Sunday, June 24, 2012

Soul searching in SEOUL [A Seoul travelogue]

S E O U L ! 함께 불러봐요~! (Let's shout it together!) #Seoul Song - SNSD & Super Junior#
A land of the Korean Wave (Hallyu wave) and all things K-POP! This is the third time to Seoul for me, though. The last time I went was back in 2008, for an exchange program.

Sooooo, on to my travelogue!

***some pictures are taken by my sister's cam and my mum's! credits to them.

Information about South Korea:

Currency: 1,000 Won = RM3 (1,000 Won is like their RM1, meaning 1,000 Won can only buy sweets, ice-cream, etc.)
Weather: Summer - 30C to 20C
Time differences: 1 hour in advanced from Malaysia. (E.g: Malaysia is 5PM, Korea is 6PM)

---

{ Day One - 16th June 2012 (Saturday) + 17th June 2012 (Sunday) ARRIVAL+ INKIGAYO

My flight's at 11.15PM at night, so my morning was free. Went to college to attend the Talent Show wrap-up party which started at 12PM. Had an amazing time with my friends and my two lovely lecturers! By 4pm, I went home and got ready for the journey!



8.30PM the taxi arrived and we headed to the airport!



Had Coffee Bean's Chicago Cheesecake and a cup of Hot Chocolate for supper. Yummms. That hit the spot!



By 11PM, we boarded the plane and had a 6hr flight to Seoul via Korean Air.




I only managed to sleep for 2 hours in the plane. I just can't fall asleep. :( Kept myself entertained with my iPad, reading Marvel comics and stuff.


 in-flight breakfast. urrrm... meh.

from departure, 4AM, 4.30AM, 5AM


5.30AM in the morning, the clouds fluffed up. 

Touched down at Incheon Airport (인천국제공항) at 6AM (Malaysian time) , which is actually 7AM Korean time! (KST)

Went through immigration with their really efficient system. It only took us 10 minutes+ of waiting even though with a huge crowd.





Met with our Uncle S after that! He then brought us to his car and drove us to our hotel; Hotel Samjung!



Hotel Samjung is situated in Gangnam, Seoul. It is 30 minutes away from the downtown Seoul, so it can be said that it's like the 'Selangor' of our country.




Our plan for today was -


  • Arrive at Incheon Airport.
  • Head to the hotel to rest till 12PM. (It was only 8AM that time!)
  • Have lunch.
  • Head to SBS Inkigayo (인기가요; A K-POP music show that airs every Sunday with many K-POP artistes performance.)
  • Dinner
  • S L E E P !

So we arrived at the hotel and then we rested till 12PM. Changed into a simple t-shirt and shorts, we were all ready and suited up to head for something every k-pop fan would die for - INKIGAYO!


The view outside our hotel!


But first, LUNCH!

Had 'Gal bi tang' (갈비탕; Which is also known as the short-rib soup). It tasted DAMN good! I would love to eat more.


NOMSSSSS



Streets

Went to Uncle S's car and he brought us to Deungcheon-dong which is where the SBS Inkigayo recording  is done (SBS Open Hall), but a half an hour drive away from our hotel. Nervous and excited, our first experience of K-POP performances in Korea itself!


'Dr. Jin' drama billboard ft. the casts (Kim Jae Joong!)

Uncle S parked his car in a department store called Homeplus, which is near the SBS Open Hall building.







We still had an hour to spend before we can enter the venue.

Saw so many fans holding placards and banners for their stars that they were supporting. Most of them were BANAs (B1A4 fans) which are young middle school girls! I was pretty shocked though, didn't know know B1A4 had such young fan girls lolol.

Walked around to kill time and to find some nice clothes. They have K-POP stars endorsements everywhere, it's uncountable!








Then when it was time, we left Homeplus and walked to the building across!


SBS Open Hall


Waited outside with a whole lot of fans. It was really packed. 






Anddddddddd ..


Our Inkigayo tickets!

Getting these tickets aren't easy. Actually, getting into Inkigayo ain't easy at all. You've got to be one of the lucky ones to get picked. But since we have some connections, then it's much easier. It's free, by the way! :)


Since it's so valuable, I gotta take a picture with it too :P


Queued up for a pretty long time. Thank God it was shady and the weather was good. The wind is cooling and niiiiiiiiiceeeeeeee. 


After awhile, Uncle S told us to follow him. We ditched our queue line and followed him and he said something to the staff who was directing the people to enter and she immediately let us in after that. (#excited). We had special privilege! :P

We were lining outside the building then, very close to the studio. A bunch of B1A4 fans were behind us and they screamed as they caught a glimpse of a B1A4 member, Jin Young. LOLOL.

 Entered the studio and they gave us a copy each of the Inkigayo magazine! (They don't sell this anywhere so it IS very valuable. Only people who can enter the venue are able to get this magazine!)


At the hallll ! (shhh, this is supposed to be a secret shot!)

We weren't allowed to take any pictures during the recording, so I apologize for the wordy post after this part.

So it began, and the MCs for that day was Nam Woohyun (A member of INFINITE), Lee Jeongsuk (An actor from the drama SECRET GARDEN), and Sulli (A member of f(x)!). Woohyun and Jeongsuk weren't the MCs for the previous Inkigayo stages so they look really nervous!

Since we sat at the right side of the stage, we got to see them really, really clearly and they kept giving fanservice to those who sat there. (Lucky me ;D~~). But we were amongst the B1A4 fans, and they are the loudest bunch. Really.

Woohyun kept waving at all of us, and he started to direct a fanchant of Jeongsuk's name since he never really MC-ed before. It was really adorableeeeeee. Since we were sitting at the side, we can see the stars getting their makeup fixed, drinking their water and all these behind the scenes stuff since the back of the stage is visible. Great treat for us!


The three MCs! (L-R: Woohyun, Jeongsuk, Sulli)

Then it continued to a lot of performances from many, many K-POP idols;
INFINITE, B1A4, Teentop, U-KISS, Kim Janghoon (comeback special), December, Boyfriend (comeback special!), JJ Project, A-JAX, EXO-K, Youngsaeng (SS501 member), Tritops, f(x) (comeback special), A PINK, G.Na, Wonder Girls, HELLO VENUS, Dal Shabet 

18 K-POP groups here and we didn't even have to pay to watch them. #thisisdamngood

Their performances were really goooooooood. It's like a CONCERT but it's mainly for the TV recording and at least 500 fans were allowed to enter the studio and watch! They're so nice to let us fans enter to watch. :')


How it looks like on TV! (INFINITE)



Some performances were pre-recorded though, meaning they've came to record it before so that they can make as much mistakes as they want and it can be edited; their performance on that time wouldn't go on air - in simple terms. Out of 18 groups, at least 5 of them were pre-recorded, but the stars still came to perform for their fans even though it has been already recorded. Though in the middle of the performance, the P.D (director) will come out on stage and tell them to stop performing, and then the stars will stop dancing/singing and thank their fans and leave.




Teen Top fans, read this! 
For Teen Top's performance (even though they've already pre-recorded).. (omg this is so cute, really. If only I recorded this...), they were dancing energetically to their song 'To You' nevertheless, and then the P.D came out and stopped one member. Everyone else besides L.Joe stopped dancing and saw the P.D and they knew that it's time for them to leave the stage. But the song continued and it was L.Joe's part to rap, and he rapped with swag and then he turned around and bumped into the P.D who caught his both arms (okay, the P.D looked like he's hugging him like 'oi, stop lah.') and told him to stop. Everyone looked at him like 'LOL WE STOPPED A LONG TIME AGO.' L.Joe laughed and laughed 'cos it was pretty embarrassing, and then they bowed and left the stage. HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Boyfriend fanaccount!
They were at the side of the stage, waiting for their turn to go on stage. One of their members, Jeongmin, were looking at our direction and he kept waving, giving thumbs up signs and happy smiles and faces to us fans. He waved at us directly too, LOL! It was pretty cute though, feeling the interaction and all. If only we could be more up close!

B1A4 fanaccount!
Then it was B1A4's turn to perform. That time, a Korean fangirl beside me passed me an A4 paper printed with the words '신우 축하해!' (Congratulations, Shinwoo!) and I was pretty puzzled and she told me to carry this up when B1A4 came on stage. She told me that it was one of the member's birthday! (Shinwoo's birthday). Then I just did what I was told and put that up. B1A4 looked directly at our place because that was where all their fans sat. Shinwoo looked and pointed at our direction and smiled, Baro laughed and waved, and omg they were so cute performing 'Baby Goodnight'!




We had a LOT of fun watching the performances. The energy emitted from the fans and the stars themselves really perked me up even though we didn't have much sleep that day! 



This show lasted for an hour and a half at most, (Didn't really count the time because it was too good) and we went outside and saw that there were fans waiting to see the stars leave the building!




 Look at them all holding placards!




Waited for a pretty long time with the crowd and finally, after 15 minutes of waiting, the vans with black tinted windows start driving out of the building and fans started screaming.

Oh, we saw Sulli walking past us. LOL. My sister got a video of it but I don't it with me :(

I'll put this picture extra large 'cos you can see U-KISS's Soohyun walking towards the car.








More cars with tinted windows.


 Oooh. Look who we caught! It's UKISS's member..... not sure who. LOL.



fan girls chasing the van. tsk tsk. xD


Some nice stars actually rolled down their windows for their fans to catch a glimpse of their beautiful faces.
It worked really well because everyone started screaming even louder. Some of the fans actually ran and chased the cars.... #hardcore.









Walked back to Homeplus 'cos we were worn out.

Had Baskin Robbins then. YAAAAY. Mint chocolate chip! First time trying it, it's gooood.


Baskin Robbins and the Inkigayo magazine. Loves.

Since we were at Homeplus, and it's a departmental store which has FOOD and SNACKS. We decided to go on a grocery shopping spree.





"OMG, LET'S BUY THIS!"
"LET'S BUY THAT."
"THIS TOO."
"OMG I HEARD THIS IS NICE."
"I'VE ALWAYS WANTED THIS!!!"
....
...
...
..
Dad: "Seems like we're gonna live here a little bit longer than we expected."

After that, left Homeplus and had a 40 minute journey back to a shop near our hotel for dinner.

Shabu-shabu noooooooodles! NOMS.





Went back to the hotel, and rested. Tiring, but very, exciting day. :D

Oh and these biscuits are LOVE. 'Choco Museum', it's a picture of Mona Lisa in chocolate, and behind it is a biscuit. UGH CHOCOLATE AND BISCUITS UGH.


#end of first day


{ Day Two - 18th June 2012 (Monday) MYEONGDONG SHOPPING + NAMSAN TOWER

NEXT DAYYYYY!

Basically, this day is filled with shopping goodness. Shop shop shop shop shop.

Morning, we had breakfast at the hotel. The usual buffet breakfast.

It may look pathetic but it's really tasty okaaaaay.

By 11AM, we left the hotel and Uncle S took us downtown Seoul to Myeongdong (명동)!


"Myeongdong is one of Seoul's main shopping and tourism districts;  featuring mid-to-high priced retail stores and international brand outlets, including Lacoste, Polo Ralph Lauren, Forever 21, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton and Nature Republic. It is a particularly popular area for young people and tourists as a center for fashion and sight-seeing." - wikipedia.org
We parked at Lotte Mall, and then walked over to Myeongdong.

Walked passed the Star Avenue, something like a 'museum' of K-POP stars!

 Featuring BIGBANG, Super Junior, Kim Hyunjoong, and a few other popular actors and actresses.

 Fans wishes to the stars.




 Super Junior's hand prints! 
Dad: "Oh look! Same size as mine!" 



A very bad shot of Rain. LOL!


Now I shall let the pictures do the talking :P









 'Amazing Spiderman' posters are everywhere! 





 Underground subway shops! This shop sells all k-pop stuff :)



Uncle S decided to bring us to see the oldest Western themed Catholic church in Myeongdong,




 woof woof.

Then we continued our journey.

 OH MY GOD, FUBU! A brand that T.O.P from BIGBANG endorsed for!





 My bbyyyyy.


Couple picture with my T.O.P :P !


SPAO! This outlet has a LOT of nice t-shirts.




 Capt' Americaaaaaaaaa! /fangirls/

 'Kawaii' Avengers! The Asian version!

Always an Iron Man fan, :)

The shirts that we bought!

Went to EVERYSING too!

"Everysing is a fun place run by SM Entertainment. Visitors can purchase various idol items associated with Korean celebrities who is under SM Entertainment; e.g: Super Junior, TVXQ, f(x), SNSD, SHINee." - visitkorea.org
It has SO many official goods of SM Entertainment's artistes. This place even has a karaoke room (only one though), and your performance will be recorded so that if you are a good singer, SM will actually recruit you!

Didn't take much pictures here but I'll post some from the net!




all these SM goodies.......


Got a few stuffs for a friend!

Anyway, walked some more...







Had 'Sam Gye Tang' (삼계탕; Ginseng Chicken) for lunchhhhh! Uncle S recommended a shop to us, and yums that was really good.





Continued shopping for awhile, and then off to Namsan tower park afterwards.


 Cool Garfield posing for our camera ;D




The super long ice cream and I !

Had Angel-in-us Coffee before heading to Namsan tower park. Cookie and Creme frap!

instagrammed picture. LOL

Left Myeongdong and went to Namsan Tower Park! Soooo we spent 5 hours in Myeongdong and parked the car at the Lotte Mall building.

Guess how much was the parking fee for 5 hours?

40,000W = RM120  

Like omg my dad was practically panicking because parking itself costs a bomb. Uncle S was like "Nooo, it's actually considered cheap here! Other places costs MORE!"

Don't get a car in Seoul, people. It's VERY expensive. Use their subways and efficient buses!


Anyway, reached Namsan Tower Park! Didn't really go up to the tower, but the park was pretty fun too! The weather does it justice.



 My artistic shot of the toilet sign. Eheheh.







this place has really pretty flowers! :D


Drove back to a restaurant near our hotel for dinner. Initially wanted to eat 'Bulgogi' (불고기; Grilled marinated beef) but the shop doesn't have it, so we ended up eating fried rice. Still not that bad, though!




It was 6PM, and we have accomplished today's mission. Shopping and the Namsan Tower. Since we were free, we decided to walk to Kyobo Bookstore, which was 5-10 minutes walk from our hotel.

Walking pictures! :D





I was pretty surprised that we forgotten to take pictures there. Hahahahaha.

(Pictures taken from net)


Even Running Man came here to film! 


 Interior. It's huge, I tell you.


After buying a magazine and a Marvel Civil War comic book, we walked back to our hotel (gah, it's uphill. Tiring!) and rested!

zzZzZzz. Goodnight!


{ Day Three - 19th June 2012 (Tuesday) Odusan Unification Observatory + DRAMA FILMING (ACTOR KIM MIN JUN) + MBC SHOW CHAMPION (B.O.B 4!)

The BEST day ever.

Started as a usual morning~


My style for today.
'I've got stripes, and you don't!' :)




This is the best yoghurt ever.

Today's itinerary:
  • Visit the 'Odusan Unification Observatory'
  • Visit Paju Premium Outlet
  • Lunch
  • Head to Drama filming location at 7th Heaven in Seoul (?)
  • Head to MBC Show Champion
  • Back to hotel


Uncle S then took us to the Odusan Unification Observatory, which was at least an hour plus from our hotel. 

Odusan Unification Observatory? What's that?

"The Odusan Unification Observatory opened to the public in 1992. It’s one of the national tourist spot where foreigners like to visit and experience the stark reality of the divided Peninsula. Various photos and computerized screens showing the stark reality of North Korea are displayed on first and second floor. Products from North Korea can also be purchased here." -visitkorea.or.kr


Basically, it's a place where we can look into the border of North Korea, and see their buildings and stuff. A very interesting experience as this is the closest we can get to get a peek of North Korea and their lives.

On the way there, stopped by a gas station for a toilet break.

 The view from the toilet. LOL








 I find it cool how gas stations in Korea has air conditioned toilets and good interior furnishing.
Like really?!





Taeyang Sunny 10 drink!
Grape flavor, yuuuums.


Reaching the Observatory, yay!







Off to some sightseeing.

The land at the other side is the North Korea area.


The military base camp at our side. Defending South Korea's land.




 Fancy some North Korean liquor, anyone?



 Taegukgi (S.Korean Flag) proudly standing on its land.



I left a note too. Really wish that the both Korea can unite one day.

Left to Paju Premium Outlet for lunch after that!

It's an outlet selling international branded goods for a very good price!
















But first, lunch at Johnny Rockets! It's an American franchise lolol. 






 Diner style concept!






The waitress makes the cutest ketchup drawing for each of us!

Ugh so cute.


Me with the already deformed ketchup face. LOL, the gravity
pushed the ketchup eyes down. :(


Uncle S got a phone call from his friend and told us that by 3PM, we should be there at the drama filming location. He told us that we can take a picture with the actor. We were like omgomgomgomgomogmomgogm. 

Anyway, spent an hour at the Paju outlet. Many brands were featured; Coach, Lacoste, Nike, Adidas, Kipling, LeSportsac, Armani Exchange, Vans, Converse... etc.

I bought a pair of Vans, for only RM90! :D


Left to the filming location after that. An hour drive from Odusan and to the place!


 My babies.


Gah, Lee Byung Hun!! Why is it so dark....... lololol.


We reached there and parked there and felt surprisingly nervous.......

Then we met Uncle P! Uncle S introduced us to Uncle P and we exchanged greetings and stuff. Uncle P was holding something and then he passed it to us. An huge envelope and a tube of posters. He told us that it was SNSD autographed posters, and we were like omg..



The drama we're gonna see being filmed is called 'My Dear You' (친애하는 당신에게), produced by a new channel called Jtbc. It is not released yet, though. 27th of June is its first airing date! :)




What was in the envelope, you ask?

Drama stuff where only STAFF members can have.

1. The script.
The book you see here is the Episode 1's script!


 The contents.

2. The casting list!
The actors and actresses who are playing the roles in the drama!

Uncle P is so nice to give this to us! This is really something new.

this part might be a little wordy since we didn't take much pictures;;;; 

Uncle P then led us to a building, where we can see the filming process from the bottom where we were standing. Uncle P then told us that we would be going upstairs to watch the filming, that made us even more nervous! 

We followed Uncle P up, and we trailed behind him and we saw a LOT of staff members holding props, cameras and the lighting. We then entered a really cramp and small modern office, where two actresses were preparing for filming. 

The actresses on the set were Choi Yeo-Jin (Dream High 2's teacher, Ahn Tae Yeon!), and  Park Sol Mi!


 Choi Yeo-Jin as the second female lead (heheh; I don't know her name)


Park Sol Mi as the main female character. 

They were filming 'Episode 3', where these two ladies were in the office and apparently Yeo-Jin was the bitchy one and treated Sol Mi really badly. Yknow, these office scenes like Yeo-Jin is the boss and she talks to Sol Mi like 'Pfft, you're such a low class person' kind of way.

We were basically at the sidelines watching them filming. Because it's a very small space and the cameras, lighting and all sorts of filming tools were littered all over the place, we felt like we're totally taking up the space and in their way...


A very quick shot of the set. I don't dare to make a single sound.... it's intense, really.

So we were standing there, watching them getting prepared. THEN Uncle P called us over into the room, where the real filming was. So my sister and I panicked.. REALLY? Enter into that room?! It's squeezy enough and you want us two to enter and take up more space..... okay.

We went in anyway, didn't want to look like a poop and not follow his orders. The lighting director and the sound people looked at us like they've never seen outsiders before, and they were really puzzled. L O L. (We were really embarrassed because we felt like such annoyance and disturbance to them....)

Then I had to sit down since I didn't want to block the lighting. But the staffs need to move the light and I was disturbing their cables so they said "일어나, 일어나" (Stand, stand.), I actually understood that but they tried saying it in English which sounded like "Suhtend, suhtend.", and I obeyed anyway, and they laughed. (k, I was getting more nervous.)

When we FINALLY got to settle down and we sat again anyway, Choi Yeo-Jin was busy fanning herself with a paper fan and she looked pretty nervous as well. Sol Mi had a blank expression all the time. 

When Yeo-Jin saw the commotion of the staff asking us to stand and whatnot, she looked at us and asked;
"누구세요?" (Who are you?), and then Uncle P saved our butts and said "Oh, they are fans from Malaysia......@#$#%!@#$%" (He spoke to her in Korean but I only understood that part). And she was like "Oh wow, I didn't know I'm a Hallyu Star!" (A/N: Hallyu Star meaning like a Korean star whom are internationally recognized). She then looked away without even acknowledging our presence after that. PFFFFFFTT. 

Then after 5 minutes of getting ready, the director went "Okay. Ready. ACTION!" 

Everyone in the room held their breath. It was only the actresses, Yeo-Jin and Sol Mi, who talked. Not a single sound must be heard, or not the whole crew will blame you for the retake! 

It was an experience that was pretty intense. No sneezing, no coughing, your phones must be on silent and stuff. Ugh it was creepy.

Director: "CUT! Okay, one more take."

That part, we were asked to shift our positions (lol I know we were in your way, guys.) and we ended up sitting in the sofa where Sol Mi was sitting, though we were sitting at the very edge of the sofa where the camera won't capture us. It was scary, imagine you accidentally coughed or something and everyone just looked at you with that eye. *shivers*

Once the Director got a good shot, he said 'CUT!', and my sister and I ran out from the room immediately. LOL! My parents went all like "How was it?!", and we told them "IT. WAS. SCARY."

Anyways, we left the location and walked downstairs, where Uncle P was waiting for us and he told us that we could take picture with an actor. We were pretty confused tho. What actor? We didn't see any just now. So we just followed him, and he led us to a black van with tinted windows. He talked to the people inside, and he was like "Oh, he's changing now. Please follow me to wait awhile~". We then followed him to a cafe-ish shop, which was just beside the filming location just now. The place is called 7th Heaven! 

A really cozy interior.

Waited for at least 15 minutes. Fidgeting with the cast list and stuff, we're like "omg what am I supposed to say to him?" "Should we take selcas??" "Omg is he gonna be hot?" 

And then Uncle P told us that it will be one of the actors from this drama, and he pointed at a guy named Kim Min Jun. 


I don't really know him before, though. Not that I watch many K-Dramas. But still he's pretty good looking!

So Uncle P asked us to come out and meet him. We were like on the edge of screaming because this is too much to handle LOLOL. Uncle S then told us that he is a really nice guy who is so willing to let us take a picture with him. Naaaaaw, such a sweetie you are.

Then we waited outside the van. No fans around because it's supposed to be a secret-ish thing. Then he came out. Since I didn't really know how he looked like at first, he looks like a normal good-looking man who is walking towards us and we're like "oh......... it's him..........."

Here's the conversation between Min Jun and I (and my sister too):

Me: 안녕하세요~ (Hello~)
Min Jun: Oh you know Korean? (He said it in Korean, but I understood it lolol)
Me: No~ (I don't know why I said this....)
Min Jun: Ah. *starts greeting; shakes my hand*
Me: Picture?
Min Jun: Ok!
                Have you seen me before? (He said this in English......omg)
Me: Yes! You are good!! (I actually didn't...... I'M SORRY!!)
**Staff helps us to take a picture. YAY!
Me: 감사합니다! 셀카, Ok? (Thank you! Selca, okay?) A/N: Selca - Camwhore, except less 'whore'
**Staff laughs.  A/N: Selca is a very Korean term. Not much foreigners use it tho.
Min Jun: Ok!
**Takes selca
Me: Thank you!
Min Jun: You're welcome! (He said this in English too)
               First time in Korea?
Me: No, third time! (Shows 3 fingers to him)
Min Jun: Wow!! QL? (He meant KL......... LOL)
Me: Oh, 쿠아라룸퍼르? (Kuala Lumpur?)
Mum: Have you been to KL?
Min Jun: One time!
Mum: Wow!
**We fan girl for a bit as he looks on.......
**Starts to get a little awkward.............
Me: We will support you!! Thank you, bye!!
Min Jun: Ya, enjoy!

.. and then we walked off. AWKWARDLY. 

So I know you guys do want to see how the picture turned out, right? :D !!


.........

...

TA-DAAA
 First shot! He was wearing his sunnies lolol.



 Second shot, my mum took this. HAHAHA. He was waiting for 
me to get ready to take a selca with him.



And this is my selca shot with him. LOLOL. 


This was VERY unexpected okay?! If someone actually told me beforehand that we were gonna take picture with him, I would've prepared a script of questions to ask.......... I would've represented Malaysia's fanbase already. LOLOL.

But nevertheless, it was a fun experience! 


He went off to his acting later, joining the ladies up at the filming location. I will try to find the video link and post it up once I manage to get it!


We went to Paris Baguette and spazz our heads off. Uncle P bade us farewell as well since he had to stay with his filming crew to finish his stuff.




 Yummmmmms.


Iced chocolate!


Omgomgomgomg. Phew. K. So anyways, we chilled there for awhile and ate our donuts and drank our iced chocolate and Uncle S told us about our next destination which is to MBC Show Champion! Apparently, Uncle P arranged that for us as well ! Thank you so much Uncle P, you're awesome, really!


Reached the building! 


There wasn't as many fans as Inkigayo, as this is just a talk-show kind. There was at least 50-ish fans outside waiting and we were actually quite early. We didn't have to join the bandwagon this time, cos Uncle S just talked to the staff and immediately they made way for us to enter (without even lining up!) and she led us up to a stairway which is only used for the stars to enter the building. (Hurrrrr, talk about privilege!)

Got the best seats (not much people actually came up here anyway) and we watched the rehearsal!

It was only 5.30PM that time, and the recording starts at 7PM!

The stars that attended this are Wonder Girls, APINK, Dalmatian and other rookie bands like B.O.B4 (Band of Boys 4), VIXX, M.I.B, Juniel, Dal Shabet and A-JAX!


APINK rehearsed for their song HUSH twice and Wonder Girls rehearsed for theirs once. Was really cool cos you can really see their off screen personalities!  


HUSH HUSH HUSH HUSH~
Dad: "PUSH PUSH PUSH PUSH!!!!"




A-JAX!


Rehearsals!
Shindong from Super Junior and Shin Young are the MCs!





Dal Shabet, Dalmatian, A-JAX !



A-PINK rehearsing!

 Some stills of B.O.B 4 from YouTube. LOL



It was an hour plus of interviews and performances. A little boring 'cos it was all in Korean and we only could understand a little. Performances was good though. Highly entertaining, even my dad liked the girl groups who performed that day. 

Wonder Girls: "LIKE THIS YO, LIKE THIS!"
Dad: "LIKE DISCO, LIKE THIS!"

A-PINK: "HUSH HUSH"
Dad: "PUSH PUSH"

Sister and I: "OMG A-PINK!!!"
Dad: "Huh? Ah Bing?" (A Chinese name LOL)

Dad's so cute hohoho lololol. 

Anyway, while we were sitting at the place where only VIPs can sit, a few stars who were yet to appear on stage sat behind us, monitoring what was happening on stage. We didn't talk or anything though. Oh, a member of Dal Shabet and A-PINK saw us upstairs and waved at us. Yay!

Oh btw my dad told me that he bumped into B.O.B 4 when he entered the toilet. LOL. My dad has fan accounts too.......

Anyway!!

## FAN ACCOUNT TIME!! (B.O.B4)
The show finished, and then we went out the hall like nice obedient people. Me, being curious as always, wandered around and saw an opening at the side. I peered in and saw a cameraman taking pictures of B.O.B4 and I went all like "O M G , COME HERE GUYSSSSSSSSSSSS!" 

An A-JAX member (not sure who) was walking at the far end, I was waving at him and he bowed to me, I bowed at him back!

Some brief information about B.O.B 4 - They are the participants of the KBS Top Bands reality show (like American Idol concept but band version) and apparently they were doing quite well so they decided to debut. They are a relatively new group!

Check out their performance here before reading on! 



Anyway, so the cameraman saw my elated, hyper face and he was like "Come, come! You can take a picture with them." (In Korean), and immediately my mum helped to take a picture of us!

I got to have a short chat with Yoo Bin, (the vocalist and the leader of the band!) before we took the picture.


Me: 안녕하세요! (Hello!)
Yoo Bin: 안녕하세요~ (Hello~)
Me: 말레이시아 팬! (Malaysia fan!) (Although this is the first time I met them LOL)
Yoo Bin: 오~ 반갑습니다! (Oh, nice to meet you!)

**takes a picture
Me: 감사합니다! 수고했어요~ (Thank you! Good job today~)
Yoo Bin: 네~ 감사합니다! (Yes, thank you!)
**walks away; because there were a few ladies who wanted to take a picture with them too

 LOLOLOLOL. Another unexpected picture.
L-R: Min Kyu (bassist), my sister, Yoo Bin (the one I talked to) and I !
Yay I was eyeing on Yoo Bin when he was performing and he's my temporary bias and now
I got a picture with him yaaaaaay.


Then the other members felt left out and decided to join our picture taking ceremony. 


TOO BAD THIS ONE CAME OUT BLUR! :( 


But still it was awesome ;_;


We wanted to wait for VIXX and a few other groups to come out as that area is actually their preparation room, but it was pretty late that time and my parents were getting tired, so we gotta leave :(

We went downstairs and waited outside our car. Saw a few A-JAX members looking through the window from upstairs and waving at the fans downstairs. So cute D: But too bad it's not clear as the windows were pretty tinted.

Left to go back to our hotel that time. Was so exhausted, so we only had instant bowl noodles for dinner. Still yumms though!


And with that, DAY 3 has came into a closing~


{ Day Four - 20th June 2012 (Wednesday) KBS Building Tour + JYP, CUBE, SM building from the outside + COEX Mall Shopping 


Another morning of hotel buffet breakfast! Today will be less hectic and will be more relaxing.

Then Uncle S told us that we'll be heading to KBS in Yeouido for a tour around the building! He has connections with the people there as well, so he wants to bring us there for a tour. 

Some info about KBS - KBS is an acronym for Korean Broadcasting System. It is the biggest out of the four major South Korean television networks. It is government owned and well known for its news channels, documentaries, dramas and radio shows. Some popular K-POP variety shows and dramas are also produced and aired by this company (e.g Music Bank, IRIS, Dream High, etc)

We reached the building after a half an hour ride in Uncle S's car and started the tour when we got in! A kind lady named Ms. Noh brought us around the building!



this particular place is infamous for all the shooting of their dramas/variety shows


Now again, pictures will do the talking!

Studio tours!

the book reading show; encourages Korean citizens to 
read more and actually get rewarded!

 there's actually a cute guy on set, helping to prepare stuff but
I don't wanna look so stalker-ish 8D



 dressing rooms!

 GAG concert preparation room/clothing room!


All the costumes worn by the performers!


A spider costume.... LOL



 more funny stuff



Then we entered the prop room!


 Ancient Korean stuffs as props


and surprisingly, I saw an Iron Man mask here as well!
Go Marvel! 8D I'm Iron Man's sidekick. Step aside, Pepper Potts.

 '2 Days 1 Night' (1박 2일; a popular variety show) containers that they use! 


'Qualifications of Men' (남자의 자격; a variety show) stuff!


 Walking towards the news department!


We spazzed over this and then Ms. Noh went like 
"Do you like Lee Byung Hun?" (the main actor) and I said to her; "I LOVE HIM!!!!"
My most favorite drama of all time. 



KBS News Open Studio! They call it 'open' because the background
is not covered up, and you can actually see the staff working behind.







 Hi guys, we're your new news anchor for today.
We'll give you updates about stuff which you might want to know, like
"Updates of how I am coping with the fact that my Korea trip is ending."



"Ok so what should we do about this?"




The script for the camera; when to zoom in and out

And here is the stage where they have the end-of-the-year award shows. It's a huge stage for official
award show recordings.





A very huge hall for the KBS staff members to hold their functions, or weddings.



The last studio we visited - GAG concert recording studio! This studio is also where Music Bank is filmed and recorded. But as for now, they are preparing for the filming of the GAG concert. 



We thanked Ms. Noh and then left to dinnerrrr!

 Shabu-shabuuuuuu! (Because we couldn't find 'Dak Gal Bi' :( )

A popular restaurant for Shabu-shabu!

Apparently, BIGBANG's Tae Yang and G-Dragon came here a day before, alongside with 2NE1's CL and SECRET! #Ugh bad timing :(

Not cooked beeeeeeeef. NOMS!



 A wall filled with autographs and stars polaroids! The shopkeeper aunty was so nice to let us take this! She was pretty fascinated that we were from Malaysia LOL.

Walked around, and passed by TIMEOUT! Yoochun's (from the group TVXQ) ice-cream shop!


 Since Yoochun's nickname is Micky - they drew a Micky mouse there!




Fan's memorabilia 

Ordered the gelato ice-cream and they gave us the Rooftop Prince sticker :P
Chocolate + Cookies and cream!

Oh, we met a Cassiopeia there (TVXQ's fanbase) and she thought we were Koreans. We greeted each other, and she told us that she's from Singapore! Nice to meet you! :)


After that, off to Cheongdamdong to visit Korea's top entertainment industry buildings from outside!

 SMTOWN!


JYP!

Wonder Girls' promotional poster

EXO K and M!


Girls Generation - TTS.


 And fan scribbles outside their building! They love them too much...



Dropped by CUBE Cafe!

 A Hyunseung video is playing on the screen LOL!


 Stuffs inside





They actually sell coffees, lattes and stuff. But we were too full to order anything so in the end..... I bought...

 BEAST's PRESENT FOR YOU photobook!
They have really cute stuff they said and it's in English. Ugh adorable people.

Omagad, my babies.


Went to COEX Mall after that! Wanted to meet a friend here actually;; (You know who you are. LOL!)





 We wanted to make sure that we hit every shop here!

this made me fan girl so much okay..... LEE BYUNG HUN!!!


and at BANDI & LUUNIS bookshop desperately 
trying to find the IRIS graphic novel...

Style picture!

Spent 3 hours here (it was 5PM already), and then it was finally time to head back. 

Uncle S parked at our hotel and we rested at our rooms for a bit, before heading for dinner! Dinner's 5 minutes walking distance from our hotel.

It's our last dinner in Seoul for this trip! :'(

Walking pictures~








Reached, and now it's time to noms!



 Now you get why the restaurant is called the BAMBOO HOUSE?

 GRILLED BEEEEEEF. omg omg omg omg.


Had a satisfying dinner (daaaayum the beef is GOOOOOOD!), and back to our hotel to rest :(

Walking pictures, again :P 





our hotel, at night!

Rested, and took some pictures of the night scene cos it's our last night here..



And that concludes DAY 4!

{ Day Five - 21st June 2012 (Thursday) Caffe Bene + Leaving SEOUL!

Last daaaaaaaaay! Actually today's graduation day in my college but sadly I can't attend due to the sudden date change of the graduation day and I already booked my flight ticket that time. :( 

Anyway!

We decided to ditch hotel breakfast and walked down to Caffe Bene, which is pretty near to our hotel!

Only my sister and I went. :P

I love morning walks!



After 5 minutes of walking, and occasional wailing and whining because it was our last day,

 TA-DAAA~


Blur shot but Korean cafes look really good. 

 Ordered Hot Chocolate latte with whipped cream and cheese muffin!
YUMMMMMMMMS to the max!


the time bomb...... lolol nah it's the buzzer.




a tired and exhausted looking me :(

Walked back to the hotel afterwards and rested for awhile. It was 10.30AM then, and we were required to check out on 12.20PM.

A very messed up room 'cos we had to pack :(



Then it was time for us to leave the hotel and check out.

While we were waiting for Uncle S to input the next location (which is to Incheon Airport) in the navigator (GPS), I was being really random and waved at the bell boy from our hotel (who looked quite cute :P) and he was waving back. Since our car was parked right infront of the hotel, he waved back at me, 

he was inside at first lololol

 Then the older bell boy was outside and saw us being so 'attracted' to the younger bell boy, so he called the younger guy to come out. LOLOLOL

He came out, saw us and then waved and posed for my camera.......

Hahahahahaha! Adorable okay! 
They're so friendly omg I miss them already.

Just think about it.. 

Why would a bell boy come out and give 'fan service' to the customers who are leaving the hotel? And to think that he posed like that, eeeeee so cute! It's so funny lololol. But I'm sure it made his day! (He'll be thinking to himself: Omg I'm popularrrrr!)

Anyways, journey to Incheon Airport. dum dum dummm.

Our flight's at 4PM, so we left our hotel at 1PM and drove to Incheon, which took 40 minutes. 

 Korea's left hand drive!


 On-the-way pictures


Reached! 



Bade good bye to Uncle S, hugged him and thanked him for such a wonderful trip in Seoul. This is one trip I will never, ever forget!

Didn't take much pictures in the airport, meh.

Had 비빔밥 (Bibimbap; Korean Mixed Rice) for lunch! 


But it was pretty small and it didn't fill us, 

So we head to KFC for a second round! LOL.


Errm, one thing I can say is that Korea's KFC is not as good as Malaysia's. Since Koreans aren't fans of fried stuff, it's pretty obvious that their KFC wouldn't be as good.

Oh and there was a bunch of Korean guys who were sitting behind us were trying to get our attention by guessing our nationalities and stuff ;; They were speaking in Korean and YES WE DID UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU GUYS SAID. Just that we don't wanna reply, bahahahaha.


Stuffs I got from the airport. BIGBANG CD's TOP version is really
hard to get! 
The other stuffs beside are free. And it's so easy to
get a small 'poster' of stars here, like the brochure at the side; it is a small poster of Super Junior and I grabbed 3 of them because I know some of my friends like them LOL!


We still had some time, so my mum and I (the art geeks in our family) decided to try out some 'free Korean cultural painting' thingy.

You're supposed to make your own 'Phoenix' keychain thingy by painting on the block of wood they give you.


What it is supposed to be.


 What it turned out to be. LOL.
I was rushing okay, we didn't have much time to actually 
wait for the paint to dry completely...


After that, waited at our gate for awhile, 



Boarded the plane, and then flew back home to Malaysia!



 In-flight meal...

 In-flight ice-cream! Red carpet cheesecake.

And this is Chris, being pissed cos we said that he suck at using chopsticks.
LOL kidding. 
Was watching the film 'Push' on my iPad during the flight.


And an Onigiri for our snack, rofl.

Touched down at KLIA at 10PM. Got a taxi home and had McD's for supper. Yeeeeeeehaw.

And I noticed that Malaysia is SO HOT. UGH. I miss the cool, pleasant weather in Seoul! :(

Anyway,

This trip is one of the most memorable trips I've went. Thank you so much daddy, mummy and my precious uncles for being so awesome! I enjoyed this so much!

Thanks for reading, guys! I know it's a very long post!

Hope you enjoyed it. (:

#end

--------

{ Extras - The stuff we got from the trip!

 a pair of Vans!


MAGAZINEESSSS


MARVEL comics!

 MARVEL t-shirts! and other clothes which I think do not belong here..


our CD loot

SNSD stuffs for a friend


 A very random poster, autographed as well! 
(Cast of the drama 'Monster')

SNSD's autographed posters! (the rest I don't wanna upload :P)


... and other normal shopping stuff !


#END!

*phew, took me 3 days-ish to finish this! leave me a comment on the chatbox and I'll be very happy! (:


7 comments:

regina liang said...

Awesome travelogue!!!!! We should go together someday! And the kpop musuem with the hand prints.. HYUN BIN FILMED THERE BEFORE OMGGGGGGGGGGG AHHHHHHHH and i kept showing my mom pictures of the food lol i think i made her kinda excited :p

Unknown said...

JOLYNN, I WILL GO TO YOUR HOUSE AND ROB YOUR MARVEL COMICS.

Anonymous said...

Lynnieeee agh the trip's so awesome! Although I'm not into kpop that much now but I dig those Vans! Will definitely shop till I drop if I ever get to visit Korea :p

Lee Seung Min said...

BRAVO!! Seriously while reading this for 30mins I felt like I was in korea itself xD didn't feel bored at any part of the blog! Awesome blog!! :) let me know when your gonna write a new blog again :D love it!

XxMrs.RadcliffexX said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
XxMrs.RadcliffexX said...

OMG JO LYYYNNNNNN! THAT IS LIKE SUCH A FREAKING AWESOME HOLIDAY I AM SO JEALOUS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! AND OMG I WATCHED THAT EP OF INKIGAYO THAT YOU WERE AT! If i knew you were there, would have tried to spot you in the crowd :p wish you could have been at grad with all of us but you had such an amazing time so im happy for you that you got to experience all that you did :D we should go together sometime!!!

-Gowri-

Amira Hasni said...

ohwow, I srsly didn't realize that I read this post for half an hour or more. This is reallyyy interesting. Though I feel jelly but damn, this post is really good. haha.
Thank you! :D