There are many times that I heard people's story about traveling, about living overseas, I always have the same expression, " Wow, so good. I also want." Everytime, people would talk about how fragile life is. People can be healthily talking to you today and left the next day. I don't want to be like that too. I still have many thing in life that I have not done yet. So, I'm not going to allow myself to feel regert anymore. I'm going to fight what I want and enjoy every single day. Do it first, decied later. If don't do that, I will not move ahead but keep walking on the spot.
Actually we wanted to go to Busan on 24 July but because of Qi's exam ends today only, so we changed our bus schedule to travel out today instead (so I skipped half day of school ^^). We headed to the bus terminal once my classes ended and since there was some time before the bus depart, so we find a place to sit down for lunch.
Bus rides was around 4.5 hours long, we alighted at the rest pit for a snack after 2 hrs of sleep. Every time we watched variety shows like "Running man" or "2 day 1 night", the snack at the rest pit always looks so delicious. This is the first time we were there, the price was slightly much higher that the price in the city. We just choose to buy a bowl of ball, I thought was fish ball, but turned out it was potato ball.
By the time we reached Busan was already night fall, took the subway to the Busan station and walked to the guesthouse. This trip we chose to stay at <Orange Guesthouse Busan station Busan> - http://www.agoda.com/orange-guesthouse-busan-station/hotel/busan-kr.html - To save some money, we chose to stay in the 6 dorm room but we were lucky that we were the only 2 who will be staying in the 6 room dorm for the next 2 nights.
After we checked in, we took off to TIFF to eat some street food and just walked around a bit. And decided not to stay out till too late as tmr we will be out from early morning.
My classmate asked me if I want to join them on a day trip to Nami Island and Petie France this weekend, of course I will go since there is someone who invite me to go. So early in the morning today, we met up with my classmates and Qi's classmates to head to Nami Island and Petie France.
We took the subway from Hyehwa station to Gapyeong station and waited for the shuttle bus beside of the tourist information to the tourist resort in Gapyeong. We were lucky that the queue only started to get long after that, because peoples that wasn't able to board the bus had to wait for the next bus.
Since some hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so we decided to go for early lunch nearby the ferry station, like that easier for us. Although there were alot of people but we don't really need to wait long for the ferry to go to Nami Island. The ride took less that 6 min to reach and everyone just dash out of the ferry.
Namiseom Island (남이섬 종합휴양)
Add: 1024, Bukhangangbyeon-ro, Gapyeong-eup, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do 경기도 가평군 가폄읍 북한강변로 1024 (출입국관리사무소)
How to go - Take the train to Gapyeong station, change to the shuttle bus (in front of the tourist information) ; bus ride is around 45 min
Many people were visiting the place due to the drama <Winter Sonata>, most of the scene were shot there when the actors dated during their teens. Although during the winter period, the whole place will be covered with snow, will look even more beautiful, but that doesn't mean that the view now is bad too. It feels that you are surrounded by super tall trees and feels like you are back to the natural.
As the ferry departed every half and hour, and later we will still have to take bus again to Petite France (will have to wait for an hour if we missed the bus), so we started to walk back to the port to wait for the ferry. Was lucky that we were able to board the leaving ferry, no need to wait for the next one! We went back to the same bus stop to wait for the bus to travel to Petite France, but since there were some time before the bus arrive, we headed to 7-eleven to buy something first. Again we had to take 45 min bus ride to Petite France
Petite France (쁘띠프랑스)
Add: 1063, Hoban-ro, Cheongpyeong-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do
경기도 가평군 청명면 호반로 1063
How to go - Take the train to Gapyeong station, change to the shuttle bus (in front of the tourist information) ; bus ride is around 45 min
Fee : 8,000 KRW
More information - http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=815994
Petite France is a French cultural village set in the Korean countryside. It serves both as a French cultural village and a youth training facility . It also consists of 16 French-style building where visitors can lodge and experience French food, and household culture
We were excited about this place when we arrived, so we set a timing and we just spilt out. However after we went in, it was a disappointment. The place was really just like it's name, really a petite place. I only took 30 min and I had finished seeing everything. Only bought 2 postcard to send back to Singapore and never buy other things. I don't think I will come back here again...
We actually said meet 2 hours later at the same spot we split out, but because the place was so small, we finished before an hours, so we met up earlier and went back out to take the bus back to the subway station to the the subway back home ...
Since summer is around the corner, I decided the next trip will be BUSAN !!! But due to train tickets were way off my budgets so I choose to take the bus instead. And as being a kiasu Singaporean, Qi and I headed down to Express bus terminal to buy Busan bus ticket after school first
With Qi around, I don't need to worry about getting the ticket at all. After getting the tickets, we went to eat at a sushi bar intro by Qi. The price wasn't as expensive as other places, the price were around $1.40 to $3.00 or even more. They can even help to warm up the dishes that you choose. It's a shop that I don't mind coming back again.
Level 3 had started for 1 week now, normally it's class chairman request for class gathering so we could get to know each other better. However for once , Teacher was the once we request for class gathering. But because Teachers had meeting int he evening and they have no clue what time will it end, therefore we chose to eat lunch instead of dinner.
Because we are eating lunch, many don't like the foods serve in school so we had to go down to the bottom of the hill to eat. But because an hrs later, we still have afternoon class to attend, so we can't go too far.
But we are still not very close with each other, it's quite difficult for us to play around like we know each other for long. At that very moment, I believe most of us just want to finish that meal as soon as possible. To arrive back in class on time, we took the bus back up the hill.
We woke up early, waited for ManYong & JiYeon to come and fetch us to head to our first stop. We had some simple breakfast at home first then drove out together. We drove up into the forest, where the air was so fresh that I don't want to leave this place!! After 15 min driving, we arrived at our first stop - Soyang dam
We spent some time there to enjoy the natural view (although half of it was man-made) . These are view that we don't really have the chance to enjoy especially when we are staying in the city area. Not only in Seoul, even in Singapore, also don't have much chance to see this kind of natural view.
Walked around and after taking enough picture, we went for lunch. Lunch was not very excellent, so I can skip it the next time I can back again.
Animation Museum & Robot Studio (춘천 애니메이션박물관 & 로봇체험관)
Add: 385, Baaaaksa-ro, Seo-myeon, Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do 강원 춘천시 서면박사로 385
Open: 10am - 6pm
Fee : \5,000
How to go - Chuncheon station (Chuncheon), exit 1. Take bus 83 and get off at the Animation Museum (애니메이션박물관) bus stop.
More details - http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=628262&nearBy=accom
This is the first-ever museum of its kind in Korea, featuring a string of exhibits highlighting the origin, birth and development of animation. There is an exhibition hall dedicated to Korean animation and another dedicated to the animation originating from other parts of the world.
They not only exhibit animation from different countries, it also exhibit animation from different years. To attract more people to come, there are various experience programs such as horror studio, 3-D theater and many more. It's a great place for people who like animation or even cantoon and children to come.
Rain started to fall when we wanted to leave the museum, that made us worry about our last stop. Our last stop is a interesting ride that I had never done before, I had been waiting for the whole day for this ride. Hope it won't affect my ride later !!
We took the subway from Namchuncheon station to Gimyujeong station (which is 1 stop away) [we didn't drove over to the park is because later we will be alighting at a different station (the rail bike is not a round trip ride), so it's better to take the subway there]. After we came out of the station, we saw the rail park sign on the right some of the station and it only took us 4 min to walk over to the park
Fee : Two seater - \25,000 Four seater - \35,000 (Booking in advance is advice)
How to go - From Gimyujeong station (subway Gyeongchun line), exit 1. 4 min walk from the subway station.
Built on the site where the train on the Gyeongchun Line stops, Gangchon Rail Park is a popular tourist attraction where visitors can pedal along old railroad tracks while taking in the lovely Bukhangang River scenery
We were lucky that the rain started to stop once we arrived at the rail park entrance. We were arrived half and hour earlier than our booking timing, so we sat down and had ice-cream first. This is really something that I had never try before, so I'm very excited to try it out. Actually although it's also ManYong & JiYeon first time driving this, but they chose to let us sit in front. So sweet of them !!!
The ride was too excellent that I don't mean going one more time !! I love this ride!! Maybe because four of us riding one cart so we didn't have to use too much of strength (and some part of the ride has motor running, so only some part we need to cycle only). The ride not only run through natural, they also run through tunnel, some with disco music, some with romantic lighting. Too bad the ride was only an hrs long (actually is consist long, but I really like it a lot)
We took the subway back to Nanchuncheon station and drove to their school to take a look. ManYong and JiYeon are studying at Kangwon National University, their campus were so big that even with them driving us through the whole campus also need 20 min !! Then they intro us a dessert places that they always go (and we were also wasn't very hungry, so we decide to take dessert as dinner).
Next day we just took the early afternoon subway back to Seoul to get ready for school re-open on Monday.
Even though left with just 3 more days to school re-open, I wasn't intending to waste it. So Qi and I decided to head to Chuncheon to look for our Korean friend (ManYong & JiYeon).
The provincial capital city of Gangwon-do is nestled in the heart of the famous tourist city of Chuncheon. This city is tucked away in a basin with Uiamho Lake to the west, Chuncheonho lake and Soyangho Lake to the north, and Sinyeongang River to the south making this a city surrounded by water. The numerous lakes in the region cause many foggy days. Close proximity to Seoul makes this a popular daytrip destination. But this trip we weren't going to any of the lakes or rivers, Well, truth was I have no clue where the hell we will be going because this trip was fully planned by my Korean friends!!
We knew that the ride is going to take us more than an hours to reach our destination, therefore we left our place early. Took the subway from Hywhwe station to Dongdaemun station, change to subway line 1 to Sangbong station[(720) - line 7, J & G] and change subway line again to the [G line], and finally alighted at Namchuncheon station (P139).
When we arrived at the Sangbong station, the place was like Yongsan station as there were a lot of train tracks that we were so confused that we don't know where to take the normal subway!! So we just board a train that wrote that is headed to Chuncheon and found a comfortable place to stand. Was surprised that the train was as good as KTX.
Half way through the trip, a guy approach us and asking for us ticket, we were shocked (because subway has no ticket, we just need to tap our T-money card (same as ezlink card))! We think that it will be better if we don't speak Korean, so we used English and asked him back isn't this the subway? Turned out it wasn't subway at all, it was ITX*!! But the ticketing guy was nice, knowing that we made a mistake, never collect money from us but asked us to alight at the next stop.
* ITX is a high-speed train that travels along the Gyeongchun line from Yongsan Station to (in Seoul) to Chuncheon Station (in Gangwon-do Province) [Same as KTX but just that it runs shorter route]. Compare to the normal subway, it only take half the time to reach Chuncheon, therefore the price of the ticket is much more expensive. For more information read here - http://www.visitseoul.net/en/article/article.do?_method=view&m=0004007002011&p=07&art_id=53225&lang=en
We alighted as the ticketing guy told us, and we waited for the next train that came into the station, which looked more like a subway train. If we had taken the normal subway from the beginning, the whole trip will take us 1.5 hrs but because we took ITX (by mistake) it took us half the time only to reach our destination.
Our friends was already waiting for us at the subway station and we drove away to have early dinner.
They drove us to place which is quite desert, they mainly served cold mixed noodle. Not only that, they ordered potatoes pancake and a dishes that I don't know what the hell it was.
Left top - the dishes that I don't know what the hell it is
Left bottom - potato pancake
Right - mix noodle
Bottom - Restaurant
Like I mentioned because the restaurant is located at quite a desert place, there were plantation just next to the restaurant !! For someone who grow up in city of Singapore, all these are interesting things we want to see more. So after we finished out meal, we were to into one of the small corn farm and took lot of pictures.
Next stop was to have a drink at a resort as they have very nice night view. We were there pretty early (before the night fall) so was also able to see the nice view of Chuncheon first. While waiting for night fall, I tried to use the Korean that I had learned here in Korea, however it was still too difficult for me to strike a conversation with them, since I had studied for 4 months only!
They drove us to Emart said that they need to get something before going back. Bought some coffee can, drinks and snack. I just wanted to fast go back and rest, feel so tired after taking the subway for so long. Beginning, I thought that we will be sleeping in ManYong's house with ManYong & JiYeon (all 4 of us). But because the room turned out to be too small, so JiYeon decided to go back home to sleep while ManYong going to his friend's hse (who is living nearby)
They left the snacks and drink that they bought at Emart before leaving. They went Emart to buy for us, afraid that there is nothing for us to eat in their house. I was so tired that I just change to my sleep wear and went to sleep
After staying 9 months in Korea, I believe when I'm back in Singapore, I will miss Korean food alot. Below this article caught my attention and I hope that I got the chance to try it one day after I go back to Singapore !! (just by thinking, my saliva can't stop dripping !!)
We love Korean cuisine for its wide variety - think spicy, fiery red stews to bibimbap to barbecued meat wrapped in lettuce leaves. If we've got you drooling, this will be your (almost) definitive list for the best Korean food on our shore!. This article was originally published on burpple.com.
For Super Affordable Korean BBQ
The BBQ buffet here might well be the most affordable buffet around. At only $14.90++ for lunch on weekdays and $24.90++ for dinner, K.COOK makes a great place for dining in groups and eating till you drop without burning a hole in your pocket. The meats are well-marinated and come in a good variety. With great value and a good selection, they're really bringing in the crowds - so be prepared to queue!
For Superb Korean in the East
Hidden amongst the stretch of eateries along Katong, you might miss Doong Ji if you don't look out for it. Offering really affordable set lunches, consider this a good lunch option if you're in the area. The food here is authentic, generous, and generally remarkable. The Seafood Stew is robust and spicy, packed with crab, prawns, octopus, clams, tofu, ramen and rice cakes, good for sharing among 3-4. Also share a Seafood Pancake; they're generous with prawns, squid and spring onions.
For Awesome Chicken Galbi
The snaking queue at this famous dakgalbi restaurant from Korea is testament to its popularity. For the uninitiated, Galbi is basically meat marinated in a ganjang-based sauce that is grilled at the table. The star here is none other than Yoogane's Chicken Galbi - spicy marinated chicken cooked with rice cakes and vegetables. Also go for the Galbi Fried Rice, that gooey mozzarella cheese fried with rice and bulgogi chicken is oh-so-satisfying. Kimchi-lovers rejoice, the salad bar is free-flow!
For Consistently Good Food
It's pretty hard to go wrong at Togi, even though they boast an extensive menu. Special mention goes to the individual servings of porridge that come with the rest of the banchan; it's simple, comforting, and flavourful. Get the Seafood Pancake to share - crisp on the outside and loaded with seafood and spring onions, paired with a dipping sauce that adds that extra kick. The Japchae is chewy, sweet, savoury, and extremely addictive. If you're there in a group, order the Army Stew to share! It's a massive spicy hotpot loaded with ramen, sausages, luncheon meat, tofu, and vegetables.
For Home-style Dishes
The food here may not be fancy, but it's clearly prepared with heart. Start off with the Suyuk Boiled Pork Belly served with vegetables and sauces, you'll be taught how to eat it 3 different ways. Also go for the Dakgalbi, spicy marinated chicken with vegetables and Korean rice cakes. Don't polish off all the dakgalbi! Leave some and request for the leftovers to be fried with rice for an additional charge, it's worth it. Because of limited seating, be sure to make reservations!
For Cheap & Good, No-Frills Korean
This hidden gem preivously located at the basement of Concorde Hotel's food court has relocated a few floors up and expanded to accommodate the large following they have built. Do not dismiss this humble eatery, it dishes out superbly executed dishes like Kimchi Fried Rice, Bulgogi and Korean Rice Cakes. Go for the Spicy Chicken Soup Set, a fiery red soup filled with loads of ingredients and sweet potato noodles. Complete the meal by sharing a potato pancake. With nothing above $10, you won't have to worry about breaking the bank!
For Korean Fried Chicken
Hailed as one of the best places for Korean Fried Chicken (KFC) in town, it requires lots of patience to nab a table during peak hours. The fried chicken here comes in three flavours: original, sweet and special garlic soy sauce. Go for the Combo Chicken Set to try them all. The chicken is pretty addictive with its crunchy exterior and juicy meat, and the coating of sauce completes the experience. Besides KFC, they serve dishes like buckwheat noodles, stews, and oden. However, your best bet is sticking to what they're known for. Don't expect a huge variety of banchan as they keep it simple!
For Customizable Bibimbap
Originating from Korea, Bibigo builds on the popular Bibimbap and provides a unique, healthy option. Customize your bibimbap by choosing the type of rice (they even have black rice!), protein, and sauce, and is served with assorted vegetables. Also serving typical Korean fare such as bulgogi and stews, this is place has something for everyone. End your meal with the Sweet Potato Mattang, caramel coated sweet potato fries with rice crackers and candied walnuts.
For Healthier Korean Meals
Kimchi Korean Restaurant serves relatively smaller portions to cut down on food wastage and to leave you feeling just satisfied - not overly stuffed. With smaller portions, you can also expect more affordable prices! Serving standard dishes like Japchae and Kimchi Ramen, they also have unique offerings like Seaweed Beef Porridge and Seafood Dolsot Bap. A must-try is the Andong Jjimdak, steamed pieces of chicken thigh marinated in a soy-based sauce - gloriously spicy and full of umami. You can overlook the fact that they do not serve banchan here, because that means more stomach space for dessert.
Coming from a small country myself, I never thinks that Singapore will ever has a chance with World cup (at least in the near future, there won't be a chance, even though personally I do hope that one day we would have a chance in World Cup too). That is why this time since that I'm in Korea and Korea is going to be playing in the World Cup 2014, I would like to know what is the feeling to see more than 10,000 people watching soccer together.
And there was a match this morning 4 am, Korea VS Algeria. I'm not too sure how are strong were they (truth is I don't follow the matches at all, I only know the Japanese team only >_<). Met up with Qi first at her aunt's hotel first (her cousin and aunt was in town visiting her.), took a cab over to Gwanghwamun at around 2 am
Was shocked with the amount of people !!
Before heading over, we believed that there would be full of people but we should be able to find a place for us to sit down and watch. But when we arrived, the places were full of people that we can't even find a place to stand !! After half an hour of walking here and there, we finally found a spot where we could sit down and wait (as the match still has 1.5 hrs more before it start)
While waiting for the match to start, we saw that there were people standing there shouting fried chicken for sale !! Just now we were still thinking to order, now don't even need to call, we could just buy from them. We didn't even wait for the match the start, we already started eating. There was really nothing to do, so we decided to eat as we wait.
Finally the match had started !! Once again, We could see how Korean love their country. Cheering was going on and on, everyone were watching nervously however first half match , the score was already 0-4 !! Even before the first half end, the Korean knows that there is no chance of wining, many started to pack up and leave ... We started to feel bored too, so we headed back too
Went to do visa extension for the first time. To be honest, the document that were needed actually were not very different to do but slightly different to collect (if you don't have friend around to help).
Things that the immgration officer need were
- Immgration form
- Receipt of school fees (get from the school)
- Certificate from school (get from the school)
- Bank statement of 5 million won (within 3 days of issuing) [I borrowed some money from friends!]
- a copy of your living contract (a proof of where are you staying)
- Fee of 60 thousand won
- Need to bring along ARC card (passport not needed)
I don't know what do I need to do, so I just handed all the document I had in hand to the officer when I was my turn. She told me to us the 60 thousand won to purchase stamps at another counter (I was thinking maybe is because they are not allow to handle cash so they use this way to proof that we had pay). Came back with the stamps and the officer sticked to the immgration form that I had submitted in. Then they took my ARC card away and asked me to wait for a while at the front (at counter 1).
Maybe is was due to the summer vacation period, there wasn't many people at the immgration office therefore I only waited for less than 10 min and I gotten my ARC card with the new updated expired date. Gotten everything settle within an hours.
So soon, exam were over and it's time to say goodbye again. This term was shorter than before as we were more busy with assignment and presentation. Sad was that not all of us would be doing level 3, some chose to change to different school, some was heading back to their hometown.
Just as before, there were games waiting for us to play for the first two hours (Which I really had zero interest in it) then teachers gave out award to the top first (of each class). It only after that our form teacher would lead us to other places to give up the result to the rest of us. Result was not as good as I thought but has no problem to get proceed up to level 3.
We had our last lunch with class 2C before really saying good bye to each other at a restaurant near Hyehwa station exit 1. Had western food (as we had a classmate that was vegetarian). Chit-chat all the way while eating, before most of us left, we took one last picture by the street before leaving the rest to go and sleep (didn't had enough sleep the night before, my eyes couldn't keep it out throughout lunch time!!)
Heard from the rest that, some of them went of to have fun and ended while late. To be honest, I don't have the feeling of best friend like I had with my classmate of level 1. I felt more closer to my level 1 classmate than this class. Is not that they are not close, just that the feeling is different. Even though that was how I felt, I still hope that in the near future, I will still have the chance to meet up with them once more!
Sometime when travelling on budget, we will normally tend to look for hostel or guesthouse instead of hotel to save some cash of other thing. Of course not everyone will be like them, but this article make me think again if I should still look for hostel to stay for my next oversea trip ?
When you’re young and broke, staying in a hostel overseas seems like the best and most exciting way to go. A place to sleep and bathe is a good deal when all you brought with you is your backpack and best friend. It’s all fun and games, right? Well, John, an American working at a popular youth hostel in Paris, anonymously confesses to what really goes on at that cool party hostel in the center of the City of Light.
1. Most hostels double-book. Think you and your friends are about to settle into a quaint, private room where you can walk around in your undies and relax in peace and quiet after a long day of sightseeing? Think again. “We welcomed drop-ins and we pack them in, so you should be prepared to share a room with strangers,” says John. Sometimes they even welcome travelers to “just crash on the floor” for a discounted price. “Watch your step!”
Pro Tip: “Keep valuables on you at all times if there’s strangers in your room,” says John. “But for the most part, enjoy your new friends.”
2. It’s cheap for a reason. Guests complain to John about everything, like scratchy towels the size of washcloths, instant coffee, and lack of water pressure in the shower. John says his favorite story is when he overheard one girl complaining she couldn’t get the conditioner out of her hair because the water pressure was too low. “You’re paying 10 bucks a night. You’re getting 10 bucks a night … of plumbing,” John says.
Your worst nightmare (Getty Images)
3. They don’t wash the sheets. John admits that his boss would tell him to just shake the sheets out the window, spray some disinfectant on the mattress and make up the bed like everything had been freshly washed and dried. “Turn-around time was sometimes too fast for us to get linens into the laundry. There have been plenty of times I was told to ‘quick-change’ a room.” John says the comforters were never washed. Ever.
4. Employees understand English. “One of the reasons I got hired was to help with translation and tutor French employees in English,” says John. He confessed that no matter how good his French-speaking fellow employees got at English, they chose to pretend they didn’t understand it. “It’s funny watching guests speak “French-lish!”
Your McDonald’s habit will not go unnoticed (Robin Lee/Flickr)
5. They think your taste in food is gross. “Kids came back to the hostel with McDonald’s all the time,” says John. “I get it. It’s cheap and familiar.” His bosses didn’t feel the same way. “They couldn’t understand why they would eat greasy food when the cafe next door served fresh ham and cheese and steak frites at around the same price.” He says there were definitely some “french fry” jokes circulating around the hostel. “They called one kid ‘Micky D’ behind his back all week because a day didn’t go by he didn’t return with something from the fast food chain.
You’re better off exploring on your own rather than paying for a hostel tour (Ian Sampaio/Flickr)
6. Most tours are scams. “It’s an easy way for the hostel to make more money,” says John. “You stick a local with a bunch of kids and take them on a walk around the city.” John says that when travelers check in they are often wheeled and dealed into signing on to at least one tour before they get the keys to their rooms.
Free white wine is never a problem (Melissa Wang/Flickr)
7. You’re not special. The bartender gives all the girls free wine. “We had a guy working the bar that always wooed the girls with stories of himself making his way through Paris with a little change in his pocket and a big dream of becoming a screenwriter in his head,” says John. “He was full of it, and the staff made bets on whether or not he’d get the girl to actually make out with him.
Recently, many were posting this (below) video on Facebook and now even Yahoo did a article on it. It was from Singapore's Channel 8's drama <<118>>, where a part of a young guy talking about what were the worries that they are facing when living in Singapore. After I saw the video myself, I really do think that the guy is spot-on, too hush but is 100% true...
So many people have been talking about the Channel 8 show 118 that I had to go and find out for myself what the fuss was about. It’s actually over a 90 second rant by a young man about the cost or standard of living. His parents were chiding him for some underhand methods he had doing business – and he just let it go. In Mandarin. This is my very loose translation.
“You think I’m the only one anxious to make money? Go ask other young people, who’s not anxious? By the time I finish serving the nation and graduate from university, I’ll be 23, 24 years old. In a blink of an eye, I’ll be 30. In these few years, I need to get married; buy a house, start a family with kids; how is that possible without money? A flat now costs at least $300,000 to $400,000. Let’s talk about basic daily expenses…For someone working in the CBD, who takes two or three train trips, sometimes when you’re in a hurry; you take a cab, just transportation fees itself will cost $6-$7. Even the cheapest lunch cost up to $5-$6, a cup of coffee cost $6-$7 at a cafe! Never mind that, the government wants us to get married and set up a family early, but I’ve to get girlfriend first right? If I don’t bring her out for meals, movies, overseas trips once in a while and buy her branded items occasionally, nobody would want me even if I look as good as a celebrity. Some people have to go to university, take loans and even give the family an allowance. A wedding banquet cost $1000 and above for a table. A wedding photo shoot is $3000 to $4000. All this costs money, money, money! Our generation don’t ask for a luxurious lifestyle. Just to maintain our basic expenses, we have to go out and earn more money. I’m sure you don’t want your son to end up asking you for money to throw a wedding banquet or to buy a flat when he is starting a family. Yes, I agree my methods may be extreme and I’m in the wrong. But the fault is not in me, it is caused by the society.”
Apparently, the video clip resounded so much with people that it went viral. It touched a chord – or is it a raw nerve? So many people weighed in, applauding MediaCorp for the script. They said it represented reality – that everything was getting too expensive. I was thinking to myself that it was very odd for MCS to be so politically incorrect. I mean, where’s the balance? I mean, you can use your CPF money with bits contributed by employer for housing – and don’t forget all the grants you can get for staying with parents or near them. I mean, do you have to have coffee at Starbucks? You can still get coffee at less than $1. You don’t have to throw a $1,000 per table wedding banquet do you? Why not ditch that expensive girlfriend? And how dare you blame society for everything!
At least, I can hear these answers from authoritative sources and old fogies which will balance out his rant. Much like Tan Pin Pin’s movie To Singapore With Love, right? No balance. I doubt that her movie will make communists out of the people or make them resort to subversive action. But, hey, this MCS clip is really, really subversive. And it’s free-to-air!
So I was interested to see what MCS has to say about the clip going viral. TODAY obliged today.
The show’s scriptwriter Ang Eng Tee (of The Little Nyonya fame) said he had written the monologue to represent the views of a certain type of young person.
“The character is focused on branded goods and flashy cars. He represents that sort of young person’s values,” Ang said. “He feels life is stressful because a cup of coffee from a popular chain costs S$6 and he needs to buy his girlfriends branded gifts.” The 54-year-old writer said when he was writing the character of Shun Shui, he spoke to many young people, including friends of his 23-year-old daughter, to get their views. “I know a lot of young people feel a lot of stress and can relate,” he said. “(But) the clip that was uploaded to Facebook probably provoked a bigger reaction because it was an isolated 90-second bit of dialogue.”
Oh dear! So this is said to be representative of a sort of young person’s values. I hope it’s a small minority. (I hope it’s not like the beautiful young people featured in Sunday Times Lifestyle pages who don’t mind splurging several thousand dollars on a designer handbag not even a year into their foray into the workplace because it is a “statement’’ about their identity. In fact, I have no clue what that article was trying to prove – that there are such young people? Sorry, I digress)
Now, the scriptwriter said that if the clip was viewed in context, the character’s parents were chiding him about his credit card debt, “but this young person didn’t care’’. “I think he represents some of the people in Singapore. I don’t think there are a lot of them.’’ He said that there were other characters in the show who are “more grounded’’, like a 30-something who would rather drink $1 coffee at the kopitiam.
So revealing. The under-30s who play free and loose with money and an above-30 who is more frugal. Maybe, the younger character will age and be landed with house and family, forcing him to drink coffee at the kopitiam.
What is interesting is how so many people saw the clip and cheered it. It’s like taking someone’s quote out of context. What has happened to living within your means? And is it so important to maintain a certain lifestyle that you would break the bank, have three months worth of credit card arrears or do something underhanded?
I know this is just a drama series, but it is worrying to me that to some, it sounds true to life – when in fact, the truth is, most spending is within our control.
It was been a while we last had dinner with the rest, so I met up with old classmate with PQ to seafood. Haven't got to eat seafood very since I had started to live in Korea as it's not easy to find seafood dish like in Singapore.
There were some seafood restaurant around the school but it turn out that they were either serving raw seafood only or gilled shellfish only (they don't have a restaurant we serve both.) So we just ransoming choose one restaurant and sat in. However we all agree that after eating so much raw food, we felt like eating fried chicken. So after we finish the seafood, we went to have fried chicken with beer nearby.
Had beer and soju which chatting away the whole night and we really had a lot of talking with each other. We didn't need to worry if the people around us understand what were we talking about, so even had 19+ talks came out. (because they are all Korean and we were specking in mandarin)
Although I was still tired from my short trip to Gwangju, but there was no time for me to rest as we needed to continue our assignment. So we headed to bukchon hanok village & Insadong & Samcheongdong. Met up with my teammate first at the subway station exit, then walked toward bukchon. We choose to head to Bukchon first as it was nearer from the subway exit.
< Bukchon Hanok Village >
How to go - Alight at Anguk Station (subway line 3); Exit 2.
Go straight for about 500m to arrive at Bukchon Hanok Village
(Entrance is next to a pharmacy)
Visiting hours - 10am to sunset (Due to give residents (staying there) some peace, it has been advice that visitor are to leave before sunset and not to visit too early.)
More information - http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=561382
Before we came out of the station (next to the exit), there were introduction of Bukchon
Walking from the subway station to Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon Hanok Village is one of a Korea traditional village with a long history located between Gyeongbok Palance and Jongmyo Royal Shrine. The traditional village is composed of lots of alleys, hank and is preserved to show a 600-year-old urban environment. Now it is used as traditional culture center and Hanok restaurant (some are still resident area), allowing visitors to experience the atmosphere of the Joseon Dynasty.
Not only tourist, even locals comes and wants to take a pictures with the alleys of Bukchon. As we still had a few places to go, after going to a few area and took a few picture, we headed to Samcheongdong.
Samcheongdong is a hilly neighbourhood that is characterised by numerous small art galleries, shops and restaurants/cafe but peaceful and quaint area. Since each art gallery building along has its own unique architectural design, taking a walk and appreciating the building is a journey in itself. Many galleries have their own cafes, restaurants or craft shops, allowing visitors to enjoy art, shopping and lunch all under one roof. I was so hungry that I kept asking them to hurry out decide which cafe that they want to write about and I can order for them to take picture of it. And finally we decided on this - CHLORIS TEA AND COFFEE house.
It has a very quite environment. Even though It has 2 storey, we choose to sit outdoor to enjoy the sun. I was starving that I just kept looking at the menu while the rest were busy taking picture of the area. Was quite shock with the price, but I was too hungry to worry about the price, I just order a set and waited impatient for the food
My Brunch - French toast set
Took the bus from Samchengdong to Insadong. Even before I start to live in Korea, Insadong is a place that I will visit every time I'm in Korea, so I suggest to them why not let just take some picture and we can leave this place, as I know this place too well (not trying to be proud [-w-]). So we really just took some picture and left for dessert.
While eating the dessert, we took time to talk about it and decide how should we were to split the presentation into 4 for all of us. And because this time, someone suggest that she wants to do the PPT, so the rest of us just went back and write our speech will do. I'm just going to go back and take a nap before I start writing my speech.
Luckily it tasted not bad (although Wicked is still better)
Our last day in Gwang-Ju before we take the afternoon train back to Seoul. Not wasting any time, after breakfast (by LJ once again), we bid goodbye to our nice hostel owner and took picture with the owner before we leave the place with all our things.
We headed to a traditional market that we saw on the first day (when we were looking for our way to the hostel). Turns out to be really a boring and normal wet market, just like the traditional market all around Korea. We got too bored so we just thought of heading out for lunch by cab. We went to a restaurant that again was recommended by the owner, however this time it's not as good as the crab restaurant yesterday. This is one Korean dishes that I don't know how to enjoy, but even thought we think that way, the place is full with people.
We don't know what to do and where to go after lunch, so we just took the cab and went to the train station to see the surrounding while waiting for the train. Although there were not much but some tents where set up there for some discount event, but it helped us to not notice that time were past by too slowly. Took a different train (compare to the train that we took when we came, this train cost cheaper but it take longer time to arrive) back to seoul.
Gwang-ju is, well is a nice place for food and there are some interesting places which located around Gwang-ju that are nice to go, but Gwang-ju itself is really quite a boring place. I don't think I will go there again.
Our second morning in Gwang-ju, started early in the morning. Although hostel does provide breakfast, LJ woke up early to make breakfast for us while the rest were still sleeping. Last night, she didn't had the chance to wash up so she woke up earlier this morning to wash up first.
Went out to meet up with our old classmate, Joseph, who moved over to study here instead (He's here in Korea to promote Catholic study) after breakfast. Subway here in Gwang-ju is not as confusing as Seoul as there is just one subway line running whole Gwang-ju, so it's easy for us to take the subway. What make me like this place the most is that, no matter where we go, there is no crowd. SO HAPPY
Met up with Joseph at his university to take a look around. As the University students are on vacation, there wasn't much people in the campus therefore we had the chance to really take a good look of the campus, however the campus is WAY too big for us to discover.
전남대학교 / Chonnam National University
We wanted to have a better chat with Joseph so we went off for lunch that the hostel owner introduce us to go. Even if we wanted to take the cab, it's not easy as there are 5 of us, so we asked the driver first if they willing to drive all 5 of us in one cab and we did found one which quote and off the meter.
<동원 게장>
Address - 111 Jisan-dong, Dong-gu, Gwangju
Cost - 8,000 won (side dishes are all refillable excluding rice)
More details other (Korean) blogs - http://blog.daum.net/sophia1009/8932754
(Don't understand Korean also can, picture speak everything)
Korean fermented crab and side dishes
Korea Fermented crab which also known as Gejang, is made by marinating fresh raw crabs either in soy sauce or in a sauce in chill pepper power. Not many people able to accept this dish as the crabs are raw and some thinks can't accept the taste but if you like this, this restaurant serve the best fermented crab dishes (as you can keep refilling until you are happy)
We didn't plan ahead what to do in Gwangju so we decided to walked around the restaurant. Found a bus that goes to the city after our walk around the restaurant. Headed back t the central of the city to a big shopping mall to walk around and sent Joseph to the bus station before we take the subway back to our hostel to rest. We were too tired to go out so we asked the owner to help us to order pizza and we just stayed in. Tomorrow have to wait early to get ready to take the train back to Seoul
Tomorrow was a public holiday in Korea which mean there won't be lesson, my friends (1A classmate LJ, CL & CA) and I decided to head to gwangju for a short trip (travelling for the first time without PQ ).
LJ had asked her Korean friend to help us to book the accommodation and transportation from Seoul to Gwang-ju few days before the trip. After our afternoon lesson, we took the 5.55 pm KTX train from Yongsan station to Gwang-ju station. Whole train trip took around 4 hrs, by the time we arrived at Gwang-ju station was already 9pm.
Top left pic - Platform to Gwang-Ju ; Top right pic - Gwang-Ju station
Below pic - Yongsan station
When we walked out of the Gwang-ju train station, the place felt so much different from Seoul itself. Not many high rise-building, empty street (no cars and also no people), or even on the subway, feel so scary. But luckily we had each other, so still not that bad. After an hrs of walking on the streets of Gwang-ju street, we finally found our guesthouse <Namdo Hostel> which was located on the 3rd floor
Namdo Hostel
Namdo Hostel's offical website = << http://blog.naver.com/dewpark >>
Don't get afraid by the Korean words, the blog is written in both Korean and English.
It also introduce some nice places to go and eat or play.
After leaving our thing behind in our guesthouse, we went out for late dinner. As not many shops were open, we just went in to a ransom shop to eat something. Went back to rest instead of exploring, store up some energy to get ready for tomorrow morning. But there is just one washroom, we have to queue up to shower, however we were not the only one need to use it, we need to share with the other rooms too. We need to keep a look up for the washroom and make sure to go in faster than other people or else we need to continue to wait. By the time I came out of the washroom, LJ didn't got the chance to bath and fall asleep.
