Sunday, January 28, 2007 ; 4:27 PM {♥}
Today was our girl's day out.
Just me, rumeng and kah min. Us happy trios going out for another happy karaoke session. Alright, I woke up at 8.30 in the morning specially for this. Took another thirty minutes to prepare and decided that it's not enough time to make myself look good enough. What to do? I don't want to be late :X I ended up with a black top with a green knee length pants and a blue jacket with white crocs. Kind of like some colourful rainbow walking around but I'd rather not talk about that. Well, at least I brought a nice bag out today (: After reaching I realised I was like the earliest? That definitely a first time for me. I was actually earlier than that 'kiasu' kahmin :D And also I found that Rumeng was still at Toa Payoh, in other words, still in the comfort of her house.
So when kahmin arrived, we head over to polar's for breakfast first and had a game of "guess which approaching figure is rumeng". I won in the end, I think. Yeah, so we had a long stroll to Suntec and landed up in the arcade at 10.40 to play a game of DDR first. Then it was Kbox (: I swear the food is gettin muckier and yuckier by the month. After singing our throats dry, we went back to the arcade and squandered our money on guitar maniac, drum maniac, percussion master, DDR, and some other dancing game that I remember JT likes. In the end I only spent 10 dollars in the arcade today. That's considered little already :D We decided to stop at around four, I guess. And we went for shopping, mostly just window shopping, but it was fun too. I went into this accessories shop in City Link mall and purchased this anklet at ten bucks. And now I'm regretting my purchase. It looks cool but it is so expensieve! :O
It's a good start this year. I feel the sun's warm breath on me, drying past year's tears.
June. Jingjie
Labels: diary
Yours sincerely, MS. JINGS {♥}
; 4:22 PM {♥}
I'm home, sweethearts (:
I know you guys missed me, so I came back (: Let's first start on the whole korea trip explanation :D
*day one was spent on the flight to korea.
Day Two:
Uncle came at around eight o'clock to give us a ride to the airport. When we reached, it was kind of like way too early and we had to wait for god-knows-how-long. Well, after a very very very long wait, we were finally able to board my first Singapore Airlines plane. And then off we went... The plane was kind of cool because you could actually watch movies like "Step up", "You me and Dupree" and some of the latest. But one thing was, the seats were super squeezy and all of us were like squashed up. Thus, you can guess that I didn't really get much sleep ): Day two: We arrived at Seoul Incheon Airport at about six to seven plus korea time. Well, we hurriedly changed into our winter outfits and went to go through the custom. After that, we went to meet up with our tour guide of the week, Charlie. He spoke fluent chinese and claimed that he was a mixed blood. Meaning to say that his mother was a korean and his father was a chinese. Anyway, he also introduced to us this handsome guy known as Mr Zhang. He was a korean and understood little chinese, hence there was a language barrier but anyway, he was sent by Korea's Tourism Boards. Well, we got onto the bus and realised that outside was a little cold but at least we could still take it.
Our first stop was one of Korea's theme park : Everland. It was a great outdoor theme park with cool rides and you could even sled down their snow hill. We arrived at about ten or so and had to gsather back at the bus at two in the afternoon if we wanted to enter The Caribean which was just beside Everland. The Caribean was a water theme park which consisted of some swimming pools and lovely hot springs. Okay, so firstly, we went to take this cable car which went over to the lower side of the Everland (the whole theme park was like on a hill or something). We walked a little distance to get to the Safari of the park. We had to board the bus of the safari to see the animals. Anyway, the first stop was at the den of the lions and tigers. The interesting thing was that they put the lions and tigers together at the same place and what do you get in the end? It's a new species called Ligers. This is not a joke, it's true. Anyway, when we went in I suddenly heard Charlie saying "Oh my, the kids on the bus should not see this ar..." And I spun around to see this lion squatted over the lioness and they seemed to be having an intimate affair or whatever you call it. Everyone went "Oh my god" and we burst out laughing cause the Lion quickly walked away as if it were embarassed. Anyway, the Ligers were quarantined because they were far too ferocious for the other Tigers and Lions own good. I have to say, the Ligers certainly look quite the thing (: Anyway, the next stop was for the bears. Everytime the driver passes a bear, it would stop and ask the bear to perform a trick by feeding it a cookie. It was really quite a scene cause the bears were just too cute. The driver would go "xiong2, zhan4 qi3 lai2" in chinese and the bear would perform the trick that he was told to do. It was too adorable. And then there was a King of the bears. And the bear was called "Bei Yong Joon" A ridiculous name if you asked me. But the bear seemed to like it and he went crazy when the driver called him that. Were bears a fan of Winter Sonata too? After the safari, we went to sled down the snow hill and took some other rides and then, we headed for the hot springs.
The hot springs were wonderful. It was super hot when you're going in at first but after that it was amazing. My family also tried out the steam suana. It was kind of choking but it really does make you sweat alot. Anyway, hot springs are just my kind of thing. I want to take another dip in it again :D The day ended with us traveling to the Mount Sorak region and going for my first authentic Korean meal (lunch wasn't counted because the theme park's food wasn't that nice). It was a mushroom steamboat and some lovely side dishes of grilled fish, seaweed, kimchi, veggies, fish cakes. And the side dishes were refillable. The meal was wonderful :D Then we headed for our hotel of the night, Kensington Hotel. It was famous for being in the heart of Mout Sorak and also because many artistes stayed in it before. For me, it was a not so good experience because the room was so hot and stuffy. You could not open the windows or you would catch a cold and the room was like an oven. I didn't sleep too well.
Day three:
The day starts with breakfast. It was a buffet and I ate porridge, with seaweed and mushrooms. Also, there were sausages and salads and my favourite milk. They all went down my stomach. The weather was really cold that day, around -10 degree celcius. We went for a hike around Mount Sorak's bottom because the cable car was temporary closed due to strong winds. There were temples around and a place where people piled stones up and made wishes. Charlie said that whenever Koreans reach a place where they think is sacred, they would pick a stone and pile it up another, making a wish. I picked one and made a wish too, you have to be careful when doing so because you don't want to make other people's wishes fall. Grandma didn't feel well so she stayed in the cable car shelter. After the walk, we went to pick her up and we head for our next destination, a fish market. Charlie reccomended us to eat a seafood feast for lunch which costed us $50 per person. Lunch was supposed to be provided but he moved it to dinner and we had to pay for this feast for ourselves. While waiting for the store to prepare our feast, we explored the fish market. There wasn't much to see so we just bought some cup noodles at the grocery store and went back up the bus. Soon, we were headed for our feast.
The feast was by far the worst meal. Maybe I just didn't like all the raw seafoods wriggling in my mouth. There were live squids, sea urchins, prawns, octopus, oysters, scallop. So many raw seafoods. The tastiest one was the super big plate of sashimi. It tasted supreme. The scariest thing was the live octopus. It was proof that you ate the buffet. The lady would bring about the live octopus in her hand. She would lift up one of it's legs and you had to bite it until they take your picture. It was a scary experience and it sent me squirming in my seat. Here's my picture: Yeah, so the next thing on was to rent ski suits and move to the ski resort. The ski resort was the filming scene of "Autumn in my heart". Taixi, one of the leading males, was the owner of the resort and he stayed in one of the Euro Villas. We were supposed to be skiing for a whole day today but since there was lack of time, we changed the schedule. Before changes, we were supposed to ski today and tomorrow, we have a free daay whole to ourselves and could do anything we want in the ski resort. Of course, if you wanted to ski again, you'd have to pay because it wasn't included for the next day. After changing, we had free time from the moment we reached the resort to the next day. Tomorrow would be the day when we could ski for the whole day. We left our things in the room and went to buy some dinner because today's dinner wasn't included. Dinner for the day was Shin ramen noodles with Aloe Vera drink. On the way back from the supermart we bought ice cream and I had my frist experiece of eating ice cream outside in winter. You should try it too :D
After watching TV together with family, we split up and went back to our rooms. Oh yeah, did I mention that I was sharing a room with my big sister? This time, the rooms were better. The temperature was much colder and the blanket was finally put to good use. The thing is, the air was too dry and it made my sister sleepless cause her nose started to hurt. I on the other hand, wasn't affected too much. Just that the blanket sometimes got a little too hot.
Day four:
Awoken to another similar buffet breakfast. We put on our ski suits and were ready for battle. Suprise! The temperature outside was: -15 degree celcius. My teeth were chattering badly and my wind blown face hardened to ice. Luckily, after some skiing I felt hot. Sweating a little even. Skiing was kind of fun but still a terrible experience. My whole body ached after that.And I refused to ski anymore after a mere few hours. The skiing part was fun but the climbing back up the hill with your skis on is hard work. You had to use the ski rods (or whatever you call it) to support yourself because if not, you would slide down. And you had to move side ways like a crab because your skis are long and all that. Anyway, I should have mentioned that the skis are really really heavy. It was like hanging a trombone on both your legs and walking with it. Up the hill with that kind of weight really puts you down. Anyway, lunch wasn't provided again and after a bath, it was back to cup noodles. It was the only thing I wanted to eat. The Shin Ramen in Korea was way hotter than those sold in Singapore. Believe me, it's true. I kind of regretted not importing some back home. Dinner was barbecued squid with similar side dishes again. Quite delicious ya'know? Anyway, sleeping tonight was another crazy experience. My arm hurt like mad and I felt like ripping it off. It was a kind of pain that I never felt. both me and my mum experienced it and we had to take panadol in order to overcome the pain. Skiing is just not my kind of thing.
Day five:
Chun Cheon was the next stop. Find this name familiar? It is the filming location of the hit Korean Drama "Winter Sonata". Yeah, basically, it was a long shopping street where the two leading characters used to spend their dates at. And, there were these metal handprints of theirs. Charlie told us something interesting and the story told me that japanese obasans are aggressive. He said that winter sonata was a really BIG hit in Japan and some obasans stole Bae Yong Joon's handprint a few years ago. Thus that concludes the lesson, never let an obasan go gaga over you. My grandmother purchased this sweet little bag for me in this cute shop and we moved on to lunch. Lunch was hotplate chicken with rice cakes. And there were vegetables for you to wrap the meat in and eat it in the Korean way. It was superb (: So after that, we head on to Nami Island. Nami Island, again, another filming location of Winter Sonata. We took quite a number of pictures here. Mostly of us trying to pose as the chracters in the show :D I know, we are cheeky at times. After all the funky, wacky poses and the lovely baked corn... to Seoul we go! Tonight was the night to stay in the super high class hotel: Marriott Hotel. It was the best night of sleep I ever had. I only woke up to drink water and fell asleep again quickly. Woohoo (:
Day six:
Today was a boring day. Boo. We had to go visit all the places that the Korea Tourism Board made a compulsory. We had to browse through shops that sell Korea trademarks. For example: the Government Ginseng shop, some amethyst shop etc. It was overall boring because firstly, the stuff are too expensive. Secondly, we were all rushing to go to DongDaemun, the shopping haven. So after many boring moments, we were at DongDaeMun. We only had time to shop in one of the buildings though, it was the Migliore. Boy did I buy loads of stuff from this place. After busying ourselves with bargaining and buying, we were off for a treat. Ginseng Chicken Soup was what you called this famous dish :D Really really yummy. Inside the chicken were these glutinous rice with all the chicken essence. Yumyum, mamamia. And tonight we wanted to test our luck and tried to rush to buy some bunkin doughnuts before they closed up but to no avail. Nevermind, there's still tomorrow.
Day seven:
Woke up early to pack our stuff so that we could do some last minute shopping. Went to eat breakfast at this Traditional Korean restaurant. The food was cheap yet good and the serving was humongous. Even my bottomless pit couldn't handle it alone. Bought this bearbear earrings that looked absolutely adorable and head back to the hotel. The rest of the tour went to explore the borders of South Korea and North Korea on an extra trip with Charlie that was not compulsory. After meeting up with them, we were in for another barbeques chicken with bibimpap. And then we were off to the airport. After saying goodbyes to the handsome Mr Zhang and the not so handsome Charlie. We returned to Singapore :D
The end. It took me 20 days to write this. Whew.
Labels: travels
Yours sincerely, MS. JINGS {♥}
; 10:56 AM {♥}
I can't believe I ruined my blog.
Argh. How I just hate Blogger. I hate it to the core. DUMBASS! I hate it. Why did it turn out this way?! Why does blog want to have some stupid customise your template thing that inspired me to change the whole format so that I couldn't have my own skins anymore. I hate the new blogger. I should have stuck with the old one. It's the dumbest thing ever. STUPID!
And it took me so long to recreate a new blog of the same address. And now I have to import some old posts over too =.=
byebye to my 121 old posts.
I'm so going to change out of blogger soon.
Labels: rambles
Yours sincerely, MS. JINGS {♥}
