Sunday 2 August 2015

Lotte World, South Korea

It's been almost a month since the semester break started and I just stayed at home literally waking up, eating, helping my mom, and sleeping back again. Plus, being bedridden for almost a fortnight due to an illness which I wont divulge here, like seriously. :D

I did feel slightly dampened by these routines cuz years before, I would normally work during semester breaks. But this time around, I didn't cuz I wanted to help my mom babysitting the kids at home. Somehow, this atypicality has imbued me with a sense of mundanity. So irony, isn't it?

Anyhow, the following pictures were captured during my visit to Lotte World, South Korea with my friends two years ago. I know it's so yesteryears. hehehe. But good memories shouldn't just be kept untold. Some really good ones ought to be immortalized for others to read and benefit from, right? ;)


On our way to enter the theme park.


The blue castle beckoning to us from afar.
Few more steps to go.

Lots of visitors there. Summer time anyway. 

Tara! Lets get in!!!


Scenery from the inside.

Some of the attractions in the theme park. Look at that pastel-colour-painted house. So cute!


The first game we tried that day. Not bad. But be careful when the roller coaster rides into the cave. Since your vision is very limited, you cannot expect how the railway will make its turn. In my case, I actually had quite a discomforting inertia when the roller coaster abruptly went up at the time when my body was totally not ready for it.
 ------> when a guy who doesn't like outdoor games gives comments. hahaha


Still, it was a fun game.

Now this one was my favourite!!!

Higher!

And higher!!!

Gyro Drop


Lotte World in the late evening.

Scenic and magical view at night.

Indeed, beautiful.

Scenery from the outside.

So, how? Do you think you want to go there?

If you love fairground games like these, why not. In fact, I believe the entrance fee for Lotte World, South Korea is much cheaper than the one for Disney World in Japan. But ya, I would still consider the entrance fee for Lotte World a bit pricey BCUZ activities like these are not really up to my alley. hehehe.

STILL, if you want to go there, go check for the tickets on their websites cuz the day we went there, we actually got a discounted price for the entrance fee. I forgot how much, but it was way cheaper than the normal price. For those who don't really enjoy fairground games like these, cheer up and go take pictures of castle like what I did there. hehe.

Enjoy!







Wednesday 22 July 2015

The Food You Must Try in Korea: Patbingsu

I was thinking of preambling this post with the ever expected hi and hello. But then I told myself, "Reread you previous posts and you'll realize that they all started with the same preambles. hahaha. But then again, I did have long gone from writing here, didn't I? So ya, HI and HELLO!!! :D

Resigned from working as a freelance translator. Enrolled for master in UPM. Studied for one semester. And finished my first semester. That recapitulated how I spent my 6 months recently.

So, I've been reading quite a lot of travel blogs to Korea and guess what, it's definitely revived my enthusiasm to revisit Korea. But lets just put that aside. No money no talk! LOL.

What I've realized is that many Malaysian tourists in Korea seem to have no inkling of what Patbingsu is, how tasty it is, where this could be enjoyed and why exactly this should be tried when visiting Korea. Trust me, if you visit Korea, please have a try on this appetising delicacy bcuz it has such a unique taste and is so mouth-watering!

When I was there, I frequented to Caffe Bene near my university in Gwangju to enjoy this dessert. I either ate Talgi Bingsu (Talgi=Strawberry) or Oreo Bingsu. The portion of chopped stawberry that they put in the bingsu was literally almost to the brim that you just couldn't help but to have this desire to scoop one after another incessantly. No, I'm not exaggerating. hahaha. Owh ya, btw, Patbingsu is like Ais Kacang, the Malaysian ABC.

#Patbingsu (팥빙수, also stylized as patbingsoo, literally red beans with ice) is a Korean shaved ice dessert with sweet toppings such as chopped fruitcondensed milkfruit syrup, and Adzuki beans.[1] The snack is highly popular in Korea - Wikipedia

But what makes them dissimilar (to me) is probably the fact that Patbingsu takes longer time to melt as compared to Ais Kacang. That explains why I love this dessert so much bcuz you get to taste the iciness of the Patbingsu in your mouth till your last scoop.

The price was a bit costly when I used to have it there. 9800 won. Around RM 32++. Maybe the price has increased nowadays, I don't know. But if you're a true food lover, money would become a periphery, right? After all, there's no GST there. hehe

A scoop of ice-cream topping the Talgi Bingsu.

Strawberry everywhere. Btw, it's not the same as McD Strawberry Sundae. I know you might have just equalized it to that, right. No, definitely not the same. Patbingsu is craved ice. Sundae is, on the other hand, ice-cream.

Enjoying my last Talbi Bingsu at one of the Caffe Benes in Seoul on my penultimate day in Korea.

This is Oreo Bingsu. Also my favourite.

With Nabila (Huda), having our Oreo Bingsu. Where and how is she now, btw? hehe

#Pic from Google
The interior design of the cafe is very cozy and has this woody ambience. Btw, the magazines neatly placed on the shelves as in the picture above are not for mere decoration. You can read them. But of course, if you're still stumbling to pronounce the combined Korean characters, forget it! :D 

#Pic from Google
You don't have to actually search for this coffee shop in Korea. It's almost searchable at every corner in Seoul. 

Me sitting on an unlucky rock in my university. kkk

That's all for now. Believe me, you wont regret enjoying this dessert in Korea. For now, I will have to start thinking of how to pawn all my prized possession to collect money to revisit Korea. kkkk. Kidding.

See you next time and Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!!!