Inspiring Korea ~ Seoul! So fun!

 What would you do when your dream comes true? When I exited the Incheon Airport, I could feel the excitement with my heart screaming: "Here I am, Korea!! Here I am, Seoul! I am not seeing you in the TV or Drama!!!". The feeling was so cool!

The enthusiasm and anticipation were apparent from the moment we stepped out of the aircraft. This was the moment to be remembered. I stepped on one of my dreamland on 1.8.2012 at 7.29am. "Welcome to Korea", the display read. They even greeted us with Malay, that was warm. ^.^ The weather was humid, with temperature of 23ºC. How would it be like to travel in Korea during summer? Let's find out! 

The immigration and customs waiting area is spacious and clean. It was well prepared to welcome the tourists during this peak season. It didn't take us long to clear the immigration. 

 After clearing the immigration and customs, we took the escalator down and looked for the baggage claim information. So our luggage would be available at carousel number 6. The information will be displayed in four different language: English,  Mandarin, Korean and Japanese alternately.

While we were searching for the bus information at the arrival hall, this pretty angel offers her help. Yes! She could speak fluent English. She did us a big favour by providing us the bus number that we should ride to our destination. 

Should you have any inquiries about transportation, you can also proceed to the transportation information counter to seek advice.

There is a KTX ticket counter in Incheon Airport.  KTX (Korea Train Express)
is a high speed express train that enable people to travel around Korea with shorter time. We took KTX from Seoul to Busan on our 3rd day in Korea. Stay tuned for the fantastic Busan trip ")

From the airport, we took airport bus number 6011 to the Hanok Guest House in Anguk. The bus station is on the right side of the main exit. No worries, english signboards are found everywhere :)

There was something to take note of. When you pass your luggage to the worker, they will provide you with a ticket. You need to keep this ticket in order to claim back your luggage upon arrival. 

On the way to Seoul, I spotted a traditional Hanbuk shop. I was attracted by the beautiful costumes and wished I have one. They looks so elegant on the model.

This was the airport bus stations we alighted.

Close up view of the details in English:

Based on the printed information, I managed to find our way to  WWOOF Hanok Guest house in Bukchon without Yee Pei's helps. A great start for me! Victory! V^^V

For our first two days in Seoul, we experienced the culture by staying overnight in the ancient village of Bukhon Hanok. Bukhon Hanok village is the best preserved living traditional village. Hanok is the Korean traditional houses that are decades to hundred years old built with environmental-friendly materials. Today, many traditional houses have been converted into bed-and-breakfast guest house. I was so grateful that I could experience a stay in this unique lodging, Hanok. 

Let's explore our hanok guest house!!!

WWOOF Hanok guest house  is made of tiled roofs, wooden beams and stone blocks. It looks so charming! 

A nostalgic courtyard. 

The sliding doors and windows were made of Hanji (Korean traditional paper) and woods. Simple yet elegant. 

The living room with wooden floor. 

I think this cupboard is an antique.

See what I spotted on the shoe rack? It's a pair of Korean straw shoes (Jipsin) that they wore in ancient time. Wonder if they were in use or just as a decoration. 

Everything looks ancient here except the kitchen. :D 

Guests are allowed to cook and store their food here, which is ideal for backpackers. 

Here comes our super comfy bed for two nights! The room ain't big, but slept in a wooden house made me felt so good. 

A unique hanok stay was a marvelous experience for this trip. I strongly recommend you to have at least one night stay in The Korean traditional house, Hanok :)

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Guest house Review:

 If you were looking for a hanok stay experience, you should have a try on WWOOF hanok guest house. The owner is very friendly and can speak fluent English, Japanese, Korean and simple Mandarin. Besides, the location is strategically located in the Bukchon Hanok Village (most beautiful residential districts in Korea) and within walking distance from Insadong (10 minutes) and Gyeongbukgung Palace (20minutes). There are a lot of historical area and cultural heritage sites, galleries, restaurants and cafes along the small alleys. 

Value: ****

Cleanliness: ****

rooms: ***

location: *****

Service: ****

Website: koreawwoof.com

p/s: Search for me and yee pei in this informative blog : WWOOF blog *^.^* 

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Inspiring Korea ~ Our Journey Begun

It was a very fruitful and challenging trip. In order to complete the mission given by KTO, we promised ourselves to work hard and play hard :P We struggled to plan a perfect 5D4N trip to South Korea so that we would be able to share with all of you here. We were indecisive with our itinerary until two weeks before the trip, as we were spoilt with the abundance of  tourist destinations in South Korea :P After considering  time constraint and travelling effort for each destination, we decided to visit two charming cities of  South Korea - Seoul and Busan!  In the following posts, I will narrate how I deeply fell in love with these two fantastic cities!.

Let's the journey begun!

I met Yee Pei at KLIA departure hall. We have a simple ceremony where the blogger met the KTO manager. She handed over a pocket file with travel info and a sweet gift to me as well. Wondering what was in the beautiful box? Here you go!

It's a beautiful recycle bag printed with Seoul Geongbukgong Palace, a very thoughtful gift indeed! I used it to travel from Seoul to Busan. Thanks to KTO KL again!!
I felt so pampered by KTO when Yee Pei showed me the travel tag! OMG! Love it so much!
(At the moment, I felt embarrassed to come empty-handed :P) 

It's time to check in our luggage at the Korean Air counter, counter H. This was my first flight experience with Korean Air. Excited! 

There was plenty of time after we checked in. We decided to go through our itinerary once more at McD. We have done a lot of researches and discussions beforehand to ensure our upcoming journey would be a wonderful one. We printed out all the important information that would be guiding us throughout the trip such as our itinerary, hotel addresses, transportation details and so on. This is very important especially when we travel to a country where language barrier exists. We brought the information with us throughout the journey. 

Do you see the Jalur Gemilang on the T-money card? This is a special edition from KTO KL. I was so grateful that I can own it *^.^*  

(hmm...How many times should I said Thank You to KTO KL? :D Millions of thanks!!!!)

What is T-money? T- money is widely used in Korea as a transportation card, just like the Octopus card in Hong Kong, Oyster card in London, or Ezlink in Singapore. You can even make purchase in some convenience store with T money logo (Family Mart, GS 25 etc.). By using T-money, you will be entitled to discount for your transportation fee. You can of course recharge and refund the T-money card.  

Yee Pei also passed me a Korea Pass. Korea Pass is a prepaid travel card for foreign travellers to pay for accommodation, transportation, tourist attraction entrance fee and shopping purchase in Korea. With this card, we managed to get discount for entrance fees at most of the tourist attractions. A must-have card in Korea if you want to save money.

 Yee Pei brought a very useful device for the trip. English - Korea - Chinese Dictionary that she used during her undergraduate studies. Cool! She taught me how to use it in McD.

Soon, the boarding for flight KE672 begun. We get on the Boeing-777 plane. The legroom is spacious and seat is comfortable. The stewardesses were sweet too :P They were elegant, polite and offered us a first-class service. I highly recommend Korean Airline to start your fantastic journey. 

The seats are equipped with personal in-flight entertainment system. There is a wide variety of musics, movie, games and shoppings to get you occupied. I like the Korean radio stations. It broadcasts nice songs all day long :)

Do you ever have your breakfast at 4 o'clock? This would be the earliest breakfast I have have ever had :D 

 For the meal options, we were offered Western and Korean cuisine. I chose Korean porridge as my first Korean Meal in the middle of the sky. This was my very first try of the food and it tasted surprisingly delicious with the salty seaweeds. 

 Yee pei chose a western style breakfast, the omelette. 

After the breakfast, we were given the arrival card and customs declaration form. All visitors to South Korea are required to fill up the arrival card and declaration form submit them to  the immigration officer. Get your passport, flight ticket and hotel address upon touchdown. 

Rays of light shined through the window! 

I was getting nearer and nearer to my dreamland. Anticipating......

Inspiring Korea ~ Yes! We made it!

          This was an extraordinary and memorable trip! I was lucky to be invited by Korea Tourism Organization Kuala Lumpur as a blogger cum frequent traveller to many countries. My sincere gratitude to KTO KL for offering me this great chance, especially a Korean Air return ticket for my very first Korea trip. Kamsahamnidah! :) (one of the Korean words I learnt during the trip :P)

This was my first flight experience with Korean Air. 

           Traveling along was Yee Pei, the Korea Plaza Event Manager who is also a Korean culture tourism expert fluent in Korean language. However, this time around, we were given a mission, which was to plan a 5D4N Free and Easy itinerary (as a first timer) that is most suitable to Malaysian travellers. Therefore, apart from the itinerary planning and some common tips that were provided by KTO, she actually acted like a REAL FIRST TIME TOURIST, such that we could experience and encounter possible challenges that will be faced by fellow Malaysians, find solution to it, and share it here. She was prohibited from speaking Korean there :D Of course, being a Korean tourism expert, whenever there was a must-see, must-eat, must-do or must-buy, she would highly recommend (this time not like a first timer :P) so that I won't miss out any terrific moment . It's fun to see how she role-played between a first time tourist,  Korea tourism expert and my home town's friend :D 

Smart and beautiful Korea Plaza Manager, Yee Pei. 

            This is my first trip without a gentleman companion. It's not as hard as I imagined before. It's a piece of cake :P We talked a lot, shopped a lot, ate a lot and fully enjoyed our trip in this fashionable country.  So, what are you waiting for? Grab your friend along and rock this beautiful land of Kimchi. Who knows if you are lucky enough to meet your idol in the Korean drama? Too bad I did not meet any :( That would be an excuse for me to visit Korea again in near future XD

Korean food!Finger licking good!!

Shop-maniac! :P

            "Is language a barrier?" a popular question asked by my friends after the trip. Well, honestly most of them couldn't speak English or Mandarin especially the street hawkers and restaurants run by locals. In that case, hand language could help. Anyway,  language is not a problem at any tourist destination. The ticket counter sales person can communicate in English. If you have any inquiries, you can seek help at the tourist information counter. There are quite a lot of tourist information counter in Seoul and they are very helpful.

A Creative Tourist Information Counter in Insadong.

            "What if I can't find tourist information counter?" my friends tested on me. We did face the problem. When we were planning to take a bus from Gangnam to Korean Folk Village, we couldn't find the bus stop according to the information we collected.We were actually on the right track, and the bus stop was just a few meters away, but we were confused by other bus stops. My brilliant partner suggested that we called up the Korean tourist information hotline,1330. This is a 24-hour service to assist traveler. They provide detailed information on attractions, transportation, accommodations, shopping, festivals, events and more in Korean, English , Chinese and Japanese language. And yes, we found the bus stop after we made the call :)

No doubt. She was communicating in english on the phone. She obeyed the rules we set :)

           "Is it safe for two female travellers to visit korea on backpacking?" My friends were doubtful about us. Seoul is regarded as one of the safest major cities in the world. Female travellers would be comfortable to travel alone and they do not need to take extra precautions compared to other countries such as Italy and Spain.  But of course, walking in dark alley late at night shall be best avoided and personal belonging should be always in check.

          As a first time visitor, Korea can be categorized as a tourist friendly country. English signboard and map is available at all the tourist attractions and subway stations. Besides, tourist information hotline is on standby 24 hours for help. If you plan to travel free and easy to Korea, just do it!  We made it, why wouldn't you? :) 

English signboard  in one of the subway station.

       

WELCOME TO SEOUL!!!!!

        

Go Go Korea!

Yeah~~I am going to korea SOON!!! Korea became one of my dream destinations after I watched the Korean drama series during my undergraduate studies. The people, the culture, the fashion, and also the food cast in the drama attracted me so much. I can’t wait to be inspired by this wonderful Asian country, the land of Kimchi!

While planning the trip, i found out that the visitkorea website by Korea Tourism Organization is very informative and user friendly. You can get all the info for the trip. For example,  tourist attraction, Suggested itinerary, accomodation, food, culture and etc by this link : English version or  Chinese version. 

Surprisingly, both english version and chinese version owns different info. I accidentally discovered it when i was searching for a hotel in Seoul. Both website provided different suggestion :D  I really enjoy browsing through! Looking forward to the "girls" trip :)

Trip planning~ done!

MOney exchange~ done!

Packing ~ partially done!

Counting Down....

3......2.......1...........

Get set!!!

GO!!

转载：人生賺那麼多錢，只是讓你住到頭等病房

張淳淳：人生賺那麼多錢，只是讓你住到頭等病房！(今周刊)

一場大病，讓女強人張淳淳遇上無藥可醫的怪病，兩度輕生，從鬼門關走一遭，目前仍與病魔對抗的她，對生命與財富有了深刻的體悟，本刊取得她的獨家告白，看她如何勇敢面對病魔與人性最大的挑戰。
「你可以買陀飛輪，但買不到時間。你可以買下帝寶豪宅，但買不到家庭的溫暖。你可以買下一家醫院，但妳買不到健康。」

⋯⋯ 寫下這段話的，就是因病而沉寂一年多的舞蹈老師兼房地產達人──張淳淳。生病前，多才多藝的張淳淳，一刻都停不下來，完全奉獻於工作。各項事業都經營得有聲有色，不但是李玟、Ｓ．Ｈ．Ｅ等大明星的專任舞蹈教師，也為鄭秀文、許茹芸等歌手的唱片填詞。熱愛舞蹈與創作的她，還成為運動商品公司、出版社的老闆，因為比別人更認真打拚，當她跨足房地產，也立刻成為房地產達人，成績耀眼。
相信認真就會有收穫，相信只要努力打拚就會成功的張淳淳，萬萬都想不到，奮發向上、開朗樂觀的她，會有想要輕生的一天。

台大醫院古色古香的長廊裡，一位女孩，坐在輪椅上，她在二十歲豆蔻年華時，因為受到一種罕見病毒感染，而住進台大醫院，從此就再也沒有踏出台大醫院，現在她已經二十八歲了。

不幸的，張淳淳所感染的正是這種目前全世界都無藥可醫的怪病。張淳淳在2010年七月去做了腿部微調手術，其後發病，「張小姐，這是一個很棘手的疾病，這種病毒非常頑強，是病毒裡面的陳進興，你可能一輩子都要跟它抗戰！」醫師對張淳淳說道。

「我會這麼幸運嗎？」當下張淳淳如晴天霹靂、不可置信，她所感染的正是ＮＴＭ非結核分枝桿菌（non-tuberculous mycobacteria），全台灣只有前述女孩一個病例，張淳淳是第二例。

一直被外界定義為女強人的張淳淳，沒想到自己除了打拚事業外，還得對抗史上最頑強的病菌！

每天下午兩點半，是喝下午茶的時間，但對張淳淳而言，卻是打嗎啡的時間。「每天下午兩點半，是我最害怕的時候。」

張淳淳所感染的怪病，會在她的腿上，長滿大大小小的膿瘡傷口，「最多的時候，高達九十九個」。因此，每天她都必須一一清創、消毒。清創時必須擠出受感染的血水，清創的劇痛，必須依靠打嗎啡才有辦法進行。她每天光是清創傷口，要兩個小時，而打嗎啡就要六個鐘頭。「這是合法的打嗎啡，」張淳淳自我消遣地說道，「但是我一點都high不起來，而是感到莫大的恐懼與痛苦。」
身體上的折磨，張淳淳都能夠咬牙撐過，但是最讓她感到灰心的是── 人性的黑暗面。在她正在鬼門關與死神掙扎搏鬥時，竟然還有人對她落井下石與惡意攻訐。

「一般人最不想去的就是醫院與法院，我生病的時候，還得去想法院的事情。」因為與旗下一位作者的版權爭議，張淳淳幾乎心力交瘁。「我命都快沒了，怎麼還可能去和作者計較版稅的事情？」
張淳淳生病的消息見諸媒體之後，就常常有各路人馬上門，提供各式各樣的偏方、設備，能量床、健康襪等等，相信人性本善的她，就在生病最脆弱的時候，被詐騙高達一千萬元以上。加上莫名的流言蜚語，以及永無止境的劇痛清創，讓張淳淳數度想要一死了之。

她曾經想過跳樓自殺，但醫院的頂樓都有管制，她上不去。後來「我就每天偷藏一顆安眠藥，有一天，算一算共藏了二十顆，我就想應該夠了吧，當晚把所有遺言都用錄音錄好了之後，就把藥吃下去，沒想到因為那藥的效力太低，我只是多睡了六、七小時而已。」

冷靜下來的張淳淳，開始面對現實，「那一天是聖誕節，我找律師來，想寫生前遺囑，我不想要什麼都沒安排好，就突然的走了。」沒想到，這個動作，卻讓一旁張淳淳的母親悲從中來，一度消失。

這場大病，也改變張淳淳對金錢的態度。過去的她，以為認真工作賺錢，是成功的象徵。但是，生病之後，常常有人衝進來，向她兜售各式各樣的產品。一直到被詐財一千萬元，還遭到對方恐嚇，「那一刻，我突然覺得，『錢財是萬惡的淵藪』。我開始痛恨，我這麼努力，結果擁有的卻是會吸引別人作惡、讓人嫉妒的東西。」

「人生賺那麼多錢，結果只是讓妳住頭等病房。」白手起家的張淳淳感觸良多地表示，生病期間，她最羨慕的人，竟然是她的看護。「看到她輕輕鬆鬆就可以出去幫我買便當，我當下淚流滿面，好羨慕她。」她發現，原來做一個平常人，可以走路、睡覺、吃飯、洗澡，是多麼幸福的一件事。

小九，生日快乐。

六月二十五日，引颈长盼的这一天终于到来。

小九，生日快乐。

欢迎加入我们简单又幸福的家庭。

你爸有点迫不及待想见你了。呵呵。

他还有拟定了一连串的计划把你扮得美美的。

期待你的成长.....

爱你！