Seoul Ahjusshi 나쁜사람아니요

Suddenly I remember this one ahjusshi when I was in Korea. That night, we went shopping at Dongdaemun. On our way back to the guesthouse from subway station, we met a strange looking ahjusshi. He stared at us like we're aliens. He kept being close and stare like there's no tomorrow. I thought he never seen pretty girls before XD.

After a few meters walking awkwardly with the feeling that somebody is looking at you, I was shocked by that ahjusshi's voice. He definitely said something but I couldn't hear it properly due to the strong wind and traffic. My friend screamed and run away, leaving me behind. LOL. I heard this ahjusshi said "나쁜사람아니요". I'm quite blur cause my friend was far from me, so i just nodded and say "네,알았어"

I also dun think that ahjusshi is a bad person. He's just find us interesting person to look at. Girls wearing scarf, walking in Seoul at night, that doesn't seems pretty normal does it? But ahjusshi, your words, I still remember until that day. As when I watched drama and met this line, I immediately remember that awkward moment. Sometimes, it's good to be there.. even though I was seen as an alien, I hope I'll be there again..for maybe a longer time~~

AKU ADA, KAU ADA??? Blog Contest

Annyeonghasaeyo! 안녕하세요

       First of all, I would like to thank Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and Korea Plaza for giving this opportunity for us to win a flight ticket to Korea. As a Korean lover, I will take this challenge to try my luck this time. According to Gyopo Keith who established seoulistic.com, a tipsite for living in Korea or traveling to Korea, Malaysia ranked the 4^th country that has the most interest in Korea (see link). So, when our local Malaysian musical comedy romance, 'Aku Ada, Kau Ada??' starring Yana Samsudin and Shaheizy Sam was set in Korea, I immediately marked the film as a-must-see-film. The movie is interesting because of it's funny lines and of course the beautiful places took place in this movie. 

       From the movie, we can spot few famous places, but to name just two, where they constantly clashed, my answer is Kyung Hee University and Nami Island.

Kyung Hee University. Photo credit to this  

Nami Island, picture below was extracted from the trailer. For those who have watched this movie, Nami Island is a very serene place and tranquil surrounded by nature. No wonder they filmed the scene here. Great idea for romantic couples to show intimacy, owh sweet!

Photo credits to  Metrowealth Picture Youtube Account (TMO)

     Back to the second requirement of the blog post content, what will I do if I have a flight ticket to Korea? Hurrah! That's the first word to come out. If I have a flight ticket to Korea, I would like to fly over there! The first solid reason why I want to go to Korea  is mainly because of the Korean people themselves. Being raised in a multicultural community, I am curious to see what Korean people are as a homogeneous type culture. What do I feel being surrounded by a group of people who usually do not speak other languages than Korean, eat the same food through generation and only familiarized with people with the same type of skin color and pattern. 

With Korean high school students at Insadong

         Thanks to Korean drama and Korean variety shows, now I am knowledgeable about beautiful places around South Korea. From my point of view, it seems like anywhere in Korea is beautiful. To decide what to list in the itinerary is such a difficult task. But we don't have like forever to visit everything there. Here, I will list down a few MUST go places for me to visit later if get a chance.

        The first place to visit is Nami Island, which I say a place you will not want to miss out. Why not? Through the very popular drama back in 2002, "Winter Sonata", this calm and quite place has become a major tourist attraction and for lovers, love is really in the air once you reached there. Nami Island can be reached either by ferry which cost about 8000won round trip or by zip-wire which cost 38000won.

      Not only adults, kids love Nami Island too! The school teachers bring their school kids to teach them how to appreciate nature by playing around the offshore island and they at the same time can discover the surroundings, make connection and work things together. How cute!!

Who don't want to go to this place, hands up?

The Main Actor and Actress in Winter Sonata

Nami Island, taken during Spring, 2012

      Done with Nami Island, now we move on to another place. This place is voted number 1 attraction in Seoul by foreign tourist. Guess what it is? Correct! N Seoul Tower!

Namsan Tower's view from bus stop

        Once you reached there, you'll be able to visit both Namsan Tower and Teddy Bear Museum. It's like killing two birds with one stone. Why Namsan Tower? Have you watched 'Boys Over Flower?' This place was featured in this popular drama. That's why I wanted to go there as well! Namsan Tower famous for its 'Love Lock' spot.

The History of 'Lock Love'

Zoom- in the lock :) That's so lovely!

The Love Lock Pine Tree. Creative much huh?

The key will be thrown here after the couple locked their love  letter (padlocks)

      After having fun looking around and create my own 'Love Lock', I want to soothe my eyes with cute teddy bears at the Teddy Bear Museum located at the ground floor of the N Seoul Tower. This is not a sole teddy bear exhibition. It's actually a historical museum which depicts scenes of Korean various historical events including the Joseon dynasty, the era where Korea was under Japanese colonization until the moderm South Korea. This is way too cute for kids to learn history in informal ways. That applies for adults as well. Watch the video below to see how these cute bears bring you back to Korean history.

They really move, believe your eyes!

Whoops, cute little bears doing what? 

Modern South Korea

B-boy? Creative!

       This is going to be a very long entry if I will to continue writing about places I wish to go in Korea. In a brief explanation, I'll make everything simple. If I was given a chance, I also want to go to DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) which is the border between the South and north Korea. Walking through the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel and watching North Korea land from Imjingak. Imjingak was build in 1972 with the hope that someday unification would be possible. Three-storied Imjingak is surrounded by several Monuments, Unification Park and North Korea Center (info retrieved from here). 

The Unification Bridge

Probably to take a picture with a random army? 

      Apart from those awesome places, as a girl who personally loves coffee, I will not waste an opportunity to visit cafes all around Seoul. The most tempting cafe I want to visit is Hello Kitty Cafe. From the outside we can see how cute the cafe is.  Located at Hongdae, this cafe is a place I will not miss out. Let's see what they have inside to make me this excited.

       The cute buzzer 

The cute kid!

     And of course the yummilicious waffle and latte! There are cute too!

Posing on self camera in the toilet? Cuteness overload! Opss

     Everything is painted in pink and shimmering with glossy paint

Other than cafes, who would not want to eat the cuisine? I often search for Korean food in Malaysia and have tasted quite a lot of different types of Korean food. But to originally eat the food there, on its own land, under the Korean sky must be a meaningful moments. These are foods I want to eat there and have heard about the fabulous taste.

1) Rabbokki (라볶이) - A type of modified Tteokbokki (떡볶이) with added ramyun (라면)

Rabbokki

  2) Samgyetang (삼계탕) - A type of Korean soup which primarily consists of a whole young chicken and   Korean ginseng. This tastes so good! Samgyetang is traditionally served in the summer for its supposed nutrients, which replaces those lost through excessive sweating and physical exertion during the hot summers in Korea (source).

Samgyetang

3) Japchae (

잡채) - 

 A Korean dish made from sweet potato noodles, stir fried in sesame oil with various thinly sliced vegetables such as carrots, onion, spinach, and mushrooms sometimes served with beef, and flavored with soy sauce ,and sweetened with sugar (source)

Japchae

4) Patbingsu (팥빙수) - A popular shaved ice dessert in South Korea, especially during humid summer season (source). This dessert resembles our local 'Ais Kacang or ABC'

Four berries patbingsu at Paris Croissant

With those foods above, I really like flying to Korea right now! It's such a great feeling to just imagine myself there!

 p/s Photos not credited or cited are originally from my own collection, please do not simply take out without permission. All videos are also from my collection. Others are as tagged. Thank you for reading!

Korea Central Backpackers

After 30 days back from Korea...

Yeah, I finally decided to write about my journey to Korea. Pretty lame is it? I went to Korea exactly on 30 April 2012. The last day was on 10 May. For someone who have been dreaming of going to Korea for about 10 years ago, this one little vacation worth the long waits. Er er, dunno what to write, where to begin and how.

Okay lemme break them into sections. The first part I'm gonna write about my guesthouse. The guesthouse name is "Korean Central Backpackers". This guesthouse is located near the Hyehwa subway station. It's a happening area where you've got to see those school kids in cute uniforms walking to school in groups while holding a cup of brewed coffee. Ouh sweet!

While getting there from the airport, we took the airport limousine (which is a bus, dun confuse XD), stop at Sunkyunkwan University (yes, you're right! the one in the drama starring Yoochun) and walk a few minutes to the guesthouse. When we were walking to the guesthouse, we met with the travelers who happened to stay at the same guesthouse, so I bet we're a bit lucky to find them first and can easily go straight to the guesthouse. It's almost 12pm, Korean time. To get lost in the middle of damn cold night, is not so good, especially when you're carrying a huge luggage.

The front door

So, we safely arrived at the guesthouse. It's so convenient and feels like home! My very first impression is thank God, it's far more comfortable than what I imagine. See to believe~

  

This is the pantry area when you can have a cup of tea while watching local tv channel. There's a large plasma tv there. You can also use the PC, if you bring your own laptop, tab or smartphone, just connect to their wifi, and yes it's free. The right side of this picture you can see a water dispenser, hot or cold. Just use this to refill your tumbler and tada~ save some money here.

here, the plasma tv I mention before

Front view of my room

The floor is made from parquet, and very clean you can never feel any dust existence here lol. Look at the picture above. This is my room's door. Want to enter? Wait! I'm gonna continue writing this soon! XD

So, I'm back editing this stuff. This room is for two, but it can actually fits three people because the lower deck bed is a queen size bed. They provide a bedding silk comforter which is so fluffy and comfortable as I feel like taking it back home. lol. The room is pretty basic, with an air conditioner, a closet, a huge mirror, a sink and a food cupboard. There's also an en suite bathroom inside with 24 hours hot water. The toilet for me is quite small but I'd prefer this rather than to use the shared one. It's clean and cute too!

The above picture is the hall of fame section at the pantry area. So creative isn't it? The owner, Han Yong Hee, is very kind and friendly :). He speaks English too! I personally think almost all Korean guesthouse owners can speak English well (not idols Engrish, not Yoochun's Engrish lol). I actually saw his profile on Facebook stating that he graduated from University College Birmingham, in Tourism Business Management. Now I know....

Yong the owner..
On top of that, the rate is very affordable. It's actually a budget hostel but I'd like to say it's a perfect hostel worth more than the money spent! Our room rate is 25,000 krw per person for one night (approx RM75), I dunno if you can find any cheaper than this during peak season. At the time we were there, it was actually a peak season and luckily we manage to book this guesthouse two months earlier.

Big round applause to Korean Central Backpackers for the nice and warm welcoming. Always hope that we can meet again next time. I highly recommend this guesthouse for those who wanted to go to Seoul. You will agree with me later, no regrets.

All these photos are mine, please make sure to take out with full credits