Autumn in Seoul (Part 1)

Actually, it's almost winter when my friends and I went to Seoul last week. Almost half of the foliage have already fallen off from the trees, and our fingers could be mistaken for popsicles. But nothing could spoil the fun. We still had a grand time in South Korea.

For weeks prior to the trip, I busied myself with our itinerary. We were all traveling to South Korea for the first time, and although majority (4 out of 5) of us worked for Koreans for at least a couple of years, our knowledge of Korea was limited to "annyeong haseyo" and "yeye" expressions. Koreans are really not very keen on teaching their language to other people. It must be their difficulty in English that makes them hesitant. They get really frustrated when they couldn't express themselves.

But I digress...

So, for a few weeks prior to our trip, nobody was excited but myself. They wouldn't help me with anything. I had to use all the resources I had. I was very lucky a lot of people wanted to help me with the planning.

Long story short, I came up with a pretty good itinerary. Tada!

Day 1 (of lakwatsa) (FRIDAY)
Seoul city bus tour
Dinner with Mr. Choi JH
Bar in the Hongdae area

Day 2 (SATURDAY)
Nami Island
Han River cruise

Day 3 (SUNDAY)
DMZ

Day 4
Samseong (to meet former bosses for lunch)
COEX mall


A day before we left Manila, Mr. Ham (my former boss' staff's staff) called me to inform me that Mr. Lee (my former boss) wanted to have dinner with us on Day 1. I probably sounded panicky because he assured me that Mr. Choi JH agreed to swap appointments. Apparently, they were talking to each other and making arrangements. Cool.

When we arrived at the Incheon airport, we were greeted by the (surprisingly young and dashing!) Mr. Ham. He was holding a sheet of paper with my name on it, and that was when the excitement of my girl friends "officially" started. We all forgot to rent a cellphone because everybody wanted to rush to his side. Haha. We exchanged some pesos to won, and off we went to Lee & No Guesthouse on Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-Gu in Seoul. I was thrilled even more upon seeing our vehicle -- a Limousine van!

This is Mr. Ham with the gurls...

Upon reaching the gate of the guesthouse, we were greeted not by a person, but by this note taped to the wall:


After unloading our luggages, Mr. Ham set off to bring Kim (a girl I met online the previous night) to her hotel. We did exactly what we were told to do through the note, got inside the guesthouse, and met a Japanese guy named Tadashi. It was so nice of him to welcome us and show us to our room (Mr. Lee of the guesthouse didn't arrive until after 15 minutes). A little later, we remembered that we haven't had dinner yet so Tadashi gave us directions to a kimbap place. He probably sensed the fear in our eyes, as he offered to take us there. He said that it serves the best kimbap, not to mention that it was probably the only place open at the time.

Our first adventure started at the restaurant. It was literally a turo-turo because there wasn't ANY English on their menu. Even the lady server didn't speak English at all. We pointed to her a noodle dish, which turned out to be udon (pronounced as udong). We were lucky because it was piping hot and tasted really good, exactly what we needed!


After a good night's sleep and a light breakfast, we went out to see downtown Seoul. We were supposed to take the City Bus Tour, but Mr. Lee (of the guesthouse) suggested we take a tour of the city on foot. He made it sound easy so we took his advice. Unfortunately, we got lost. But we were lucky to have found Gyeongbok Palace...



and the National Folk Museum of Korea (but we didn't go inside)...



Along the way, we got distracted with a few interesting things like Goo Jun Pyo posters...

...the Bioman-inspired Pieta...





... and these lettuce flowers...




And those were just a few of the distractions. There were the dried squid vendor who was selling dried pusit for W20,000 (around Php800!) per pack, the maple leaves, the policemen, and others. Getting lost wasn't all that bad. However, by 4pm, we should be back at the guesthouse to get ready for dinner. Dinner that night was probably the highlight meal of the entire trip, as it was hosted by my former boss (now president & CEO of a bigger subsidiary). So we had to rush back home. But how were lost people supposed to hurry?

At 6:00pm or so, we were again picked up by Mr. Ham at Exit 7 of the Samseong station. He was as ravishing as the previous night and I felt everybody's excitement at the sight of him. On the way to the restaurant, we were getting impatient with the heavy traffic. Yes, it doesn't only happen here in Manila. The big difference though is that very few people use their car horns in Seoul.

As we entered Sam Won Garden, we were greeted by Mr. Kim. But he doesn't deserve that intro. He was g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s! I've known him since 2003 (he was actually the one who hired me), but I've never seen him that gorgeous before. He was sporting a handsome trench coat that highlighted his broad shoulders, and a smile that could melt the icebergs in the North Pole. Oh-my-god. He was divine! Of course, there has to be proof:

Extreme left.

Before calling it a day, we insisted that Mr. Ham take us to the Namsan Tower, where we had a great view of Seoul.

Waddup?!

A lot has happened since the last time I was here. Hmm. I have to go over them quickly as I still have work tomorrow.

My "debut" project was released after the Holy Week. Everyone congratulated me. I hope they meant well. I mean (how Manny Pacquiaoish), let's face it, they could mean something else.

We are officially in the middle of the second quarter, which means I need to work on the next issue of the newsletter again. Wow, time really flies!

The trip I mentioned will not push thru. At least for now. I was denied a visa, goddamit. The traumatic experience (read: mahabang pilaaaaaaaaaaa, it took us 3.5 hours) is telling me that it's not worth applying again anytime soon. Plus six thousand bucks isn't easy to cough up especially if there's the risk of seeing it down the drain. Again.

Work has been tough. And so school has to suffer. I had to miss classes due to work. I couldn't miss work just to attend the classes. Work is priority. Besides, the school is kinda overrated. Sorry, I just felt I had to say that. That's how I really feel. So, I might give it up. I'd probably enrol in UPOU instead. At least I could manage my time better, and it's a lot cheaper. And it's UP!

I had my braces six months ago (I hope it wasn't because of Betty La Fea). And the result is already visible. Very visible, in fact, that everybody notices it. I'm happy with it. :-)

I'm very sleepy now. Borlogs. Have to sleep na.

Singapore - KL Trip (Part 2)

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I should've done this earlier when I could still remember everything clearly. But I'll try my best to recall the events as they happened.

November 21

We arrived in KL at around 4:30am in a place which reminded me of our very own Recto. It was unexpectedly cold that morning and the place was unexpectedly very much alive. Whether the people were still awake from the previous day or were up very early for the day, nobody could tell. I just hate myself for not asking Ramie what the place was called.

Ramie had to negotiate with maybe four taxi drivers before we settled for the two who took us to Rasa Sayang, a restaurant that had the air of our local Dencio's (or Gerry's). Besides the tables and chairs that were so Dencio's/Gerry's, almost all their waiters were Filipinos too. But no, Rasa Sayang didn't have sisig in their menu, too bad. Since only Ramie had Ringgits at the time, we let him decide which food to order. And again, I hate myself for not asking him what we had. And worse, I forgot to take pictures of the food. As far as I can remember, it was something like roti with a variety of dips. I swear, the next time I travel, I'll take photos of everything and I'll take note of names. I promise.

Anyway, we went to Rasa Sayang to wait for a guy named... damn, I forgot too! He had the key to the condo unit where we would check in (for free!). He arrived at around 6:30am and offered us a ride to Vista Damai condominiums. Unfortunately, we wouldn't fit in his car so we decided to just walk. All for one, one for all. Hehe. It was only a few blocks from the restaurant anyway. So with each a luggage in tow, we walked the dark streets (yes, the sun doesn't shine in KL until around 7:30 or 8:00), crossed a highway, and finally got to the posh Vista Damai.

The apartment was a one-bedroom unit with a very nice kitchen and a spacious T&B. It also had a window that faced the direction of the Petronas and overlooked the city traffic. Indeed, the best things in life are free. After parking our luggages in different corners that we picked, we took turns in taking a shower. While waiting for the "key" guy earlier at Rasa Sayang, we drew lots to decide who would take a shower first. If my memory serves me right, Shiela got to go first, followed by JoAnne, Anna, me, then Ramie.

When everybody was ready, which was around 9:30am, we decided to go out and have breakfast at McDonald's. In Malaysia though, in KL at least, most establishments open at 10:30am so there wasn't any money changer that was open. Save for Ramie, we were all still broke, Ringgit-wise. So he lent us MYR10 each so we could at least have a decent breakfast. He then left to meet his friend, Jeremy.

After breakfast, the girls decided to go shopping while I had to go online and check my emails. Internet surfing cost MYR4/hour. The internet shops were almost empty when I went there. Maybe because it was a weekday. I still remember how much I missed Manila at the time. But now, I'm missing KL. :-(

Ramie decided we meet at lunchtime. While the three girls went shopping in Bukit Bintang, I spent half an hour at an internet shop. I had to ask a friend in Manila to send me prepaid credits because I ran out of load, and I couldn't load the card I bought in Singapore. The girls decided to meet at noontime at Gloria Jean's. But when I went there, they were nowhere in sight. I couldn't text them using my mobile phone because I had to wait for an hour for my roaming to be reactivated. I went looking for them inside the mall, but to no avail. Getting lost all by yourself in a foreign place wasn't really the best thing that could happen to you, but it wasn't that bad. It had a certain feel of liberty in it.

Anyway, I had to go to a second internet shop so I could text them using Chikka. It was probably around 1:00 when we all met. We then headed to a Chinese restaurant nearby to have an authentic Chinese (read: dirty and full of MSG) lunch.

Okay, I don't remember much about what happened after lunch, but I think we went back to the apartment to freshen up a bit. We then went to Suria, a posh mall between the Petronas Towers. We wanted to go inside Petrosains (pet-ro-signs), but we arrived a little late. So we just went around the mall, took some photos, bought some chocolates, then went out to see the Petronas in all their glory.

We spent around three hours just taking photos of the magnificent Twin Towers. I was in awe all the while, slightly forgetting about the real world. After noticing that we were all getting into each other's nerves, we decided to stop taking pictures (we definitely took more than 200 anyway) and headed to Chinatown to have a late dinner. My memory is starting to fail because I can't remember what we had for dinner that night. All I know is we had a serving of Yang Chow fried rice and a bottle of beer each. It was almost midnight when we finished.

Before snoozing, we all agreed to wake up at 4:30am so we could line up for free visit passes to the Bridgeway of the Petronas. But deep inside, I wish nobody would really wake up that early. It was around 2:00am when we called it a day after all. But then, I forgot that Jo Anne was with us.

November 22

At exactly 4:30am, Jo Anne shook us from our slumber and made us coffee. How thoughtful. An hour after, we found ourselves walking on the dark streets of KL. We took some photos along the way, and made it to the line early, but we were definitely not the earliest. There were around 20 people in front of us already. We waited a good two hours before finally getting our visit passes. Before going up to the Bridgeway, there was a short briefer in an auditorium. After the briefer, the color-coded IDs were given out to the batch of visitors. Jo Anne and I made the mistake of getting our IDs first because the three got a different color from ours. Fortunately, the batches of visitors overlapped so the five of us (actually only four at a time) got to have group pictures taken.

When we descended, we decided to have brunch at Pati Bungsu, an Indian restaurant on Jln. Yap Kwan Seng. We ordered a total of five dishes which all tasted great. The restaurant looked a bit confused though with its luxurious furniture, great food that lacked proper presentation, and its seemingly indigent service staff.

We wanted to make the most out of our time because this was the last day of our trip. So, after brunch, we headed back to Suria to get some more chocolates. We then went to the train station and bought tickets to the station near the KL Tower.

After getting off the train, we walked and walked until we couldn't any more. We hired a taxi to take us to the KL Tower. While there, we again took countless photos and watched a cultural dance show. After the show, Ramie, Jo Anne and I decided to go back to Bukit Bintang to do last-minute shopping. Anna and Shiela wanted to try rappelling so we left them there.

It was already 2:30pm when the three of us got to the condo. We were running late for our bus trip going back to Singapore, which would leave at 4:00pm. Anna and Shiela arrived a little later, taking their sweet time because they would leave the following day anyway. I don't know how we did it, but we were able to make on time for our trip.

Funny bus moments: Jo Anne took a shot of the cute guy in front of me. She forgot to turn off the flash; Ramie asked the guy behind him, "Excuse me, can I recline my seat?" with his American accent. The guy quipped, "Ay, sige okay lang." Hehe.

We arrived in Singapore at 10:00pm and headed straight to the airport. It seemed that we had planned very well for the trip because our last Singaporean dollars were just enough to buy us a decent airport dinner. We checked in our luggages after dinner and lounged till boarding time.

November 23

At half past midnight, we boarded the plane and I again felt the need to cry. It was around 4:00am when we landed on the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark. Home sweet home. I love that airport. Very cozy. At 6:00am, we were having breakfast al fresco at Jollibee St. Francis Square. There's really no place like home.

Singapore - KL Trip (Part 1)

In August of this year, my two best friends and I planned a trip to Singapore, which included a side trip to Kuala Lumpur. It would be our birthday gift to ourselves for this year. This was also the first time we were traveling out of the country together.

Ramie told us that his friend Shiela and her friend Anna would be joining us in Singapore but would travel to KL on their own.

November 19

Ramie and I went to Megamall together. We met Jo Anne at Starbucks (at around 3pm) first before getting some stuff for the trip. We were flying from the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark so we had to take a bus from Megamall to get there. Our flight was at 9pm. Btw, Jo Anne and I met Shiela and Anna for the first time that day. After the last-minute shopping, we left Megamall at around 4:30pm.

On the way to the airport, someone who was texting me turned morose, and I felt a bit sad too. It was strange because I was so looking forward to the trip since August, then suddenly, I wanted to cancel it. Anyway, we arrived at the airport at around 7:30pm and had to wait for more than an hour before boarding. I was feeling sadder and sadder as we approached departure, thanks to the morose texter. At exactly 9pm, thankfully (or was I really thankful?) the plane took off. I was expecting some delay, but no, there wasn't.
As the plane took off, I felt a bit sick. The sickness later turned into elation. There was something about flying that felt really liberating. For the first time in years, I felt some freedom. As I saw the lights dwindle, I almost cried.

Then I fell asleep.

November 20

We arrived at the Budget Terminal (yes, they had to rub it in) of the Changi Airport at around 12:15am. I was so sleepy I thought of going into a coma the moment we set foot in our hotel room. I was estimating that I'd be dormant by 1am, but unfortunately, Jo Anne's luggage got lost so we had to do some things to locate it. Shiela and Anna booked in a different hotel so we let them go ahead. Besides, they weren't Jo Anne's best friends so they didn't have to stay. To make it short, we were at the Madras Hotel Eminence at 2:30am, without Jo Anne's luggage. Ramie and I had to check in our bags first before the three of us went scouring every 7-eleven for Jo Anne's deodorant. To no avail. They were either sold out...or unheard of.


At 3am, haggard and all, we found ourselves at the Lavender Food Court (or was it Lavender Food Square, I could hardly remember). My first meal in Singapore was a bowl of Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle Soup which sold for S$3. It was great actually.


At around 3:30am, we were back at the hotel. Jo Anne had to make a few phone calls to make sure she'd get her luggage back. At 4am, we were finally snoozing. We slept (more of took a nap) until 7am. Jo Anne was again back on the phone and finally got confirmation that her luggage was found. We all took a shower, of course not together, and by 8am we were having free breakfast at the hotel's kitchen. The food wasn't much, but it was free, so who were we to complain? We had toast with fruit jam, coffee, and scrambled eggs.

At around 10am, we were at the Changi Airport, claiming Jo Anne's luggage. But it wasn't as simple as it sounded. We were asked to go to different places at the airport, and it took as at least an hour and a half to finally see the luggage. It felt like a reunion. Like a parent seeing his long lost child.

We had to drop the luggage at the hotel before meeting Shiela and Anna at the Sim Lim Square. We had to walk a good 20 minutes from the hotel. Jo Anne was probably thanking the heavens for getting back her deodorant inside her luggage. When we got there, the two girls were haggling for cameras. They were able to buy one for each, and they bragged about the many freebies they got. They both got Fuji cameras for more or less S$500 each. I thought it was too much, but they said it was worth it. Hmm. Okay.

Ramie had been wanting to get a DSLR so we went looking for one. I suggested a Nikon D40, having read that it's the best entry-level DSLR. But for some reason, he ended up buying an overpriced (at S$727) Fuji semi-DSLR. I didn't know what got to him why he bought it without even checking other stores for comparison. He begged me into checking out the other stores after he paid for his camera, and we found out that the other stores were selling it for S$350! We just had to brush it off, and settle with the cliche that shit happens.

After the camera shopping spree, we headed to Bugis to have lunch. With Jo Anne's unfortunate luggage story and Ramie's overpriced camera, I couldn't blame them for getting into each other's nerves. I was the "luckiest" of the three of us so I had to mediate. The two girls probably sensed the tension and settled for a table away from ours.

After lunch, the tension finally faded away. The feeling of being nourished actually did wonders. We went to check out the bazaar at Bugis for some souvenir items. Ramie kept on telling us though that he knew a place that sold cheaper items, a place we never got to visit anyway, so I ended up buying nothing. No souvenir item from Singapore at all.
We went to Bugis Junction right after and decided to have coffee at TCC (The Coffee Connoisseur). We were all exhausted from our flight, from the lack of sleep, and from all the walking, so we ended up spending precious time idling at the coffee shop. Anna probably was the most exhausted among us because she even managed to take a power nap at the coffee shop's couch!

After spending more time at TCC than we should, we headed to the Singapore Flyer. Shiela and Anna decided to go back to their hotel to freshen up. We met them at the lobby of the Flyer. We had to wait for a while and it was already getting dark when we finally climbed to our capsule. I've always had a terrible fear of heights and being 541 feet above the ground was a great way of conquering my fear. But then, I was in an enclosed capsule, so it wasn't really that scary. The 30-minute ride was mostly spent on taking pictures. We were only five and we had six cameras!

After descending the Flyer, we took more photos while deciding where to go for dinner. Ramie suggested the hawker stalls at the Makansutra Gluttons Bay. We hailed a taxi (by the way, we were always taking taxis that left us broke at the end of the day) and headed there. We later realized, we should have just walked, as many people from the Flyer ride did.

At Makansutra, we found a nice table, with the harbor in the backdrop, and we went picking our food. Ramie got a pasta dish, much to my frustration. I always told him, he should try local food. But he's Ramie, and that was reason enough. The rest of us settled for local food, but I ended up not eating mine. It was just TOO spicy! I ended up eating a little of everything they had. And I must admit, it was Ramie's pasta I loved most.

After dinner, we took more photos before going to the Merlion Park. We were all really tired so we just took a couple of pictures. Besides, we were running late for our bus ride to KL. :-) So after a few shots, we headed to our respective hotels, got our bags, and went to the bus terminal.