mezumi

Busan City Tour

2012-01-25T14:37:00.000+08:00

The next day after the Jeonju Trip, we signed up for another trip: the Busan City Tour organized by the school, but the tour was managed by an outside vendor

First stop was this Jungang Park, which told about the wars etc.

we had to climb to the top of the hill, which had quite a stunning view of the surroundings

what better place than to do jump shots?

Next was the museum:

nothing much cos most of the documents shown were in Korean, so we didnt understand. But the interesting part was this photo section where there are replicas of olden day Korea.

Next up is my favourite. HAHA. LUNCH! and its beef! The soup was simply AWESOME.

After lunch, we had some free time to go to the Songdo Beach.

Cute pigeon footprints!

The place was having some Arts festival, so there were numerous sculptures around the place. And anw, there sand looking sculptures u saw are actually made of cardboard. HAHA! kena cheated?

We wandered off to some fountain near the beach, AND THERE IS A RAINBOW! aww pretty

Next was actually a Maritime Museum, but nothing much to take pics of over there, so i shall skip that and move on to Taejongdae.

In total, ive been to Taejongdae thrice in this korea trip. hahaha. but each time, i did not manage to go right to the lighthouse but could only watch from far. sobx.

ok at the end of this Busan City Tour, all of us were given souvenirs.

And gosh its an 8GB thumbdrive!

Water Dragon Year

2012-01-24T14:14:00.003+08:00

A very

Happy Chinese New Year!

Its the year of the dragon. And according to feng shui masters, the water dragon to be exact.

Its my 本命年 to be exact, since Im a dragon baby.

And according to the masters again, i have extremely bad luck this year. Not suitable to make any investments. And must take care when on the ROADS.

Lucky colour is red though, which is great since i luv wearing red as it makes me look more radiant.

ohwells. but then again. i take all these with a pinch of salt.

Its extremely boring for me this year. guess i will just go do my homework now.

ENJOY!

Jeonju School Trip

2012-01-07T17:29:00.000+08:00

The office of international affairs who is in charge of students from other countries out of Korea gave us a chance to sign up for a trip to Jeonju. (FOR FREEEE!)

This trip is also open to our buddies too. And my awesome buddy Seran, being so nice, came too!

After walking through various places in the traditional village, we went to this museum which houses the drawings of the various kings in the joseon dynasty.

The one on the left is the one who invented the korean language. His face is on the korean note!

The 1st king of the Joseon Dynasty:

According to Seran, this king is kind of mad?

Lunch was at this award winning restaurant:

Expensive bibimbap. Personally, i prefer the bibimbap near our school. haha.

After lunch, we split into 3 groups and started a string of traditional activities.

First up was Pansori, which was essentially singing, somewhat like the chinese opera, but korean way.

The awesome ladies even taught us how to sing a variation of their famous song, "Arirang". Its still ringing in my head nowadays!

2nd was the Fan exhibition hall.

We were taught to draw our own fans.

Seran's award winning fan! She got 1st out of the whole class! aww....

Mine is amateur beginner noob. But nonetheless, at least i got to take home my own fan!

Dinner was awesome PORK!

It tastes somewhat like bakgwa just that it is more succulent and tender. yummmm.

That ends our Jeonju trip as we went back school in the coach bus. Tired max.

Dynamic Busan: Taejongdae

2012-01-06T00:10:00.000+08:00

Another day trip to a scenic spot in Busan. Taejongdae. A famous tourist attraction, we had to take a cute looking train tram to the top of the mountain. But we decided to take this van which caters to tourist wanting to take the ferry (for 10,000krw) for seagull watching.

This is the place where we board the ferry. Had to walk down a steep flight of stone steps to get to the boarding area which totally kills while walking BACK.

in actual fact, the seagulls were tooo far from us. couldnt really feed them up close.

randomly, my awesome camera could zoom in to this!

After the boat ride, we took the tram up further to the lighthouse. It was so dark by then (only about 6+pm)

the awesome moonlight across the sea, coupled with the lighthouse.

we walked to this observatory where there is a photo exhibition of Choi Ji Woo. How can anybody not know who she is when she and Bae Yong Jun was the first to build up the Hallyu Wave.

in her previous dramas, i thought she looked...old. But over here. she is simple stunning. Hair, makeup and photoshop i guess.

Had to make the most out of this place rite.

Ok so after this we left the place, walked down, and looked for a restaurant to eat. Mind u. it was TERRIBLY COLD by now.

this hotpot was simply awesome to warm me up.

YUMS.

Dynamic Busan: Gstar trade show

2012-01-05T00:09:00.001+08:00

Lets open this post with beautiful flowers from the PNU ground!

Ok. i rmb on Pepero Day (the korean equivalent of Pocky Day, which is 11th November), me and Anqi went lunch with our buddies. After that we went to this Gstar trade show, which is essentially a game exhibition, in BEXCO.

They really have alot of people there. But the exhibition hall wasnt like what we have here in Singapore, CROWDED max. Instead, it was a breathable space to walk. Although the timing would have played a part too cos it was around 4+pm when we reached.

But another thing about this game exhibition, there are moreeeeee BABES too.

Babes with QUALITY ok.

Long line of babes with figures too.

on a side note, im glad i saw a cutie mascot amongst all the babes.

There was a long line of models which kept bowing at the que of the MC. hahaha. show their cleavage maybe?

dun understand what the MC is saying, but im just curious as to why they have sooooo many pretty girls in line. WHY SG NO HAVE? cmon its time to IMPROVE!

On a more serious note, this is the WCG corner: hahaha

and because BEXCO was near the largest Shinsegae Department Store (the largest department store in the world, guinness world record), we went over to shop for awhile before going home. Not a bad experience, that i could even go to this sort of conventions outside of Singapore. i wanna go back to costuming for movie mania! But now is not the season for such conventions anymore. Miss costuming....and all the numerous cameras snapping pictures of u posing there LOL. omg. LOL

Jeju: Honeymoon Island Day 3

2012-01-04T13:27:00.000+08:00

Jeju Day 3.

off in the early mornings to seogwipo submarine which is near our place. thanx to my buddy seran who helped us booked the tickets coz i googled online and heard that its hard to get a place there just by going there to book.

a bridge near the boarding area:

we had to board a ferry to deeper waters before boarding the submarine. the ride took about 5min i suppose?

THEN they took photos of every group of people before stepping into the submarine. The photo was given free to us after the activity. hee i got to take with my LL.

inside the submarine, jam packed with ahjummas.

Then the action starts. There is a diver who goes down to attract fishes to our windows.

The ride is about an hour back and forth. But there were only small fishes. Normal fishes. No sting rays nor sharks. If u look carefully, there are starfishes fixed to the reefs.

On the way back, the captain bought our attention to a shipwreck. Actually they just sunk the ship instead of sending it to destroy cos it costs less.

The control panel:

Alrite. After the virgin experience underwater, we drove to the Teddy Bear Museum. Very famous worldwide and girls go gaga over it. I dun really see wads the fuss about it. Just teddy bears. I dun like soft toys.

There were so many different scenes and costumes in the museum. They took up most of my photos collection. But i will just put up some epic ones here.

Titanic scene:

Elvis Presley:

Marilyn Monroe:

The beatles:

Qin shi huang. Chinese emperor:

Miniature teddy bears:

Teddy bears from korean drama Goong:

Teddy bear fashion show!:

World's most expensive teddy bear, the LV bear:

Swarovski bear:

Bear with diamonds in her eyes:

All of us bought merchandise from the store like as if we went mad. haha.

i bought 2 bears and a hairband, as souvenirs.

After the madness, we went outdoors.

and to make our ticket price worth, we decided to sit down awhile for an Elvis Presly teddy bear concert. LOL it lasted like 10-15min? Just the few teddy bears shaking and moving their mouths to the songs.

And we spotted this photo taking corner!

Like happy family hahahaha

Ok lunch was some place near the museum. Me and LL had Sangyetang (Ginseng Chicken)

and Roast pork:

After lunch, we went to the Chocolate Museum. It was the place Mabel wanted to go. Personally after reading reviews from my friend i wasnt really interested in it. It started drizzling when we reached there.

Must make the most of this place. Take pretty picture at the gate!

For 4000krw, we get a free cup of Espresso coffee too. It was too bitter for me. Most of us threw it away after a few sips. Cmon, isnt it supposed to be a Chocolate Museum? Should give us choco drink instead mah.

Must make the most out of it. Snap pictures of this pretty christmas room. Very out of place and i dunno why they have this room there.

There were histories of chocolate...
Cases and boxes of chocolates. Old and new

and...Chocolate Factory!

Really hand made by the workers there. There are like exhibits cos we were all snapping pics of them

The chocolate museum shop.

We bought a box of chocolates to share. Ok lah the chocolates. Not say nice not say not nice. Just..ok lor.

Next up, not knowing where to go since it was raining, we decided to go Glass Museum since it was in close proximity. Had originally left this out of our itinerary since my friend reviewed that it wasnt worth the money.

But i thought it was ok. considering the pretty glasses. and LOADS OF DIAMONDS. hahaa

pretty colored glasses:

Blue glass room:

Gold bars!

Mega huge rings!

The world's longest glass cup:

OOOH cinderalla's glass slippers!

and a mega huge one at that!

awwww we get to sit on the pumpkin yea. NO we were half squatting in mid air cos the seats were wet due to the rain.

More diamonds!

Glass cafe:

And a sickly looking heart. haha.

After that, we still had some time to spare, and were deliberating on whether we should go back to the guesthouse to take a "Ripleys Museum" tix which Jess won on the plane to Jeju. But we figured that no time left so we decided to go to this "No boss Cafe". Surprisingly, it was just a few metres away from the Glass Castle!

This cafe has no boss. U go there, make your own drinks with the available ingredients inside. Coffee powder, choco powder, tea powder, sugar, hot/cold water, juice, ice etc. all available. After that, u leave the amount of money u deem fit in a cash box. amazing huh. I found the cafe too hot though. Either their heater for winter was on at too high a temperature or their ventilation sux big time.

So that sums up our Jeju trip.

The next day, we had to return our car to the car company. This is it, our special red car. By the way, the white one behind is drove by KL. There arent many red cars in Korea u noe. hehehe

Ok some things i had hoped i had done in Jeju: Horse riding, ATV riding (which we could have done so if it hadnt rained), and visit the women divers and have the famous jeju black pork for dinner. ohwells. sort of a regret, but its ok. i can do all these things next time.

Jeju: Honeymoon Island Day 2

2012-01-03T12:38:00.000+08:00

Day 2 of our Jeju trip. The breakfast at the guesthouse is simply awesome. COS they have my fav CERALS! yum yum. which guesthouse, at only 22,000krw, offers cereals, milk, egg, coffee, and more? This is simply sooo value-for-money! Highly recommended for those going Jeju!

u have to fry your own egg though.

Ok, 1st stop is the Sangumburi Crater.

I thought it would be boring. BUT NO! Its a place for lots of PhotoTaking!

Just look at what welcomes u!

Awesome scenery!

Next is the Trick Art Museum. U have to visit this place if u go to Jeju.

Luv this picture:

There is also the outdoor Trick Art Safari. Nothing much though.

But i tried to make the most fun out of it anyways.

Cos Anqi sort of banged KL's car while reversing, and there were abit of scratches and she was feeling down, we decided to go to VIPS for lunch. LL's treat!

After lunch, we headed to the Mysterious Road, where the slope seems to be going uphill but we still roll "up". We off our engine and let the car roll naturally. Actually its just the surroundings that make it seem uphill but actual fact its going downhill. This place is just near the Jeju Loveland that we went to yesterday. zzz.

Ok, after the Mysterious fun, we went to Jeongbang Falls.

In Jeju, u have to visit one of the 3 famous waterfalls. Jeongbang, Cheonjeyeon and Cheonjiyeon.

Near to night we went over to Chenjiyeon Falls which is very near Jeongbang Falls. Its very near where we stay too.

This waterfall is better for nighttime they say, as u can say a shadow of a head here. can u spot it? Its beside the waterfall. Have abit of imagination and u will find it.

Thats all for the 2nd day! Day 3 would be PHOTO INTENSIVE.

Jeju: Honeymoon Island Day 1

2012-01-02T11:29:00.000+08:00

Day 1 of our Jeju Trip, planned by me!

After getting our rented car from the car company near the airport, we Anqi drove us to the Backpackers Home located south of the island. Just for 22,000krw per night, it was one of the best guesthouse ever! Really clean and good. And breakfast was awesome. U will see why in the next post.

After settling down, we headed for lunch just opposite the guesthouse.

My Beef hotpot soup:

Then we headed over to our 1st attraction: Samyang Black Sandy Beach. The sand is really black and glittery!

Then, nearby is the Manjanggul Lava Cave. Cold and dark inside.

And this is the the longest lava column in the world to be discovered:

After that, we headed over to the Gimneyong Maze Park which is just a stone's throw away from the cave. Me and LL got lost in the maze...

Ohwells, dinner was bbq pork!

After dinner, we headed over to the Controversial Loveland.

Apparently most of the people were bored by this museum and didn't even walk around much.....like why? Just keep an open mind and learn about all these stuffs lah...but ohwells, at least i enjoyed my lesson. haha

That's all for the 1st day. I guess everyone is tired out from the flight. So much that we skipped the morning attraction to the Sunrise peak the next day.

At least the guesthouse is freaking awesome.

Korea with LL: Seoul and Busan

2012-01-01T23:29:00.000+08:00

After the trip to Nami Island, LL and I headed back to Seoul for 1day before flying off to Jeju the next morning.

head this awesome porridge at a restaurant that serves alot of japanese customers: doesnt come cheap i tell u. S$10+ for a bowl.

my pumpkin porridge:

his seafood abalone porridge:

after breakfast we headed over to Namsangol Hanok Village

some performance going on:

and i finally got to try out what i wanted to do when im in korea, for 3000krw.

try out the traditional hanbok!

there were various types to choose from. and LL wanted the king's robe so i choose queen's one too

this is what the queens like to do in dramas rite?

i absolutely loveee the color

some traditional games:

then we headed over to this time capsule nearby.

this stone thingy stores all korean cultural stuffs. in order to celebrate Seoul's 600th anniversay, the time capsule was buried under the ground in 1994, and will open 1000 years later. cool huh?

ok after the traditional village we headed to Hongdae. This place called Sangsangmadang. Its a building with all things artsy. LL bought a few things there.

We had lunch here too. my risotto looks great. and tastes great too.

his prawn and lobster with bacon. which is great too.

-------------------------------------

Ok lets skip the Jeju trip first for later and fast forward to LL's last day in Korea, which is Busan.

I brought him to the Haeundae Beach.

And to the top of Lottle Department Store in Nampodong.

Awesome night view i tell u

And we went to have seafood feast in Jalgalchi Market.

Abalone!

Complimentary seafood soup from the shop. great huh.

hee and i got my anniversay surprise from LL. a pair of earrings from Swarovski...

heee.

Korea with LL: Namiseon Island

2011-11-08T17:06:00.000+08:00

After the 2h+ of KTX from Busan to Seoul, me and LL checked into Hotel Skypark Myeongdong I which is in the heart of Myeongdong. Very convenient location, with small rooms though. But its small yet clean and modern so i like the hotel alot.

But anw, from Myeongdong, we took the subway, changed at line 7 to arrive at Sang Bong station, and then change to reach Gapyeong Station. From there, we have to cab to the ferry terminal and take the ferry across to Nami Island. phew. what a LONGGGGG and arduous journey.

But it was all worth it after we reached the place. From the last time i went, the leaves have turned, though only about half or more of them. But at least the scene now is more picturesque. AND not to mention more COLDDD~~

for the first time in Korea the weather in Seoul forced me to start wearing my winter jacket. LOL

the place where the winter sonata couple kissed:

spot the difference:

halfway thru we decided to lunch.

LL had Ginseng chicken:

and after lunch we continued our walk in the romantic woods. and came to Lovers trees:

This is the VERY POPULAR line of trees shown in the drama:

feel like coming back in winter when the trees are all covered in snow. what a sight yea?

just look at the ground of leaves!

statue of the male and female lead:

and at the end we see a very beautiful lake:

my awesome camera caught a very nice photo of this striped squirrel too!

and this unstriped one:

Big fat chickens were spotted wandering around in the woods too!

the very red trees:

the reddest tree in the whole island at that moment:

After reaching back to Myeongdong, we had hotpot soup:

and naengmyeon, which wasnt very awesome...

but nonetheless, it was the best day i ever had at seoul.

because theres LL =)

Korea with LL: pre-departure

2011-11-07T16:16:00.000+08:00

At long last! LL came to visit me in korea on the 24th Oct. 1 day before his birthday.

Right after my last exam, and finishing off some hw, i met LL and Seran for coffee at this coffee house that is just opposite our main school gate

The interior was cosy, as usual.

i ordered my caramel as usual. and seran her americano as usual, and LL's tea as usual. haha!

After that me and LL rushed to have our steak dinner at Busan Station. VIPS for the first time. ok it was after this dinner that i realized VIPS is EVERYWHERE! like everywhere in korea.

free salad bar included in our order. free flow of food and drinks.

LL's steak:

Mine:

the cakes from the salad bar

sweet fries! quite nice.

but i think VIPS steak ok only. comparable to what astons in Singapore offers, just that for $20-30+ u can enjoy food from the salad bar lor. ok lah.

ok so after dinner i rushed back dorm to finish up my hw before going to Hotel Riviera at Haeundae and depart for Seoul next morning! exciting max!

Dynamic Busan: BIFF

2011-11-06T16:07:00.000+08:00

The annual Busan International Fireworks Festival held in end October. This year, it is held at Gwangali beach.

Just so happen i would be away with the bf for the week so we quickly went to the festival on the 1st day, where they held the fireworks competition.

There were 4 countries each with 15min display of their fireworks in the competition. So u can imagine ALOT of ppl standing there for 1h+

while walking back to the Subway, Shin decided to buy some of these bugs.

Yes silkworm!!!! KL tried one. i had always been adventurous with my food but this is too smelly and disgusting for me. no one else tried in the end. haha!

i bought these red bean cakes instead. like it when its piping hot! very nice!

Dynamic Busan: Jalgalchi Market!

2011-11-05T21:50:00.000+08:00

We went to Jalgalchi Market on the last day of the Jalgalchi Festival 2011, which falls on a Sunday.

my 1st time at the biggest wet market in korea, busan!

and boy, am i impressed:

HUGE lobster!

eew slimy octopus!

loads of fish!

pretty sight! but stinky too!

squids! eew

the harbour:

they were sunning these fishes:

somehow there is a huge blown-up balloon turtle:

i knew about the event where they want to make the world's biggest bibimbap. everyone gets a bowl of it free. so we went to queue up for this free lunch too!

very spicy for me, but it was nice:

another free event was to go onboard this sailboat for FREE!

but the queue for it was too long no one wanted to go. sadded. so i couldnt have a chance to go onboard it =(

so we moved on to the stalls. and came across this auntie selling grilled/bbq eel.

he is a famous sashimi chef who appeared on TV numerous times:

we came across this event, whereby u signup with 5000won, and get a chance to get into this waters to catch fish:

rais went to try and he caught one of them! (after a very long struggle, hahaha, but the onlookers were very enthusiastic in cheering this foreigner on!)

this is his catch!:

the eel we ordered:

bbq-ing it:

and along the way back, i saw these abalone! like what the channel8 show back in singapore was talking about. its 10 abalone for S$30!

scallops!!!

way back to the station, there are a row of petshops as we stand there and are bewildered by the puppies' cuteness again. and this dog is sooo unglam:

ok thats all for the day!

Dynamic Busan: cooking up a storm!

2011-11-04T21:56:00.003+08:00

on one of the weekends, the office of international affairs decided to give us some lessons on traditional korean food making. Both Anqi and my buddy came with us to the cooking lesson!

Firstly, the teacher demo-ed her version:

this is called Gujeolpan 구철판

this dish consists of 9 different food assorted on a wooden plate with 9 divided sections in an octagon shape on the plate itself. There are (from the top middle, anti-clockwise) vegetables, egg yolk, beef, prawns, carrots, egg whites, mushroom, squid. In the middle is a stack of pancakes made of wheat flour, meant to wrap all the 9 ingredients in to eat together!

The 2nd dish is called hwajeon 화전

this dish is a small sweet pancake, with leaves as the leaves of the flower petals, and red dates cut to make the flower shape! Sprinkle some sugar over the dish and its done. Very easy to make! delicious too!

ok. so heres our version!

it was delicious!

Dynamic Busan: food, hair, shopping! part 2

2011-11-03T22:54:00.000+08:00

After our friends went to dye their hair successfully at this hair salon called Gong-ju, we decided to go too!

i dyed my hair!!! and trimmed the fringe abit. the person helped me to blow dry it until it had a bit of wave. so damn nice can!!! haiz miss it now. the hair was so smooth and silky back then!

ok. we went to this cat cafe. There were at least 5 cats!?

sooo cute rite!?

My caramel drink, which was more of an ice cream drink than coffee?

but it was nice.

hahaha and on to another round of shopping. i bought this comfy socks which i saw jess bought last time. It can really keep warm u noe!

And this is some cake the dorm gave me for doing their survey. Quite a different taste. but luv the heart shape there! And i luv it when there is this yakult drink at lunch time!

hehe. the first time i ordered from gmarket. bought a pair of fake toms and 3 bags. in this picture are also 3 other bags of stuff i bought from Nampo again. not really worth mentioning since its another clothes or cardigan or scarf! hahaha

my 3 bags were smaller than i thought. but at least they were cheappp! Less than $10 for each! and the toms was less than $10 too when in shops they are selling for bout $18?

hees. im so happy after shopping!

Dynamic Busan: food, hair, shopping! part 1

2011-11-02T21:09:00.000+08:00

Another cafe we went is Aesop's Fables.

It just looks too fairytale-looking from the outside so we decided to go there 1 evening.

As usual, i ordered my caramel frappe

and there i met new friends! There are Jess and Gerry's buddies, and Nick's 'new' buddy, and another buddy who brought his Japanese buddy! ooh japanese! but i sort of forgot all my jap so i couldnt really converse with her. ohwells.

After that Gerry's buddy, Jaemin, recommended we go to this restaurant that sells all things pumpkin:

beef with pumpkin

pork with pumpkin

and even seafood with pumpkin!

it was a little more ex than usual, but it was nice!

After that, we went noraebang again! KTV!

this ktv had a clean white victorian image to it. quite nice. but as usual, the mtv was not the original. sucks big time. im not gonna go ktv for awhile then...

ok im so happy when i talk bout this. As usual, we went Nampo to shop again.

my loots! a dr. martens lookalike for ard $28!

oh and this was bought from a shop in the PNU shopping street. only $15!!! how very nice rite!

And 1 day i decided to meet my buddy Seran for dinner. And before that, i asked her to bring us girls to cut fringe. She brought us to this place called Hair Manager.

heres me with Seran after cutting the fringe:

by the way its only $2 for cutting the hair. SO CHEAP.

After cutting our hair, we met up with the other SMU ppl and their buddies for dinner. It was actually a dinner between me,Seran,Anqi and her buddy but somehow it escalated into a dinner with 17 ppl. LOL

so in order to accommodate so many ppl, and with Rais who did not eat pork, and Isaac who did not eat beef, we had to eat chicken....

yea. thats all for the day. part 2 tml!

thank u seran!

2011-11-01T21:22:00.000+08:00

Seran passed me her used hp to use in Korea!

shes so nice can. and the hp is in super gd condition coz she only used it for like a few months only!

hahaha im such a lucky person to have her as my buddy. =)

Dynamic Busan: Beomeosa Temple & Baseball match

2011-10-18T12:59:00.000+08:00

Michelle's buddy, Shin, brought us to Beomeosa Temple on another weekend.

since im a christian, there nothing much i wanna say.

shall let the pictures do the talking.

hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil:

bbq beef for dinner after the outing to the temple:

-----

Another day on a weekday, Shin brought us to the baseball match between Lotte Giants and SK.

Busan ppl support the Lottle Giants. They have the no.1 pitcher in Korea!

Interesting culture here. The orange plastic bags, which are for throwing litter, are used as head ornaments. Something like a helmet:

The game is not boring at all! Through out the game, there will be like "dancing time", or "kissing time", and the camera of the big screen will zoom in to the audience and show them dancing or kissing. Its like a very novel thing that I would never get to see in Singapore. hahaha.

The Ticket:

Overall, people who stay in Korea for some time SHOULD go to a baseball game.

It is just sooooo fun =)

Dynamic Busan: Nampo-dong and PNU area

2011-10-13T15:29:00.000+08:00

What's one thing that is representative of PNU?

The SLOPES. The pictures here dont do justice to how steep the slope is. But ohwells, its really quite tiring. But after awhile i got used to it. haha.

This is one of the better lunches in our dorm:

Right, we went back to Nampo-dong to shop:

LUCAS!

Bought this waffle near the BIFF village. Inside has honey and cream:

And we saw a long queue outside this stall:

Apparently the food stall got onto TV before.

The fillings inside are brown sugar and sunflower seeds. But its nice!

haha our fav dinner:

---------------------------------------

One of the days after our Korean convo class, me and Anqi went to this restaurant alongside the road and ate bibimbap. coz at that time, it was the only word i could read on the menu. As usual, it was too big a portion, and we ate until damn full.

Next day, we met up with Garam, our friend we made in SMU last semester. I was in my FA class when i got to know this korean girl called Seongyeong. And she said her roommate is from Busan. Thus we met up for chicken rice and beancurd near our school, and this is how i got to know another korean friend!

So she brought us to this SECRET alley near PNU, and into a restaurant selling milmyeon. or issit naengmyeon. i can never tell the 2 apart. both are cold noodles, but one of them is made from buckwheat. its really nice. i luv it alot.

Then Garam brought us to this cafe which she always frequents. Its on level 2 of one of the many shophouses we see here in the PNU shopping street.

the place was just awesome, very different from the commercialised coffee chains. unique. tranquil.

My cinnamon coffee. Garam's huge toast, and Anqi's Mint coffee.

The coffee is not to my liking though. Not sweet enough.

Once again, we look back at this wonderful new place:

Many more coffee house and cafes to explore here! =)

Dynamic Busan: Haeundae Beach

2011-10-13T14:29:00.000+08:00

For the 1st weekend at Busan, we headed to Haeundae Beach with Mabel and Michelle too.

Now u know why this is called the No.1 beach in Busan? Its just awesomely pretty! This photo is not photoshopped at all! We quickly snapped it when the sun came out and there was this natural sunrays effect. arghh so nice:

We walked over to Busan Aquarium which is at the far end.

But we only ride a 3D 'Happy Feet' ride. Didn't go into the aquarium coz it was ex.

There was a machine along the beach, which enabled us to take a picture and doodle on it! And input your email and they will send it to u!

At the further end, there was a statue of this mermaid:

Haeundae Beach at evening time:

At nite, we walked towards the other end which had all the seafood restaurants:

SASHIMI!:

Not a very filling dinner, but it was an overload of seafood. haha.

2011-10-12T15:00:00.000+08:00

4th Month <3

Dynamic Busan: Start our new sch term!

2011-10-11T13:43:00.000+08:00

On 31st Aug, my buddy, Seran, came to pick me from the hostel Blue Backpackers to PNU. Likewise for Anqi, KL, and Isaac. Seran brought me and Anqi to this place called 天地人 for lunch.

As usual, the portion was so big we ate till our stomachs were full to the brim.

had baskin robbins ice cream after that.

ok. now for our awesome looking dorm. Here's how it looks like from the outside.

CONDO!

And at nite:

This is the corridor to our room. Kinda looks like hospital corridor hahaa.

My side of the dorm room, without all the bedsheets and stuffs:

The toilet:

This is Anqi's wardrobe, and the one near the door is the shoe rack. awesome, can put alot of shoes. But too bad we dont have alot of shoes...

That's all. Subsequent days, Seran brought us to make our Alien registration card at Jungang. This card is necessary for us to make our handphones in Korea.

After making the card, we walked over nearby to the Lotte Department store and had Jap food for lunch

This is the model of the department store. NICE RITE

They have a rooftop garden. Awesome.

The view from on top of Lotte:

After that we went to Gukje Market to SHOP! It was sooo big and confusing so we kinda got lost. There were many different lanes to cater to different kinds of people, the women's lane, guy's lane, ahjumma's land, ahjussi's lane etc.

At nite, we ate this pancake for dinner. 2 person share 1 is enough, coz the portion is really big.

That's all for the post today. More to come!

Dynamic Busan pre-PNU day

2011-10-10T23:56:00.000+08:00

From Seoul, we took KTX to Busan on 30th Oct. just 2h+ of train ride. speed at about 250km/h.

we checked into 'Blue Backpackers'. Like at last, we see a bigger bathrrom! (as compared to our previous hostels in TW and Seoul)

Ate our first lunch at Busan: a pork restaurant

din noe the dark red/brown looking sausages are actually rice dipped in pig's blood, and wrapped in pig's intestines. omg. i din like the taste of it.

Busan's subway!

First, we went to the PNU shopping street, to check out the area and to see where our school is

our school in the distance!

Then we went back to seomyeon, where our hostel was, for dinner. It was a food street that sells seafood related food.

We ordered pork: it was yummy!

squid or octopus. i can never tell the difference:

And the stall auntie was soo nice she treated us to this egg!:

And so this marks the end of our first day at Busan. =)

Sparkling Korea Day 4 & 5

2011-09-14T12:44:00.000+08:00

Day 4:

went to the bbq restaurant near our guesthouse for lunch:

pork!

pancake:

ewha women's univ shopping street:

back at myeongdong, we eat the fishcake:

the free loot we got from the various skincare shops. i bought a concealer at about S$5 from 'etude house', and a S$1 nailpolish from 'the face shop'

Han river:

dinner at our fav bbq place near our guesthouse:

tried LIVE OCTOPUS for the first time! omg. the picture doesnt do justice to what it really looks like. its like wriggling all the way.....quite disgusted. i tried 1. and after that threw the rest into the bibimbap bowl to cook.

the bibimbap. so nice.

Day 5:

Lotte World!

outdoor section:

cant believe i sat this. halfway thruout the ride i thought i really wanted to get down. argh

the rest took this Gyro Drop. i didn't. i scared my heart cannot take it.

lunch was bibimbap at their foodcourt. shared this with Anqi. all their portions are forever so big.

went to sat the hot air balloon in the indoor section. heres the french revolution which all of us except anqi sat. not bad.

didn't take this ride:

carousel:

some phototaking corner:

at the end of the day, we went to star avenue...

and of coz there is my korean boyfriend:

omg im touching jang geun suk's hand!

there are other stars like kim hyung joon and choi ji woo.

and the day ends with my fav =)

Off to Busan after 5 days in Seoul!

Sparkling Korea Day 3

2011-09-13T00:10:00.000+08:00

Day 3:

tried the bread from this cake shop which looked traditional from across our guesthouse:

but actually not very nice. just like sponge cake nia....

orange juice for vitamin Cs!

after that, we took the city tour bus for 10000won to Changgyeonggung palace.

very intricate details:

for fire fighting:

after that was Changdeokgung palace. its much bigger than the previous one:

lovely butterflies with my 10x zoom camera! haha

after that, we went to this gate to watch the guard-changing ceremony

this stores the key. the guard is supposed to present the key or something. i don't know cos the commentator wasn't very clear in her eng and chi....lol

its quite an eye-opener with all the interesting costumes

the musicians for the ceremony:

after that, we went to outback steakhouse for lunch:

baby back ribs!

after that we had to go back take the seoul city tour bus (which is 10000won for the whole day), and witnessed a protest! of the elderly....

the bus took about 1h plus and we reached dongdaemum

pork

naengmyeong (cold noodles). VERY NICE!:

korea's no1 treasure: dongdaemum:

after shopping at dongdaemum, we went back to myeongdong to shop awhile. had toepokki:

it is VERY VERY SPICY. i almost couldnt make it. haha

the $5 slippers from myeongdong:

$7 scarf from myeongdong:

nothing much for today. days 4 and 5 next.

Happy 3rd Month!

2011-09-12T00:06:00.000+08:00

Happy 3rd Month with LL! <3

Sparking Korea! Day 1 & 2

2011-09-11T21:08:00.000+08:00

After 5 days at Taiwan, we took a 2h flight in China Airlines to Seoul, Incheon!

heres the breakfast on our morning flight. not delicious:

Day 1:

Namsan Guesthouse has this service which we could pay for a pickup van from the airport at Incheon to the guesthouse in Seoul. After bout 1h of ride, we reached our accomodation. Namsan 3 was great coz it was the newest building they had. However, the toilet is freaking small:

i rmb knocking into the walls and door whenever bathing. haha. but at least its still new and clean. Wait a few more years and it shall become like Namsan 1 and 2? hahaaa....

the room was great. with TV! and a very comfortable blanket!:

the corridor:

just arriving in Seoul, and not knowing much korean, we ventured into 1 shop selling chicken.

not fantastic. but the portion was tooo big. the 4 of us couldn't finish it.

after that, we climbed up the hill to get to sit on a cable up the namsan mountain.

to see the N Seoul Tower:

on top of the tower, i see Nature Republic. and yes. my korean boyfriend is their ambassador and so i see him again!

the view from the tower. stunning.

the traffic jam is just horrendous:

N Seoul Tower at night:

after walking down, we went into this shop which sells pork cutlet:

Day 2:

We are slacking pretty much in Korea as compared to Taiwan, probably because we think that we are staying here for 4 months and thus can take our time to get around slowly. so for today we just walked around Coex, an underground mall.

at the far end, we could see the Coex Aquarium. but price was about S$17 so we din go in:

lunch was at a foodcourt in the departmental store. i was having flu already so i had something soupy

bought our Seoul City Pass (which is a subway card). it came in a box with some coupons inside.

but seriously i thought the coupon served no use because those shops that it could be used are very expensive.

dinner for the day was at a bbq restaurant near the guesthouse.

hotpot:

fried octopus:

we emptied the bowl of fried octopus, which was mixed with some salads.

at night. i went back to bathe and sleep so that my flu wold recover sooner, while the rest went out again to myeongdong to shop. =(

however, i woke up to this:

the original donuts are the most DELICIOUS donuts i have ever eaten. its crispy on the outside, yet soft on the inside. very very nice! everyone should just try this!

that's all for day 1 & 2. days 3 to 5 sooooon...

Welcome 2 Taiwan!

2011-09-11T00:35:00.001+08:00

5 days in Taiwan. 20-25 August 2011. our pre-PNU exchange trip. haha.

Day 1:

our lunch meal on china airlines:

After about 4h of flight, we reached Taiwan. After settling down in our accomodation "Taipei City Hostel", which is quite a nice and clean cheap accomodation, we roamed around the streets of Ximending.

Our first dinner of the day was at this stall which sold lots of unhealthy food. haha

duck tongue:

甜不辣, 大肠包小肠, 七里香, crispy chicken:

wanted to go the this restaurant called 'Modern Toilet', but heard from friends that the food isn't fantastic. so we din go in the end. just took some photos outside the shop:

and then we decided to buy subway card, coz for the next few days it came in really handy. and u could do a full refund if u do not want it anymore.

if u go taiwan, u HAVE TO GO to their night markets.

our first night market for the trip: 万华 night market. before that, we visited the temple that was beside the night market. but i shan't post pictures of the temple here since im not really interested in that.

after the night market, we went back ximending, which is near our hostel, for some snow ice. the weather at that time just makes us want to eat something cold all the time.

Day 2:

we went to this shop in ximending for breakfast. it had the nicest breakfast we ever had for the whole 5 days in tw.

carrot cake:

most awesome 卤肉饭:

oyster omelette:

after which, we went to 中正纪念堂:

had to climb up a flight of stairs to the top to witness their guard changing ceremony.

but because there were many people in front of me, i couldnt really see. the ceremony was also taking so long, so after awhile we went off.

since it was hot, we order 粉圆豆花 and ice jelly:

next was the 故宫 in tw. we went into the museum to see the infamous 翠玉白菜(jadite cabbage)

lunch was at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi. at the foodcourt:

after that we went to Taipei 101! NTD370 was a discounted price for us students. just show our student pass (yes student pass from singapore):

awesome view from on top:

and yes they have the world's fastest elevator:

and they are the only building to show to the public their damper (huge device which helps keep the building stable). thus they have cute little mascots which resemble the damper:

after the awesome view on top of taipei 101 we went to every girl's dream street. haha wufenpu fashion area:

however, because we intended to buy everything at korea, we walked thru the fashion area in about 15-20min? HAHA! record-breaking!

after that, we walked to raohe night market, which is quite near wufenpu:

looked for this 熊手包 (bear palm pao) which i saw the guess show featured:

one of my aim here is to try their STINKY TOFU. and so i did.

and im so freaking proud of myself! its not really that stinky as people say. some can tolerate the smell while some can't. but what we ate was ok. but i din want to stay at the stall for too long coz it stinks up my clothes. actually the tofu, being crispy, was quite nice. but not nice to the extent that i will eat again. haha

me and anqi tried this tall ice cream, and 冰糖葫芦:

the 冰糖葫芦 not nice....but kuanliang thought otherwise. so we gave him the rest of the stick after tryng 2 of them.

this is pepper biscuit. has a very long queue:

lots of food for that day. BUT that's not all. because we have to walk thru ximending everytime we went back to the hostel, we looked for:

they are VERY famous for their mian xian. and i think its really nice:

Day 3:

day 2 was tooo tiring. luckily we went for hot springs today.

for quite a cheap price, we got to go to their hot springs (not naked but in swimwear) although the waters weren't really clean due to fallen leaves and insects in the water...but they had many different temperatures of hot springs and different kinds of water for different effects. there is also this sumptuous lunch:

after the delightful dip we went to 淡水老街. a must go for some of the best food.

山猪香肠:

a must-try in this street: '啊给'(A-ge)

this is actually tofu stuffed with vermicelli. with some special sauce:

OK. HERE COMES THE NICE PART.
the world's most awesome muah chee: (sesame)

and with peanuts, which is even MORE AWESOME: do u noe why? because this is totally different from what u can always buy. the muah chee practically MELTS in your mouth. I MEAN IT. up till now, i still crave for this. how i wished i bought back this. too late alr.

but if ur there, PLS do try this. 麻吉奶奶鲜奶muah chee.

after that we board a boat to the fishermen's wharf 渔人码头.

this is one of danshui's produce, 铁蛋 (iron egg, which is really hard)

at night, we went to tw's most famous night market. shilin night market:

there was filming going on! at last i manage to see live filming in tw. but its not my fav host jacky wu.
the guy with tall hair on the left is one of the members of pop group Da Mouth.

the VERY FAMOUS crispy chicken:

one of my fav tw snacks, crispy mushroom:

snow ice:

this is the crispy chicken:

ribs soup:

the crispy mushroom:

went past this small stall by the roadside selling cubes of milk...FRIED MILK! quite nice!

Day 4:
went to the yehliu geopark to see the famous queen's head:

mushroom rocks:

due to constant weathering, the queen's head neck is thinning. so they made a small replica of it:

and here's the real thing. because it was TOO HOT, we din even have the energy to climb near the queen's head to take pic. i just use my awesome camera with 10x zoom to zoom into this:

and i forgot to mention. the queen's head is not as huge as i imagined? i thought its like huge like as if its a few stories high. BUT NO. its just 1 small rock.just slight taller than a normal human being...zzz

after exiting the geopark, we went lunch. this is such an old-sch drink rite?

sotong:

oyster omelette yet again:

some shell food:

after the torturous hot outing to the geopark, we shared a cab with 2 other singaporeans to jiufen old town.

a must-try, peanut ice cream wrapped:

lol. huge balls. not bad quite bouncy:

the famou ahmei tea house. the place which inspired the author of the japanese movie 'Spirited Away':

my cherry alcohol drink:

coconut chocolate snacks:

after that was lunch at keelung night market:

some simple baked butter crab. yumm. oily but nice soup:

see the HUGE OCTOPUS! we ate the small round ones u see on the left. for someone who doesnt eat octopus or sotongs, THIS IS NICE!:

bubble tea! the one in the middle is mine. the one on the right is huge!

while walking over to the train station, there was an event going on. they were letting people put lotus flowers with candles into the river:

Day 5:

went to our favourite breakfast place:

猪头皮:

mian xian:

fried rice:

had to take train to shifen. to go there we needed to change trains at Ruifang station. while waiting for the next train, we decided to eat some beef noodles...

but it wasn't nice......so disappointing.

off to shifen to see their waterfall. this is the ticket for the trains along the pingsi (train) line:

luv how this town is so close to the train. and theres this nostalgic feel to it.

tix to see the waterfall. apparently the trees all blocked off the view, sooo in order to see the waterfall, U HAVE to buy the tix. smart of them rite? haha

this is it.

while walking back to train station, we decided to 放天灯. this is what i have always wanted to do, ever since watching people do it on tv. LOL. anw, there are lots of combinations of colors for the paper lantern. 1 color, 2 colors, 4 colors etc. there are many combinations for 4colors too. we chose 1 that is most relevant to us.

light pink for studies

pink for happiness

red for health and family

white for future

something like that. i forgot the exact.

we added money to attach firecrackers below the lantern too!

saw this boneless chicken stuffed with rice. not fantastic. but ok lah:

last day in taiwan. and we went back to a shop close to our hostel.

curry rice:

cold noodles:

jajiangmian:

pig intestines:

initital plan for last day for to go clubbing and come back at 3am to prepare to go straight to the airport. but i fell sick with flu and decided not to go. we slept for a few hours and cabbed to the airport at 5am.

after which, it was onboard china airlines....to KOREA!

posts on korea next!

cosfest X.1 happy 10th anniversary!

2011-07-01T09:37:00.002+08:00

SIGHHHHHH...........

i actually missed this year's cosfest! sobx! how careless! but i always thought as with previous years, cosfest is held in july....so.....i din check at all! this year was actually 25th and 26th June!

sigh...i am so damn sad right now. i want to go and find my kakashis and take picture with them!?
in case u dunno, i would always look out for kakashis in cosplay events. HAHAHA.

but its weird lah this year.
coz last year is cosfest IX. how come this year suddenly jump to X.1?

ohwells.
in the blink of an eye. this is the 6th year ive been involved in cosfest. (just that i din get to go this year)
but its ok, i shall rmb to go next year. anyone who rmbs, PLS remind me!

with that, i shall end the post with links to the previous 5 years that i went to. sobx. enjoy:

cosfest V: the reunion
cosfest VI: golden experience
cosfest VII: super henshin
cosfest VIII: a very happy event
cosfest IX: lets make friends