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Korea Summer 2009 - Random Stuff

By
Jhui
on August 15, 2009 5:22 PM | | TrackBacks (0)
Random stuff that I saw and did in Korea. Was walking back to our hotel one night in Gangnam when I saw Ya Kun!!! It was kinda cool to see a Singapore shop in Korea that actually has customers in it. :D


Koreans are really obsessed with how they look like judging by the fact that there's at least 5 cosmetic shops in one street that sells products for both men and women, slimming products almost everywhere and of course, the S-Line Salad...wtf.


Had a little end-of-course party with our Korean teachers on the last day of school. The school actually prepared donuts, fruits and beverages for us. So nice of them! :D


Was about to take the subway home one day in Myeongdong when we saw this guy performing magic tricks. We kept laughing throughout his performance because there he was trying his very best but the audience was so jaded and not many people bothered to clap. His performance was good though and it was hilarious because while he was doing his stuff, his friends at the side were mimicking him and did I forget to mention that they were the ones who had to switch the music on and off? They didnt even bother to play the music backstage but just hit the "on" button in front of the audience when the guy started doing magic tricks. Oh...and one of his friends was damn cute lar!


Went to the big ABC mart in Myeongdong and saw this really cute salesperson who had really bad hair. In fact, his hair was so bad that I felt like paying for his hair treatment. Then again, he was really nice and gave us extra fans when we asked for it.


As we were running a fever, we decided to blast the air-conditioning and do masks at the same time to bring down the temperature and to also pamper our skins. Kill two birds with one stone! We did that for 3 consecutive days and our temperature went down! It wasnt an expensive affair because the masks were free anyway.


Was walking along Gangnam when Poh Chuan spotted a cap and bought it. Sufi then decided that she wanted one too and the both of them psychoed me into buying one too so that we could have matching caps. Peer pressure!!!


Ate too much one day and was walking aimlessly around Sinchon so as to digest the food when we saw lots of angmohs dancing in the middle of the street. Got so excited and ran over only to realise that they werent ang mohs but just Korean girls wearing blong wigs who were advertising for Paris Hilton's My New Bff show. Got a free gift though after the performance because I shamelessly went up to them and requested for one. :D They were giving free gifts out anyway what...might as well take right?!


You can apparently watch porn on Korean TV at 1am. Poh Chuan had to sleep early because she had a morning flight the next day but she decided to do channel surfing when she chanced upon the porn channel...and we decided to finish watching it before we slept...wtf. The story was quite funny though...in the sense that there was absolutely no storyline at all. Just lots of naked breasts.

Korea Summer 2009 - Food 02

By
Jhui
on August 13, 2009 1:34 PM | | TrackBacks (0)
Went to this famous Samgyetang restaurant called Tosokchon with Jinsuk. It's so famous that it's usually in guide books and it appeared in the Domoto Kyodai Korea special episode. Instead of ordering the normal samgyetang, I ordered the black chicken samgyetang that was so fucking expensive at 19,000won. Though it was really expensive, the soup and chicken was so good. In fact, it's the best samgyetang that I've ever had but I think that the soup was too nutritious for me because I fell sick the following day. I guess I should stick to cheap food next time.


On the topic of expensive food, I had a really pricey lunch with erm...Jinsuk again. She had originally wanted to bring me to this Korean restaurant but we got attracted by the exterior of this restaurant on the way so we ended up eating there. It cost us 20,000won for a 3-course meal which I guess isnt that expensive now that I think of it but then again, I usually only spend around 5,000won for a meal. This was the main course and on one look, it just looks like a normal piece of chicken but what was delicious was the creamy sauce INSIDE it. It was so good that I slowed down my eating speed just to savour every single bite~


Another example of an expensive lunch was samgyeopsal at Hongdae with Josephine. She ordered meat enough for 3 people although there was only 2 of us. The meat came with bean paste stew, steamed egg and rice so it was actually alot of food for two people. The scary thing was that we actually finished everything. :D Josephine gave me a treat because it's a Korean custom to treat your guests/people younger than you and I felt so bad because it wasnt a cheap meal.


Tried bossam with Poh Chuan at the Idae Branch of Won Halmeoni Bossam. As it was my second last day in Korea, I decided to order bibim naengmyeon(Korea Cold Spicy Noodles) as well because I have yet to try it...BAD DECISION!!! The noodles were really good but because I ordered it, we couldnt finish the bossam and it was such a waste of good food. We tried to finish everything and we actually sat there for 2 hours but there was just too much food to finish :(


There are two kinds of naengmyeon(cold noodles) in Korea. One is "mul naengmyeon" and the other is "bibim naengmyeon" with the former being not spicy. Mul Naengmyeon is really good, especially on a hot day when all you crave for is cold stuff.


While we were in Dongdaemun, we went to try this dish called haemulddeokjim which is a stew of seafood, veggies and rice cakes. This is the smallest size that they had in the restaurant and it's really cheap because you can share it with 4 people. The seafood was really good and you have to eat it quickly if you cant take spicy food as the dish gets spicier by the minute if you leave it boiling.


Tried pizza in Korea at Misarang Pizza(Xiah's father's shop) and Mr Pizza. Misarang has many different kinds of pizza flavours and is really innovative. Mr Pizza on the other hand do not scrimp on the ingredients. We ordered this seafood pizza and it actually had SCALLOP toppings!!! wtf?! Damn worth the money lar!


I like anything with seafood in it so I was happy when I got to eat this seafood spaghetti. It wasnt cheap but I guess it's fine to eat good food once in a while.


Jiyeon brought me to eat pudding at this place called "Passion 5", located in Itaewon. We ordered Matcha Pudding and Mango Pudding and though the pudding weren't cheap, they were omfg good.


What's summer without patbingsu(shaved ice topped with red beans)?! Tried the green tea version with Jiyeon and Jiyoon and it felt so good eating it because it was sweltering hot that day.


Another item that one craves for in summer is...ICE-CREAM! I always have the 1000won ice-cream everytime I go to Myeongdong because it's cheap and they give you lots of ice-cream...though it melts damn fast. Tried the matcha+strawberry-flavoured one and mango+yoghurt one and both were really good!


Near the 1000won ice-cream store is this push-cart store manned by a really cute Korean ahjumma. The must-try food there is the kimchi pancake that costs 1500won and it's big enough for two people to share.


Had a really weird craving for okonomiyaki while I was in Korea so my Japanese friends brought me to this okonomiyaki shop in Sinchon called "Hana". I wonder if the flour that they use is different because the okonomiyaki there was really soft, not as firm as the ones that you get in Japan. Then again, the smell itself was enough to satisfy my craving for okonomiyaki~

Korea Summer 2009 - Food 01

By
Jhui
on August 10, 2009 1:00 AM | | TrackBacks (0)
Had lots of food while I was in Korea, especially kimchi and I kinda got sick of kimchi after staying in Korea for a week. I seriously smelt like kimchi after eating at restaurants and I really couldnt stand the smell so I sort of gave up eating kimchi after 1 week. I mean, I like kimchi but there's such a thing as an overdose of kimchi!

This is an example of food sold in the dormitory. No matter whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner, you get to eat rice and kimchi. This was actually taken on a good day because they had MEAT!!! They didnt serve meat for the first two times that I ate at the dormitory and I was seriously craving for meat after that. And because the menu doesnt really change that much (it's usually rice, kimchi, veggies, soup, sometimes meat), I didnt really eat at the dormitory. They also serve sandwiches that tasted like burgers during breakfast and that's helluva delicious but I always devour them before I could take a picture.


They have timings for meals in the dormitory and if you miss those timings, you can always buy snacks from the store or have instant noodles. Our classes end at 1pm everyday and we can make it for the lunch service which ends at 1.30pm if we take the 1.20pm bus but we usually take the 1.40pm bus so we always end up eating instant noodles. There are two kinds of instant noodles -- one is the 700won cup noodles and the other is the 2500won instant noodles cooked by the canteen lady. I really liked the 2500won one because you get instant noodles topped with rice cake, dumplings, egg and cheese! You also get free kimchi and rice that you can add into the leftover soup. I was seriously craving for this noodles when I came back from Korea!


On some days, we dont bother going back and just have lunch at the canteen in KLI, the place where we have classes. Had bibimbap sans gochujang the first time I ate there. Im not sure if we were supposed to add gochujang ourselves but anyways, I couldnt find gochujang anywhere so we just ate it as it was. It was good but I would rather have gochujang to go with it.


And because the queue at KLI's canteen is always freaking long and we are always damn hungry after class, we sometimes eat the "cute guy restaurant" near KLI. Ate there a few times but I only saw the "cute guy" once lor wtf! Then again, I didnt think that he was that cute. This is an octopus dish that's fried with cabbage and lots of chilli. You can choose to add rice in and eat it as bibimbap. This dish was sooooo freaking good!!!


Another dish that I ate at the "cute guy restaurant" was Jeyuk Bokkeum, which is bascially sliced meat fried with cabbage and chilli. This is 10000000000X spicer than the previous dish and because it was too spicy, I got a really bad stomachache after I ate this. Then again, it was so delicious that the pain was worth it! Not to mention that it was cheap too!


Tried Budae Jjigae, which is bascially adding ham into the normal jjigae(stew) that you eat...I think. It just tasted like erm...ham? It was good though~


Ate samgyeopsal at one restaurant in Sinchon with my friends' roomates and they served us rice topped with egg and kimchi that came in a metal lunchbox. You are supposed to shake the lunchbox before you eat so as to mix the kimchi, egg and rice well. It was kinda cool to shake the lunchbox at first but after shaking it for 5 minutes, I was still unable to mix them well so I gave up and ate it as it was.


Tried Korea's KFC and I was surprised by the varieties of burgers that they had there. It's almost Macdonalds! Ordered Bulgogi Burger but it wasnt that nice and the burger was so small. Wasted my money...damn. My friends ordered chicken and the chicken was sooo small that you wonder if they ever feed their chickens or not.


And because I was so sick of kimchi and we happened to be in Chinatown, I headed into this Chinese restaurant and ordered dumpling soup that cost 4000won. For 4000won, I got so much dumplings and cockles that I couldnt finish it by myself and had to share it with my friends. I wonder if it's because I was really pissed off and hungry that day but the dumpling soup was GOOOOOOOD!


Another kind of food that you must try in Korea is their fried chicken. I know...what's so special about fried chicken but trust me, Korea sells like the best fried chicken I've ever had. First chicken that I tried was Yangnyeom Chicken which is basically chicken fried with spicy sauce(yangnyeom). I was having a sore throat when we went to the restaurant but the smell was just so good that I heck cared my sore throat and gobbled down the chicken.


Had Kyochon Chicken too, whose CM character's Super Junior. The outlet near my dormitory had a delivery guy who looked like Eeteuk of Super Junior so we went to take photos with him...XD We also got free Super Junior posters and fans!
Ordered the spicy chicken and god was it spicy! Had to buy a carton of milk to go with the chicken but it was just so awesome!

Jinsuk brought me to Ssamziegil located in Insadong and I tried "Ddongbbang", which means "shit bread" in English. It's actually just like taiyaki(Japanese fish-shaped cake filled with red bean paste) but just that its shaped like a piece of shit.


My friend's friend brought us out for a drink, Korean-style, where you sit underneath a roadside stall with a red tent and drink soju. He ordered this dish called "Meongge"(sea squirt) for us to try and guess what, the taste was so horrible that it seriously tasted like shit. All the Singaporeans couldnt stand the taste but forced themselves to eat it only because it was polite...but swore never to touch it again.


The 6 of us emptied six bottles of soju that day. Wait, I only had a cup of soju so basically the 5 of them drank that much. I dont like the taste of soju so I didnt drink much so I ended up getting called rude by the Korean. Whatever. If I dont like it, I'm not going to force myself to drink more...somemore I've already given him face by drinking one cup already though I hated the taste of soju. I rather get labelled as being rude then force myself to do things that I do not like to do.

Korea Summer 2009 - Places 02

By
Jhui
on August 8, 2009 6:55 PM | | TrackBacks (0)
Part 2 of places that I've been to in Korea~

Went to a few famous drama shooting locations while I was in Korea. First up was Coffee Prince, where they shot erm...Coffee Prince. There are 2 Coffee Prince outlets in Seoul because of some dispute between the coffeeshop and MBC but I went to both anyway. This is the second shop where they have scripts from the show. Ordered a green tea latte there and it was delicious, albeit a little pricey. Then again, everything's pricey in Seoul.


At the first Coffee Prince shop, which was the actual shooting location for the drama. The second storey was closed to public and there were some construction works going on around the shop so it looked kinda old and shabby. Drinks-wise, there were lesser choices as compared to the second shop and they were so expensive! The coffee wasnt even that nice to justify the price.


Next up was this jazz bar called "Once in a Blue Moon" located in Apgujeong. This place's famous because it appeared in one of the scenes of "My Name is Kim Sam Soon". Tried to dress up to go there but all I had was a pink dress, pink earings and pink (bitchy) shoes so I looked like a total pink-wannabe that day.
Prices for drinks at the bar were so expensive for us...no wonder it's called Once in a Blue Moon...cause it's too expensive to go there frequently...wtf.


Also went to DBSK's Mickey Yoochun's mother's gelato shop, TimeOut. Ordered dark chocolate + Tim Tam ice-cream and it was helluva good! I think that the ice-cream cost 4500won but at least it was delicious!


On the topic of ice-cream, Red Mango has like the best yoghurt ice-cream that I've ever had! We didnt even need to put toppings on the ice-cream!...Okay, I was too cheapo to pay for toppings but at least the yoghurt ice-cream was smooth and yummy!


Went for coffee at this place called "Twosome Place". Didnt order anything but just sat there and talked. :D They had this really bling tumbler that I really wanted to buy but it cost like freaking 20,000won so I had to control my urge to buy it.


Ate at TGIF for the first time in my life in Korea~! The set was surprisingly cheap at 17,000won(excluding taxes) for starters, a large main course, drink and dessert.


My class held a farewell party for me at Mr Pizza and we had so much food till I almost burst. The food's really good but I didnt like the stupid rule where 4 people had to share a salad bowl. They refused to give us an extra bowl even when I told them that my Muslim friend couldnt eat pork so we wanted to use different bowls. In the end, I managed to get an extra bowl by being extremely insistent and well, irritating but hey, that's how you get stuff done!
One thing I dislike about Korea's restaurants is the sharing of bowls/cups part. We went to this restaurant once and they gave us 2 mugs of water to share amongst 8 people. Their reason was because since people are going to order beer, the number of mugs will increase if they gave everyone a mug of water...wtf?! Dont be so stingy can or not?! What happens if nobody wants to order beer? I think that they're just lazy and do not want to wash more dishes...


Went to 63 Building and tried to do my best impersonation of Marilyn Monroe!...FAIL!!!


The people who went to 63 Building with me~


Shopping at COEX mall is really bad for the wallet because there's just so much stuff to buy! I dont know how much we spent in just 2 hours...


ABC Mart in Korea was freaking cheap because the Summer Sale was going on and everyone bought at least two pairs of shoes while we were there. We were trying to compare our heights in this picture by the way~ :D


Took purikura at Ilsan and the machine was so fucking old. Could only take like the upper half of the body lor! Then again, it was kinda cool because we could use the costumes they had there for free...although, what's the use of the costumes if you cant even see it in the photos?!

Korea Summer 2009 - Places 01

By
Jhui
on August 7, 2009 9:07 PM | | TrackBacks (0)
Visited a few places while I was in Korea but they were all in Seoul. Wanted to go to the Mud Festival but it takes like freaking 4 hours to get to that place and you'll get dirty so I gave up the idea. :D

Was supposed to visit this island called Shindo, which was the place where they filmed the drama "Full House" but guess what? My friend's friends showed up 2 hours late and by the time we got there, there were no more ferries already lor!!! wtf?! Worse thing was that those people did not apologise and took it for granted that we'll lead them home because their conversational Korean was so bad and had to rely on us. They didnt even bother to help us ask for directions when we went there but went to satisfy their hunger by buying sandwiches while we asked. wtf?! Bunch of irritating fuckers. Anyways, we didnt want to waste our day travelling(we travelled for damn fucking long and it was so expensive) so we went to Chinatown to eat and look around. Turned out that Korea's Chinatown is a pretty decent place. People there can speak Chinese and the food was good! Then again, we were so hungry that even plain rice would have had tasted good to us.


This is the place that I stayed in for a month while I was there. It's the Mu-ak dormitory that's located in Yonsei University. Good thing about this place was that it's in the school so I didnt have to wake up early to get to class. The bad part was that there was a midnight curfew and it's located on top of a freaking hill!!!! Also, if I missed the shuttle bus or didnt manage to get a taxi, I had to walk for like 30minutes from the main gate just to get here. I really hated it when I had to walk up to the dormitory...so freaking scary. And because there was a pretty steep slope, I couldnt wear heels for the whole time that I was there.


Standing outside the canteen located in KLI (Korean Language Institute). The queue for lunch everyday was CRAZY, especially when it rained or when they served special food at cheap prices. It can get so crowded that people have to eat outside, along the walkway.


Yonsei University's library was so freaking big, pretty and modern. It puts all the other universities' libraries that I've been to to shame. They even have a rooftop garden above the library...wtf?! Then again, I guess that the school fees' probably pretty pricey too.


My friend and I fell sick while we were in Korea. Had fever, flu, cough etc...basically symptoms of H1N1, so we went to Severance Hospital to see the doctor. They brought us to this carpark which was the makeshift stall for seeing potential H1N1 patients. The carpark was badly ventilated and it was so hot and stuffy. My friend's temperature was originally 39 degrees Celsius but it shot up to 39.8 because it was just so fucking hot in the carpark. They also made us wait for a really long time and kept questioning us for our names, contact numbers etc. Also, they kept mixing the both of us up.
Originally, they told us to self-quarantine ourselves but upon hearing that we were going to leave Korea soon, they told us that we didnt have to do so..wtf?! And they werent very willing to let us test whether we had H1N1 or not even though we were willing to pay...wtf! So unprofessional. So what if we were going to leave Korea and probably wont infect Koreans if we have H1N1, we are still patients lor!
They gave us the same medicine even though our symptoms differed slightly and told us that we could choose to eat Tamiflu or not. Everything was "up to us". They also charged us a hefty 10,000won for treatment when all they did was just check our temperatures and ask for medical history! I dont mind paying money if they did something but I just couldnt stand it that they didnt do a single fucking thing! In short, I fucking hate the hospital.


On a lighter note, we went to watch Transformers while in Korea. Watching movie in Korea is not a cheap affair and I slept during the movie because I didnt watch part 1 and was a little lost at the start.


Was walking along Sinchon at night when I happened to look up and got the shock of my life. If you look at the top right hand corner of this photo, you'll see a doll on top of the building. It is fucking scary if you see this at night lor...wtf.


Went for LOTS of karaoke when I was there. Hongdae's Prince Edward Karaoke's room was freaking spacious and they had a mike stand, piano, huge-ass sofas and free flow of ice-cream. So.freaking.cool!


The karaoke room in Sinchon's Soo Karaoke was really pretty too! Free flow of ice-cream too but you had to pay for mineral water...wtf.


Karaoke-ing at Apgujeong's Soo Karaoke. The room wasnt as pretty as the one in Sinchon but it was pretty decent.


Camwhoring in Lotte Departmental Store's toilet because we were so tired from walking. Luckily there werent many people there that day. :D


Stayed tuned for Part 2~.

Korea Summer 2009 - People

By
Jhui
on July 30, 2009 1:32 AM | | TrackBacks (0)
Met lots of people during my one month in Korea, be it new or old aquaintances.

First up was Josephine, whom I met in Hiroshima last year where we participated in the Hiroshima & Peace programme together. I felt so bad because Jo kept treating me when we met up. In Korea, it's a custom for people who are older to treat those who are younger. I'm happy that I'm born in Singapore where there's no such custom and people here usually go dutch. :D


Next, I met up with Jiyeon and Jiyoon, whom I met in Hiroshima last year too! It was such a delight to meet up with them, especially Jiyoon, since I didnt manage to see her on my last trip to Korea. It's interesting how we clicked so well when we met up this time because I did not really talk to Jiyoon while in Hiroshima.


Jinsuk, who's actually a friend of my friend, took time off to meet me and bring me around Seoul. We actually did exchange in the same university in Japan, but only during different semesters and I got to know her when she came to Japan for a holiday while I was there. We talked alot about our experiences in Japan and also Korea :D


I also got to befriend Jina, who is Jinsuk's sister. Jina's younger than me but she operates a porridge shop now in Seoul!!! The porridge was really good! Thanks for the treat!


At Cheonggyecheon with Shufang's and Poh Chuan's roommates. Their roommates were really pretty and easy-going :D. Cheonggyecheon was really fantastic and we got to see the laser show too!


Ate vegetarian food at this restaurant recommded by Lele's roommate.


Class photo with my Korean teacher, Choi-seonsaengnim. There's like 13 students in my class and they come from all over the world. It was really interesting mixing around with them, although it was only for a month's time.


Another class photo with the other Korean teacher, Jeong-seonsaengnim. She's really hyper in class and the class usually wakes up when she teaches. The Japanese people however, are abit uncertain about whether they like her teaching style or not. The Chinese people(by Chinese, I mean China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore) on the other hand, love her teaching style.


Specially travelled all the way to Ilsan to eat at DBSK's Xiah's father's pizza restaurant. Was lucky because his father was there and we actually lingered around long enough till he came out and took pictures with us. Okay, he actually came out to ask how the food was and upon seeing him, I straight away went "Can I take a photo with you?!"...wtf...so fangirl.


Met this delivery guy who looks like Eeteuk of Super Junior at Kyochon Chicken. Made one of the girls who went with us ask him if we could take a picture with him or not. Yes, we are so bhb. Hee. :D


Lele's Japanese classmate invited her to lunch and so all of us tagged along. I actually do not know half of the people who were eating with us that day. :( However, at least it was a fun lunch because I managed to make some new friends that day.


Come to think of it, I didnt meet alot of new people in Korea...I'm so anti-social...wtf!

Back from Korea!

By
Jhui
on July 29, 2009 8:52 PM | | TrackBacks (0)


I'm finally back from Korea after being there for a month! On one hand, I'm glad to be back home lying on my comfortable bed and using my smelly pillow, and on the other, I'm actually quite sad because I'm seriously going to miss shopping at those cheap cosmetic stores and getting freebies!!!

Anyways, going to take a rest now because I've yet to fully recover from my illness...which might have had been H1N1 for all I know. The stupid doctors in Korea kept telling me that it was unnecessary to test for H1N1 and basically heck-cared us when they knew that we were going to come back to Singapore. Fuck you unprofessional doctors in Korea! Will blog more on that next time. :D
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