back to civilization! what an experience. though i'm dead tired, i enjoyed it and i'm sure my girls enjoyed it too. they were the craziest bunch of people among everyone! standing up and dancing away during campfire. gonna have more problems with that in future, but the most impt thing here is to have fun no? i love my girls! :D
me: not v long. in fact i'm new. just joined last year.
ray: oh no sorry i forgot... (that he shldnt ask abt a girl's age)
me: nah its ok. i'm 23. (deliberately leaving out the fact that i'm turning 24 v soon)
ray: oh then u're not much older than me.
ray: i'm turning 21.
and i heard he's waiting to get into uni.
conclusion: getting old alr. SIGH.
It's something Mystical
Sunday, January 02, 2011
withers away @ 5:25 pm
first post of the year, so let's talk abt smth merry. (instead of sch reopening or resolutions or. whatever)
backdated log of my korea trip. LOL.
11122010 11.05pm kor time
eating fresh, big strawberries while watching some non-subbed kor drama in a 6-star hotel. this is life.
last night must be the best flight i ever had. drank my red wine too fast and ended up feeling dizzing. then came the inevitable puking. great. air stewardess' english wasn't the best (obviously, they're korean), so she ended up giving me cold water instead when i asked for warm water. but she was v nice and offered to give me candies to ease the dizziness. obviously she thought i puked from the turbulance.
but anyhow, i enjoyed the view from the window, as usual. i liked how you could easily identify cities or towns from the lights. not like in SG where there're lights everywhere.
it's so v cold here, with the temp being in constant sub-zero. went to nam'i island first thing we landed, and of cos i was excited as it's the shooting site for winter sonata. miraculous how u can still remember scenes from a show from so long ago. it's a decade already!
dongdaemun was useless for shopping as it was all winter clothing. accessories aren't that cheap either.
lotte world theme park was interesting, though there wasn't much time to go round evthg in 3 hrs, with all that queueing up. only went for some ride and watched the parade. i was an idiot to completely forget abt going to the carousel they filmed for stairway to heaven. kns. total kns. to think i was looking forward towards that as well.
time to go slp. flying jeju tml!
13122010 2.50pm
on the flight back to daegu from jeju.
ytd morning we went to visit one of the 5 palaces in seoul. it must be the coldest of all days, as i was freezing all the way to my toes. it almost felt like i was having frostbite.
after that we took a domestic flight to jeju. looking out of the plane was a beautiful sight. lovely sea and sand! had the legendary ginseng chicken for lunch.
at the mysterious road, it was a matter of visual illusion that we see our bus with the engine switched off going up the hill when in actual fact, it was going downhill. pretty cool actually. but the coolest part wasn't this. i saw my colleague when iw as on the bus! she was crossing the road in front of our bus. so obviously i couldn't call out to her.
then we went to make kimchi, not for ourselves, but for orphans. thought that's a pretty good way of dealing with our kimchi. then we tried on hambuks for free.
upon reaching the hotel, just when i stepped into the lobby, there was a loud shout across for me. spun around and saw my colleague! fancy meeting someone else u know in a foreign land.
later mum and i went to shop at their supermarket. bought some stuff, though not much. there's lots of food and drinks to sample, so much so we were pretty full from eating and drinking. haha. they dun give shopping bags, so u either buy from them (100 won each) or byob, or, u can actually get flattened cardboard boxes near the cashier (those that used to store the goods before being put on shelves), construct your box again and carry your groceries out in a box. so cute.
back in the hotel, i was flipping chns in the 5 star hotel while mum was bathing. then she came out and i went in. luckily for me that i wanted the toilet first and not bathe straight away, cos it suddenly went out of electricity! it was srsly pitch black. all the rooms on the level were pitch black. luckily the corridor lights didnt go out. everyone just came out of their rooms to see what was going on, while i was trying to pluck the emergency torch out of its handle on the wall. when i finally got it out, the lights came back on soon after. what an experience.
13122010 10.08pm
this morning was quite a wasted time in jeju. since ytd, it was raining a lot and it didn't stop at all! continued all the way till we left jeju.
we went to some mountain near the sea but cos it was raining so heavily, none of us even went out near the mountain trail or near the sea to take any photos. our coats were all wet even during the short distance we walked to the toilet. and we did have umbrellas with us ok. my umbrella nearly flew off cos the wind was so strong.
then we went to pick tangerines. in the rain. v inconvenient to go betw the trees to pluck tangerines with umbrellas and the provided pliers. and the camera. in the mud somemore. jeans got dirty here.
oh but we did enjoy the atv ride later even though it was in the rain as well. basically it's a 4 wheel motorcycle. 四轮越野摩托车。we were covered frm head to toe so none of our clothes or shoes got wet or dirty. we had a helmet, a full length overall suit, and even plastic bags for our shoes. oh it felt good to ride ard and feel the wind and rain in your face. yoohoo!
then we went to the folk village, where some episodes of da chang jin was filmed there. this is when mum starts to get excited as she recognised the site.
we then left jeju early cos the rain cut short our visit to certain places. this time round there wasn't much to see during the flight as it was raining quite badly still.
but. we did go to shop! and cos we were early, we had a lot more time ot shop ard, which we're thankful for, cos the prices here are much lower than dongdaemun.
14122010 11.30pm
we're in yongpyong ski resort! all the memories abt winter sonata come back again, as this is the ski resort they filmed at. just finished eating green tea ice-cream. it's only 1000 won and i think that's pretty cheap. and it's good too.
had a v nice surprise at the room (or maybe i shld call it a suite). except for day 1, all our twin / double rooms have been converted into triple rooms. this time, it's a suite. complete with a living room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. bedrooms are tatami style. its almost like a chalet already. flooring of the whole house is installed with heaters.
anyway, this morning, we went to some temple and it was kinda freezing cold. but the scenery was pretty. then we went to spa valley, where u could go swim, spa, sauna, or whatever. quite a no. of us only went for doctor fish, which is the fish spa. first time doing it and omg it was so itchy! i was squealing and squirming away.
after lunch, we were to set off to yongpyong. but the driver had trouble driving out to the main road due to some construction works. driver tried hard to do a 3 point turn with the help of some man by the road, and still banged the stone wall at the side of the road while reversing. and u're wondering what was the man doing. i wonder too. best part was that we were seated ath the last row, so got the impact hardest. driver went down to check and deemed the bus fine to continue the journey.
anyhow, it started to get colder and colder outside on our way to yongpyong. it go so cold that ice started forming on the outside of the window, and we see snow on the ground outside, though not too thick yet. no luck with seeing snow from the sky though.
rented our ski clothes and goggles alr. bought gloves too. looking fwd to skiing tml! can see the ski slopes frm our hotel. v beautiful scene.
15122010 4.53pm
during breakfast buffet this morning, the spread wasn't great (in fact it was one of the worst so far), but they were playing the winter sonata ost! omg damn cool. all the scenes came back as each song unfolded, esp my fav track... feel like watching the show all over again. oh so romantic.
we were supposed to go for the gondola ride first, but the weather conditions were so bad they cancelled the ride. wind's too strong.
after that we were off to skiing! went to rent our ski, ski boots and poles. oh my they were really v heavy and bulky. after wearing and adjusting them, finally we were ready to ski, armed frm head to toe.
then we headed out into the open. the wind was so strong i was literally nearly blown off and needed to hold on to someone for support. it was like what, -15deg?! it was seriously, seriously freezing cold. nthg compared to this. kns... our tour guide, xiaoyan, taught us how to do ski, one on one. periodically we were being hit by strong winds and some ppl will get blown a few steps downhill. so that's a little little feel of how it's like to be in a snowstorm. i was shivering w/i my ski clothes already.
cos there were too many ppl to attend to, i ended up trying to ski myself instead of waiting for xiaoyan to coach me. oh my it was fun! skiing is easy; the difficult part is taking off my skis, carrying them uphill and putting them on again. the skiing itself was so fantastic. though i'd have enjoyed it more if i had company.
some time later, i got tired cos it was v difficult to get up on your feet after falling down. went back into the cafe which had a good view of the ski area and laughed at others skiing or boarding. so bad. hehe. but we did witness a v nasty accident. someone lost ctrl and zoomed downhill at full speed, somersaulted in the air a couple of rounds before landing in the snow. it was so bad the first aid team had to come in and put her on a stretcher to pull her away. apparently she's a singaporean. really quite scary.
16122010 10.34pm
back in grand hilton and going back tml. today was pretty happening as well.
cos it was so cold at yongpyong we all nearly died just simply getting up the bus from the hotel. still freezing even on the bus itself. now, the inside of the bus windows were covered in a thin layer of ice.
then we headed for everland. was still freezing along the way. with the windows still frozen. turns out later that the anti-freezing device on the bus has frozen. how. ironic. anyway, thankfully there weren't many people in the themepark yet, so we all went for the safari ride first, where waiting time was only 5 min. we literally just chiong-ed in. saw tigers, lions, bears and a cross breed between a lion and a tiger. the bears are so huge they stand up and lean against the bus and their paws are just on the window next to u. driver opened his window to feed them biscuits. of cos the window is wired. their paws are. huge.
after that we went for lunch, then went to the supposed haunted house. its essentially a shooting game in the dark. then went for a snow ride which was fun! then it was time to go, after getting penguin hehe.
then we set off for seoul. but, the bus broke down halfway. we suspect that the temp's too cold for the bus. anyhow, that took a lot of time and ate up our time for the namshan park trip. so we only had time to go to the beauty academy where we were using korea's top selling brand of skincare pdts.
we had dinner at a floating restaurant on the Han River. each pair of us were given a box of strawberries complimentary frm the tour agency as compensation for missing out on the gondola ride, and tml's lunch will be provided for instead of free and easy to compensate for the namshan park.
off to bed and shopping tml!
17122010 3.50pm
plane's been delayed, or else i'll be on the plane by now. so here's me writing at the gate waiting to board.
the best part of the day (aside frm the shopping), must be when we came down to the lobby and xiaoyan said it's snowing outside. finally we see snow. like kids, we ran out outside, without gloves nor long johns. was essentially in singapore-like attire + down jacket. dun care. hahah. this snow is different frm jpn's one, where it was so thick and we could just pick up snow beside us and throw snowballs at each other.
anyway, today's supposed to be free and easy but we were being brought ard to many diff places to shop. there was ginseng, purple crystal, skincare and foodstuff. spent so much at the skincare place as though evthg was free. it was just TAX free, not free. had to pack evthg in a box to bring back to sg.
the worst part of the trip must be the parting. took photos with xiaoyan, jae and lena.
Lena was our tour leader frm sg. whenever we had to take a flight, she would disappear earlier to settle our seats and boarding passes. all the hotel rooms were settled by her too. she was v helpful and was the one working behind the scenes to make sure that evthg would run smoothly without a glitch.
Xiaoyan was our tour guide in korea. i must admit that i didn't exactly like her from the very beginning. she can be v direct at times, and i guess that doesnt sit well with everyone right from the start. but as time goes by, u can tell that she is indeed a v hardworking tour guide who tries her best for her customers all the time. taking a korea map to explain the korea war in simple terms, measuring our ski boot sizes during the bus journey, writing out korean words on a spreadsheet to teach us simple korean. whether it be squatting to help us put on our ski boots, holding on to the old ladies as we walked or teaching the mothers on board how korean mums take care of their kids, she does have our interest at heart. a v personal moment was when i was skiing. i was trudging uphill with my skis and poles when i saw this guy on skiboards coming down in my direction. well, i dunno if he's a pro or a rookie, so i didn't know if i should give way and which way to go. so i instinctively stayed rooted and hugged my stuff and froze there while he whizzed by me. xiaoyan was v tickled by my reaction and came running across the snow and hugged me, laughing away. frm the first day when we were all quiet on the bus, till the 2nd or 3rd day when there was so much laughter, all thanks to xiaoyan.
Jae was our official photographer. he doesnt know much chinese or english actually. what he knows is v specific to his job of serving us, rather than normal conversational language. we werent exactly sure of his role at first, cos he just seemed like an assistant tour guide, helping us with the luggage, helping old ladies down the bus (and he would help all of us too actually), running ard refilling our food, contacting the restaurants etc. v willing to help whenver u need it. ok i even got him to hold my shopping bag when we needed to go to the toilet ooops. he looked relaly good on the last day, in his full suit, tie and leather shoes. if the story told by xiaoyan is true, he does have quite a family to support. he's 26, just out of NS, with 2 younger sisters. dad has kidney failure and requires dialysis, mum's peeling potatos in a restaurant kitchen. well, as singaporeans, we chose to believe it and many bought the photos that he took.
met this guy during the trip and we didnt get to talk to each other till we were sitting across the aisle on the return flight to SG. turns out that we're the same age (he completely doesnt look like it im sorry) and he's in medicine year 4 now. ok at first he thought i was some sec sch kid. oh and we're frm the same jc in the first 3 mths. what a small world afterall.
wonderful memories of the trip. i wanna go overseas again soon!