally realised that apparently we lose one of our group member on our journey from Myeong-dong to Namsan. However, most of us believed that he would be fine and not long after that, Prof Ahn received a phone call from his as we were waiting for the cable car. When we finally reached, Namsan Tower, it was slightly disappointing as it was pretty foggy and thus we didn’t go up the tower as it would be a waste of money. Nevertheless, we got to see one the most favorite places for couples where they “locked” their love on the fences and throw the key away. There were thousands of padlocks came with different shapes and colors with names or promises written on it attached to the fence and trees around the tower.

Aren't these cute?? >_<"

While going up a mountain is usually more tiring than going down, going down definitely hurt my feet more than climbing up. We took more than half an hour to get to the bottom of the hill as we were walking along the road instead of going down by stairs. And by the time we reached it, I felt like I could walk no more and I just wanted to sit down. I wasn’t tired at all, it was just because my feet hurts. However, we managed to walked all the way to Shinsegae Mall and I was sort of recharged when we went to ground floor. It felt similar to shopping complexes in Malaysia and I was super happy when I found some buttermilk and coffee buns. I never realised that I missed PappaRoti’s buns so much. Besides, there was also egg tarts. Eating these food reminded me of home and it gave some sense of comfort to me. 

A glimpse of Namdaemun

Looks real, right? ;p

The final destination for today’s trip was Namdaemun. Apparently, it was located just next to Shinsegae Mall. There was a wide selection of merchandise being sold here such as T-shirts, pants, souvenirs, and many more. There were also some street food and restaurants along its alleys. While I was walking around, I was strongly tempted to buy cute little “hanboks” for my niece and nephew but my sense of rationality ruled it out as I perfectly aware that there will never be a suitable occasion for them to wear it anyway. In general, the goods that were being sold here were pretty cheap and one could try to bargain the price with the shopkeepers. However, I was not in the mood to buy anything and was glad that we would be riding a bus to home.

Cheonggyecheon

Bulgogi pizza surrounded by sticks
filled with cheese and sweet potatoes

Later in the evening, we went out to get dinner and initially bibimbap was chosen. But, as some of us wanted to eat pizza, we ended up going to a pizza hut instead. We ordered vegetarian pizza as I can't eat meat but Pizza Hut had a pretty interesting menu such as bulgogi pizza. I wished I could have tried that pizza too. After the meal, we were free to do anything and despite the fact that my feet was slightly hurting, I went passed Gyeongbok Palace entrance and went to Cheonggyecheon with Kali, Keli, Jon, and Nora in our mission of buying detergent. 9 out of 10 visitors of Cheonggyecheon were couples and I think, its going to be pretty sad and lonely if someone is walking down the stream alone. It was a lovely place and romantic atmosphere filled the air. There were even sets of rocks aligned across the river so that people could cross the stream from one side to the other. I was really tired when we got home and practically passed out the moment I lay on the bed.

Say cheeseeee....!!

The main entrance of Gyeongbok Palace