Someone finally made it official...
DMZ Tour Shuttle Bus Driver: Are you Korean?
Me: Hanguk saram aniyo. Philipin saram. (I'm not Korean. I'm Filipino)
DMZ Tour Shuttle Bus Driver: Ahh, you look Korean.
Attention LeeDongWook or YooGun! If you're reading this (don't you guys always?!), we can have very cute Korean-looking kids.
Today, I went on a DMZ Tour (Panmunjeom + Third Tunnel). I took the Seoul subway system for the first time this morning to get to the USO office by 7am. My goodness, Seoul is so calm (ahh, there's truth to the "Land of the Morning Calm" monicker) in the wee hours of the morning. It was so calm that none of the bakeries were open; I had to settle for a 7-Eleven breakfast of water and red bean paste bun.
I thought it was all marketing, but the Korean DMZ really is quite tense. It's just in the air...and don't wave like you just don't care because they will shoot. I was actually scared to stand next to one of the soldiers for a photo-op, but I eventually did anyway. ;P
I don't have a fetish with men in uniforms unlike some women, but I swear some of those SouthKoreansoldiers were darn cute in their fatigues. One of them actually spoke straight American English (I had to make sure it wasn't Shinhwa's EricMun) which was just too much icing on the cake. *Drool.
The surprise of the day? I didn't know that visiting the Third Tunnel was a strenuous exercise. My goodness, they need to say something about this on the brochures! As if that wasn't enough, I actually had enough strength later on to walk from the USO office to Itaewon, which was darn far (and uphill!). I thought two subway stops meant a very short distance between the two, but as always, don't ASSume.
Thankfully, I capped off the night with a kalbi dinner with Cathy to recoup all that lost calories and energy. Earlier in the day, I had bulgogi for lunch and while waiting for Cathy, I found the elusive hotteok stall in Myeongdong! Fighting! HaHa! Leave it up to me to fulfill all my food desires ASAP. ;P
As I mentioned to Cathy, I love Seoul. Actually, I just love being anywhere in Asia. I feel quite at home whenever I'm here. Maybe I really do need to figure out a reason to stay here for an indefinite period of time (LeeDongWook, call me!).
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
By Looks Only
Ugh! I only slept for two hours last night! This is after getting no sleep at all during my long-haul flight. I turned off the lights at about 10pm and I woke up at 12am, hoping that it was already close to 6am, but no luck. I ended up catching on all the latest CFs and music videos (finally saw Big Bang's Hite commercial) as I tossed and turned until my 7am wake-up call.
Instead of taking the KAL bus to Seoul like I did in 2007, I took the more economical Airport Limosine Bus into the city which was a great idea because it allowed me to see all the different neighborhoods in this metropolis. However, this didn't help me orient myself. When the bus dropped me off at my stop, I knew where I was in reference to where I need to be, but I didn't know where I was in reference to everything else (this is why I always prefer walking whenever I'm on travel rather than taking a taxi or a bus).
After finding out that I couldn't check in early, I decided to kill time at Insadong before my 11:30am English tour of Changdeuk Palace. Ahh, Insadong. It looked quite different from what I remembered the last time I was there since traffic is allowed on the weekdays. It was still quite early at 10am so most of the stores haven't gotten their goods set up yet. After going up and down the street, I walked over to Tapgol Park where harabeojis were chillin', dressed up in their coat and dress pants, similar to how I found them in 2007. There were no school kids this time around, but a bus load of tourists arrived shortly after me. They were all ajummas and halmeonis without a camera so I didn't have to wait long before I could get some shots.
Still too early for Changdeukgung, I checked out a Skin Food store. Ahh, this was the start of my "No, I'm not Korean" escapades. Okay, it actually started at the Paris Baguette Cafe in the airport (their cream cheese danish was delish!) when the cashier asked me something (I'm guessing if I wanted a drink to go with it), but ended up just taking my money after she realized I'm not Korean by my confused look.
The Skin Food store just opened so I found one of the sales girls mopping the floor. When she got around to my side of the store, I tried to tell her to go ahead and don't mind me, but she stopped and started asking me questions to which I started shaking my hand at her while smiling. Not wanting to look like I was having an epileptic shock, I asked, "Yong-o haseyo (Do you know English)?" and she said something like, "No, blah blah blah"...at least that's how I interpreted her answer. Perhaps my pronunciation was perfect because she kept uttering more phrases in Korean. I didn't want to pull out my Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook so I ended up just saying "I don't understand. Byane" a couple of times until she left me alone.
When I was paying, I tried to practice what little Korean I knew and said "Odi...Changdeukgung (Where...Changdeuk Palace)?" Unfortunately, she and her co-worker didn't know. I think they knew, but just didn't know how to make it easy for me because the Tourist Information Center told me the longest way to get there (I had to backtrack to the other end of Insadong where I was just at some thirty minutes ago). After leaving the underpass at Angguk station, I didn't find any more Changdeukgung directional signs and was worried that I was going to be late for the tour. Luckily, I found two teenagers who didn't ignore me and pointed me further down the street. By the time I got to the ticket booth, I was almost sweaty (almost because it's hard to be sweaty in the Northern Hemisphere during spring), but right on time for the tour. Woot!
Changdeukgung is huge and pretty. Awesome stuff. Unfortunately, the trees and most of the flowers weren't in bloom yet so the shots were less than picture-perfect. Even Biwon, the Secret Garden, wasn't as picturesque as I hoped it would be.
Going for an authentic eating experience (and since I passed by it a gazillion times just today alone), I ate at a Korean restaurant, which resembled like a hanok, in Insadong. I had a nakji (octupus) dolsot bibimbap for W6,000. Even though I only put two spoonfuls of the sauce in the huge pot, my tongue was flaming and I had to keep on wiping my nose from all the snot that was generated (yummy picture, I know). The kimchi, part of the banchan, actually cooled the temperature down, in addition to the delish anchovies (or delish dilis, if you will) and the full jug of water I chugged down.
After a quick stop to buy a Starbucks mug at the uber-familiar store with the hangul-ized sign, I went back to my hotel to finally check in. In the process, I had to walk up and down Insadong again because I couldn't remember which alley in Insadong I came from earlier (darn those skinny streets). I eventually had to ask the Tourist Information Center to give me a hand.
The highlight of my day? Watching JUMP at the Cinecore Theatre, which was just a stone's throw away from my digs; I love being able to walk to these places! Two of the male actors were cute and there were a couple of parts in the show where they didn't have their shirts on. God is seriously not giving me a reason not to like this city. HaHa! One of the guys even looked like a spitting image of BaeYongJoon, a former flame. If this actor had plastic surgery, I wouldn't be surprised if he told his surgeon to make him look like BYJ because he seriously does. With a nice toned body that only martial arts can bring, I couldn't help but smile throughout the whole show. Yes, I felt guilty for having dirtythoughts since this was a family-friendly show. ;P The show itself was quite entertaining and I highly recommend it, with or without the hot actors.
With the sun still up, I decided to finally orient myself because I totally felt lost by not knowing where everything was. I followed Cheonggye Stream which brought me to the city center-the area that I was familiar with-thanks to Cathy's walking tour in 2007. In the process, I found a Rotiboy Bakeshoppe and started thinking that Seoul might be a like Manila in terms of the abundance of restaurants from around the world. With a rotiboy in hand, I still wanted to find more sugary sweetness (who needs dinner when your tongue is still flaming from the bibimbap from some three hours ago) so I headed back to Insadong to find a hotteok stall. After rows of every street food available in Seoul, I didn't see one that resembled a hotteok (or maybe I just didn't recognize it?). Hmm, tomorrow is another day and I'm not leaving Seoul until I eat one!
Instead of taking the KAL bus to Seoul like I did in 2007, I took the more economical Airport Limosine Bus into the city which was a great idea because it allowed me to see all the different neighborhoods in this metropolis. However, this didn't help me orient myself. When the bus dropped me off at my stop, I knew where I was in reference to where I need to be, but I didn't know where I was in reference to everything else (this is why I always prefer walking whenever I'm on travel rather than taking a taxi or a bus).
After finding out that I couldn't check in early, I decided to kill time at Insadong before my 11:30am English tour of Changdeuk Palace. Ahh, Insadong. It looked quite different from what I remembered the last time I was there since traffic is allowed on the weekdays. It was still quite early at 10am so most of the stores haven't gotten their goods set up yet. After going up and down the street, I walked over to Tapgol Park where harabeojis were chillin', dressed up in their coat and dress pants, similar to how I found them in 2007. There were no school kids this time around, but a bus load of tourists arrived shortly after me. They were all ajummas and halmeonis without a camera so I didn't have to wait long before I could get some shots.
Still too early for Changdeukgung, I checked out a Skin Food store. Ahh, this was the start of my "No, I'm not Korean" escapades. Okay, it actually started at the Paris Baguette Cafe in the airport (their cream cheese danish was delish!) when the cashier asked me something (I'm guessing if I wanted a drink to go with it), but ended up just taking my money after she realized I'm not Korean by my confused look.
The Skin Food store just opened so I found one of the sales girls mopping the floor. When she got around to my side of the store, I tried to tell her to go ahead and don't mind me, but she stopped and started asking me questions to which I started shaking my hand at her while smiling. Not wanting to look like I was having an epileptic shock, I asked, "Yong-o haseyo (Do you know English)?" and she said something like, "No, blah blah blah"...at least that's how I interpreted her answer. Perhaps my pronunciation was perfect because she kept uttering more phrases in Korean. I didn't want to pull out my Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook so I ended up just saying "I don't understand. Byane" a couple of times until she left me alone.
When I was paying, I tried to practice what little Korean I knew and said "Odi...Changdeukgung (Where...Changdeuk Palace)?" Unfortunately, she and her co-worker didn't know. I think they knew, but just didn't know how to make it easy for me because the Tourist Information Center told me the longest way to get there (I had to backtrack to the other end of Insadong where I was just at some thirty minutes ago). After leaving the underpass at Angguk station, I didn't find any more Changdeukgung directional signs and was worried that I was going to be late for the tour. Luckily, I found two teenagers who didn't ignore me and pointed me further down the street. By the time I got to the ticket booth, I was almost sweaty (almost because it's hard to be sweaty in the Northern Hemisphere during spring), but right on time for the tour. Woot!
Changdeukgung is huge and pretty. Awesome stuff. Unfortunately, the trees and most of the flowers weren't in bloom yet so the shots were less than picture-perfect. Even Biwon, the Secret Garden, wasn't as picturesque as I hoped it would be.
Going for an authentic eating experience (and since I passed by it a gazillion times just today alone), I ate at a Korean restaurant, which resembled like a hanok, in Insadong. I had a nakji (octupus) dolsot bibimbap for W6,000. Even though I only put two spoonfuls of the sauce in the huge pot, my tongue was flaming and I had to keep on wiping my nose from all the snot that was generated (yummy picture, I know). The kimchi, part of the banchan, actually cooled the temperature down, in addition to the delish anchovies (or delish dilis, if you will) and the full jug of water I chugged down.
After a quick stop to buy a Starbucks mug at the uber-familiar store with the hangul-ized sign, I went back to my hotel to finally check in. In the process, I had to walk up and down Insadong again because I couldn't remember which alley in Insadong I came from earlier (darn those skinny streets). I eventually had to ask the Tourist Information Center to give me a hand.
The highlight of my day? Watching JUMP at the Cinecore Theatre, which was just a stone's throw away from my digs; I love being able to walk to these places! Two of the male actors were cute and there were a couple of parts in the show where they didn't have their shirts on. God is seriously not giving me a reason not to like this city. HaHa! One of the guys even looked like a spitting image of BaeYongJoon, a former flame. If this actor had plastic surgery, I wouldn't be surprised if he told his surgeon to make him look like BYJ because he seriously does. With a nice toned body that only martial arts can bring, I couldn't help but smile throughout the whole show. Yes, I felt guilty for having dirtythoughts since this was a family-friendly show. ;P The show itself was quite entertaining and I highly recommend it, with or without the hot actors.
With the sun still up, I decided to finally orient myself because I totally felt lost by not knowing where everything was. I followed Cheonggye Stream which brought me to the city center-the area that I was familiar with-thanks to Cathy's walking tour in 2007. In the process, I found a Rotiboy Bakeshoppe and started thinking that Seoul might be a like Manila in terms of the abundance of restaurants from around the world. With a rotiboy in hand, I still wanted to find more sugary sweetness (who needs dinner when your tongue is still flaming from the bibimbap from some three hours ago) so I headed back to Insadong to find a hotteok stall. After rows of every street food available in Seoul, I didn't see one that resembled a hotteok (or maybe I just didn't recognize it?). Hmm, tomorrow is another day and I'm not leaving Seoul until I eat one!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Hi Seoul Indeed
Oh Seoul, I have come back for you!
After almost two years since my 10-hour layover in 2007, I'm back in the Land of the Morning Calm (whatever that is supposed to really mean).
On my flight to Narita, I was sitting in the last row, window seat next to an ajussi. This might be my preferred seat from now on since no one was coughing behind me nor was someone using my headrest to balance himself/herself whenever nature called (the latter is a HUGE pet peeve of mine when flying).
And Asiana Airlines is still my favorite airline; United's food was not up to par compared to what Asiana served me in 2007; I'm not even going to try to describe the half-sandwich that they served as a snack from Narita to Incheon. Plus, no toiletry kit. Boo!
Incheon International is still the greatest airport for me; my local Sea-Tac International can't be compared. I just love how after you claim your luggage and pass the Customs, the double doors open (for each person) and the waiting area is full of people, looking towards you. It feeds the inner wanna-be-celebrity in me since I always imagine the paparazzi are taking pictures as I walk out. HaHa!
As if God granted my shallow wish of an eye-candy-filled trip, I was welcomed by hot oppas right off the bat. The hotel shuttle driver met me at the 1st floor Tourist Information Counter and we proceeded to the shuttle which was filled with passengers already; I ended up sitting in the front. Because of the tinted windows and my not wanting to look too obvious by looking back, I didn't exactly know who was there, but I heard all of them talking in Korean throughout the 15-minute ride from ICN to the Airport Square. I swear, hearing Korean spoken by young guys is music to my ears. ;P When we got to the hotel, God's gift was unwrapped: five twenty-something guys, decked out in suits, who were all equally good-looking by Korean drama standards (I thought one was more good-looking than the rest). "Omo, omo!" alright. Yeah, my happiness is THAT shallow. Let me be. HaHa!
So after my "first day in Seoul", here I am, on my double bed, looking forward to the next six days. Woot!
After almost two years since my 10-hour layover in 2007, I'm back in the Land of the Morning Calm (whatever that is supposed to really mean).
On my flight to Narita, I was sitting in the last row, window seat next to an ajussi. This might be my preferred seat from now on since no one was coughing behind me nor was someone using my headrest to balance himself/herself whenever nature called (the latter is a HUGE pet peeve of mine when flying).
And Asiana Airlines is still my favorite airline; United's food was not up to par compared to what Asiana served me in 2007; I'm not even going to try to describe the half-sandwich that they served as a snack from Narita to Incheon. Plus, no toiletry kit. Boo!
Incheon International is still the greatest airport for me; my local Sea-Tac International can't be compared. I just love how after you claim your luggage and pass the Customs, the double doors open (for each person) and the waiting area is full of people, looking towards you. It feeds the inner wanna-be-celebrity in me since I always imagine the paparazzi are taking pictures as I walk out. HaHa!
As if God granted my shallow wish of an eye-candy-filled trip, I was welcomed by hot oppas right off the bat. The hotel shuttle driver met me at the 1st floor Tourist Information Counter and we proceeded to the shuttle which was filled with passengers already; I ended up sitting in the front. Because of the tinted windows and my not wanting to look too obvious by looking back, I didn't exactly know who was there, but I heard all of them talking in Korean throughout the 15-minute ride from ICN to the Airport Square. I swear, hearing Korean spoken by young guys is music to my ears. ;P When we got to the hotel, God's gift was unwrapped: five twenty-something guys, decked out in suits, who were all equally good-looking by Korean drama standards (I thought one was more good-looking than the rest). "Omo, omo!" alright. Yeah, my happiness is THAT shallow. Let me be. HaHa!
So after my "first day in Seoul", here I am, on my double bed, looking forward to the next six days. Woot!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Off to Some Seoul-Searching
Well, this might be the most anti-climactic trip I've ever taken, thanks to the countdown that I started at five weeks. HeHe! I'm heading off to the airport in a couple of hours and I'm excited to see what else the world has to offer. Be back on April 16th!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Amen
"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power." -Alan Cohen
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