SEOUL June 2011 - Day 2 (N Seoul Tower)

When you grow older, do you think back about the days when you were in still in school? Yesterday, my friend and I went to get a exercise book for her theory practice. She recently took up a piano class, and had to do theory exercises as well. While in the bookstore, we stumbled across the music score books section. Amidst flipping through one, I sort of recalled the torturous days of piano lessons, how agonizing it was to wait for that 1 hr to end. But a panic also started to rise when I realised I had forgotten how to read some of the notes. Most of them actually. T-T And so I felt a melancholic regret for my childhood wasted away at piano lessons, only to find that in the end I still need to learn it all over again. T-T
***

Breakfast at Dunkin Donuts! The breakfast muffin was really nice!

Pretty store front in Hongdae. The area is full of beautiful nooks like this.

I got a pair of sandals from here. :)

A walk towards the foot of Namsan Hill.

Did I say I LOVE Seoul? 

Store along the way up Namsan Hill.

Shrine or guesthouse... Not too sure as we did not go in.

Even Korean grounds look much nicer than local ones... XD

Beautiful blooms!

Tooks LOADS of photos of these flowers. XD

The Funnest Month of My Life

Hey... Another long long hiatus from blogging. Readers have been questioning when's the next post since the last one in April. ^-^" I'm really sorry about this guys but I was really busy with travelling, moving and getting ready some things for our batch so-called large-scale last dinner. For that one month, I was more happy than I've ever felt. :P Those moments will be treasured and fondly remembered always.

{ 1st stop --> Ipoh, a quiet town up north of West Malaysia. Must-try local food include dim sum, bean sprout steamed chicken, Ipoh old town white coffee, mixed fruit ice, chee cheong fun and Chinese pastries. Ipoh is a hidden gem of natural beauty --> blue skies and green hills are its virtue. I LOVE this place! }

{ 2nd stop --> Penang, Pearl of the East, a historical place scattered with old buildings and ancient landmarks that signified its cultural diversity. An ideal place for a challenging gastronomic adventure. :P Penang's famous for its street food like char kuey teow, rojak, asam laksa, curry mee, ais kacang, and the list goes on.... I've been to Penang quite a few times, but this trip was the best, being always on the move. And being with fun people. :P }

{ 3rd stop --> Bangkok 13th - 17th May. In the midst of anti-government protests going on, we ventured into heart of the city where riots went on and off. All went well as we were unharmed and had our fair share of fun. Love Chatuchak market! We went there 2 days! THAI FOOD was HEAVEN! I love the tom yam goong and coconut chicken. Pad Thai was very nice too. :P }

{ 4th stop --> Krabi 17th - 20th May. Krabi is part of an island of Thailand. After the urban experience in Bangkok, we headed to sun, sea, salt and fun! We took 2 tour packages for 2 days. One of them was the 4-island tour (Tub, Chicken and Poda Islands, Phra Nang Beach}, and the other was the Phi Phi Islands tour. The experience was AMAZING! Aqua blue sea and clear blue skies, sand and a spot of hot sun --> invaluable FUN! }

============================

Ok, to top it all off, you wouldn't be surprised to hear that I'm now in Jakarta. :P I came here about a week ago, which was right after my graduation dinner and convocation. The past weekend saw me in Bandung and Puncak. We spent some lazy days there. :P Will be updating about this trip soon... hopefully. >.<

Singapore Trip

Halo all. :P I know I've been gone for too long. -___-" There's no denying that I'm being a very irresponsible blogger lately. T-T

This entry will be about my recent trip to Singapore.

To start off, let me share a little incident that happened while I was waiting to board the coach to Johor Bahru. I was sitting on the bench at one of the platforms. I noted two men sitting on the bench across from mine, watching some entertainment show on a plasma TV. Since there was still about half an hour to go before we can board the coach, I bought a paper to read. After a few minutes of reading, one of the men, an old man probably in his sixties, walked over to me and said in Mandarin, "Miss, I just came out from the hospital. Can you help me buy a bus ticket back to Johor?"

When I heard his request, I was under the impression that he didn't know which counter to go to. I thought he would be handing me his cash to buy the ticket. But then, he added; "Can you give me money to buy the ticket?"

Immediately, I shook my head, said NO, and looked away. His request for money -even though it's for the bus ticket- somehow turned him into a scammer. His reaction was, "Oh..." - then he walked off.

This incident again reminded me that Malaysians have seriously got to change their mindset and improve their social behaviour. This uncle, I just couldn't trust him to be telling the truth. Decent people would NOT feel right to beg for money even if they are completely out. For your information, a ticket to Johor costs RM31, which to me is a substantially large sum. The way to go, if I were in the uncle's shoes, would be to ask to borrow a phone from the numerous ticketing counters to contact his family members. In any case, such an elderly man should not be going to and fro the hospital alone. He might have needed some specific treatment only available in Kuala Lumpur. In that case, I should think that his should have went with any one of his family members. You may argue that he might be the only one in his family. Well then, he could have asked for help from anybody when he realized he did not have money to go back home - immediately. Why did he sit and watch TV and only approach me after some time? He should be panicking and asking around instead of watching TV. -___-"

If you were in my situation, would you help the uncle? Just something to trigger your thoughts. :P

Right then. Singapore. Yeah. It was a total change from KL. A very exhilarating change. I greatly admire the public transport system there. Every part of Singapore is reachable by foot, via train and bus. The SMRT (Mass Rapid Transit) is very efficient - it seemed to me that the train arrived every 2 to 5 minutes. The carriage is much MUCH longer than the STAR LRT in KL, and a lot wider too. I didn't experience any crowding or sardine-packings during my 4 days there, even on weekends.

Another thing I like a lot about Singapore is how almost every MRT station is located just a few steps away from a shopping mall. :D Almost all stations are built underground. There are underpasses linking nearby buildings at each station - which means air-conditioning throughout your journey. :P

Other than that, I just love how green Singapore is. Seriously, there are trees, shrubs and plants everywhere. Such a BIG difference when compared to KL.

{ Haji Lane. Full of quaint little cafes and boutiques. Erm... no greens here. XD }

{ I love these old buildings. }

{ Back lane of a street. The shophouses are so colourful. :D }

{ Muji - Japanese store selling homewares, apparel and food items. I think it boasts minimalist styling. :P }

{ Food stuff bought from Muji - chocolate covered raisins, yuzu lemon candy, cake roll, soy bean cookies *very yummy!*, chocolate cake, chocolate crispy bar, sweet potato cake *not nice D:*, cheesecake *VERY nice!* }

{ A shop selling cosplay items at Far East Plaza. }

{ At Doinky Doodles - a shop selling handmade items! I love everything to bits. Most fabric items are handmade by the shop-owner. :P }

{ Very colourful layout at Doinky Doodles. }

{ MOS Burger!!! This is my Yakiniku Rice Burger. The 'buns' are sushi rice! :D }

{ Cool shop called Books Actually selling all sorts of zines, stationery, books and even lomo cameras. }

{ Asylum - a boutique selling unique accessories, homewares, books, music and apparel. }

{ Ben & Jerry's ice cream!!! Hehe... But my number one is still Baskin Robbins' Peanut Butter and Chocolate! :D }

{ MAAD event at Red Dot Museum. A LOT of cool stuff and pretty things to look at. :P }

These are just some of the nicer and more interesting photos I took. If you'd like to see more, take a look at where I went to on Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3/4 of the trip. :P