Seoul-searching

Seoul, 6-12 October 2012, Part 2

I am a total sucker for old stuff-- retro, old-skool, nostalgia-- call it what you will; and wayyy before it was trendy to do so. Even in school, I was watching old movies, I Love Lucy, that sorta thing. I always thought I should have been born in the Sixties or Seventies. I even played Sandy in a school production of Grease (which is set in the 50s)! 

So I was very excited to stumble across the National Folk Museum, and purely by accident at that!  I was wandering around the GyeongBokGung Palace, trying to kill time before the palace guided tour, when I saw the museum tucked away in the palace gardens, and decided to spend my hour there, since it was free anyway. Bonus!

The indoor exhibitions were pretty neat , essentially covering the "History of Korean People," which features materials of everyday life in Korea from prehistoric times up to now. A second exhibition hall is titled, "The Korean Way of Life." As you walk through this exhibit, you can actually feel what it was like to be Korean villager in ancient times.

But the best part for me was hands-down the open-air exhibits. There were two mini sections. One gives you a glimpse of what Korean life could have been like between the post WW2 years and the 1960s though a little village of some typical shops you might see on the high street then-- the tailor's, a photo studio, restaurant,  school house etc. This was hands-down my favorite tourist attraction! Especially compared to the palaces. The Koreans tend to strip the palaces of all their interior furnishings, so all you really see are the exteriors. Granted, the places are in themselves pretty photogenic, with bright multi-coloured roofs, but I find it difficult to picture what happened within those barren walls. Besides, most of these palaces are also pretty new, by historical standards, as they had to be rebuilt after the originals were burnt down or destroyed during the wars.

 Some vignettes of life in a little Korean village in the retro-era

Old fashioned coffee-and-music shop! Has a little bit of American diner influence?

Old fashioned comic shop? Or library?

School-room. With a super old-style heater in the middle. Don't you wish you could have studied here?

Hand- painted movie posters. I see Audrey Hepburn and Bruce Lee?!

Barber

No idea what this is anymore. Someone's kitchen?

Going a little further in time...and remembering scenes from one of only 2 Korean drama serials I have watched---Da Chang Jin (I know...I need to keep up with the trends!)-- I found.....

Onggi! In the olden days, kimchi was made by fementing veggies with red-chilli paste in these babies, which were then placed in the courtyard or buried in the ground.

We went for a fine dining meal in Jungsik, and dessert was onggi shaped choco mousse. The chef shaped soil out of coffee bean and almond bits, shrewn flower petals and leafs, and even created rocks out of sugar dusted nuts! So cute!! Even though taste-wise, it was nothing that crazy, top marks for creativity!

Of course, these days, kimchi is no longer stored in courtyards, especially in built-up cities. However, it is still a ubiquitous part of every Korean's meal life, and I guess every Korean girl must know how to make her own special brand of Kimchi. We found Kimchi (stored in tupperware in the fridge) made by our hipster guesthouse owner, a 20 something girl! So nice to have such tradition engrained in the young generation. I wonder if Singaporeans have an equivalent?

Speaking of hipster guesthouse owners, really really enjoyed all the places I stayed in this trip.

On the first night, we stayed at Yooginoong, a little guesthouse not one month old. It is in the Hongdae University area, so you get the student-town feel-- all cheap bars and restaurants and trendy clothing shops. Love!

The owner is such a cool kid-- a 20/30something year old student, Noey. Wish I could have hung out with her. She was so nice to wait to pick me up from the train station to her hostel cos I'm useless that way about navigating. She and her cute doggy Suni, made her cute hostel even cuter. Good luck with Yooginoong, Noey!

Love the space-- it has such a hopeful feeling, and is just so bright and cheerful and homely all at the same time. Can't describe it. Maybe new stuff just radiates such a feel?

Of course I chose the red bunk bed! Love the bright colours of the linens. Each bed comes with its own lamp, power point and curtain if you need privacy. Of course what did I do but ripped out the curtain the very next morning. Typical klutz.

There's a little terrace where you can smoke or have breakfast in the morning, with Suni scampering around your feet. Noey provides bread and coffee, which you prepare yourself. This is perfect for a simple breakfast. I think I can LIVE in the house all day, its so comfortable.

The only thing to note is that there is only 1 shower and 1 toilet. Not ideal as maximum capacity is 13-- 2 dorms, 1 double room, and Noey's room. That presented a bit of a problem in the morning, as there were around 6 girls that night, all wanting to wash up and preen all at the same time!

Yooginong was introduced to us by Noey's friend, Arum, who runs Jaam Guesthouse. We stayed there for 3 nights in the Blue Room. I loved the decor here too! The place has a eclectic, hippy feel to it. Arum is so thoughtful to have an iPad and a number of Apple charging cables lying throughout the apartment for guests' use. AND we were so lucky to have the whole apartment to ourselves! Kitchen, bathroom and that gorgeous gorgeous balcony.

Our room. I'm not a big fan of the striped sheets, but somehow, everything works together. (Coat is mine. 25 pounds from London!)

The other room. The sheets were batik-ish. Indon yet Jappy.

View whilst washing up. Right next to this are assorted bottles of liquor.  The girl likes her drinks! (no kimchi in her fridge though Araam later brought over home-made jam and cheese spread). She even left a bottle of home-made Makoli (rice soju) for us and encouraged us to have friends over....

...to chill in this space. The mismatched furniture, various lamps and hap-hazard cushions strewn around this narrow space somehow works to create a fantastic cozy hang-out place. I wished this was my apartment where I can bring friends home for supper and drinks. 

So inspired to get my own place now! And decorate it like how these girls have done. 

Years ago, I used to dream of owning my own guesthouse. It always was a pipedream, given the high start-up costs involved, but working towards my own nest is definitely possible. Gonna work towards that!

That's all for this post! So much more about Seoul that I liked, maybe another post? Who knows?

The trip which set me thinking

Seoul, 6-12 Oct 2012

Seoul this was the trip where I came to appreciate how lucky I have been in the travel department of life, and I would benefit so much more if I would take a little time to reflect on my travel experiences.

By extension, I have to remind myself constantly how smooth-sailing my life pretty much been, and that I should really celebrate everyday, and be more introspective so that I can grow.

And what a fantastic place Seoul is for this epiphany to take place!

Funny how I was never very keen to visit South Korea. I've been to Japan twice, and North Korea has always been a dream destination, but South Korea always seemed so meh. All Lotte-something, Teddy Bear Museums and bbq beef (although I do love the last)

But IloveitIloveitIloveit!





Thank you Seoul for introducing me to the healthy/toxic drink of Yoghu-ju.

Yoghu-ju is Yakult (healthy yoghurt drink to aid digestion) mixed with soju. You hardly taste the soju, which probably makes it lethal. But so yummy!

PLUS if you drink it with orange yakult, you get Vit C and healthy bacteria as well. So two benefits over 1 negative :)



Thank you Seoul for bringing back my shopping mojo!

In my defence re the facial products: 30% of the loot was for family/friends, 30% was free stuff,
15% was fancy packaging, the rest is for me to use until Armageddon I'm sure.

I had great company as well-- an old friend who is living it up as a English Language teacher in Japan. After working 10 hard years in a grown-up job, she upped and moved in a radical life changing decision and her life is one fabulous extended vacation of weekend trips around Japan, odd trips to the fantastic North Asian cities, with the occasional class of English to teach and test to mark.

Its great to have young friends or young-at-heart friends who really make things so much fun. By myself I would probably be boring company or so grown-up and proper, but with LST, we had such a laugh being silly and kiddy and never a dull moment! Thanks LST! (Gosh I never realised I was turning into such a serious auntie until she pointed it out...with friends like this.....)

Many other things to be thankful for....that this warrants a second post!

to be contd..

The Thing About Travel

Today after a tough day at work, was missing a little bit of Korea. So off I went to my favorite Korean auntie-stall in the old shopping centre near my home, for a steaming bowl of spicy tofu soup.

This used to be my all time favorite stall. But recently, it has been letting me down. Maybe it is the price increase (this used to be $5, now $7.50!). Maybe its cause the Korean auntie has delegated the cooking to someone else. But it no longer tastes the same especially after the Korea trip where we had the mother of all tofu soups! Makes you wonder, if travel broadens the mind, or narrows it, if I can no longer enjoy what I used to because of travel experience :(

Chennai

Chennai, 16-20 Oct 2012
(To be accurate, a hotel in Chennai, since I never saw the city)

So this was the first trip I've ever made to the subcontinent, for work too. Admittedly, its not a destination I have every considered for vacation every before.

And there were many apprehensions-- food, safety, cleanliness etc. I even bought snacks in case there was nothing "safe to eat"--- you can't blame me, after hearing stories; I also swore not to eat anything uncooked.

Turns out I needn't have worried. I barely had chance to step out of the Hilton the whole trip-- although I was still super paranoid and brushed my teeth only with mineral water, and avoided all cut fruit or salads and heaven forbid, sushi! (there was a Japanese convention in the same hotel, and the Japanese guests didn't seem to have the same qualms though-- although they could have just been sick of Indian cuisine)

Hence, I broke the curse of Delhi Belly-- a case of runs that every first time visitor to India was expected to contract without fail.

Unfortunately, I didn't have much chance to experience much of Chennai-- although I did catch glimpses of it travelling from airport to hotel to restaurant. Flooded streets, power shortages, traffic jams--- all attributed to the early advent of the monsoon.

My one true immersion was getting to try different types of food and most of it was pretty delicious, but also heavy on the stomach, so I could only try so much. Favourites are sweet corn fritters and apam (a sweet rice pancake)! Gonna be looking for that back home :)

The worse part of the trip was the flight out. There was some ridiculous rule that you had to get a security stamp for all carry-on luggage but this was not explained so ended up back- and- forthing with the security. Never a good idea to argue with the airport authority, but then again, a sleep-deprived traveller is also a force to be reckoned with. Fortunately, the matter was resolved when a passer-by offered a spare tag.

Takeway from the trip: I received a bit of education about Indian culture though from my Indian colleagues. One example is marriage. Most of them have very resolute ideas of what marriage should be-- arranged is good (parents know best, and it limits the amount of lying/social desirability that either side does in the dating game), man must be older than the woman by 5 years (so that he would never have to see his wife ageing more than him); women should have children 1 year into marriage.

It's interesting to have strict social norms, and to have no qualms about following them. I particularly enjoyed speaking to the ladies to hear their views. (There were only a couple of them around). Educated up to their ears with MBA, and modern girls all, they felt it was perfectly alright to have their futures planned for them by their parents, and even welcomed it as a "load of their minds".  Pretty cool and made me think how different social norms change perceptions entirely, for in Singapore, match-making is something you may be ashamed of.

As if turned out, I didn't have time or occasion to spend any money at all. However, I did buy a book at the airport while waiting for my delayed flight. Halfway through R. Narayan's The Vendor of Sweets now, and really enjoy how the author brings to life the flavour of small-town India and its inhabitants. Shall be getting my hands of Indian literature more now.

Don't have many pictures of India to showcase, but just noticed how interesting that there is a common colour theme throughout!

Rules of Engagement

1. One trip, one entry.

Even if I have been to a place more than once, since the purpose of this blog is to reflect on what I've experienced/learnt/enjoyed.

(business trips and fly-in-and-out ones are excluded cos that would be too crazy)

2. Pictures speak a thousand words

At least one photo per entry. And I'm gonna try to include a picture of something I bought/collected from each trip.

3. Start as I mean to go on. Just hoping to complete the project...sometime!

Scared... three more trips happening in the next month. Eek!

4. Perimeters: Any trip which happened from Sept 1999 onwards shall be included since that was when I had my first passport made. Before then I travelled on my mother's passport. Either that or I lost previous passport. I don't remember. My memory is that bad!

(Blast from the past: Back in the 1980s, children would share a passport with a parent. I guess the assumption was that it would be pretty rare for a child to travel without a parent until they reached a certain age)


My two passports. Hoped I covered up all the secret details. Damn, did I look young!

Going backwards in time

Travel used to be so alluring to me. My childhood ambition was to be a Singapore girl and/or travel writer. I even applied to work for Singapore airlines but was not successful.

When I was small, holidays were once-yearly affairs to be looked forward to with bated breath. Oh the anticipation when my mother brought out the huge old suitcases (from my dad's old uni days) and made us empty our drawers to pack! The calling of the taxi that would bring us to the airport (we hardly took taxis anywhere then)! The deliciously adventurous smell I came to associate Changi with (probably just the musty carpet)!

These past couple of years, I have been fortunate enough to have had so much travel, I never even realised.

With familiarity, the excitement of travel had slowly been replaced with blase thoughts of  "oh no, the airport again" and an impatience with how slow fellow travellers and airport staff were in clearing customs, checking in, baggage checks etc.

Even when I was actually on holiday, I couldn't quite shake off the feeling of deja vu regardless of which city, town or country I was visiting-- everything seemed old and samey. So young yet so jaded. (joking!)

Slow as I am, on my latest holiday, I came to realise that, as with everything, one never appreciates what one has, especially if you get it too easily (a little like men, really)

So its time to walk down (fading) memory lane and celebrate each and every trip I have been lucky enough to have gone on.

This is my inspiration:

A little book of memories, kept by JAAM Guesthouse owner Arum, a young Korean hipster girl (stayed here during a recent trip to Seoul)-- ticket stubs and little notes she collected over 10 years of travelling.

Obviously I didn't have the foresight (or space) to keep these momentos. But I do have these:

Phone and hard disks of photos (printed even!), passport stamps. Yes baby, we gonna go a long way back in time.

Looking forward to reliving those memories!

RachQ