Please brace yourselves for a loooong post with lots of photos! :)
So some relatives and I went to Korea for a few days. HOLIDAYYY!!! 12 of us went altogether, but we eat and talk like we're 100 people xD
Anywayyyy, we took a near-midnight flight on the 18th, and reached Korea very early in the morning on the 19th. From the airport, the 12 of us were split into 2 taxis (a "jumbo taxi" and a normal one, the jumbo one being a Starex) that brought us to our hotel.
View from the taxi
It felt weird that the cars in Korea are all on the "wrong" side of the road! People in Korea drive on the right side of the road, which is the "wrong" side of the road, since people here in Malaysia drive on the left side of the road, which I refer to as the "right" side of the road. Yes? No? What? Whatever lah, you know what I mean xP
So anyway, we reached the hotel, checked in, and we all went to explore the place. And look for food, as always :D
Right outside the hotel doors
Somewhere near our hotel
Overlooking a really nice river? Longkang? I don't know xS
We were all so hungry (we had only had a little bit of pre-ordered food on our Air Asia X flight), and so we all just went around searching and searching for food. Finally we ended up in the building that had a food court on its fifth floor. So there we went for breakfast/lunch/brunch/whatever it was :)
So, there, we had our first meal in Korea. Since we couldn't speak Korean, and the people there couldn't speak English, we did a lot of pointing at pictures and ordering stuff we didn't know what they were xD Some things came out quite nice, but for me, all I concluded from that meal is that I am definitely not a Kimchi person o.O
A beef dish with kimchi as one of its side dishes
A fish dish with at least 2 kimchi-based side dishes
A fried I-don't-know-what dish with plenty of kimchi all over
Kimchi, anyone?
Ughh definitely not for me! The first few bites of overpowering kimchi taste was actually fine with me. But after that, yucks. A person can only take that much kimchi in one meal! But then again, maybe that's just me. And my family. And my extended family xD If you like kimchi, though, you would have enjoyed that meal a lot!
After that meal, we continued walking around, checking the place out. We saw on a map somewhere that there was this palace or something, within walking distance from where we were, which is apparently a tourist attraction. So, we headed there. And then, to my amazement, we saw......
Tadaa!!! A nice, big... picture?!?!?!
Anti-climactic! The palace (or whatever it is supposed to be) was closed for renovation =.=
Anyway, we walked around some more and ended up getting more stuff to satisfy our taste buds and stomachs ;)
A cold latte in winter. Nice! :D
Ah Teow and Daddy with cold lattes, sitting out in winter =D
And we also found some street food.
Something that tastes like tau kee
Ooh! This one's interesting!
It's a hotdog in flour and breadcrumbs or french fries, and it's deep fried.
Then it's coated in sugar. Then ketchup is poured all over it. Then it's eaten.
That night, we went for a Korean barbeque buffet for dinner :D
Some of the many things we had ;)
The barbeque buffet was pretty awesome, but the thing is, we all stinked to high heavens when we came out of that place :S
The next day, we learned to use their subway! Struggled through it, more like it xD Everything was in the Korean language, and we couldn't understand a thing!
Uncle Woon and Ah Yee Teng2 trying to figure out how to use the machine to buy the cards
And while all of us were there, so lost, trying to figure out how to do whatever we were supposed to do, a lady came to ask me for directions! Well, at least that's what I think she was trying to ask me, since I couldn't understand a word she was saying. She was speaking to me pretty rapidly in Korean, and I kept going "uhh.. ahhh... erm... S...sorry", but the lady just kept going on and on and pointing here and there. Finally, when she stopped talking, I said, "Sorry" while shaking my head, shrugging my shoulders slightly, and giving here a completely lost expression. I think she finally got that I wasn't local because she gave me an irritated sigh and went off!
When I was telling mummy and the rest about it, I asked them, "Does my face not say that I am lost?" hahahaha, apparently I looked very local. I can fit in!!! :D
Anyway, we finally got our cards for the subway and then we were on our way!
In one of the stations somewhere. l-r: Me, Joyce, Jayne
My 3 kuchi brats cousins :) l-r: Faith, Joyce, Jayne
There were some stations that had names that sounded a lot like Malay names. For example:
Gemuk? We refused to get down at this station that says we're fat! xD
Masuk? They say masuk, so we masuk the train loh!
Come to think of it, maybe we were just a little to homesick for Malaysia xD
That day, we went to Nami Island, where the Korean drama "Winter Sonata" was filmed. I've never watched that drama, but people said that the island was supposed to be really pretty! :D
We had to take a ferry to the island itself, so we took a cab from the subway station to the jetty, where, upon reaching, I saw...
...this!
Okay, okay, I know you're thinking, What? What's that? What so cool about that?
Well the thing about it is, what I saw when I arrived there wasn't JUST that yellow and green kotak-kotak thingy there. What I saw was someone JUMPING OFF that yellow and green kotak-kotak thingy there!
No no no, before you get any ideas about me having suicidal thoughts, I saw someone BUNGEE JUMPING! :D :D :DDD
I've always wanted to bungee jump. Always! Mummy too! So mummy, myself and my cousin Joyce went to buy tickets! =D However, my Ah Yee Lee Hua was talking about retina detachment or something like that, or something scary that could go bad at bungee jumps. In the end, Ah Yee Lee Hua got the guy to return mummy's money so mummy didn't get to bungee jump :( Only Joyce and I.
Myself and Joyce up there somewhere in the yellow and green kotak-kotak thingy
(can it be considered a building?), where we got geared up :)
For those of you who have never tried bungee jumping, YOU SHOULD!!! It's really really fun! We were supposed to count down from 5, and then jump, and so I did. I was like, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, eh? Where's the ground? WWWHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
It was like nothing I've ever done before! Even at the Space Shot ride in Genting Highlands, you know there's a seat under you, but this, this was nothing! The only thing under you was... well, nothing!Oh, except for water a long, long way down xD It. Was. Awesome! Hahaha and when it was almost over, I yelled jokingly to the whole gin gang at the side there, watching me, "This thing can support my weight ar! Not bad!" hahahaha! My cousin Faith was saying that it was a little too late in the jump to be talking about the thing supporting my weight xD Oh, and hey! I even got a cert for bungee jumping! :D
Proof that I've bungee jumped!!! =)
Lunch that day was nice. Right after Joyce and I bungee jumped, we went to the convenience store to buy our lunch! :D
Microwavable rice and instant ramen!
It was a great lunch :D
A microwavable box-set meal
It was a nice meal to have in Korea :) After lunch, we took the ferry to Nami Island. The ferry had a big Malaysian flag beside the Korean flag, which made me feel so proud! :D
Malaysian flag up there! Oh YEAHHHH!!!
Looking back from the ferry. I bungee jumped off that thing!
We spent quite a lot of time on Nami Island, the oh-so-beautiful island.
l-r: Mum, Dad and I
LOMPATTT!!!!
l-r: Me, Joyce, Jayne
To tell you the truth, I wasn't impressed by Nami Island. In fact, I wasn't impressed at all. Maybe it's because it was winter and all the trees were botak, or maybe I expected something very very very breathtakingly beautiful, but anyway, I wasn't impressed.
There were, however, couples who probably found the romantic side of the island that was supposedly portrayed in "Winter Sonata".
In case you can't see them, the couple is somewhere near the middle of the picture, towards the right side xD
Wait, I just want to clarify that I wasn't stalking couples there! They just happened to appear in my photographs of the scenes and trees in Nami Island! x)
Okay, so even though the trees and the scenery there didn't impress me, the toilets did xD
The toilets had books in them!!! Wahhh!!!
Hahahaha, we went around looking at the place and taking more photos (of things other than toilets) like the celaka tourists that we were though :)
A random statue that wanted to give me a feet high 5
l-r: Mummy, Jayne, me
We caught a ferry back to the jetty and went back to the hotel. Day 2 in Korea spent on bungee jumping and Nami Island :)
Oh, and seeing Malaysia flags :D
Daddy proudly holding the Jalur Gemilang!
We spent our 3rd day in Korea at a snow mountain.
Sadly, some of the snow there didn't occur naturally :( It was still nice and pretty to look at, though :)
I teman-ed Faith who wanted to go sledging while Joyce and Jayne went skiing.
Faith and I with our vests that look like they're from kindergarten xD
We soon realised that the sledging there was meant for little kids and parents who had little kids. Soooo, in the end, we went skiing :D
Newbies at skiing! l-r: Faith, me, mummy
Skiing was fun :) I helped daddy cross that off his Bucket List by going skiing for him xD
Day 4, we just went around Seoul in the Seoul Tour Bus.
Yes, the bus came with headphones and information about the different stops and places :)
I can't remember the names of the places we stopped at, sorry! xD
l-r: Faith, random owl-looking statue, me, mummy, Jayne
Half-botak trees, not-so-botak trees, land, the sun =)
Myself and Faith
It was really really cold that day, and Joyce had an idea to put her hands inside her jacket and not the sleeves. However, with this, there came the problem of how she was supposed to carry her bag? So...
I used the empty jacket sleeves to tie her bag to her back! You're welcome, Joyce! xP
Before heading back to the hotel and then to the airport and then home, we met Colonel Sanders! If you don't know who that is, all I can say is shame on you!!!
He is...
The KFC guy!!! :D This is a cuter version of him, though xD
More of the dressed-up people at the KFC we were at, with mummy and I :)
Oh, and of course, somewhere in the trip, we at least managed to get a complete group shot!!!
Top l-r: Daddy, Mummy, Ah Teow, Ah Yee Lee Hua, Uncle Woon.
Bottom l-r: Me, Gracie, Ah Yee Teng2, Faith, Jayne, Joyce, Ming Ming.
We were welcomed back home to Malaysia by the hot and humid weather here. Yay =.= Sweating wasn't something I missed on the trip xD
Fast foward a few days from there, and rewind a little bit from today, right now...
I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!!! I hope everyone experiences the love of God this year :)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! =)
I spent Christmas around my family and loads of food, so yeah, it was merry, alright! :)
mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...
Buh-bye, people!!!
