Don’t you just love family gatherings, especially when…
there’s yummy food! (Big Eater at Changi, thumbs up!!!)
lot of finger-twists, Taiwanese style!
chit-chatting, catching-up and just fooling around
couple/family shots!
and times of celebration!
My awesome cousin, Jesslyn! Love you lotsss!
Decided to break down the longer days into several parts or else this is going to take forever!
Day 1 was super packed but Day 2 was going to be even more packed. But well, at least we had a good night’s sleep rather than cramped up in an airplane seat!
Our hotel: Cheju Oriental
Check out the lobby… looks kinda posh right….
until you see…
But ok lah… still quite cosy.. with nice traditional touches..
Morning started with kimchi – what else?
And also the highly anticipated abalone porridge! Our tour guide Michael did prepare us mentally that it’s abalone porridge without abalone (ok have la, but very tiny!) Still despite Joe’s face, it was very tasty! I liked it!
Off to attraction 1 of the 7 we were going to visit that day! Yes, seven!
Seongsan Ilchulbong also known as Sunrise Peak, is well known for its beautiful views of sunrise. If you are wondering, we din go and see the sunrise lah! Too early lah!
It is a lava cone created by an underwater volcanic eruption some 5,000 years ago. I din know how it looked from a bird’s eye view till I saw this picture online! Beautiful!
All ready to make our ascent!
It’s beautiful!
As you make your way up, you will see lots of small and big rocks.
You see the rest of Jeju Island from here!
We’ve reached the top!
Some shots of our tour members!
Auntie and Uncle who had great stamina! Uncle was wearing stylo milo Converse shoes OK? =)
Making our descent down!
Last look and last pics before our 2nd stop!
Stay tuned for the next part of Day 2!
Apologies that it has been taking me so long to update on my trip to Korea… there are so many photos (from 3 cameras) I don’t know where to start! Anyways, here goes…. (warning: extremely long post and we are only at Day 1!!)
My family have been talking about having a holiday together for a long time and finally it has come to pass as we embarked on a holiday to Korea!
My mum looks super cool with her CA t-shirt and matching pink luggage yah! You rock Mum!
She looks cooler than us, with an attitude too! =D
On flight Korean Air, not too impressed cos there were no individual TV screens and the stewardess were kinda fierce! I’m serious!
Find the stewardess uniform kinda funny too! They had this pointed scarf around their necks and a “chop-stick-like” clip on their hair.
I’m so afraid their “chopstick” will poke me! Hhaha!
We reached Incheon Airport around 6:30am in the morning and was shocked to find out that our tour guide had not arrived yet!
Well we had breakfast and then gathered to meet the tour guide, Michael.
He was apologetic but was also witty about it, saying we all looked like we were going to kill him and looked like he was our enemy! Through the course of the trip, we would appreciate his humour more and more cos it really made the trip so fun!
Early in the morning, and we were off to Kim Chi School!
There are actually 200 kinds of kim chi, not just the usual cabbage one we are all familiar with. Kimchi can be made from abalone and ginseng too!
Ginseng milk, yums!
Listening attentively…
to our Kim Chi teacher… but actually nothing to do…
We just had to rub the chili into the cabbage and wrap it up~
Joe torturing his Kim Chi!
Adriel’s masterpiece while ours looked like…
Photo oppt time!
First meal in Korea: Ginseng chicken soup!
I found it quite bland but the rest liked it! We could pour in more Ginseng wine into our soup if we wanted.
Then off to Gimpo Airport for our flight to Jeju! Guess who I saw at the airport?
Can you see him?!
It’s Lee Min Ho!
And who else did I see? The guy in the middle – Kim Hyun Joong!
First stop at Jeju – Jeju Folklore & Natural History Museum.
Jeju is famous for its oranges… I also know this cos I watched the drama “My Girl” and the main lead sold oranges she picked on Jeju!
Jeju kids and their handmade toys
Everyone listening attentively to the tour guide! Btw, in the old days, a typical house in Jeju has a thatched roof held in place by ropes of straw to protect against the wind.
Being an island, the residents of Jeju depend on the sea for their livelihood.
Jeju is also well-known for its “hai niu” – female divers who dive without any diving equipment to catch fish, seaweed, octopus, maybe even abalone. According to my tour guide, a lot of them are widows whose husbands lost their lives at sea and they had to learn to do this for survival.
I took this photo cos of the English text… read it and tell me if you understand what it means?
Another thing unique in Jeju is the little baskets the babies are placed in. The mothers will use their feet to push the basket forward and backward, keeping their hands free to do other work.
Jeju is apparently an island made out of a volcano and there are lots of rocks all around. Btw, there are 3 things that Jeju is known to have a lot of – rocks, wind and women! Read more about that here!
Rocks, rocks and more rocks! And because they have so many rocks, they crave them into this statue called ‘Grandfather Stone’ or dolhareubang. They are there to remind them of the hardships their descendents have suffered.
Apparently, if you rub the nose of the statue, you will give birth to sons! Hmm…
Some other fun shots… posing with/as hai niu!
Next stop: Dragon Head Rock – a lava formation that looks like a dragon head
That’s the Dragon Head! Does it look like a dragon to you?!!?
Couple shots up next… what we will be doing very very often over the course of the trip!
The ladies with all the pails are hai niu!
They are cleaning up the seafood they have caught.
Adriel managed to charm a photo out of one of them!
I think their job is not easy….
Here we are enjoying some snacks, then checking into our hotel and proceeding for DINNER!
Seafood steamboat!! Yums!! I loved it though the rest din! I am quite into shell fish.. that’s why I have Pu Tien Bee Hoon (not the restaurant, from food court lah!) at least once a week! I love it! Oh man… I just realised that means I eat cockles every week! =(
It was a tiring day and yet after dinner, we still went to walk around.. they have this shopping street called Tapdong Street but we were quite hesitant to buy stuff cos we heard things at Seoul would be cheaper…
Kinda quiet but it’s a Tuesday night after all… there were some trendy shops… the guys’ stuff here are definitely trendy but prices are not cheap!
Lee Min Ho is everywhere!!
His F4 counterpart, Kim Bum, also very popular!
Hmms…. at first sight, it was cool… on closer reading……!!!
We chilled out at a nice cafe (free wireless!) and then called it a day by shopping at a huge supermarket… more pictures of that again…
Phew…. finally done with Day 1!!! I deserve a pat on my back for that! … Wait, I still have 6 more days to go…. aargh! Patience everyone!!
I know this is super outdated but I have been busy ok! Hahah!
With the kind blessings of Edmund Tay, we got tickets to the qualifying session of the F1 race! Seriously, have never been too keen on F1 especially since last year we tried to watch the inaugural night race on TV and changed channels after around 20 mins? =) But it gets exciting when you are on the scene and get to catch the live action!
We took a shuttle bus from Kallang MRT.
Here we are on the bus, happily showing off our tickets! Btw, they cost $1388 each!
After alighting, we happily made our way to the grounds.
Yes!!!
Before you reach the actual race track, you will go through this place called the F1 Village where there is a stage for live entertainment, F&B outlets and of course, stores for F1 merchandise!
Then we went to find our seats and realised there was nothing much going on other than practice sessions! The qualifying session was from 10pm – 11pm and we were there close to 8! Hmm…. so we explored the grounds.
The lifts that bring VIPs up to the VIP area!
Chicken wings at $10? Are u kidding me or what? Must be specially F1-trained chickens!
So guess what we did? We went to City Hall to chill then came back again! HAHAHH!
Pictures taken from our seats! Basically, what you do is watch the cars whirl by, occasionally take pics and hope that a car will crash near you! Hee! It kinda got a bit boring after a while since we knew nuts about F1! Worse still, the cars were so loud and noisy, we had ear plugs on and couldn’t hear the broadcast commentary! But Edmund’s mum was there and her enthusiasm was contagious! She knew everything about the teams and the competitors! =)
Hamilton no.1 in pole position!
All in all, it was an experience of a lifetime! Thanks Edmund and of course, Edmund’s mum! =)
Check out the video to have a feel of the race!
F1 Qualifying Race (26 Sep 09) from Emily Ong on Vimeo.
After 3 plus years of hard work (and not forgetting the love and support plus editing capabilities of his wife!!), Joe can finally call himself a graduate of UniSIM!
Can you spot Joe’s name?
Joe waiting for his name to be called!
The awesome buffet spread but there’s no free lunch in the world! Must pay for entrance tickets to the graduation ceremony leh! Eat more eat more!
Joe’s proud parents! =) Mum was so cool in her glasses! She started wearing them during the speeches cos she said they were so boring and she wanted to catch a few winks of sleep! Hahha! She even said church was more interesting!
So proud of you dear! Keep on keeping on, your dream job is on the way! =)
I’m sure many of you have heard of the Korean version of Meteor Garden! Well, although the show has a lot of Korean drama clichés, it’s still a really nice show! It's currently showing on Channel U on Saturdays 9:30pm!
Some of the common Korean drama clichés I have observed:
Why I really like Boys over Flowers! (although it's kinda typical)
Going to Korea for a long-awaited holiday next week with my family, super looking forward to it! Maybe I will get to meet the stars of Boys over Flowers? =P
Recently my hubby blessed me with $$ to go shopping!! Hee, that’s a really great gift! =) I really needed to get some bags cos the straps of my usual black weave bag were peeling and the zip of my weekend bag had come apart!! Checked out Charles & Keith and din see anything particularly outstanding and I keep thinking I will see lots of people on the street carrying the same bag!
Thankfully I discovered a blogshop carrying nice looking bags at really affordable prices!!
Check out the bags I “yventually” bought =)
This bag cost $26! I think it looks classy and reminds me of a Hermes Birkin, sort of anyway! Only complaint is not enough wide pockets inside.
The second bag cost $29! I love the gold chain detail. The swirls on the bag are apparently inspired by Marc Jacobs’ Rockabilly Bag! (see last image) And despite how it looks, it’s incredibly light and the pockets are more than enough for all my miscellaneous!
I still had money left over! Hee! Thanks Dear!
