First Week of my Braces

Through what I hear, I think I talk weirdly. I'm going to stare in front of the mirror one day to see how I usually talk, it must be weirder.

Anyhow braces were not as pain as I thought it would be. Pain? There is definitely pain. Most of the cases, the eating part was far more depressing than the pain. The depression of wanting to eat when you are hungry but you just can't is.... I can eat porridge and I have been eating alot of porridge. I just need time to suddenly change the way I eat. Don't have to worry about things like that last time. Overall, still happy cause I did it! Although I have been hearing a lotttttt of feedbacks about my braces, more like 'whyyyy you did it?'

cause my teeth ain't straight, my friends. 

I don't do it for fun. You don't pay money to make yourself can't eat and uncomfortable. Looks like I hid my teeth real well last time. 

My third day was really down.

"You thought you can handle those food but you just can't."
Ended up I just decided not to eat that much. Problem solved since I am tired of porridge sometimes.

One of the nights, I was so damn hungry. On the way back from Sg long, I actually told my family that don't cook for me so I can grab something outside myself. Somehow I did not buy anything and went straight home. So hungry that I just took the sambal ikan bilis and put some rice onto it without bothering whether I can chew the food. The fact was I can't chew, I just swallowed the rice, the sambal, the onions, the ikan bilis and the egg making my stomach kinda uncomfortable.

So far I think I have been handling hunger quite well as compared to the previous me. I would have gone crazy if I was not fed last time. Now, no choice: ) I can actually stand it. Good to know. My teeth are getting stronger till the day when they are almost as strong as last time, I am going to treat myself to a good meal. Something to look forward in life:)))

Seoul Day 4: Gangnam

Great day! Able to meet Gwee :DD So happen she flies back from US and heading to Seoul with her sister too. It is just very comfortable as usual to have her around me. The one that always offered me transportation everyday back in high school though we were not in the same class. More like a happy hangout day. It just felt different to meet her in Seoul. She was sick and still came out.

The tasty pork rib hot pot

This did not taste as good as I thought it would.

Randomly talking about life. She guided me to what snacks, drinks and skincare I should buy. Knowing that I did not buy any heat pack, she offered to give me hers. We purposely walked quite a distance from the place we met to her hotel. The journey to her hotel was like long thanks to the cold wind. Knowing that that was my first time in winter, she kept worrying whether I can take it despite she was the one that was sick :') No worries, kawan. Day well spent with you. Too bad we cant spend longer time together. I always appreciate the stuffs you done for me.

Then, I walked around the gangnam underground shopping center. 

The smell of Manjoo Hana in Hapjeong St. never fails to tempt me. So goooooooooooood

Short meeting up but spending time with her is all worth it :))))

Seoul Day 3: Hongdae and Hangang River

We finally understood what the uncle said. The first few days, we the ulu malaysians thought it was like coldddd. Till the third day. On the first 2 days, an uncle was telling us that it was the hottest of their winter. Holy macaroni. hahahahaha The deadly wind!!

Started off day 3 with Hongik University Area (Hongdae)!

The weather was extremely sejuk thanks to the omg wind. We had tough time walking outside that day. Sudah hampir sejuk till @@ and alice told me wanna stand at an outdoor spot because she wanted wifi. Crazy crap. At least tell me you wanna do what ma. Standing outside will that wind can mati. - -' Anyhow Hongdae is quite a famous spot since students are everywhere. Due to the wind, we walked walked and decided to simply find a restaurant and eat. There we discovered this awesome small place with lotsa locals waiting! I think we waited for more than an hour.

PC Bang is common there aka their cyber cafe

Cant really see here but the crowds just kept filing up.

The pot of dont know howwwww many mussels and 3 big manduu kimchi stew! I love this!!! Heavennnnnnn

We had some free time so we went to Edae which we walked and walked and ended up in the next station which is only meant for locals. I enjoyed walking that place, not-so-tourist-ish.

Then, it was time to head to Yeouinaru Station for Hangang River Cruise and Hangang Park. 

The sky on that day was so calm with a mixture of blue. I could not stop taking pictures as I walked towards the cruise area.

Who cares about cold when such beauty is right in front of your eyes

Hangang Park with leaves-less trees but still nice

Hot citron tea to make myself feel better in the cold before getting onto the cruise

Upper deck indoor view of the cruise

All of us were trying to get several good shots of the night views but the wind was overwhelming. 

It was worse on the cruise as it moved. If only I recorded down how strong the wind was. 

I will never forget.

Captured by some young cute korean kids who were really shy and partially scared cause I was speaking English

I gotta say the cruise is expensive and not worth it at all with that price but the performance was really good. Funny Indeed. I think I was laughing really loud.  Spot the guy on the right that looks like the Korean version of Joseph Germani thats better looking and funnier.

hahahaha the funny charade with one of the audiences

Noryangjin Fish Market for Dinner! The place I have long waiting for to eat those mouth-watering seafood. If only Im eating in a bigger group, the joy of tasting more and sharing among friends. I ordered bit too much for myself. I just cannot NOT try. :') This fish market is kinda scary place for tourists cause it is abit far from Seoul and if you can't speak Korean. The overly friendly dudes that came and spoke mandarin are scary too. Dont worry if you can speak mandarin 

Any Seafood, you name it.

The abalone that I expected it to be hyper chewy but not :(

Always dream to stuff myself with shasimi till I am full. There I go with 4 types of fish :') 

Thumbs up for this!

I dont know whats this but always see people going there to try this so I did. Er... Yuck. haha

The one that I have always wanting to try so badly! The still-moving-sticky-live octopus :O It was a wrong choice to buy so many sigh. If only more people are with me T T but still happy that I tried it!

Group picta! one more grilled scallops that were simply amazing! Awesomely delicious. It went in my stomach smoothly

Go Noryangjin Fish Market with a bunch should be the way! The price for the amount of seafood I bought is not expensive. Worth the pay! My face was like hyper red and felt extremely hot. Too many good food at once I guess. 

I end my Day 3 post with the cold that I can still feel back despite I am back in Malaysia.

Seoul Day 2: Changdeokgung Palace, Huwon, Bukchon Village and Joygesa Temple

One of the good things about this trip is we always end up dont know and discovered lotsa cool stuffs. 

We started our Day 2 with Buffet lunch which we didn't intent to. We didnt know how to tell the friendly ahjumma that we didn't wanna eat actually. Oh well, we just ate. haha The buffet is only 5,000 won per person.

Next Stop: Changdeokgung Palace and Huwon (Secret Garden)

I personally enjoyed a lot in Huwon! It was really pretty but Huwon is prettier during spring :')

I lost one of the Huwon ticket :( Gave Alice hers and quickly went to the entrance which was far away to tell the person in charge. Ended up they asked for the receipt which was with alice. Alice was like farrrrrrrr away from me. The moment I reached, they were all at the Huwon entrance starting the mini tour already. I was like telling an ahjussi that I needed to go in to meet my friend for the receipt since I lost it. He let me in. Omg. I wanted to kiss him:')))) and somehow i gotten the receipt and showed the ahjussi thank god. Total waste if I bought and did not go in Huwon.

The mini 'island' surrounded by water which is currently frozen. The Huwon entrace fee comes with a complementary tour around the area for an hour.

A story that I couldn't forget about the king back in the olden days

She: King was good at this and that and all. He likes to play archery but always never get 100% bull eyes. If there were 60 shots, he gotten 59.

Me: *thinking maybe the king was not that pro afterall*

She: He gotten 59 not because he lacked of the skills, it was because he wanted to show his own imperfect.

Valuable Lesson. Such a humble king. 

My first heat pack that Julie gave us

Somehow it felt like a school trip since most of us were walking in a straight line

I find her cool with her fluent english

The sweet Hotteok I ate outside of the palace. Not to mention, any hot stuffs in winter is extremely good!

Then, we were on our way to Bukchon Village.

I was like what?!? hahahaha

Love how they placed  helpful 'portable' tourist assistants around tourist spots who can speak all sorts of languages.

Joygesa Temple! All around Anguk Station. A station that is filled with many stuffs to see. Insadong is also walking distance.

We then spent our night in Myeongdong for dinner and Alice wanted to collect her sim card there. I gotten abit frustrated her that time. We were damn aimless. The weather and the leg ache were like killing me silently. If only she gets more details in the first place... I pity my legs, stupid hard shoes! Not like I cant walk, it was the shoes problem!

I always stop by stalls along the streets for Odaeng ( Fish Paste Skewer with free broth!) Super Awesome! Always see koreans eating that on TV! Totally in love with it. Didn't take picture of it cause every single time I ate that, I was in a super cold state.

Ate quite a few stuffs in Myeongdong. The another reason of my trip is to eat eat eat the food.

The fried octopus in this stall was really Masitseoyo!

Hotdogs and some meat wrapped with tteokbokki. Ate this when I was really full, it did not quite impressed me recommended by alice.

And also ate jajanggmyeon :))))

Myeongdong is a nice place filled with endless skincare shops, retail shops, street food and restaurants. I thought it was already crowded the time I went. Apparently, it has way fewer crowds compared to other seasons. Omg. Somehow this is why I partially like winter also, less humans :D

The Tech-Savvy Nation- South Korea Day 1

I'm normally hyper excited for trips especially oversea trips. The night before I flew to Korea, I was staying up till late night to make sure everything's in the right place so I guess I did not have much energy left to constantly to be energetic. 

From Malaysia to Korea, it takes about 6 hours. What I was really excited was how my body will react towards the cold! The ulu kid here that has never been another country that is that cold. The elderly thinks we are insane for choosing to go during the winter. I am having my sembreak. Best time for me. It is always good to try out! At LCCT, we met this European that was also same flight as us. She turned out to be staying in Malaysia for badminton and heading to Seoul for badminton too! She was like ''Korea is very cold now, even I cant stand it.'' We went:, ''Dead meat.'' And another fun person I met when I was walking towards the place, this businessman that looked really nice and friendly who spoke mandarin to us. At first, he had this super heavy china-mandarin accent and turned out to be a Korean that flies here and there to work. Super cool! His mandarin gotten weirder and weirder after talking to him awhile. It sounded really fluent at first then it became heavy Korean accent mandarin. haha. It just great to randomly meet people around!

Finally, I arrived!!

After all the usual procedures, we took our stuffs and prepared to head outside to catch our bus. Oh my oh my! Time to feel the cold. In the airport itself, we can't really tell. I was still wearing my slippers and only changes to boots which I reached Incheon Airport and who knows what happened > <

My first Korean stuff I bought was super glue - -'' My brother was saying that maybe due to the temperature and all, certain shoes may give away. So guys! remember to have backup plan next time. I did not know that I can actually wear sport shoes around. I thought the floor would be slippery and all. 

It was really Oh-my-the-cold-was-no-joke while waiting for the bus. The bus stopped us at Saejeol Station. The moment we reached, we were super duper hyper lost with all the korean words around. The homestay is suppose to be 5 mins away from the station, ended up we took about 30 mins. Thankfully, we asked for people for direction. One lady went to google and kept guiding us just incase we cant find in korean and another dude was a property agent who pulled down his huge map and showed us. Thanks! 

Though we were quite near to the residential area, we still cant find the exact location. Thank God Alice's luggage bags were so damn loud. Julie heard us and came down for us! :'))) The first meeting with her was bit awkward and all. I was just overwhelmed with everything so didn't really talk much that time.

Book Inn was a good choice to stay in Seoul! 

Dressing table with cute designs around

Our small yet cozy room! Don't worry but sleeping in winter. The heater was really doing its work well!

 I just dress how I normally where back at home in Malaysia.

The living room where I spent most of my nights discussing and chatting with Julie.

 Her collection of travelling books. 

I miss my breakfast place with the cereals, breads and snacks that are always there waiting for us.

Love this heater! I used this almost every single time after a long day out.

Noodle-kettle corner :)

The pretty stream outside of the homestay

Julie roughly told us around, then we went head to hunt for dinner. Too hungry! We dont know how walk walk walk and ended up at this shop so we decided to just go in and eat.

Our first meal in Seoul which was really really good! The chicken was just right! Just that I didnt like the amount of oil I saw on the hot pan. I am overreacting, The oil is like the sauce. 

Too much boss, too much.

Despite we were already full, we thought of just add on rice and try. I remembered telling the boss less oil to fry the rice and somehow he used korean and told me that the oil is meant for the rice. I know but

 but but > < Anyhow I still ate it which is a must! The food still tasted really good though the oil was scary

Tasty Hot Mussel Soup!

The sesame leaves have this really strong aroma. Love their carrot! Everything worth a try. I will never eat a raw carrot or chilli in Malaysia. Warrior much after trying their chillis haha.

Dont know how but we communicated with Korean to the cute restaurant owner.

He: Want Soju?

Us: *Shake head* Mul ju se yo

After awhile,

He: You guys student?

Us: Ne

He: Nowonder can't drink still kids.

Us: Ani ani. we we uni students already

I was soooo eager to tell him not that I can't drink, I just dont want to. hahaha. LOl. Korean meal normally comes with soju and all so he finds us weird for not drinking and another mini malu thing happened. one of my best fluent Korean phrase, '' hwa jang si eo di seo?'' hahahaha and he guided me with a really super duper polite manner.

Since I needed a new pair of shoes, we went Dongdaemun for a mini shopping spree. 

We were damn noob, kept asking where where where when we were already there - -' Nowonder those people kept looking at us weirdly. We only wanted to head back to Saejeol around 2am. A taxi was telling us that he wanted to charge us for 60,000 won to bring us back which is like more than RM180 for a 30 min ride?? Crazy!! Thankfully, we walked around and asked another taxi uncle, he said, ''meter'' then we were aiya whichever just jump in and it was only like 13,000 won to get back to our place. The stupid first taxi driver. I can buy damn alot of stuffs with that money.

That's how I ended my day I in Seoul.