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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Haven’t been doing this for awhile. So since have a few time here and in the hotel, I then decided to do some short post about my first day in Bali 2011. Yes there was a trip in 2010 and I haven’t written anything yet.

So not to delay any further. First day was officially 2nd May 2011. 1st May was instead checking in to hotel. Our driver drove us starting at 830am and off we go to Nusa Dua (the place that I didn’t get to visit during my last visit here). Though we had a quick detour and went to had a time at a dance being performed. It was a role play dance performance with humour. The price was Rp.80000. Expensive.

Finally Nusa Dua was next. Looks like nothing much for me here though. More for people who loves watersports. I guessed the driver was promoting the events there but we weren’t interested. So off we go to our next destination.

We were off to Taman Ayun Mengyi Royal Temple. Unlike the temples I visited previously, this one had lots of people, where we got to interact with the people there. There was this Balinese girl over there who thought that we were from Korea (I was wearing South Korea jersey) kept singing “Merah Merah Merah” as me, my bro and Yong wore red. Hahaha… was so funny. By the way entrance fee was Rp. 3000. The people there posed for the camera.

Finally time for lunch. We were brought to a place which is Pacung Restaurant. It was a buffet. Initial price was Rp.80000 and the food was ok. Though after tax (yes government tax…..) the total was Rp. 96000 after 20% tax. Roars.

Finally next destination, it was Ulundanu Bratan Temple. Superb place. The temple is seperated from the land. The view was magnificent. You’ll know once I start posting photos from the NIKON D300 instead from the HTC. The entrance fee was Rp. 10000. Something funny happened again. A group of locals wanted to take photos with us. Must have been the Korea jersey. Epic okay.Finally time to go to our next destination.

Tanah Lot…. the famous place in Bali. Supposed to be there for a sunset photo. Too bad, it wasn’t meant to be. There were too much clouds. On the way there, many shop peddlers were selling souvenirs. One of them is a wooden penis. Hahaha.

Darn…. finally nothing much, its time to go back to our hotel.

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It is now October 2010. It has been like a hectic lifestyle for me this year with loads of events and photos and also mainly due to travel. Unlike last year where the main part of the travel plans is to Lhasa, Tibet. This year the places I have gone are Indonesia (Yogyakarta, Bali, Jakarta), Philippines (Manila, Vigan) and finally to Taiwan (Taipei, Shihlin, etc). That’s like load of travel plans I had this year. 3 different destinations and the amount I spent was only RM4k++ or the equivalent of USD1.5k inclusive of flight expenses.

The price there stated above is definitely cheaper than my 1 time travel to Tibet in year 2009 that reached around RM7000. As most of the time package of traveling in the places specified is usually tour group prices, the only thing that one can get it cheaper is by going on your vacation with cheap airline tickets. Imagine going to a place by flight with only RM9 (USD3) with a tax of RM30 (USD10) for a return journey. That will be the most awesome thing to do. Save on flight and enjoy the rest of it on the trip instead for example food, shopping, souvenirs, spas, mountain climbing and some scuba diving.

Isn’t that what we all wanted, to enjoy the trip more than paying for the flight ticket. That is unless you’re someone who enjoys sitting at the first class seat. This is definitely not me.

I wouldn’t want to spend my cash on flights when I can at least use it to try weird stuffs like drinking from this hot pot of weird herbal soup with chicken remains.

Yummy~~~ I must say, when you’re hungry, you’re definitely not choosy. The above is a delicacy in one of the towns in Tibet.

In a travel, budget is important, as you will never know when you will be short of cash. Of course when you’re traveling always enjoy yourself and don’t constraint yourself with too minimal expenditure when you bring like RM500 for traveling but only spend like RM5. Well, you get the point. So just go ahead and enjoy. I know I will do that every opportunity I get travel and that’s what I want to tell other people who got that opportunity.

ENJOY . YOU ARE HOLIDAYING . NO LIMITS . PURE CLEAN FUN .

Be yourself. As for me, BE WEIRD but COOL. (Now where can you find someone who poses with a tripod and trying to act all cool)

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Last few more posts upcoming and this time Tibet is finally gonna rest it’s head. Well, I meant the post though. This time journey is what I am looking forward to show to you people out there. It’s time to head towards the Midui Glacier. If you’ve missed all the travel post about Tibet, the links to the respective places will be at the bottom of this post.

Along the way there, we are met with few animals that would like to greet us whenever they can. For example the Yak, famous animal around Tibet.

Moooooooo…… this is my road and I can do what I like, I am the lone ranger here. Of course there are other animals there, say, the horse.

Snorts….

We see a lot of animals along the way on the road, sometimes on mountain roads where we’re like far from civilizations. Anyway we were given a shock though when we saw Tibetans on the road doing their pilgrimage and will lie on the floor and up after a few steps. I kid you not!!

See… is like something after that we’ve grown accustomed to. Amazed right? Of course the road is so wide, sometimes no vehicle goes along the path at times. So much that we even have someone on the road.

Jeng Jeng Jeng, another Shanghai girl on the road. Yes, imagine posing on the road. Too bad I wasn’t the proper photographer, or I would try to capture the scene against the scenery backdrop.

Well, sitting in the jeep has got it’s use though, we can take scenery shots from inside the jeep as long as the windows are clean though. Imagine how many wipes we’ve done.

The rocky mountains are such a wonder. I suddenly miss these kind of scenery with blue sky.

Of course these are part of what is nice about traveling overseas. Well, it always has been. Though there’s always no place like home but traveling to see the world is also what I would love to do. Even when we hardly get to eat, walked and hiked and near the brink of danger.

So much we have gone through, we would love to travel again as a group, taking photos and showing to people how wide and wonderful is the world out there. Well, as usual the usual 3. Yes, Bae Yong Joon *cough… Ek Wei* is with us again.

It was during that time, we were stalled from continuing our journey due to a fallen tree. So we took the liberty to take a photo against the jeep door. Now and then we would stop by at some restaurant along the road and order our meal. I dare say, I definitely prefer Malaysian food, but sometimes we just have to stomach what we’re given.

Herbal Chicken Soup in Hot Pot. Well, shared amongst 6 people. Well, it looks tasty, and yes, it definitely taste so good, I would love to have another bowl. Well, what are the ingredients for this soup? Wait till you see what they thrown into this soup for the delicate taste.

Amazingly weird. All parts of the chicken were used. Even the head wasn’t spared. Ginger, herbs and some other parts. Well, I guessed not everyone would love to think that a chicken head is in their soup.

Finally the moment to move to what this post is actually all about, The Midui Glacier.

Just look at Ek Wei can’t wait to get his photo taken amongst the lake and the glacier at the back. Hehehe…

Well, the destination is the glacier which takes about 30 to 40 minutes of walking. Yes, we have to walked all the way in. No food, no lunch yet. It’s about 1030am.

Hard to get the right exposure with the yak being all too dark in order to capture the sky and the snow. Of course another way to go to the Midui Glacier is by riding a horse there.

Simple and faster way to the next stop which is about 20 minutes away on foot, but with a horse it’s only 8 – 10 minutes. Of course it all comes with a price though say 40 Yuan?

Of course, one can also travel with style. You can bring along your umbrella to protect from the scorching sun but on a cool weather. Look at how the leaves are turning yellow. Autumn is arriving and definitely a sight to behold. There aren’t 4 seasons in Malaysia, thus having a look at the changing of leaves in another country is fascinating for me.

So with that in mind, I have to get a simple shot of myself in this lovely weather and season.

Now if only there were more trees at the background, the whole thing would have been perfect. So perfect if the color of the background is like the one below.

Yellow, green and the trail to the Midui Glacier. Huh? Wait!!!! Did I meant that I won’t be posting any photos on the Midui Glacier? Well, I kid you not, since this is post is about the journey to the Midui Glacier and not the Midui Glacier.

Well, of course I wouldn’t want to dash the hopes of having a glance of what’s around that area.So I’ll present to you a part of the Midui Glacier.

The whole chunk of ice on which I will stand on it later.

I know that this post has lots of weird photos and not as surreal like the previous posts. I would post more pictures of the Midui Glacier in the upcoming post though. For those that missed other posts, here are the lists below.

[Tibet 1] Hello from Lhasa, Tibet
[Tibet 2] The Rough Journey Tibet
[Tibet 3] Another Day in Lhasa
[Tibet 4] Visiting Drepung Monastery Tibet
[Tibet 5] Monastery Visitation Tibet
[Tibet 6] Moving Around Lhasa Tibet
[Tibet 7] The Day I Visited Temples at Lhasa
[Tibet 8] Weird Blue Lake Tibet
[Tibet 9] Randomness at China and Tibet
[Tibet 10] More Monasteries and Mt Everest
[Tibet 11] Journey to Mt Everest
[Tibet 12] Journey to Namtso Lake
[Tibet 13] Namtso Lake Scene
[Tibet 14] Return to Lhasa from Mountains
[Tibet 15] Lhasa Town Free and Easy
[Tibet 16] Beginning the Journey to Chengdu in Jeep
[Tibet 17] The Giant Tree and Tibet Tradition Wear

Altogether peace out and till the next post.

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Finally time to continue our journey towards Chengdu. For those that missed the last post, and to recap, we were actually taking photos of the rushing water resulted from melted ice. These are the rest of the chapters if you’ve missed them.

[Tibet 1] Hello from Lhasa, Tibet
[Tibet 2] The Rough Journey Tibet
[Tibet 3] Another Day in Lhasa
[Tibet 4] Visiting Drepung Monastery Tibet
[Tibet 5] Monastery Visitation Tibet
[Tibet 6] Moving Around Lhasa Tibet
[Tibet 7] The Day I Visited Temples at Lhasa
[Tibet 8] Weird Blue Lake Tibet
[Tibet 9] Randomness at China and Tibet
[Tibet 10] More Monasteries and Mt Everest
[Tibet 11] Journey to Mt Everest
[Tibet 12] Journey to Namtso Lake
[Tibet 13] Namtso Lake Scene
[Tibet 14] Return to Lhasa from Mountains
[Tibet 15] Lhasa Town Free and Easy
[Tibet 16] Beginning the Journey to Chengdu in Jeep

Now it’s time to continue on and to visit the Giant Tree.

Giant Tree? What Giant Tree? By the way, the oldest and highest tree is recorded here. Highest as in a high location. Of course, in order for us to do that, we all need our rest for the night as the sun sets and it’s still like 4000m above sea level. It’s gonna be cold, there’s no fan in our place. Dinner time we ate the local Chinese “Ma Lat” dishes and can tell you, I was starting to miss home and Malaysian food.

Rest for the night and no one bothered to fold their blankets. Of course at the far end, you can still spot Kenny there still sleeping. Ha ha ha..

So onward we go for our next stop.

The World Cypress King Park. Here is the excerpt from the ticket being sold to us. Cost us 10 Yuan.

It is 13kms away from Linzhi county and the altitude is 3040m, there are 10 hecares precious cypress. It is 44m in average height, 1.58m in average diameter. Here you will see a cypress which has a history of 2600 years, it is 57m in height, 5.8m in diameter and was named “The King of Cypress in China“. It was said that the tree is regarded “Life Tree” by the founder of Ben Sect- Xinraomibao.

Now that was very good information about this place. Lucky I still kept the ticket. The stone marking the tree that is 2600 years old.

Man vs Tree. 20+ years old vs 2600 years old. Young vs Old. Look at how wide the tree is compared to me. They barricaded the place so people would not step in.

Now who said I was old? I am not old.

Now see how big is one of the other trees. I used up most of my strength to tear out a hole in the tree. It was so hard to pry it open (yeah right~~~) that soon after that I became totally exhausted.

Exhausted, The Weird One can’t take it anymore. Kenny thought I was posing, so he did something even better.

Whoa~~~Kenny! Nice expression. Priceless.

Finally it was time to go back to our respective jeeps and on the way out, peddlers are selling the specialty here. Ling zhi and mushrooms and other herbs.

Mushrooms?

Ling Zhi? Mushrooms? They both look the same to me.

Anyway, we didn’t buy any as we don’t know what we’re gonna do with it since we have like 8 days journey left. Yes, days passes by so fast and then we were asking how come it’s so fast coming to an end. There were many stories we talked amongst each another, about how the Mt Everest was superb. How the lake was magnificent in one of the days.

Since it’s Autumn, many flowers started to wither but few remained and that’s where my cameras got moving. Going to places is not all about taking scenery, one have to pay to small minor details. Flowers (nature) is an important part of it.

Along the way we came to a place where the stream was so calm and nice. I spot this lonely tree in the middle of such a vibrant and calm place. I just had to take a shot of this. This shot reminded me of how wide the world is, when you’re just a speck or in this case, you’re just a tree. Okay, wrong analogy, it could also meant I was lonely.

This shot is strange. Felt that there’s something missing with it. Maybe the hills are too high and lack of water background. But still a picture I would show nonetheless. Could have been better.

Of course, every picture is not complete without the 3 of us showcasing what we do best. To pose in front of the camera. Well, we’ve reached to another stop for photo shooting and that’s where we all have our own picture being shot at about the same location.

Meet the 3 Handsome Guys (pssst.. best one is the one on the right), Kenny Lim, Ek Wei, Daniel Chew.

Of course, have to thank our jeep driver, for driving us all along the way. Well, there were clothes for rent that day and we have to pay 10 or 20 Yuan for trying on the clothes. Well, our Jeep driver had his photo shot by me then.

A Tibetan and if only I was using a 50mm portrait lens, the bokeh would have been better. Of course, it’s not everytime one would be going back to places that we’ve been to. So what the heck, I also paid 15 yuan (after figuring the price out) to get my whole self in the suit.

Fui yoh!!! Stylish, looks like a Tibetan Cowboy (whatever that is). If I am dark enough, people might have mistaken me for one though. I am sure some of you are dying to try this kind of things. I did, and I am glad I did.

By the way did you know that there are 3 jeeps on the same course and we’re all part of the driving group going towards Chengdu. There are 3 people from Shanghai there (2 girls and 1 guy). I had problem conversing as my Mandarin is totally no good.

Here she is, one of the Shanghai girl in the traditional local costume. Pretty right? Wonders if she actually know about this photo. For guys out there, no… I don’t have her contact, you can stop wasting time asking for her contact.

But will we ever see her again in part of the journey? That depends. So come on and comment some.

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