Meeting June in July

Today we had to check out of our guesthouse.
We set the alarm for 8 AM to pack our bags and get ready.
We were done at 9 and after that cleaned up the room a little.
So then we decided to call Mr. Ko and told him we were leaving.
He said he would be right there.
We waited for 15 minutes but he didn't show up.
No picture with Mr. Ko. Too bad!

It was so fustrating to carry those heavy bags around to Seoul station but luckily the metro wasn't that crowded so we actually could sit down.
When we arrived at Seoul station we had to transfer to the KTX (the train to Dongdaegu)
We boarded the train at 11:30 and after a while the train started to get really full.
They even put packages in the train (mail from Seoul to Daegu)!
Since I really don't care to sit down to Korean people so I chose to sit apart from Bert and Samantha.
People are so impatient here sometimes.
They want to get out of the train as soon as possible to move on.
Korea is all about the ppali ppali (quick quick)

After 2,5 hours we arrived at Dongdaegu station.
We got out and looked around for a while.
Then we saw this hilarious scene.
This boy came out of the elevator and he went into the train.
I heard him sigh really loud and then he pulled 3 large packages out of the train.
All at once. So strong!
Then he waked back to the elevator and another guy with huge packages came out.
They had to put those the train.
So the guy walking back screamed out of frustration because the train was going to leave soon.
So they quickly ran and put them into the train.
And were so satisfied after they were done.
The guy and I shared smiles a few times.
See.. I'm getting better at this.

ALSO : Daegu people, so much nicer than Seoul people.

THERE, I said it!

We went from the KTX station to the metro and had to go in the direction of Daegok.
We got out at Daegu station to find out that our hotel is just 2 minutes away from the metro station.
We checked in and got our keys.
The rooms are absolutely wonderful and AIRCONDITIONED.

I'm really satisfied with this hotel.
Glad I booked it.

We were getting really hungry so we decided to go to downtown restaurant district.
So we went took the metro and got out after one stop.
We walked around a big market with people selling lots of fish, squid and these scary kind of seasnakes.
But we weren't able to find the district and found out we were walking in the wrong direction.
So we stood still and took out the map.
At that moment a girl asked if she could help us.
We told her where we wanted to go and told her we wanted to eat something.
So she took us back to the metro station and gave us some good recommendations on food.
Her name is June.

We talked a lot and she asked us if she could come with us.
So she did.
There was also an english friend joining us.
A british guy.

I really like Daegu's downtown district.
It's really cozy and fun.
As I said.. I think people here are much more friendly towards foreigners.
I'm really loving Daegu so far.

We entered this really cute restaurant with the most enthousiastic waitress i've ever seen so far.
She was so cute!
Waitresses should all just be like her.
Polite and energetic.

Anyways.
I ordered a dish with spicy pork, rice, salad, kimchi, fried shrimps and fried bell peppers.

It was really good and also really cheap!
I paid 7900 won for this dish (5,62 euro)
We should have cheap food like this in the Netherlands.

So we talked and talked until closing time and June said I knew alot about Korean culture.
So I'm really proud!
I wish my korean was a lot better though.
I will study hard!

They walked us back to our hotel and said goodbye.
It was a random fun day.

( Good deed of the day in Daegu : An ajumma dropped a can and I picked it up for her! )

That's it for today.
Annyeonghi gyeseyo!
Byebye.

Old people parks and Renaissance River

Today was going to be a exciting day for me and Samantha.

Our first appointment at a korean hairdresser.

We both wanted a straight perm.

Basicly means : have straight hair until it grows out.

I never knew that this sort of magic existed until my friend Yvonne told me.

We had our appointment at  10.30 and Bert would do the laundry since we would be gone for 3 hours and we were suppose to visit soms parks and Renaissance river with a friend aferwards.

So we went there and had to wash our hair first. After that they put this stuff in our hair (probably the stuff that straightens your hair)

And the weird thing was : Samantha had to wait a bit more for tit to work while the hairdresser was already washing my hair (While her hair is shorter than mine).

Then they blowdryed and straightened my hair and put some kind of serum in it.

I had to wait 10 minutes and after that they washed it again.

Then she straightened and blow dried it again.

After that they cut off a bit of my bangs and DONE.

I couldn't believe it.

My hair was NEVER this straight before.

The process took about 3 hours just as we expected.

Me and my straightened hair:


After we were done at the hairsalon we went back to the guesthouse and found out that Bert's friend canceled our meeting.
So we went to Changdeokgung and checked out some palaces.
A beautiful park with a lot of traditional palaces.
Too bad we couldn't go into the secret garden without a tour.

All the english tours were already over at that time

 We wanted to go to Gyeongdokgung but we found out it was closed.
And the National Museum of Korea was also closed because they were renovating.
So we decided to go to Kwanghwamun gate instead.
On the way there we found some kind of immitation of a ''cursed gate''
If someone were to walk through it that person would not grow old and die young instead.

''Cursed gate''


Here is a picture of the gate:

We also saw a statue of King Sejong.
He created ''Hangul'', the korean writing system.
I think he's also the man on the 10.000 won bill!



We also found the other object on the 10.000 won bill.
I think it's a device for telling the time?
I'm not sure about this.

We saw a lot of cool things in this street.
There was a whole part dedicated to Yeosu Expo.
It's an expo for everything that has to do with water.
We're going there on Thursday and i'm quite excited.
We're also going to meet Bert's friend Jooyoung!

We didn't even visit Renaissance River yet and it was our last day in Seoul so we had to get moving.

Bert wanted to visit some famous park ( i forgot the name) but it was also closed.
20 minutes too late to be exact.
So we just went on to River Renaissance.
I really wanted to see it since i've seen loads of pictures already.

The river.. AND SAMANTHA.

Beautiful Renaissance River!
I could just stay there for hours and relax :).

After that we ate some mandu and kimbap at the restaurant we visited with Heelim and went home.
We had to pack our bags and leave early the next day.
Because we are going to Daegu!

Annyeonghi gyeseyo

Everland

So on monday we decided to go to Everland, Korea's biggest amusement park.

We got up early to get to Gangnam and take the bus there.

The bus goes almost straight to Everland and it is not expensive at all (Even though it's a 50 minute drive.

So there was no place for me to sit since there were some arrogant korean people who decided to put their bag in the ''window seat'' and sit on the seat next to it so no one can sit next to them.

So luckily I saw a spot in the front.

I went to the front ( when the bus was already riding ) and took place next to an awesome lady.

Who was not being an arrogant korean person.

Since I got to sit in the front I saw a lot of the Korean traffic and highways.

One of the things on my to do list was to ride a korean bus.

I know.. it's really simple but.. I enjoy little things like this.

I took a few pictures of the traffic and wondered if i could post them on facebook.

So I looked up and saw a WIFI ZONE sign.

God... they have internet EVERYWHERE in Seoul? So weird.

I wish my phone could go on this wifi.. but it doesn't work on my phone.

So after 50 minutes we arrived at Everland.. or well.. at the parkinglot to be exact.

We had to take a shuttle bus to the park.

What's with all these shuttle trains and busses in Korea anyway?

We arrived at Everland, FINALLY!

We just had to buy a ticket and show our alien identifi.. OH i'm sorry.

I meant passport.

On the Everland website it says you can get a discount if you show your passport or alien indentification.

Apparently they have a lot of alien visitors.

I wouldn't blame em though.

Everland is pretty amazing!

Everland seems to be very simular to Disney land.

There are a lot of rides for kids and interactive games.

And don't even dare to forget the parades and shows!

Ofcourse they also sold bunny ears, cat ears, bear ears and even giraffe ears!

So you probably understand why I'm telling you this.

Yes indeed! I bought some bunny ears.

Here is a picture:

I also really like the ''soft'' ice cream in Korea.

It's extremely large but leaks like a foreigner visiting Korea.

Talking about ''leaking''.. I think I have never sweat this much before.

You don't have to go to a sauna or a gym to sweat like a maniac.

Just visit Korea!

Anyway. Here is my large ice cream.

The best thing about Everland is probably Holland village.

THAT'S RIGHT! Holland village.

Korea dedicated a whole section of our country in Everland.

For some reason they even mixed some french and german stuff in there.

But since there were flags of all 12 provinces hanging on to the pillars I will forgive them.

Holland Village!

Limburg! My lovely province.

HOWEVER!

There was also a big dissapointment.

The band that was playing on the ''Holland stage'' were NOT dutch NOR did they play any dutch songs.

This obviously was a waste of my time.

Everland has this attraction that looks just like ''The small world'' attraction in Disney.

It's basicly the same thing..

The only difference is probably that this attraction displays more countries outside Europe.

They even had our country, The Netherlands.

So they have this crazy wooden rollercoaster named the T-Express.

From afar it looks like a pretty basic rollercoaster but.. when your in it you will know that this is not an ordinary wooden rollercoaster.

It goes steep down, up and steep down again.

And has some crazy turns.

The speed is pretty crazy. Not like other wooden coasters I've been in.

Pretty scary.

Not my own picture by the way ( I forgot to take a picture 

There was also a mini zoo in Everland.

They had reptiles, monkeys, squirrels, butterflies and even polar bears.

Even my very favorite animal was there.

Vulpes Velox!

Cutest animal ever :)

After visiting the zoo we decided to go in a water attraction.

You know those round boats which can hold up to 8 people?

Yeah. We went in those.

Well at least me and Samantha did.

So we were in line for the attraction and behind us were 3 girls and 3 guys.

It was the first time I saw a girl fake crying to get what she wanted in Korea.

Why do girls always act so weird around guys.. I have no clue!

So after 20 minutes we were still in line and saw this crazy ahjussi screaming and laughing into the microphone. In Everland every attraction has a ''host'' that either sings or talks with people on the ride or anything entertaining. So when the ahjussi found out it was someone's birthday, he would freak out and clap really loudly while singing :'' SAENGIL CHUKHA HAMNIDA! '' (korean birthday song)

So the guy behind us tried to prank him by saying : ''Ahjussi! it's also MY birthday!''.

The crazy ahjussi went up to him and said ''aaaaaaah.. chukha hae yo'' ( oooooh... gefeliciteerd.) instead of clapping and going crazy.

He knew that they were trying to prank him :").

As we stepped in the boat we found out that there are some kind of curtains which protect you from the water.

That kind of took all the fun away.

In the Netherlands, we go into these attractions so we can laugh at the people who got splashed by water afterwards.

But. I was wrong.

Somehow I still got splashed even when wearing that curtain and ofcourse got laughed at.

Felt just like the Netherlands xD

It was a lovely day and we didn't really do anything other than visit Everland.
Next time I want to Carribean Bay ( a huge waterpark next to Everland )
Yeosub already promised to go with me.
So remember Jo, YOU PROMISED!

Annyeonghi gyeseyo! 

Dongdaemun sunday

So today we planned on going to some park but I really wanted to go to Dongdaemun.

Bert thought Heelim already took us there.. but when we arrived there you could definitely see some change.

Dongdaemun isn't like myeondong at all.

Dongdaemun seems like a really ''poor'' looking part of the city. But since I saw the drama Fashion King I really wanted to go there. I was sure it had it's charm.

To be honest.. when we got out of the subway I didn't really know where to go.

Stuff is everywhere and it's quite big area. 

It looked like Queensday all over again.

People selling old second hand stuff everywhere.

When I finally got at the part I wanted to go.

( I saw a huge Fashion King poster)

Samantha and Bert wanted to go eat somewhere so I couldn't see it.

But NOT in dongdaemun though.

I personally think you should not judge a book on it's cover. 

I want to explore Dongdaemun even further when I go back to Korea.

At that point I also realized that it's quite hard to see everything in Seoul in just a week.

When I go back, I will probably only visit Seoul for maybe 2 weeks or so.

So we went to Myeondong and went to Homestead coffe and had a meal there.

They gave us this device to let us know when our order was ready

Probably because the place has 3 floors.

I decided to order a really fancy looking hamburger.

Bert ordered this belgian waffles dish and Samantha had a chickenburger, if im correct.

I ordered a can of coke as well.

When we were done eating Bert had some cherry jam left and I dared him to mix it with my coke.

I didn't expect him to do it and yet he just mixed it without thinking xD

So I drank it and it tasted just like cherry coke. 

Wow! We totally found out about the cherry coke recipe.

We found some stand about the Summer sale in Seoul and the guys at the stand were really friendly and were trying to talk to us. So later we came back to get some info and talk to them some more.
They spoke really good english and one of the guys even photographed me.
Ofcourse.. with Super Junior's Shindong and Ryeowook! <3
Oh.. also Leeteuk and Kyuhyun.

Don't even mind the messed up hair and the cleavage.. omg.

So in the evening we searched around Hongdae.. to find a good restaurant.
Bert pointed at some wooden ski cabin looking cafe.
So we went up and saw a sign saying (no minors, 19 and below).
I already knew.. what was happening.
These are the type of places korean people get drunk at XD.
The menu was completely in hangul and since we were too lazy to translate everything I just pointed to a picture of fried chicken.
And.. ordered soju!
We all never had soju before so I was quite curious about it.
I loved how the korean girl at the counter only understood ME.. XD Bert and Samantha were not very clear to her aparently.
Anyway.. This is what we ordered:

SOJU!

FRIED CHICKEN!

So we all took a shot of soju.
I thought it tasted similar to Sambuca but less liquorice flavor.
So Samantha and me were struggeling a bit to finish the bottle.
Since we had to do it alone.. Bert didn't wanted any more Soju.
So I said : ''Samantha, we are never going to finish this''
AT THAT VERY MOMENT.
Bert picked up the soju bottle, poured his drink AND finished it in one shot.
WOAHHH! Oppa jjang! ( the best! )
Normally he doensn't even drink alcohol. XD
So I felt like laughing and I did .. for a pretty long time XD
Oh.. by the way.. the chicken was pretty good and for some reason was a great stomach filler too.

That's pretty much all for today.
Even though we haven't done a lot today.. I still managed to tell you a lot!
See you tomorrow!
Annyeonghi gyeseyo.

Namsan tower

So today we were going to climb a mountain because we were going to Namsan Tower.

We left for Seoul station and decided to book our Korail tickets.

But the man behind the counter misunderstood us and booked us the wrong tickets.

So the girl at the counter next to it had to cancel the whole reservation and booked us seperate tickets.

The KTX tickets, which  were somewhat more expensive but it worked out fine.

I was carrying quite a lot of money at that time so I was able to pay for all 3 tickets.

Seoul - Daegu, Daegu-Pusan and Pusan-Seoul.

I think it's weird that foreign boys here have korean girlfriends but no foreign girls with korean boyfriends.

WHY! I mean.. I'm fun and cool.

I'm dutch... i'm a Hiddinku saram! (Hiddink person)

Korean boys are hard to get around here.

GEEZ

Anyways..

We left Seoul station to make the big climb to Seoul tower (Namsan Tower)

It was quite easy to find since I remembered an Eat your kimchi video about namsan tower.

So we went up to this really pretty looking park.

 We didn't know we had to go up 1,2 km.. to reach the tower.

Why didn't we just use the cable cart?

It was a huge climb and Samantha had a hard time so we had to stop walking a few times.

But we still made it!

She didn't give up.

We even found a this playground on the way to the tower.

Just kidding.. it's just a minigym on the way to the top of the moutain.

I thought this little girl was playing but instead she was working out.

SO COOL!

So ofcourse we had these amazing views of the city walking upwards.

It felt like we were walking up a large mountain even though it wasn't that steep.

Just an endless amount of stairs..

The old people here are pretty cool!

They just walk up this mountain for fun..

Crazy korean people? Or are we, Europeans just lazy?

Amazing view of Seoul!

We finally made it!

Samantha was so happy to be there!

First thing I saw was this building I recognized from High Kick 2.

This was the place Shin Se Kyung left a message behind on the pillar for her dad to read.

I searched for it but couldn't find it.

Namsan Tower is not only famous for only being a tower but also because of it's locks.

People write messages on these locks and hang them on special ''trees'' or just the rails around the tower.

Usually it's locks with messages from lovers, friends or family

Rail of locks.. can you spot ours?

Tree of locks.

Yes! Indeed.. the one with the clouds and a photosticker on it.

 So after making some pictures i took the lock back and kept it as a souvenier.

The locks get thrown away after a while anyways..

So it would be a waste of money if I left it there

Now I just keep it as a keychain.

Here is the actual tower:

We went back by cablecart since we didn't want to walk all the way down..

When we were going down they played ''Hot Summer'' by F(x) and they have this lyric about sweaty foreigners.. which was just like us at that time.. xD

When we arrived at the foot of the mountain we could see the queu.

It felt like Rollercoaster tycoon all over again.

We were glad we decided to walk instead.

.

We had delicious food that evening.

Ofcourse I ate mandu again.

I LOVE Mandu.

Asian culture and it's dumplings.

It's amazing.

I also had some vegetables and rice.. but it had gochujang in it (spicy korean sauce)

For some reason my stomach doesn't like gochujang.

So I had to run to the bathroom several times.

I brought some pills for constipation but i didn't even need them..

Anyways.

Forget the constipation..

LOOK AT THE FOOD!

Our guesthouse is located in Hongdae.

Did i mention that I LOVE HONGDAE?

It's so lively and full of people.

We, Dutch people would call it: ''gezellig''.

I want to study more Korean and go to back next year :)

Only to Seoul though.

Bye bye for now.

annyeonghi gyeseyo 

Chillings with Heelim.

Today was going to be a fun day because we were going to hang around with Heelim (Bert's korean friend)

We went to Myeondong to meet Heelim and Bert almost missed her.

I'm glad I recognized her..

So we walked around for a bit and Heelim was going to take me to the Adidas store to buy some Adidas originals.

Unforunatly we didn't find the ones I wanted. They were sold out but they will be restocked in the beginning of August. So I can still buy some at Busan./

After walking around a bit Heelim took us to one of her favorite cafe's.

They sold ice cream, juice and cakes.

The cafe is so damn cute!
it even has rocking chairs and flower swings.
Everything is decorated with flowers.

I ordered a cheese cake and a strawberry banana juice.
Samantha, Heelim and Bert all had a Snow Sherbet.

The cheesecake was so sweet!
I really enjoyed it.
The juice was quite okay too, but I will go for a banana juice next time.

After that we went to a photo sticker booth (purikura)
And the first time we ended up getting just one picture 30 times.
We pretty much failed.. so I wanted to do it over again
The booth we went to next was much better, we took really funny pictures.




I totally love these pictures!
We had so much fun making them.
I can't wait to do this with my penpal Jinjoo :)

I bought a lot of albums.
I wasn't able to buy the newest Block B CD yet.
And Beast's album will be coming out the 22th so I need to buy that as well.

I also bought stuff for my friends but i'm not gonna post it here since I want to keep it a secret for those people.

I want to suprise them :)

We decided to go to a kimbap store.
Kimbap looks a lot like sushi but it totally tastes differently.
We ordered some tuna and kimchi kimbap.
They also had dumplings ''Mandu'' so we ordered this as well.

I love eating with korean chopsticks.
I bought some in dongdaemun.
It would be so cool to use this at home as well.



We also went to Hanok Village.
My feet really hurt at that moment and we had to go uphill the whole time.. it was very steep.
I thought it looked very simple and didn't really look like a touristic place..

When we walked back from Hanok village we said goodbye to Heelim and took different meto lines.
It was a wonderful day.
And I fell asleep almost right after I showered.
That's why my blog is so late.

Bye bye for now!

Delicious Seoul tour.

So this is our second day in Seoul and i'm starting to have more fun each day.

Speaking and reading korean is still hard but understanding it is a bit easier.

I feel like learning more korean when i get home and go back the year after.

Even though korean people may not necessarily have good thoughts about foreigners I will not give up.

I am dedicated to learn korean and earn respect.

So okay.. now that I had this sincere talk I can move on to the food and sightseeing.

Today we woke up really late and left at about 13:00

There was suppose to be a typhoon but I think we slept through it all.

So it was really weird when I turned on the TV and I got to see things about the typhoon that i didn't experience.

Ah well.

So we were really hungry and I really wanted to eat somewhere in a korean restaurant.

We came across Kong's Riceball shop.

It looked good so we went in.

It was really small and cozy but I prefer this over really big restaurants.

This is what I ordered:

I think it was called ''pork stew rice'', something along the lines of those words.

I managed to eat with korean chopsticks really well.

I thought it would be much harder than wooden ones but it was okay.

My friend Bert ordered the same thing.

Samantha accidentally ordered two dishes.

Seafood topped rice and a kimchi riceball.

I only made a picture of the riceball though.

We got some really delicious broth and some pickeled radish with our order.

it was really good.

''Neomu mashita!''

And i know that if I didn't have proof no one would believe me.

I am the only one who finished it all:

The ajummas (middle aged women) at this shop were really nice.
I could understand them and even spoke a little korean.

So after we ate we went to seoul station and walked through myeongdong and namdaemun.
We got to see a lot of Seoul but not a lot of tourist attractions.
We visited ''Deoksugung gil'' and saw old palaces and gates.

Too bad we couldn't enter any buildings.

It's forbidden to go in there.

And the guard kept following us around everywhere. geez.

That's me in front of the entrance.

I can't believe that this quiet place is located in the big city.

SO WEIRD!

And ofcourse a random picture of Bert and Samantha.

Samantha's shirt is pretty cool don't you think.

Skeleton peace signs are the best.

We took the subway back since we didn't want to walk and ofcourse it was overly crowded since it was about 19:00. I laughed out of awkwardness the whole time.

We didn't have anything to hold on to so I kept bumping into Ajusshi's (middle aged men)

We tried searching Sinchon for the Adidas store.

Well they HAD originals, but not the Jeremy scott ones I want.

I'll just have to keep on looking for it.

After a quick visit to Sinchon we want back to Hongdae and searched the whole place for kimchi pizza.

THEY HAD SO MUCH PIZZA.. but no kimchi!

Geez. what is wrong with these people.. put kimchi on everything but can't find a kimchi pizza restaurant.

So we just settled for ''Mr Pizza'' who also sell 2PM pizzas!

WAY TOO expensive though.

So Bert and Samantha got a big pizza hawai and I ordered an oriental pasta.

For some reason their pizza got served with butter and cucumber.

I put the cucumber in my pasta since I like cucumber.

It was really good.

It had mushrooms, bell pepper, shrimp, pork and some other vegetable i can't remember.

I seriously can not believe how cheap the food is here!

14000 Won (10 euros) for the dishes we ordered at Kong's Riceball.

30.900 Won (22.08 euros) for the pizza, pasta and drinks.

I really want to eat samyeopsal.

I planning to eat this when I go to Daegu and meet my penpal Jinjoo.

Tomorrow we will go shopping with Bert's friend Heelim.

She is even learning how to speak and write dutch.

She seems like a really cool girl.

Tomorrow will be loads of fun!