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.
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