Long Read - I left a little of my heart in South Korea

Was checking my blog posts and I noticed I had only 1 post in 2017 and 5 posts alone for August 2018!

Browsing through my phones, a folder titled Korea will always stand out among all the folders I have. Honestly I've been lucky I guess that the previous workplace brought our team and I for overseas trip as part of the yearly incentive. During my time there, I got to go to Taiwan, Beijing and the final trip to Korea. You've got to count your blessings and here's one though it was a bittersweet memory remembering the reason I'm no longer there.

Anyways, let's chuck those bittersweet memories for now and revisit the pleasant memories while in Korea..

First stop was to this strawberry farm. Surrounding area was nice and there were some tall trees around which gave the impression of being in some mystical jungle.

While overseas, I find myself attracted to keep looking at the mountains. Probably because we don't have one here in SG!

 

    

Strawberry picking time! We were taught how to pick them strawberries and were allowed to pick as many as we could within the given timeframe. I pluck some juicy, sweet strawberries but it was such a waste that we did not consume them and had to throw the fruits on our last day 😟

Our hotel was located nearby Myeondong, a shopping area which in my opinion has too many cosmetics shops! Rows after rows of cosmetics shops selling what else, cosmetics and masks and I get tired after visiting a few shops as I'm not much of a beauty-product person.

 

Besides cosmetics and beauty-product related shops, there are cute cafes here and there including The Line Friends Store & Cafe!

                                         

 

Plenty of push-carts selling food and spotted some Halal ones too!

 The simple yet very nice egg bun! I don't take egg yolk when it's not mixed with white and was apprehensive to try the bun initially. Luckily Nisa was there to help me with the yolk 😋

 

One of the itinerary set by the department was to put on the traditional wear: Hanbok and walk around Gyeongbokgung Palace.  

 

Most of the time it was free and easy and we went exploring other places.. 

Mainly to shop till we drop!

We went to Common Ground. A cool concept shopping area made from containers that are stacked up. Looks very cool especially since it's in my favourite colour!

We also went to another shopping district - Hongdae.

The shopping street looks so pretty with all the colours from the banners.

The Train Map which is so much confusing and conplicated than the one we had back home.

A view captured while inside the train.

Night view in Dongdamun.

While in Korea, we took trains to go to the various places. I will never forget that night we had mini adventure at the train station. We went out shopping and return quite late and panic that we will miss the last train as it was midnight so we ran to catch the train but turns out it was not the last train! 

Some of the snacks we bought from Lotte on the last day.

While at the Korea Airport

I end this post with some pretty in-flight pictures of the sky on our way home. Gimme window seat next time we go travelling! Oh, I would definitely LOVE to return to Korea again next time!

 

 

Long Read - If a picture paints a thousand words, many pictures paint a memory?

Thanks to smartphone, we are able to snap numerous numbers of pictures without worrying the roll finishing. Thanks to smartphone as well, we have too many pictures saved in our phone's gallery. I have a problem. I always find it a problem deleting chunks of pictures from my phone's gallery. I think I might be a photo hoarder 😕

Anyways, this post is not to discuss about hoarding pictures in our phone memory or SIM card.

While I find it hard to delete pictures from my phone, sometimes I feel restless seeing too many pictures in my gallery.

Therefore, here are some pictures from various venues/location/event which do not make it to my social media but are pretty enough and would be such a waste to be deleted without being posted somewhere.

Sakura Blossoms @ Gardens By The Bay, 2017

A little backstory. I think dad or mom had always talked about wanting to see the tulips exhibition. Somehow we always miss it. So when we saw there is Sakura exhibition, we went for it to make up for missing the tulips. Different flowers but still the same floral family! The surprise flower at the end of the visit was not the sakura was not as blossoming as I was expecting it but the somewhat illuminating purple flower (last picture on the right below)! They seemed to be glowing in the dark!

                      

                       

           

 

Christmas Wonderland @ Gardens By The Bay, 2017

This used to be a free entry event but became chargeable just recently. Each year we would expect similar lighted up venue sprinkled with Christmas songs yet we just would want to go and visit the Wonderland. Why? Probably to soak in the festive atmosphere. To take nice instagram-worthy pictures. Or perhaps to have a chance to play with the man-made snow! 

There are some rides too but chargeable as well. Once, I was so looking forward to take this particular ride only to find out it's actually more suited for young children 😅

        

 

The carousel roundabout or merry-go-round as I used to call it when I was younger which somehow seems so magical in the distant. It gave me somekind of Disney fairytale vibes when I first saw it at the Wonderland and now the picture is still giving me the same vibe. 

Not Wonderland related but this is the view you would see before reaching to Wonderland. Singapore lighted up at night. Very much like a Wonderland if you ask me. 

Geylang Serai, 2018

Not much need to be said about this. Each year comes Ramadan, Geylang Serai will be showered with lights and decorations to welcome Hari Raya. And each year I will be mesmerised by the lights and will attempt to take the most perfect pictures. 

Gardens By The Bay - Surrounding Area

Can't remember when these were taken but it's nice. Plus it's difficult for any one place in Singapore to remain as it is and look the same in 10, 20, 30 years on so let this be a form of memories of how it looks like at present.