SHINE!

HELLO! so this is a response to a contest organised by Korean Air and KTO. Winners get a ticket to Korea on the 17th to 21st! \(^0^)/

Actually what are the chances right, but i'll take this as an opportunity to share the things I did in my 43 days trip to both Korea ( Seoul,Busan,Suncheon ) and Japan ( Fukuoka, Kumamoto ) from June to July. HEHE Hopefully I'll win and pay a visit to psm in Yonsei doing her exchange and do some shopping with her. t.t
Things I do for a getaway, hehe and of course go visit psm xD

In this post, i will only include certain highlights which i think it made the trip unforgettable. lol. to talk about all 43days in my trip is insane. -.-;;

HIGHLIGHTS IN JAPAN
- Chased dolphins in a boat
- Hitch-hiked twice to see a water gorge because 40km of upslope cycling is too tough
- Paid a visit to a primary school in Kumamoto and assisted in teaching english
- Watched AAA Eighth Wonder concert in Kumamoto
- Went to see an active volcano ( Mt. Aso )

HIGHLIGHTS IN KOREA
- Watched Girl's Generation Girls and Peace Seoul Concert 2013 for TWO DAYS
- Caught many idols outside Music Bank ^^
- Watched a LG Twins baseball match at Jamsil Stadium
- Hitch-hiked from Busan to Seoul
- Accepted a Korean BBQ dinner from a stranger ( ajumma ) whom we bought roasted chestnuts from
- Climbed Bonghwa Cheong Ryang Mountain ( Visted by Dad! where are we going? )
- Went to Gangchon Rail bike at Chuncheon ( Visted by Runningman Ep 144 )
- Temple-stayed at Beomeosa Temple in Busan
- Suncheon Bay Garden Expo 2013
- Went to Jimjilbang
- Ate at LeeSang's restuarant
- Dog cafe at Myeongdong
- Discovered things to do in Seoul when you're on a budget ^^

I spent two weeks in Korea, then two weeks in Japan, and then another two weeks back to Korea because from Fukuoka/Kumamto, i need to take a domestic flight to Tokyo then to Singapore. Which will be expensive i guess.

Basically i took a ferry from Busan to Fukuoka,then a bus to Kumamoto. The ferry took us 92,000 won ( kobee ) and 72,000won ( koreaferry ). though Koreaferry is more comfortable because you get a space to lie down ( actually it's a shared room and you get a personal space ) and put your luggage comfortable, but it took 5hr 30mins from Fukuoka to Busan, while if you just spend a little more, kobee took only 2hr 55 mins.

for links : KTO http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/GK/GK_EN_2_3_1.jsp
kobee : http://www.kobee.co.kr/ship/fare.aspx?mu_flag=fare
koreaferry : http://www.koreaferry.co.kr/ * click on the 3rd selection for fares on web *

as for the buses from Fukuoka to Kumamoto, basically we went to Tenjin Bus Terminal to buy the bus tickets ( 2000yen per trip ). you dont have to make special reservations so you can buy the ticket and board the bus. * unless you're travelling on special occasions then that's a different story *

If you're a frequent traveller to both korea and japan, i would recommend you to get a T-money or a Suica card respectively to save some trouble on travelling. It works like an ez-link card that we use in Singapore.

Okay, will touch on Japan first since it's only 2 weeks out of 6.

All thanks to my teacher's japanese colleaque, whom offered to bring us around Kumamoto in his car, he brought us to Amakusa in Kumamoto to watch dolphins.Felt a little apologetic because the car ride was simply too long and tiring. But nonetheless, the trip to Amakusa was amazing! When can you ever see wild dolphins at such a proximity in Singapore, right. hehe. so anyway for those who are interested, i dont have the exact address of the place i went, but i found this link which might be of help. ^^

here : http://www.seacruise.jp/english/cruise/dolphin/index.html

Another worth blogging about was the trip to Mt. Aso, an active volcano to date in Kumamoto. One of the tourist attraction as well. I think in this trip i had a lot of good luck, haha. so even to Mt. Aso which took very long even by car, ( but i guess there's a train and cable car up ), my teacher's japanese girlfriend drove us up. ^^ Had Aso burger, which is really famous. The beef is actually from the cows living on Mt. Aso, so it was really tender. :Q Mt. Aso Temple is also worth visiting if you like temples and japanese traditions, and the street near the temple sells very nice horse-meat corokke.

The event which made this 43days trip unforgettable was when we get to visit the primary school which my teacher was teaching with the permission from the principal. Had the chance to speak Japanese to the teachers and students ( though i didnt really introduced myself thoroughly in japanese during the teachers' meeting because i was flustering and somehow i stopped only at " i am yuding " in japanese. zzzzzz. )
but anyway, i saved myself by introducing myself thouroughly in class, answered questions from the kids in japanese, and somehow got a girl to tell me who she liked and why she liked him. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. feeling very accomplished and i boasted to my teacher about it. :') i think i really like kids afterall. i even got a confession from a boy. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. no joke.

Through Mr Heng, we made a new japanese friend and one day, he decided to tour us around on our last second day in kumamoto. he said that there's a water gorge that is worth going and asked if we would like to ride his car or to cycle. being adventurous we decided to cycle, NOT KNOWING IT WAS 40KM UP THE SLOPES. hahaha. i swear my legs was breaking and he had to push me from behind while holding his bike in one hand... when we were left with 14km, we decided to put aside our bicycles and walk up, since the slope is really too steep. after walking one hour, we were left with 10km and damn, we spent almost 5 hours. Shoma, our friend, decided to hitch a hike. and there was a car behind inching up. it seems like he is picking up rubbish or to inspect some stuff that we had no idea about, but anyway, we were given a choice and that was to either go up, or he will drive us down to get our bikes. cycled for 5 hours and there's no way we want to skip the gorge so we went up. but after looking at the gorge it was already 7 and you know, up the hills there's not much light, nor cars. we thought it was the end of us because no one actually stopped for us to hitch hike and then yes, a car stopped. it was a seven sitter, but already with 5 people inside. they squeezed for us and at the front passenger seat sat two guys. hehehehehe. the japanese in the car were really good looking and cute ( guys and girls ) and we were of similar age and they've been to singapore once before and we had a conversation about things ( i forgot ) but one of them is really really cute and looked like Ikuta Toma. melting~~~ HEHE everything in japanese again. <3 nbsp="" p="">

On the last day of our trip in Japan, we went back to Fukuoka in order to catch the ferry back to Busan. At the Tenjin bus terminal, we happen to see one of the festival floats that will be racing for the annual Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival. A little pity because i haven't researched much about the upcoming festivals and i would really like to see one. T.T But while we were just admiring the floats, there happened to have a media reporter covering the event for the day and i guess they saw us pulling our luggages and assumed that we were foreigners. HAHA and we got interviewed in Japanese and English . Thank god for attending Japanese lessons at Ikoma, hehehehehehe. and the reporter asked if i liked INFINITE ( korean boy band )
because i was holding their posters and she said she liked them too. LOLLLLLL. fangirl moment. hehehehehehehehe

look here for the report for the festival i was talking about : http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4808.html

One of the top favourite activities i did in japan ever would be attending AAA Eighth Wonder tour in Kumamoto. Non jpop fans will not know this but, to get tickets for a concert in japan is really hard if you're a non japanese. you need to be a fan of their own official fan club in japan and etc etc, so... one day i was tweeting to the celebrity saying things like it's a pity i cannot get tickets and stuff, and then a japanese fan tweeted me and offered her extra ticket to me and asked if i want to go with her. <3 nbsp="" p="">

so tadah! new japanese friend!! and WE SAT AT THE 7TH ROW FROM THE FRONT.

Things to do in Seoul when you're running low on cash. ^^

you can always go to Namsam tower!! No admission fees at all ( besides going up the tower ), but even til the part with all the locks, the view is already very stunning!!

or you can go to Banpo bridge. ^^ at the area, there will be a lot of "sales person" giving out menus of pizzas,chicken etc. you can always skip the ordering part and just wait to watch the rainbow fountain FOR FREE!! hehehe directions here at

KTO : http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=1011983

Talking about namsan tower, in this trip i went three times. haha, and since Namsam is near myeongdong, two things i really liked besides shopping at myeongdong. One is the dog cafe, another one would be O'sulloc Tea house. woahhh the o'sulloc green tea latte is REALLY VERY GOOD, and the ice cream... is one that i can die for. hahaha. * if you;re a green tea fanatic like me *

the dog cafe.... we found the cafe through a snoopy mascot giving fliers along myeongdong so... please lookout for the snoopy mascot. haha. for 8,000 won, you get a drink and you can stay there as long as you want. additional 2,000 won for a refill of drink. the dogs are all quite friendly and they approach you freely as and when they want. like the dog in this picture, it jumped onto our table randomly. ^^ zero distance ^^v

another place that you can go for free is Seoul forest! alight at Ttukseom station and you can watch and feed the deers. another healing activity.

Since i travelled to Seoul with the same group of people before last year, except for chenfang, we thought that it would be good if we travelled to places "almost non-seoul" like chuncheon for a break. so my friend researched and brought us there to ride an ATV bike. but upon riding it, we chanced upon a rail bike there too, and it happened to be the one Runningman visited in ep 144. OUR LUCK!!~~~ if you like sighseeing and want some healing experience, you can go there. ^^

8km of rail biking. gogo : http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g608520-d3694515-Reviews-Gangchon_Rail_Park-Chuncheon_Gangwon_do.html

Another event that i really really really like in this trip is to be able to catch a baseball match LIVE in korea at Jamsil stadium. It's not about the game, but rather, the cheers and songs they sing during the match is... IT'S ALMOST LIKE A NATIONAL DAY. every member of the team actually have a special song to sing to when he bats or hits, so it was really interesting. HAHAHA and of course the game. i tried it during my JC time so it was rather nostalgic. and of course. after we played baseball at the baseball machine located at jonggak station ( small two story building near insadong ), baseball appeared to be a fascinating sport to me.
^^ of course, LG Twins won.

AND OF COURSE. WHO WILL MISS SOME KPOP IN A TRIP TO KOREA.
hahahaha really, i thank all gods in the world for such luck we have. we managed to go for Girl Generation's 2013 girls and peace tour in seoul for TWO DAYS. woahhhh, snsd overdose hahahahahaha.
and we went to music bank just to catch a glimpse of the girls, and of course infnite ( but sadly only woohyun and hoya ) because we went to the wrong entrance while waiting.

we also went to eat at LeeSang's restuarant. currently i lost my notebook with all the directions so maybe i will update again about how to go there. EHEHE. besides that, one new experience i had was to visit a jimjilbang at Yongsan station, Dragon Spa ( jimjilbang )

Suncheon Bay Garden Expo 2013 : http://eng.2013expo.or.kr/
since we had to take a bus down Busan from Seoul, we realised that we can actually squeeze out some time for Suncheon so yeaaaa~ we went to the expo. the place is really really big, and quite worth it. HAHA we needed some time for healing so sightseeing is
the best ^^ i think the expo is even larger than Sentosa itself.

In busan, we actually went to a temple stay at beomeosa temple.
during the stay, not only we learnt about the teachings of buddism, it's more of a healing experience. Everything is very calming. it will be conducted both in english and korean, so... no worries.

here : http://eng.templestay.com/reservation/temple_view.asp?cid=9&idx=5

Speaking of busan, another memorable event is how we atually accepted a dinner from an ahjumma whom we bought roasted chestnuts from. she drank a little soju, and was blabbering how her son got promoted, and her husband sent her allowance and she wanted to celebrate the joyous occasion but had no one to celebrate with. we thought it was just a simple dinner near the vicinity since there were a lot of restuarants around the corner, BUT NO. she hailed a cab and asked us to sit. our guy friend then got a little worried since afterall she's a stranger, and.... it was too dangerous. however we continued the meal. there were only 5 of us at the table, and she actually ordered the amount for 10 people. we thought of paying her in the end, but she didnt accept it so..... YAYE. OUR FREE DINNER.

actually after the dinner i felt kind of indebted to her, so we actually sent her some bakwa we brought from singapore and asked our friends to give it to her as we didnt have time and etc etc.
and she actually remembered us! thought she wouldnt since she was a little drunk. T.T all the korean conversations we tried to hard to understand with the busan satoori was worth it.
definitely earned myself an aunt that i can visit in busan again! ^^

Busan : at gamcheon village, all the colourful houses! this can be under free things to do in busan. LOL.

Another dangerous thing we did was to actually to sit in a stranger's car whom claimed to be going seoul too from busan when we were asking around if the train to busan would be an appropriate choice of transport since we havent got tickets and luggage too heavy etc etc. the man was asking only 10,000 won each for his fuel so we agreed without thinking much since bus tickets was 28,000 won each. Thinking back i think we were drunk. LOL. 5 hours in a car with a stranger and you know.... since there's only me and chenfang left in the trip.... isnt it dangerous. but somehow the man doesnt seem like a bad person, so.... i dont know what we were thinking and yes, im gonna pray again because of such good luck that it wasnt a bad choice to ride with the man. in the end, he didnt even take that 10,000 won each from us. he merely requested for a cup of coffee, and i as thinking of starbucks since there is one at the corner but noooooooo. we went to a convenience store and he took the cheapest. T.T man, such kindness. tell me if such things will even happen in singapore. -.- i gave him my contact and in return he gave me his, and a message that i am gonna laminate it and frame it up.

in his message, he asked me to like korea more, study korean more, and when im really really fluent, please call him and we'll coffee again. T.T im gonna treat him to a meal the next time i visit korea. T.T MUST STUDY HARDER. and learn some busan satoori.

After fukuoka we went back to busan then seoul, so in the last two weeks of seoul before returning back to singapore, we met chenfang's friends and since we have nothing much on our schedule already we decided to join them in their short trip to climb Bonghwa Cheong Ryang Mountain ( visted by Dad! where are you going? ) to have not exercise for more than 5 months due to prelims and exams and work is seriously no joke because.... i almost died climbing the mountain with very steep stairs. i captioned it : stairways to heaven. along the way to the bridge ( which is the climate of the climb ), we met very nice old people whom encouraged us and offered us soju + maekju = somaek ( i have no idea about the romanji spelling but wdv ) and some other food. hahaha. they even tried to find ways for us to go back to the train station because it was getting dark and we were all panicking together and while panicking they offered us watermelon and was almost forcing us to help them finish it and because of that we ran for almost an hour non stop from a busstop to the train station and then cab we got scolded for missing the bus and zzzzzzzzzzz. really. so much trouble just to climb that mountain. THAT WAS A REALLY LONG SENTENCE. but you know after all the hardwork we met very nice people, and somehow i wonder if i will ever meet people like this ever again. AND THE VIEW... even for chenfang who's afraid of heights overcomed her fear and I WILL GO BACK AND CLIMB IT AGAIN. hahaha.

because i merely followed them, i have no record about how to go and etc, but i found this link.

http://english.bonghwa.go.kr/open.content/ko/

you know in this 43 days, i really enjoyed myself despite all the physically tedious events all thanks to the people i met, new friends i made, and of course without my travelling partners, certain feelings wouldnt be the same. i felt that i have learnt so much, not only knowledge about the culture and places, but also how kindness can beget kindness. :') it was a very fruitful trip and i will give up anything to keep such memories i had. hehehehe. travelling is an addiction isnt it.

this two is actually taken in Kumamoto, when we roamed about with no specific agenda. CHILL LIFE.

one day in kumamoto, we left the house only at 3pm. haha. SPIRIT OF HEALING.

END ; WILL UPDATE MORE NEXT TIME ^^

MY UNFORGETTABLE TRAVEL STORY (2013)
Saturday, September 28, 2013