I gained some kgs in Korea

Yeah, Totally. I gained weight, I x check pun, but I know I did. Nasi siang malam, the rice is like glutinous rice but much tastier. I love Kimchi lot and lots, I love seaweed, mmm, chewy and digestible. Tofu fresh as it is! Sedap giler. I love TOFU! and I really love the long metal spoons and it made me sad that I did not buy it. But mum said it can be found in MY. And I love this food where fat squids are stuffed with rice and veggie and steamed then fried. WOAHH, sedap giler.

Being in Korea, I discovered that :
- People are discriminated by languages, my family was, mandarin was the main language, i heck tak faham, but I understood some.
- Azuma (married women) are housewives who spend most of their day watching TV, and only know how to shop.
- Women spend 5 minutes to cook for every meal at home because everything is ready to be served.
- Org Korea niii, suka big specs, like everybody i see wears big specs cos its fashion, ada yg xde lens pun
- Things are awfully expensive in Korea, the cheapest food was a bowl of noodles that would cost like 4500 won equivalent to RM 13.05.
- I am somewhat brave in certain things
- Summer in Korea is not likable by the people, its hot and people dont visit Korea = less income
- They live until 100 years old, they work although they are 70 years old
- In order to shorten their life, they smoke and drink lots of alcohol
- They find life being too harsh, they have to continue working as everything is so expensive
- Young women try not to get married fast bcos marriage is like jail to them
- Korean guys are not romantic, they walk in front leaving their spouse at the back and not hold their hands. LOL
- The only place that have muslims is in Itaewon
- 60% of them are buddhist, 10% are christians and the rest believe in themselves. I believe in Allah.
- Phone I macam bullshit, tak boleh ada server pulak kat Korea, org lain boleh =_="
- Malaysians are considered as "rich people" by Koreans
- Air-conds at hotels dont work when it is 9 degrees Celsius outside.
-When you say sotong in Korea, Koreans think you say "Bullshit". But, people at the fish market is familiar with the word sotong
-When I wear jackets and long-sleeve shirts, chinese people can just wear shorts and t-shirts. Dasyat dorang ni.
- Koreans love actors. Kevin said that his mom kiss the TV and say hello to the TV just because of the actors.
-They worship actors. Kevin said that people pray for Bae Yong Jing (Winter's Sonata hero)
- I really like himm, LOL, yeah well I do.

THE STORY LINE :

28.5.2011 (Saturday)
We packed everything, was set to go, I left home at 10 although the flight was at 1.50. Dad made two trips as it was cheaper this way, he drove his old sonata in hoping that someone would steal it at the lcct's carpark. I went for the first trip, as soon as we reached, I bought coffee at starbucks, RM31.50 for two cups of frappucino. I bayar pulak tu, adik didnt sponsor, ughhh, then we went for breakfast at McD, dah sebulan I menanti untuk makan McD. Nasib baik kali ni mum paid for it, or I would be bankrupt. Lapar giler.

Then we check in our bags and waited and waited for the flight. The flight was about 6 hours but we managed to arrive earlier, about 20 minutes earlier. It was 9.25pm at Korea while my watch was showing 8.25pm waktu Malaysia. I didnt change it throughout the 6 days I was in Korea. As soon as we arrived, we took our luggages and find the tour guide. Nama dia Kevin, he is like 30 something and he can speak 3 languages. Chinese, Korean and rudimentary English. Though I understood only one, I clearly understood everything he was telling us on the the bus. Adik called him funny, we find him amusing. He had this so called assistant called Monk, just because he was bald, we remember him as Monk. Dad called him eccentric, he is very committed to his job, he serves us before he eats and well he doesnt speak English except 'Thank You'. Thats why even if Kevin were to make fun of him, he would not understand. LOL. After that, we spend 4 minutes on the bus before reaching our hotel in Seoul called 'Co-op Residence'. Mum calls Koreans disgusting and dirty as they do not use hose to do their business. Everywhere I went was like that except for the second hotel, it was more sophisticated, toilets were machines. I loved the machine, it can dry your butt when you are sitting on the toilet bowl. It has buttons. We tucked in for the night and woke up at 6.30am waktu Korea like 5.30 waktu Malaysia.

29.5.2011 (Sunday)

Dad and Mum on Nami Island

Sun rises up at 4.30 waktu Malaysia in Korea, so I thought we were late, but no. Kevin said its because its nearly summer. During summer bla bla bla, u know bout Geografi daylight is more than night. Theres water heater here, but its awfully cold, the surrounding makes me go WOOSH~ sejuk nak mati, good thing I didnt catch a cold there. Then, we checked out the hotel as we are suppose to stay at another hotel and we had our breakfast at this chinese restaurant outside the hotel. They serve us dishes with plain unsalted porridge. Giler tak sedap, rasa macam air, but just worse than that. Then we went to learn how to make Kimchi somewhere outside Seoul. I love kimchi, and dad and adik went engrossed with Kimchi after learning how to make it. Then, we had the chance to try on Koreans's traditional dress. I didnt try it, but granpa did. After that, we visited the Ginseng farm, they say 1 year 1 leaf, 2 years 2 leaves and so on. It matures during the 6th year. After harvesting it, we may not use the soil about 10 years or more as it is nutrition-free, everything is absorbed by the Ginseng. And then, we were on the bus bout an hour or more, we sleep a lot on the bus as the journey was damn tiring and hectic, we move in groups, everyone is non the less cooperative. Some show up late or even so lost in their own world while shopping. We had fried rice for lunch somewhere near Nami Island. After having lunch, we went to Nami Island by ferry, before it wasnt as famous and no one would ever visit it but after Winter's Sonata was produced, almost a million people would visit it per year. It has huge trees, I love the trees there, its calm although thousands of people were on that Island at that very moment. We took a lot of pictures and admired the scenery there. Koreans loved going there. Everything was about Winter's Sonata. They worship the movie. After that, we took a ferry to go to the other side and spend a long time on the bus before having our dinner somewhere near Yong Pyong Resort. Dinner was about seafood, especially squids. Yong Pyong was somewhere near hills and mountains, being there was much colder than Seoul. Seoul was about 25 degrees while Yong Pyong was about 9 degrees at night. We settled in for the night. Toilet here is superb-sophisticated. LOL.

30.5.2011 (Monday)

Mum at Mt.Seorak

We woke up at 7am waktu Korea and had our breakfast. Breakfast was about plenty of eggs, I never ate this much of egg before. But, darurat namanya. And we went to Peak Island, just a walking distance from my hotel, its like sunway lagoon waterpark, but its indoor, yelah sejuk kat luar. Yong Pyong is also a shooting sight for Winter's Sonata. Its empty during other seasons except Winter, people come here to ski, theres a ski resort with cable car. We checked out at 12.00pm and continued our journey. Then, we went to Mt. Seorak. Dad was excited bout it, but when we arrived, the weather wasnt all that great and its misty, so we didnt get to see the hills at the peak. It was so cold that I craved for sweet corn. And I got sweet corn, just a little chewier than Malaysia's. After that we went to Fish Market, for whatever reasons to go to a fish market, I myself do not know. But I found something that I really love~pan-fried fat squids stuffed with rice and veggie. Giler sedap and expensive, everything is expensive there, its about RM 14. Kecil je pun... And adik bought ready-to-eat seaweed. Kinda salty but its nice. And then we went to Teddy Bear Farm. Plenty of teddy bears there, I took a wholesome of pictures. And to make it a memorable trip, I bought a teddybear and a hairband with a small teddybear on it. Its expensive, and thats why I dare not to tell Daddy how much was it. But mum said, "Its a souvenir for you yourself you know?" Dad pantang mendengar sesuatu yang sepatutnya murah menjadi mahal. The Teddybear I bought (I cant put the picture cos x boleh upload) cost about RM75, dad would think its overly expensive. Its cute and soft, on the shirt of the bear, theres this quote "Somebody's somebody, I want to be that one". Reading that makes me think of how much I want to be his and he to be mine. Mum knew, she totally knew why I bought that. The hairband pula, yang tu lain cerita la.... After that, we had our dinner somewhere near the Teddy Bear Farm. We had tofu for dinner. Tofu soup. Its awesomely delicious, as a family of mixed culture and we are partly nyonyas and apeks, my family enjoy eating tofu, dad extremely loves it, we have tofu every week at home. After that we went to our hotel somewhere near the hills, we checked in and settled for the night. The hotel giler traditional. We have to sleep on the FLOOR! Like Koreans I guess. We reserved separate rooms, but Kevin told us that all 7 of us can actually fit in 1. Dad didnt really mind paying for it. But, adik and I slept in our parents's room leaving ours vacant. Grandpa, aunt and luna shared a room. We slept on the floor, its cozy as it is, and again air-conds dont work when its super-cold outside. So we had to open the windows. Best tidur atas lantai, sejuk dan selesa.

31.5.2011 (Tuesday)
We woke up at 6.30am and packed our bags, went down to the lobby area and had breakfast. Still boiled eggs and lots of bread. Mum bought extra bread for us in case we ever get hungry on the bus.Bread is all we can eat and consider as snacks. We are off to Seoul. That morning, we left for Yeoju Premium Outlets, its a shopping complex, Kevin said that the things here are cheaper than normal stores, branded like Coach, Gucci and all, but things were as expensive as in Malaysia. Mum saw this Gucci bag which cost RM 6000 something. She said it was cheaper than MY, but she felt it the same. We didnt buy anything from Yeoju, adik was frustrated looking at the price of everything he wanted. Everything is original but its tax-free and its not that new, everything was not the latest like in Singapore, but I bet Singapore memanglah giler mahal. We had our lunch and then, we depart for Everland. A theme park owned by Samsung. Kevin said its the 7th biggest theme park in the world, and the biggest in Korea. Yeah, its the biggest, and I was tired of walking. We went to the Animal Park and saw White Tigers (Albino). I rode this thing that is extremely-super scary, scary nak mampos, even worse than the 360 degrees ship in Sunway Lagoon. This one spins and turns. Mum took a picture of it, but its not so clear. Dahlah hujan masa tu, all I can do was pray and close my eyes. I didnt even scream or react the way I reacted when I rode the ship at Sunway Lagoon. I shut up. And because of the rain, other rides were close, and we waited for 6.30 to come. After that, we head to Damdaemun shopping area. We shopped at 'doota!' Things were expensive and well there were clothings that was sold at 'Marks and Spencers' price. Mahal. Everything was Korea's local brand. Our shopping time was limited and its hard for me to choose what to buy. Then, we checked in at 'Co-op Residences' again.

1.6.2011 (Wednesday)
We checked out in the early morning and had nothing for breakfast. We live on bread, maggi, biscuits, precooked food, yogurt bars, eggs and plain water. Majority halal food can be found near Itaewon because there is a mosque there. then, we went to the Blue House, where the President lives. Nothing was exciting there. and I really dont know why they called it BLUE. After that, we went to the National Folks museum, we learn about the Korean people and their tradition. then, we went to the Palace where the kings from decades ago lived. They dont have kings anymore now. Then, we went to this Premium Ginseng outlet that sells Ginseng products. Ginseng looks like a human's body. Its odd and weird and it freaks me out. I just wanna know why it looks like that. No cameras were allowed in there. Ginseng is extremely expensive, so mum didnt buy any of the products there except ginseng tea bags. And I bought more of Seaweeds. Then, we went to this herb store just around the corner. We didnt even buy anything there. After that, we went to cosmetics store. Korea's local brand like 'The Face Shop' and other things were sold there, its duty-free. And our family didnt buy anything, as you all know, I dont really wear make up. The only moment where I must put on some  is during Hari Raya. I only use perfumes and nothing else. After that, we had our lunch. Lunch was nothing great like before. then, we went to Myondong shopping complex. There, I bought a handbag which was expensive yet affordable, mum bought 3 handbags and a purse. Mum dasyat, beli byk sekali. but she had the intention of buying for others. One of her handbags was exactly like mine, but just different in color. Adik also bought a sling bag and others spend at their own desire. Sadly, dad didnt buy anything. He hoped too much that he would buy a lot of fashion goods. But nothing was in hand. That night, we were all set to fly back to MY. Our flight was at 11.25pm waktu Korea. We checked in our bags and waited for our flight.

2.6.2011 (Thursday)
We arrived in MY at 4.25am in the morning. I kinda feel the flight was short as I slept almost every second of it. During our flight back home, we had our dinner la kot, we booked meals online, and dad didnt get what he ordered, he was frustrated and got mad I think, because the stewardess sold it to other people. He demand for what he ordered and he finally got it. I know, dad can be really like that sometimes. Before, the stewardess said the food was finished, and just because dad was extremely frustrated, they could come out with the food? Orang banyak menipu. As soon as we arrived, we collected our luggages and dad sent home the first trip. Luckily I wasnt the first trip, so I got McD again! We waited for dad and as soon as he arrives, we were on our way home. Dad pula nak breakfast, so we stop by Hijaz for roti canai in the early morning. When we arrived home, I went up, didnt even change my clothes, and fell asleep for 7 hours and only woke up after adik woke me up for lunch at 2.30pm. I was so tired.

DONE for story-telling!
After coming home, dad had his mood for pay-back. He didnt buy anything in Korea, so he bought a lot of things in KL. He bought a jacket and t-shirt from Timberland, new shoes from Florsheim or whatever it is. I think he spend over a thousand ringgit buying things he didnt get in Korea. And now, I demam, maybe because of the changes in weather kott. IDK.
Being in Korea, just makes me think about other people, especially himm. I was thinking 'what if?' There was a lot of 'what if?' on my mind. So, what if?