Last day of Seoul

This will probably be my last post on Korea before I move to blog on other things. Half of it is about shopping, and since I am not an avid shopper (cough) I don't have much to say.

This is what I brought in Korea:
1. Boots. I have too many, whatever, but these boots were actually a good investment, because they are like ugg boots but cheaper, and were very warm that for the next 3 days I was in Korea my feet never froze over or my toes got cold. Also they're easy to take off, unlike other boots.
2. Souvenirs, which I lost on the way back to Perth, so that was too bad.
3. Stockings, which my sister told me were very warm even without thermal wear. They were a cheap 10000 won too.
4. Sweaters

The Myeongdong shopping district is a good place to go to if you like shopping, and it is damn easy to get lost in for newcomers. A general rule is that the street stalls sell keyrings, hats and scarfs (occasionally leggings and iPhone covers) and are cheaper than the mainstream stores, some of which are Uniqlo, American Apparel etc, and there are lots of cosmetic stores as well (Skin Food, Etude House and Saon). If you scour carefully though, it's easy to find cheap clothes (however you usually you can't try on the clothes).

Myeongdong isn't the only place (obviously, in a place like Seoul) to go shopping. The shopping malls in the city center are configured into towers, and the entrances are called gates. If I remember, there is one big tower of woman's clothing, one big tower of men's clothing, and another for kid's clothing and teenagers.

The tour let us slip to one more place in Seoul before we left to Incheon Airport, and at first I thought it was the Gyeongbokgung Palace next to the big stretch of road with the warrior statue in the middle, but no, it was the Deoksu Palace. Interestingly, there are many 'temples' of similar architecture scattered throughout Seoul, and there are bells located in each of them, which the Koreans ring on New Years Day.

It is a very beautiful place to go to, as you can see.

Skiing

The only thing worth asking if whether I was good at it. I only got 2 hours to perfect my skill, and I fell down 4 times going down the slope. So I suck. Neither did I get to ride the cable car to try up the top of the hill.

The ski resort seems to be a popular place for a lot of Koreans however (you have to wait a long time indeed to hire equipment. Also, it's quite expensive as expected). You have a choice of snowboarding or skiing, and there are 4 slopes, one for complete noobs, one proper slope for half noobs, another one for the immediate and of course, the steepest ones for the pros.

I only have to say, when you first start skiing you will fall down a lot of times, like ice skating. You also have to learn to fall down the proper way (backwards, on your butt) like ice skating. Skiing however, is nothing like ice skating. Obviously.

Massive Korean Food Post

I've been meaning to do this for a while as I never have eaten Korean food in my life, or documented what I ate on any holiday. So in true Asian tourist style I felt I had to take photos of almost every food item I consumed.

The thing with Korea is that they have a dish called kimchi, which is pickled cabbage, and they have it with everything. With the nature of Korean food, I might had just as well posted up hundreds of photos of kimchi in different angles, but luckily it wasn't as bad as I assumed. At least after the 5th day there were welcome breaks from the national food of Korea.

So now here are lots of photos of food. The rules are no fast food, food from general stores, or aeroplane food. Everyone knows none of these count.

Obligatory kimchi fried rice

Korean steamboat (with elements of Japanese dishes)

Porridge

Mushroom Steamboat

Steamed Trout fresh from the rivers of Hwancheon

This one is interesting, you mix the rice with the vegetables and soup. After you've scraped the rice out of the pot you can mix it with water to make something that tastes like brown rice tea.

Boiled Chicken with Ginseng

Udon (technically, udon is Japanese)

Baby chicken with ginseng tea and rice noodles (don't think it's vermicelli, but still unsure). There was also ginseng wine there, which I tasted...and didn't like it at all.

Barbecued pork (which is cooked with a weird contraption made out of pipes shown below)

Dessert at a seafood buffet in Myeongdong

Chinese breakfast

Barbecue black pig with kimchi

Fried fish

Joke food:

mixing everything together on the table

Octopus on a cupcake

I have no pictures of/did not post up:
spaghetti at Lotte world
the seafood buffet besides the dessert
Korea hawker food
seaweed soup, which goes with most Korean dishes we had

Kimchi I mentioned is provided with every dish, but I didn't bother eating kimchi after the 3rd day, I was thoroughly sick of it by then.

The tastiest food award goes to the udon breakfast, followed by surprise, the first day of kimchi fried rice.

Singapore 7

SoHo 7
The main purpose of Singapore was really to catch a glimpse of our friends overseas. However we chose such a horrible date (which to this day my brother still complains about if it wasn't for the cafe visit); every one had already flown back to Australia, or gone to another country. However Sarah and her highly adept social skills saved the day, so we went to SoHo 7, a new cafe located downtown which was to open two days later but we got an exclusive sneak peek.

However if I am to continue with the event I need a backstory to the owner of the cafe, Swee. She came to Australia a few years ago, studying in bible college. Eventually she got to know the Grace youth group through a few friends, and started coming regularly to their camps to help out. However, last year with her visa expired, she had no choice but to move back to Singapore.

As of recently, she decided to start a new cafe in a new establishment. Aptly she named it SoHo 7, 'Son-of-the-holy-one-seven'. Breakfast is served there, as well as coffee (there is a big red roasting machine floating at the back) and burgers.

I along with my brother, Sarah and Crosby were the first people to eat at the cafe. Some of the youth had come to the place but were only restricted to the outside.

Breakfast in the afternoon was served; Swee had to prepare food for us, so breakfast it was. This photo however was taken before Hollandaise sauce was oozed all over our dishes. After that was the coffee, which promptly after the two other guys finished Swee remarked, 'I see two coffee drinkers...and two non-coffee drinkers!' She however admitted to not knowing how to use the coffee machine properly though. I can never tell the difference though; to me any coffee tastes the same. By the way, it was the latte I took.

The chairs are an interesting mention since they were very expensive and made in Italy. I first thought they were ordinary chairs from IKEA, but on closer inspection I realised all the chairs were designer Eames chairs from Vitra. No wonder. Right next to the cafe are several photography exhibits, and a toy camera shop specialising in selling everything analog from Lomography, to rare Chinese cameras to Polaroids, which I would spend hours wondering what to buy if it weren't for the fact it was closed that day.

Anyway, it was good to see a face I haven't seen in ages, along meeting friends as well, something that rarely happens when I go overseas; and amongst tasty food as well. When it was time to leave the cafe Swee wouldn't let us go without prayer and giving us some shirts to spread the word.

Singapore 6

Harbourfront/Vivo City
Not exactly a very touristy destination compared to Singapore's zoo and museums, but was the last stop in my trip around Singapore and the stop you had to go to make it to Sentosa, unless you wanted to sit in the cable cars. However Mum was too scared of cable cars, so the iconic cars were unfortunately a no go. So it was the slow moving monorail to Sentosa, which gets very crowded quickly.

Vivo City opens up some interesting viewpoints looking towards Sentosa, and if you're a HDR photography lover, the boardwalks are perfect for taking such shots. However I didn't have the proper equipment to take HDR photos, so had to make do without. Vivo City was also the place where Mum decided to go on a shopping spree for UETs (Unessential-Electronic-Things). If you're a middle class guy who hates scouring around Orchard Rd for something you can actually afford, then Vivo City is a good bet for you.

Singapore 5

Sentosa Island
Visiting Sentosa Island was a given anyway, and has so many attractions. And here are my picks:

Universal Studios Singapore

Theme park which I spent most of the day in, rather expensive but worth going if you have children along with you. If you spend at least 5 hours while skipping some of the slower rides (and I mean just 2 or 3), you should be able to get through all the rides. Didn't go to the insane Human vs. Cylon ride or the Mummy ride, was too chicken to try it. Kid friendly attractions are all the rides/shows on Jurassic Park, Madagascar, and Land of Far Far Away. If you're in a hurry and want to explore the rest of Sentosa, skip the Hollywood and New York sections. Shrek 4D is also amongst the best of 4D (trumped the 4D attraction in Korea by far).

Merlion

Right next to flowers is where the famous Merlion sits. Didn't spend too long here however as mum wanted to dragged me to the resort.

Sentosa Casino
Used to be the only casino in Singapore but that changed with the newly built Marina Bay. I was however 1 year below the age limit so wasn't allowed in (so close yet so far). It was the same deal when I went to Marina Bay. Even still was the fact that the pair of sandals on me was the only shoes I had on me and was the same case with mum so none of us made it.

South most point of Asia

To me I don't know how this was the south most point of Asia, but I wanted to visit it, owing to the beautiful view and the fact that it was one of the more memorable attractions I visited eight years ago.

The beach is very nice there. I forgot my sarong and bathing suit though.

Singapore 4

Chinatown and Orchard Rd
For the record I did not buy anything at Orchard Rd. I walked around Forever 21 and Cotton On, hoping to grab something but mum had a pact not willing to part with money unless it was in 1 Utama. So I just walked around looking at flower bunnies and Gucci/Louis Vutton bags. Also there are so many camera shops around, with the biggest selection of SLR lenses I have seen in my life.

Neither did I buy anything at Chinatown or fully explore Chinatown, but regardless, the street view at night is nothing but quite magical (despite what dismal photo tells you I've just placed there). Dumplings at People's Place is very tasty, however I was treated with some huge breakfast not long before, so I never got to fully appreciate it.

Singapore 3

Marina Bay and Towers

A relatively new attraction to Singapore, and an instantly recognizable building from any distance in the city. You either like it or think it's absolutely ugly, a bit akin to Federation Square in Melbourne. I actually think it is a interesting building in the weird sense (possibly Singapore wanted it's own iconic postmodern architecture along with Malaysia?). I never got a good vantage point to snap the whole building in it's entirety, so instead you got a picture of the architect's model inside the first tower. (Actually, I wanted to snap myself eating the canoe on top of the three towers, which I am itching to do if I ever come back, for my amusement. Maybe I could photoshop myself eating the model).

By the way, it is not the building I am entirely interested in, but in fact the sculpture running the bottom length of the towers. The sculpture is basically big strings of loose metal squares which create ripples when wind blows over, creating a beautiful effect. If I ever have to design anything that reacts with the environment, I could use that as inspiration.

I however never got to the top of the towers to the 'canoe', since it was a $20 fee, basically too expensive per person, I didn't know where to pay for it, and I had to set off to Dhoby Guaut very soon. However, I heard the view is extremely beautiful, with gardens and a swimming pool. Mum could not tear herself easily from the place though; when we got to the MRT, for the whole way Mum was extremely disappointed she didn't get to check out the toilets.

Singapore 2

It has been 8 years since I visited Singapore and I spent the time with my Dad's relatives in Buona Vista the last time. I had fond memories of buying heaps of squishy toys from the market square.

Obviously since then so much of Singapore has changed. Here I attempt to shortlist some new experiences, some old, some renewed. Broken into smaller posts since the original got too large.

The public transport

Somewhat worthy of praise is the public transport which stretches through the entire island and makes any place pretty much assessable no matter where you stand. But despite that public transport is still public transport. The MRT (subway) often gets crowded.

What I found as a new addition to the system was several new lines added, such as the Circle line and North East Line, which I swear when I was last there did not exist. Also several train stops have monorail extensions, called the LRT (light rail transport). All in all, most of the time we didn't need major research to get anywhere we wanted to go, since the MRT stations were conveniently placed near the main locations.

The food

Unfortunately no 'famous' shops or places or specialty dishes eg katong laksa/chicken rice, except Newton's Hawker Center, of which there is stingray, and probably a lot of other decent dishes I never got to try. As well as this, I have eaten the traditional kopi and breakfast, oyster omelette, and braised herbal duck, which deserve a mention. Apparently, the roti chanai is better in Singapore than in Malaysia, but I never got to try a good slice.

The other things

Singapore isn't as clean as it was before. But it's still clean by international standards. As well as this, since Singapore is essentially a small island most are squashed up in condos (high-density living) like Japan and Korea. In between however is government land, plain green land given to people for recreation and other things.

Singapore

On the last few days of my stay overseas my brother hogged the computer for the whole night so I never got a chance to put up some posts for quite a while. Now I'm back in Australia, I will start the posts again, starting from Singapore this time.

This will be pretty short, as I only stayed 4 days there, but however that turned to 2 days as the bus trips from Malaysia to Singapore pretty much took up 2 whole days. So, in a effort to pack the most out of 2 days, this is where I went to:

1. Newton Hawker's Center
2. Chinatown
3. Orchard Rd
4. Marina Bay Towers
5. (part of) Esplanade
6. Harbourfront/Vivo City
7. Sentosa Island:
7a. Universal Studios Singapore
7b. Merlion
7c. Part of Sentosa Flowers exhibit
7d. Outside of both Sentosa and Marina Bay casino (which unfortunately, has a above 21 years old limit and a no sandals rule so I couldn't make it in, hence just outside the casino)
7e. 'South most point' of Asia
8. Outside the night safari (made it too late to the zoo, since public transport closes off at 11:30pm we had no choice but to head back home)
9. Swee's new cafe

Not bad for 2 days, however, if I ever go back to Singapore I will love to go to these places that I missed:

1. Little India
2. Singapore Zoo and Night Safari
3. The Eco-Segway ride in Sentosa (my mother refused to let me ride on a Segway, making a disappointed and annoyed brother and me.)
4. Songs of the Sea show in Sentosa

The one ultimate thing I would love to do next time in Singapore but is not feasible at all is to splurge on a DSLR and some good wide angle and tilt-shift lenses, and go on a HDR architectural photo snapping spree.

I'll be making a longer post on Singapore (with pictures) though later.

Seoul Again

I am going to skip one day of skiing, to the adventure theme park in Seoul, which was truly magical only because it started snowing.

The waits are very long for rides with some having to wait more than 1 hour (mostly, the smooth slow going rides), but the tour guide gave us 3 'default' rides that didn't need too long waiting times.

It wasn't this one though which needed 30 mins waiting time, which is one of my brother's 'favourite' rides due to the fact that there is a way to 'cheat' the ride; by looking up you do not feel the nausea that one experiences going up and down, effectively either amazing your friends with your sheer strength to G-forces, or spoiling the ride and making it so boring.

One 'default ride' was a monorail, one of the many slow moving rides giving a view of the entire interior of the complex. However the outdoor section of the rail was closed.

There are a lot of shops on the side selling novelty accessories such as nerd glasses and headbands with animal ears of all kinds attached to them (very popular with Korean girls). I didn't buy any because I would probably wear it once and never wear it again.

My favourite ride was the roller coaster which my sister begged to go on. Since my brother is such a wimp and refuses to go on the fast rides, and my parents are obviously out of the picture
I am always forced to tag along with her. So on the roller coaster (aptly named the 'French Revolution') I went singing 'I love Aeroplane Jelly' with my sister for the whole ride. After that, there was no more rides we could go on but I was happy with that.

Afterwards the tour guide told us that we were going to take pictures of world-famous Korean pop stars, so I automatically assumed we were going to meet the pop stars (which actually, I don't know any except by mention, and don't care about). Unfortunately, she missed out the one word 'merchandise'. Pop-star merchandise.

There were several stalls showcasing boy-bands and actor's belongings. However there were no girl stalls in the hallway except one. That ended the visit to the theme park.

Hwacheon day 3

There the rivers are completely frozen, there are mountain ranges and most importantly, there are fish. The towns in Hwacheon are very fond of their fish. So fond, that there posters of people kissing fish and fish decorations everywhere, hanging on fences and doorsteps.

Every year they hold a fish festival which involves people digging holes in the iced up river and fishing for trout. After catching the trout, the fish are guttered and then baked.

The fish have a slightly salty taste.

Other than fishing, or the obligatory snow fight, there is also ice sledding, and looking at the ice sculptures. And of course, the food.

More of Jeju Island

Jeju Island houses a butterfly park and a teddy bear museum. Obviously it would be too cold for butterflies so it was to the Teseum we went to.

Everywhere in Korea there are teddy bear shops, and the Teseum showcases the best teddies and plushies. Most of the exhibits are real-life enactments, only in cute fluffy plushie style. There is a safari section, a 'scene' section depicting famous scenes from movies, and posters. There is also a section dedicated to Korean pop stars, and national sports.

There is also an art gallery, except with teddies in it. Such as this one depicting Mondrian's Red, Blue, Yellow, with the red teddy disrupting the abstraction of the artwork.

There are seriously, so many pictures of teddies I took that I won't upload all of them. Even still, the ones I've uploaded are however not my best. However, I will leave with a picture of the biggest line of coloured bears I have ever seen. The teddies are message bears of several colours, which you can write on them with your Sharpie and send to people. Or you can give the bear for people to sign on your graduation day, which I've seen some people done before.