Yeah I actually rotated the first image. It was upside-down lol but I rotated it as it looks nicer in that way. Anyway, the moon was beautiful tonight. Too bad I missed the bloody moon as haze was covering the moon. Must put "seeing full eclipse" in my to-do list!
Spent 4 days (from 29th of July till 1st of August) in Bangkok, Thailand. Despite being stuck in traffic jam most of the time, I learned that typically, Siamese is much better compared to Malaysians in several aspects. Even if they're caught in traffic jam, they hardly honked. In fact, they would give way to any vehicles that went out from any junctions without honking or trying to stop them from going out of it. I actually felt guilty as well, as I've always try to not give ways to other cars which were about to go out from a junction and be like, "I need to go there first." Childish, I know. But that's what most Malaysians are like. Childish, impatient. We kept on saying bad things about Siamese, calling them rude and all, but I remembered a saying that goes, "You point a finger and say bad things to other people, but the remaining 4 fingers were pointing to yourself," which could be translated as, you can say bad things to other people, but you'll be 4 times worse than the people you trash-talked to. Anyway, this is the beauty of travelling. You get to observe what kind of people they are, how they grow, how they live. I'd love to spend my life being a solo traveler, but sad thing I'm out of cash to do so. I really hope there'll be good people with so much money that they don't know how to spend them anymore to spend 1/10 of it to me so I can travel and learn more of foreign cultures... #pleasecometrue Anyway, here's some pictures which were taken when I was in Bangkok! Not gonna post all of them because I'm a lazy bum.
Hello. Long time no see. I'm back with another concern because I'm a noob in love.
So, I have this guy friend, whom I treat like my own older brother (he's 1 year older than me). We had the funniest twist to our lives - happened that he's actually a student of my school but moved out to another school on the year I enrolled. We knew each other from... Facebook...? And I happened to how his friends too. All in all, we're close to each other - we used to text all day but after he left for university, we both got busy and rarely kept in touch. But, we do fight to be the first one to wish each other's birthday up until this date. He called me sis, I called him bro.
Lately, he's been throwing the "I love you" whenever we held conversations. And he'll be sulking if I didn't reply to his "confessions". Look, I do not know if it's normal because he never threw the words to me throughout the 6 years of knowing each other. Yes, it's been 6 years. And he began to say the words lately, and as a confused early adult who believes she had failed in all of her relationships, began to think it's a subtle hint from him. I chose not to care, but I begun to think about it even more. (side note: Why the heck he started to say those words?!) And sad to say, I kind of like it. I liked the feeling of being loved. Who doesn't? Love makes you a better man. Wrong love makes you worse than before. You see, we don't really contact each other after being in university. Both of us were getting busy, our schedules were hectic, there's no time to text all day like we used to.
Starting last day of puasa, which was 2 days ago, we started to be like we used to be. We chatted, texted, and I, unknowingly smiled to see his name lighted up on my phone. "Just brothers," I thought. Oh, I'm more comfortable to be a bro than a sis to my guy friends so it's too common to my ears to hear them calling me "My bro" so... Yeah. Yesterday, though it was 1st day of raya, we texted all day long. From morning till 2am in the morning. Only gap was us, falling asleep coincidentally on the same time. What kind of madness is this, though? This is definitely not love... I guess so? I don't think he sees me as a girl. He's way too comfortable with me to talk about every single thing, like every thing. One thing I learnt from movies, dramas, novels, and past relationships is, no guy wants to be with the girl who knows everything about him. So I'm totally out from the list...?
I don't know. I don't know anything. I have no courage to ask him - I treasure our friendship; or as what he calls it - virtual relationship. I love him, I do. I loved him since 2009, but as a sister. Nothing more nothing less. But this love is getting to another level. I need to throw all this mothafcking feelings away. I'm not comfortable, I'm sure he's not comfortable as well if he ever reads/knows about this. I hope he stops saying 'I love you' to me - it gave me hope, but at the same time I want him to keep on saying that - I love being loved by others. The heck is wrong with me? I thought my last relationship has proved to me that I'm not ready to fall in love... I thought I'm going to live by fangirling over Korean men for another few years... Was the "confessions" he said a subtle hint? Or was he saying he loves me as a brother? I am confused. Heck. Being a girl is tiring :(
Assalamualaikum.
It's the final day for us to stroll around in Seoul before going back to Malaysia. Since we barely had any energy left due to excessive walking for few days straight, we decided to go to visit the famous universities nearby. I basically chose the hostel to be in Sinchon/Hongdae area as it's packed with youngsters, and I really want to observe their fashion sense and all.
Before going out, we made breakfast. It was the only day I had complete meal for breakfast. I cooked maggi while Ina made half-boiled eggs for us. We met the remaining 6 persons who supposed to join our trip but we sat at different tables and barely had interaction besides saying hi and asking short questions.
The first university we went to visit was the nearest one to our hostel, which is Ewha Women's University. To speak the truth, the structure and surrounding were outstanding! And there are lots of shops and eateries just after exiting the main gate. Lucky Korean universities' students for having such good place to study at!
We didn't actually visit the whole area, we just took pictures at the place near to the main gate and then set foot to the second university, which is Hongik University (Hongdae). I don't know we entered through which gate but we saw buildings of art faculty right after going up the hill. But the view wasn't really nice, or maybe we didn't get to see the nice parts of Hongik University.
There was this handsome oppa (I think he's an oppa, hahaha) leaning at this signboard opposite Hongik's gate and I've been curious and always want to see his face. He wore face mask so I basically saw his eyes, but he totally caught my attention. To that oppa, 연락해주세요! Hahahaha. We then stopped at Paris Baguette for brunch (lol yeah brunch.... it was me who feels hungry and wanted something to drink hahaha) and wow, I must say Paris Baguette has the best coffee among other cafes I tried in Korea.
We then head to Yonsei University, and it took a really long walk from the main gate to the main building. The buildings along the road were under construction, and I saw those controversial notices put on by students protesting about something which I don't really read about it properly. Imanina's foot was killing her and I really felt sorry for her, but what to do, we're in a trip and I don't really want to waste our day by only being in our room.
It felt like dreams come true to finally able to step in universities that I wanted to enrol in. The views were nice, the buildings are pretty, and everything just... I don't know. They caught my eyes, every single one of them. And then began the endless comparing of how Malaysian universities looked like haha. Or maybe it's only UiTM that looked typically ugly :/
We then went to Myeongdong, again, to meet Kak Shiema. It was really cold that night, so I bought gyeran ppang (egg bread) from nearest stall but it wasn't enough so I bought ddeokbokki (spicy rice cake). The sauce was really red, and it basically left red marks on my hands. Needed to wash hands for few times with soap to get rid of the red colour. We walked around Myeongdong with Kak Shiema and entered Nature Republic, where EXO is the face for the shop. And guess what?
I didn't get to take pictures with the real Tao, so yeah this is alright. |
...yeah. The section was closed but we didn't know about that so we kept on taking pictures with them before the promoter basically asked us to leave the section haha we immediately exited the shop. All of us then head back and part ways with Kak Shiema. It's time to take our belongings from the hostel and head to airport. The long journey was tiring and I was completely out of energy. We decided to sleep at the airport since our flight was on 9:35AM and we need to check in and everything by 6.20AM. Worrying that we might not make it there if we're still at the hostel, we checked out earlier and stayed at the airport for 7 hours or so? I forgot haha.
And... that's all for our journey in Korea :) Not really told in details, and not really as interesting as what you thought it might be. Still, it's a memory to be cherished forever :)
It's finally day 4 of our trip to Korea, and I don't know if it's because of we slept really late the night before (maybe because of too much caffeine intake once we arrived Korea) and being extremely tired of walking, we were up almost noon. Lol talk about girls should wake up early :P
The plan for day 4 was to visit the areas near Anguk station, Bukchon Hanok Village and Changdeokgung Palace. We set journey to Bukchon Hanok Village without having proper brunch and, like always, we got lost and just walk wherever our feet brought us to. And bam, we found it. Turned out we're at the lane number 9 or something like that, but for sure, we're not at the main entrance and didn't pay for the entrance fees. *Oops, that's our dirty little secret!*
Beautiful lane but urgh people |
We were really hungry after going up the hill and looking at the houses there, so we thought of finding any place to dine in. Naturally, we cancelled our plan to Changdeokgung Palace because of hunger. We were lost after exiting Bukchon Hanok Village since we exited at the other side of it and not the first road we used to go there. We asked for directions to go to the subway station. We hesitated quite lots of times as it didn't seem like we're nearing it but yeay, we managed to find it with the help of ridiculously-not-helpful map of Seoul given by the information girl.
We alighted at Jongno 3-ga station, and thought of going to this spicy baby octopus restaurant but because of the confusing map, we ended up searching for any restaurant nearby in hopes there are menus that we can eat. We walked in this small alley and there were few restaurants there. I thought of dining in this one restaurant but I think it was Imanina who pointed there's this restaurant selling soondubu jjigae and all. The menu displayed outside seemed like it's a seafood restaurant so we stepped in happily with no doubt.
But then... getting the real menu, I began to quiver. Porks. Porks. Porks. I then looked at the soondubu jjigae- alhamdulillah, seafood soondubu jjigae. The ahjumma came to take order and I've been repeating like I don't know how many times to not put any kinds of meat in it and she assured that the jjigae is prepared with vegetable stock. One thing I like about Korean restaurants is, they prepared a jug/bottle of cold water on the table so we can drink as soon as we arrived. (Malaysia, bila nak buat mcm ni? Jimat sikit tak payah bazir duit utk order air)
One thing I must say is, THAT HAEMUL SOONDUBU JJIGAE TASTES SO GOOD LUCKY US WE ORDERED 2 SERVINGS OF IT LIKE SERIOUSLY IT TASTES REAL GOOD WE WERE DRINKING THE SOUP TILL WHAT'S LEFT IS THE BOWL ITSELF. ((due to excessive hunger, we didn't take any pictures of the meal hahahaha))
Since there's time left, we decided to go Han River on Yeouido side. KBS and MBC are nearby but we got lost while trying to find MBC and since it's getting dark, we cancelled the plan to visit the buildings.
Panorama view of Han River |
It was really cold; my fingers turned blue and gloves aren't much a help |
After getting lost while trying to find MBC, we went back to the subway station and decided to go to Hongdae, just to get the youth feel. It's natural to feel hungry even though you just ate few hours ago because of the cold weather. We stopped at Etude House as I need to buy some stuffs for my friends before we searched for any decent cafe to dine in. Since Imanina wanted to go to Zoo Coffee, and there's one nearby, we made way to it. The interior is actually beautiful and elegant, but it was packed with customers and some people had to go out to find other cafe to dine.
My really tawar vanilla latte with very masam cheese cake |
To be honest, the coffee isn't nice, the food is quite nice, depending on what kind of food you ordered. The cheesecake is a meh but Fatihah's berry waffle is delicious! I wanted honey berry bread after seeing the couple next to us ordered it and it was really huge, not like the ordinary slice of bread you eat for breakfast. Too bad, many of their delicious range of foods were sold out so we got to order the not mainstream ones haha. We sat at the bar facing the window so we can see the outside clearly and all we saw was couples everywhere.
Basically, if you're single, you might feel uneasy and want to have a boyfriend/girlfriend as soon as possible because of the couples. Some showed PDA a bit too much, some were like innocent-kind of couples, and other kinds of couples you can imagine were there. After our modest dinner, we went back to our hostel. Since it's still early, Imanina and I decided to stroll around since we noticed there's many stalls selling good stuffs there.
Assalamualaikum,
It was raining most of the time; the most unsuitable day to go to Namsan Tower but we proceeded, hoping that the rain will stop when we arrived there. Guess we were wrong, but we still braved ourselves and went through the freezing winter cold to Myeongdong station. Upon exiting, we noticed the free shuttle bus to N Seoul Tower's cable car and we thought, "Why not?" Majority were Korean in the bus anyway, so it doesn't really give us the 'we-are-on-a-trip' feel.
N Seoul Tower. It was raining. We have no umbrellas. We are brave... and healthy. |
I didn't take pictures of us in the cable car because the glass at my side were foggy, no use of taking pictures as we couldn't really see the beautiful scenery outside. We didn't get to enter the observatory because of the weather, teddy bear museum was closed, and all left was the pad locks thingy. We entered a cafe since I wanted to try churros (yummy I want more!) while Imanina went to find her padlocks. The rain poured heavier while we were in the cafe and it stopped for a few while before it rained again.
Christmas tree of padlocks. |
Too bad couldn't take pictures while sitting at the chair since it was wet. |
Look how foggy it was. Not to mention we were freezing cold. |
More padlocks. |
We spent some time to take pictures and put our padlocks there before we went back to the cable car station. We stopped at the odeng and twisted fried potato stall where EXO visited in EXO Showtime. I bought odeng while Imanina bought the twisted fried potato. Ohh the heat from odeng's soup managed to warm up my frozen fingers. It was delicious too.
We took the same bus to go back to the subway station and it's time to search for proper meal! We hardly eat rice on day 2, so it's time to consume carbs again. We made way to go to Heuksando (흑산도), a seafood restaurant. Turned out it is located right next to the noraebang we went on first day! Haha such coincidence. We ordered mackerel stew (고등어 조림) and wow, the soup does taste like asam pedas! We ordered seafood pajeon too.
Side dishes/banchan at Imanina's side. No pictures of main menu haha |
We then went to Dongdaemun and Namdaemun. Guess what? Yep, shopping time. We were like curious explorers, we didn't really follow the exact directions given. We explore by ourselves, which explains why I hardly give direction to go to certain places. While at Dongdaemun, we found Cheonggyecheon Stream by accident so, photo time.
I love this stepping stones hehe |
We're not at the beginning of the stream so it explains the ugly and plain impression. I managed to buy a pair of boots that I've been talking about for days and finally bought one, hehe. Original price was 29,000 won, so I asked for 20,000 won. I won the bargain, but was cheated as the ahjumma gave me the pair of shoes 1 size smaller than mine. How dare you! Luckily it fits, just not comfortable enough for me to wear it in a long period.
I don't know how to take pictures of shoes so excuse me |
Namdaemun really is a place to shop. Just need to find good places with cheap prices. I bought t-shirts for my brothers at this shop and they were more expensive than other shops that sell t-shirt but I tell you why: the material is super comfortable. I bought a t-shirt from regular stall that sells common designs and three t-shirt from the expensive shop. My brother loved the expensive one as it's comfier compared to the other one. For me, it's okay to spend a little more for quality as long as it's not a burden to you.
We bought mostly souvenirs for our friends and family there and yep, our hands were full of plastic bags. Since we were so tired because of the non-stop walking on day 2, we went back to our hostel quite early and spent our times by watching tv and chit-chatting.
*entry for day 4 and 5 will be updated soon!
Assalamualaikum,
We planned to go to Lotte World and was supposed to go out around 8AM or 9AM but since we were all tired and worn off, we went out a bit late and took the subway to Lotte World. The ride from Ewha Women's University station to Jamsil took about 35 minutes and so all of us almost dozed off in that sort of long ride.
We bought the ticket using the ticketing machine and a friendly ahjussi helped us navigating the machine even though we chose the English option. It was confusing at first but you'll get the hang of it in time. We purchased the day ticket, worth 44,000 won.
The ticket. So cute. |
The Adventure side, which is located indoor |
Another view. It was spacious and I was lazy to take pictures |
Magic Island, a.k.a the outdoor attractions located here. |
Sadly, we only managed to ride few attractions as Lotte World was packed with people, couples, family... Did we come to Korea at the wrong time? :( We went to Korean Folk Museum as we thought it'd be a waste to line up for the rides, which, well, it'd be better we actually lined up for them. Oh well.
Notice the typo they had on the sign? Yeah. "Fork" Museum hahahaha |
Before we decided to leave, we stopped at Lotteria and had our late lunch there. I ordered squid burger (오징어버거) while Fatihah and Imanina both ordered prawn burger (새우버거). The cashier warned me that my burger is spicy and I said it's okay, since I really love spicy foods haha. It was really delicious compared to the plain prawn burger. Well, at least mine got this hot sensation going on hehe.
I actually miss this burger :( |
We then decided to walk around in Apgujeong and Cheongdamdong and so, it's time to search for the Kpop companies' buildings! The first building we searched for was SM Entertainment. Sadly, the directions given on blogs we found were not even close to the building we're trying to find. And we actually walked for I don't know how many kilometres but we sure walked a lot to find the building. We also met new friends from Indonesia who were trying to find the buildings as well. We succeeded to find the SM Global Artist Training Centre (noticeable with huge poster of SM artists that promoted at the time being) which is located next to Galleria Department Store. We found that but not the actual SM Entertainment building, and so, we continued to walk towards Galleria. And guess what happened?
I saw EXO's Tao, right in front of my eyes! At first I was like "Gosh, that is Tao, right?" and Imanina was like "Yeah that is him!" I was freaked out and we were nearing him, I took this opportunity to ask "타오씨 맞죠?" (You're Tao, right?) and he answered with a simple "Yes" and walked away. Then I felt like it's such a waste to not take pictures with him so I ran back (we were heading to opposite directions) and asked, "우린 같이 사진 찍으면 될까요?" (Can we take pictures together?) He was alone with no managers at the time, and I was hoping that he would agree to take pictures but maybe he's following his company's rule, he said "사진 찍는거 안돼요" (You can't take pictures) so I nodded and he continued walking. I thought of taking his pictures secretly but thinking it'd spread quickly and maybe people will follow him, I decided to let it slip. Pity idols who wanted to rest, let them have their time :)
The road where I bumped into Tao by accident. |
We almost gave up since we saw nothing like the entertainment companies' buildings in our sight so one of our Indonesian friend turned around and took the road Tao took before. She said this is the right road to go to SM Entertainment so we followed the road all the way till its end. It was a hill, but luckily we're going down the hill most of the times. You will see a park at the end of the road, and all we need to do is to turn right. There were misdirection occurred and we met FNC Entertainment's building first. We noticed it since there were many people gathered at a place.
FNC Entertainment building. I like its architecture the best |
After multiple times of trying to connect to Wifi (sadly, there's no such thing as free wifi available throughout the country hahaha I bought KT Prepaid Card for OllehWifi, costs 9,900 won for 4 days) we managed to find a way to go to SM Entertainment from FNC. We were lost again, but then, after multiple times going back and forth at the same street, we found it. We found the gem. The company that made us walked from 5.25pm till 6.05pm. The SM Building located right after Yonsei Villa apartment's building. We saw 2 girls went out and entered the "idol van" and the way they covered themselves seemed like they already debuted. Can't say from which group but guessing from body size, I think they'd be from SNSD. We also saw EXO's Baekhyun, Lay, and Chen in the transparent elevator going up and down the building.
Few members of SM Rookies just walked out that door by the time I took this picture |
Direction to SM Entertainment building: Take the subway to Apgujeong Rodeo Street Station (Bundang Line) and go to exit 2. It is wayyyyy closer than stopping at Apgujeong Station. Trust me, I've experienced the pain of walking in Korea. Walk straight till you see the SM Global Artist Training Centre (easy to notice because of extra huge banner of SM artists) and turn left. You'll see a hill and you need to hike up a bit before you go down the hill. On your left side should be a school, your right side too. Just go down the road and you will find a park opposite the street. Turn right and follow the road. Walk straight till you notice 연세빌라 written on a building on your right. If you see it, just continue walking straight and you will find SM Entertainment building on your right
Your feet will hurt, trust me, but this is the easiest way that we found |
We then proceed to JYP Entertainment but we found Cube Entertainment first, so time to stop at Cube Cafe and Studio for a break.
We saw this from afar and new we're at the right path. That is CUBE logo btw |
The coffee tastes nice and it feels weird to see Rain in Cube Entertainment... |
The building up close. I have no idea how to take pictures of this building so yeah |
We decided to not waste time by only taking pictures of the buildings and went back to hostel. We wasted lots of time at SM Entertainment, particularly because there were idols going in and out of the building. We continued walking to JYP Entertainment since it is located diagonally opposite to Cube Entertainment. Easy to notice too because of the sign and all.
Only here to take pictures and we off to search for subway entrance haha |
And this is where we wasted our time walking to search for nearest subway entrance. We walked so much and I was really tired of walking but since it was cold, better for us to be in any subway station rather than being outside for a long time. We found it, luckily and so, off to Hapjeong we go. Time to visit the last entertainment building, which is, YG Entertainment.
Direction to YG Entertainment: Take subway to Hapjeong Station (line 2), exit 8. You will see SK Petrol Pump upon exiting, continue walking till the end of the street where you see a junction. On your right supposedly situated another SK Petrol Pump and Namkyung Hotel (they were under construction when we were there) and you should see an island of shops in front of you (called it an island because it's isolated lol). Turn right and continue walking. Take note on small alley on your left side and find "Prouod" sign. You shall see YG Building if you noticed the sign. Cross the road and walk towards the sign.
It was dark, really. And so little people waiting outside the building. |
We walked back to the subway station and head back to our hostel. Rest time. The highlight of the second day of my trip is, meeting/seeing idols hehe. Got to talk to Tao is so precious, I was a bit disappointed with myself since I promised to record my whole journey each day but didn't do so.
*see you on next update!