Now that I think about it, I have been spending too much on my life with lots of unwanted spendings.

PS: Below is more of a serious note from the blogger. Proceed if you want to read about his serious personal life.

Well, not to say that I should not pamper myself at times to get stuffs that are interesting and fun to get but I think it is time to get into some serious planning into my daily finance and budget.

Those days I have been eating out and spending because of colleagues going out to eat at some fancy restaurant.

Ever since I came into a new environment I have now learned how to go back to how I used to when I was in college, I saved. So here is my long term plan.

Lunch RM3

Now imagine having RM3 lunch for 5 days per week, that would be RM15 and RM45 per month.

Now setting aside that, let’s say I do drive, RM200 – RM300 per month since now I take LRT to work.

New updates – Monthly Budget

Item	Value (RM)
Lunch	45
LRT	100
Petrol	300
Other Commitments	1600
Other Expenses and Extras	500
Total	2545

Amazingly, counting the cost, that is how much I use in a month. All due to the commitments costing a bomb. I think maybe it is time for me to look at some of the commitments and try to device a plan to help myself to save more money in the coming future.

Some people said, you do not know the future, so why bother saving for something uncertain. Well, enjoy while you can but also learn to be a person.

Learning to be a person does not meant that you have to enjoy, feelings but there is also the practical aspect in all that. I shall try to minimize spending on stuffs that does not really benefit me much, for example my games on Magic the Gathering cards, mamak sessions (along with the MTG sessions) and also maybe some other things like having McDonald’s/KFC because your colleague wanted to go there.

Call me kiamsiap but I am not like those who earn big bucks. I shall also cut on my travel plans already. The travel is what took most of my revenue and cash I owned previous years.

I shall be on the reserved end. Sorry guys if I have to decline any invites from this day forward. I need to plan for my future.

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Being in Seoul during Spring is superb. The flowers are starting to bloom and there are lots of pink and white flowers all around. Well, anyway let’s get back to GyeongBokGung (경복궁).

A touch of white and pink flowers. This sets the mood of how the place was. Definitely worth it.

The group of them heading towards the GyeongBokGung palace and me lingering at the back to capture this shot. It was a cloudless day but it’s still okay. Oh yeah, the entrance fee was only ₩3000 which is roughly RM9. Well, at least it’s cheaper than going to Zoo Negara.

See their enthusiasm going into the palace. They are so into history okay…. while I am interested in photography. waahahaha..

In case you’re wondering, look at the photo of the guys there.

We are all in red. Splendid right, almost the same like the Korean football team. So gay, against the flowers as background.

Anyway moving forward, I was taken aback and amazed at the Palace Court. Lucky with the power of DSLR, I was able to take the photo inside the palace court. Using flash would spoil the whole image, but using high ISO and low shutter definitely makes it.

Tourists and people are not allowed here, we can only look from outside the barrier. Ahhhh.. though it looks almost like the Chinese style of architecture. We also found a Korean sitting around the palace. TADA…..

Cute leh…. and against the palace walls. It’s dear dear Yen by the way.

There is also a place for the palace mid wifes and concubines and basically all the females rest in this place (if I am not mistaken). Well, as usual we were not allowed to go into and there’s a barrier which explains why the floor is so clean.

See… isn’t it clean? Such a big place. If it was only my house, but then, I might need to hire a maid.

Okay, enough of architecture, let’s look outside instead. Of course, every posts would not be complete without a certain someone. That is……..

MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

I was thinking where to go after that in the big compound of the palace. Then an unknown person pointed me to a place. Strange isn’t it? I do not even know who that person was.

Though maybe she was pointing at something else. What could it be?

They do say there is always a beautiful flower amongst the rest of the flowers.I believe that’s true.

These are but a few of the scenery at 경복궁 (GyeongBokGung), okay it was the perfect one.

The sky was getting dark, I had to take this photo hand held as I forgotten to bring my tripod. What a bummer but at least it shot what it was supposed to take.

Alas walked into the building and guessed what it was? It was actually a Cultural Museum and outside the museum, there was a Korean Folk Dance going on.

People were crowding around the dance that I never actually got a decent shot.

Oh wait, forgotten to mention. There was this ‘Super Holy Tree‘, well I think it is. It was the only unique one in 경복궁 since it was the only tree which requires metallic support. Look at the 3 metals supporting it. Don’t be fooled, the tree is very big.

See, you can just look at the humans at the background to gauge how big this tree was. People have heard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, this is the Leaning Tree of 경복궁.

If you are observant enough you would know that there are Cherry Blossom trees at the background. It was cherry blossom season, so definitely there would be loads of them all around.

A very random photo of the folk dancer while spinning.

Finally it was time to go to our next destination and more photos upcoming, but before we depart, there is something we should do in order to leave our mark in 경복궁. Since the wall now stands surrounding the whole Joseon palace, it is definitely wise to have a photo with it.

In case you’re wondering, how did we get a shot like that? It’s magic… I tell you.

After the whole time at 경복궁, we felt it’s time to move to another place. What better place will there be? Stay tune.

Time for some Yeouido 여의도역 fun.

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In this time and space, before then, there was bicycle, then the car / automobile came about which gave convenience to many people. It was easy to travel from a location to another location unlike when those days, people used to walk from one place to another. Guess what?

Daniel chose to WALK instead of to drive.

Yes… I walked from one end to another end which takes about 30 minutes from one place to another place. Walking back and forth will require at least 50 to 70 minutes depending on how fast one walks. No it is not for some walkathon training or keep fit schedule. It is all due to because of a valid reason which I will tell you towards the end.

But why walk in the hot sun?

For a reason known to me, walking is good for health. It was lunch time and I have decided to walk from Asia Jaya LRT station towards Diver’s Den at Jalan Universiti (Unitversity Road). That is like 2.1km which, according to Google Map would take about 30 minutes from one end to another.

Diver’s Den? Why do I go there?

Reason is simple. I want to go enquire about the dive package and the free and easy package directly from the center instead of making a call.

Then, Why Not Drive?

Good question. This is the part where people will start judging oneself. If I tell you that I used to walk from KLCC towards Lot 10. Then from there I walked towards Central Market (Pasar Seni), what would your responses be? CRAZY!!!! How can one walk so far? Bus charges only 80 cents and why did I not take the bus? It is simply because I prefer walking and wanted to save. I did not have a car back then.

Though this time I have a car parked here in Asia Jaya LRT and I still walk towards my destination. Why did I do that? It is not that I wanted to save on fuel or tire wear. I wanted to save on my free parking space.

If I were to drive out, when I come back, my free parking space would be taken over by some other kiamsiap guy/girl. So I walk as long I think that it is not far and I have the time for it. WAHAHAHAHAHA!!

How crazy can one get?

Captured Using HTC Hero in Bali

*BANGS WALL* LONG PIAK

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A few days back, Weird Weird Denial was down and hacked and his .htaccess file changed due to server upgrade issue too. Well, anyway looks like I have modified and now it’s time to talk about one of my latest trips which is South Korea. First time going to this country which boast of Rain, 4 Minutes, SNSD and even Jang Nara. Now I took advantage of the cheap Air Asia flight ticket to get here.

Why do I travel?

I travel for the fun of it, to enjoy the scenery and to enjoy the food and also to look at the different cultures and people in different countries and areas. Well, not that I do not travel in my own country (I have lots of travel activities in Malaysia too) but it sure is a different thing altogether. I touched down Incheon Airport during the night. It was pretty dark and it was time to wait for the bus to go to the guest house.

Since we spent like nearly 6 hours in the airplane, it was without dinner and this time it is time to get some food. What better way than to start our day (or night) with some Korean food.

Yummy restaurant. I ate Sundubu jjigae, which is spicy tofu (beancurd) with variety of seafood. Here is the reference from wikipedia about this superb food.

Sundubu jjigae is a hot and spicy jjigae (Korean stew) dish made with uncurdled dubu (tofu), seafood (oysters, mussels, clams and shrimp are common ingredients), vegetables, mushrooms, onion, scallions, and gochujang or gochu garu (chili powder) in Korean cuisine. A raw egg is put in the jjigae while it is still boiling. This dish is eaten with a bowl of cooked white rice and several banchan (side dishes). It is widely eaten and one of the favorite meals in South Korea.

Of course when there is Korean food, there is bound to be kimchi and I realized I love the kimchi here. Superb. Not everyone eats kimchi but I sure love the spicy taste of it. The place we ate was okay, the price was okay. The water is free (unlike my home country where plain water cost like Rm0.40 to RM1) to consume. My Sundubu jjigae cost like 4500 Korean Won (₩) which is roughly equivalent to RM12. Well, it’s one of the cheapest around there.

So after having our meal, we all checked in into the guesthouse. Oh wait, what do I meant by we? Yes, there is a group of us, that’s for you to find out as I reveal them slowly as the post goes on and on. We checked into the guesthouse roughly around 1230am and lucky for us the owner was still awake and boy were we lucky that his partner knows how to speak Mandarin.

The place we stayed was called Yun Guesthouse. I stayed in a room with 2 beds that cost about ₩45000 per night. That’s roughly RM150 per night. Not bad though. Finally called it a day and the next morning it was time to meet Mr Sunshine.

On the way out, I finally felt the first taste of Spring (well, tried it before long time ago at Perth 4 or 5 years back) and there were pretty flowers greeting us near the front door of the guest house. Nice, it was splendid for the moment.

You know, I have always thought that flowers or the cherry blossoms only bloom at parks or places with lots of trees like they have in the movies. Seems like it could also grow elsewhere and we were lucky to catch glimpses of cherry blossoms in Korea on the 2nd week.

Superb, a whole lot of them. It looks like I will be loving it so much I cannot stop talking about my next trip to Korea once again. Where to head next? It’s time for some sightseeing and our first visit would be Insadong or its Hangul equivalent 인사동. Since we were early, around 9am there are fewer people on the streets.

Look at the trees. No leaves. That’s spring for you. Ah… I miss Insadong.

Of course, what you do not know is that Koreans somehow love to write graffiti on walls anywhere they can find where they can actually write. This is something which I find it weird but I guessed that is how it is.

Finally after the short trip at Insadong with nothing much to see except some scenery, we headed straight for Gyeongbokgung (경복궁). This place sparks of history during the Joseon times. It was the main palace and definitely a place one should visit if they love Korean history.

Of course along the way, there was a stall selling Tteokbokki. Only ₩2500 (that’s like RM7) for a bowl of it.

What is Tteokbokki?

Tteokbokki (떡볶이) is a popular Korean snack food which is commonly purchased from street vendors. Flour tteokbokki was popular in early days, but rice tteokbokki is more popular these days. Definitely one have to try this amazing korean delight food.

Imagine a whole place full of bread or rather a tunnel of bread designs. Well, I am amazed and so is Yen.

Looking back at the photos make me miss Korea more and more. Of course I miss the food and Yen misses the shopping and we both miss the weather and culture. Of course no matter what, there is no place like home for me, but nevermind that let’s carry on.

It is now time to visit the ever famous GyeongBokGung Palace.

More facts of the Gyeongbokgung palace.

Gyeongbokgung, also known as Gyeongbokgung Palace or Gyeongbok Palace, is a royal palace located in northern Seoul, South Korea. First constructed in 1394 and reconstructed in 1867, it was the main and largest palace of the Five Grand Palaces built by the Joseon Dynasty. The name of the palace, Gyeongbokgung, translates in English as “Palace of Shining Happiness.“

Nearly destroyed by the Japanese government in the early 20th century, the palace complex is slowly being restored to its original form prior the destruction. As of 2009, roughly 40 percent of the original number of palace buildings still stand or are being reconstructed.

The palace was originally constructed in 1394 by King Taejo, the first king and founder of the Joseon Dynasty, and the name Gyeongbokgung was created by an influential government minister named Jeong Dojeon. Gyeongbokgung was continuously expanded during the reign of King Taejong and King Sejong the Great.

Of course, now that we know about the history, I try to see how is it a tourist attraction nowadays. I was greeted by a serious palace guard.

I see him wearing red, and I was in red, so time for some photoshoot. Why are Koreans so tall?? I am only at his ear or eye level. Fishcakes. Of course, Yen also wanted a shot (not really, I asked her to go pose there)

Such stern looking face. Wonders why do people visit the palace? Well, there was like a ceremony for the guard to walk in and out of the palace. Sort of a reenactment of the whole scene during the Joseon times. Watch King Sejong the movie to relive that feeling if you want to know what it means.

See what I meant? Of course there were tourists looking on at the background. Everyone was enjoying it. There were not only Koreans and Malaysians (that’s us). There were also many tourists who came from China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand and other Asian countries [how come everyone is Asian??? Where are the Angmohs (Eurasians)]

Everyone was lining up to take photos of the march and the ceremony. See it to believe it.

Well, if you are traveling to South Korea, remember to visit this palace. They say you haven’t been to South Korea if you did not go to their once famous biggest palace there just like you have not been to Nepal if you did not go to Everest Base Camp at least. HAHAHA!!

When we were there, it was already 1pm. Everyone was hungry. Finally time for some food and also for my fingers to rest while I prepare the next draft for the next post.

We had Korean BBQ.

1. Juicy raw chicken on the BBQ platter.
2. After BBQ them for awhile, the chicken is well cooked and it’s time to get some chow to build up our energy.
3. Looks like the middle of the BBQ platter is full of burnt fats and burnt food. Chicken meat are put to the side while everyone takes their turn to finish those chicken.
4. After replacing the platter with a new one (yes, the waiter there can do it for you), it is time for the next dish. BBQ Pork (sorry my halal friends).

Total cost for this?

We paid ₩8000 (that is roughly RM25) per person. Definitely cheaper than eating in a Korean restaurant back in Malaysia. Fresh from Korea. Till the next post.

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