Night Out to Sasang, Busan

After walking pass the street stores so many times, finally I get to taste it!

*There are peanuts, pop-corns, veg, 

siput and some bug*

*This is Aliza trying the bug.

 It have a very weird taste to it. 

According to Aliza, the one prepared by our 

ex-classmate is way better; 

an African dish.*

*Of course, u can never miss drinking the 

legendary Soju. All Koreans love this.

As we see in K-dramas. The taste resembles 

Chivas (below), as u can really

taste the alcohol; high level. Those who 

have low tolerance for alcohol,

one shot is enough!*

*I don't normally take this kind of alcoholic drink.

So to those who like this kind of drink

I think u will like Soju*

*Then v had Raw Squid. This is so so tasty when dip

into the sweet/spicy sauce + wasabi. 

It's very chewy*

*This is BBQ Chicken, I think. 

Its very very 

SPICY!*

Then, v changed location for some crispy chicken; fried chicken that is. Here in Korea, it a must to drink beer when eating chicken. Oooo, and the Terriyaki sauce here is so so much tastier than the one we have back in Malaysia. The one v have in Malaysia is somewhat watery, but here is thick and sticky!

*This is the place v ate; Oven Baked 

Chicken*

*Korean Beer*

*Crispy Chicken*

*San and Kaena Unni*

Korean Traditional Culture

After one week and one day, finally I'm attending lectures. 1st lecture of the week and day is Korean Traditional Culture from 1p.m. to 3p.m. Oh, wat can I say bout this class? Hmmmm, AWESOME! The first thing v; Aliza, Sam and I, did was self-introduction (can never escape this). The people in this lecture are all aliens (foreigners; that's how South Korea identify foreigners). They are people from China, Cambodia, and Japan; newly added Malaysia (the three of us). Ahahahahah....

Our lecturer; Professor Shon, is very cute =). Though he mumbles sometime thru lecture but we can still understand and follow the flow. Topic for today is The Foundation of Korean's Myth. We learnt about Korea's 3 most important figure; Hwan-In (Heavenly God), Hwan-Woong (HIS son), and Tan-Gun (Son
to Hwan-Woong and also Korea's 1st King). We also learned the birth of Tan-Gun; his mother is known as Bear Woman. It started with one tiger and one bear prayed really hard to become human beings and thus, Hwan-In asked them to stay-in the cave for 100 days and eat only 20 garlic cloves and mugwort.

*Mugwort Leaves*

Hence they started to do so. As the days goes by, the tiger soon gave up whilst the bear still continued this journey. After 100 days, the bear turned into a beautiful woman and she was lonely. Thus, she asked God for a companion and God sent his son; Hwan-Woong to be a temporary human and married her. Hence, the birth of Tan-Gun; the 1st King of the Korea Peninsular. 

This is interesting as v don't have such story or myth in Malaysia; well at least how Malaysia was founded. Ours are more logic in a way; no room for mythical or magical stuffs. The foundation of Malaysia started from Parameswara; who 1st settled in Singapore then only moved to Malacca. AHahhaha... Of course we have our share of mythical stories; like Puteri Gunung Ledang. 

Oooo, then v also met three Koreans; newly established friendship! So happy, our network with Korean is expanding and hopefully it continues =) We sat and chatted for about 1 and a half hour. We talked bout travelling; Watermelon Unni traveled to Malaysia 2 months back and Soo, traveled to Singapore too... Then v also talked bout Korean Military Service a bit. Awe, they are all so nice to the extend that they offered to teach us Korean and bring us around places in Korea. Oh, so nice people =) I hope my experience with Koreans keeps getting better! 

*From left: K, Watermelon Unni, 

me, Aliza and Soo*

Shopping Haven- Seomyeon

Its the first weekend in Korea. Woke up at 9 a.m. for breakfast and it wasn't that delicious~~~ Yeah, but I still ate some, not all of the side dishes... At 11 a.m., Yan Yee and her two other friends took us to Seomyeon using the public bus. And to our surprise the buses here are almost the same as the ones in Malaysia, as Elaine described it "Its like a roller-coaster ride," and it is very true especially if ur standing instead of sitting! U guys shud try it... and when the bus stop, its only 3-4 cm away from the vehicle in front of it! Imagine that!

After about 15 mins or so, we reached our destination. Upon arrival, the first place we went to was Buffalo and guess wat they serve?!

*This is Veg Chicken Porridge* 

*Fried Chicken*

*Mixture of Fried Chicken, BBQ Chicken, Dokki? (not really sure, 

Korean Rice Cake) and some veg with nuts*

*Cinnamon leaves*

So, to eat this dish. First, take one leave then place some chicken (dip in spicy sauce first) then place the side dishes (normally veg; strips of carrots, cucumber). Finally, roll it and eat it. Some may find the leave's taste weird but I personally think the taste is not too bad and its rather refreshing =)

These are one part of Seomyeon. 

Our second stop is Mini Mall... there u can find almost everything and Uniclo is there as well....while wondering there I found this...

* Kar Yee... Happy or not?!*

Next destination, Underground Shopping Mall! Wow, I was amazed by it =) things there are cheap and its negotiable! But u must be smart! Ahahahha.... and it looked like this Sungai Wey? the shopping mall opposite Time Square... 

In this underground (its connected to Lotte Department Store), I think I saw bout 3 Etude House, 2 Skin Food and bout 3 The Face Shop... Yup MANY of it... that's all I remembered! Then I also saw someone familiar and out of reflex and in my lala land..... I sorta wave to it and said "Hello". HAihz... yup this is who I saw...

Not only YooChun but also JeaJoong... Ah, they still make me go GAGA over them; all 5 of them that is! Which is a bad thing!

As it is connected to Lotte Department Store, we also went there ... Its like KLCC but better and more elegant! Here u can find duty free stuffs but in order to purchase it u have to show them ur air ticket back to u respective country (3 months before u leave Korea) and also ur passport. U can also find brands like Coach, LV, Gucci, Prada; high end goods. Then, we felt very tired after walking for about 2 hrs... and v settled down in a cafe called 

*Green Tea Frappe cost bout 

5,800 won 

including tax*

*The interior- its filled with people and unlike the ones 

in Malaysia, the environment here 

is sorta noisy* 

*The counter*

*See how pack the place is?*

*See the angel lightings? Its is pretty!*

Such a tiring day~~~ But it was much fun! Must go there again tomorrow to explore more!

Exploration

Finally, chosen my lectures schedule and got my work schedule. Since I'm to start work this coming Monday, I went to the cafe to sorta learn the work there. I would say its indeed quite simple, cuz I think even a 9 year old would know how to make tea or coffee; from ready packs. While I was there, I sorta gasped what this cafe was really all about. There I was sitting and chatting with Kakada, then two Korean girls approached us and asked for our help; with their English pronunciation as they participated in a speech contest. Thus, I offered my help and to my surprise these girls are actually fairly good in pronunciation, except maybe some words; e.g. role. I finally knew that teaching pronunciation is definitely not as easy as it seems. But I really had fun doing that, and I hope I will meet such open people when I really start work. Also hope to see them in the Buddy program; hope I will get one of them =)

Oooo~~~ today, the shoot of XO game continued and finally get to see how these shows are filmed!

*The teams and the cameraman all listening to the instructions*

*Producers and hosts are discussing bout the shoot*

*Cameramen waiting for instructions*

*Still discussing after 10 mins*

At dinner, something funny happened. Observe the picture below closely. 

See the mosquito there? Try guessing how it died! 

Done? 

Well, this is how it happened. It was flying around Aliza's food and then it landed 

on the radish kimchi. After 2 seconds it died! 

And we speculated that, 

the mosquito thought the kimchi sauce 

was blood that's why it landed there,

 only to be killed by 

its spicy-ness! 

Then later; at night after dinner, we went to explore Sasang whilst buying essential item; sanitary pads. Never knew that to get this is so hard. Asking from one person to the next, I felt so bad for making the workers there trying so hard to help me but I can't communicate in Korean. So sorry for making u guys running around, really sorry. Seriously workers at Home Plus was so helpful! Even after they finally understood what I wanted, (by googling) one of the sales girl helped me looked for small size sanitary pads and pointed out all of the brands which has small size pads. Thank you so so much! If only supermarket workers in Malaysia is as friendly and helpful as them, I think our country will improve way better as compared to now.

After that whole incident, we went walking for a bit. Then, came this street-side kios which sells clothes.... Oooo, so so cheap and I bought a dress for only 5,000 won; (RM 15). We explored more after that and finally decided to head back at 11 p.m.; the last Uni bus service for the day. Ooo, and on the way back to the stop, we saw this group of army standing there for about 15 mins cuz we walked up and down the street, so yeah... I wondered is it because they have specific need? Since that area is filled with strip clubs and love motels.... Hmmmm, such a wonder! That whole street was filled with those places, people in Korea is really open, I guess when it comes to this. Hmm, good for them at least they acknowledge it, (if u know what I mean)!AHhahah, signing off now.

Discovery of the "Bun"

The fourth day in Busan... Medical checkup day... There was I, woke up at 6 a.m. with Aliza and Kaena Unni; in the line in front of the main entrance of Global Town. And we were greeted by our lovely friend; Wind. Yup, she is cold and very strong too... I though Needle is no friend of mine; but Wind takes 1st place! But its a love-hate relationship between us... I know I don't make sense but she knows what am I talking bout. That's when I realised that I need long pants, and I need it fast! So we went to E-mart again this afternoon... While on the way to Silla Uni bus, we saw this game show called XO; don't really know what is it about but the winner gets an all expenses-paid trip to Germany for 5 days and it was being recorded. SO I guess it will appear on tv, which channel- I don't know.

*See the recording equipments* 

*See the O*

*See the X*

See why that's called XO? After awhile we moved to our next destination.... E-mart. After that small little trip, we went wondering around the area and while we're at it Aliza went hotel and halal restaurant hunting for her family. 

In we go to the 1st hotel and we were surprised by the price; yeah, its cheap. Little did we know its actually not the hotel kind of hotel we thought it was... We figured that out by looking at the pictures of the rooms as all of them have one thing in common. Most of the bathrooms are surrounded by see-thru glasses, thus no further explanation is needed. And as we walk....

We found one whole street of it! One after another... 

See the red sign; which looked like a steam bun? Pls bare in mind this is not dinning area or restaurants but its a love motel. So for those who are interested head to Sasang-Gu, Busan. Don't worry its quite easy to spot these motels.... And the best part is they are located across residential apartments! I wouldn't want to live there... I wonder how residents there handle awkward situations? Ooooo, one of the motels even offer services; call services and some of the motels' name are quite creative, I would say (e.g. something something massage) that's all I remembered. Sorry, if u want to know check it out urself =) and as we walked along, I saw this...yes, I have the need to be sampat, so I took this 

*Pictures of rooms displayed on the sidewalk of the motel*

This make me wonder if Malaysia also have something like that? Eh, I don't think so, v are not that open anyways... but IF Malaysia do, pls let me know... I need to be sampat and compare the outlook of the hotel! 

P/S: Even if its called a hotel, make sure there is not sign of the steam bun. If there is, unless u have specific needs, pls don't enter especially if ur with family members. It will be awkward and embarrassing for ur children and also ur wife, I guess...

Then, on the way back to the bus stand, we found this interesting delicacy...

 Its something something bbang.; like a bun/ bread. Its filled with red bean paste inside. It's like kaya balls but the presentation is in a flower form. It taste delicious... Yummm, especially when its still warm... Ah, on a nice cold day with this.... ahhhh~~~~~

Oooo, and I forgot! I bought MyBi card today

See the accessory there? That is the MyBi Card; transportation card for public buses and subways. SO cute rite... if only Malaysia could have this kind of card, I'm pretty sure ppl using public transport will be so happpyy~~~ rite Kar Yee?