Korea Trip

 

For those of you who didn't know, i embarked on a trip to Korea recently for 7 days 6 nights with my parents. It was a very good trip, as it was interesting to experience and witness the Korean culture; it was both unique and fascinating. So instead of boring everyone with a day-to-day journal which i always tend to do after every trip, i figured i would just list down a few things i found very unusual and interesting about Korea and Koreans. Pictures are up on facebook for those who want to see how Korea looks like (picture are supposed to tell a thousand words) or wait for me to tell the stories in person.

1. The common one: Koreans eat kimchi everyday, every meal. Its fermented vege and its apparently very very good for your health. I hate it, unfortunately. And apparently you are not meant to finish it, according to Lonely Planet, and they throw away whatever's left behind. And they refill them if you finish them.
2. Koreans almost eat steamboat everyday. The tour guide mentioned that in Korean cooking the sauce and materials are more important than how you cook it. And also they put "ningko" in it (huh???).
3. Koreans eat their meat wrapped in cabbage.
4. Korean ginseng is the best in the world.
5. Koreans eat larva stew.....yup and according the hex it tastes great too. I think i took a glimpse at a stall selling it and instantly grossed out (did i spell that right?)
6. OK enough of food. In Korea, usually only the men work and the women stay behind and do the housework and take care of children. Seems a little unfair right? But wait, there's a catch! Men bring home the money....and gives them straight to the wife! They control the money in the house (bank?)! And we actually saw ppl asking their wife for money to grab some food.
7. Speaking about money. Koreans, both genders, spend 70% of their money on their looks (clothes, shoes, hairgrooming, PLASTIC SURGERRY)
8. Speaking about plastic surgery, it seems about 70% of them do it. And parents give it to them as graduation gifts before starting working life
9. So its no wonder that there are pretty Koreans girls around. But they are really heavily covered with makeup and you never know who has done surgery. You are looked down upon if you can't do makeup. Interestingly, i didn't find any cute f4-like Korean guys (or maybe it just proves how straight i am.
10. The remaining money is probably spent on petrol. Apparently their petrol prices are really really high and their parking rate in Seoul can go up to rm90 per 30 min. That's insane!
11. Dont worry guys, in Jeju island its the other way round. Women do the working and the men stay at home! Paradise!
12. Koreans give out Krispy Kreme for free because its not too popular in Korea. They're too healthy and hate sugar!
13. Korea is known to be a high tech country and its obvious. You can only use 3g in Korea, and free internet is everywhere. They don't even use ADSL anymore, they use VDSL (apparently much faster).
14. However during my 7 days there i failed to find a proper electronic shop except SONY. (Btw Korea's two biggest companies are LG and Samsung)
15. Probably not too surprising, but Koreans go to sauna completely naked.
16. So its obvious they are not too shy about their wee-wee, so toilet doors when opened you can basically directly see the urinals and the cubicals etc (the whole of the toilet). And most public toilets are permanently open.
17. And their hotels only give out small towels. As big as hand towels. Don't even think of wrapping your body with it.
18. The Korean police around the blue house (Korea's white house!) wears sports attire and are on skates!
19. Koreans are really enthusiastic especially in doing their job. In Everland theme park, every employee wave their hands frantically while screaming ANYONG ANYONG!!! when they see anyone. Apparently supposed to be twinkling stars or sumthing.
20. A bit unrelated, but Park Ji Sung is flat footed. Which means its supposed to hurt real bad when you run. He even got exempted for national service because it is considered and handicap. If you live under a shell, he is currently playing for Manchester United and is famous for his tireless running. I have new found respect for him.

That's all i can think about for now. Sorry for the delay!

 

Kenny G

Well, all of us know that Kenny G is this famous saxophone artist who has been around for quite some and I'm sure you can recognize most of his songs and not know the titles (since well they dont have lyrics). And we also know that sax sounds can put people to sleep or strip their clothes (they use them in sex scenes don't they?) so obviously i wasn't too excited to hear that my dad got us tickets to watch him perform in Genting. I mean, sure he plays well and all, but it's no rock show.

However, I am surprised and glad that it didn't turn out to be a snooze outing. Far from it actually. This is a guy who made an entrance from the back and walked down the aisle while playing a song (imagine having the cheapest seat in the house but get to be right next to him) and then he set up a box in the middle of the crowd to stand on and finish his song. All this while our Yang Dipertuan Agong is having his mandatory first class seat at the front, facing the opposite direction. It just shows how much respect he has for his fans and how professional he is as both a musician and a performer. His performances were mesmerising throughout and he puts in a nice variety by letting his bandmates steal the show occasionally (he has the best percussionist ever) and he also showed off how long he can hold a note for (he holds the longest record in the world with 47 minutes). In case you havent already figured out, he does it by breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth through the saxophone.

I know you're trying as you read this and failing miserably =P. Oh, and he played "The Moon Represents my Heart" which is the familiar chinese song that goes "ni wen.....wo ai......ni you.......kuo shen........ "

Tassie

Its a bit late now to blog about my trips and i might forgotten some things i wanted to say about the place but ill try my best to recall my goldfish memory. For those who didn't know my parents came over for half a month to attend my graduation while having an extended holiday. We decided to spend a few days in Hobart and a day tour through the Great Ocean Road and as usual, produced a wealth of pictures of the beautiful sceneries.

Hobart

Upon arriving in Hobart the first thing that strikes your mind is how beautiful the island is. Its really a very nice sight and very contrasting to the city life in Melbourne, it was very quiet and full of scenery and there is water everywhere. The first thing the cab driver told us was that Hobart is a city of fishes and if you don't like fish, you're at the wrong place. Thankfully im alright with fish, but we would end up eating fish every single day.....mostly at the same place too. But we didn't mind that much, that had a good enough variety of cooking style to keep things fresh for the few days that we were there; i ate lots of salmon, a blue-eyed trevalla, some prawns and a little lobster. They were very fresh but it was still pricey for a place where there's plenty of fish....roughly the same prize you would get them in Melbourne. I guess we were hanging out at a tourist place and as usual they will milk every penny out of you. It was not like we had a choice though, as the city is dead after 5 (literally).


Ahhh... The harbour....source of our very fresh fish

Apart from the usual scenery, there was a few interesting places that stood out during our trip. First was Mount Wellington, which provided a summit view of Hobart. It was pretty high up (cant remember exactly how much) that there was no greenery around, just rocks! But what made it memorable for us (for better or worse) was actually how windy it was out there! We could barely walk straight or stand still for pictures! Just look for yourselves.



Thankfully we didn't get blown away. I even needed my glasses to protect my eyes!

The Wildlife Park (cant remember the name...) was also quite fun surprisingly considering that ive seen koalas and kangaroos many times in my life. For the first time we really got to interact with the animals and even feed the kangaroos. Plus, we got to see the infamous Tasmanian Devil (disappointed that it doesnt spin though).


The cute little creatures were the star of the day

Next up was Bruny Island, which was both exciting and disappointing. We were supposed to go on a cruise to see the landscape of the prehistoric island and to spot some seals, dolphins and whales. What surprised us was the the cruise was actually on a speed boat! Travelling at 25 knots!!! It was cool alright, but it was freezing cold out there! I got seasick too but not as bad as my mom, she threw up into the ocean. Too bad we didn't get to see much for most of the trip, as the whales and dolphins season were over. What a shame. At least we got a great tour guide on the cruise.... he makes the lamest joke, LOL! (rival to Kafaii)


Left: Very dodgy tour guide Right: The most beautiful scenery ever....my DD

Every Saturday in Hobart they hold this umm Salamanca Market they call it. Basically its a huge pasar malam only that its during the day. Makes sense? They sold all kinds of stuff ranging from handicrafts and souvenirs to toys and....lotsa other stuff. I mainly went for the food though; had some german sausages, scallop pie, corn dogs (first time!) but I also managed to grab a sick wooden rubber band gun. But its really dangerous i accidentally shot deedoo with it (SORRY SORRY SORRY DEAR DEAR!!!!). I also shot Jack, but that was no accident =P


Salamanca!!! Got a nice ring to it

So yeah that kinda wraps up our Tassie trip. Oh and yeah before i forget, they make fantastic fudge over there. Yumm Yumm FATNESS!!!!

New Photos

Uploaded a bunch of new and old photos onto my web albums. Here's a few teasers from recent times :


Tulip festival at Lilydale


21st birthday dinner


21st belated birthday tea

Sydney Trip Post

My long long overdue post. As most of you already know, me and Deedoo went on our "romantic getaway" to Sydney a week ago. It was a great trip, we did a few interesting tours, snapped some beautiful pictures and ate some great food over there. The horrible weather was a shame, but could be easily overlooked nonetheless. Anyways here's a quick summary of our trip, skipping all the mushy bits =)

Day 1: Arrival. Took a train from the airport to the station nearby our backpackers hotel (called Wake Up! ). This is my first time staying in one of these. It was an excellent choice, the place was very nice looking and clean, and the room provided us with minimum necessities. And to our surprise, we even had a TV!!! We stayed near Chinatown and was walking distance to the Darling Harbour. We had a good rest and then strolled to Darling Harbour to snap some quick pictures before the sunset and had a wonderful dinner at a place called the Black Bird. We ended the day with a night stroll through the Aquarium.




Day 2: Spent the day at Circulay Quays. The weather was wonderful, sunny and not too cold. We had a full English breakfast to fuel us for the day and quickly worked our way up the steps of the oh so famous Sydney Opera House. Then , we took a long walk to this park where we had a great view of the Opera House with the Harbour Bridge behind it. In the evening we went to Bondi Beach and treated ourselves to some awesome bbq pork ribs at The Hurricanes! Those of you who've been to Sydney would probably have been there and those of you who havent, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU TO DO SO!!!



Day 3: Long bus trip up to the Blue Mountains. Walking through the trails was pretty fun for the first hour or so was pretty fun, but it started to get tiring and the light rain didn't help either (it made the steps slippery). Nevertheless, it was an interesting experience and we had a good breath of fresh air. We also managed to catch a glimpse of the Three Sisters....



Day 4: Next up was Port Stephens for dolphins watching. Things looked gloomy at first as in it was pouring cats and dogs when we left. (Un)fortunately it take 2-3 hours to get there so by the time we reached there during lunch time, the storm was over. Going out to the sea and looking at the dolphins were probably the highlight of the trip, and we caught a good video of them jumping around too! Also included with the trip was a short detour to the sand dunes. They were pretty huge, and we were allowed to sandboard down the dunes. It was really fun going down, but climbing up in the sand isnt as fun.



Day 5: Nothing much here. Visited my aunt in the morning and we chatted and yamcha-ed till lunch time. It was pouring once again so we had to stay in. We did, however managed to go to Lowenbrau Keller for dinner. They are famous for German beers and pork knuckles (and of course, sausages). The beer was pretty good but the pork knuckle was so-so (disappointing since i was most looking forward to it)



Day 6: Check out time. Met up with Sue Ann and her friends for yamcha and to catch up a bit on old times. I think she is starting to develop some slang, cause she sounded 100% malaysian 2 years ago. After that we went to indulge ourselves at the Lindt cafe. Anyone familiar with chocolate will know what im talking about. Absolutely sinful, yummy chocolate. Anyways that kinda rounds up the trip. This is the first time I've travelled without anything planned beforehand (and without parents) and i must say its quite an experience and i think we managed to cover quite a lot of places in a short amount of time.

Going to Sydney

Right after exams I'm gonna spend a lil less than a week in Sydney with my deedoo. You can call it a romantic getaway.....from my housemates? Lol. Anyways this could spell disaster considering i could get lost in Melbourne itself. I once took 40 minutes to get to a mosque in Drummond St (for assignment, not prayer), which is basically the second perpendicular street from my place. Actual time needed = 5 minutes.


My advice is to never count on me for directions. Especially when I'm driving.

On a side note, whoever's been to Sydney in these recent years please contact me to recommend me places to visit/dine. Thanks in advance!