Christmas is Coming!

It's almost my favourite time of the year and that's Christmas! (^__^) A time to celebrate with friends and family. To add to the festive occasion, it's snowing in London and it's freezing cold! (-_-)

Today, I recieved an early Christmas card made by my 2 little cousins. This ain't no ordinary Christmas card. When I looked at it, I was completely puzzled what the card was. My cousin said to me the picture at the front is a witch with a Hello Kitty next to it. No idea where she got the idea from but I hope she don't think I'm the witch. (-_-)

Opening the card is a chocolate wrapper without the chocolate of course and underneath is a cutout from a catalog. Hmm........I must say, very suspicious.

Analyzing the the cutout carefully like a detective, I see the stock number written above and below it with a heart. This is basically a hint saying "I LOVE this toy so make sure you buy it for my Christmas present!" Well all I can say is, kids are either getting smarter or she is an absolute genius. I mean what better way to tell someone what you want for Christmas by making a card like this. If I had thought of this idea when I was a kid then I wouldn't be stuck with all those unwanted presents like pencil cases and calligraphy pens. (-_-)

Anyway, that's the end of my post and most likely the last one for this year so have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wedding Bells Are Ringing...

...well not for me of course. Last week Sunday, my good ol' friend Yen got married. I've known her for almost 8 years now and she's my first friend to get married. It makes me feel kinda old now, knowing that one day it'll be my day. It was lavish and well-organised wedding. Enough food and drink for anyone to handle including me, whom sometimes gets accused of eating too much. Lucky for the overload of food otherwise I would have been seriously drunk. (^__^)

A lot to write but so little time because in less than 1/2 an hour will be the world cup final! I'm praying for a Holland win because I placed a small bet for them to win the cup during the qualifying stages. This is partly one of the reasons why I've not been able to update this blog because of World Cup fever. (^__^)

Anyway, I'll end this post with one point about about this wedding. When it comes to Chinese weddings. The one thing I really, really look forward to is eating the scrumptious succulent meat of a lobster. However, in this wedding I was extremely disappointed because the lobsters were deep fried. Oh my GOD! How can you deep fry a lobster? You might as well not have not killed it and let it live happily ever after. Deep fried prawns are tasty but deep fried lobster is a no no! Deep frying a lobster is like adding out of date milk to your cup of tea. It just won't taste good. The beautiful succulent taste is erased by the dry deep fried coating. (-_-)

That's all folks! I shall post again and update my holiday diary one day. (^__^)

The Hawaii of Korea [Jeju Island - Day 1] 16-3-10

Food Poisoning [Seoul - Day 4] 15-3-10

I wake up in the early morning and can hear the family are all awake. I felt ill, my stomach was not feeling good and I felt a bit sick. I had no appetite so I carried on resting and didn't eat breakfast. I hate this kind of feeling because you can put the most delicious food in front of me i.e lobster and I wouldn't be able to eat it. (-_-) Luckily, it was raining as I didn't have the energy to do anything so I was resting and sleeping most of the day. I needed to recuperate because I've not had much sleep and it's been a busy holiday so far. Rosalie's mum made me some spicy ramen for lunch with some side dishes (egg, tomatoes, mini sardines and kimchi). I still didn't have much of an appetite but forced myself to eat the side dishes as I needed some energy. Her mum is always really kind to me, she brought me some medicine and gave me Korean ginseng tablets to eat. Pretty much the rest of the day, I was only sleeping and resting. The next day, I would be flying to Jeju Island.  I was thinking it might not be possible which Rosalie's mum thought so too. I packed up anyway before I went to sleep, hoping the next day I would feel a lot better because I really wanna go to Jeju Island!

Randomly Lucky

Last Friday, I received a text from my good ol' friend Shaun asking me if I wanted to go see Rihanna at the 02 arena as he had a spare ticket. He works at Inmarsat where they have a box at the 02 so I was able to go see Rihanna for only £10 which is an absolute bargain! I was apparently second choice so luckily the original ticket holder couldn't make it to the concert. 

Tinchy Stryder and Pixie Lott were the supporting acts. Tinchy Stryder only performed a few of his songs whereas Pixie Lott performed a number of her hits and songs from her album. I've only heard a few of her songs as I'm not a fan but after hearing her live I'm now quite fond her music.

The song I enjoyed most from Pixie was her cover version of 'Use Somebody' by Kings of Leon which kind of brings back sad memories. In addition, she combined 'Meet Me Halfway' by Black Eyed Peas and 'When You Were Young' by The Killers which I thought was a great mix well blended together. After her performance I had to wait over 1/2 an hour for the main act Rihanna, which of course was worth the wait.



Rihanna put on a fantastic, energetic performance for around 2 hours. There's only a few of her songs that I've never heard of and one of them being 'Te Amo' which is my new favourite song from her. The song in this video clip is her performing 'Hate That I Love You.' After seeing her perform live, I've become more of a fan and have been lucky to have seen her perform. The concert I've also been wanting to watch this year is Alicia Keys because the sound of her voice combined with her piano is amazing. With hope, I maybe able to her at the end of this month. Live music is always amazing to listen to. I don't think I would be able to live without music. Music is what makes me peaceful and helps me to relieve my stress.

I always seem to be randomly lucky at times but always unlucky with one major subject. Maybe I'm doing something wrong because what I'm doing must not be right.

24

I've been busy lately working, relaxing and organising events so I've not had the chance to finish updating my holiday diary. Last week was my 24th Birthday. Japanese is my favourite food so the plan this year was to go eat at Hi Sushi for buffet. I don't want to get older so celebrating my Birthday isn't that important for me anymore but I guess it's better than staying at home sulking about being old. I changed the plan on the day because there were too many of us going so finding something to do after would be difficult. I'm the type of person who tries to create unity as I want everyone to be able to enjoy themselves. I decided to book a room at the Japanese restaurant (Okawari) I went to last year for my 23rd Birthday. Going there was the perfect option because I know most of my friends enjoy singing Karaoke and those who don't like to sing can play drinking games. It's my Birthday so I was the target to get drunk that night. I drank a lot and surprisingly wasn't sick, maybe because I'm invincible. (^__^)    

I wasn't expecting a Birthday cake and a lot of people to attend as I originally only thought about going for a small dinner. The cake was from Ching and Gordon so thanks to you both for giving me an opportunity to make a wish. (^__^) My wishes normally come true and this year I made a wish for myself. What I'm not sure is, if I'm suppose to set a date for when this wish will happen as I don't want to wait for a few decades. (-_-)

My good old friend Ly made me a majong cake which was really creative of her. Thank you to everyone for the cake, gifts and cards, I really appreciate it. (^__^) It reminds me that Lime told me on my last Birthday that in Korea, the Birthday guy/girl will receive gifts but is expected to pay for the party in return. Looking at the bill, I would be really broke if the same happened over here. (-_-)

White Day [Seoul - Day 3] 14-3-10

A knock on my door in the early morning from Rosalie, asking me to eat breakfast with her family. I probably managed to sleep for around 5 hours but feel a lot more rejuvenated. I look in the living room and see a guy thinking it was Rosalie's boyfriend but he is her older brother. I was surprised to see him as the day before I asked her how often he comes home and she said not often because he goes to a university in the country side. I always imagined her brother being tall and well-built like a army soldier because going to the army is compulsory for Korean men. Her brother is medium height, has dyed long hair wore glasses and looks like your typical cool Korean. When people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, the Koreans take it literally. Eating a full on meal with rice, meat, soup and vegetables plus kimchi of course is normal for breakfast. I normally eat cereal or bread so this was a new experience for me. I didn't really touch the kimchi but Rosalie's mum said it was Sinmei's favourite so I'm guessing it was a hint for me to eat some.

Coming from a Chinese background, I'm use to raising my bowl to my mouth and using chopsticks to push food into my mouth. I picked up my bowl but luckily I remembered studying Korean etiquette, so I placed the bowl back down as it is considered ill-mannered to Koreans. Using chopsticks to eat rice is also considered ill-mannered, the spoon is used instead. I find it easier and quicker to eat food the Chinese way so eating like a Korean took a little time getting use to. Rosalie's dad asked me what my plan was and asked Sung-Ho (Rosalie's brother) to be my tour guide. Sung-Ho's English is quite good and whilst talking to him, his mum made me laugh by wishing she could join in the conversation as she wishes to learn English. Her mum really wanted me to go see her conduct a service at the temple so I agreed to go because it would be a good experience.

Whilst waiting for Sung-Ho to get ready, I was looking through my guidebook to plan what else I could do. One of my to do list is to watch Nanta (Korean Musical) so Rosalie has been searching for tickets. She tells me that couples get 30% discount if you watch Nanta on White Day but I didn't want to pretend to be a couple so I told her if Lime still wanted to go watch it the next week.

A couple of days before coming to S. Korea, I went searching for white chocolate box sets to give to Rosalie and Lime for White Day. I couldn't find any so I ended up buying them a chocolate block set which looks like a bookshelve once place in a gift box. I didn't wrap the gift like I did last year [White Day 2009] because I was busy so I payed to get it gift-wrapped. I gave the gift to Rosalie and she thought that I wrapped it because the wrapping was not great. She said she was lucky to receive a gift from me for the second time on White Day. On White Day, male friends and colleagues will give chocolate to their female friends whilst boyfriends are expected to buy more expensive gifts.

Sung-Ho was taking long to get ready so me and Rosalie went to the temple first as we were running late. It's a shame I didn't take a photo of the temple as a memory. The temple looked small from outside but is actually quite big. Walking up the stairs you have to get some praying beads and then enter the main room where there were around 20 middle aged - elderly women. We go to the front of the room and put a donation in a box which Rosalie's mum prepared. We then have to place some incense, bow to the Buddha statue and then bow to your elders. After we listened and prayed to Rosalie's mum's service. Sung-Ho came in late. We stayed around 15-20mins in total and as we were just about to leave, her mum ask us to come up to the stage to introduce us to the members of the temple. Going to the temple was a good experience. To this day, I still do not follow a religion as I believe it's a big decision to make and I believe to follow a religion, you should follow it with your full faith.

After the temple, we went back to Rosalie's house and then I went with Sung-Ho for a long walk and was wondering why we didn't take a bus or the subway. He said there was no transport to where we were going and I guess we were meeting his girlfriend after hearing him speak on the phone. He said he met her after doing volunteering work in Africa where he taught Maths and Yeji taught English. I was telling him that he didn't have to give me a tour as it's White Day and I didn't want to get in their way from dating. He said it didn't matter as she was surprised that he was with a foreigner and wanted to meet me. We met Yeji at a bus stop and then made our way to Dongdaemun Market. Yeji was carrying a big tool which I was really curious about. To this day, I still don't know what it's called but she uses it for her City Planner course. I never knew a course like that existed which was interesting. Sung-Ho and Yeji was not sure where the market was as it's not a popular destination for young people. With the help of mobile internet we arrive at the market. The majority of the things sold in the market are cheap clothes which I wasn't really interested in buying as I prefer to buy something quirky.

Sung-Ho brought me some snacks to try. It cost only 1000 Won for a choice of 8 snacks. The snacks tasted good apart from the green one which I kind of force myself to eat. 

After shopping around we went to look for a place to eat. We ended up up eating at this restaurant because Sung-Ho said it's the best option around the market.

Sung-Ho ordered a seafood Korean pizza for me to try but I realised I've ate it before but I always call it Korean pancake.

Sung-Ho recommended me to try the fish as I've never tried it before. It tastes okay I guess, but I would have preferred it if it had more flavour, or if it was marinated in a sauce because it was a bit dry. 

After eating we went to Myung Dong which is where all the young people hang out and do their shopping. Being in Myung Dong made me feel like I was under-dressed as there were a lot stylish and trendy dressed Koreans here.

It was busy and a little crowded. It's like the Korean version of Oxford circus in London. After a while, Yeji had to leave as she had to go to class. I was surprise to hear that she has to attend class on a Sunday and not only that, it was until 10PM. -_-'

There was a Korean boy band having a signing later on the day at a store. Sung-Ho made laugh as he was saying we have to get out of here before 5PM because it'll be crowded by lots of girls. I didn't end up buying anything because I didn't see anything quirky that I wanted. It was raining so we went to a coffee shop to dodge the rain. To my surprise, coffee is actually more expensive than London but the Green Lattes are simply irresistible! Sung-Ho kept insisting to pay for the coffee, he even paid for lunch but didn't want me to pay him back as his dad gave him his bank card to use to take me out. I told Sung-Ho that his parents are really kind to me and for letting me stay at their home. I always thought the typical Korean family wouldn't allow an outsider to stay at their home. He told me a touching story about the reason why his parents don't mind. Back when he was traveling he was stuck in Turkey because of the snow and he didn't have no warm clothes or a place to stay. A Turkish man took him to stay at his home and looked after him. The man spoke no English so they couldn't communicate with each other but what he done for Sung-Ho was really kind. After going back to Korea he sent the Turkish man some gifts but after that they lost contact as they both can not speak the same language which is sad.

On the subway, my stomach felt a bit queezy. I noticed Sung-Ho was carrying a bag, he brought it to buy candy for Yeji as it's White Day and will meet her later. We went back to his home after as his mum prepared dinner for us. She knows I like Samgyupsal so she especially made it for me. Sung-Ho said thanks to me he can eat it as he enjoys it too.  Whilst eating dinner we watched a Korean TV show where a bunch of male celebrity's were playing table tennis and the two losers would have to shave off their hair. I started feeling a bit ill and couldn't eat much which was a shame as the food was tasty. -_-

After dinner, Rosalie took me to the bus stop so that I could meet my friend Jinhee who I've not seen for around 2 months. She had just recently moved to Seoul from Busan. She was surprised to see me so soon, it felt unreal for both of us. I was craving for dessert so we went to eat at Baskins & Robbins. Jinhee was suppose to guide me when I'm I go to Busan but she got a job and moved to Seoul. I always jokingly call her Om-ma (Mum) as she always looks out for me and is caring. She arrange for a friend to show me around in Busan which was kind of her. I couldn't stay for long and was a little sick in the toilet. I basically got food poisoning, I guess it was from lunch. -_- Jinhee brought me a drink to help me with my digestion and took me to the bus stop. Arriving back to Rosalie's home she was surprised to see me back so early, I told her I felt ill so her mum made me a honey drink. Damn, I always seem to get food posioning when I go to an Asian country. -_-

Lime's Tour Continued [Seoul - Day 2] 13-3-10

After, we made our way back to Gwanghwamun which was a really long walk because no buses go there from Samcheong Dong. This is a statue of Sejong Daewang the fourth king of Joseon Dynasty. Earlier that day, Lime told me that he created the Korean alphabet Hangul. We went to the bus stop to go to Lime and Rosalie's university. I remember sitting at the back of the bus feeling exhausted, dizzy and tried to sleep.

For dinner we went to a street stand to eat Duboki with some other Korean street food. Duboki is one of Lime's favourite and young Koreans love it which is why a lot of street stands are near her university. It tastes like Cheung Fun and the sauce is sweet and spicy. To be honest I thought it tasted okay but the sauce was too sweet for my liking.

I remember we were feeling really cold and drank a seafood soup to keep warm but the taste made me feel sick. Lime is quite popular in Korea so she was getting a lot of calls from her friends telling her to hurry and go to the concert at her university. Lime plays the keyboard and is a singer for a music club known as Sorinarae. Website link: [Sorinarae]

We ran to her university (Kankook University) after finishing our meal. Her university is huge and has a big lake with the view of the mountains. It's probably 10 times bigger than my university.

 

The concert was Sorinarae's 30th anniversary. The concert composed of many different acts from the music club. The young and old generation from the club performed which was interesting to see the style and transformation between them. One of my to do list was to watch live music and I was able to experience it on my second day which was great. Lime knows some of the performers from her generation so it was funny to hear her cheer and scream for them. Rosalie came late to the concert because she was teaching English. Rosalie joked if I understood what they were saying which of course I don't, but it was still entertaining to watch. The concert also had MC's who were entertainingly funny and video footage of the club members. There was a couple who got married that day and went up the stage to talk about their love life. I think the male is a member of the club. They showed a video of him talking and expressing his love for his wife before they got married which I can tell was touching based on the girls reactions from the audience. My eyes kept closing and I nearly dosed off towards the end because I was physically and mentally drained. All in all it was a fantastic concert. It was a shame Lime was not performing because she is now really busy with her new job. To see what her university is like and to learn what she does was a great experience.

After the concert Lime stayed at her university to celebrate with her club and me and Rosalie made our way back to her home. Rosalie asked me if I wanted to go anywhere else but I was too knackered to do anything. Here you can see a map of the university. At this point I was still impressed by how big their university is. Rosalie told me that they even have their own hospital which is highly impressive.

I didn't have a big dinner so on our way home I saw a bakery called Paris Baguette. I'm a big fan of baguettes so I asked Rosalie if it tasted good and she said it's really popular. With my expectations raised high we went inside the bakery and saw only a few small baguette sandwiches with weird fillings. Oh my God, I feel cheated. How can they name a store with the word baguette and not specialise in selling it? I was expecting top of the range french style baguette sandwiches but all they sell is fancy bread, pastries and cakes. I end up buying a chicken wrap which didn't taste nothing special. Walking back to Rosalie's home she told me she was free the next day but I remember it being White Day and told her she should spend time with her boyfriend. She said in Korea it's common to only meet your partner a few times a month so it was okay because her boyfriend knows shes busy. Once we get to Rosalie's home her mum asks me where I went, but I completely forgot the names of the places because my brain is empty. After a tiring long day, I finally rest and hope to get some sleep.

Limes Tour [Seoul - Day 2] 13-3-10

 

It's 8AM in the morning and I didn't get an ounce of sleep because I was still suffering from jet lag. This photo is of the floor below the one I slept. The reason why I didn't choose to sleep on this floor was because at that time the lights were not switched off. I was really surprise that nobody was snoring here whereas the floor I was sleeping on, I had to bare with many variations of snores from over 10 people as if they were trying to make music together. I wait for Lime and she comes around 8:30AM. We go to the sauna but don't stay for too long because the heat is unbearable for her so we go get ready to leave for breakfast.

                    

We go to a small restaurant to eat Gimbab which is similar to Makizushi. Unlike the Japanese version, you can eat Gimbab without soy sauce, wasabi, or pickled ginger. As standard, side dishes are provided for free with every meal and I get to eat kimchi for breakfast which doesn't feel right but I guess it takes time getting use to.

 

Next we go to Deoksugung Palace which is one of the Five Grand Palaces in Seoul. 

 

I saw a Western looking building and asked Lime why it was there next to the palace? She told me it was built by the Japanese during the Japanese Occupation which is sad. The palace was intentionally heavily destroyed by the Japanese and now only 1/3 of the structure remains.

This is a statue of the mythical animal known as Haetae. At that time I couldn't guess what the animal is but now I know it's suppose to be a lion.

 

Throughout the day there are royal guard-changing ceremonies so we went to front of the gate and checked it out. Traditional Korean instruments are played during the ceremony. I remember disliking the sound of one of the instruments because it reminded me of music played during funerals. 

     

The ceremony lasts for around 30 minutes and then after you can take a lovely photo with the guards. There was a stand where you could try on traditional Korean clothes for free so I was persuaded by Lime to do so.

 

Still to this day, I do not know why this blue looking cat is here nor do I know what he or she is?

I remember we had to take this photo again because I closed my eyes in the previous one so Lime called me stupid in Korean, ha-ha.

Apparently, I look stupid in this photo. I mentioned before about the mythical animal known as Haetae. Lime said the Haetae was chosen to be the icon and symbol of Seoul.

I've always been interested in art especially contemporary art so I couldn't miss taking a photo of this. It's quite hard to see but this piece of art was created using thousands of photos. 

Next, we went to walk a long Cheonggyecheon stream. Lime said walking along this stream reminds her of her ex-boyfriend so I can imagine a lot couples will walk along here at night when it looks more beautiful with the lights turned on.

We went for a snack at Mister Donut. There was some free samples at the counter so I tried a few but honestly don't think it tastes as good as Krispy Kreme. Krispy Kreme is not popular in Korea. I've only seen one during my travels however, I have seen around 20 Dunkin' Donuts stores. I think Koreans don't like Krispy Kreme because it tastes too sweet as I remember Lime and Rosalie don't like it. After seeing many Dunkin' Donuts stores, I thought Koreans must love eating it but Rosalie told me that's not the case because the company has a mass expansion plan in S. Korea which has raised criticism.

After eating doughnuts we went to Insadong which is a large market for antiques, artworks and a perfect place for buying souvenirs. I brought most of my souvenirs from here so that I could get it over and done with and enjoy the rest of my holiday.

Here are a couple of guys singing and freshly making Kkultarae (Traditonal Court Cake). The cake is made of ripened honey and malt costing ₩5000 for a box of 10. I remember watching a video clip of this store on the internet over a year ago so to see them in real life felt unreal. Here is a video clip link from YouTube: [Kkulturae - Traditional Court Cake]

For lunch we went to eat Samgyetang (A Korean soup with a whole baby chicken). Inside the chicken is stuffed with glutinous rice and boiled in a broth of Korean ginseng, dried seeded jujube fruits, garlic and ginger. Lime said that Koreans will eat it in the Summer to re-energise them from physical exertion during the hot summers and that it's a dish to help cheer people up. The chicken tasted better when dipped into the salt provided. It was nice to have soup and eat something healthy because I was feeling tired and exhausted from the lack of sleep I've been getting.

Being a tea drinker I wanted to buy some tea to take back to London. The shop assistant from the tea shop recommended me buying the tea on the left which I don't have a clue what it is but I brought it anyway. Lime brought me the tea on the right which is Samhwa Honey Quince Tea. I haven't tried it yet so I'll write a review once I get the chance.

One of my to do list, is to drink traditional tea in a Korean tea house which you can easily find in Insadong.

 

Most menus in Seoul are in Korean which of course I can't read so I told Lime I wanted to try a sweet tea. She recommended me Daechu cha, a traditional tea made with dried jujubes which are red dates. The texture of the tea was thick and the taste of jujubes was strong and sweet. I thought it tasted okay but I don't think I would drink it again because I'm officially not a fan of jujubes. 

 

Lime ordered Omija cha, which is made from dried fruits of Schisandra Chinensis. Omija cha is named because the tea comprises five distinct flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and pungent. Out of the 2 teas, Omija cha tasted better because I liked the sweet fruitiness and sour taste of the tea. 

We ate the Kkultare that I brought earlier because it's suppose to taste better with tea. The cake tasted delicious. The strands of honey had a flaky textured taste and it would start to melt into my mouth and then biting into a chewy, sweet and nutty filling. Eating 2-3 is enough but anymore would be too much. Apparently the end product of the cake has 16,000 strands suggesting the prayer for longevity, health, good fortune and wish-fulfillment. I thought it might be a popular Korean snack but all the Koreans I've asked have not tasted it and said it's probably a tourist thing.

 

Here are strawberry and dung (turd) shaped bread with red bean paste in the centre. I didn't buy any because the queue was long and I was stuffed from lunch and tea. I'm guessing it would have been the best turd anyone can eat.  

 

Before reaching the end of Insadong I see a sign offering free drinks and entertainment so we went to check it out. Lime helped me get a free Korean tea, which to be honest I didn't want to drink because we just came from a tea house. Since it was for free, I didn't expect much from it but it actually tasted good. I remember the tea tasted creamy and sweet but I don't know what it is which is a shame.

I tried playing the game Tuho (투호) where you test your hand-eye coordination skills by throwing arrows into a vase. 

Looking at this photo, it looks like the arrow will smoothly flow straight into the vase but it ends up completely missing. I'm no spear chucker but this game is near impossible to win. I mean the arrows are almost as long as my arms.

Next, we went to Samcheong-dong where Lime said a lot of couples will go to. She's right because I kind of notice from the crowd change between Samcheong-dong and Insadong. In this photo is a photo of the first traditional Korean house that I saw. We walked past a restaurant after, which is apparently suppose to be famous for Dukboki. I wanted to try it but we were still stuffed to eat anything.

This is the National Folk Museum. 

Before we went inside the museum we walked around the entrance and looked at the old Korean stores.

The museum inside looked like it was newly built because it was modern. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of history museums but it was interesting because Lime was able to explain some history to me.

 

I do have to admit I'm a big fan of fans but not the electrical ones of course. My love for fans started when I visited Japan in 2006 but I didn't start collecting them until last year when Lime brought me my first fan. I brought the mini version of the traditional fan in the middle when I went to Insadong. 

After exploring the museum we walked around the entrance where there were statues of the Zodiac Animals.

 

Lime is a few months older than me and is born in the year of the cow. I remember she overheard a boy saying if she was a foreigner, ha-ha. It's actually her first time visiting this museum.