Meeting EXO: Fans's Dream Come True

charismatic leader   

Do you have any idol?

How do you admire your idol?

By appreciating their work like buying their album, watching their movie, or get inspired by their fashion style?

Having some of their posters on your wall?

Having their biography?

Buying all the magazine which contain your idol?

I was into kpop, yeah I'm still listening to kpop sometimes but not as much as I did in the past 2 years.

I still remember during early days when I was a huge fan of some kpop group, I was crying while watching their concert or music video from my computer screen, deprived of meeting them in real.

But what dragged me into kpop was not because of the beautiful face of the member, I like listening to music a lot (who doesn’t tho?), my playlist had been changed several times as I grew up. From hip hop to punk, metal, electronic pop, brit pop, it changed annually. Oh, and liking boyband isn’t a new thing for me. When I was 7, yes...7 years old, I was a huge fan of Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, and Westlife. I got influenced by my sister, she had all the cassete of those boybands. And when she played the cassete on player in our room while she was studying, I was dancing along the music as if I was one of Backstreet Boys’s member or back dancer at least, lol.

Back to kpop, I was really amazed by their choreography and the catchy beat of its music, it was something fresh to me. So I started liking and digged out more about kpop, not just 2 or 3 boybands that I had follow...but more and more and I even knew the newest group that appear in kpop industry.

Then I started to buy their original albums, if they released new album I always tried to order in the first batch in order to get the limited original poster. I also bought the korean magazine which has them on photoshoot and interview session, did I read them? No, I was blind about korean back then. Just looking at the pictures and touching the paper and knowing the smell of its magazine made me happy already.

I covered my wall with their posters. When I saw them, sometimes I thought when would I meet them, it seemed impossible since I don’t live in Korea and if they have concert in Indonesia there’s no guarantee that I could watch them, and even if I come to their concert we will still have a distance between the stage and audience.

But who knows about what will happen in the future?

I thought going to South Korea was something impossible for me, but apparently God gave me that chance.

Tbh, watching kpop concert was on my last list when I was in Korea, I was planning to watch SMTOWN Week of EXO (one of the rising boyband at the moment) on christmas, but because I was really busy and my interest towards kpop had been decreasing few months before I came to Korea, I decided to cancel buying the ticket.

Surprise surprise, when I went to Incheon Airport, I saw many girls with their dslr camera and expensive lenses were waiting in front of arrival gate, they were soooo many, some of them were standing above the chair and some of them were bringing their own folding chair in order to be able to see the idol when they come out from arrival door to take some good snaps  for their fansite (fansite is a website managed by fangirl where they post the pictures they took of their idol).

I eventually found out that EXO will came out soon,

Autumn: Best Season to Visit Nami Island

the front gate of Nami Island

Everybody loves autumn, I mean...who doesn't? the air is quite refreshing, definitely not so hot but not as cold as winter, the leaves turn into red and yellow and fall into the street. Something that I can't witness in my tropical country, Indonesia.

On last October I went to Nami Island which located in Chunceon, South Korea. The entrance fee is 10.000 for korean and 8.000 for foreigner, isn't it nice to be a foreigner? ^_^ 

To be able to visit Nami Island, we have to ride a ferry for around 10 minutes, but as foreigner we should give our passport to them beforehand, don't worry, we will get our passport back once we get out from Nami Island. The ferry will go back and forth every 20 minutes to bring us to/from Nami Island.

so large >_<

beautiful trees, I feel like in korean drama, hahaha...

Speaking of korean drama, Nami Island is one of the filming location of the most famous korean drama: Winter Sonata, there's saying that Winter Sonata spread the Korean Wave throughout asia and worldwide.

Winter Sonata statue, I wish it was the real Bae Yong Joon

Not only offering its nature beauty but Nami Island also has a lot of places to visit such as drama gallery, music intrument museum, UNICEF hall, etc...and if we are tired of walking (because Nami Island is very large) we can rent bicycle which cost 3.000-10.000 won depends on the type of bicycle and how long we use.

the piano on music museum

Now that I remember Indonesia has numerous islands too, can Indonesian government make one of them to become a tourism spot as interesting as Nami Island?

Ski and The Snow

On this month's Friday the 13rd I had a trip in Pyeongchang with Wow Korea team.

I went there by myself from Gangneung to Pyeongchang by bus and it took only 20 minutes, yes it seems so near, but to be honest it's not really near actually it's because the magic of bus driver who drove for 90-120km/hour. The ticket price from Gangneung to Pyeongchang is only 2.500 won, and we can ride the bus from terminal every 20 minutes, very convenient !!!

Actually I had final exam that day as well, so I couldn't concentrate to do my exam lol, after finishing the questions I immediately gave the paper to 선생님 then ran out from the class excitedly -> took my bag from the dorm -> rushed to the university gate to catch the bus -> arrived in terminal -> buying ticket to Pyeongchang -> waiting for the bus -> and voila! the adventure began...

Gangneung Tour: Haslla Art World & Pinocchio Museum

Beberapa waktu yang lalu saya mendapatkan kesempatan untuk mengikuti event yang diselenggarakan oleh pemerintah kota Gangneung untuk merasakan korean culture dan jalan-jalan, acara ini sekaligus untuk mempromosikan kota Gangneung, secara pada 2018 bersama dengan kota Pyeongchang akan diselenggarakan international winter olympic.

International student dari Gangneung Wonju University dan Kwandong University diundang dalam event ini. Dari kampus, kami bersama-sama berangkat menuju Gangneung Cultural Art Centre menggunakan bus. Setibanya disana, kami diberikan cocard satu-satu yang berisikan identitas kami, wow saya merasa bangga ada bendera Indonesia di cocard saya :3

bendera merah putih, kampus tempat saya belajar dan nama lengkap saya dalam huruf hangeul ^_^

Setelah menonton video tentang Gangneung dan mendengarkan sambutan dari representatif pemkot Gangneung, kami pun disuguhi sebuah art performance tentang seorang pria yang jatuh cinta pada seorang wanita namun di tengah jalan cerita, perempuan tersebut digoda oleh beberapa lelaki hidung belang, alur cerita berikutnya sedikit susah saya pahami karena penampilan ini hanya menggunakan musik dan gerakan tubuh saja, hehehe :P 

Michael Jackson has Neverland, Korea has Everland, and I have a Homeland

tiket masuk Everland seharga 35.000 won

Acara jalan-jalan berikutnya adalah ke Everland. Everland Resort sendiri adalah sebuah South Korea’s first theme park yang berlokasi di Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Everland juga merupakan theme park terbesar di Korea Selatan.

What’s On Trend In Korea?

What’s on trend in Korea??

it’s card holder!!!

yup, tempat kartu ini lagi nge-hits banget di korea dan bisa ditemuin dimana aja apalagi di toko aksesoris. anak muda korea lagi pada suka pake ini kemana-mana..

gunanya apa sih?

tentu saja buat tempat kartu kita, bisa buat kartu atm, kartu credit (kalo punya), T-Money alias kartu buat naik bus di korea selatan that u don’t need to pay cash, kartu remi, kartu apa ajalah yang penting gaya. hehehe

sebenernya cukup praktis sih, apalagi buat mereka yang emang suka bayar apa-apa pake kartu atau bepergian naik transportasi umum jadi ga perlu repot-repot buka dompet. Card holder ini tinggal dikalungin aja di leher kamu.

harganya berkisar antara 5.000 won ~ 10.000 won, tergantung modelnya gimana dan beli dimana, hehe…

saya pun ga ketinggalan ikut-ikutan beli ini, cuma masalahnya…kalo pulang ke Indonesia, bakal kepake nggak? 

gak mungkin kan bawa-bawa kartu atm atau kartu penting terus jalan-jalan di tempat keramaian umum atau naik bus kota, bisa-bisa langsung dijambret  :)))

dibeli~~ dibeli~~

my card holder tampak depan

tampak belakang

Pepero Day

Jadi hari ini  bukanlah hari Senin yang seperti biasanya bagi kebanyakan orang Korea.

Hari ini adalah hari “Pepero Day”

apa sih Pepero Day itu?

saya juga baru tau setelah dapat pepero itu sendiri. ha ha ha #cupu

jadi ternyata Pepero Day itu semacam perayaan di Korea Selatan seperti valentine, biasanya yang tuker-tukeran Pepero itu couple… (cerita lengkapnya baca di WIKI aja kali ya) Pepero sendiri adalah nama snack stick coklat yang diproduksi oleh Lotte, mirip Pocky gitu deh…kalo di Indonesia lebih terkenal Pocky ya..btw disini Pocky harganya hampir 2 kali lipat dari harga rupiah, kalo Minute Maid Pulpy Orange harganya 3x lipat, huhuhu…

Rasanya Pepero kaya gimana? 

enak sih…yang paling populer itu bukan yang plain coklat, tapi biasanya ada taburan almond atau cookies gitu.

dan hari ini saya juga kebagian Pepero hehehe…dari guru-guru dan temen korea.

Ulsan & Busan trip (Day 3-end)

On the third day we headed to Busan Taejongdae. We visited the lighthouse by the shuttle bus. The cliff overthere is terrific as well! There were many ahjumma and ahjussi went there by walking, unbelievable! Taejongdae is kind of hills so it’s really tiring to go up overthere, but old korean people managed to go there by just walking.

After that, we went to Nampo-dong and Jagalchi Market. Sooo many fishes and octopus, and they are alive!

it's delicious, only after being cooked :p

bibimbap as my lunch

I and friends from Indonesia, India, and Vietnam went to have a stroll in Nampo-dong Market. We even visited the Busan International Film Festival where there many hand sign by Korean and international actors on the floor, similiar to Hall of Fame.

We went to Nampo Underground shopping center, so many cute clothes..it was really tempting T_T

At 3 pm, I went to the subway station, and ta-da! the Nampo Underground shopping center is also like the shortcut way to subway station ^_^

Because I didn’t have a subway  electric card, so I need to buy the ticket manually in the ticket vending.

It took around one hour to arrive at Bus Station, and then I bought the ticket to go back to my second home, lol

get ready to go back home

I'm so glad for having 3 days full of fun trip, it makes me fall in love more and more with South Korea 

>.<

Ulsan & Busan trip (Day 2)

On the second day of our Busan trip, firstly we arrived at Heodong Yonggung Temple at 09.00 . Heodong Yonggung Temple located on the seafront, so once again I was spoiled by the beautiful view of South Korea’s sea. Built in 1376, the Haedong Yonggungsa Temple is one of the major Buddhist temples in Busan. In this area there are many statues of Earthly Branch, do you know what is your Earthly branch ? ^ _ ^

In addition, there is also a statue of golden pigs and several other Buddhist statues.

the front gate of Haedong Yonggung Temple, we need to go down the stairs

small cute buddhist statue >.< can I take one? ㅋㅋㅋ

in front of golden pig with friends from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Phillipine ^_^

My Malaysian friend and I have the same earth branch, it’s lamb ^_^

you can go down inside and drink holy water or something like that

people from Japan were praying

Finished enjoying the beauty of Heodong Yonggung Temple, the next destination is Dalmaji Road in Haeundae, Haeundae is one of the elite area in Busan. If there’s Gangnam in Seoul, then Busan has Haeundae. Dalmaji Road is located in hills, on one side we are able to see the sea, and on the other side there are a lot of cafes and coffee shops as well as many cool buildings and luxurious villas. 

After that we visited Shinsegae mall, Shinsegae is crowned by Guinness World Records as the World’s Largest Department Store, surpassing the Macy ‘s department store in New York City in 2009. And yaaa … you can get all the branded fashion stuff here, Channel ? Louis Vuitton ? you name it.

We had lunch at an Italian restaurant. So happy that I could finally eat European food, been two months eating Korean food makes me a little bit bored, hehe ^_^

delicious chicken

pizza with honey is the best! my friend and I even ordered another pan XD

fried rice, somehow I miss Indonesian fried rice :(

After finished eating, I went to look around in the mall for window shopping (but ended up doing real shopping). #girlsproblem

The journey continues to visit Busan Aquarium. Little confession, I have never been to Sea World Jakarta, Indonesia :p

But that’s okay, because I've already visited Busan Aquarium, Korea’s largest ocean themed park :p

the frozen giant shark 

Busan Aquarium is located near the beach and it is located under the ground . The interesting part is that there were funny posters resemble to Hollywood movie poster, those posters were deliberately created in celebration of the Busan International Film Festival which was held last October 3rd to 12th . Can you guess what the original movies are they?

After that we went to the beach to play around ^_^

At 6 pm , we had dinner at one of the korean restaurant. After that , we walked about 30 minutes to the Gwangan-ri beach to watch the Busan Fireworks Festival . The streets was really crowded by many citizens who wanted to see this show. After getting admission in Gwangan - Ri beach, the team and I soon get our booked seat which on the front row!!! The show started at 8pm and ended one hour later. Busan Fireworks Festival was very cool, I was totally amazed by the beauty of fireworks which accompanied along with the variety of music.

see the video recording of Busan Fireworks Festival: HERE

The second day in Busan was an amazing experience ! I love Busan ! >_<