[Korea] Damyang Trip

Damyang County (Damyang-gun) is an county in Jeollanam-do, South Korea. Bamboo goods and strawberries are well-known local products of this highly touristic area.

Hee. Wikipedia stuff.

Damyang is a place of bamboo and it is near to Gwangju so I decided to go there. End of story. XD 

Direction: 

=> Seoul (Central Terminal) → Gwangju (U-Square), bus every 5 to 10 minutes, (3.5 hour duration) Gwangju (U-Square) → Damyang Passenger Bus Terminal, jikhaeng (direct) bus or buses 311/322 every 10 to 20 minutes (40 minute duration) 

If you are looking for some place to go and you are near Jeollanamdo, you can go to Damyang.  The time I went there, there was a festival going on. It is called the Bamboo Festival. HA. Straight forward thingy. 

Finally I drank the Makgeolli. Taste a little bit like  Heneiken beer. Looked like white cloudy liquid. I were accepting well but my friends kinda dislike it. So, all the Makgeolli went into my golden bowl. 

The sun was burning hot so I bought the Choco ice-cream and I regretted it the second I had to suck out the chocolate by bitting the hard thick plastic. I gave up and wait for the sun melting power to melt the choco ice so I could suck it. 

See the green thing? It is a water shooting gun. My friend bought it and we were blur on how to use it at first. The little kid was more expert than us and he taught us. *facepalm*

See the moustache guy? He dragged us into the dancing parade to dance with them. We thought it was fun but after 10 minutes we wanted to leave the dancing pool, he stopped us! It was funny to me but my friends thought this was a little creepy for them. XD

Little fur-ball soldiers. (Lame naming)

Juk-No-Won 

means Green Bamboo Forest

Cute guy(?) back view?

Got a small whistle as a prize.

This made me remembered one of Stephen Chow movies. 

巴黎鐵塔翻轉再翻轉。XD

2,000 won (RM6) for a handkerchief. O.O

This lady was serving a tea session with two foreigners and I think these 2 foreigners did not understand what she had said at all. My friend helped her to translate some words to the foreigner but too bad the ahjumma used too many complicated word and my friend was tongue-tied. XD Wished to help but not sure how to translate it.

Fan making

Lee Seunggi 's was participated in this variety program before and they went here last time. Most of the hosts had been replaced. T-T

But this place still look nice for couples.

In fact, I think destination is not the main focus of their trip. Heh. Saw many couples around and they all extremely in huggy-huggy mode. 

Thought if wanna introduce this place beside Seoul and you might interested to come here if you have the chance. ^^

Korea Diary 12th-16th March

**All the photos in this post belonged to me. Please do not re-upload and take it as yours. Thank you.**

12th March 2013

Getting used to the student life here in Korea. All the students here ARE FASHIONABLE.  All the girls legs are slim and long. No joking. Their legs are LONG. Everyday play as a peeking tom to hamsup  

Because I cannot changed my short legs (pathethic, sigh I know... ><) so I went to play badminton in our university. 2,000 won for 1 hour play. Sweating out is good for body and eating after exercise is good for body too. (who say?) XD 

We strolled around the school after badminton play and talked Cantonese + mandarin + Malays (when we suspect the person in front of us was Chinese. Heh.) Suddenly a guy came out of no where showed up and asked us if we were from China. We said no and said we were from Malaysia. 

He said: " Good!  Tell me more about Malaysia! I want to know more about it! Come and sit on the bench near the pond!".

**Seriously I don't know whats he was up to and he had the suspiciously looking files hidden under his coat. And there were a lot of couples dating around the pond and what for I sat with a ahjussi (uncle) at the pond?!!!

He talked for a long time and asked a bunch of questions and the mysterious files still had not showed up so my friend and I simply told him we need to get going to meet friends to escape. I still wondered what was his intention? Weird.

13th March 2013

The weather in March was still freezing cold and the strong wind blowed never failed to make your teeth chattering. Getting used to the FREE food (Yay!) food in dormitory food. Well, it was the dorm food and sometimes the food sucked and we ended up fried chicken delivery to cure our sad stomach. XD

If you wondered where I gained my fats from. Here is it.

The books here are expensive. TT-TT 

Money gone money $$$

15th March 2013

Today my korean buddy took me to have a campus tour. We walked around the university and she explained to me some history. I don't remember them all actually. Wore skirts today since.... 2 years ago? Too used of wearing jeans and seemed to be awkward to wear skirts again. Maybe born to be manly? pffft...

Some guys and girls were playing near our school fountain and they all kinda dare each other to walk into the fountain to celebrate the spring arrival although it still freaking cold to me at that time.  

Halgeum is Korean traditional instrument and my Korean housemate showed me her halgeum skill!

It looked kinda like China Er Hu but they have some places differences. She played a few songs to us and we were impressed! Really amazed by those who have musical brain cells. I think mine.... didn't even exist before. LOL

16th March 2013

We went to Gwangju Folk Museum and Art Museum since some friends recommended us to go. Never thought I actually GOING to MUSEUM. Turned out it was an enjoyable small getaway. We saw a small forest of small maehwa and it was indeed pretty! I only see fake maehwa during CNY and nothing could beat the real one! We ventured a lot time at the Maehwa forest. Heh...

When we walked to the museum, two of my friends started to sing some chinese songs. Felt like I were on a school trip again. ^^

The entrance fee of Art museum and Folk museum were around 2,000won. 

A kind old man kindly be our tour guide of Folk Museum and he had explained a lot of the stories to us. He seems to be in his seventies and he were learning English to communicate with foreigner. *salute* 

One of the most memorable artifacts in the museum was Dutch's wife. It is a pillow that guys would use during Summer and they were willing to hug it rather than their wife because the weather was hot. Funny but I will kick my hubby if this was the case. +v+

P.s. Will upload more soon after I back from Busan. Cheers.

[Jeju] Sum Guest House

What makes a wonderful journey? 

Sometimes the people you met during your travel probably was the highlight of the trip.

I not sure since when I begin to choose guesthouse as my accommodation instead of hotel anymore. Cheap and home comfy is how I put it. I like guesthouse with decoration ideas.

I had travelled to Jeju for 4nights 3 days. Sorry for not upload any decent post recent because I were busy travelled. (Hee...) My diary book is lack of updates and I always struggled to finish updates but couldn't because I really went to a lot of places recently. Muahahaha... (<-got hit for being so braggy)

I went to Sum Guesthouse in Jeju and most of the staffs know basic English. See the one with cap in the picture? He knows English.(?) The luggages piled stacked in front of the counter was my friends and I. HA.

The reception (spoiled by my messy luggages XD)

The reception from a bit far view( and AGAIN spoiled by my messy luggages XD)

The resting area.

My favourite table in the resting area. 

The kitchen packed with all the unlimited cup noodles, juices, coffees and breads for breakfast.

(The cup noodles is yummy!)

I love their internal design of the guesthouse.

WOW factor:

They have so many stamps for you to stamp it in your book ( you can buy one Jeju Passport book to stamp too) and they are also provide the ink pad (with ink refill at the side) so no worries you have the stamps but no ink! (I encountered that tons of times ==)

Rooms:

It is kinda epic fail when I forgot take the room picture. Pffft...

I lived stayed there for 3 days (60,000) and book via Booking.com.

I actually booked dorm styled room(female only) for 3 days but some problems came out with the booking so the staff was apologetic to us and he let us to stay 2 days at their family room and 1 day in dorm room. (3 days accommodation turned out to be lesser than 60,000won because he had discounted for us. Yay!)

Family room for Day 01 and 02

This room is really large and comfy. ^^

Dorm style for Day 03

Lockers are provided too.

Powder room (female only)

Apparently SUM guesthouse boss know how girls tend to take a long time to get dress up so they provide a special powder room for us! Hehe... I forgot to take photos at that time because many girls were busy hairdryer their hair and makeup. ^^

Tips:

Sum Guesthouse provides a detail bus routes and time schedules and you can ask them for that! I am really impressed by their systematic info! '

Additional Service and info:

1) They also provide laundry service and free wifi (and computers too) in the resting area. 

2) They have the game called Halli Galli on the table and you are free to play too!

3) You can write your comments on their books to show your gratitudes ^^

4) I think the real charm of a guesthouse is you interact with other backpackers or staffs during your visit. Getting know more friends is never a bad thing. (The last time I tried, I went to Mt. Hallasan unplanned for 9 hours and got myself sore legs. XD)

How to get there:

I went to Jeju by cruise and I reached at their Jeju International Terminal (제주국제적터미널).  I took a taxi to the place and it costs around 4900won. You can actually told the taxi driver to go to Local Bus Terminal because the guesthouse located opposite the bus terminal(look for the signboard at the corner after you cross the road) and I think it is very convenient.

Weird Sound

and

Don't why my stomach keep on growling.... At first, I thought I were hungry so I ate a lot. =X

The sound was so loud even my new China friend was so curious and she kept on asked me if I heard the weird sound. Nothing will tear open my mouth to confess the sound was from me! 

Will it be settled if I passes out more gases? XDDD

Do anyone has similar experience? Anyone? Anyone?

Any solution to solve this embarrassment? 

I am a little embarrassed when my stomach growled continuously......  @@ *Grrrrr....*

Korea Diary 1st - 11th March

**All the photos in this post belonged to ME. Please do not re-upload and take it as yours. Thank you.**

Time is passing like a lighting and without realise I had spend more than half a month here in Korea. Every day I have many things to juggle but I always remind myself to record every interesting and cute moments I spent with my new friends, housemates and my new discovering.

Alright, bedtime story continues... 

**You have been warned that this article is full of nagging. Nagging overflow**

=====Skip this paragraph if you just want to know I had my passport back in my pocket now===

I left my passport and some cash in my Seoul guesthouse. It was kinda creepy silent moment when the dormitory admin requested a passport from me and suddenly I couldn't heard any more noise in my surroundings but saw a flash of memory I had conveniently tuck the important small purse under my pillow and I had no memory of putting in back to my backpack. I didn't freak out immediately (because I am a slow-motion person XD) but quietly whispered to my friend about it and quickly settled my room check-in and went to my room with my new Korean buddy. 

When I reached my room, I swiftly put my bag on the bed and rummaged all my belongings to confirm my worries. It was in Seoul. >< I told my Korean buddy and asked her to call the guesthouse owner. He said he was busy and he could only send it by next week but I need the passport to do all the administration stuffs in my new university. My auto-reflex system told me not to tell my mom because my mom would become a monster and shout at me continuously  worried but I still chose to tell my mom upon my friend advice and my head was boomed with all my mom scary scoldings.

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1st March 2013

In this exchange programme, everyone has a Korean buddy to help us to get used to new surroundings.  My sudden decision to come to my new university make my Korean buddy did not have time to prepare and she said she was embarrassed to welcome me in this condition because she did not wear any make up and she rushed from her home to welcome me. I felt she is a warm person and I still think she is pretty compared to my 4hrs-bus-journey-oily-face-big-specs-cat-fought-hair condition.

My Korean buddy treated me a free meal in a cafe called Africa! Everything here was so expensive if I converted it back to RM in Malaysia. I think I need to tie a belt over my waist to pretend me to eat a lot XD. Strawberry Banana juice used fresh fruit to blend in concentrated amount and the Bulgogi(Pork meat) was delicious! I were so hungry that I half eating and talking at the same time. *lose face*

Not to mention the cafe surroundings was so good that the atmosphere and lighting were so comfortable.

2nd and 3rd March 2013

Anyway I hopped on the bus to Seoul with my friend (my true friend! *nose water dripping*) to get the passport and did a little shopping there as well (?!!!)

=Stickers at Daiso (Subway) when we rushing to catch our bus back. XD =

=500won (RM1.50) mask=

My friend decided to do a quick shopping(2hrs++ :P) behind our university. Apparently the cosmetic shops were always in sale and I bought one to recover my zombie-dry-skin. Regret now for not buying more at that time. TT-TT

One of the cute moments was that in Korea the moisturizer is called as emulsion. When we asked the saleslady about it(in English), the saleslady smile was frozen and turn into a panic attack. Sorry for scare you! She was so panic to speak English so I used my broken Korean and she bombarded me with a long fast Korean sentences. We smiled at each other so frequently during those awkward moment when we both couldn't find word to express ourselves. Communication breakdown!!!

5nd and 6th March 2013

Today I walked into the wrong class and sit among those Master graduate students. The lecturer was baffled to see me in his class and I consistently insisted I had registered his class! Suddenly out of the blue I realised it was not my class and I had to make my exit so "grand" because the class was small. 

><!!!

Late Night Supper!

One things that is convenient in dormitory is that delivery is so fast and delicious! Got free supper by our new Korean housemates and we chatted in English and body language. ^^

Korea Photo-Taking

The passport background in Korea is white and mine is blue. == Had to break my piggybank to go shop to take my photo. The photo taking in Korea is so professional(photoshopped a lot XD) that I couldn't recognised myself when I got back my photos the next day. 

and...

I wouldn't show you my photoshopped beautiful photo! :P

10th and 11th March 2013

Went to Homeplus (there was a Tesco beside the name) and bought some groceries. I didn't bought a lot because the price was still not really that cheap in Malaysia. I guessed I have to live like a bimbo here. *sigh*

Bought this two brand Ramyeon after we stood aside and start people counting the amount of people took the brand considered the winner. XD

This trick

.

.

.

did not worked because the right side brand taste very complicated. (Not really that bad but the smell is weird) The left brand taste... normal. *Bummmmm*

=컵밥 Photo posted in Facebook=

One of the Korean housemate treated us a supper again! This is called 컵밥 (keop bap - cup rice).  We felt a little embarrassed for her treat because we didn't get a chance to treat her back. She is so cute and she got excited when she told us that her lecturer introduce Durian and Malaysia today and she immediately think of us. Awwww....   We told her our love for Durian is same as their love for Kimchi ---- only locals like to eat. XD

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P/s: Sorry for always post food in my facebook page recently during late night. 

My intention is to make you all fat together with me and I will continue to do this evil act XD.