The Time Is Up

Final stop in this UOS-ISS experience is a homestay at Suz's place. Her mom is such a wonderful cook. The dishes are all so delicious. And this is really those traditional Korean meal where they have like more than ten dishes on the table. I'm impressed.


After the wonderful dinner, we went off to the World Cup Stadium and the park around it. Said goodbye to Teresa that night. Another person to miss. See u in NYC gal.


The next day, went to watch The Simpsons with Suz before heading off to the airport. This feeling sucks. Missin this missin that. Missing everyone. Argh. Anyway, I must really thank Suz's family for being such a great host. Feel totally at ease at their home. Hehe.


Seoul has been wonderful. But the fun time is up. Heading back to SG for the real harsh life. Give me strength to get through this.

The Brother Bear

3 more days before I leave Korea. Sigh I really dun wanna leave man. Today is also the last outing of this holiday that I will have with my brother YJ. Went to Dongdaemun for another round of shopping. Hehe. Think I am really spending too much man.


We were lucky to see some rehersal ofa huge show for later the night. Haha. Seen some famous artists for free. Woohooo. But poor brother never get to see famous gals. Haha. Only famous guys appeared.

Headed off to our normal gym routine before going Han River for the final time in this trip. Thanks to his pretty gf for coming. I get a free ride back. Haha. Gonna miss seeing those beautiful lightups on the bridges ans most of all will miss my dear brother. I wanna stay in Seoul. Argh.

The Dreamin Forest

Was so excited today to be going to a vacation house. Koreans call it a pension house. Still remember how beautiful the house was in the movie 'Save the last dance for me'. We started set off late that day, thanks to the gals for waking up late. But its ok la get to have lunch with YJ.

Here is acouple of photos of my first train ride in Korea. The train looks new like the ones in VIA rail. Till now my worst train experience is with the Italian train. We tried out this breakin the egg with like the head. It hurts man. But well it worked. Hehe.

After about an hour train ride, we arrived at the small town. The owner was there to pick us up. But sigh the owner is not a beautiful gal Eugene, he is a retired guy. Checked in our room and went outside immediately to take photos.

Here is photos with the very cute dog. She seemed to followed us everywhere we go. Haha. Like a tour guide.

Here is the spot where Changho made the promise to Eunsoo. The whole place is full of weeds and ants. So different from the feel in the movie. I wonder whether the got bitten by bugs when filming that time.

Finally here are some photos of the room. I get the bad all to myself as the gals slept in the living room. Why? Cos they are scared of ghost. Wahaha.

Overall, the vacation house looked much smaller then expected. It was still nice. And we certainly had a great great time there. Managed to eat Suz's cooking again. Yummy. But weeds are everywhere, thanks to the summer sun and rain. Just an advice here, come in autumn or spring.

The Recap

Remember I promise to upload photos from my birthday a month ago? Gotten the photos finally. I am doing a recap on the events that happened that night. Certainly one of the most happening Birthday of my life. Gonna miss those crazy time man.

First up a group photo.


Happy to receive a wonderful gift from Suz and YJ.

Just as I thought everything will be normal after all this years, someone slammed the whole cake at me.

Forced me to drink the potent 'Brithday Drink'. Ingredients includes chewing gums, cake, sweat, fruits, beer, soju, confetti, etc.

Doing the love shot. I cannot remember what number it is.

But dancing on the table was a fun thing to do. Many thanks to Helen for being such a sport.

Ok end of story. Time to puke away the alcohol................

The Farewell

The last day of the program. Cannot believe one month passed to fast. Really hate the thought of this coming to an end. But its life, Cest la vie.

Had a pretty easy exam today for my classes. Here is a photo of how my Korean tutors looked like. Both very kind ladies. I'm gonna miss going to Korean class so much with all of the poeple here.


Had a farewell party in the school hall. It was such a pity that they never thought of having a ball at the place. The hall is certainly large enough for such purpose. I'll let the photo do the talking from this point as I am at lost for words.




Finally a photo of my nice buddy who has been very kind and nice. Its never easy sharing a room with another person. Thanks for being a wonderful roomate.

The Long Long Queue

Bing xuan arrived yesterday for a short stopover. Its like a small reunion for us here. Miss those days In Calagry so much. Need the UofC life once again. Anyway, I joined them pretty late as I have lessons to attend.

Went to COEX, a huge shopping mall in Seoul. After that, we headed off to Lotte World Amusement Park. Which turns out to be disastrous. We do not know why there is so damn many people here on a weekday. Irritating. We queue for more than 60 minutes for each ride. Ended up only taking 2 rides. Pathatic isn't it. The ride 'Atlantis' was fun though. Neverhteless, the queue is such a turnoff. I doubt that I would ever go back there again.

Anyway, the reunion was good. Hope that we can meet up like thise again every now and then. Meanwhile, Alanis where are you? *crosses fingers*.

P/S: Good photos are in bx's camera. Bear with photos from my sucky camera first ok.

The Boring Field Trip

Went to the National Museum of Korea. It is the 6th biggest int he world. I dreaded going there as I am still suffering from the history overdose from the previous field trips.

The only thing that really impressed me was the technology they used. It is like a PDA which works by sensor. Everytime you walk in a room or near an exhibit, the PDA automatically comes on to give you info about the exhibit. Save time and energy of reading the thingy. Good way to prevent congestion too as the number of ppl there on a weekend is crazy. Think everywhere in Seoul is so crowded on a weekend.


After the museum, we decided to play board game. We had no Korean buddy with us. Scary. After much walking, we settled for a cafe that serves bitter kiwi. Damn it. The games however, was fun though. Coyote....Rounded up the day by buying some books to learn more Korean. Haha.

The Too Much History Day

Day 4

Final day of the trip. Gonna miss those nice hotel breakfasts. DO you know that itis not a common practice to have breakfast here in Seoul? I always had a hard time finding a full meal before goin to class. Learnt to survive on Kimbab and sandwiches for breakfast. So having a buffet breakfast in hotel is such a luxury.

We were told that they will take us to Museum and another tomb today. I was not excited at all about it as I think we had enough history the day before. Argh. The museum was huge and new. But to me, all museums are still boring.

I dreaded to go to another tomb as the day was hot and we were tired. Again from the partying at the hotel the night before. Playing the guessing game was fun. We saw a few models of the ancient tomb. The governemnt closed the originals to protect them from damage. Feels like we are in Indiana Jones or something. Shot of Day 4.


After that we took another long bus ride back to Seoul. Although the trip gave me an overdose of historical places, it did served well to enrich my knowledge on olden days Korea and gave me a good break from the city life back in Seoul. What's best is I get to know a few people better (Helen, Long, JH, HS, JY). Looking forward to spending the final week with the rest of the participants. Ciao.

The History Lesson

Day 3

Overall, it seemed like we were having a historical lesson today. Visited 4 places in total. All of them are about olden days Korean Silla Dynasty.

Everybody was so tired in the mornin due to the party last night. The thought of visiting a temple did not excite me at all. Seen too much of it in my place and on TVs. Furthermore, the view in summer is just all green. Unlike the autumn which we see nice colourful scenery. We did not hang around long as rain came pouring down. We moved to the Seokgulam Grotto.


At the Seokgulam grotto, everthing was foggy. It feels like I am in a forest or movie set as we climb the hill in the cool air. The way up was so tiring. The statue however, was very impressive. I am glad that it is not one of those gold Buddha statue. Headed back to the hostel for a little rest.

We woke up round evening for another round of historical stuff. This time, we are visiting the royal tombs. Sounds exciting to me. As it is actually a tomb garden. There are so many tombs here and they are all royal tombs. They looked like those hills that we used to draw in our play school when we were young. Haha. We forced ourselves to take photos despite the rain as the park really looked special to me.


When we reach Anapji Pond, it was rainin cats and dogs. I really hate this. The pedestrian ways are muddy too. We left as soon as we can to enjoy a nice barbecue dinner before heading back to the hotel for another round of parttttteeeeeeeee.

Shot of Day 3. Loved the feel of us charging in front of the photo. Hehe. This could have been a advertisement. Anyone need a part time model? Need a job. Hehe.

The Beach Day

Day 2

Second day of the trip which actually turned out to be the most enjoyable day in the end. We were looking forward to visiting the Haewoondae Beach, the most famous beach in Korea. We heard that there were 900,000 people at the beach the weekend before. Crazy.

We were however, hoping for a less crowded beach so we can enjoy ourselves more. Apparently, the bad weather did keep the people away. It was so cloudy and cold. Nobody wanted to get into the sea.


Things change when we started to throw the gals into the cold cold water. wahhaha. And for the next 2 hours there is just more and more crazy stuff. After the beach, we went back to wash up before checkin out. Sad, I did not really get to see Busan. Maybe I should come back here someday.


Next up in our itinery is the POSCO. The 3rd largest steel company in the world. We only get to tour the factory site in the bus. However, the did allowed us to go in one of the factory to see the continuous casting process. It is damn hot in there. I wonder how can the people stand the heat. No photos are allowed. Sigh.

After that, we headed off to another beach in the East. It is called Gampo Beach. At this beach, lies the water tomb is the King Munmu. Story was he wanted to protect Korea from the sea after his death. Ambitious king. We did not throw anyone into the sea this time as we were too tired to do so. This beach is kinda rocky too. So we decided to throw rocks instead. Haha.

We reached the Kolon Hotel at a small historical city called Gyeongju. Bought lots of snacks and drinks to party there as we dun wanna end up sleeping early like the day before. Party time........

And this is the photo that I really liked. Hehe. Shot of Day 2. Yes, the gal is pretty. But too bad, she is attahced. So friends go look elsewhere ba. Haha.

The Other Face of Korea

Been away so long from updating. There is absolutely too little time left after I came back from this wonderful field trip. Hence, did not update till after the ISS ended. I will try to make this fun. Just like the way that I feel after the trip. Honestly I feel so nostalgic right now. The place is super quiet. Feels so weird now.

Day 1

We set off pretty late (8.30am) as compared to those students who are goin' to China (5.00am). Was super excited about the trip as this is my first time travelling so far from Seoul. Futhermore, the thought of being able to stay in hotels with the other participants excites me to the max.

We travelled on the bus for about 3 hours before reaching Andong. Stopped by this wonderful restaurant which is also a workplace for a very amazing carpenter. He carved all sorts of figure out of the tree trunks and woods. They were so funny and adorable.

Here is what I call erm.........Well its artistic after all k. Wahaha.


Next we headed off to the Hahoe Folk Village (meaning winding river), a UNESCO world heritage site. The houses there are still of the same architechure as the olden days. What's most stunning about the place is it is still a normal residential place where people stayed in.


We managed to try out some traditional games there (enjoyed the jumping see-saw the most) and shop around for local handicrafts items. I gotten the Korean mask as a gift for my sis. Made a wish at this village too. I hope it will come true. We'll see in the very near future.


We headed off to Busan to check in the hostel at night. The Aprina Youth Hostel turned out looking more like a hotel then a hostel. Very spacious, clean and comfortable. The only bad thing it is too far away from the city. Since we cannot go out, all of us went to bed early.



Shot of Day One. I luv this pic that we found at the hallway of UNICEF exhibition. To me it symbolise how the world can support the happy children.

The Addiction

We went to the gym pretty early yesterday. Round 7am. And guess what? Nobody was there. Almost nobody. Being the one and only me, I took some snapshots around the locker rooms and workout area. Hehe. I am so gonna miss all these when I go back. And I will lose a workout buddy too. Sigh.

Btw, I found a new accesory, it is called towel. Haha.

The Coolest Cooks Ever

Went for the super famous Korean teather. Its called NANTA. Basically it is about cookin'. You must be askin how cookin can be cool? Haha. No its not the delicious food. It is the marvellous music they made with those cookin' utensils. So coordinated, creative and powerful. I was super impressed.

The tricks done with the kitchen untensils are just unbelievable. This people are super good drummers. They did the 1.5 hours show without intermission. Crazy. Haha. Wonder where they get all those energy. I pretty much enjoyed the interactive show they have here. This show helped to alleviate the steroetype that Asian teather are inferior to western teather. Cheers to NANTA. This is a must watch show if you ever come to Seoul.

Here is the pic we took with the casts.

The Traditional Drums

Salmunori. A traditional instrument or rather i call them ochestra of Korea. Wahaha. Learn to play it today. They do not have enought intrument so I had to share it with Daniel. Its so tiring to continously hit the drums. Mind you, it is harder to coordiate when sharing an instrument. But we made it anyway. Haha. Good job to the Wayl n Daniel Partnership.

The Random Things

Went for a little shoppin today. Kinda regreted. I am almost bankrupt now. Argh. Waiting for money to come in. All I have not is just 20 USD and credit card. Yes. I am this broke. Anyone wanna contirbute to the 'Save Wayl Foundation'?

Gotten myself a haircut today. Hehe. Thanks to KJ for bringin me there.

Some random shots just for fun. This is what happened at the waffle store yesterday.

While waiting for food to arrive.

They got our order wrong. Sob.

Blaming each other for ordering the wrong food.

Finally the right one arrived. Happy ending. Wahaha.