seoul, south korea

9.48pm

aaah...its not good to be back to the land of heat and rain. right now, im now back in my home country up till early next year. ok i got to admit that in a way, its good to be back here to see my parents and friends(as i've not seen them for about half a year) but i wished i was still in seoul. i really had a blast there!

well in a nutshell, my trip was da bomb!  i went with an open mind and didnt want to expect too much of it. just keeping it real, you know. dont want to get my hopes up and then it being shot down in a jiffy so therefore i reminded myself to just stay cool about it and just see what happens. anyways, let me just give you guys a quick run down of my trip. i will get into more details in my upcoming blogs, but not today.  

you know, i never really gave it much thought about the language barrier but surprisingly, the people could understand a tiny bit of english and some even spoke mandarin (i reckon it was because there were lots of chinese folks from mainland china flowing into korea). the things that i didnt really like was that sometimes i would get knocked into by accident by the people walking by and they dont even realize it. haizzz and the other thing was that some of the men there tend to spit. ok, not directly at your feet but onto nearby drains or bins. bleeaah.. 

but i guess these type of things happen in almost every city, the spitting and people knocking into you. dont know if they are blind or just totally oblivious about it or its a daily routine getting knocked into and that they are immune to it already. oh well, nothing and nobody is perfect right?

now judging from what i saw, the shopping there wasnt  not too bad but unfortunately i went during winter therefore lots of winter stuff were being sold or on sale. but no point in my spending money buying those things as i will hardly ever use them. there were also lots of imitation bags being sold there too. however, there are different types of grades of these bags so you got to know what type you want. right now, the best imitation are called "super copy". i had done some research (before going) on where to find these bags  and thats how i know it was being called super copy bags. these bags look almost exactly the same as an original bag ie brands like etro, hermes(birkin), LV.. you'll be spoilt for choices im sure.

almost of my entire trip i ate korean food. again there wasnt any point in eating fast food or western/chinese/italian etc. at least i can tell my friends/family that yes i have tried this or that especially the street snacks. i'll get to that part another time. (hopefully i'll remember). food is pretty cheap and affordable. hey, im talking about normal street food or those at the food courts.(not talking about those high end restaurants).

ah yes, for those of you who are planning a trip there (which i highly suggest that you go at least once in your life and if you can afford it, of course), you wont have much trouble getting around. all you need is the seoul metro map to use their subways and to plan your route. if you plan to catch the taxi, by all means do so. it is inexpensive riding the taxi or the subway. one thing that you must pay attention to is the subway lines that criss crosses all over. they have many colored lines which are numbered so you wont get confused. and its written in both english and in korean. a couple of times i took the right train but heading in the wrong direction. luckily i paid attention after a couple of stops i quickly got off and backtracked.

theres so much to see and do there. its just too bad i didnt have that much time so i just did what was on my list and i can safely tell you that out of 100%, at least i managed to cover about 70% which wasnt too bad. if/when i  to go back to seoul, i would want to go to busan, jeju island and try lotte world(biggest indoor/outdoor theme park apparently). guessing spring or summer would be the best time.

right, i'll stop here for now. im getting tired and sleepy. been a crazy hectic week for me. i'll blog again hopefully sometime soon. until then, take care.

ttfn

10.50pm

seoul, here i come

2.39pm

right so guess what folks? tonite im heading to....SEOUL, KOREA!! woo hoo!  imagine, my goal for this year(or next) was to go to korea and just so happened, the hubster has to go there on a business trip therefore, yours truly is following him. hahahahha  how cool is that huh?

im pretty psyched about going. but i keep reminding myself not to get my hopes too high as things may not turn out the way i wanted it to be. the reason im saying that is because of a couple of factors like the weather and finding my way around. on top of that, i have been googling and realized that not alot of korean folks speak much english. its going to be a bit challenging for me in finding my way around or asking for directions, even to bargain for stuff!!

nevermind that, i have done some homework and managed to jot down a couple of places that i would like to go. those places would be Big Bang's recording company which is called YG building somewhere in hapjeong and the other would be SBS tv station, "home of Running Man". i've noted down the details on how to get to each of these places. so, hopefully i can find them on my own, without getting lost. hubby wont be going with me as he has to work.

besides that, we will definately be going to dongdaemon and myeongdong for some shopping, sight seeing and lets not forget, snacking/tasting  their street foods like bibimbab, bulgogi, tteokbokki,  ddeokbokki (떡볶이), roasted corn (옥수수), ho ddeok (호떡) and mandu (만두). just google and you will know what im talking about. 

all i  hope now is that i can handle the weather over there and  i just checked its like 2 degrees at the moment. omg! 

before i end today's blog, i would just like to add this. you know what guys, i realized that it was only late last year when i was going gaga over Big Bang and i've been following them on bigbangupdates (plus giving my 2 cents worth in the discussion column), not only that, earlier this year, i got to see GDragon perform his michiGO concert and then few months back it was Big Bang Mini Concert during the F1 Singapore Singtel Grand Prix. 

last but not least, around middle of this year, Big Bang World (online) was looking for admin/s (of course its not a paid "job", gotta do it for free) and i applied. didnt think it would amount to anything then one day i got an email from them saying i was one of the chosen one. i had completely forgotten about it. im not sure if they only wanted one or a few admins but oh well,  i was well chuffed i tell ya! really made my day but unfortunately, i couldnt do it because i had to start my freelance work doing telemarketing. and being an admin for BBW, that person has to constantly be online and checking for any current news/updates from sites(which was provided by BBW) and blog about it on their website so that fans from around the world can see and view. long story short, it was simply a-mazing that i got chosen. 

well ok i guess thats about it. im all packed and our flight is at midnight so we're going to be heading for the airport for a late dinner after we've checked in. what a way to end 2013. i'll be touching down back here in singapore just in time for my birthday and then i would have to unpack my stuff and repack again because the day after, we will be flying back to our home country for xmas until next year! let the PARTAAAAY begin!! 

so folks, my next blog will be the post korea trip. look out for it ok!! until then, take care, god bless and annyeong!! 

ttfn

3.18pm

shameful things that people can do

12.42pm


I have to share with you an incident that my husband and I witnessed during our stay in bali. now, I did say we stayed at the westin resort and spa right? well, since it is a 5 star resort  you would think that the guests staying there were more mind conscious of what they were doing right, like the dos and donts on how to behave etc. well let me tell you, you would be surprised of what people can do!

nevertheless, here's my short story. over breakfast one morning, my husband and i sat at a table for two. not very far from us sat a mother and son.  im guessing that the mother was in her mid 50s and her son probably between 18-21 and they were both  already seated and merrily tucking in to their breakfast.

I saw the boy getting up and going to have his rounds(god knows how many rounds he'd gone) and he came back with a plateful of bacon, ham and sausages. it was piled high, no not high like a mountain but high enough. the mother, whom I noticed had a small to medium sized green canvas bag on her lap with a big napkin(for wiping the mouth) half draped over the table and half covering her bag.

then what shocked me was that i saw the mother putting some of the bacon and ham onto her plate and after a couple of seconds (her plate was just at the edge of the table) she quickly flicked/pushed them all into her bag! she kept repeating that process until the plateful of bacon, ham and sausages were gone. OMG! and this lady thought we didn't see what she was doing.

my husband saw it too.  nevermind that, I saw an apple on the table and after a while, that too had disappeared. lord knows how many rounds of food went into that bag of hers. hubby told me to check out her bag (as she stood up to get more food) and I could see it was packed because of the bulge it was showing. 

seriously folks, I hope you don't do this in public. its very humiliating as well as embarrassing. you just don't know who is watching you. I noticed also that she was playing with her handphone on the pretext that she was busy and when she thinks that nobody was watching, she'd then quickly pushed food into her bag. we reckon that she has a big Tupperware in there. wondered why she was doing what she was doing and we came to 2 conclusions -

1) either there's a 3rd or 4th party waiting upstairs in their room for the food OR
2) in order to save money , they prefer to "steal" as much food as possible during breakfast so that they can have it for their lunch(or dinner).

I have seen parents from different walks of life taking their kids water tumblers and filling them up with juices and walking away. nobody says anything. I mean that's not SO bad.  the deed was done in the "open" so to speak.

but pushing food into your bag?? come on! have a bit of class. if you can pay to stay in a 5 star resort, surely you can afford to pay for breakfast, if there's an extra person. if not why even bother coming to stay there in the first place right? seriously, I don't know why people do the things they do. my hubby at one point, wanted to  report them to the duty manager but I told him that its not our problem. if these people wanted to behave like that and think that its ok and its their right by all means go ahead, I mean  who are we to stop them right?

apart from these "stealers" at hotels,  I don't know if you have noticed that whenever you go for a buffet, some people would just pile their plates up and  never finishing what they have taken and it goes to waste. it gets thrown away. so sinful!! we have millions of starving folks in this world, not having a drop of water or 3 square meals a day and there we have those who are just plain greedy. not a care in the world. "nevermind, just take, cant finish, throw. its ok". is it really OK to do such things? why cant people be more civic conscious/minded?

so folks, please next time when you go to a hotel and stay, please don't do these kind of embarrassing things. be it flicking food or piling your plate skyhigh and not being able to finish it up. so very wasteful. have a heart for those who would kill to be in your shoes for a day! think of what you are doing.

thanks and have a great weekend.


ttfn

1.27pm

my bali trip (final part)

10.12pm



ok this is getting a tad bit stale for some of you but please bear with me. in today's blog im just going to put random shots that I took, a real mix bag here. just so you know, the weather in bali was perfect when I was there. it seemed a bit gloomy in the morning and I thought it was going to rain (oh no!) but towards late morning, the sky cleared and out came the sun. but by around 5ish onwards the sun slowly sets. it gets bright relatively early like by around 6.15am, coz im awoken by the  sunlight streaming in through my windows.

picture 1 - kuta. rows after rows of little shops selling knick knacks ie bracelets, tshirts, art, surf stuff, clothes, shoes, slippers etc . its repetition after a while. kuta connects to legian and seminyak. very touristy area and overcrowded. either you hate it or you love it because of the hustle and bustle. lots of night scene too. surfers go there to surf although I think that there are better places to surf as the waves in kuta isn't super high. (not that I surf, but just saying)

picture 2 - this picture I took was around 7.20am and as you can see, the sun was already up and about. it was breathtaking.

picture 3 - not so sure what this picture means. I took it because of the amazing craftsmanship. this shot that I took was a bit too far and it looked more blue than anything. hahaha. I was zooming by in a car (that had tinted windows) so I quickly whipped out my camera and took a shot of it. it was located at a roundabout. you can see its a horse drawn carriage/chariot with some kind of warrior god (or something) maybe trying to fight off the enemy or vice versa. aint sure. but it sure looks like it.

picture 4 - dinner at jimbaran. located on the south side of airport and kuta. its a place to go to if you want to have seafood, fresh from the sea, prices are affordable, depends on what you order of course. theres also lots of tourist there, as you can see. I suggest that you go for a dinner there. you can see planes taking off in a distance, sounds of the waves along the beach.

picture 5 - jimbaran. you can have romantic candlelight seafood dinner for 2 on the beach and be serenaded by a group of guys, going around from table to table.

picture 6 - kuta. used to be a sleepy fishing village but now vibrant place to hang out and watch people go by. lots of small lanes selling anything and everything. I even saw a poster on a stand that read - magic mushroom sold here (or something like that). wow! no no, I didn't try it. just walked on by. I should've taken a photo of it, but oh well.

picture 7 - my hotel room. a huge king sized bed. comfy couch just by the side. overall it was clean and we're given 2 bottles of mineral water daily. lots of tv channels to surf. you can fit at at 3 people on the bed. the room is pretty big - about 400 sqft.


ok folks my sore throat is getting to me. im going to take my medication and hit the sack. that's it about bali. its cheap and affordable. friendly people. even after the bombing several years ago, the people of bali, still persevered and kept on moving forward. they don't need all the riches in the world to make them happy and contented. they just do what they have to do to rebuild their lives with less complaining. haiz... if only half of us could be just like them, this world would be a much better place. 


ttfn


11.05pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

my bali trip (part deux)

3.40pm


rite ok this is part deux of my bali trip. i will be adding few more photos for your viewing pleasure. i don't know if this applies to you but you know, sometimes when i hear about my friends (or family members) going abroad and seeing those wonderful cities, experiencing the different types of food and culture, the shopping scene etc, i just wished i was them, in their shoes, seeing things thru their eyes. does that make any sense at all? just like how i wished you guys could see what i see thru my own eyes, hence the photos. but its not like the entire time one can be snapping away right?

picture 1 - koi ponds all over the resort

picture 2 - another view of one of the 3 pool areas with cabanas scattered around the poolside as well as on the beach

picture 3 - again, different view of the pool area

picture 4 - an area to play water basketball(?) and water polo

picture 5 - kids wading pool

picture 6 - this pool area is away from the rest of the other pools and its very private and from what  you can see here, there's not a lot of people on this side

picture 7 - same statement as above, there's 2 pools here

picture 8 - a very lovely water feature/fountain. i especially like the carvings which is pretty amazing.

there you go. hope you liked these photos. sorry to cut this short but  i have to dash out now. to be continued, again. hehe..sorry. wait for part 3!!

ttfn


4.00pm

my bali trip (part one)

12.37pm

greetings and salutations one and all. wow, it was a good break for me after 2 years of not going anywhere. lets not count going back to my hometown which is kuala lumpur, Malaysia or up to penang, which is my husband's hometown. technically, that's not called a holiday, to me its called visiting our parents, family and friends.

my husband was going to bali on a business trip for 5 days so he asked me if i wanted to tag along coz he knew i had been harping  that i wanted to go for a short break and probably i guess thats why in order to shut me up, he asked me. of course i said yes, i would be mad if i turned down such an offer! 

long story short I arrived at my hotel in bali just past 11pm!! yep! imagine that. my flight was at 6.30pm and it took just 2 over hours to reach there. flight was pretty smooth and we landed on time too. but what held me up was the stupid immigration. man, the queue was long! so many people and there were only less than 8 counters opened for the masses. spent about 45 minutes in line before my turn. honestly, im not so surprised because that's how it is over in Indonesia. when we were living in Jakarta back in 2004-2006, it was the same thing at the airport over there too. so just be prepared when/if you ever go there ok.

by the time I got to the hotel I was starving. as I took jetstar(budget airlines), they didn't serve any food as you have to purchase and frankly, the food didn't look that appetising to me therefore I didn't order anything, just bought a cup of coffee which cost me S$3.50.

got to the room and hubby was already waiting and had ordered food for me. bless him! as it was pretty late already, i didn't have a chance to check out the hotel and its surroundings. so the next morning, we got up and went to have our breakfast. let me tell you, there were lots to eat and you are spoilt for choices. the restaurant was just next to the pool area so it was a nice scene.

there were lots of people around too as it was on the weekend.  the place was packed but not overly noisy like some places. the hotel staff were friendly and attentive. there was an area allocated for small kids to play. for those of you who have kids, this hotel is a kid friendly place and the hotel im talking about is the westin resort nusa dua.

they have 3 pool areas and also a saltwater pool! even a pool with  a waterslide for both adults and kids, which was supervised by a lifeguard. of course around the poolside too you can see lifeguards around to monitor kids.

after breakfast we decided to take a walk along the beach to check it out. by that time, my husband had already finished his meeting so he was a bit free, that's why he can  accompany me. the beach was heavenly. the sea wasn't rough at all. it was calm and i could see kids and parents building sandcastles or just frolicking in the sea. the hotel  provided bikes for rental, there's jogging paths along the beach, you can play badminton or ping pong(for free), there's a kid section where you can drop your kids off at a play school(something like that) where they will be entertained for a couple of hours so that the parents can go off and do as they please. on top of that, the hotel also has aquaerobics, jungle trekking, kayaking etc. anyone can join in. you can find all the list of activities (for the whole week) in your hotel room. but please bear in mind, some of these activities you have to pay.

should i carry on? im sure you can just picture yourself there right now huh? well you gotta try it out yourself and see. the hotel also has free shuttle busses to 3 different locations -  bali collection(a small little village-like place near to the hotel with shops and eateries/restaurants and  a small departmental store called sogo), then there's dfs galleria, which we didn't go and finally to beachwalk mall which is right in the heart of kuta. we tried 2 out of the 3. (bali collection and beachwalk) 

now, kuta is the most happening place/area to be. the hustle and bustle of that area. very touristy. they recently opened a mall there which is called beachwalk and this mall is the one that is providing this free shuttle service to hotels around bali to lure tourists there. smart move i should say. when we were there the last time which was back in 2005, we stayed in kuta so we roughly knew what to expect.(except that this mall is new) although i must say, there were some changes after the last bali bombing.  and by the way, we walked past the memorial with the list of names of those who had perished in the tragic bombing.

well my 5 days there was pretty good and relaxing. we had 2 days of body massage which was what i was dying for. plus i managed to get some tanning done and now im paying the price. my face is peeling and my body is red. hehehee...no i don't mind. its not all the time im doing this so i think im ok. my husband has got a perpetual tan going on so he doesn't need one whereas im anemic therefore its hard for me to get dark so that's why i love the sun especially when im at the beach or by the pool. im not one who hides in the shade under a tree or wear long sleeved blouses to cover up. but i wonder why some women do that especially when they know they are at the beach. might as well just stay indoors and don't come out at all.

anyways, here are some photos that i took so that you guys roughly know what im talking about so you can plan for your next trip, to bali.

picture 1 - beautiful landscaping of the hotel with gardens and pathways that surrounds the entire resort

picture 2 - entrance of the hotel

picture 3 - some folks doing aquaerobics

picture 4 - the water slide as i mentioned for kids and adults with supervision of a lifeguard

picture 5 - saltwater pool

ok i guess that's about it for now. to be continued yeah!! ttfn


1.51pm

food courts arent that clean

1.11pm


yesterday I saw the most revolting thing ever! I've only heard it from friends or family members but now I saw it first hand. oh the horror of it all! *gags*

you see, I was at the local food court and I wanted to buy some freshly cooked food to take home for dinner. as I was browsing along the food stalls, I came across an interesting (well I thought it was interesting then!) stall which was operated by china people. yes, you read right, folks from china. it was a stall selling food from china, so I thought "hey why not, lets give it a try shall we, something different!" and glanced at what was sold and placed my orders.

now, as the guy was packing up the foodstuff for me lo and behold, a middle-aged couple approached the counter with a half eaten bowl of noodle soup. I looked at the bowl of soup and was thinking "oh no, don't tell me, they found something in the soup or they want a refill of more soup?" it could go either way. I was hoping it was the latter.

now the first thing I noticed inside the bowl was something dark brownish buried in between the noodles(or what's left of it). OMFG!! nooooooooo...It couldn't be! it cant be! a roach???? *bleeahhhh*

I was right! the man then proceeded to ask the worker in mandarin "what the hell is this? how can you serve people this?" and the wife/lady then quickly whipped out her iphone and kept on snapping photos of the dead boiled cockroach. ugh and by then the man/husband was fishing out the bug using the spoon and showing the man behind the counter and pointing to the worker. OMFG!

as I stood there frozen  to the spot, looking from the bowl to the stall worker to the couple. my thoughts were "holy crap, I just bought 2 dishes from this stall and it cost me bloody $4.50!! why couldn't they have come sooner but only after I've paid for it?". 

the worker didn't even say sorry, just kept staring at the couple and the bowl of filthy soup. I guess he too was in utter shock or in a daze. he was speechless as was I. the worker took out some cash and gave the couple back their money and they walked away. I think the lady is going to make a report or file a complaint on this stall. oh boy.

before I turned to go I asked the worker "is this clean to eat?" ok I know I know, what kind of question is that, after witnessing what I just saw. but I don't really like to create a scene especially in public, in case he punched me in the face or something. how to return the food that I bought and get back my refund??  and obviously the man replied "of course of course, its clean!" and I took the package home begrudgingly.

I came home and thoughts of it still filled my head and I was rather nauseated. I threw all the food stuff away and that was that. I'd rather burn $4.50  than to have both my husband and myself end up in hospital for food poisoning. later that evening over dinner, I told my husband what had happened. he had no comments, of course!

so, folks never assume that things are super clean here in Singapore coz it aint!! I've seen it first hand and now im sharing it with you. just becareful what you put in your mouth! be it in hawker stalls or in restaurants.

ok ttfn


1.39pm