This heart was extremely happy. ecstatic. super excited.
This face just can't not show these emotions.
This lips kept smiling and smiling.
no, it's not my wedding day. it's the day i'm going to a place i love.
hope i can call it home soon.
28th June 2011
My Korea Trip. (also Seohyun's 21st birthday) Seoul is the destination!
there were 5 of us; Abang Zali, Kak Liza, Onnie, Rezuin & myself. we bought the flight tickets way back in july 2010 i think. Airasia had a promotion, i just can't let it pass. return flight at 800+, that's less than MAS's 1 way ticket. with 2k MYR for expenses, yeah it's a budget trip. backpackers!
paparazzi much?
8 hours of flight. me & ween, we didn't sleep at all. spent the whole 8 hours talking and laughing. we got the best seats anyway hahah!
once landed, i can't help but feel so thankful. it's full of emotion just walking around at the airport! (drama much, blame kdrama) so we reached there around 9.55pm KST, jumbo taxi only cost 60,000 KRW. the drive from airport to downtown was peaceful.
Incheon Airport.
come the city center, wohh so many cars! Seoul nightlife everyone! it was exciting. the uncle, our cab driver, put in a spanish-ish music? Onnie was the first to go crazy. hey! hey! it was weekdays so there's a lot of workers just got back from work/soju/MT/wtv they call it hahah
IB Ville Guesthouse. the best. 60,000 KRW/night for 2 single bed room, 100,000 KRW/night for family room. free breakfast (or free bread, jam & butter all day for us). free wifi (fast!). 5mins walking distance to Myeongdong.
first night, i see my Seunggi on tv already. =D
29th June 2011
i call it the first day. 28th didn't count coz we arived at night. saw bunch of school girls. ahhahah. cute. first stop for today; KTO. we bought T-money card for 2,500 KRW at the G25 convenience store nearby, top-up 20,000 KRW, got in a subway train and then off to KTO. we got there too early, the office is still close! oh did i mention it was raining? sad. it's summer but raining season altogether.
we found a KTO interactive booth nearby. played there for a while. finally the office is open. the minute i step inside, i saw... HER!
cardboard her but still, YAY! black Soshi. fierce concept. =D
after we've done spazzing, enquring, become literally ecstatic with everything, we went to Itaewon for lunch. in the rain. yeah. dancing in the rain~~ so we went to Maha Raja restaurant.
no other customers there, there's a new worker as well, she's funny. panic and don't know what to do. hahah! the food was great. total bill was 60,000 KRW so it's worth it. then we went to Salam Bakery and Sultan Kebab.
bought this cookie from Salam Bakery for 1,000 KRW.
after that we went to Namsan Tower. it's actually pretty close to IBVille. again, in the rain. forgot how much was the cable car fee. 7,500 KRW?
lots of stuffs going here. Koreans love the idea of "memories stays forever" (yeah i just made that up) there's walls of small tiles that they wrote on.
trees of couple locks.
anyway it was really windy up there. foggy too. can't really see anything. saw the Teddy Bear Museum, somehow not attracted to go in hahah.
that evening we went to Doota in Dongdaemun. just a shopping mall. huge shopping mall.
and the areas nearby. just walking around. feeling very korean. hahah.
the new Dongdaemun Art & Cultural Building. still under construction.
oh it's no longer raining, yeay! visit the Dongdaemun Gate.
the Gwangjang Market. lots of food. but can't eat them.
we walked around till dark then we went back to Myeongdong.
SNSD Daum Mypeople ad at the subway.
my Seunggi =D
Paris Baguette. there's sooo many outlets of this.
seriously i LOVE this place. i just don't ever wanna leave. it's full with people, shopping outlets, coffee houses, there's theaters too. it's really hype. this is what nightlife is in Seoul. FUN.
30th June 2011
raining. shopping day. for them at least. haha. 1st stop; Namdaemun Market. yup, LOTS of wholesale stuffs. you can go crazy here.
brooch! brooch! brooch!
bought souvenirs here too.we found a small kebab outlet. reasonable price. 3,500 - 4000 KRW. delicious! my favourite. the owner recognizes us already after few visits.
next we went to Apgujeong. it's a high class area, still a shopping area.
my Seunggi's store again =D
but the main reason i'm here; SM Entertainment.
Yes. i'm here Yuri. baby i'm finally here! aaaaaa!!! it's really exciting to be there. a bit emotional too. knowing my girls went through 5-6years of training here, it's a historical place for Sones. sadly the girls were in Japan at that time, so.. no luck.
later that evening we went to Myeondong again (lets just say we went there every night okay?) so it's SPAO time finally!! i do believe we spent an hour spazzing and taking pictures in there don't we Ween?
you have no idea how much happiness i felt at that time
i personally really love this pic =D
after done with shopping, we went to the 4th floor; Everysing. it's a 'museum' for SM celebs. happy! happy! happy! *not gonna post many pics here, imma keep them to myself XD*
Myeongdong view from Everysing.
next we went for Nanta Show. cost about 45,000 KRW. totally worth it! seriously, the best show ever so far i've seen.
finally, Namsan Tower, visible from the ground. taken outside of IBVille.
1st July 2011
not raining. YAY! seriously i woke up everyday and the first thing i do; open up window and see if it's raining or not. LOL! off to Nami Island! those who didn't know, it's a half-moon shaped island, not man-made, it's nature 100%, it's also famous for Winter Sonata filming and the pine tree trail. is it pine tree? oh wtv. so going there took quite some time. from subway to Korail. then from train station to Jetty by cab. only 2,800 KRW. CHEAP!
we took Zipwire to Nami Island instead of ferry. cost about 35,000 KRW? it was so much FUN!
it was fun even before going up there too XD why? i met someone resembling someone i am now pretty much in love hahah! i forgot to ask her name. should i tell you about this? hikhikhik! alright i'll tell you about this incident.
We were lining up to pay the Zipwire fees, i saw this lady with shades, brunette hair, shorts. yeah it resembles someone but i know it's not her since they're in Japan. but it was so much fun just looking at this person. but i didn't say anything. while waiting for our turn to go up, which is 30mins later, i saw her sitting outside with her dad. while paying the fees before, we were talking to her dad so i know that's her dad. i just can't help but to look at her XD then finally i told Ween "she looked like **** doesn't she?" Ween agreed. turns out she was checking up on her as well. now both of us are looking at her. somehow i think she noticed (duhh) so she went back inside while we were planning to take picture with her! (well not really, i was really shy!) we were totally behaving like 2 fangirls at that time. so weird. i told the others about it. i told my bro about it. and... he went inside and talked to her father that we wanted to take picture with her daughter. O.M.G!! embarassed much! but her father was so nice! they went out back (the whole family actually) so that we can take the picture. and i said to her "sorry but u really looked like ****'s ****" and she was laughing (probably thinking why on earth we were thinking that way, and probably relieved that we weren't creepy tourists) and agreed to take pictures with me & Ween. her father even took picture of the 5 of us. it was really harmonious. i was still in fangirl mode, keep smiling and said sorry to her (you know, if it's bothering her. but she was cool.) oh she's my age too! but, i forgot to ask her name. i wonder what it is. this is just a resembler, what if i met the real one? i could just faint instantly. but they were really nice. they're local tourist coming here for the first time too.
before stalker mode.
XD
fangirls happy.
okay so the Zipwire was FUN! Nami Island was beautiful!! refreshing! picturestique!
(err..)
in memory of Park Yongha
oh we met Malaysian tourists too. they're from Malacca. there's one halal restaurant on this island. and boy we were thankful for this. sooo hungry! they sell lunch boxes here! excited excited
with Kimchi Pancake!
time to go. board a ferry to get back to mainland. there's no Zipwire for this.
next stop; Lotte World! oh since it was summer and it's Friday, lots of highschoolers were on train possibly on camping trip. eye candy for us too. well not really. finally arrived at Lotte World. we didn't play coz turns out it would cost 30,000 KRW, seems ridiculous. so we just walk around.. see the ice rink.. see the people..
looked familiar? SNSD performed Oh! here. heee~~
later that evening we went to Hongdae. another hype area. love the environment too. more coffee houses.
entrance to the subway. cave-like.
arts everywhere.
Seunggi's here too. XD
there are more coffee shops in there.
that's a 4-storey coffee house.
here, all the outlets' signboards are in korean. it's like a thing here.
This is Starbucks in Korean. no kidding.
we walked and walked and eventually arrived at the Cheonggyecheon Stream. it was beautiful! and a nice place to just relax, be with your friends, date, and even study. really.
light show at the stream.
after that we went to Gwanghwamun Square. it was pretty late but still there's lots of cars & pedestrians.
i just love the nightlife in Seoul.
2nd July 2011
again! the sky is clear!! destination for today; Bukchon Hanok Village. home to the 8 historical spots in Seoul. we came to know about this from 1 Night 2 Days show. it's historical coz the village remained in traditional form, with modern Seoul as it's background. Guide for today; Me & bro. so managed to find 6 of the spots, the other 2 was just too far away, with all this hills and climbing up & down, our feets are killing us already since day 1.
the garage gate is funny coz the opening can fit a person.
we met a couple, local tourist. they're here for the first time as well. nice people. i told you, koreans are nice people.
Bukchon Hanok Village is actually located in between two palaces. which i forgot the names. and it's near the Prime Minister's home too. so there's a lot of policemen around here. so next we went to the palace (sorry i couldn't recall the name but it's nearby Gwanghwamun Square), huge place, lots of tourists, there was a show going on as well.
this tree is still here. =D
the subway at the palace.
later that evening we went to Coffee Prince shop. looks like they didn't take care of it properly. hmm.. walk around. free time anyway.
an ice-cream stall.
that night Me & Ween went to Myeongdong, living the nightlife like a korean. only without the soju. went to SPAO again, they're having SALE!! buy 1 free 1!! walked around. having fun. with Coke Zero. zero sugar, great taste.
3rd July 2011
raining. sad. but today we went out with Onnie's friends. they offer to be our guide for the day. so we went to 63 Building. you know the hold-your-breath-while-going-up-to-make-a-wish thing? yeah we did that (me & ween). so we visited the aquarium, the wax museum, the art skypark in which we can see Seoul from high above. all for around 33,000KRW? there was a discount.
they have glass-shattering sound effect here. cool!
those who wants to make a wish.
Yeouido, Seoul.
after that we visit Han River. it's raining, sad. i wish i could run around there. it'll be so much fun. sad.
on the way to COEX, we drove by MBC.
then we went to COEX. soooo many people!! Ween was bored already. kept hitting me randomly. we then visit the Kimchi Museum.
then off to find Ddeok Bok Gi. onnie's friend, the driver had a playlist that kept repeating the songs everytime we got in the car. we heard Secret's Starlight Moonlight for 2-3 times already. Me & Ween finally become crazy at the backseat.
the ddeokbokgi. thankyou Onnie's friends.
before it is cooked.
finally ready to eat.
what's left few minutes after.
that night, our last night. again, me & ween went to Myeongdong. this time, just enjoy the night. sad. coz it's the last night. ='(
still happy for that ice cream tho.
4th July 2011
not raining. foggy. last day. free day. or as Yoona said it in AAGG, "Pu-ree day" do whatever we want till 4pm.
view from IBVille patio.
1st stop; Namdaemun, to buy kebabs. then me & ween went to Myeongdong (again). last day at SPAO. again, shopping. walked around, visit more stores. finally visited Frisbee (an Apple outlet, we didn't get to go since it was closed before this)
kill some time at Natuur Cafe. nice cafe. nice toilet too.
then to another cafe nearby IBVille to join Kak Liza & Onnie. sad. last day. sad. at 5pm, off to Incheon Airport. sad.
but, Airport Fashion; MUST.
although people say a picture is worth a thousand words, i don't think you can feel the emotions that we felt by just looking at these picture. you need to live it to experience it. it was a wonderful trip. totally worth every single cent. i will go there again. i'd love to go with my friends this time. and since i didn't get to meet Yuri or Jessica or Seunggi, yes i will go there again.
I LOVE SEOUL
[all pictures are credited to Abg Zali, Kak Liza & Rezuin. and myself. the pictures are smaller, some even rotated, wtv, i'm tired.]
