HI I LISTENED TO 2PM AND FLEW TO SEOUL AND I AM REALLY HAPPY ABOUT IT (:

Destination: South Korea, Seoul via Ho Chi Minh City
Date: 14th December 2010 - 21st December 2010
Accomodation: Victoria Hotel, Gangbuk-gu
Main objective: Experience snow-ish environment and everything Korean, meet Kpop idols, shop and basically to fall in love with Seoul, more.

How much I enjoy the days there can't be described by only words. You gotta see my expression too! I love Seoul so much that I may just be a Korean one day. Teehee. No kiddo dude. There's a lot of things we Singaporeans can learn from them. The service industry there is excellent! I like how they approach the customer and explain things carefully (even though they answer in Korean when we ask in English). The ahjummas and ahjussis there are really helpful and cute. They also do things in systematically. And their hygiene level is good. You won't find toilets smelling not good there. I love Korea (:

Day one:

My uncle's family sent us off at the airport! The rest of my aunts and uncles are busy. Raaaaah so that is to say Hanz and Hail didn't sent us off. Anyhoo, after checking in, adik felt like eating pasta and pizza (yes eating is her favourite thing to do in this whole entire world). So we headed to Pizza Hut. Around 19.30, we headed into the Departure gate, leaving Singapore with a heavy heart because I'll be missing my grandmama, grandpapa, my little cousins, my ham hams and everyone else. I am the only emotional one I guess heh. The flight to Ho Chi Minh is around one and a half hours. The food was yummeh yum yum.

At Tahn Son Nhat International Airport, we met this Korean couple. It was really tough communicating because we understand what they said but its difficult to reply back in Korean. So we used basic English. That gauged the communication barrier we were gonna experience there later. Anyhoo, the ahjussi was nice! He gave me Korean seaweed to be used to make bimbap. Heehee. When we got on the plane heading to Seoul, we realised at 90% of the people in there are Koreans! All I heard were Korean words. Making me really happy. Hee hee. The duration from Ho Chi Minh to Incheon is five and a half hours. I was so tired but I couldn't go to sleep because of the thought of stepping my feet into my favourite country of them all. The first day of the trip is spent in the aeroplane.

Day two:

When we arrived at Incheon International Airport at around 0630, I almost cried like zomg. I am like so thankful that God gives us blessings to make our way to Seoul. I told everyone in Singapore I'll take a photo with a rubbish bin (and not just any rubbish bin, a KOREAN rubbish bin) as soon as I arrive in Seoul. Heh I did together with my sister. Everywhere we turn we see Hangul characters. Like literally everywhere. Can you imagine the happiness my sister and I felt when we read Korean, listen Korean, breathe Korean, everything Korean like zomg? Mummy and Daddy were excited too! To see snow and to shop till we drop of course. Yes my family loves shopping. If my hamsters were human prolly they'll fall in love with shopping because of us. Heh.

After immgration clearance and claiming our baggages, we decided to have MacDonalds' hotcakes for breakfast. There's one thing Singaporeans can learn from Koreans when it comes to being independent in food places. In Singapore, there's a campaign on clearing your own tables like the one in Changi Airport Terminal 3's Kopitiam. There in Seoul, they clear their own food as soon as they are done. There is a station where you throw plastic, paper cups, food waste, rubbish and even liquid. Their discipline there is 5 out of 5. We Singaporeans are too pampered don't you think?

Mummy asked me to check out the bus ticket counter which is outside of the airport. And when I opened the door, a gush of wind smacked me right in the face with temperature similar to that of a freezer. The coldness was no joke dude. Anyhooha. Got our bus tickets to the Hotel where we stay. I thought the bus would be small and all but I am wrong. Like zomg, the seats were oober comfy, the driver was helpful and sweet, the scenery was pretty. I fell asleep without even realising it though.

When we arrived at the hotel, we were really weally early. Check in was at 2pm. So what we did was we walked around the hotel area. Our hotel was nicely smacked in a nice location where there is ALOT OF SHOPPING AREAS. Ah~ heaven. Our room was spacious, like really spacious. Really clean toilet. A nice classic Korean view. And everything in the room can be controlled by a touch of a button. Didn't go anywhere but around the hotel area. E-MART IS DA BOMB. You can find everything and anything there. And we bought this octopus tentacles where they bbq-ed it using stones, IT IS LIKE SO NICE. It has been my dream to eat octopus when I reach Seoul. Wheeeheee, my sister too!

On this day too, there was the Melon Awards and MBLAQ's Chapstick event both at Kyunghee University. It was so depressing for me because its MBLAQ. They have an event there but I don't even know how the procedure of admission is to the event. RAAAAAAAAAAH Seungho ah~ Anyhoo we caught the Melon Awards live on teevee. One word: Awesome.

Day three:

Me and mum headed out first! We went to Daiso for like the countless time. Seriously the Daiso there is fantabulous. Everything's not of the same price though. But the things there are cute and are of high quality and all are made in Korea. When night falls, we headed to Hyundai Department store which is like across the street. Hyundai Department store is like Takashimaya! Yes yes.

For desert, we headed to Dunkin Donuts. Suddenly I noticed pretty white cotton-like thinggies falling down from the sky. And I was thinking like zomg is that snow or something? If it is, I'm already recording the moment in my head for it was the first time I ever see real snow flakes. And guess what, it was snowing that night! I was nearly moved to tears, again. Headed back to the hotel with snow falling from the sky, oh how nice. We even stood outside the hotel staring into the sky, taking photos heh.

Day four:

In the morning, we were greeted by a pure and pretty white scenery. And me being me, I got up, and quickly ask daddy to come down with me to snap pictures. Omona, I was like a three year old kid when I saw the snow-filled environment. Teehee! In the afternoon, after zuhur which is around 12plus Korean time (oh wait, the prayers time in Seoul is really early, thus the night time there is like long. Maghrib is around 5plus) , we headed out to Lotte Department Store before meeting my friend, Ji Sung.

We promised to meet at the subway station as he wanted to bring us around in Dongdaemun. And he didn't show up like zomg. P.S: On the third day, Idol Sports competition was played on teevee. Even though we catch it on Youtube, the excitement is different as to when it is on teevee heeee.

We weren't panicking because we did a lot of homework before coming to Seoul. Made our way to Dongdaemun. Shop shop shop at Migliore and Doota! Yes Doota, the place where 2PM recorded the Fly to Seoul boom boom boom MV. And where SHINee bought clothes for Yoogeun in Hello Baby and also had Dippin Dots ice cream. Be jealous Shawols and Hottests, we headed there and took lots of pictures. Wheeeheeee headed back to the subway around 11.45pm (last train like omg).

Day Five:

Dongdaemun-ed again. We covered Pyonghwa Clothing Market. Oh that place is good. I bought a lot of pretty scarfs there. Headed to Migliore to get my Hanbok! I like it because its so pretty! The ahjumma even braided my hair for me when I tried on the Hanbok. Adik got more clothes. Then we headed to the Shoe Market, where my sister nearly gone bonkers. She have this thing for shoes. Honestly, she doesn't like shopping that much but she bought the most things like seriously. Day four itself she got four pairs of shoes, and at least 7 pieces of shirts. Basically we shopped a lot on the fourth day because we discovered Dongdaemun's night market! Yay wheee. It got late and we headed back to the hotel.

While we were having dinner, Ji Sung called me! My mum was kinda excited to meet this Korean friend of mine so she was constantly moving her lips telling me to tell him to meet us so that we can pass him the gifts we got him and so that we can all meet him. He told me he forgot the promise we made, and was really sorry. A true gentleman I must say, he said he'll come to the hotel itself to fetch us. Oh so sweet. Told that to mum and she kept reminding me to bring the presents. Ha ha ha. Oh and since we missed the live telecast of KBS end-of-the-year Music Bank, we managed to catch it on day five (:

Day Six:

Woke up early to meet Ji Sung! Came down with mummy. He didn't recognized me at first though heh. Headed to Lotteria first while mum waited for dad and sister. There was a language barrier though, but we overcame it. He made me feel comfortable because he's the type to talk and talk. Soon after, I introduced him to my family. It was nice and all. He then brought me out from Lotteria with the permission of my parents of course. I was like whoaaa why. He brought me to this cute accessories store asking me to pick what I want as gifts from him. He's sweet. He even got my family gifts.

Since he's busy with university admission, he could only accompany us to Lotte World. Anyway, Lotte World was fun. Everything was cute like seriously. There's an outdoor and indoor theme park. What made it more exciting was Nichkhun came there once for MNET Scandal. Wheeeeeheeee and Orange Caramel had an outdoor shooting of Magic Girl performance at the Merry go round. Lotte World is a whole lot of fun because there, is the first time I ever rode a scary roller coaster ride, went up all the way to about 12 stories high just to be smacked down to the ground and up again, visited Snow White's castle, rode on a 10 metre long Hawaiian wave-like thinggy with your head face down to the river, went through what Sinbad adventure on a boat, and rode a pretty sparkling Merry go round! Yay Lotte World.

Wanted to visit Star Avenue but it was already closed! I was like ooober sad zomg. I was really looking forward to going to Star Avenue, but oh well. We could only see the display of Big Bang, Jang Geun Suk and other actors outside of Star Avenue. Raaaaah! It's something I'll look forward to the next time I visit Seoul. Anyway, since Star Avenue is closed what do we do? We shop! Mum discovered this boutique selling Made in Korea bags at a reasonable price. I nearly went gaga and so did she! We both are bagaholic. Heh heh. After shopping and more shopping, we headed back to the hotel!

Day seven:

I don't really like day seven. Why? Because its like the second last day we're spending in Seoul. Raaaaaah! The only full day we have to spend in Seoul to be exact because we're flying off early next morning. So we decided to go to Korea's famous Namdaemun market! Its like a bigger version of Bugis Street. And its like crowded even on a weekday. You can find everything and anything there! Soon after we headed to Myeondong which is just a few km away! Heh we walked to our destination. And we can see Namsan tower!

While on the way there, we chance upon an Iranian dude who sells Kebab. Yummy yummmyumm. We also met this Singaporean couple. When we arrived in Myeondong, only then and there did I know that Myeondong is the true shopping heaven of Seoul. The shops they have there in Myeondong totally put the shops in Singapore to shame. The shops there has a blend of creavity and technology all together! And they Koreans are really proud of their home brands! Everywhere you turn you see Faceshop, Nature Republic, Etude House, bags, shoes, boots, cute accessories, and even cute boys ha ha ha. Oh there's even H&M and Forever21. H&M is ooober coolio :D And and and SM's own shop, SPAO! I love SPAO like a lot.

ABC Mart is a truly budget store in Singapore right. But in Korea, ABC Mart is a shoe haven! As per normal, my sister went crazy first. So crazy that she got my dad to get her three pairs of Vans. Its a pity we only went to Myeondong on the last day we had to shop. Before heading back to the hotel, we headed to Baskin Robins where we had ice cream! Yummeh. A last cone before we fly back to Singapore.

Day eight:

Packed our bags till 3am. Had a really difficult time fitting everything in four baggages. Slept till 5.30am. Instead of taking a bus to the airport, mum booked a taxi. I thought the taxi will be like those in Singapore, but when it came to fetch us at the hotel lobby, it was like those vans the idols ride. Checked-in. Breakfast. Headed into the departure gate. Got into the plane. Wanted to cry because I'm already leaving Seoul. Luckily there's a lot of cute babies in the plane. Arrived at the airport with my uncle and my aunt's family greeting us! Hanz was there too (: Heeh.

So my whole entire point is: When you see those videos on star world where the kpop idols are singing songs asking you to come and visit Seoul, dude, trust me they are serious about it. There's so many things to see, so many things to learn from and so many things to buy! Heeeeeh. My first visit to Korea is one I know I'll never forget. Mum and Dad are already talking about the next visit there! Oh and did I tell you the people there are fashionistas regardless of their age? Seriously. Oh my I've fallen in love with Seoul. P.S: EVEN THEIR RUBBISH BINS ARE PRETTY. Kay love you human beings lesser than I love Seoul, and her people, and her kitty cats and her ahjummas and ajhussis (no kiddo).

"Fly to Seoul~"