kinda tired after getting back from seoul because i hardly slept. the trip was really fun and on average, i dont get to bed till like 5am. sometimes its just late nights, some times its just chitchat...
some of the cafe closed at midnite, while some places are 24hrs. so its pretty easy for time to passed by without one actually noticing it. i supposed it was better for me as i had a local friend to bring me around and check out the local haunts rather than tourist spots, for food at least.
truth be told, in terms of tourist spots like the palace, it is definitely not as spectacular as japan. then again to be fair, i didnt have chance to go on day trips outside seoul. however, the shopping and eating are pretty good for me. transport is also accessible to all places except i was a little taken back that korean people are not exactly a friendly bunch... compared to japanese, they are like heaven and earth. perhaps its my own fault to assume that korean nation will be a friendly, polite batch and hence have my expectation crushed... this statement esp applies to all the older korean folks. i really literally stayed out of their way [hair] because they sure looked grouchy to me perpetually, and always shoving people out of their way without saying anything...that's the bad thing about being mistaken as a korean i guess. i see that they dont do it to caucasians as much. sigh...
anycase, i went to everland, and tried both the theme park as well as caribbean bay which is a water theme park. it was superbly fun. in fact, i didnt realised till belatedly that it was the same park that hyunjoong went in the show 'we got married', where he had to piggy back his wifey and also took the rollercoaster ride. speaking of the rollercoaster T-express... it was OMG. IT HAS THE STEEPEST DROP EVER. i have taken a lot of rides in my lifetime and normally i aint too excited, but this one, this one is marvelous. its almost like free fall down but it doesnt end there. the ride continues with 12 ripples of drops. it was hell of an amazing ride on the wooden structure. i will talk more when i post up the pixs.
i also went to the cafe where they filmed coffee prince. it was a nice spot though they had a rather grumpy male serving staff...sigh. it was some effort before i found the place actually because it was not in the map and the cafe had no name so to speak. i had to go to four seasons house, a place where they had all the drama set of winter sonata etc to ask for directions.
the weirdest thing i must admit in korea, is how little english is spoken and used in seoul, despite all the grand effort to promite its tourism. without my friend, it would have been impossible to know which bus stop to go to grab what number bus, or where to stop. nothing was in english....
initially it was a little challenging. then to my surprise, i realised that i actually got on better speaking in japanese rather than in english. odds are, someone on the street and in restaurants will understand japanese more than english. talk about bizarre....
alright, i am dead tired.
more laterz. watch this spot.
some of the cafe closed at midnite, while some places are 24hrs. so its pretty easy for time to passed by without one actually noticing it. i supposed it was better for me as i had a local friend to bring me around and check out the local haunts rather than tourist spots, for food at least.
truth be told, in terms of tourist spots like the palace, it is definitely not as spectacular as japan. then again to be fair, i didnt have chance to go on day trips outside seoul. however, the shopping and eating are pretty good for me. transport is also accessible to all places except i was a little taken back that korean people are not exactly a friendly bunch... compared to japanese, they are like heaven and earth. perhaps its my own fault to assume that korean nation will be a friendly, polite batch and hence have my expectation crushed... this statement esp applies to all the older korean folks. i really literally stayed out of their way [hair] because they sure looked grouchy to me perpetually, and always shoving people out of their way without saying anything...that's the bad thing about being mistaken as a korean i guess. i see that they dont do it to caucasians as much. sigh...
anycase, i went to everland, and tried both the theme park as well as caribbean bay which is a water theme park. it was superbly fun. in fact, i didnt realised till belatedly that it was the same park that hyunjoong went in the show 'we got married', where he had to piggy back his wifey and also took the rollercoaster ride. speaking of the rollercoaster T-express... it was OMG. IT HAS THE STEEPEST DROP EVER. i have taken a lot of rides in my lifetime and normally i aint too excited, but this one, this one is marvelous. its almost like free fall down but it doesnt end there. the ride continues with 12 ripples of drops. it was hell of an amazing ride on the wooden structure. i will talk more when i post up the pixs.
i also went to the cafe where they filmed coffee prince. it was a nice spot though they had a rather grumpy male serving staff...sigh. it was some effort before i found the place actually because it was not in the map and the cafe had no name so to speak. i had to go to four seasons house, a place where they had all the drama set of winter sonata etc to ask for directions.
the weirdest thing i must admit in korea, is how little english is spoken and used in seoul, despite all the grand effort to promite its tourism. without my friend, it would have been impossible to know which bus stop to go to grab what number bus, or where to stop. nothing was in english....
initially it was a little challenging. then to my surprise, i realised that i actually got on better speaking in japanese rather than in english. odds are, someone on the street and in restaurants will understand japanese more than english. talk about bizarre....
alright, i am dead tired.
more laterz. watch this spot.
2 comments:
Hi...I read your reply and feel sorry that I haven't replied for a long time, It's been a bit hectic for me lately. Anyway, I found a way to access blogspot with a kind of VPN that allow me to leave a message, so that's mean I can still read your blog ^^ and don't worry, you won't loss a friend :)
Welcome back from Seoul and as I predicted, you sure had agreat time there. Ah..everland, yes this is "JoongBo"'s themepark. It's also famous for becoming a location for one of the jangnara's old drama "My love's patzzi"
Yeah..language barrier might be a problem, but you're still lucky to have korean friend there. Heard that Korea's subway is one of the most complicated cause it has a lot lines, is it true?
Have a good rest.
ahhhhhhhh [excited scream] welcome back cindy ;] better late than never as the saying goes, i'm just glad u found a way to bypass censorship in china and be here...heeeee
yeaheverland was great. i was walking halfway and then suddenly i stopped in my track and scream to my friend..''this is where hyun joong piggy backed bo.'' my friend of coz rolled his eyes and thot i was too adddicted...haaa
u are positively right. language is definitely a big headache. however if u know japanese, u will be surprised how less difficult it is because of the huge influx of japanese tourists and the similar language struture, speaking jap is way more common than eng which is almost non existent on the streets and eateries. so having my fren with me was handy and he was a gem...esp when he didnt mind shopping wth me. haaaaa
actually korean subway may seem complicated but its real easy, for me at least. if u find no problem with jap subway, u will have no problem in seoul. everything is marked clearly in colours, so its hard to get lost really. there are about 9 lines but line 1 [blue] is the most used lines and interchange. the green and purple ones lead to the infamous shopping areas of course. i bought the t-card, which gives discount on each ride compared to single fare ticket which is a hassle because of the 500won and u need to get thre deposit back when u return the card. so what the hell, save me hassle and the reloading of value is easy. its big, clear in engl and once u get it teh first time, subsequent reload value can be done in korean without a hitch.
ok..i am blabbling again... i just dowload my pixs, will find time to upload in blog next week... i have over 300pixs...need to select... haa
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