AHNYEONGHASEYO!

Alhamdulillah, my parents and I safely landed at KLIA at 4.00pm yesterday after a 5 and a half hour plane ride from Incheon International Airport in Korea. As with my entry on Switzerland, rather than recounting day by day I will only tell of the highlights of our week-long trip to Korea.

Huge thanks to Min Woo and Min Jung for taking us around Seoul. It was fun having you guys around. Kamsahamnida!

Public Transport-I think we took almost all the lines in the Korean train system. Since we were staying in Incheon, it took a while for us to reach Seoul. Once we went to Seoul by bus and the next day we went by train. It took almost the same amount of time, just that there is alot of walking involved when you're taking the train. Especially if you have lots of transfer points, it can make anyone get a little confused. Also because we weren't accustomed to the area, we had some difficulties in identifying which exit to take once we reached a station. Because the line from Seoul to Incheon was newly extended, the train to our hotel would be almost empty when we are nearing the station. That gave us some photo op session opportunity, thee hee.. We met a Korean couple (Ayu and Anton) who spoke Indonesian . They turned out to be volunteers who help Indonesian workers in Korea to communicate. And the wonderful thing is, we actually met the guy they were meeting up. Like fate, I tell you.

First pic is us with Ayu and Anton. The second are the guys they were supposed to meet with...

Korean food-We had some Korean food and I tasted Kimchi for the first time in my life. We tried grilled fish at Dongdaemun and some noodles at Lotte. I had kimchi noodle that was both hot and spicy. So, unfortunately, I couldn't finish it. Chesunghamnida! We also had some pajeon at Ganghwa, where they served us with pork cutlets *shakes head * I love the side dishes. It's like you can still have a lot of other stuff even though you just ordered one main dish. We would usually have breakfast at the hotel, where I will just take the toast and some fruits. We saw some rambutan at the hotel. It was brown and dried up. No wonder no one would eat it. And I swear I once smelled durian in the elevator.

Namdaemun and Dongdaemun Market-Namdaemun was a little like Chow Kit. The stuff they sell here is cheap (according to Korean currency). I bought a T-shirt, a pink hanbok (Yeay me!!), some souvenir type stuff. The clothes they sell here are a bit cheap looking but fashionable nonetheless. We also went to Dongdaemun in search of brooches for Mama. We ended up buying clothes for everybody and just three brooches. But it is definitely a fashion haven. If only I had more cash on me, I would totally go berserk at the three floors of ladies' fashion.

Outside the eating place in Namdaemun..

Itaewon-We heard that there is a masjid there. Itaewon is like the place for foreigners. It is only here that you would see Arabic restaurants and also other types of Non-Korean delicacies. Non-Koreans are also more visible here than in downtown Seoul. However, the walk from the Itaewon station took a lot out of us. We had to climb a winding and very, very steep hill because the masjid is perched atop of a hill. Alhamdulillah, we managed to perform our solat there and took some pictures too. After we got down, we had some kebab at Mr. Kebab's. On the way we met a couple of Malaysian students and saw some praying at the masjid.

Star Avenue-We managed to get ourselves to the southern part of Seoul to the Lotte Department Store in Jamsil to visit the Star Avenue where who else's stuff should be on the display but TVXQ and Kang Ji Hwan!! There were also other stars like Big Bang, Rain , Choi Ji Woo, Park Yong Ha and Song Seung Hoon. At the entrance is the Star Showcase where there were displays of the stars' wardrobe and some of their personal belongings with their hand prints on one side.

Ji Hwan oppa's display...

TVXQ's display...

After we went through the admission gate, we were taken to the With Star section where you get to take a picture riding with "Song Seung Hoon" not unlike the sequence in East of Eden.

Then, there's Star Tracking where our faces were posted with the artist of our choice. Naturally, mine is with TVXQ. But it didn't turn out good. Abah's were on the spot! He really looked like he was hugging Ji Woo Hime. Cool!! Next up is Movie Stars where we took pictures with life size cutouts of all the stars. Last is the Drama Recital where Mama and Abah did a cute but funny recital of a scene from Winter Sonata. Next section is the Star Center where we get to send e-fan mails to any of the 9 artist featured. No guessing who I sent mine to. Alright, the next section is Drama Star where we were given the chance to wear the costumes of dramas like Dae Jang Geum, Jumong and there's even a corner for bridal gowns. Me and Abah chose the Jumong costumes while Mama opted to be the Empress in Dae Jang Geum.

Last but not least is the Music Star section. At first Abah went up the stage and sang a few verses of Hello and the theme song of Winter Sonata. Channeling him, I bravely tried to perform One Love by Arashi. It was OK, just a bit monotonous, imho... Then, we quickly exited the venue and continued on with our exploration of Seoul.

Gyeongbokgung, Gwanghwamun Plaza-It would be such a waste to come to Seoul and fail to see any of its palaces, so we went to the Gyeongbokgung (which meant palace blessed by the heavens). The palace was once burnt down in the Japanese invasion but was re-built since. We took pictures here and there and saw the setting for the morning meeting and inner palaces. I basically went and saw every nook and crany I could and tried to imagine the palace in its glory days. After that, we took the train and went to the Gwanghwamun Plaza. It was actually a highway but the government re-modeled it so that there is a walkway filled with flowers for the visitors and also the locals. Of course, there were a lot of spots for picture taking..

Incheon Global Fair & Festival 2009-The fair was just visible from our hotel and since we've already gotten free tickets, it would've been a waste if we didn't go take a look. It is an international event going on for a period of 80 days with a variety of international exhibitions, conferences and events. I especially wanted to see the teddy bears and water show. We went there on our last night in Korea. When we got there, the multimedia water show was already starting. Since we sat at the side, the full impact of the show cannot be seen, like for example when the song "My Love Will Go On" was playing, they showed a clip from Titatnic that only the audience sitting at the center can appreciate. We managed to visit the Global Pavillion where there were booths of different foreign countries, mostly America, Japan and China.

And my favourite is the Teddy Bear Pavillion. I love the concept where they give you a Teddy Bear passport at the entrance as if you're visiting a Teddy Bear planet. There are Teddy bear displys of almost all different kinds of cultures and at each booth is a passport stamp. So, you stamp each country on your passport, which makes it kinda interactive. And of course, the Teddy Bears are soo cute!! Towards the end, there were even displays of the Teddy Bears from Goong.. Just thinking about it makes me feel so happy inside.. Next time I'm visiting Korea, I'm definitely going to the Teddy Bear Museum..

With the Goong teddies.. Kawaii!

Ganghwa-We joined a day's trip to visit some historical sites in Ganghwa, which is an island just off Gimpo. It took more than an hour to get there from Incheon. On the bus, I sat with a Japanese professor from Osaka. Didn't talk much with her.. Hee, gomen! We went to the Ganghwa National Museum, saw the Ganghwa dolmen (a type of grave for leaders of yore), and the Chojijin Fortress (where you can still see the cannon mark on the tree). I think Ganghwa is the first line of defense for Korea, hence a lot of its historical sites has something to do with battles. We also went to the observatory where you can see North Korea. Abah signed the unifivcation tree there.

First pic: At the Ganghwa Dolmen. Second: With Abah outside the observatory.

Here are some of my thoughts:

• Roads are smaller even though the cars are somewhat larger than in Malaysia. Mama also commented that most of them are black or white.
• It is almost impossible for me to buy pants here because they have so very slim legs. But their fashion is soo my style. If only I had a huge cash stash, I would've gone crazy at the market.
• Most of the time I felt like being in a drama, being surrounded by Koreans. Tanoshi!
• About 80% of the Korean women wear heels, no shorter thn 2 in. The younger ones prefer sneakers.
• The housekeeping at our hotel was a bit strange. They would not replenish our toiletries and sometimes even forgot to replace our towels.
• Most of the Koreans have at some point learnt English, but it's still somewhat hard to get your point across. It's a good thing I can recognize certain words and kinda make sense out of what they're saying and I'll reply them in English.
• I guess the Muslim community is not quite visible in Korea. Most of the time, we were asked where we were from and they get kinda shocked when we told them we're from Malaysia. The Koreans are also a bit ignorant on Muslims and a few did ask some questions about Islam.

• I get extremely excited when I see CF's of stars that I know. Like I saw some with 2NE1, Rain, Lee Seung Gi, So Nyeo Shi Dae and Han Ji Min. I bought Arashi albums (5x10 All The Best 1999-2009, Dream Alive and Arashic) and single (One Love) at Shinsegae which is weird because I'm in Korea and I'm buying a Japanese artist's music. And the best part is, who should be the Korean distributor for Arashi but SM Entertainment, which is TVXQ's company. And as you know, TVXQ is active in Japan as Tohoshinki, managed by Avex which is not on such good terms with Johnys Entertainment, which is Arashi's company... Whew!!
• The shopping in Korea was OK. It's better not to convert the money to RM and just think of 1,000 won as RM1. You'll get less frustrated that way. But you have to keep tabs on your spending.
  Regrettably, there was a few places that I didn't manage to go. Namely Junsu's Dad Pizza PLace and Jeju Island. I was also hoping that we could've visited the Full House set which was in Incheon but, no such luck.
• I love watching TV!! There are all sorts of Korean programmes. Heaven!! Just that they didn't have subtitles... But Abah commented that it's no different than at Malaysia because I constantly watch KBSWorld at home.
• The day started a bit earlier than in Malaysia. Subuh was at 4.30am and Maghrib was 7.05pm. The sun was already up by 7.30am. So, we had to take our sahur at about 3.30am and then would just sleep soon after.
• I LOVE the subway! Just because I hate driving, I find myself wondering when Malaysia will have such an extensive network of railway because you can just get about anywhere with the train. Which means, no more driving! Yeay!

• I had fun reading the road signs and shop names. Whilst others were busy talking or sleeping, I just had to take a peek outside and time passes ever so quickly, hahaha.

• They actually make you pay for a plastic bag. And when we were shopping in E-Mart, we were only given one plastic bag to put in all our stuff. Unfortunately, we bought a large bottle of juice, several other drinks and bread. so Abah and me had to take turns caryying the bag back to the hotel.
  

As we landed, I don't feel the usual euphoria that comes with being home. I guess I miss Korea already.This is the last picture we took in Korea.

In fact, I have a list of places that I didn't get to go and am planning to go there again. Yeorobun, wish me luck!!