Heal my Seoul ~

Boeing 737 on MH aka Malaysian Airlines. The trip was booked in February 2013, 5 months prior to the actual trip. I finally came inflight after the torturous and gruesome wait as well as school plus exams.

My own inflight entertainment which was absolutely unnecessary. Being a pauper, I've always been on budget, this flight includes tonnes of movies. Managed to catch Die Hard 5, G.I. Joe 2 as well as Olympus has fallen.

Finally arrived  at the promised land, 10 hours of traveling time including transit at KLIA (Kualar Lumpur International Airport). Still feeling surreal, like as though I'm still not here due to the English and Mandarin characters on most of the airports' signage.

Got  my T-money card, similar to Singapore's EZ-Link and Hong Kong's Octupus card, filled it up with 20,000KRW and onwards to my hostel at Dongdaemun History and Culture Park. ETA was suppose to be 1hours 20minutes, I took close to 2hours. Smart ass was all plugged into his mp3 player and got off at the wrong stop.

There's a huge difference between lines in Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit, certain lines would have lighted routes to show which station are you at, certain lines will show the direction from left to right and some right to left, some have English Station on their display or PA systems some do not have so you'd have to open your ears and listen.

Anyhow, home sweet home.

 

1st stop, Hongdae for my hair cut, huge efforts getting the appointment booked. They couldn't understand me so i couldn't make any appointment when dialing from Singapore, got my receptionist to call Cheongdam brunch, but the number is wrong, end up headed over to HongDae.

 Evanstyle @ Hongdae http://www.evanstyle.co.kr

 This is their paper cup, customized, really impressive

 

 The Assistant on the left and my stylist, Lynn on the right

 

 While chit chatting we're like talking about my bias and well Seo In Young is definitely one of my favourite, my stylist immediately exclaimed that she does look like Seo In Young. Quite true, her nose and her eyes actually do quite look like Elly haha. She kept on going that she didn't had surgery so I should like her more than Elly, dangz ~~~

 

How it was suppose to look like, which I damaged on my 2nd day, less than 24hrs into my perm :((
Anyway, my first meal ever since I landed in Korea was dinner ~ skipped breakfast and lunch like totally

Doengjang Jiggae

Next day was to visit the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), something that got me really hyped up about, able to see North Koreans. We visited the 3rd tunnel, one of the 4 tunnels the north dug through the DMZ to penetrate the South, angled at 45 degrees, 300metres below ground level, pretty interesting sight, but the climb back up was woah ~

The JSA (Joint Security Area) was the really intense part, we get to see the KPA (Korean People's Army) or the North's Army like less than 35metres away, taking photographs and scouting us with their binoculars. We were even allowed to cross the border within the freedom house, where the North and the South uses for their negotiations.

 The Korean People's Army is that close.

 The slab of concrete in the middle of the blue house is the border.

 
You guys have to be there to really get the whole picture, it's definitely worth every cent I swear. Next up meeting up with the girls, rushed home, showered and met them at Honguk Uni ~ we're having BBQ at Kang Gary's Shop, Pal Ji Mak Chang ~

Food was rather pricey compared to most bbq places and the beef intestines weren't good at all, samgyupsal was quite fat but tasted good. And that's how the 2nd day ended.

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Fast forward to today, right now. I'm having withdrawal syndromes, major withdrawal. I've lost interest with food, not even home cook food makes the cut, obsessed with stairs as well as midnight snack which was simply within reach up till 4am in the morning.

What makes thing worst is the standard of coffee in Singapore, vs the coffee in Korea. You can barge into any and I meant any local cafes or even bottled coffees that cost $1.35 and it tasted so damn good. I'm addicted to coffees much more than ciggies, hence it's really hard to start my day going.

The most magical food I had was the meatless bbibimbap which was season to perfection, the absolute balance of all the taste-buds were satisfied, the next best thing would be the Seolleongtang or Oxtail Soup. The broth taste blend to begin with before the rich after taste kicks in and retains the scent within your mouth. It's nothing short of magical...

It's the taste that I've been yearning for all my life, the richness but not overwhelming marination, the crazy broth, the rice, the perfectly fermented Kimchi and Raddish...

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It's really hard to get back to reality, so hard that I've been losing sleep... 1st time in my life, I'm going through such a terrible time, except for the breakups during my early days, this feels almost like a break up.

Of course there were the people I missed dearly, my noonA, Ye Eun, JaeYoun, Apple, the Ajumma downstairs, my receptionists, my host Jay, the super duper "guailan" cashier in the family mart downstairs which by the time I was about to leave, became friends.

In Korea, although I do not belong there, I felt more welcome then I'm, back here.

Fan account next? I've nothing much to show, everything's captured in my mind though...