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takeflightwithlove

Hong Kong soon

ONE MORE WEEK TO HONGKONG

my heart beats fast fast from just thinking of the food I get to eat and what is going to be my very first Disneyland.

:D Childhood dream fulfilled! I might just break down in tears when I get to hug Mickey Mouse.

cindygonewild

Impending trip = time to revive this blog with pictures of roast pigeons and egg tarts when the time comes. yayyy

top: Shibuya crossing bottom: girl in Kimono at Meiji Shrine

Thought I should keep this blog alive by reminiscing the experience I had during exchange once in awhile, to write about any trips that I would have next time or to just post more photos that I took before :p

It's hard to imagine that just a month ago, I was still sitting somewhere in a cafe in Anam-dong, Seoul, preparing for my finals with a swiss friend. The air is cold and the streets are white with snow. soft. magical. Now I'm back to my sunny small island Singapore where green tropical trees are aplenty, the weather is warm and humid and the sun is bright with lots of sunshine. big contrast there.

Being away for so long and then back makes me appreciate and detest certain things about my own country. Seldom people would realize how wonderful it can be to live in somewhere that is bright and colourful all the time. have came to appreciate the greenery and sunshine at my island now.

Despite how nice it can be to live in a wealthy sunny and colourful tiny island, I have really enjoyed seeing more of the world and would love to do so again, at the expense of driving lessons and more and better finance management. /: talk about practicality.

Singapore, just before daybreak.

The last trip that I took in Korea was to Namiseom with a Korean friend Ahream :) She told me that she would be really happy if I write about this trip and so here I am! Hello 아름 :p

Nami Island is actually a tiny weeny island surrounded by the water of Han River somewhere near Chuncheon (North-east part of South Korea). I thought that really shows how impressive the Han River is...

So Chuncheon is actually the hometown of my friend and it was a rare opportunity for me to have dinner with a Korean family and visit a new place at the same time. (: Actually this trip is just 2 weeks ago but somehow I feel like I'm writing about a distant land and the great memories I had there.

Well technically it is a distant land because I'm already back in Singapore... :(

Tokyo was what I have imagined it to be and more, including prices there. So expensive to travel there, eat there, shop there or just simply being there. Things are so expensive that $8 to me is just a 500yen coin to them. a COIN. Without even shopping, I've used SGD$400 for this short weekend trip (excluding air ticket).

$400 can definitely buy me a lot of things if I am travelling elsewhere for the weekend.

I felt so poor there while being blinded by the crazy price tags at Shinjuku, Shibuya, Akihabara and Harajuku. Appalled at their porn scene (much eye sore). Felt touched to tears for relieving my childhood at Studio Ghibli museum. Enjoyed peace and relaxation at an indoor sento and outdoor onsen (will be missing the public bath culture of this part of East Asia. Such liberation~). Tasted awesome sushi. Had yakitori at Omoide yokocho, which is their no-frill street that reminisce of war-time poverty, though the prices reflect otherwise. Good ramen at Shibuya. Beef bowl from Yoshinoya, cheap ($7+) and much more delicious than the yoshinoya branches in Singapore. Wonderful dessert crepe. Shrines visits; cultural appreciation.

Streets are clean and pretty in Tokyo. Shopping is great if you can afford it but I felt that some things are what can be found in Seoul at much cheaper prices. Subways are way more confusing in Tokyo than in Seoul... Language shock highly prominent; at least I can understand some Korean in Korea but anything beyond watashiwa cindy desu, Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu, konnichiwa, arigatou gozaimasu are completely foreign to me.

Despite the place being so expensive, it was still a great trip that felt like dream come true. Just felt really lucky to be at Japan since it is a country I have always wanted to visit. Also really lucky to have a good travel buddy who can understand some Japanese and did much planning, making our time in Japan well-spent and almost stress-free for me. So grateful (':

More pictures may be up one day, once I have more time at hand (:

extraordinary kindness from those I met here

There's this girl from Switzerland that I have became close with during this exchange, probably due to us sharing so many classes together and our willingness to just tell each other personal things and also about life at our own country. By sheer divine plan, her boyfriend happens to be arriving to Korea exactly on the date I am leaving Korea, and the arrival time is almost exact as the time of my departure. Due to that, she is planning to help me with my luggage and travel to Incheon International Airport with me to send me off at the same time.

That is like one BIG load off my chest that she is helping me with, both literally and metaphorically. And also, I won't be travelling to the airport or wait at the airport alone (:

Pretty soon I would have to move out (or get kicked out) from the dorm I am staying in to somewhere else near school for a week more in Seoul. I was planning to pack and move to another room somewhere near school by myself, over the span of two days or just make two trips there, or just carry everything down the hill where the dorms are and try to catch a taxi. Troublesome I know and this is probably over 20kg worth of luggages. I think I would have problems handling the move myself, but I just couldn't bring myself to ask for help. I was actually offered help by the Korean family that I visit often but by accepting their help would mean making them drive for 1hour plus into Seoul and to my area. That is too much. So I declined and said I'll be fine.

yes, I am so fine. I thought what my swiss friend is doing is already really great for me and just today, she found out that I have to move out from my dorm soon. Immediately she asked if I need help and she offered to help me move! amazing. I was so shocked and really touched by her offer. This time I did not decline since she is staying around the area and I DO need help to be honest. I just feel extremely blessed to know that I have one less problem to think about (':

As for how I am able to find an alternative accommodation is really thanks to divine intervention as well. Gosh, I have so many things to be thankful for. I happened to meet a Singaporean (who spent high school in Canada) that is a full-time student in Korea University in my War and Peace class, a class which I almost did not want to take because I had rather took Global Poverty. The only reason why I did not choose Global Poverty was that there wasn't enough space for the course until days later and by then, I have already opted for War and Peace and decided to just go with it. On her part, she happened to saw my name on the class list and that I am from National University of Singapore. Immediately after the class ended, she came over to say hello and we met for a meal. Since then, we always sit together in class. Let just say that right from the beginning even before knowing me better, she offered to let me stay at her place if I need to because she has an extra room in her loft. Of course now that we know a bit of each other better, I know I won't be living/entrusting my luggages with a complete stranger for a week. Extraordinary kindness on her part to trust and offer me a room at her place for the week, for free.

Next. Today after class, my professor came to talk to me and asked if this is the first time I am experiencing winter. A swedish girl nearby heard our conversation and told me she hopes I get to see loads of snow before leaving. Professor then suggested travelling by the subway to Chuncheon (and I never knew the Seoul Metro links to Chuncheon!!) because it is more country-side there with much snow in December. Upon hearing that, my Korean friend from the same project group as me invited me to Chuncheon after the exams because that's her hometown. woah. So there, I have this as my post-exam pre-departure plan on top of my last visit to the Korean family's place, in place already :)

Lastly for the day, my closest Korean guy friend I made here who is actually on exchange as a student from New Zealand, asked me for dinner. Random conversations and catching-up follows - about my DMZ trip and other things, about his girlfriend passing the entrance exam for graduate studies in Seoul National University...and other random things. Out of the blue, we talked about friendships and he told me he thinks I am one of his closest friend who is a girl that he has. I am so touched by that for I've never expect to make such good friends abroad. When something big happened to my personal life in October, he told me this at a cafe with a reassuring pat on my shoulder, "He was good right? But life will eventually get better, so don't worry". So like a brother and exactly the same response my parents gave when they visited me. Really appreciated hearing that the day after the fateful day for he was good in his own small ways and I don't need anyone to tell me otherwise. This friend's understanding and being so brotherly + our frequent meals together or cafe time is something I will miss very much when I leave Korea.

Hopefully one day I can look forward to visiting Seoul again for his wedding with my significant other and vice versa for him. hahaha. Funny agreement that we have came up with.

count my blessings.

random photo.

DMZ. Demilitarised Zone between North and South Korea.

Tension was so high at this area. It was frighteningly thrilling there, something I have never felt before. Knowing that I was in hostile land and somewhere that is dangerous yet was certain nothing bad would happen.

비가오는날엔 Rainy Days

I thought this cover is pretty impressive and this song is worth putting on my blog because in time to come, this song will definitely remind me of my time spent in Korea this year. (also because it's my favorite song to sing in noraebang, which literally mean 'song room' or karaoke) Yesterday I was a sinsa-dong again with 2 singaporean who don't know any Korean, with a Singaporean girl whom I always hang out with that's really fluent in Korean, a really cute and pretty Japanese girl from Nagasaki, who doesn't really speak English and can only speak Japanese and Korean well... So we were having desserts in Coco Bruni and we talked about 'ideal types' to get conversations starting. (I shall not talk about mine here publicly. Till now I haven't met anyone that's really really close to my ideal or exactly like my ideal, yet an ideal is not called an 'ideal' for no reason right)

I guess I was in such a good mood yesterday because although my friend is way fluent in Korean than me, I tried so hard yesterday to translate for the Japanese girl. So much so that she started saying "미아해....>.< 고마워!!" (sorry~~ thank you! -informal way-) because she saw that I was struggling to formulate my sentences in Korean. Thereafter she told my friend that I've improve a lot since the first time she met me which was in August/September?

No idea why but I'm reallllyyyyy happy about that. However the result of following a conversation fully in Korean gave me headaches. It's like deciphering a bunch of code in the head at real-time speed. painful to my brain.

This colourful building with fancy lights - is actually a hospital meant for cosmetic surgery.

obsession with appearance at its finest.

One of the prettiest cafe I've ever seen :D I will miss the cafes in Korea when I leave here, not because there isn't such pretty cafe around in Singapore (though fewer), but because I would have to spend $9 on coffee latte in such places and that a $6 drink in Starbucks is considered the cheapest gourmet coffee I can find back home.

On the plus side, Singapore is the land of cheap Teh-bing (ice milk tea), Teh Cino (Tea with evaporated milk), Teh Halia (tea with evaporated milk and ginger)...as well as the many Gong-cha and Koi bubble tea stores around. I love tea too.

Always something to appreciate in each different country. :D

Dinner with Jihyeon and Sungan at Sinsa-dong yesterday, which is one of the 'dong' (areas) within Gangnam-gu. Now Gangnam is probably a district in South Korean known by anyone around the world thanks to Psy's Gangnam Style.

On the way back to dorm...

Jeju #3. Hallasan

Jeju #2

Jeju #1

Jeju is awesome!

I know I haven't been updating much here, so sorry to whoever who still follows my blog. The thing is I find myself having less time idling with my computer, more time spent outside living the life of an exchange student and also studying. Yes, I do study even if I look like I play a lot, as shown by the many photos I have uploaded on facebook and the random snaps I took on instagram, adhering to the rules of the age of social media and exhibitionist behavior among young people. :p

Jeju was simply awesome. It has got to be my most favorite place in South Korea now after a weekend there. I walked across coastal rocks, plucked jeju oranges from the bush and ate them, napped by the sea, ate BBQ pork, walked 13.8km by the coast for the whole day, scaled a 9.6km trek up South Korea's tallest mountain Hallasan which elevation is 1,950m, reached the summit and realizing that I was on the same level as the clouds. I have seen snow up there, I have suffered from bruises, muscle aches and blisters. I did not make it back down before sunset and for the first time in Korea I walked in complete darkness, relying on a handphone's flashlight to find my way down. (I walk in complete darkness every night in Cambodia in year 2011 so I can't say that walking in pitch black is new to me). Also for the first time in my life, I find myself needing to rely totally on a Korean guy friend who was the one shining light for me and helping me down knowing that I was in pain. Gosh. Usually I pride myself for not needing a man too much...and because of that I thereby started calling him 'Oppa' which is a term common among Korean girls to call older guys but I have always refused to call anyone that. Foreigners get to transcend the Korean hierarchical boundaries :D

Jeju taught me perseverance and the idea of crying out to God in my heart because I was afraid and my muscles were in pain when hiking Hallasan. I really wanted to cry when the sun set and we find ourselves still far from the entrance. Jeju reminded me that many NS men and guys who went through those difficult trainings are deserving of much respect. With each painful step they took came with it determination, sweat, probably some tears and mental discipline.

Got to be one of the most memorable trip I've ever had. At least for a few days, my muscle aches would remind me so. (:

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