Six days in South Korea

Note to fellow travelers: Beijing airport freaking sucks. I was delayed more than an hour both times I flew through there. Avoid it if possible.

Anyways it’s amazing how this s alliteration thing is working out for me hahahahha.

Korea was great! I did so much; let’s see if I can remember everything.

Stuff in general: it was great to walk around and see the celebrities that I know from music and TV! I took some pictures of adds b/c I was like “I know that guy! Oh and I him too! And her! I know her!” I blew a lot of Edwin’s Korean friends away with my knowledge of Kpop (and Kdrama) I also got me some boy band paraphernalia! (about $15 worth)

And also I have found out that I now say we when I refer to Singapore…. I think it’s similar to how I call where ever I’m going to sleep home. Anyway Edwin called me on every time, so I will try to kick the habit before I hit Africa (holy crap that’s in a week!!!!!)

Anyways on Tuesday I arrived and took the bus out to DongTan (Edwin’s town). The bus ride reminded me a lot of the Japan. The country is similarly wooded and green with rice patties popping up out of nowhere. If there had been more hills I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between the 2 countries. I was taken back to Edwin’s apartment, where I rested up until he got of work. He called me on his way back home and asked me if I wanted Korean bbq. My response was possibly over excited. And filled with excited cussing. Needless to say my diet in Korea consisted of over 70% meat. I enjoyed every minute of it!!!!!! (actually not true I had one yucky meal at the Palace)

After we hung out and walked around one Korea’s many, many lovely parks. I mean really it’s called the Republic of Samsung (b/c Samsung is everywhere and owns everything) but I think land of a-pretty-park-around-every-corner is more fitting. One park had synthetic frog chirping though and that spooks us a bit (as in we thought it was creepy that it was fake).

On Wednesday I woke up really late (12!) sat on the computer for like 10 min before I was collected for lunch at the nearby mall, Metapolis. I spent a few hours in a Holly’s (super cute coffee store chain) while Edwin went back to work. When he got off in the evening we shipped off to Seoul. We meet up with his girlfriend Yaewon for dinner in MyongDong(sp???) Anyway MyongDong was a super cool shopping area where all the tourists come. There where boy band carts. You can boyband anything out there. The thing that surprised me the most were the boy band socks. SOCKS!!!! Anyway I bought some posters as I mentioned before. Not that anybody who reads this (my future myself included probably) I got some TVXQ!/DBSK/tohoshinki posters, a TVXQ! Hoe min poster, a JYJ poster, a SHINee poster, and a bunch of super junior ones(Edwin bought these for me). I was really excited that Super Juniors new music video came out while I was there. Youtube’s homepage was all kpop it was GREAT!

On Thursday Edwin and I went out to this fort and trekked about taking pictures and exploring. It was really cool! There was a mountain (a really small one) in the back and we climbed all the way up. The view was great. There was also this massive Buddha and that was Super cool! We didn’t bring anything to drink so we had to leave and get drinks then come back again. By the time we got drinks I was so thirsty that I downed an Aquarius all at once. We cleaned out that stores stock of Aquarius, b/c like everyone I have introduced the drink to Edwin got hooked.

For lunch we had the best damn pork I have ever had outside a shao long bao!!! It was sooo good!

Friday was my big day of solo exploring! Edwin was very accommodating and responded to my anxiousness at going around by drawing me many maps, and writing detailed instruction for how to get places. Very nice of him! So off I went via bus and subway to Gyeongbokgung Palace. I spent most of the day there taking pictures of everything (especially doors), there was also a museum that was free so I went to that after the palace. My favorite things were as follows:

 1) the lotus pond

2) all the really pretty doors

3)the old stamps and seals

Anyway lunch at the café there was ucky! Getting back from the palace was the hardest part of the day. First off it took over 45min to catch the bus back. It was rush hour, raining and I was left by THREE buses.  I almost took a taxi out of sheer frustration. Finally Yaewon (Edwin’s girlfriend) came and gave me some coaching, and then I knocked out a few Koreans and got on the damn bus. I also got a little lost on the way back from the bus, but I made it back in one piece and that’s all that matters!

Saturday: Edwin and I went to this other area of town for a tasty tasty breakfast of pancakes eggs, and hash browns! So good! Then we hit up the indoor (well half indoor) amusement park Lotte World. In many ways it was a BLATANT rip off of Disneyland, and nowhere near as good (but still fun). I think my favorite ride there, Atlantis, might actually be a ride from Seaworld…. Well actually my favorite ride was probably the GyroDrop. It was high, I mean HIGH! The drop didn’t really scare me except right when we first got let go, but the anticipation did hamper my enjoyment of the view the first time around. Also, when the ride falls you get hit with this huge wind while you’re in line, and it felt really nice. Dinner was more Korean BBQ, and a short hangout in MyonDong for some more boy-band paraphernalia.

Sunday we had breakfast, and picked up some FREAKING DELICOUS kimbap (oooo how I want more….). Then I got on a bus to the airport and left. I had so much!

Seeing Double!

This cleverly named blog post is so called b/c I went back to see some of my favorite places in Singapore… with the twins! As I discovered in Thailand the twins are just so much fun to run around with. Aaand they got a lot super well with Claire (who is officially the nicest person I could have ever hoped to be in a foreign country with). The four of us stayed at Claire’s apartment which was empty of all its usual inhabitants but her. We talked deep into the night (too deep, I’m breaking out from lack of sleep ug!), and enjoyed each other’s company. The four of us jokingly planed to invade Europe next summer so we could bounce around and visit each other. I’m thinking an internship in either Germany or Italy (Italy preferred), and they all want France (they all speak some French). Claire is also taking a suitcase full of things home for me with her and mailing it to my family for me. Isn’t she just the best?!

Anyway I made these awesome jam packed plans for us…. which of course we didn’t stick too hahahahha. Anyway what did happen is as follows:

Friday:

<Random funny stories of the day: Nick came back from Hong Kong and brought me some kind of sweet his wife likes as a souvenir. I’m glad he walked away right after because I was about to make a total fool of myself. I had a hard time opening the package and when I succeeded-POOF! I also succeeded in spraying myself with some kind of nut powder (the sweet was a nut powder cake thing) literally covered myself in powder. Like it was in my eyes up my nose all down my front and in my lap, I was coated with the stuff! I went to a trash can and dusted myself off. The sweet wasn’t very good anyway so I made a return trip and deposited the rest of it shortly thereafter. >

 It was Fufu’s last day at GIS and his goodbye party in the evening. I went to the party but just for about a half an hour then had to jet so I could pick up the twins. I almost met Nick’s wife!! I wish I could have got to know her, she seemed cool! Anyway… So off I went to get the twins. They found me at the airport instead of me finding them and we got in cab and went back to Claire’s hood. We got dinner at the hawker center near Claire’s place and Charlotte began what was an epic meal string bona fide “Charlotte food”. She started with a combo of 2 of her favorite things: duck and porridge. We actually went back and had almost the exact same things tonight for dinner before coming to the airport (I am 6 hrs early for my flight but w/e). Anyway she was totally pumped about every meal. After that we went back to the apartment. Where Claire and I had a very intense conversation ranging many topics while the twins watched on and added a few words in here or there. We actually went into some rather personal things in both Claire and my lives (grammar Nazis out there: what is the proper way to say that?). Afterwards and during we where both a little worried that the twins would be like “whoa these chicks are nuts!” and not like us anymore. But they were fascinated and told us the enjoyed listening and asking questions a good deal.

Saturday:

The next we woke up pretty early and headed out for dim sum. Claire had got absorbed in some work and did end up going till bed until 7am (crazy girl), consequentially she did not join us for dim sum. We went to Yum Cha and CHOWED DOWN! Ooooh it was sooo good. They we wandered the streets of China town, the twins bought some things (so did I hahaha). We took lots of pictures, then kinda hurriedly mosied on out. We were supposed to go to the islands that day. We didn’t go… at all even though we planned to go today too. Yeah the ferry’s schedule on Saturday is different than the one on Sunday(which was when I went last time). So we wound up meeting Claire and exploring Little India instead. That was nice because I hadn’t been yet. everyone but me got some henna done. We had some lovely desserts and Chai before heading back to Raffles to give the twins a taste of Singapore at Lau Pa Sat (famous hawker center).  We went for a lovely walk on the Marina/Merlion Park went home and crashed. It was fun for me to watch them (the twins) react to Singapore. It helped me realize I’ve gotten very fond of this fine* city. For them after roughing it in the much less well developed Chiang Mai even dirty bathrooms in Singapore were better than the nice ones in Chiang by virtue of the fact that they flushed. Charlotte had some bug bites that refused to heal in Chiang Mai. But once she got here gone! More healing in the space of days than they had had in the space of months!

 

Sunday:

We started the day early and went to City hall for a little shopping and some Kaya toast from Ya Kun. The shopping was sort on an improvised means to try to wait out the rain. As we got to the mrt to head out all the classic signs of impending doom down poor where present. I was hoping it would rain itself out while we ate but the sky was a little too full for that. Anyway the twins and I gorged ourselves on toast and half cooked eggs. We puttered around until the rain lessened up then took a taxi to the zoo. It was till raining a little when we got there but we bought ponchos (I had my umbrella but it’s just not the best cover). The zoo was just as great as before, even better a bit because it was less crowded and cooler for the rain. We saw parts of the zoo that I had missed last time. My favorite part this time was a fragile rain forest exhibits thing were mouse deer roamed free(I got with in less than a foot of one when it decided to come check me out) and more flying foxes(the really big fruit bats). It was really fun but we started to lose energy at the end. We left the zoo grabbed a cab and met Claire in China town at our favorite noodle place. It was sooo goood (as it always is). After sharing 2 orders shao long bao, 2 orders of fried tofu, and a bowl of noodles Olivia was still hungry so she grabbed a bao on the way out of China town. We all also got some ice-cream which was delicious!

The three of us took a taxi back to the night safari while Claire did some last minute shopping in China town. We saw more of thee night safari than I did last time we where there and I still haven’t seen all of it! I did get to go on the whole tram ride this time. A man asked Charlotte if she was a swimmer and the twins both got depressed. Olivia b/c no one ever asks her if she’s a swimmer and Charlotte because everyone asks her because she’s so buff. I just laughed it up.

We went back to the apartment afterwards and I guestimated at cookie dough again. This time was the best of all the times I have made it here (3^rd time’s the charm ahahha). We only had enough dough left to cook one tray of cookies (which Charlotte wiped out almost single handedly the next day). We talked and all went to bed. Claire left for work before any of us were coherent (we slept again for 2 hours after she left). Then we puttered around. I made a breakfast of eggs and toast, lots of toast (note: Charlotte actually made the toast). We went out to the botanical gardens, which hadn’t been part of the original plan. I wasn’t sure if the twins would like it but they loved it so that was a win. We went back to my place so I could shower pack for Korea and out together the suitcase that Claire is taking back for me. I needed the shower! We all stank after the gardens because it was sooo hot out. Then we went back to Claire’s where the twins showered and we killed a little time before getting dinner and heading to the airport.

We went our separate ways since my air line wasn’t open for checking and there flight was 4 hours earlier than mine (I saved $10 by just coming here early with them instead of waiting at home).

Now it’s time for Korea!

Well it’ll be time to get on a plane for Korea in….. a little over 3 hours, that is.

*this is a famous pun here in Singapore since you can be fined for almost anything here. 

Sunnday hiking with Collin

 Mini update!

Went hiking with Collin on Sunday and we had a lot of fun. We missed our stop and rode the bus past our stop. And thus the weekend of being lost on public transit continued. We eventually got to MacRitche reverse about an hour or so later. We had a fun chatted while hiking (it was a super easy hike). We saw monkeys, heard insects, and wondered at giant leaves.

I wish I had more time to get to know Collin. I feel like we have good chemistry. I also wish I knew things about flirting so I could know for sure if he’s flirting with me or if that’s just the way he is… well whatever no real time to find out anyway. Guess the proverb for this would be don’t count you chickens before the hatch. But in this case it’s really a don’t count your chickens they won’t have time to hatch. Lol he’s still a fun guy to hang with (and maybe try to fumble through flirting with).