[25.11.2012] Limited Space

Hi... after pulling myself together in the previous blog, I hit another stumbling block... Blogger has just informed me that I have hit my storage limit for photo's... I guess my postings of all my pics didnt help..But since my blog is very photo heavy, I will unfortunately have to find another place to continue... I will let you guys know soon!

Till then...

[24.11.2012] This is going strong...

Hey guys! Sorry to be away for such a long time... Anyhow.. the issue before has been resolved and the letter has been set, accepted and settled. So what is left is all the new changes that will happen to my life which I find truly exciting and scary too.. But all in all, its a good change. Hehe if you asked me this last year, I was not even certain that I would be here again.. and if you asked me 6 mths ago about whether I would return to be a lawyer I would have cancelled it out together. But I guess never say never...!

Anyhow, I know i have been away and havent posted anything new since.. but then the number of readers has been going strong.. I'm almost up another thousand readers.. Thank you to all of you guys and I will be back with new posts!

I will try to finish up my blog on Korea as its technically just past a year since I left here and went there.. At this time last year, I was walking around cheonggyechon river in Seoul and freezing my tushie off.. hehe.. So expect more from me soon and happy weekend!

[10.11.2012] Update!

Hey.. Havent updated this in a few days... Sorry life has thrown me a curve ball at the moment and frankly I dont know where I will land.

Deepavali is coming up but still does not mean any holidays for me.. But for those of you who are celebrating, happy deepavali and the rest a wonderful holiday and safe journey.. All the best..

[24.11.2011] Korea Trip Day 4 part 2

So at the last post we ended it at Namsangol Traditional Village. As it was getting late/dark and I was getting cold and needed the connection with the modern world (wifi) (I didnt know at that point that I could buy prepaid tickets to just tap into the country's vastly connected internet). I decided to adjourn and step into the closest coffee shop I could find (there's tons in Seoul..) I decided to try something different and not starbucks (i was getting sick of it at this stage) and went to Holly's Coffee. I really must stress that cold+ warm coffee/drink + smell of roasted coffee is one of the best indulgences you can ever have in your entire life!!!

Only sustenance I could get at that moment.. Hot Choc and Chocalate Chunk Cookie! (Damn its good!) with my manual

Since it was only about 5 -6 pm there (i thought I had a lot more time there but it became cold and dark very quick and remembering the main big item in the backdrop of Namsangol was the Seoul Tower, i thought.. why not? Lets go there!  So I referred to my trusty home made manual and found my bearings and after checking in with the boys (apparently there was a twitter post saying I was lost on my own there!), I headed of to Seoul Tower...

How to get there? Well theres a few ways to go there but for me the easiest and most accessible is by way of Train. Take the train to Myeondong and take exit No. 3 and take a 10 minute walk to the base of the hill where you will see the toll. It can be a bit complicated as there is no direct path from the exit.. but you can use the way mentioned in the link here. 

At the toll there should be a weirdish elevator which will take you to the base of the cable car/parking lot. From what I understand you cant drive up there so either by bus or cable car.. But I guess both ways can be great too. 

Anyhow when I got there there already was a couple waiting to go up and along the way there were lots of Riot Police on stand by along the road waiting in case since the demo's against the FTA with US in the past few days.

I had to be a lamppost..  hihihihi

The Riot Policemen

The track of the elevator thingamajiggy

Anyhow I managed to record part of the ride here.. 

After arriving at the car park area, you will find yourself at the entrance of the cable car. The price of the cable car to go up would be 7000 won which is about 20 ringgit here. 

here's a video going up the cable car.. even the music sounds fun.. haha

I must warn you before hand however its not a straight shot after that because u would then need to climb up some more steps before reaching the tower..

At the base of the tower there is a huge area which is really beautiful.. and surprise2 it got dark and cold real fast... haha

The hill on which the tower resides actually has some history on it.. Here is part of the old wall that surrounds the city and on top of that hill there are beacon light houses used ala Lord of the rings if i remember correctly.

Here's some of the views of the place 

Beacon Lighthouses.

When I was at there I managed to catch a show which was held at the tower itself. But due to the stupidity of myself and the camera manufacturer, I had taken the video in an ackward angle so i wont be showing you my video but showing someone elses. Its quite interesting. Check it out. 

So before you go up the tower you have to get the tickets to go up. It costs another 7 thousand won to go up the tower which can be more if you wish to see the Teddy Bear Museum.. Yeah.. I didnt go to that and only went up to the observatory deck.

To go up, you need to go down and take the elevator from downstairs and from there have your obligatory picture taken which you can purchase at either 3500 won or 5000 won depending on the size.

Then take the elevator up to the top! So on the way up the tower in the elevator itself there is a video which is played on the roof which seemed rather interesting.

So when you are up there you can basically get a glimpse of the entire city and its actually rather amazing to see the sight of that city from up there with all the lights... haih too bad I was alone! haha.. Anyhow the panels are marked if they are pointing to a specific direction of a city or country. I managed to find KL but the person who took it had parkinsons or something. haha....

Here's a video of how its like up there..

I would like to give a big heads up however to those who go there during winter or cold autmn, check the weather and look and see if its foggy or wet cold.. coz some of the window panes were fogged up and it was tiring to try and see. 

There are some places there that are called shocking steps and shocking floor!( Come on?) 

Basically the shocking steps is steps which makes you walk at the same level as the window.. woop! and then theres the shocking floor which plays a video of the below.. I tell you arr.. I am a big idiot and scaredy cat when it comes to heights and even that didnt scare me.. But o well.

So after the viewing deck the exit would be located downstairs and before you leave I recommend you to go see the loo.. hahaha really I mean it... coz its the only toilet I can definitely say I pissed with a great view! haha

Check it out! 

So at this stage I must warn you, if you dont like lovey dovey things, DONT GO TO KOREA! but if you do, you will realise that koreans are into a whole different aspect of PDA... The korean dramas showcase PDA as if its a normal occurance (it is sometimes especially late at night near last train hour's where couples part for the day!) but when I was there they showcased love by leaving messages, notes and some scribbles that will hopefully mark their moments in history.

One of it is on the tower itself.. Here couples and friends buy message blocks and post their messages on these blocks for whatever purpose they want but some are really creative (like buying sevaral blocks and arranging them into a special design) or just cute.. hehe check it out...

So that's basically it for the tower itself... Apart from the above, there is a cafe in case you get hungry. On top of that there are some restaurants there and a also a rotating restaurant. 

So before I left the tower I decided to see the world famous love locks! There are in fact about 10-20 places in the world that has love locks but from other travelers they have told me that the one in Seoul Tower is the best. So some of you may be asking what is this concept of love locks? well basically its the act of a couple signifying their love by placing a lock on a place and throwing away the key. I know that some authorities in europe do grind down the area and remove the locks every year due to it causing soo much stress on the structure. But I think the one in Seoul does not do that. Anyhow there's lots and lots and lots of locks there! I however did not at that time place any locks there.. but I am thinking I should go back now and :) haha.. 

If you look and see, some of the locks have rusted over and then other locks have grown on top of the older locks and like cancer it spreads from there.. 

You get the point of this bench right?

So with a heavy heart, I left seoul tower that day as I knew I was going home soon and looking at those locks.. haih... Lets head back to the backpackers to sleep and cry my heart out! hahaha.. :P

Here's the cable car ride down the hill..

Anyhow I never had a chance to show how the street looked like that led to the train station near my backpackers...

Along the street there were lots of shops selling cosmetics, handphone cases, stuff for iphones and samsungs and LG's  (NO BLACKBERRY's! hahaha) and lots of cafes with Korean food and karaoke joints. 

Lots of shops catering to the students

The cinema 

Even has a hello kitty cafe 

Some of the of the food at the cafe.

Till then! :)

[30.10.2012] Charity Event!

Hey guys... who here likes charity events? Ahh good! All of you... hehe.. 

Anyhow I want to talk to all of you now about this event i've heard about.. Its called the Electrolux Washing-ton. All of you must be thinking.. I've heard of Electrolux before.. they made my ........... (insert type of appliance here) at home.

Right you are... and from what I hear, they are organising a charity event as part of its corporate social responsibility and from what I hear its quite unique. What they plan to do is to organize Malaysia's first outdoor washing marathon. You must be thinking now, how is that charitable right? Well the unique part of this charity event is that two weeks prior to the main event, there will be a collection drive for used clothes at selected locations in the Klang Valley and those clothes will be used for the Washing-ton and donated to charity.. Ingenious right? As of right now, the event organisers are targetting to wash about 3,000 pieces of clothings for the event. 

The main event itself will be held in Citta Mall Ara Damansara on 1st November to 4th November 2012. and during those days volunteers will be needed to help fold and stack the clothes into bags and I believe such a monumental task shall require the help of many people. So far, I've been informed by the organisers that they are still looking for people. So, if you feel like volunteering for the event please feel free to email  my.passion@electrolux.com or contact them at 7843 5885 or 7843 5981 from Mondays to Fridays, from 8.30am to 5.30pm.

For more info check out their FB page.

[24.11.2011] Korea Trip Day 4 Part 1

So hey guys! Now we got around to another day. I had been planning to go and see the traditional Korean Houses (which is called Hanok in Korean) the past few days, so I decided to venture out and go see what i could see.

Basically there is 2 different places where you can find the traditional korean homes. But I couldnt find the first one of it which is basically a set of houses set betwee other normal houses. Basically even in Korea the traditional houses are becoming extinct.. 

So I decided to go to another place which basically housed all the other houses...

Along the way I found some art in the Subway station. 

 Basically, I wanted to go to Namsangol Traditional Park to see the houses and after leaving the subway station, I saw this and thought that it was it... 

Turns out I was wrong and I had taken a left too early and ended up at a restaurant .. hehe I shouldve went a bit further and to end up here...

Basically this place houses a lot of the traditional houses and also has a nice time capsule buried in the compound.

The place is really beautiful and I must say that with the small stream going through its SPLENDID!

I think the picture above does not capture the' moment ' (no more kodak.. sorry) of the place that well, so i recommend for you guys to check out this video..

So whats at the village you ask? Frankly.. Houses! Lots and lots of old traditional houses. But these houses are not like normal terrace houses..These houses were rebuilt after the traditional houses of the Joseon Dynasty and belong to the various social classes from peasant to king. These places help to show how the daily lives of the people were during that time. 

So after walking around, I managed to see this... and decided to have a go at a traditional tea ceremony...

Desert.. Traditional candy... and you can make it into your own design... just press into these molds 

Here's a video of the tea ceremony.. I had several but I dont think you want to see it all.. 

Anyhow at the place you get to see how it looks like from back then.. and the kitchen... Apparently back then the husband and wife stay at home together and during the day the husband will leave the wife and work in a separate building and only come back at night.. (thats what the lady told me.. ) and the most important aspect of these traditional Hanoks is that they can also have heating... Basically to heat a house, you light a fire underneath the house at and it warms up the floor where they sleep.. pretty ingenious right? 

Some photo's of people in the traditional hanboks..

Here also they give you a chance to see and try out their traditional games .  Check out the vids...

.

I dont know why its ice... but it was cold...

The fire i was talking about..

some caligraphy action going on

So as I said before, there is a time capsule burried in this area... You can see that the place was burried with lots of grandness and had lots of statesmen giving their wishes and they were inscribed there for all to see. As I was walking around here i managed to bump into a Malay family that was on holiday there.. haha and for some reason, us Malaysians were sooo happy to see each other and talk in Malay! haha.. I guess its the Malaysian unity.. when we are away and separated thats when we want to be together and connected I guess.. hehe.. 

Stuff burried in there... 

 So afterwards, it was starting to get cold so I decided to go somewhere else that will be a lot of fun... 

How do you get here? If you are heading by train, take the subway line 3 or 4 and exit at Chungmuro Station Exit 4 and walk for about 5 minutes and you are there!