Tuesday, October 21, 2008

went for dinner yesterday at lau pa sat with the guys - zixin, fredrik, huilong, kevin and kester, together with ailing and sharon. it wasn't a lot of time spent together, considering i had taken that dinner break out of my late working hours, and that it was a monday night. but it always makes me happy to hang out with the guys, and of course my dear sister ailing~ they always make me laugh so naturally, something i need very much after work. it was fun whacking all the life-changing satay with fredrik, and to hear kevin, kester and huilong tease each other, and it's so sweet to have zixin still treat me to my fave teh-peng!


i really love my brothers, bcos i know they love me too! (haha cheyyy. i think they don't read this blog anyway. :p) reminds me of 3 yrs ago on one incident when zixin bought me ice cream, but i dropped it not long after, and fredrik ran back and bought me a double-scoop saying, "bcos whenever u lose something, God will always give u back double portion..." :) i thank God for having them grow together with me all these years... having them around has made me so secure when i'm with other guys now.


오늘은 마지막 수업였어... 그는 또 갈 거야. 다시 만날 거나 계속 열악할 거나 잘 모르다... 그냥 친구 만 돼면 좋아나 봐. 그는 행복하면... 매일 웃으면... 나도 행복해. 난... 괜찮을 거야. :)
posted at 11:14 PM

Sunday, October 19, 2008

그가 그것을 솔직히 말하기만 하면 좋을텐데...
posted at 8:25 PM

Friday, October 17, 2008

as you can tell, the deco is really drab and nothing like the ones shown in their website. the kitchenette is like next to the bed. which i couldn't get used to. jae suk was nice enough to offer to switch rooms (or maybe pretend, haha...), but the room and bathroom are really clean, so actually i was happy with it. actually i wldn't mind coming back to stay here again next time, bcos it has similar facilities to a hotel, with a gym (that he didn't use in the end!!!) and all... and it is SOOOO near myeongdong! the walk is a bit quiet, but i love to see N Seoul tower litted up in the colourful lights when i walk back at night...

ok now i shall let the photos do the talking...

how can i miss out on krispy kreme! our first breakfast in seoul - my latte and krunchy oreo donut ! thankfully this was not a donut-for-meals-only trip. i actually got to eat decent food this time. this donut was just to satisfy my craving.



in the afternoon, we went to meet hazel for lunch at hoegi, where she was staying, near kyunghee uni. we had initially intended to have some good bbq, but it was too early so we ate a seafood pajeon (korean pancake) and kimchi stew! YUMMINESS! plus it's damn cheap lah. i think only S$15 in total can???

see their happiness at the good and filling lunch... i really love pajeon, and the area is full of pajeon restaurants! envy hazel...

after lunch, jae suk went to meet his friend abby and cousin back in myeongdong. i went off with hazel and 2 of her friends to hongdae, 2 korean guys she met while they were in singapore not long ago. their other friend is a JYP trainee, and had gotten us free passes to a gig! hongdae really comes alive at night with all the restaurants, cafes and pubs! nice!

we watched these 3 guys sing... they are REALLY good. they sang the songs of the popular k-artistes (the one on the extreme left is quite hot! especially when he takes off his leather jacket! haha...)

my 2nd morning bagel and coffee breakfast at dunkin donuts... haha change of taste. really yummy bacon and melted cheese and ham! why doesn't singapore bring them in...

hazel and jae suk's korean friend, kyung ah, met us in myeongdong and we had 안동찜닭! it's really popular in myeongdong... andong steam chicken? the plate above is like MEDIUM portion. lots of chicken and vermicelli and humongous potatos... DELICIOUS. the cafe is really unique, they have dainty baskets below your bench for you to store your bags. good idea to learn from.

me and hazel caught in a pretty pose on the subway to sinchon~ happiness flowing bcos going SHOPPING!!!

but my hand (or the train) was too jerky to capture all of us into the picture...


believe me, me n hazel tried our best control ourselves and do speed shopping... then we took a rest at cold stone ice cream, a treat by kyung ah! i heard cold stone is similar to "cold rock" in holland v?

my favourite food of all time - ice cream!!! mine is strawberry shortcake at the bottom... humongous portion. totally no appetite for dinner after this.

a clearer group photo!


we took the subway and then cab to samcheongdong for a leisurely walk along the string of quaint cafes there next to gyeongbukgung later on... by then it was only 7pm but already very dark. so we walked on to insadong for some dinner and drinks...

but i got distracted by this! haha... i had always been wanting to try this 벙어빵 fish-shaped red bean pancake! i think it is only sold when the weather gets colder... cheap! 1,000W for 3 pieces (out of which i only ate one)!


another happiness pose with my fishie!



our dinner. another humongous seafood pajeon. these don't seem to come in any other size there. to think we pay ridiculous prices to eat them here in singapore. tsk.



that's kyung ah and me... kyung ah's english is really quite good for a korean! we got along really well, cos she happens to work for hana tour coincidentally. but then this was before the dinner started so we looked so demure... i think we got over-excited...



this was our final damage... 1 산사춘, 1 hite and 4소주 split btwn mainly 3 of us - me, kyung ah and jae suk. hazel was taking merely sips from her glass...


that's all of us after dinner. still able to pose prettily for the camera!


but i took vainpot photos that i didn't rmbr posing for... oh well. turned out nice. didn't get to meet kyung ah the next few days, but hope to see her again the next time i'm in seoul!

jae suk went off for the weekend outside of seoul to some nice pension with his family, so i spent a lot of time alone and with hazel SHOPPING!! conquered sinchon again, dongdaemun and of cos myeongdong, my favourite! they opened this new shopping mall, m plaza, right in the midst of myeongdong! it's not big, about 4 storeys tall, and only has foreign brands like zara... and forever21! like, what right?! in singapore i only step into forever21 just to shiok cos so overpriced and messy and tacky... but over there!! *deep breath* firstly, it's 4 storeys tall. secondly, they engaged 6 hot male models to model around as a marketing promotion thing. thirdly, it's cheaper and they have everything!! let's just say me and hazel went into a frenzy and came out a lot poorer... we were flabbergasted at how we were in korea and shopping for imported brands.

we then had dinner at a hong kong cafe that specialises only in 2 dishes...

our yummy dinner of 짬뽕 and 탕수육! cheap cheap! and again, humongous portions!

happiness....

sentiments shared!

oh, and the greatest thing about the restaurants in seoul, they have these little aprons for customers to borrow so that the gravy splatter doesn't go on your clothes!! like, amazing idea! why don't our laksa stalls have these?? anyway the portion was really too big for us to finish.

after that, hazel and i went to lotte supermarket at the department store nearby to do grocery shopping and to walk off the dinner... we found out, tissue and toilet paper is an expensive commodity in korea. koreans actually present them as housewarming gifts ok. i will use them wisely and treasure them back home.

okok. i admit we enjoy this...

all of our shopping from one day! the bright green recyclable bags at the bottom are from forever21. it was like the "i-am-so-cool-bcos-i-shopped-at-forever21" look carrying them around in myeongdong. haha... ok lame.

as usual, my tradition to take pictures of my shopping... i bought a lot more clothes this time round.

and stuff that friends paid me to shop for. hahaha...

i think the last day came too quickly... :( in the morning i went with jae suk to do some of his own shopping back in sinchon again, then i went off to meet ga eun at her workplace at the JUMP theatre while he went off to meet hazel and abby, another s'porean girl studying in kyunghee. i wish i really had more time to spend in seoul to hang out with the nice koreans i've gotten to know there... addy's jang-hyuk-lookalike-oppa also came down to say hello to me, and it was really a pleasant surprise! and ga eun was so nice, she got me some korean candy and bought me a delicious bibimbap dinner!

happiness again! ga eun wasn't feeling well so i didn't take a picture with her...

well, even though i was filled, i still went on to meet the gang for a korean bbq dinner! but in the end only me and hazel ate cos jae suk left for a farewell dinner with his cousin and abby went home.

our last group picture together from the trip...

we really love this camwhoring. notice how we can produce the same pose over and over again. such precision. such accuracy. haha.


me and hazel enjoyed the pork bbq dinner paired with hite! shall i emphasise yet again that it was CHEAP?!?!?! the pork is so succulent... i think even the most expensive restaurants in singapore cannot produce the same taste of this street restaurant!


i'm really glad i got to know hazel a lot more during this trip... she's a great shopping partner, and she's really mature in many ways for her age. she's gonna be there for 3 mths, or even longer if she decides to continue. i really hope she finds many nice friends and enjoys her time there! and i wish i could go over and join her!! in just 2 weeks her korean improved so much, such that i kept stuttering in my korean and needed her help to translate! sob. seeing her live there, i want so much to do the same... i've wanted this for these past few years, and am just waiting... i promise myself i will go there!


to end off... some random pics.



like of my poor heels. that were NEW. or at least were. they were bought with birthday gift vouchers from alastair and michelle at charles and keith. and i loved the shoes so much for the bronze colour and stout heels. alas, the streets of myeongdong are not kind to the shoes of fervent shoppers... a gaping hole tore open at the side and my heel is just... ravaged. in just 5 days. maybe that's why shoes are sold everywhere in seoul, even in the subway stations. sucks that i wear size 10/41/270 that nobody produces shoes in. at least not in seoul. sigh. thank God i brought another pair of heels... if not i wld have to come back in flip flops maybe!


alone on the flights home bcos jae suk's redemption ticket put him on another airline. my hand carry not as many as before... even my check-in bags were only 19kg! not bad! i know now next trip i can shop for 6kg more! bueherher. but i did leave something behind in my room in seoul... my mc the max poster that i got free with my cd! argh.


my plane from icn to hkg... :( bye bye seoul...


and my last purchase of the trip. a nice warm cup of latte at pacific coffee in hkg airport to kill 3 hrs of transit. at least i had a new very-cheem korean textbook that hazel got for me to pass time...

funny how i've been to seoul 3 times in 2 yrs... yet i still wanna go back. in fact i dunno why, this time, i really wish i could have stayed on a lot longer. maybe bcos friends are there to enjoy and practise korean with me. now i'm back to work and back to reality... i. must. save. money. i wanna study korean in seoul!

ok i dunno who actually made it thru this whole blog entry. it's just for my self-amusement i think. haha. well if you did, hope you are convinced that seoul is really a fun place to go to on your own! come find me in korea plaza and i'll tell you. :D

posted at 3:33 PM

Friday, October 03, 2008

but before mine, i went to celebrate jae suk's birthday (3 days before mine) with him and his friends from the US with dinner and drinks at red dot brewhouse on dempsey hill... i like the ambience and the beer is not bad, but the food is nothing to boast about. overpriced for really normal food. it was quite an interesting experience for me to hang out with about 10 of them americans and later on, 2 koreans... i mean like, having worked here in KTO for more than a year, i'm not so sure my English is being understood anymore. -_-" and my Korean is not that fantastic either. but it was fun, and i guess it made me kinda miss my own large gatherings of close friends too. anyways... just cannot stand it that the photo above was taken too hastily. like, i'm not even looking into the camera! grr. oh well. many more to make up for it. hahaha.

my own birthday wasn't anything exciting actually. still went to work. and after work still went for korean class... but i am very loved!

linda and charmaine actually came down with a nice little bouquet of white roses for me~!! so happy to have them rmbr, to have them still care... and happy to see them! :)

and then i received this huge rocher bouquet with shiny pink hearts surrounding! muahaha... thanks to the one who loves me (you-know-who)~ 오빠 got really jealous apparently (or at least that's what he said and that's what i perceived)! kept trying to fish it out of me... well, i guess a bit of suspense and jealousy is useful! :p

then i braved the heavy thunderstorm to get home and cut another cake at home... a nicely taken picture so u can't see the mess the rain made out of my hair and the sogginess of my pants. -_-"

as with every birthday, i am most thankful for Jesus in my life. 23 blessed years, and even more awesome years filled His grace and goodness to come!

countdown: 5 MORE DAYS TO KOREA!

posted at 12:37 AM