Spring Sonata

We visited Nami Island and Chuncheon during a weekend trip and had great fun. The places were the filming sites for the korean drama Winter Sonata. Bay (our taiwanese friend) was the tour guide for the day and others include the usual Singaporeans, Mansy, Michael, Nam and Kai from Holland.

The journey to Nami Island was quite tedious actually as we had to take the subway, train, taxi and then ferry to reach it. But the journey was worthwhile as we got to see the nice scenery around the island. Some of the memorable scenes from the drama are above... Do you remember them?

Our last stop was a meal at Chuncheon where we ate the famous takgalbi (bbq chicken) and did some sightseeing at Chuncheon's Myeondong ( there's another one here in Seoul). Takgalbi is the specialty food in Chuncheon and there is a street called takgalbi street where the whole street is lined with takgalbi restaurants.

And lastly, thank you Bay for being our guide and Engteck for the photography! =)

Weekend trip to Gyeongju

I went to a weekend trip with rouxin, flora, shaoqin and bryan (from hongkong) to Gyeongju, in Southeastern Korea. Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla Kingdom for 1000 years and has a great concentration of historical buildings, temples and artifacts. It was 4 hours bus ride away from Seoul.

We visited many cultural places, such as the Tumuli Park, Gyeongju National Museum, Underwater Tomb of King Munmu, Three Storey Pagoda at Mujangsaji Temple Site and a few others.

Here's a picture of a royal tomb and standing on top.

And some other pictures from the trip as well...

Outings with KU friends

I've been hanging out with Singaporean friends from Korea University, Gillian, Onwah and EngTeck, and here's some pictures of our activities. Really enjoyed their company and glad that we know each other here~

First up was visit to their school. Their school is so pretty, looks like castles and there were green pastures around. The cherry blossoms were really pretty as well. As the weather was great, people just sat on the grass and had picnics. Dont think people will do this back in Singaporea as the weather is too hot.

Next was chilling at a cafe called "The Palace" at Hongik University area, which is a famous place for its pubs, cafes and clubs. True to its name, the cafe was grand and ambience was good. A perfect place for quiet gatherings for friends to chill. We ordered a pot of tea each (rx ordered a cocktail) and our orders came with complementary bisuits and ice-cream to go with our drinks. The service was good as well, we had an enjoyable time there.

(Credits to Gillian for the photos)

Seodaemun Prison History Hall and Independence Park

We visited two places that were really near our school on a Sunday and the first is the Seodaemun Prison History Hall which is a living education site for the part of Korean History when Korea was occupied by Japan. The site was originally a real prison used to house political prisoners and is now a museum.

Some disturbing pictures exhibited in the prison...

In front of the prison museum is the Seodaemun Independence Park, which was a site where Korea used to receive Chinese envoys in the olden days. The building inside was later torn down and a granite structure called Independence gate was built in place to symbolize freedom. As the weather was great on that day, we happily took many pictures there. Credits to rx for the photography and editing of photos! =)

I saw Minwoo~

We went to the opening ceremony of Hi Seoul Festival 2007 last friday and saw Minwoo from Shinhwa! So happy to see him... and I was at the front row (there was still a distance from the stage actually but still he was clearly visible from my view). Mr Eng Teck kindly helped me take pictures of him with his pro camera at the front row. Thanks to rx, a video of him performing 2 songs was taken as well. Presenting to you Minwoo...

Hi Seoul Festival is a 2 week long festival which showcases the culture through colourful festivals of events to encourage participation from Koreans and non-Koreans. For the opening ceremony, a pop concert was held and other singers such as Lee Sooyoung, and Soh Jiyoung performed. And at the end of the show, fireworks were also displayed. The fireworks were really pretty~



Another member of Shinhwa, Andy, will be appearing in another Hi Seoul Festival event, so stay tuned for updates! heh~ Really hope I have the chance to see all 6 members of Shinhwa during my stay in Korea...

JSA/DMZ Tour

After learning so much about the Korean war from my history lessons and the visit to the War Memorial of Korea, we finally had the chance to visit the Joint Security Area and Demilitarized Zone to experience for ourselves. We were really looking forward to the tour as we've heard so much about the place. The tour is organized by the US Army and there are many rules and regulations, for example Korean nationals (except military personnels) are prohibited from visiting; people from Mainland China, Taiwan, Macau or Hong Kong have to apply for permission to visit; photography is restricted to certain areas and there are strict dress codes imposed as well. And here are some snaps on route to Camp Bonafas.

At Camp Bonafas, our guide (a US army personnel) gave us a brief introduction of the history and places we were visiting, followed by the distribution of our UN guest tags which had to be pinned on our left collars at all times in the area. We also had to sign a declaration form indicating we would not hold them responsible should any accident happen to us.

Behind us is North Korea, which is mostly a yellow patch. We could use binoculars to look more closely and I saw houses and factories in the sparse land. There is no handphone signal and other forms of transmission of information such as radio and other signals near the area and within North Korea as the governent controls the transmission of information. And here's a viewing post of the North Korean soldiers. All our actions were closely monitored by them as well.

This is called The Bridge of No Return. After the ceasefire (Korea is technically still at war), soldiers from both sides could choose which Korea they want to go to. Once they have decided which side to go, they cannot revoke their decisions, and hence the name of the bridge was coined.

And this is the famous Panmunjeon, which is the meeting place for North and South Korea officials, and with the UN officials as well. Soldiers from both sides stand guard inside the blue buildings and photography with them is allowed. However, we are not allowed to touch/speak/gesture to them. Inside one of the pictures are our guide and our professor. Our professor's full time job is the chief negogiator for the US Army with the North Korean side and he teaches Korean War in our school as well.

We also visited Tunnel 3, which was a tunnel dug by North Korea to infiltrate into the South and was discovered subsequently. Photography was prohibited in the tunnel. And a last picture which I found interesting to end off this post. It shows the North Korean propaganda for its soldiers at the JSA. It was overall a great experience, there were so much to see and was definitely worth the visit.

The War Memorial of Korea and Namsan

I visited the War Memorial of Korea with flora and rx on a weekend out. The place is really meaningful as it displays the various records of the war and soldiers. The remains of the soldiers who devoted their lives for their country were also collected, preserved, studied and exhibited there. Among the exhibits, I liked the ones on the Korean War as the displays, simulations and explanations were comprehensive and real. I felt as if I went for a live history lesson.

And during one of the weekend nights out, we visited Namsan and took a cable car up. Namsan cable car tower is the filming site for scenes from My Name is Kim Samsoon. As there were yellowsand storms during the period, we had to wear face masks to prevent from inhaling too much yellowsand. The night scene was really blurry as the yellowsand was quite thick that day. So we decided we should revisit Namsan again in the day to take more pictures.

Cherry blossoms at Yeouido

I went to see the cherry blossoms at Hangang along Yeouido some time ago and took some pictures. The flowers are really pretty but I prefer the ones in my school as they are more colourful. Compare the two places...

And Deloitte's building is there too. Yeouido is the business district of Seoul, so there are many office buildings in the area... and so are TV stations like SBS and MBC and the famous 63 Building (filming site of some scenes from My Girl).

And walking along the streets, we saw people filming but did not know who are the actors as we've never seen them before.

And by the way, I've received a parcel of food and letter from home... Really happy to receive them~ I love bakgwa, pork floss, mee goreng and muesli bars~ Haha!