Sunday, February 11, 2018

Spring is for rebirth

Does anyone still read blogs? Anyway, test posting here ahead of my upcoming Sakura chase.

posted by Addy @ 4:56 PM 0 comments

Friday, May 20, 2011

Places Which Sound like Indonesians Talking!

Papa got well in time for our day out in the Anguk and Samcheong-dong area. We followed the itinerary that Shu passed to me. Started off at the traditional Buchon-Hanok Village, approximately 300 m from exit #2 of the Anguk Station (subway line 2).

Map taken at the station just in case



We could see traditional Korean houses with their distinctive roofs, and some of them are still private residences.





Sis found the surroundings familiar and commented that it reminded her of a scene in Winter Sonata when the male lead, Bae Yong Jun leaned against a stone wall to smoke. Then later, indeed we saw a sign proclaiming it was the film site!

Evidence haha



The family got hungry and I had to lead them to Samcheong-dong, which was also "approximately 300 m from exit #2 of the Anguk Station". However, the internet never mentioned that we had to make our way there by clambering up the hill, round the crest and down the other side. If there was a shorter and more direct route, I could not find it.

Samcheong-dong exudes a vibe much like our Holland Village. I like the pretty pop-arty buildings that we kept snapping pictures of.



All tired out from the unexpected hike to Samcheong-dong



Sis and I like this one! If you look carefully on the right wall of the building, you can see the grey silhouette of the Gardener from the story sweeping leaves away.







At one of the cafes, I had trouble deciding what to eat. The owner tried to help me along.

"You like noodles?" she asked, notepad in hand already filled with the orders of the rest of my family.

"Yes!"

"You like vegetables?" she continued.

"Yes! But I don't want spicy," I thought to warn her.

"It's just a little spicy," she held out her finger and thumb to signify how little it was. I eventually agreed to it, and ended not finishing the big bowl of chewy cold noodles that appeared in front of me.

Fake smile



Instead, I had to stare longingly at the bowls of instant Korean ramen that Sis and Bro had, my favourite brand which used to be sold at the food court at Vista Point, and it reminded me of A again, of that time he bought 2 orders to go and we enjoyed them in front of his tv.

True smile of enjoyment



After lunch, we made our way to the palace, Gyeongbokgong. It was nothing much to talk about. We amused ourselves at the cut-outs though.

Papa and Mummy



Bro and Sis as prince and princess in sunnies!



Everyone felt bored walking aimlessly on the garden gravel, so we decided to walk to Insa-dong to see what was on offer (all these "dong"s...). It was another lovely, artsy street, but I could not find any Keith Haring art pieces, as all these were original artworks.







So far from the city that Starbucks was not written in English



And neither was Nature Republic



The family had a laugh at this, pretending this was the blusher brush that I had been looking for the past few days!



The wind was blustery that day, and Brent learnt the usefulness of a nearby phone booth.


That evening, we had a 90-minute break in a theatre, watching Jump!, a comic martial arts performance. It was slapstick and good clean fun. Some parts reminded me of Stephen Chow's antics in his earlier movies. Highly recommended! You don't need to understand/speak Korean to enjoy it. We were inspired to spring a few moves of our own hehe.



Onward to the last part of our day. Shopping time at Dongdaemun! We started off at the Dongdaemun Market, thinking it was where the action was at. However, Sis, Mum and I realised that the REAL shopping was next door, at Maxtyle, one of the shopping centres that close at 5 am.



Sis and I shopped till we literally dropped at 1 am. We were really exhausted by the time we hopped into a yellow cab to go back to Savoy Hotel. Our mood did not improve upon hearing the cab driver quoting us a "midnight charge" of 30,000 won for that short trip. Worse still, we found out from the hotel that the short trip after midnight should have been about 5,000 - 6,000 won max!

Tip: Take the big black taxis; they charge by the meter.

posted by Addy @ 11:39 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Lesson #2: Don't assume that all islands are the same size as Singapore

Reflections from my journal - 9 & 10 April (Days 2 & 3)

This trip seems cursed. At first I thought I could redeem myself at Jeju when we arrived. It was scenic and beautiful and we saw sparse patches of what looked like sakura trees. After an hour and 20 minutes of sitting on the Jeju Airport bus #600 to Sun Beach Hotel at Seogwipo, where we alighted and walked downhill towards Jeju Hiking Inn, we could see the sparkling waters of the harbour to our right and smell the crisp sea air.







After we checked into our cosy and tiny traditional Korean room, with heated flooring no less, I thought that we should head to Jeju-si for the Cherry Blossom Festival, since we did not see any in Seoul and after all, that was what we came for. So we set off on what we did not know would be a very long hike to the 516 bus terminal. A kind soul near another hotel led us for some interval to a traffic intersection, panting slightly by the time we reached as we walked uphill all the time. He waved us onward in relief, and I had to ask another passerby where it was. She had no idea though, and it was only by chance that we turned the corner and saw the bus with the sign "516" on it.

This is the terminal, made up of a small container office and gravel space for 3 buses outside.

Upon boarding and setting off, I had a sinking feeling that we were heading back towards the Jeju Airport, and that Jeju-si = Jeju City. The bus wound round and round and up and down a mountain for more than an hour, and we even fell asleep along the way. It got darker and darker till by the time we reached the terminal at Jeju-si, it was completely dark. Out of the question to have hanami. Besides the last bus left at 9.30 pm, meaning we only had time for dinner nearby and would not even have time to take a cab to Donam-dong, where the Citizen Welfare Town was.

I was acutely aware of the disappointment of my family, though they tried not to express it. We could have explored the waterfalls, or the harbour or even the Food Street near our inn. Instead, we settled at Juk Story, 10 minutes away from the bus terminal, to have porridge for dinner.







We then had to make our way back to the terminal to take the 9 pm bus back to Seogwipo. Our beds, which had seemed charming like the Japanese futons at first, turned out to be not thick enough and the heat from the floor kept searing through the mattress at certain parts. The traditional rectangular Korean pillow was too hard for my liking; the room was too bright even with curtains drawn, and I took a really long time to find a comfortable position to fall asleep. :(

We had limited time to admire the beauty the next morning in our haste to get to the right bus stop for the bus #600 back to Jeju Airport. Managed to snap a few polaroids but that was all.





After another 4 hours or so, we were thankfully back in Myeong-dong, but this time Papa wasn't feeling too good, and went back to his room during lunch. We then traipsed around Myeong-dong looking for medicine for him, before finding it at a pharmacist at the Myeong-dong Underground Shopping Centre.



Things improved a little as we shopped and sampled street snacks with Mum and Brent. We even stopped by Dunkin Donuts for coffee. When it was time for dinner, we took away chicken porridge back to the hotel and had dinner together in his room. He wanted to join us for shopping after that, but we persuaded him to rest for the day.

Sis and I bought more masks in the next few hours. Total damage done for that day was 130 masks! The 2 evil places are Olive Young (selling the Dermal Green Tea masks I use at 2 for 500 won, which is about 30 cents per piece!) and Beautiplex (selling the same range of Dermal masks but the Pearl Collagen, Rice Bran, White and Aqua Collagen which I also use, at 60 pieces for 20,000 won, which is about 40 cents per piece!!). In Singapore, they sell for $1.95 at Sasa and Watson's. Someone's making good money...

posted by Addy @ 12:34 AM 0 comments

Monday, April 18, 2011

Lesson #1: Never book domestic flight tickets at the last minute even if there are flights out every 10 - 15 minutes

Reflections from my journal - 8 April (Day 1)

1st day of my family trip to Korea, and how eventful it was! We arrived at Gimpo airport's domestic terminal happily, only to discover to my utter horror, that the day's tickets to Jeju Island were all sold out cos we had "no reservations" (it took me quite a while to get used to the accented English they speak). Then there was the mad rush to book tickets out to Jeju for the next day and back on Sunday, money concerns to get rooms in Seoul for the night, and the language barriers. The airport staff were generally sympathetic to our plight, and helped us as best as they could. In the end, we could only get the 1455 hour flight to Jeju on Saturday and depart from there at 0920 hour on Sunday. :( I was supremely disappointed at myself for not booking the tickets online earlier, and causing disappointment to my mum especially.

By the time we got to downtown Seoul where our hotel, Ibis Seoul Myeong-dong Hotel, was, it was already almost 8 pm local time. As the Gimpo Airport limousine bus (#6001) turtled through the peak hour traffic, I caught myself thinking, "All cities look the same now, after a while." which means that my next holiday would have to be either somewhere rustic, beachy or really cultural. The bus stopped right in front of the hotel, thankfully.



Pulling our luggage into reception, I asked to check in but got some unintelligible reply in return.

"Can you speak English?" I ventured. The receptionist looked at me strangely and repeated his instructions. I only caught "check-in" and "19". As we went into the lift, Sis looked at me and asked "Did you know that he was speaking English already? I found it so weird that you asked if he spoke English when he already was!" Oops.

Anyway. We popped out into the streets in search of dinner, after settling the room confirmations for the following night at Jeju Hiking Inn. The streets looked really enticing at first glance. Lotsa neon lights, masks and cosmetic shops, and aroma from the street food stalls beckoned.



Mum was ill on the plane and did not feel like walking much, so after our dinner of bibimbap, we deposited her back at her room to sleep it off, and hit the streets again.





Sis and I passed by a stall closing for the night, and the seller was packing giant cream puffs into huge plastic bags. Standing timidly by his side, I held out my index finger to indicate that we wanted 1. It sold for 1,500 won and was about the size of my palm!

In the midst of browsing the shops, we chanced upon Savoy Hotel, the hotel for the next leg of our journey. Didn't know Myeong-dong was so small! We took the chance to verify if we could deposit our luggage there before flying to Jeju. Luckily for us, the receptionist said it was fine. Btw, to my surprise, my 3G-enabled Sony Ericsson was not able to connect to the 3G network here, though Sis could on her Iphone. So all calls to reserve tickets for various programmes and hotels had to be done at the reception.

posted by Addy @ 11:46 PM 0 comments

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Sakura Chase 2011

I am excited! I am going back to Japan for the 4th time in 6 years (and it's not frequent enough!) this April. This time, I will be bringing my entire family along.

Watch this space as I bring you my adventures again (while I try to get going on my Sydney as well)!

*Update: Due to the situation last month in Japan, plans were changed to Korea instead and I only had a week to plan the 8-day itinerary.

posted by Addy @ 12:55 AM 0 comments

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Taronga Zoo and its strange inhabitants

Yan wanted to see koalas and kangeroos. We found out that apart from those, there were a host of other indigenous animals at Taronga Zoo whose names I cannot even begin to translate in Chinese for Yan.

They included:

the wombat



the platypus



the kookabura



We did get up close and personal with a koala though. We paid AUD$19.90 for the Koala Encounter, where we could get this close to a koala, take pictures of it, get a complimentary photo BUT not touch it nor cuddle it nor feed it! Hmph.



We also saw some other cute mammals that made us go "awww".

Happy Feet, anyone?



This was rather funny. We spotted those giraffes in the background from some distance away. They were just standing there motionless, chewing away from their pails, and we thought that they were fake, and just statues of giraffes! ^^

Yan commented, "The quality is too good already, until we thought they're not real."



Not forgetting this pretty sulky lil gal...

posted by Addy @ 3:08 PM 0 comments

Friday, October 08, 2010

Strawberries on The Rocks

The Rocks is at the north of Sydney, near to the Sydney Harbour and where the iconic Sydney Opera House stands. The Rocks was where the indigenous Cadigal people lived for thousands of years, followed by the British convicts, and it eventually grew into a vibrant community, much like how Singapore started out as a port city.

And of course, the name lends itself to many allusions to liquor poured over ice cubes, i.e. whisky on the rocks. 2 examples which we visited over the next few days were: Vintage on the Rocks, and Pancakes on the Rocks.

Here we are below in S's car going to The Rocks for brunch. We were really thankful that S, Yan's teammate back in Guangzhou, drove us around almost half the time, saving us a great deal in transportation. Auntie, S's mum, joined us sometimes, though her nagging irritated S a bit.



After the enormous brunch, we walked around at the weekend market.



Spotted these 2 cool bikes while leaving the market.



Auntie bought us chocolate-covered strawberries! Even though we protested on account of our bursting tummies, we managed to finish all of them. Fruits after meals are considered healthy right? Hehe.



S was rushing for her coaching, but upon hearing that I was looking for macadamia nuts for friends, she drove us to this factory which manufactures many types of nuts sold at shops and airport at inflated prices. The packets here cost between AUD9 to 11. The factory is called "Hong Tai Food Company", but unfortunately I do not have the address of the factory.



S dropped Yan and me at the Direct Factory Outlet at Homebush to shop our afternoon away. Yan went crazy over Havaianas, which I admit are freaking cheap there. AUD15 as compared to S$60+!



We had our dinner at a Chinese seafood restaurant, where I ended up not eating most of the delicacies, like below. Yan said the food I left on my plate formed a smiley face.

-_-



S's clubmate paid for the meal, and as Chinese culture dictates, we were obligated to repay his kindness. In our case, Yan had to "sacrifice" herself, as she joked, to play badminton at their club that evening. I am proud to say that the pair of S and Yan beat all the men's doubles pairs which went up to "challenge" them.

posted by Addy @ 10:13 PM 0 comments