PREVIOUSLY: As i was busy printing out coupons and maps for my 1st ever oversea's trip , i saw a notice on Korea Grand Sale page! *Well, i've been to Singapore before but only for a 2-day visit hehe!)
IT WAS A SEOUL MUSIC AWARDS 2012 INVITATION APPLICATION!!
And guess what? Me and my other two travel mates were lucky enough to be invited to SMA~!!!!!!!!! Each of us were given 2 tickets! Best surprise ever! The whole family (excluding dad LOL) cheered for me~!! How can i not be happy! I get to see SuJu, Baek Ji Young, SNSD, IU, B2ST, Miss A, T-ara, 4Minute, 4Men and more!
Now: On Thursday morning, Kak Mun arrived. Since Kak Mun was She's housemate, it was Kei and i first encounter~nice to meet u! Oh! We're also moving from twin room to a 4-bedroom which was on the 2nd floor to accomodate the 4 of us. The room was huge and totally comforting! A king-sized bed and two beds on the floor, 2 adjoining bathrooms! Yay!!! 1 thing i like the most staying at Namsan Guesthouse was that i got to soak in the bathtub after every tiring day ^__________^ anyhow, our agenda for today was going to Nami Island and Seoul Music Awards (SMA). To our surprise, Kak Mun introduced us to a couple whom she flew with jz now: Pn Sabariah and husband. Our group had gone merrier (^.^)/ Being a clueless traveler i was, She and Kak Mun guided the group till we reached safe and sound at NI. LOL!
- I did some checking and as for now you can go to NI via 4 ways: Shuttle bus, bus, ITX train (pretty new, operated on Feb 2012) and subway+trains. We picked the latter.
- A 2 hour journey; had to exchange trains and very confusing+tiring -.- please do double check-up to ensure you're in the right train!
- Upon arrival, we flagged down a taxi (around 3000 won per ride). 10mins ride, we soon arrived at the port. All of us had not taken proper breakfast so we went inside a mart. She, Kei, Kak Mun and i bought banana milk! Sweet and vanilla-ish! Afterward we bought the admission ticket at the counter which was 8000 won (foreign tourist's price LOL) per head inclusive of return ferry.
Clockwise pic: Naminara's jetty, rows of food stalls, shuttle busses
We hopped in the ferry and sat inside. Cold breeze was the least we wanted to get contact with:P had enough with anything cold haha! The ride was a short one; about 10-15 min? At last, the 'land' of Winter Sonata!! *in tears* Took pics at the entrance, with ice sculptures, boards, trees..we're practically camwh*ring!! We split up into 3 couples; She and Kak Mun, Pn Sabariah and husband, Kei and me. Exploring NI, i couldn't help but admiring this little island..i'm finally here.....Jun Sang..Yoo Jin..my two crushes LOL
The venue was at the Gymnastics Stadium, Olympic Park (from exit #3, Olympic Park Station, Subway Line No.5). We took the wrong subways and got to the wrong stadium haha! Aigoo, we went to Olympic Stadium instead LOL! Olympic Park =/= Jamsil Olympic Stadium!! We're almost giving up due to exhaustion and cold weather but then stubburn me didn't like the idea~~so i approached a Korean girl who generously helped us with the map. We dashed to the nearest subway...phew, we're in the right stadium this time!! It was 8pm and we saw no tickets booth since distribution hour was at 5pm-7pm! Alas, we walked to the entrance door and was detained by a guard =.= "No ticket, can't go in" I tried lying; a friend was inside blahblah she had my ticket blahblah. REQUEST DENIED. The guard didn't buy that and asked for me to call her out instead. We really want this so i asked the guard one last time, "Ticket booth? Where?" He pointed outside so we walked out. Oh a ticket booth! The staff were slurping on their ramen LOL i shamelessly asked for 3 tickets >.< "3 tickets, juseyo..kamshamnida~" A woman then handed me the tickets. LOL that easy? Cey, i thought we had to pay or something..showed the tickets to the stoned-face guard and we finally got in! Another problem hit us->WHERE THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO FIND OUR SEATS, WE CAN'T READ KOREAN *tickets were in Korean* Two korean guys were getting their drinks out of the machine so i approached them..thank goodness they were wiling to show us the seats~!
OMG THE STADIUM WAS FILLED TO EVERY NOOK AND CRANY o_______________________O I was afraid of taking my DSLR out since i saw no one taking pics! Only reporters. LOL. Oh well. I took my notepad out and put my DSLR on my lap. Wasn't i look like a reporter..the one who came all the way from Malaysia..hahahah! Btw on our right was where ELFs sat. How did i know? B-L-U-E BALLOONS. There was pink 'ocean' as well: SNSD's fans. B2ST was giving their speech when we settled on our seats. We was an hour late~~soon after, Baek Ji Young came out to the stage and belted out her famous Secret Garden's OST! I was blown away..hearing 'That Woman' live is just no-word-can-describe =,) Favourite winner-announcer couple was Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye!!
Performances.
Me posing under the tunnel of tall metasequoia(?) trees~! I look like in a movie~
Kei and i found a Malaysian flag on this island! We even found a couple of Malaysian greeting on ice sculpture, board~heck NI was environed by couplesssssss =______= i had to witness an oppa-don't-push-me scene right in front of my eyes LOL (the bf teased the gf while walking along the river). Didn't remember January was a Valentine's month....i think the best season to come here is in Autumm (ala Winter Sonata). Most people say so~To my dismay, winter had drained my energy to the point that i had no longer interest of taking pics LOL so i did some recording to make up for it. Around 4pm-ish, it was time for us to get back. She, kei and i had to rush to our next spot->Seoul Music Awards!!
OMG THE STADIUM WAS FILLED TO EVERY NOOK AND CRANY o_______________________O I was afraid of taking my DSLR out since i saw no one taking pics! Only reporters. LOL. Oh well. I took my notepad out and put my DSLR on my lap. Wasn't i look like a reporter..the one who came all the way from Malaysia..hahahah! Btw on our right was where ELFs sat. How did i know? B-L-U-E BALLOONS. There was pink 'ocean' as well: SNSD's fans. B2ST was giving their speech when we settled on our seats. We was an hour late~~soon after, Baek Ji Young came out to the stage and belted out her famous Secret Garden's OST! I was blown away..hearing 'That Woman' live is just no-word-can-describe =,) Favourite winner-announcer couple was Lee Min Ho and Park Shin Hye!!
Performances.
Kei, She and i were such hardcore Cassiopeia; we joined the crowd as they cheered on their group. Them: "Beast-eu!" Us: "DBSK!" Them: "Super Junior!" Us: "JYJ!" LOLOLOLOLOL. Can't help it:P andddd yep yep fans were literally screaming their lungs out whenever SuJu and SNSD came up to received their awards! IU the adorable cute singer...love your dress! Lee Seunggi the most wanted son-in-law singer LOL 4Minute..KARA..i love T-ara the most! Fancy clothes, rainbow spotlights, and loveeee Roly Poly and Lovey Dovey so much^^ SNSD....legssssss and they're so skinny>< SuJu came out and my ears almost bleed->ELFs were screaming......when SuJu was announced as the biggest winner for SMA, ELFs went crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy haha! We stayed till the very end and got to watch the K-idols taking pic on stage. Blissful night! Had so much fun! Thank you Korea~
