Korea Trip Day 3, 4

Day 3 - 20 Dec 2009

We started out with the Palace, which was rather similar to the Chinese. According to the guide, the Koreans are rather influenced by the Chinese, their language, food and even the traditions has some similarities, as last time Korea was under China, hopefully im getting my facts right. Then we headed for a place where they showed the ancient houses, like what is shown on the movie - Da Chang Jing, where different houses actually represent the status of a family. Then it was lunch time, it was considered nice then, serving was Hot Stone Bimbimbap - vege only and Pork shabu shabu again. The hot stone was the main, while the shabu shabu was just a side dish.

Next up was Kimchi school. It was a rough briefing on how Kimchi was made, and we actually got some hands on, making Kimchi Bao Choi, which was really simple, spreading the sauce on the vegetable. Then they gave us the traditional clothes, Hanboks to wear and we snapped some photos. Around 4pm, we went to the Gimpo airport and flew to Jeju Island. We headed for dinner. I do not remember what was for dinner, but since i didnt take a photo, it means it was shabu shabu and pork again.

Day 4 - 21 Dec 2009

We had porridge for breakfast. It was rather blah but it was a changed. Then we headed for this scenery place, with a general and lady like stone near the seaside. Then we headed for the waterfalls, we didnt swim in it, it was just a scenery tour. Then we went to this Min Zhu Chun - Folks Kampung to see the lifestyle of the Korean Folks. It was rather similar to the ancient houses we saw on Day 3 but this was real and there were people staying there. Jeju island has a trend or Jeju is famous for 3 Have's and 3 Don't Have's; Have's : Wind, Women and Rocks; Don't Have's : Beggars, Theifs and (I don't remember).

Guess what for lunch, shabu shabu and pork again. But there was a difference with the normal meal though, the pork was actually black wild boars. Next was another scenery tour, mountain climbing to see Jeju Island from high up above. It was a 20 minutes walk, but it was worth the walk. Then we went to see the orange farm and some Mermaid cum Dragon like stone near the seaside again. Then dinner was a change, with curry fish, except the curry is not spicy. Dinner was really really lousy, and we were starting to be getting sick of the meal provided.

Korea Trip Day 1,2

Day 1 - 18 Dec 2009

Boarding the plane to Korea.

Day 2 - 19 Dec 2009

Reached Korea at approximately 7:00am Malaysia time, 8am Korea time. One step out of the airport and we started to freeze. It was -3C, if i'm not wrong, and it's our first time on a winter trip. Our first stop was Seoul city. There were two ways to go to the city from Incheon airport: land and water. We took the boat across to the city, actually it was more like a ferry, and the bus boarded the ferry with us on it. It was like the ferry used in Langkawi. We went up to the second floor of the ferry, grab a drink, snap some photos. The scenery from there was beautiful, there were birds - seagulls (i think) flying around the ferry which was really nice. But the photos of me were horrible, i was dressed like an Eskimo. Into Seoul city, we headed for their War Museum, which was something like our Tugu Negara. The tour guide started to explain to us about the war between Korea and the US. I am not too sure about the details as the tour guide was talking in Cantonese, and my Cantonese which i once considered quite good, is half plus six. I had some trouble understanding what he was saying as he was actually a HongKee whom stayed in Korea for 20 years, so his way of speaking differs from ours. The museum was rather small, there was figurines and statues of the people and weapons from the war, the war between North and South Korea. The guy i remember out of his long story was Douglas MacArthur.

We headed for lunch next. We had Ginseng Chicken soup. The ginseng was really soup, and the chicken soup was more like chicken soaked in water. Differing from the Chinese way, the way they cooked chicken soup, was put all the stuffings, the herbs and rice into the chicken, and boil the chicken, as opposed to ours, which we put everything into the soup to boil. The Chinese way is better as the soup becomes really tasty. The first taste of the Korean Chicken soup was rather blend, as everything wrapped into chicken and you are to cut open the chicken to eat. According to the tour guide, it was because last time in Korea, the ginseng are only allowed for the King, so the ginseng farmers who kept some hidden stash for their own tasting had to eat it discreetly as they get be punished for stealing the ginseng, so what they do is put the ginseng with the herbs with rice into the chicken. It was a smart move, I started to search for the ginseng and it was actually quite hard to find it as the rice was like glutinous rice, rather sticky and the ginseng is wrapped inside it. The next stop was a CAR museum. There was like hundreds of cars inside that museum: Merc, Beemer, Ferrari, Rolls Royce.... One word WOW.

Talking about wow, there was one thing that it was most shocking, culture shock. The last stop of the day was Spa Greenland. The place was beautiful. The shocking part was when we stepped into the changing room, or the spa room. We saw many women... without a single cloth on them. They were walking around like it was normal, but for us Malaysian, it was rather awkward and embarrassing. I felt rather weird looking at them. I didnt strip this time as it was the time of the month, but the rest took quite a long time to be ready for the spa, which is strip strip and strip only. There was also a swimming pool and a sauna place in this place. It was a rather decent place, as the Korean actually come in a family for these spa trips. They have a common area where i see many Korean families lying down on the floor watching this huge TV, sleeping or having a nice hot Sauna, which is 68C. Then there was this few special places where people can soak themselves or their leg only outside in the open air, and all they wear is a shirt and pants or their swim suit. We tried the leg soaking, but we only lasted for a minute, as it was freaking cold outside, and a shirt and pants was seriously useless. Think it was below 0C that time, and there was ice everywhere. Dinner was a nice pork shabu shabu. Hot food in a cold weather was heavenly, and we enjoyed the meal but that was just the starting of the nightmare.

Dec 2009

Last post September, and its December now. I must have been really busy for the past 3 months. But i think all Mechatronics will agree with me. This sem flew past rather fast, without realising it, its already the finals and even now the finals is over and results are coming out *gasp*. So dead, think i screwed up badly for this test.

Well, at last its the holiday, everything is over and i can chill-lax now. It has been a busy half year, and this break is much needed, i was really looking forward for it; more like desperately in need of it.

Although im doing an internship now, its not so hectic anymore, although i feel the working stress - which i really hate. ><>

*Hoping all ends well. 2 more days to go

Sometimes i wonder, do i really overestimate my capabilities? Am i doing things i know i cant or wont be able to handle/ juggle, yet im just doing it because i really want to, without taking into account the fact that I am just a normal person who has many limitations. And after all of it, everything will just be in a mess, instead of getting the best out of both...

Last Friday, we had an internship briefing. Sunway was invited to give a short briefing on their recruitment of Monash students. The GM of HR said these sentences, "Malaysian likes to travel so far, they never appreciate or like anything near to their place. They like to go AFomosa in Malacca then go to Sunway Lagoon, they are suckers for distance." I experienced it myself today. We had a trip down to Serdang for Claypot Fish when there is so much good food in KL. Does the traveling the so much more extra distance make the food more delicious or is just all the mind? Hmm... Personally? The food there is nicer. :)

Some dreams are just so much sorrow and filled with anger. I hate these dreams in some way, but somehow would like to have it. Maybe this is the only way where i can get into contact with you.

Sux...

Bad bad day

Another bad day to add to the memory.

It started out with a group discussion in Uni, but turned out just to be PC and I. Our other team mate came out, while another MIA (no idea what happened to her). The discussion didn't go to well, we were all being sleazy and lazy. But at least we did something.

Then came a late lunch, with the few shops we went to were close, so we actually traveled all the way to Taipan. It was far, but guess we ran out of option, seeing it was practically tea time, instead of lunch. The food was fine, instead i actually liked it. The roasted pork was crunchy and nice!

After lunch, we were a little high and wanted to play ping pong. I emptied my pocket to lessen the weight, then i realised i lost my car key. CRAP! Of all the things, what am i going to do without a car key and with a car? I dont want to possibly leave the car in Uni, or worst still camp in Uni. I started to panic. KY suggested to checked her car, so we walked all the way to the construction area and checked. Futile effort, so we went back to the Uni, and asked the security to open the library, as it was closed. At first they were reluctant, so i was like i have no car key, i cant go back and i cant leave my car here anyway. So they were nice and a security opened the door for us. We went to the discussion room to find it was locked. The security told us he only have the card and not any keys. Great! So we went down, searched the lost and found, still nothing. I panicked more. Then we were at the counter and saw the keys of the rooms. We managed to get in, but still missing keys.... Then KY started to scare me about how people will steal my car when they have the keys by randomly pressing till they find the right car. She asked me to check whether my car was still at the car park, so we packed our stuff and went to the car park. Luckily my car was still there. *phew*

In the meantime, i was calling everyone single person i knew to get Wei Yi number. It was impossible to contact PC. Her handphone was dead as usual, so i had to call WY. But i didnt have WY number, so i called Dan, and EN and Wei Leung, to get her number. Then i started spamming WY phone but no one picked up. I was running out of choice. I had to call my mom to bring the spare keys. She was really grumpy, saying she got stucked in the jam for an hour. All the roads were really really really jam. Then when i told her she had to come out to give me the keys, she was really annoyed. She said let her rest then she come out again when she actually reached home! Claiming that it was bad that the traffic was bad, an idiot got to lose her key NOW! Wow, grumpy of her. I was getting desperate, i was going to Taipan soon if i still cant reach WY or PC. KY suggest to call PC house, but i dont have her number. So we called Tom and Andrew for her house number, or even her parents number. Anyone... anoyone that lets me contact her. The key is either with her and WY, positive.

Then suddenly WY picked my call, i was like, u send PC back already? Hmm.. Did you take my car key. When she said no, i was rather sceptical, so i was like could you check your stuffs please? I described my car key, which is a Honda similar to hers. Then my mom called telling me how bad is the jam like the day could not get any worst. Then WY called again telling me that she is coming. I was just so happy that she found my keys. I was started to get really really worried about it.

Then i started speeding home. As my mom was right, it was really jam. I went from Federal and detoured to Old Klang Road. Old Klang road was jam, so i detoured to NPE, to a turn before Bangsar to Abdullah Hukum, turning back down to the back road of Bangsar. Turned out before Brickfield, but had to detour to town. Bumped into a road block, then headed to PBD. The only shortest route from PBD back home was Bangsar and it was jam till the very end, so turned down to Jalan Duta. Jalan Duta was jam too, but i had no choice, no other detours. It was a straight road down to town. I was surprised it was jam, as it was seldom jam. I knew the reason when i saw another road block on the left and another to the right, which made all the cars forced to go to KL Sentral way, which contributed to more jam to the already jammed Brickfield. From KL Sentral i had to go down to Brickfield, detoured to Syed Putra to reach home. Sigh... What a long journeym practically 2 hours. I could have reached Ipoh with 2 hours.... And all i did was came back from Uni which usually takes 20 to 30 minutes. Damn i hate protests and road blocks...=s


See 3 lanes? It is actually a 2 lane road, but as usual... it has 3 now...

Argh... All the red lights..... Eye sore...