Ahh time really flies.. 3 months have gone and now I'm preparing to go back to Singapore. South Korea, an interesting country with super friendly and helpful people around. A place where I have many first-time. First time staying out of Singapore for so long, first time not having parents around me to nag and look after me, first time i have to stay with someone I don't really know for so long, first time dyeing my hair, first time curling my hair, first time staying in guesthouses and not hotel, first time staying in a tent even though I'm not in a camp, first time not having a place to stay for a night, first time eating live octopus, first time eating a asparagus, first time seating on a train for 5 hours, first time seating on express bus for more than 3 hours for a few times, first time buying so many facial products, first time getting treated by so many people so many times, first time not laughing at jokes cos I don't understand, first time eating so much food at a pantry, first time receiving pay in a foreign currency, first time having to talk with many hand actions to aid listener from understanding what I'm trying to say.. So many first-times here. I will not forget my stay here as an intern, with many helpful colleagues who will go all the way out to help you.
I believe I have grown up much more as compared to the 'me' I was 3 months ago. I learnt about independence, I learnt about freedom is not so much of freedom, I learnt how to take care of myself and managing finances. Most importantly, I learnt more about a start up. I learnt about social media marketing, which is not as easy as we have thought it would be. I learnt about getting audience to be engaged and continuously engaged. I learnt about what are the appropriate things to say. I learnt how to think strategically and many more.
My last weekend that I have in South Korea was spent at Daegu with a few other IS friends. It is the third largest city in Korea, after Seoul and Busan. It is very warm over there as the land shape is concave, just like Nan Jing. So all the heat will be trapped in that area. And during winter time, it will be extremely cold. The first day there was a shopping spree at Seomun market. I managed to get my waterproof bag there at a cheaper price! I also saw a very nice tom-look-alike shoes but they don't have my feet size.. So I didn't get to buy it :( There are many ajushis and ajumas there.. I think most of the youngsters have already gone to Seoul or Busan instead.. So there are many auntie's and uncle's clothes.. We also went to a place that is something similar to the queens way shopping centre where they sell many cheap branded sport stuff. But when we went there, the stuffs were not that cheap...
The next day, we went to a park called Dalseong park which is the oldest park in Daegu. It is a park with many animals, like a zoo cum park. Apparently the government is supporting the park and providing for these animals as it is the oldest park there. We also went to another park where the chicken and beer festival is held. We didn't get to join the festival as it is held in the night and by the time, we need to leave Daegu back to Seoul already. We were looking for the "Colourful Daegu" sign for a long long time, only to realise that it was very near us and it was covered by the tents for the festival -.- We were so happy to take picture with the sign as we thought we have to leave the place without having the chance to take picture with the iconic sign.. Phew.. At first we wanted to go to the Mt. Palsong but it was too far away and we did not have the time to do so.. I guess I will come back to Daegu again to have a better view of the place. I want to see the huge Buddha on the mountain!
For the next few days and one weekend, we spent our time shopping and clearing our shopping list. So many things to buy for ourselves and our friends. There is this shop, near Ewha, that is a wholesale place that sells all the brands at a cheaper price and I spent 300+ dollars over there. I managed to clear everything on my shopping list and was sooo happy! This is the first time I bought so much from a shop! (another first time)
As it is a must-do thing to do your hair in Korea, we wanted badly to go to a salon to get our hair done. Our colleagues helped us to search for a salon with our budget and booked a salon. Thanks to her, we managed to get our hair done according to what we want as the hairstylist there don't understand English at all.. As the salon just opened, they were having 50% off to everything! So I got my hair cut + dye + perm + wash a few times all at 100,000won! Hehe! And they serve us drinks too!
We went Bupyeong too which is somewhere near Incheon (out of Seoul) and the shopping place there is crazily big! Hahhaa! Bought many shirts and dress at 5000 and 10000won each! Super cheap! We also went to Gangnam underground shopping centre which is at Express Bus Terminal Station (not at Gangnam station fyi). It is something similar to Bupyeong but a smaller scale. Nonetheless, we still spent a lot of time and money there clearing our shopping list! Hahah! I bought 2 pairs of shoes there, all made in korea. Hehe! A wedge with short heel and a covered shoes that look really atas! Haha! Anyway, I'm contented. Nothing else to buy. Time to save money and exchange all the won with my friend. I need to save some for the air parcel for the things I have bought on behalf of my friends.
Leaving the company is kind of the most painful thing now... I hope I can go through this without tearing! (Cos I always cry). I can always meet up with the colleagues when I have the time and money to visit Korea again. So nothing to be sad about! I kind of miss my home and friends too.. But there are too many things that I need to settle once I'm back in Singapore due to my exchange trip the next semester..
So to Korea and my internship company, Annyeonghegeseyo and Kamsahamnida! I will be back! Muahahaha!
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Life as an Intern #3
Yay! The company's event is up and going in fb now! At the start, getting people to like the page was really difficult and tiring.. It is something like asking your friends to return you a favour cos you have done something like this for them in the past too... We waited anxiously for more participant's email to come. When the dateline was up, there was only 5 photos... Very disappointed as we were hoping for at least 10+ photos.. And the number of likes for the page was still lower than expected. So we started reflecting on what could we have done wrong for the contest and tried to resolve it. We realised that the period of time given for a photo contest should not be too short as there are many steps for the participants to complete in order to enter the contest. Hence more time should be given to them. So we extended the deadline for submission for the contest. To our surprise, we receive more and more entries and right now, we don't have to ask anyone to like the page and they will like it themselves. It is like your participants are doing the job for you to ask people to like the page.. The interesting thing is we do not enforce the voters to like our page but they will like it on their free will.. Sometimes I wonder what motivates them to like the page even though they are not participating in the contest. So everyday when I go to work, the first thing I would do is to switch on my computer and check the email to see if there are any new entry, then I would go to fb to check the number of likes for the page, then the number of likes gained for each participants photo.. It has become a daily routine for me.. Hahaha! I'm looking forward in meeting the winners in July when I'm back in Singapore! :)
It's weekend again! Outing here we go!
Mt Seoraksan, Sokcho
3rd mountain we conquer in Korea! This is the 3rd highest mountain in Korea. Sokcho is a place which is 3 hour bus ride away from Seoul.. Yea another 3 hour like Muju... When we arrived, we went to place our bags in a hostel called "The House Hostel". It is pretty comfy, just like any other guesthouse in Korea. As the check-in is at 3pm and we arrived in the morning, we decided to park our barangs at one side and head off to the mountain.
We took bus 7 with a cost of 1,100 won and the bus ride is about half an hour. Mt Seoraksan is the last station, hence we did not have to worry whether we have missed the stop. There were many people around and most of them were going down the mountain instead of up.. Guess they started off pretty early. When we were about to start our journey, to our dismay, we have to pay an entrance fee of 3,500 won. Huh, pay money to climb mountain!? But since we were already there, so we decided to just pay and get up the mountain. There were many tourists around. Some ladies even wear heels!! I wonder how they climb up.. o.O
As we made our way up, we saw more and more people coming down.. We were wondering if it is too late to climb up the mountain.. The more we climb, the more people coming down. Until we saw an old couple climbing up, then we were slightly relived. So we followed them up the hill. As we climbed, we saw eateries and we were wondering if they have to climb the mountain everyday just to mend their restaurant. The higher we climbed, the more people we saw.. I would have to say these ajumas and ajushis are really fit and healthy. Even more fit than us.. 惭愧惭愧... When we were about to reach the top, we rested more frequently as we are more tired and the air is thinner. I almost wanted to puke and an ajuma offered me a sweet from jeju. That was a relieved for me and I managed to climb all the way up.
It was very misty so I was not able to take a good photo of the submit *sad*.. But the people we met on our way up was already a priceless experience. I bought a medal to reward myself having to climb so many mountains in Korea. To be honest, I really hate climbing mountains... Especially when the air is thin and you need more air. I think my lungs are not really that strong.. They feel like they were about to burst! Luckily they were still stronger than I thought. Hahaha!
During dinner time, we went to a barbecue buffet with all kinds of meat such as chicken, fish, pork, prawns and beef (I don't eat) and it only cost us 10,000 won! So cheap! Haha! But the auntie who attended to us was overly-friendly. She would come to our table and always ask us to eat when we are already eating..
Initially, my housemate wanted to climb the other even higher peak the next day.. But judging from how bad bad my lungs reacted the day before with a lower peak, I told her that I would prefer to go to the beach instead and she could carry on with the mountain expedition. But I guess both of us were tired.. So we decide to visit all the beaches in Sokcho. I would say that their beaches are clean and it does not differ much from any other sea.. I still love Jeju's beach!
We walked around the whole place while waiting for the arrival time of our bus back to Seoul. We saw the filming scene of 秋天的童话 .. As I didn't watch the show, I was not able to click with the place.. Too bad. There were many lighthouses and the scene up the lighthouse was good! However, due to the mist, we couldn't really see the mountain at the far end...
Before we head back to Seoul, my housemate ran to buy a box of chicken which was said to be a must buy if we visit Sokcho. It tastes good and somehow I feel that the chicken tastes like the chicken I have eaten when eating chicken and beer in Seoul. Haha!
On our way back, the journey took about 5 hours as there was a jam. I guess everyone is rushing back to the city to prepare for the next working day. Just like Singaporeans going to Malaysia... We usually get jams at the causeway when we return on a Sunday evening...
Busan
Busan!! The long-awaited trip! Ok, basically we have less than 2 days to explore the place. There were 6 of us in total and 2 of our friends came a day earlier than us. We took a 5-hour ktx there as we didn't want to spend too much for a direct train...
So first thing, once again, we visited the guesthouse to put all our barang barang then we headed off to the temple.
Yonggungsa Temple
It is a Buddhist temple situated on the mountain near the Haeundae station. It is very crowded there and has great scenery. That explains why it is so crowded. The temple faces the beautiful sea, making it a good place to 修行. Haha
Haeundae Beach
I was looking forward to go to this beach as many of the blog says that it is a must-go when we are at Busan. To my dismay, it is just like any normal beach with a lot of people there.. So we left the place 15 minutes later.. Hahaha
Daejigubap
A dish that was recommended to me by my Korean colleagues and he said that it was a must-try.. I doubt so >< It is just like a porridge with a lot of duck meat and the porridge was too bland to my liking..
After dinner, we went to the Gwangalli beach to see the Gangwan bridge. It was a beautiful night scenery and we had beer there. Hahah!
We met a Hong Kong lady in the guesthouse who shared the same room as us. She came to Busan to have a holiday and she was travelling alone. Brave soul! Then she asked if she could join us for our trip the next day. Being nice Singaporeans, of course we won't reject such request la.. Hahaha!
The next day, before we set off, we went to have MilMyeon which we failed to have it on the first day. It is much nicer than daejigubap. It is cold noodle with korea's popular chilli paste. Awesome!
Gamcheondong Culture Village
It is a place with a lot of colourful houses. It looks spectacular from far and there are many interestingly painted houses inside too! Definitely a must-go for Busan as I don't think you can find this anywhere in Korea. Hahha! The most interesting is I met my JC friend there! Such a small world.. We don't meet in Singapore even though it is so small but we met overseas instead..
Jagalchi Market
As many of you all know, this is a market that sells all fresh seafood. We had sashimi and live octopus there! At first I was quite reluctant to have it. But there were 7 of us to share the dishes.. So it was still alright. The live octopus freaked me out the most. Cos most of the time people would say that they eat these animals cos they have already died for us. So if we don't it, it will be a waste. However for this live octopus, it was still swimming happily in the fish tank and it is only when I want to eat it, then it has to die.. I'm so sorry....
The shop vendor sliced up the octopus into very small pieces and we used chopsticks to pick it up. It was wriggling on my chopstick and I gained much courage to eat it. Every time I pick one up, I have to look for more courage. Then at the end of the meal, I was rather tired..
We went back to Seoul at about 6+ and the journey is another 5 hours back... To my surprise, no one checked the tickets at all and there were many free-riders. These free-riders do not have a place to sit so they would take up any empty seat they see and get up when someone else boarded the train with the tix.. I would probably do that if my journey was much shorter. Haha! Kidding! There are entertainment room such as those arcades game and cafes in the train. Didn't know a train could have so many facilities.. Interesting..
High School Musical
We went to a High School Musical performance during one of the weekday. It is a performance showcased by Korean celebrity and one of the cast is from FT Island. My friends were excited about it but I have no idea who are they. Hahah! The show was AWESOME but the only thing is it is in korean and the subtitle at the side is in japanese.. Luckily I watched the movie before so I kind of understand what is going on.
I was amazed by their voices! It was really good! And the way they planned the stage... With such a confined space, they are able to maximise the use of it to show 3 different scenes at a go. The changing of the scene takes less than 5 seconds every time and everything was so clear cut and fast! Hahaha! I enjoyed myself very much, just like how I did for Nanta :)
I will try to put pictures in this and my previous post cos I don't wanna delay my publish date if not I will forget all the details of my trip. Haha! So photos later! Thanks for reading :)
It's weekend again! Outing here we go!
Mt Seoraksan, Sokcho
3rd mountain we conquer in Korea! This is the 3rd highest mountain in Korea. Sokcho is a place which is 3 hour bus ride away from Seoul.. Yea another 3 hour like Muju... When we arrived, we went to place our bags in a hostel called "The House Hostel". It is pretty comfy, just like any other guesthouse in Korea. As the check-in is at 3pm and we arrived in the morning, we decided to park our barangs at one side and head off to the mountain.
We took bus 7 with a cost of 1,100 won and the bus ride is about half an hour. Mt Seoraksan is the last station, hence we did not have to worry whether we have missed the stop. There were many people around and most of them were going down the mountain instead of up.. Guess they started off pretty early. When we were about to start our journey, to our dismay, we have to pay an entrance fee of 3,500 won. Huh, pay money to climb mountain!? But since we were already there, so we decided to just pay and get up the mountain. There were many tourists around. Some ladies even wear heels!! I wonder how they climb up.. o.O
As we made our way up, we saw more and more people coming down.. We were wondering if it is too late to climb up the mountain.. The more we climb, the more people coming down. Until we saw an old couple climbing up, then we were slightly relived. So we followed them up the hill. As we climbed, we saw eateries and we were wondering if they have to climb the mountain everyday just to mend their restaurant. The higher we climbed, the more people we saw.. I would have to say these ajumas and ajushis are really fit and healthy. Even more fit than us.. 惭愧惭愧... When we were about to reach the top, we rested more frequently as we are more tired and the air is thinner. I almost wanted to puke and an ajuma offered me a sweet from jeju. That was a relieved for me and I managed to climb all the way up.
It was very misty so I was not able to take a good photo of the submit *sad*.. But the people we met on our way up was already a priceless experience. I bought a medal to reward myself having to climb so many mountains in Korea. To be honest, I really hate climbing mountains... Especially when the air is thin and you need more air. I think my lungs are not really that strong.. They feel like they were about to burst! Luckily they were still stronger than I thought. Hahaha!
During dinner time, we went to a barbecue buffet with all kinds of meat such as chicken, fish, pork, prawns and beef (I don't eat) and it only cost us 10,000 won! So cheap! Haha! But the auntie who attended to us was overly-friendly. She would come to our table and always ask us to eat when we are already eating..
Initially, my housemate wanted to climb the other even higher peak the next day.. But judging from how bad bad my lungs reacted the day before with a lower peak, I told her that I would prefer to go to the beach instead and she could carry on with the mountain expedition. But I guess both of us were tired.. So we decide to visit all the beaches in Sokcho. I would say that their beaches are clean and it does not differ much from any other sea.. I still love Jeju's beach!
We walked around the whole place while waiting for the arrival time of our bus back to Seoul. We saw the filming scene of 秋天的童话 .. As I didn't watch the show, I was not able to click with the place.. Too bad. There were many lighthouses and the scene up the lighthouse was good! However, due to the mist, we couldn't really see the mountain at the far end...
Before we head back to Seoul, my housemate ran to buy a box of chicken which was said to be a must buy if we visit Sokcho. It tastes good and somehow I feel that the chicken tastes like the chicken I have eaten when eating chicken and beer in Seoul. Haha!
On our way back, the journey took about 5 hours as there was a jam. I guess everyone is rushing back to the city to prepare for the next working day. Just like Singaporeans going to Malaysia... We usually get jams at the causeway when we return on a Sunday evening...
Busan
Busan!! The long-awaited trip! Ok, basically we have less than 2 days to explore the place. There were 6 of us in total and 2 of our friends came a day earlier than us. We took a 5-hour ktx there as we didn't want to spend too much for a direct train...
So first thing, once again, we visited the guesthouse to put all our barang barang then we headed off to the temple.
Yonggungsa Temple
It is a Buddhist temple situated on the mountain near the Haeundae station. It is very crowded there and has great scenery. That explains why it is so crowded. The temple faces the beautiful sea, making it a good place to 修行. Haha
Haeundae Beach
I was looking forward to go to this beach as many of the blog says that it is a must-go when we are at Busan. To my dismay, it is just like any normal beach with a lot of people there.. So we left the place 15 minutes later.. Hahaha
Daejigubap
A dish that was recommended to me by my Korean colleagues and he said that it was a must-try.. I doubt so >< It is just like a porridge with a lot of duck meat and the porridge was too bland to my liking..
After dinner, we went to the Gwangalli beach to see the Gangwan bridge. It was a beautiful night scenery and we had beer there. Hahah!
We met a Hong Kong lady in the guesthouse who shared the same room as us. She came to Busan to have a holiday and she was travelling alone. Brave soul! Then she asked if she could join us for our trip the next day. Being nice Singaporeans, of course we won't reject such request la.. Hahaha!
The next day, before we set off, we went to have MilMyeon which we failed to have it on the first day. It is much nicer than daejigubap. It is cold noodle with korea's popular chilli paste. Awesome!
Gamcheondong Culture Village
It is a place with a lot of colourful houses. It looks spectacular from far and there are many interestingly painted houses inside too! Definitely a must-go for Busan as I don't think you can find this anywhere in Korea. Hahha! The most interesting is I met my JC friend there! Such a small world.. We don't meet in Singapore even though it is so small but we met overseas instead..
Jagalchi Market
As many of you all know, this is a market that sells all fresh seafood. We had sashimi and live octopus there! At first I was quite reluctant to have it. But there were 7 of us to share the dishes.. So it was still alright. The live octopus freaked me out the most. Cos most of the time people would say that they eat these animals cos they have already died for us. So if we don't it, it will be a waste. However for this live octopus, it was still swimming happily in the fish tank and it is only when I want to eat it, then it has to die.. I'm so sorry....
The shop vendor sliced up the octopus into very small pieces and we used chopsticks to pick it up. It was wriggling on my chopstick and I gained much courage to eat it. Every time I pick one up, I have to look for more courage. Then at the end of the meal, I was rather tired..
We went back to Seoul at about 6+ and the journey is another 5 hours back... To my surprise, no one checked the tickets at all and there were many free-riders. These free-riders do not have a place to sit so they would take up any empty seat they see and get up when someone else boarded the train with the tix.. I would probably do that if my journey was much shorter. Haha! Kidding! There are entertainment room such as those arcades game and cafes in the train. Didn't know a train could have so many facilities.. Interesting..
High School Musical
We went to a High School Musical performance during one of the weekday. It is a performance showcased by Korean celebrity and one of the cast is from FT Island. My friends were excited about it but I have no idea who are they. Hahah! The show was AWESOME but the only thing is it is in korean and the subtitle at the side is in japanese.. Luckily I watched the movie before so I kind of understand what is going on.
I was amazed by their voices! It was really good! And the way they planned the stage... With such a confined space, they are able to maximise the use of it to show 3 different scenes at a go. The changing of the scene takes less than 5 seconds every time and everything was so clear cut and fast! Hahaha! I enjoyed myself very much, just like how I did for Nanta :)
I will try to put pictures in this and my previous post cos I don't wanna delay my publish date if not I will forget all the details of my trip. Haha! So photos later! Thanks for reading :)
Life As An Intern #2
Long time no update.. Internship was too busy. We are currently preparing for an event in Singapore and there preparation work is more than what we initially thought. I just realised that coming up with prizes for a contest is so difficult as you have to cater to majority's interest and because we can't physically collect those gift vouchers, we have to source for those which provides postage service.. Really painful process. But I learnt a lot because of this. Moreover, we are trying to run for 2 events before we end our internship. So all the more we have a lot of things to do.. But I think that this is the most fruitful internship that I have as compared to last year >< At least there are experienced people here to guide me and give me advice. And they are not those snobbish or in-affable people. I'm so lucky!
Just heard that the haze in Singapore is getting more and more serious. PSI 290! What a magical number.. At first I thought the NEA website has a typo.. Seems like the haze is really getting more and more crazy.. Take care people!! Drink more herbal tea and wear a mask! Don't feel that it is very troublesome to wear a mask, health is more important!
Ok, I'm going to update on the place that I have been to for the past few weeks, besides those that I have already posted in the previous posts. Thanks to my housemate who planned for all my weekends and make it so fruitful and eventful every week.
This is a village situated very near the DMZ area. It is a very peaceful place with interesting architecture design. There's this Farmer's cafe (if I didn't remember wrongly) which is one of the filming scene of Korean drama called "Boys over flowers" (yes that one..) where Gu Jun Pio told Shan Cai where to meet for their first date while she was eating alone in the cafeteria. However, I was rather disappointed as the layout has been changed and I hardly see any resemblance of the place I saw in the drama... but there are banners of the drama and pictures around to tell people that this is the filming place.
We visited a museum about the modern history of Korea. I saw much similarity in the way people leave in the early 1950s.. Their daily activities, the houses, occupations are very similar to what I understand from Singapore. It is a rather interesting place to visit.
We also went to a toy museum where they have a lot of collection of the toys all over the world. We went in was because it was too hot outside and we wanted to have air con and this is a place with a relatively cheap entrance fee. Hahaha!
Then, we went to a village called English Village and apparently everyone there has to speak English (of course we would love to). We were given a "passport" before we enter and I think we have to go to some stations to complete missions in the village itself. We were greeted by an ang moh before we enter to get our "passport" chopped. She asked many questions and I thought she was interested in where we come from. But I realised that she asked every visitor the same questions... Haha! Maybe because we went in too late, there wasn't much things to look at except some fountain and westernised architecture.. No wonder the entrance fee is 3000 won only..
In the evening, we went to a restaurant that has barbecued eel. It was very nice and we took turns to cook. However, it is rather expensive with 32k won per kg of eel.. But it's ok.. Just once is enough and at that point of time, we just gotten our pay. So we don't really feel the pain. Haha!
Dream Forest
A park where many families and couples will go during the weekends. An observatory is situated there where the drama Iris was filmed there. Not sure which scene cos I didn't watch that show. There were a few lifts to bring us up the observatory as it is pretty high up and we have to queue up for it... I don't understand why Koreans like to build elevator that goes on the hypotenuse side of the triangle instead of building it straight up. Isn't it more efficient to just travel up instead of side and up? Anyway, I guess it is because of this, the lift travels very slowly and can only take up to about 15 people at a time... And we waited for the 3rd lift to come before we finally get into the lift (cos of some irritating people who cut our queue *whatthehell-look*).
Finally we went up and the view was really good. Many people took photos there and us included! But somehow when our colleagues asked us where we have been to during the weekend, they don't really know of dream forest.
Sungkyungwan University
Have you heard of Sungkyungwan Scandal drama? Yes! The show is filmed based on the buildings that are currently situated in this university. It is a university where all the elites/scholars go to during the Joseon dynasty. So the alumni of this university is quite strong and well-known huh. Haha! And we were told that the guy printed in the 1000won note is from this university.
This is a very interesting university whereby the joseon dynasty architecture are situated just beside the current/modern architecture. It is a very tranquil place and I guess it is a very good place for study. We went there on a Sunday and we saw many students are in the school studying.. Sounds familiar huh... Guess every student in all universities still have to work very hard even during holidays... Sigh.. Why...
We went to an Italian restaurant after that and there food was good! Finally something which is not Korean and not spicy. Hahaha! I ate a pizza which has lots of cheese on top and have to deep into honey, if not it will be tasteless. It was good! I guess anything that goes with honey will taste good anyway..
On our way back to the subway station, we passby Artbox. We went in and I bought a very nice notebook for just 2000won. Haha! As we all know, the Artbox in Singapore is freaking expensive and I bought a notebook here at 2000won! Yeah! Going to buy more of it before I go back.
Muju Firefly
Muju is a very small village situated at the outskirts of Korea. We went to Nambu Terminal station and took a bus there. The bus ride was about 3 hours (sit until my butt ache) and we stopover at some place which has clean toilet and lots of cheap food (I was expecting dirty toilet like China..). When we finally reached Muju, we saw big posters of the firefly event. Of course, we were very excited and there were events held in that area. We saw many traditional dance and played some games there. We bought the tickets for the night trail to see the firefly. There was a well-decorated "theatre" which shown us the growing process of a firefly and saw a box of fireflies in the dark. It was quite worth the money even though we have to wait for very long just to get in.
While waiting for the night to come, we saw a few more traditional performance and we realised that there was a crowd somewhere. So we joined in and realised that they were giving out free light-bulb-lighted lanterns! As a typical Singaporeans, of course we won't miss out on the free stuff la! Haha! And we were holding it as there's a ceremony which will bring all of us to the river nearby to see more performance. While waiting, many koreans asked me where to get the lantern. At first I don't understand what they were saying but after much help from the body language (pointing at my lantern and looked confused), I know what they want. And I learnt something called "eodisoyo", meaning where. So I went "yogi yogi" meaning there there. Hahaha!
There was a traditional ceremony to welcome the firefly.. At first we thought that it would be interesting but we slowly realised that it was very boring. So we went around looking for a good spot to watch the performance later. There were water fireworks. Like Singaporeans, we thought that the fireworks would be something like our national day parade fireworks (those big big kind). But it was just like a few lighted thing flying down occasionally.. Quite disappointed.
After all the shows and performance, it is time to get on the bus to go to the mountain and look for the long-awaited fireflies! We boarded the bus at 10+ pm and the bus ride was pretty short. We arrived at a mountain with barely any lightings. We climbed up a mountain and saw some fireflies on our way up. Some fireflies even flew near us and landed on a toddler's hand. He was screaming but it was very cute when he slowly let go of the fireflies in his hand and everyone's gaze just followed where the fireflies went to! But we heard some other foreigners (I shall not name which country) who went for the event complaining that they only get to see a few fireflies from afar and they thought they would have a bunch of them flying together and lit up the place. Not just that, they even said that how the event organiser got the guts to call this a festival. *WTH* Please la... You read too much of the fairytale already. Fireflies don't fly together! And Koreans like nature very much and they won't hurt these tiny creatures to create a view which is against the nature.. Please get your facts right before complaining cos it will just reflect how shallow you are.. I feel so unfair for the koreans who organised this event...
After the whole event, it was too late to catch any bus back to Seoul. As Muju is a very small island, there isn't any 24-hours cafe, nor guesthouse or anything where we can stay for the night. At first we thought that we will have jimjilbang to go but it was closed! So we sat outside the jimjilbang as there are groups of people there bbq-ing. We thought we could stay there for the rest of the night till morning. But we realised we were at some place where only the government officials could be at and they were having some gatherings there. The organizer of the event was there too and he approached us to ask us where are we from and why we were here. Soon, he realised that we were stranded in the village and wanted to offer help. He asked his kakia to look for an available inn for us to stay, however to no avail :( Just when he was still thinking of where to locate us, there was a tent nearby and he told us to stay in it and gave us many blankets to keep ourselves warm for the night. They even offered us beer and chicken. Haha! I don't know whether to laugh or cry when someone offer such happy food when you were stranded at some place, with the risk of encountering different kind of bad people.. Of course, we didn't sleep well for the whole night as it was a tent and anyone can just barge in. Luckily the sun rises pretty early in Korea. We left the place and we wanted to thank the person but didn't get to see him. We bought our bus tickets and was desperate to go back to Seoul and have a good bath and sleep. Then we realised we have exchanged phone numbers with one of the government officials and decided to kakaotalk her and thank them for their hospitality last night and requested her to pass the message to the event organiser. They even invited us to meet up with them soon to play with their kids and definitely a nice place to stay in. Haha! Such hospitality.. I guess we can only find it in Korea...
Nanta Performance
Nanta!!! Woohoo! One of the must-go performance in Korea! Thanks to my best friend who visited me during my stay in Korea, I get to watched it! It is an extremely fun show! I love the way they hit their chopping board and stuff to create certain tempo. I enjoyed myself very much as there's a storyline behind, which makes the whole show more meaningful.
CheongGeCheon Stream
This is a stream smack right in the middle of many buildings. It is very near dongdaemun. Again, we were told by our colleagues that this is a dating spot (not again...) and we saw many couples and families having outing there. There were busking there and those guys sang really well!
Seodaemun Prison History Hall
This is an old prison set up by the Japanese during their invasion during ww2. Once you step into the place, you can feel the sadness. In the past, the japanese would lock up those koreans who protest against them, torture and questions them till most of them died during the torture.. A very sad place. Somehow we were not allowed to take any photos of the execution place. Guess this is a haunted place at night... Brr...
Dragon Hill Jimjilbang
Jimjilbang! First time in a sauna, in a jacuzzi, in a hot bath and cold bath!! Interesting experience. There were low, medium and hot sauna. We went to both the low and medium but not the hot one.. It was super hot! I think if we went in and come out after 10 minutes, we could have been cooked. There was a super cold room, about 5 degree celcius and I heard is for closing of pores. Haha! We tied the towel given to us in the korean way with two circles lying on each side of the ear and we ate the egg! Some of us went to try cracking the egg on our head but we realised it was too painful and is not possible to crack it. Hahaha!
We then proceed to the hot bath. At first we were very hesitant to go as we have to be naked in there. Then we realised that everyone is naked there and we are all females with all the features a normal women should have. So we got a bit more comfortable and tried out all the baths available. Moreover, we are already at the place, so it is not worth walking out not trying their most well-known bath! I would say I have never regretted getting into the bath cos it is very shiok!
Cat's Cafe
During one of the Sundays, we visited a cat's cafe. We ordered an over-priced drink and sat at the cafe for hours, playing with the cat. I would say it is an interesting experience as we don't find such cafe back in Singapore (or do we have?).. I am not a cat lover, but slowly I start to enjoy myself there.. The cats there are pretty tamed except that there were occasions when they fought with one another..
Petite France
A place at GapYeong and you get to see a miniature of France with all the buildlings and intersting performance. There are museums of the book called "Little Prince" too and we took a lot of photos with it.
Morning Calm
This is a very pretty garden with all the pretty flowers and bonsai trees planted. Just nice, mountains are situated just behind this garden and you get to take picture of those flora and fauna with the manificient mountain at the back! Definitely worth going as it is really pretty! I get to unleash my photography talent and took many pretty photos of the flowers.
Nami Island
Ahhh this place... Have you watched "Winter Sonata"? Yea.. The filming scene (not again).. Hahah! It is a very small island and there's this long walkway with the trees at the side, which creates a very romantic atmosphere.. Many couples and family were there once again. And there were a few chalets over there. Guess it is a place like our east coast park except that the scenery is much better in Korea. Hahaha! We took pictures with the statues that signified the actors and actresses in the drama! Too bad we went there during summer, so it is more like a "Summer Sonata" where all the trees are green instead of white. Haha!
Oh ok now the PSI is 321... Indo, you win.
Monday, 3 June 2013
Life As An Intern #1
Yoohoo! Time to update on my internship! Many of my friends have been asking me how's life in Korea, I would say it is fun, new experience and I'm growing up (definitely). Hehe! Fun is because everything is new, the internship company make plans for you and you are so caught up with work that you have no time for slacking in the office (like most of the other internships). I shall start with the accommodation they have provided us with.
Accommodation
Thanks to the company, we don't have to worry about our accommodation after our tsm trip as they settled it for us. They are paying for our house rental and electricity bills too! *grateful much*
Just some photos of my house/dorm.
It is basically a studio apartment with no room but a room for the toilet (do you consider that as a room?). But it is very comfy and clean! I love the bed the most and the blanket. It is so soft and smooth that I hate to wake up every morning! Haha! And it is a queen size bed while mine is a single bed back in S'pore. We have extremely huge TV in our house consider the size of the house. There are washing machine, heater, microwave, rice booker and vacuum cleaner. I'm very satisfied by the apartment :)
New experience
Our home wifi only came in on the second week of our internship. So for the first 2 weeks, during the weekends, we would sit at the convenient store just nearby our house to tap on the hair salon's wifi opposite the convenient stall. I think because the drainage system is just nearby, you will smell interesting "fragrant" when surfing the net. Random ajushi will also approach you to ask for something when you are halfway skyping with your family.. Hahaha! During some of the days when we went to Gangnam to eat, we would always walk back home as it is relatively near and stop by a cafe to tap on the wifi. We even know which spot has the best connection! LOL! Imagine standing outside a cafe for about an hour when the temperature is 12 degree Celsius just for the wifi. Interesting experience! And back in our apartment, we watch TV most of the time and sleep at 11+pm Korea time (10+pm Singapore time) as there is nothing to do. Most of the channels are in korean so we don't really understand, so we often try to guess what the story is about and voice over the actor and actresses.
We can hardly find any dustbins in Korea.. So what we do is every 2-3 days, we will throw outside the convenient store nearby where there are a lot of other trash bags around too.
We celebrated our colleagues birthday and a farewell of a colleague on 31st May. I was expecting serviettes and cake cut for everyone. But I start to see a distribution of chopsticks and everyone just crowded around the table and started to dig in on the piece of cake still intact with the original aluminium covered plate! They say that this is so much more convenient, which I totally agree! And we sang Happy Birthday song in Korean. Hahha!
Almost everyday, we will receive pamphlets and brochures pasted on our door. And you know what is the most shocking thing? These pamphlets have magnets at the back to stick onto your metal door! Some are even in a nice oval shape with the catering company's name and telephone number printed so that you can stick it onto your fridge. This simply shows how much effort they put into marketing as compared to Singapore. However, I feel that this is quite environmental unfriendly to throw the magnets away...
I'm Growing Up
Since it is an overseas internship, I would have to stay in the country for about 3 months. I have to take care of myself and manage the daily chores which I always leave it for my mum back in Singapore. OK, the following content might sound like a daily thing and obvious fact to you but I only done it and realised after managing my own life for a month.
It is a slightly larger startup with 20+ employees and has recently moved to a larger office as they have expanded quite a lot. Everyone here is very friendly. Even though some of their English language skills are like my Korean language skills, they still make an effort to talk to us. Everyday, they will initiate to go for lunch together once the clock strikes 1pm. I'm quite certain that they source for restaurant around this area back in the office as they always seem like they know where to head to even though all of us are new to this place. Thanks to them, I get to try many kinds of Korean food. We also tried a place called coop-ship (don't know how to spell but it is pronounced this way). It is like a canteen whereby everyone pays a fixed price of 4,500 won and the menu is same for everyone. You can take as many as you want but it is a one-time thing. It is a good place to go if you can't think of anything to eat for that day and feel like saving money for the day.
I think it is because the area in which my office is in, the food here are relatively expensive as there are many office here. Cheapest is 6,000 won. It might sound rather cheap but imagine every meal cost 6,000 won, one day will be 12,000 won and one month will be 360,000 won (401.12 SGD)! Expensive sio! Moreover, 6,000 won dishes have very little variety, so sometimes we have to pay 6,500 won or 7,000 won for better food.. *I miss hawker centre and kopitiam! Cheap cheap!*
Ok, I have strayed away from work, shall direct it back. I'm working as a "Value Marketer" in this company. All the positions in this company will always start with a "Value" as they value all our effort. There's no hierarchy and they tried their best to remove it by calling one another their English name. This is because for Koreans culture, if someone is older than them, they will call hyung or oppa or eonni or nuna, which will kind of create a hierarchy.. That's why they want to eliminate it.
Just some pictures of the office, with some unglam shot of my colleagues *oops*
I'm sure most of you will be interested in the pantry of a start up. Tadaa!! The pantry is always full of drinks and all kinds of korean tidbits. Everyone here is well-fed by these finger-licking tidbits and they deplete so fast that my colleague has to replenish it after 4-5 days.
During weekends, we will always go tour around Seoul like a tourist! Our employer will always ask "So where have you gone to last weekend?". Then we will answer him with the name of the places we have been to. He will always reply "Oh! That's a dating spot!" -.- Why always dating spot...
Somehow Singaporeans like Korea so much that many of my friends are coming here for graduation trip. So far I have "hosted" my cousin and my close friend in Seoul. It is interesting to actually host people when you just came to the country 1 month earlier than them.. Haha!
We went to Gyeongbokgung Palace with our tsm team in the day last month and it usually closes at 630pm. Then we realised that there is an annual event of opening Gyeongbokgung in the evening till 10pm for just 3 days. So we took this chance to take a glimpse of the night scenery of the palace. Again, pretty!
Accommodation
Thanks to the company, we don't have to worry about our accommodation after our tsm trip as they settled it for us. They are paying for our house rental and electricity bills too! *grateful much*
Just some photos of my house/dorm.
It is basically a studio apartment with no room but a room for the toilet (do you consider that as a room?). But it is very comfy and clean! I love the bed the most and the blanket. It is so soft and smooth that I hate to wake up every morning! Haha! And it is a queen size bed while mine is a single bed back in S'pore. We have extremely huge TV in our house consider the size of the house. There are washing machine, heater, microwave, rice booker and vacuum cleaner. I'm very satisfied by the apartment :)
New experience
Our home wifi only came in on the second week of our internship. So for the first 2 weeks, during the weekends, we would sit at the convenient store just nearby our house to tap on the hair salon's wifi opposite the convenient stall. I think because the drainage system is just nearby, you will smell interesting "fragrant" when surfing the net. Random ajushi will also approach you to ask for something when you are halfway skyping with your family.. Hahaha! During some of the days when we went to Gangnam to eat, we would always walk back home as it is relatively near and stop by a cafe to tap on the wifi. We even know which spot has the best connection! LOL! Imagine standing outside a cafe for about an hour when the temperature is 12 degree Celsius just for the wifi. Interesting experience! And back in our apartment, we watch TV most of the time and sleep at 11+pm Korea time (10+pm Singapore time) as there is nothing to do. Most of the channels are in korean so we don't really understand, so we often try to guess what the story is about and voice over the actor and actresses.
We can hardly find any dustbins in Korea.. So what we do is every 2-3 days, we will throw outside the convenient store nearby where there are a lot of other trash bags around too.
We celebrated our colleagues birthday and a farewell of a colleague on 31st May. I was expecting serviettes and cake cut for everyone. But I start to see a distribution of chopsticks and everyone just crowded around the table and started to dig in on the piece of cake still intact with the original aluminium covered plate! They say that this is so much more convenient, which I totally agree! And we sang Happy Birthday song in Korean. Hahha!
Almost everyday, we will receive pamphlets and brochures pasted on our door. And you know what is the most shocking thing? These pamphlets have magnets at the back to stick onto your metal door! Some are even in a nice oval shape with the catering company's name and telephone number printed so that you can stick it onto your fridge. This simply shows how much effort they put into marketing as compared to Singapore. However, I feel that this is quite environmental unfriendly to throw the magnets away...
I'm Growing Up
Since it is an overseas internship, I would have to stay in the country for about 3 months. I have to take care of myself and manage the daily chores which I always leave it for my mum back in Singapore. OK, the following content might sound like a daily thing and obvious fact to you but I only done it and realised after managing my own life for a month.
- Any clothing that states "Hand Wash ONLY" is super annoying
- Must throw the fruits trash and other dried trash separately if not the dustbin will stink the next day.. No wonder my mum always throw them separately.. *dumb dumb me*
- I always complain why my mum wants us to sweep the floor at home EVERYDAY. Now I know why... You will always see chunk after chunk of hair daily no matter how careful you vacuum the day before.
- Swing your clothes hard enough after using the washing machine to wash cos if not it will crease when it dries
- Strawberry is the easiest to spoil, followed by orange then apple
- Managing healthy diet is not an inborn thing cos I will often wait for my mum to cut the fruits for me back in Singapore that I forgot that I need to have fruits here until she reminded me during one of my calls back home.. sigh..
- Managing expenditure is another thing to learn as I don't have a bank account here and is depending on my monthly remuneration, which is rather limited as an intern. Cos back in Singapore, you can always withdraw money from the bank or ask parents for money and I can't do these here
Yea, I have come to realise that parent's naggings are based on what they have experienced and these are short cuts-in-disguise so that we don't repeat those mistakes that they have done in the past.
Fun!
I stared at this heading for a while cos there are too many things to talk about, don't know where to start.. I shall start with the company I'm interning in.
It is a slightly larger startup with 20+ employees and has recently moved to a larger office as they have expanded quite a lot. Everyone here is very friendly. Even though some of their English language skills are like my Korean language skills, they still make an effort to talk to us. Everyday, they will initiate to go for lunch together once the clock strikes 1pm. I'm quite certain that they source for restaurant around this area back in the office as they always seem like they know where to head to even though all of us are new to this place. Thanks to them, I get to try many kinds of Korean food. We also tried a place called coop-ship (don't know how to spell but it is pronounced this way). It is like a canteen whereby everyone pays a fixed price of 4,500 won and the menu is same for everyone. You can take as many as you want but it is a one-time thing. It is a good place to go if you can't think of anything to eat for that day and feel like saving money for the day.
I think it is because the area in which my office is in, the food here are relatively expensive as there are many office here. Cheapest is 6,000 won. It might sound rather cheap but imagine every meal cost 6,000 won, one day will be 12,000 won and one month will be 360,000 won (401.12 SGD)! Expensive sio! Moreover, 6,000 won dishes have very little variety, so sometimes we have to pay 6,500 won or 7,000 won for better food.. *I miss hawker centre and kopitiam! Cheap cheap!*
Ok, I have strayed away from work, shall direct it back. I'm working as a "Value Marketer" in this company. All the positions in this company will always start with a "Value" as they value all our effort. There's no hierarchy and they tried their best to remove it by calling one another their English name. This is because for Koreans culture, if someone is older than them, they will call hyung or oppa or eonni or nuna, which will kind of create a hierarchy.. That's why they want to eliminate it.
Just some pictures of the office, with some unglam shot of my colleagues *oops*
I'm sure most of you will be interested in the pantry of a start up. Tadaa!! The pantry is always full of drinks and all kinds of korean tidbits. Everyone here is well-fed by these finger-licking tidbits and they deplete so fast that my colleague has to replenish it after 4-5 days.
During weekends, we will always go tour around Seoul like a tourist! Our employer will always ask "So where have you gone to last weekend?". Then we will answer him with the name of the places we have been to. He will always reply "Oh! That's a dating spot!" -.- Why always dating spot...
Somehow Singaporeans like Korea so much that many of my friends are coming here for graduation trip. So far I have "hosted" my cousin and my close friend in Seoul. It is interesting to actually host people when you just came to the country 1 month earlier than them.. Haha!
We went to Gyeongbokgung Palace with our tsm team in the day last month and it usually closes at 630pm. Then we realised that there is an annual event of opening Gyeongbokgung in the evening till 10pm for just 3 days. So we took this chance to take a glimpse of the night scenery of the palace. Again, pretty!
Day
Evening
Night
Ok, will talk more about the food we eat during lunch hours and the places we visited during weekends! Stay tune! :)
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Life Before Internship
Hello! Just created this new blog to jot down bits and pieces of my life during my stay in another country. I am currently a student from SMU and is currently interning in a company in South Korea doing marketing. As the company is thinking of venturing into SEA, I have to do many research on the marketing channels in Singapore.. I happened to chance upon many popular blogs in Singapore and they inspired me to create a blog just meant for my overseas trip. AND partly because I feel that I seem to lose some of my English language skill after mingling with Korean speaking people...
Just let me start with the things I have done before my internship. I was in a technopreneurship study mission conducted by my school. I have visited many startups in South Korea. One of the interesting facts which I have learnt is that entrepreneurship is the vibe to keep a country's economy growing. We don't just depend on the big conglomerates for the sustainable growth but the small fragile startups. This is something which I have not realised till someone with good foresight in a company called GoVenture pointed it out. I saw some effort from the government to encourage the fresh grads to go towards the entrepreneurship path, however, the mindset to join big company is so deep-rooted that few will want to risk and start their own company. I guess this is something similar to the situation in Singapore right now. Thankfully, it is easier to get funding back in Singapore and there are many incubators around to support these startups. I have also learnt that when starting a company, finding a team is the most important. It is more important than coming up with an idea. So currently, I am looking around to look for team members for my future company.
Even though the entrepreneurship atmosphere isn't that strong in South Korea, we still managed to see many young entrepreneurs trying their best to contribute back to society and trying to make a change. Good effort and all the best to them! Ok, enough of these, guess you guys are bored reading this.
After the study mission, the entire team went back to Singapore to continue with their lives while the 4 of us stayed back for our internship. It was awful to see your friends leaving and you are left in a foreign country.. Sigh.. Anyways, before starting my internship, I went to Jeju to have a short holiday with my 2 other friends. It was an awesome trip! Will definitely go there again with my Mr. Right in future. It is a bit weird going with your friends as many of the things are more suitable for couples. Haha! I shall state the places that I have been to.
Love land - recommended by my tour guide during tsm.. I would say it is an eye-opener, a tour on sex education with explicit content. Definitely not a place to go with friends *awkward*
Teddy Bear Museum - it is a must-go when you go to Jeju. There are many cute teddy bears showcased and you will get to see the teddy bears from the korean drama "Princess Hours"! But the teddy bear in the gift shop is pretty expensive.. So I didn't buy anything from there.
Hallasan National Park - Of course, this is the prime of Jeju! There are many different trails to climb to reach the submit. My friends and I chose the Yeonsil trail. It took us about 3 hours to go up to get a good view (not yet the submit) and we decide to head down as we have plans later that day. It was a tough climb as the steps are not even and there are many rocks to obstruct the way. I was about to give up but luckily my friends encouraged me and I persevered. The reward is very awesome with very pretty and breath-taking scenery. We met a lady hiker there and she says that there's hot ramyeon in the shelter. At first we were very excited as we were all hungry but later we found out that the ramyeon she was referring to is instant noodle -.- But I guess you will feel awesome eating hot instant noodle up in the mountain after a few hours of climb :)
Chocolate Museum - We were given a cup of coffee when we bought the tickets. Then we realised that the money that we spent on the ticket might be to compensate for the coffee cos there's nothing much inside. You get to see how chocolate is passed on from one country to another and how it evolved from drinking chocolate to eating chocolate
Yongduam (dragon head) - Is a shape of a dragon head formed when the lava solidified. It is pretty near the hotels in jeju city
Manjanggul ( Lava Cave) - It is a cave that is cold and dark, formed by the solidified molten lave thousand years ago. You will get to see different types of rock with different patterns due to the way they are solidified. At the end of the trail, you will see a pillar look-alike rock that was formed as lava pours down from a whole. It is an interesting visit especially for once-a-core-geography student. Sometimes I would think that if I went jeju earlier during my secondary school days, I could have love Geography more and do better.. Sigh.. Hahaha!
Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak (Sunrise Peak) + Women Diver's Show - Yet another mountain we concur! We climbed this after the Hallasan climb, so this is practically nothing.. But we get to see a clear view of the crater. We went for the women diver's show after we came down as they are just side by side. I saw a group of PRC aunties with the women diver and the PRC were bargaining for a good price for the live octopus just caught. So when a group of strong women meets another group of strong women, man is out of the scene. Their voices were so loud that everyone was staring at them. In the end, the women divers told the PRC to leave the place as they don't welcome bargain. Hahaha!
Folks Village - We saw the old architecture and there are people still living inside and they are using television, fridge and wifi.. Just like any other modern people.. The scene was rather weird. Anyway, we saw a round boundary in front of the house and the guide told us it was for the rearing of black pigs in the past. The toilet is just beside the round boundary. Apparently the people in the past would poo through the hole and the black pig would be fed by the brown-foul-smelling "food". After the tour, we were brought to a restaurant to eat BBQ black pork. How wonderful to eat that after you hear the story of black pigs in the past -.-
Trick Art Museum - An interesting art museum where you can be part of the famous art pieces! There are guidelines to play with the art pieces and there are a few pictures which you can show your own creativity. We took many interesting photos there!
Sanji Lighthouse - This is a random lighthouse we went to in the past as we have nowhere to go.. So the taxi driver suggested this place.. There is nothing there, just a lighthouse and a few containers which reminded me of PSA back in Singapore * full-stop*
Unfortunately, I can't post much of the photos I have taken as windows tell me that my pictures are corrupted or whatever.. So I'm going to google to solve the problem when I have the time.. Right now, that's about it. Will be talking about my life as an intern here in Seoul in the next post! Stay tune!
Just let me start with the things I have done before my internship. I was in a technopreneurship study mission conducted by my school. I have visited many startups in South Korea. One of the interesting facts which I have learnt is that entrepreneurship is the vibe to keep a country's economy growing. We don't just depend on the big conglomerates for the sustainable growth but the small fragile startups. This is something which I have not realised till someone with good foresight in a company called GoVenture pointed it out. I saw some effort from the government to encourage the fresh grads to go towards the entrepreneurship path, however, the mindset to join big company is so deep-rooted that few will want to risk and start their own company. I guess this is something similar to the situation in Singapore right now. Thankfully, it is easier to get funding back in Singapore and there are many incubators around to support these startups. I have also learnt that when starting a company, finding a team is the most important. It is more important than coming up with an idea. So currently, I am looking around to look for team members for my future company.
Even though the entrepreneurship atmosphere isn't that strong in South Korea, we still managed to see many young entrepreneurs trying their best to contribute back to society and trying to make a change. Good effort and all the best to them! Ok, enough of these, guess you guys are bored reading this.
After the study mission, the entire team went back to Singapore to continue with their lives while the 4 of us stayed back for our internship. It was awful to see your friends leaving and you are left in a foreign country.. Sigh.. Anyways, before starting my internship, I went to Jeju to have a short holiday with my 2 other friends. It was an awesome trip! Will definitely go there again with my Mr. Right in future. It is a bit weird going with your friends as many of the things are more suitable for couples. Haha! I shall state the places that I have been to.
Love land - recommended by my tour guide during tsm.. I would say it is an eye-opener, a tour on sex education with explicit content. Definitely not a place to go with friends *awkward*
Teddy Bear Museum - it is a must-go when you go to Jeju. There are many cute teddy bears showcased and you will get to see the teddy bears from the korean drama "Princess Hours"! But the teddy bear in the gift shop is pretty expensive.. So I didn't buy anything from there.
Hallasan National Park - Of course, this is the prime of Jeju! There are many different trails to climb to reach the submit. My friends and I chose the Yeonsil trail. It took us about 3 hours to go up to get a good view (not yet the submit) and we decide to head down as we have plans later that day. It was a tough climb as the steps are not even and there are many rocks to obstruct the way. I was about to give up but luckily my friends encouraged me and I persevered. The reward is very awesome with very pretty and breath-taking scenery. We met a lady hiker there and she says that there's hot ramyeon in the shelter. At first we were very excited as we were all hungry but later we found out that the ramyeon she was referring to is instant noodle -.- But I guess you will feel awesome eating hot instant noodle up in the mountain after a few hours of climb :)
Believe It Or Not Museum - this museum show displays a lot of things that are happening around the world and some are hard to believe. Worth going if you are someone who like to read description of the pictures you see :)
Chocolate Museum - We were given a cup of coffee when we bought the tickets. Then we realised that the money that we spent on the ticket might be to compensate for the coffee cos there's nothing much inside. You get to see how chocolate is passed on from one country to another and how it evolved from drinking chocolate to eating chocolate
Hallim Beach - Pretty beach that we went to before we left. It is about an hour away from the guesthouse we lived in. But the scenery is worth the ride. I saw the sea with different shades of blue, which is something which you cannot see back in S'pore. We took many many photos there and even saw a couple taking their wedding photos there!
Yongduam (dragon head) - Is a shape of a dragon head formed when the lava solidified. It is pretty near the hotels in jeju citySeongsan Ilchulbong Peak (Sunrise Peak) + Women Diver's Show - Yet another mountain we concur! We climbed this after the Hallasan climb, so this is practically nothing.. But we get to see a clear view of the crater. We went for the women diver's show after we came down as they are just side by side. I saw a group of PRC aunties with the women diver and the PRC were bargaining for a good price for the live octopus just caught. So when a group of strong women meets another group of strong women, man is out of the scene. Their voices were so loud that everyone was staring at them. In the end, the women divers told the PRC to leave the place as they don't welcome bargain. Hahaha!
Folks Village - We saw the old architecture and there are people still living inside and they are using television, fridge and wifi.. Just like any other modern people.. The scene was rather weird. Anyway, we saw a round boundary in front of the house and the guide told us it was for the rearing of black pigs in the past. The toilet is just beside the round boundary. Apparently the people in the past would poo through the hole and the black pig would be fed by the brown-foul-smelling "food". After the tour, we were brought to a restaurant to eat BBQ black pork. How wonderful to eat that after you hear the story of black pigs in the past -.-
Sanji Lighthouse - This is a random lighthouse we went to in the past as we have nowhere to go.. So the taxi driver suggested this place.. There is nothing there, just a lighthouse and a few containers which reminded me of PSA back in Singapore * full-stop*Unfortunately, I can't post much of the photos I have taken as windows tell me that my pictures are corrupted or whatever.. So I'm going to google to solve the problem when I have the time.. Right now, that's about it. Will be talking about my life as an intern here in Seoul in the next post! Stay tune!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)