PRAWNS

I have been contemplating shifting my vanity to the floor because I feel like it looks better that way. Messy looks better on the floor than on shelves anyway. And so I googled images of "vanity on the floor" before realising that it could pass off as a song from an indie band. It could, right? "She left her vanity on the floooorrrrrr. Cause she didn't want it no morrrrre."

No?

So a little update thus far.

1. Met up with the best friend for dinner and received an absolutely gorgeous bracelet as my birthday present. It's sparkly and dainty and fancy and pretty and just very very nice (really hope it didn't burn too big of a hole in your wallet!) so thank you again okay  (｡♥‿♥｡)

2. Met up with the boys for dinner and received an equally gorgeous pair of earrings (that I have had my eyes on for the longest time) + a room scent liquid thing that smells bomb. I don't think (can't remember) if I've told them about the earrings before so it really came as a pleasant surprise. And in typical boys' fashion they wrapped them in newspaper, so...yes. Thanks again okay boys  (◕‿◕｡)

3. 18 is a cursed number. We decided to go prawning after dinner because Pressy's calf was hurting after a 10km run and couldn't go bowling ಠ_ಠ (ps: pls bring me bowling the next time okay). 3 hours later and not. a. single. prawn. was. caught. Everyone else around us was catching prawns except for us la!

*flips table* (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

We pretty much gave up in the end so we took turns leaving momentarily to see if one of us was cursed.

Me: *returning from the washroom* So how? No prawns right?
Belly: I had a better feeling when you were gone.
Me: *SMACK* LIAR.

It was the rod.

4. I just learnt how use torrent so the first movie I downloaded was The Exorcist (1973). Not too bad if you could look past the fake blood.

5. I finished watching The Exorcist at around 4am when I saw (semi-saw? caught a glimpse of? made up?) someone (some...thing?) running across my corridor. Not weird at all.

6. Last random point because I want an even number.

Me: *using the mirror on the thing you flip down to block the sun when you are in the front seat to apply lip balm* Who placed the mirror here anyway? Very useful man..
Belly: My mum. She uses it to watch us in the backseat.
Me: Ohh... (feeling really shallow because I thought that it was an absolutely brilliant mirror placement for touching up and doing really girlish stuff in general when it was there for a much more important and responsible purpose) (oops?)

I haven't been bowling in a long time.

xx

HAPPY

 

Happy 21st to me.

The 3 is suppose to be 21, and I still can't wink properly to save my life.

It has been such a happy, happy, happy, happy day today. There was nothing elaborate about it, just dinner at my favourite restaurant with my family, but it was enough. It was happy. 

I still don't feel the significance of turning 21, or the pressure to become more adult-like, or to revamp my life, or do something momentous. But I'm really, really happy today and that's all that matters.

Yay to turning 21! :)

xx

STUCK

Stuck. Impassive. Empty. Mostly fueled  by lethargy and mood swings that comes along with PMS. I don't think a swinging action would apply in this case because swings go up and down, but mine just hits rock bottom in a dark abyss voided of anything remotely cheerful.

Escapism.

Watched Brokeback Mountain. The scene when Ennis embraces Jack's shirt with so much love and regret and longing... Is it possible to feel so much for someone?

Sleeping early might do me some good.

xx

KNOT

I go through phases where I get obsessed with a certain band/album/song, play it to death (aka that's all I listen to all day long) before I hit pan and avoid it like the plaque for the next few months because I would get so sick of it. The music genres don't usually stray far from what I already have in my itunes, and that is why I have absolutely no explanation for this phase.

Slipknot.

 

What in the bloody world. The number of times that Psychosocial has been played on my itunes is borderline obscene. That, along with Duality. How can pushing your fingers into your eyes sound like such an alluring action? This is making my playlist look like it's extremely confused.Or incredibly inclusive, depending on how you look at it.

Since I am on a random roll right now, how freaking lousy was the judgement for the Machida vs Davis match today? That is one major bullshit of a decision. Anyone with eyes will be able to tell you that Machida won that fight, so how the heck did the judges pass such a shitty decision is beyond my comprehension.

That is all. I do hope to grow out of this heavy metal phase soon.

xx

#7,8

So.....yes. A very long overdue post. Day 7 and 8 in Korea, aka our 3rd and 4th days in Seoul.

Our original plan was to spend the entire day at the Namsan/Myeongdong area before heading over to Namsan Tower at night to enjoy the night view. Sounds pretty good right? But more about that later.

First up, Namsan Hanok Village. I wasn't in charge of planning Seoul's itinerary apart from where and what to eat, so I was quite surprised when we arrived. Turns out I've visited here the previous time before! Visited...ish. I think I hid in the washroom most of the time to avoid the cold before succumbing to the cafe nearby. The cold was totally owning my ass. But I made up for it this time!

There weren't a lot of tourists around so we got to explore the place by ourselves, which was nice and all....until we spotted this. Now, if you are familiar with Korean dramas, you would know what this game is about.

We were laughing at our failed attempts at first and then before we know it...

Hui: I'm not leaving till I get this in okay.
Me: Ya me too.

You should have seen the way I picked up the sticks, it was serious business. ఠ_ఠ But we weren't too shabby at aiming la, we both scored eventually!

Walked over to Myeongdong after. Huihui was the guide, of course. I cannot stress enough how good she is with maps and directions, and how much I trust her gut when it comes to navigation. Whenever she would try and justify taking a certain shortcut she spotted on the map/cutting through some dodgy alleyway, this would be my answer.

Me: Aiya you don't have to explain to me how it works. I trust you!

Serious. Also, my horrible sense of direction is accompanied with a lack of panic when I am lost, so it's safer trusting her gut than mine. 

Had jjimdak for lunch. It is basically seasoned chicken simmered with potatoes, vegetables, cellophane noodles, and a ton of peppers. Really spicy and delicious! If I am not wrong, this is the dish that Se7en's restaurant specialises in. Anyway, speaking of Se7en...here's a little funny incident that happened in Busan.

*while climbing up some stairs*
Hui: ...and then we can just walk from exit 7.
Me: (not really paying attention) Uh huh, okay.
Hui: I saw 7!
Me: (´⊙ω⊙`)! WHAT? For real?? Where!
Hui: So excited for what! There. *points at exit 7*
Me: What?? Wher-oh cheyyyyyyyyy.

I almost had a seizure from the change of emotions I felt. Can you imagine if it was really him? My goodness. Huihui laughed at me for quite awhile after that.

Shopping time! We haven't done any proper shopping since we arrived, so things got a little...enthusiastic.

Tried on a ridiculous amount of clothes that I had to snap photos to remember how they look like on me/ask for a second opinion. When Hui saw the amount of clothes that I was putting into the shopping bag, she immediately said "Remember that we still have Ewha Women's University okay?".

Me: ಥ_ಥ Okay...

Ended up getting only 3 items. Well, 4, if you count the one that I went back and bought the following day. Couldn't resist la.

Hui on the other hand, went bonkers on nail polishes. I turn my back on her at Etude house for 5 minutes and she had 10 bottles sitting in her shopping basket. What in the world. The following is an excerpt of the conversation we were having before we started shopping.

Me: Eh don't buy too many nail polishes hor. You have a ton at home already.
Hui: Ya I know. 买太多也是放在家里干。

SAY ONLY. Hahahaha.

Continued to walk around Myeongdong when it started pouring out of nowhere. We were lucky to be near the restaurant when it happened because seriously, the roads were already flooding when we got there.

The famous Myeongdong Gyoja!

THIS. This ruined DTF's xiao long baos for me. I could never go back to appreciating xlbs the way I did before, it's just not possible. By the way, they only offer 4 items on the menu and the restaurant was packed full of people. Says a lot about the food.

By the time we were done with dinner, the rain had only gotten worse. Ran across to the cafe opposite to seek shelter and by the time the rain had subsided, it was already 10pm. Postponed our plans for N Tower and headed back begrudgingly.

The next day! Woke up early and made our way to Bukchon Hanok Village.

It is a legit residential neighbourhood full of traditional houses. Pretty cool, but I wonder how the people living there feel about having hordes of tourists combing through their neighbourhood everyday. There are a few photo-taking spots you could walk hike up to that oversees entire estate but...we were too lazy to do it.

Walked over to Gyeongbokgung Palace next.

（；¬＿¬) Shifty eyes, lolol.

I have never been to palaces before so I don't have a reference point, but god damn is Gyeongbokgung huge. There are translated tours given, but I don't know if they were free so I just stalked the group while trying my best to look nonchalant. You should probably get that checked out before looking looking like a suspicious pickpocket.

Walked over to the famous Tosokchon for lunch! The exact directions I wrote down were: "Turn left onto Jihamun-ro 5-gil. Spot the ridiculous queue."

Quite accurate, if you ask me. The entrance is below the white signage.

Superbbbbbbb. I am really running out of things to describe food so just take my word for it when I say that it's delicious okay? And look at the queue again if you need further validation.

Headed over to Dongdaemun next, which was a huge disappointment. I have no idea if we got out from the wrong exit, or we were stuck in a temporary limbo, because all we saw were fabric stores and more fabric stores, an occasional clothing store catered for older ladies, and more fabric stores. This was us after 30 minutes. (?_?) (?_?)

Abandoned Dongdaemun for Han River instead.

Went cycling again! There was nothing much to see along Han River apart from the occasional group of pro-cyclists and a random swimming complex. Pretty view, nonetheless. Cycled for about 3 hours before heading over to Myeongdong for dinner.

Army base stew. This meal is an embodiment of our good luck. Huihui really wanted to try this dish, but she didn't have the directions to the restaurant nor the Korean translation for the dish. We were pretty tired by the time we reached Myeongdong, so our plan for dinner was just any restaurant that looked promising. We initially thought that it was another Korean BBQ joint until we saw the menu.

Hui: *points at the menu* This looks like the army stew that I wanted to try leh.

Me: For real? Lemme see!...Holy crap I think it is lor!

We really lucked out. Also, I would like to think that it was Myeongdong's way of compensating us for the horrible weather the day before. Lol.

Made our way to the cable car station after to take us up to Namsan Tower. I've read somewhere that there is an escalator that you could take up to the station, but we couldn't find it so we walked instead. I mean, the cable car is the main transportation that brings you up there right? So how far could it be?

VERY FAR.

You literally had to hike for 15 minutes up a steep slope to reach the cable car station. And here I thought that choosing the cable car meant that there was no hiking.

It gets dark pretty quickly in Korea, so we got to enjoy the beautiful night view of Seoul. This was the best I could do inside the cable car after 5 disappointing attempts at a panoramic shot.

Speaking of being inside the cable car. Everyone was clamoring to get close to the windows so take photos/enjoy the view, when...

 

I spotted a Korean couple taking advantage of the 80% darkness. They were being very sneaky about it too.

  

Mmhmm, I see you. Lolol.

Love locks. Symbolic of locking your love I guess? And proof of human beings' insatiable greed. Apparently the locks didn't provide sufficient writing space so some smart aleck couple brought along phone casings to write on instead. *inserts look of contempt*

Took the cable car back down to the station and walked to the metro station. Our legs were falling off by then, so we began making our way back to the guesthouse.

The last two days in Seoul are pretty chill except for our experience at the public bath house, but I'll leave that for another post.

xx