Ah... where should i begin? I think it began a year ago when i visited this very lovely country called South Korea. Yup, i went there for a very,very short trip- 4 nights, 3 days. I arrived on a hoy Thursday afternoon.. It was like a dream come true for me. When i was still in the Philippines it never occured to me that i can visit Skorea one day. Well, it is not a problem if you get hitch to a korean but for me that is not really the solution. Then came last year when my passport needed to be renewed. And the shortest way to do that without going back to the Philippines is to have it renewed in washington, d.c. .. then an idea hit me. How about going to seoul for a side trip before going to dc?.. so i hurriedly applied for a korean visa and it was granted fast. Boy, oh boy, my dream is becoming a reality. Why seoul? Because seoul is in my heart...hehehe..shortest and safest answer? Hmmm.. i had the opportunity to teach koreans in the philippines and i became curious as to how seoul looks like...considering also all the K-drama hitting philippine tv by storm... hallyu wave as they call it..and that wave splashed far across the peninsula reaching not just the philippines but other asian countries in greater scale. I wasnt really a sucker of korean dramas when i was still in the philippines.. i heard about a few hit dramas but i wasnt glued to it.. i have to admit i fell in love watching winter sonata the first time i saw it on tv.. i became an instant bae young jun fan.. no.. admirer i should say... to me he is the most handsome korean actor or perhaps korean guy... then came strings of good tv dramas but i didnt really pay no mind.. however, one student told me that full house is a good and funny one.. so i watched it also but not regularly..now i have added 2 korean actors in my list- rain and song hye gyo... but i dont consider it as “imbibing” or something like that.. maybe because every day i am interacting with koreans and my focus was only on giving good lessons to my students... then i left the philippines for bermuda..living in a itsy-bitsy tiny island can give you rock fever... and because of this i need to re-channel my energy..watching tv after a day’s work can funnel all the boredom i felt on the island.. there used to be a channel on cable called azn or asian channel.. there they have re-runs of korean dramas.. and they had winter sonata... wow.. it was a treat for me.. until i just sucked all korean dramas being shown on that channel... that made me long for seoul...to visit korea... and as i got my laptop, i came to watch more and more korean dramas and movies.. and all these lovely places and scenic spots in korea are sealed in my heart and mind.. namsan tower.. full house..nami island... cherry blossom... david yonggi cho’s church..subway.. kyobo bookstore.. lotte world.. korean cuisine...i have numbered them in my heart... and since i was given a visa, off to korea i went.. even the sight of the airport made a tremendous impact in my heart because almost all dramas have an airport scene..you can’t consider it a korean drama unless there’s an airport scene somewhere.. hahaha.. it was a very long flight from bermuda to JFK airport before my feet touched korea’s hallowed ground.. and there i was, waiting for my luggage at the famed incheon international airport... at last, seoul in my heart... after i picked up my luggage and ushered into the arrival area, i couldnt believe that i was in korea.. their airport is like a city within a city.. everything is there.. ive been to quite a few international airports but incheon airport has a homey feeling.. then, 1st stop- sido (or si island) in incheon.. we needed to rush to catch the last ferry going to the island.. i touched down 15 min after 4 in the afternoon and the last ferry ride is at 5pm.. we hailed a taxi and it speedied to si do port.. why sido? Hmmm.. full house set location.. the ferry ride was very brief.. in less than 10 min we got there and a rented van came to take us to our pension house.. the ferry ride was peaceful and quiet.. with just a few passengers.. at that time, i was still in “wonderland”.. i still couldnt believe im in korea.. and i am meeting a very special friend after 4 years of last seeing each other.. even that made me think wildly.. never in my heart did i imagine meeting my friend after leaving the philippines.. ah.. i went to korea during spring time so the weather was a bit chilly.. for me it seems like winter.. spring weather in korea is like winter time in bermuda.. my cheeks had become rosy... we stayed in the pension house for the night and for dinner, my long awaited dream to have samgyeopsal again became a reality.. ah.. i was just stuffing it in my mouth.. next day, we biked our way to the real “full house”... see.. we even did it in a k-drama way.. biking.. it took only a few minutes to pedal our way and there it was before my eyes.. Full house... i got to see everything i saw on the drama.. it was surreal.. then we took pictures of every nook and cranny of the house.. i didnt know that a few meters away from that location, lies another tv drama set location.. sad love song which i havent seen yet.. since we dont want to miss the chance, we also visited it.. the house is much grander and much trendier compared to full house.. there were other tourists who visited both house locations together with us.. japanese tourists.. since we were counting every minute of our time, next stop was nami island.. maybe u think it is just like a 100 meter distance.. hahaha.. no.. it was more than that.. incheon is on the other end and nami is on the furtherst end.. it took us 3 hours to reach it and we still took another ferry ride.. why wouldnt i pass nami island?... bae young jun is the reason.. ah.. winter sonata.. it made that island famous and it became a popular tourist destination.. and it is so true because that place is loaded with tourists.. chinese, japanese,locals..lovers.. families..and friends?... i love nami.. it is very scenic... i had my first try of kimchi fried rice in that place..then they have this mud sculputures which is very interesting.. i couldnt explain the feeling i had when i was there.. i dont find it romantic if that’s what you are expecting.. i find it homey.. that’s the word that can best describe it.. there were so many people that time but i feel like there were no people around us.. only me and my very special friend.. like we own the time and place.. after nami, my very special friend took me to their house.. and meet the family.. while we were having a ride i was just full of ahs and ohs as we passed by very interesting places, people and things.. cherry blossoms were lining the road and covering the mountain tops.. what a beautiful sight.. korea is mountainous but it is very beautiful.. however, the city is filled with apartment buildings.. very crowded also but everything is in order.. then the next day, we went to korea folk village.. it is quite a big museum for me.. of how korea was like 50 or so years ago.. i was told that many dramas were shot in this place(iljimae,jewel in the palace) because of its traditional houses and traditional set ups... we took a rest in one of the korean traditional houses and had ice cream.. just enough to catch our breath and to rest our tired feet.. the place is huge.. next stop- lotte world.. i wouldnt pass this up either.. that merry-go-round scene from stairway to heaven is forever marked in my head.. my very special friend bought a ride for all ticket so i was able to enjoy the rides but i wouldnt try the viking nor the other daring rides.. ah.. i met jessica in lotte world.. jessica was a very dear student back in the philippines and she eventually became like a younger sister-friend to me.. the clock ticked very fast and my feet were almost dragging me.. but we needed to go to namsan tower.. i watched witch yoo hee and the restaurant scene was shot in namsan tower.. i heard about this also in another drama- kim sam soon.. they have a very beautiful observatory deck which i saw in some korean blogsites..the place is jam-packed.. we wanted to ride in the cable car but the line was very, very long.. so we had dinner in a fancy restaurant first before heading back .. when we came back, we still couldnt inch our way in.. thus we decided to take the long route.. by that i mean, taking a hundred-steps to the top of the tower.. gosh.. it was a long climb.. as we were climbing our way up, you can see the aerial view of seoul.. it twinkled.. it was like a sea of lights.. a lovely sight to hold.. on our way down, we were able to ride in the cable car.. the same cable car where go jun pyo and go hye sun took in the drama boys over flowers.. but our ride was loaded unlike the cozy & romantic one they had... we were packed like sardines inside that cable car.. we reached home after midnight.. it was such a long but wonderful day... on my last day, it was easter Sunday.. my visit in seoul wouldn’t be complete without going to david yonggi cho’s church.. so i spent my 1st easter Sunday in korea in his church and my 1st ever church visit altogether.. we attended the foreign service .. everything was translated in english.. a headset is given to all foreign guests where you can listen to an english translation.. then after that, i met cecil,my co-tutor before in the phil and is now teaching in korea and also with her korean husband and we went to the cherry blossom festival in yeouido.. just a few meters away from the church.. i chose spring to visit because of the cherry blossom.. they look very, very delicate but refreshing.. later this year, i learned that a korean drama(the birth of the rich) was shot on the same spot where we took pictures..and right after watching the cherry blossoms, we went to a sushi buffet bar.. and it was in that same sushi bar that the drama “you are beautiful” had a resto shot also.. isnt this amazing? I think they were following our steps.. we took the bus from yeouido and later they wanted me to try the subway going to kyobo bookstore.. i love bookstores.. i can spend a day just going over the books and its pages so visiting kyobo bookstore was also in my list.. i first saw this bookstore via another korean drama – alone in love- that bookstore is huge...for me, the entire floor is solely occupied by the bookstore.. they have a lot of good english books .. i got almost a dozen.. hehehe.. i wasnt able to go to 163rd building although it was just around yeouido.. my sked was fully loaded that i needed to slash it down that time because we were invited by my former student to have dinner with his family in suwon.. yes, suwon.. not seoul... and for that we needed to take a train ride for an hour to get there.. ah.. suwon is very historical.. i think that district is much larger than seoul.. there we met another student of mine,K.. and alex picked us up at the train station.. it was nice seeing alex again.. it was like a reunion of some sort for my students.. they took me to another exercise- another climb to the mountain.. there was like a bellfry and a temple on that mountain.. i recently watched a movie and you know what, the last scene was shot on that very same mountain.. hehehe.. then there was an old palace at the foot of the mountain and we took a stroll on its ground.. jewel in the palace, a drama that became hugely popular in the philippines, was also shot in that palace... they even had caricature stand-ins of lee young ae and ji jin hee.. then we headed to alex’s house where i got to meet his wife and 2 lovely children.. his wife served a sumptuous dinner for all of us and i will never forget it.. after that, i needed to shop for some groceries to be taken back to bermuda like kimchi, chilli paste and green tea..my very special friend’s mom, gave me a heavy bag filled with korean chilli powder.. i didnt buy noodles because i can buy it in bermuda.. so alex took us to e-mart.. also my first time to go to a korean supermarket.. alex’s two daughters were holding both my hands and being a shorty that i am, we just look like “classmates”.. hehehe... then we ended the night away .. they wanted to have a drink with me in a bar just to have an experience of it but alex needed to report to work early the next day and i was dog-tired too that i told them i dont mind going back to the hotel and rest for my flight the next morning.. we left suwon early in the morning.. we took the airport shuttle bus from there to incheon.. it was a chilly morning but i had a comfortable feeling..
...ah.. a year and 4 months have passed already after my trip to korea.. i thought i could go back a year after but my plan was wasted because of a very negligent travel agent.. i will never forget my trip to korea.. all the sights.. and its wonders.. and all the lovely people i met.. im so thankful i was welcomed warmly.. i still have so many things in my mind that i need to do once i get back to korea.. these days, my heart is telling me that i miss it so badly... i want to roam its streets.. enjoy other sights and do other activities..picnic by the han river.. try exotic korean food.. er.. eating live octopus perhaps?...ride on ktx to travel to other korean cities... this year target jeju was pulled out of target.. it feels very disappointing but i believe God makes things beautiful in its time.. Skorea, i heart you.
I am posting some pics which i havent posted in my other social network sites.
