minim.crotchet.quaver

2009-09-01T22:23:00.001-07:00

New Camera

2009-09-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

We (Hubby and I) bought a new camera on Monday 31st August 2009!
Ah hem... actually HE was the one who bought it as HE was the one who paid for it.
It's a Canon PowerShot G10, attractive features include a 5 x wide-angle (28 mm) optical zoom lens and 14.7 Megapixel resolution.
The camera is of no ordinary digital camera, as mentioned in Epinions.com, 'G10 is a compact alternative to a DSLR'.

There are so many functions and settings in G10, as an amateur myself, I really do not how to adjust and do not understand most of the terms used in photography. For examples setting the shutter speed, setting the Aperture, getting the right ISO etc.

I think i should get a 'Photography for Dummies'.

There're much more to learn and i'm really excited in learning more about photography.

These are just a few shots that i took in my room with my bangles. I'm travelling to Siem Reap, Cambodia this Sunday and that's my chance of trying out this new toy.
I'm really looking forward in visiting Angkor Wat as it is one of the Seven Wonders of the world.

Saw a snail in my porch... casually snapped it . . .

Anand, you sure love this .. haha .. geli isit ??

And now . .. I want to intoduce an amazing HDR photographer to those who have not heard about him ... he is Trey Ratcliff.
This Angkor Wat photo was taken by Trey Ratcliff using HDR method.
This is what he wrote in his HDR tutorial -->HDR is short for High Dynamic Range. It is a post-processing of taking either one image or a series of images, combining them, and adjusting the contrast ratios to do things that are virtually impossible with a single aperture and shutter speed.

This is another photo by Trey Ratcliff, he took this during his trip to Kuala Lumpur. He's a photographer with a unique style.

He has a blog where he posts photos taken from all over the world.
www.stuckincustoms.com

R.I.P Coco

2009-08-24T03:54:00.000-07:00

Coco should have already reached heaven by now.

This is our good dog, a dog that had lived with us for more than 10 years.

The dog grew with us, she's part of the family.

Unfortunately, she had cancer, the tumor grew aggressively on her leg.

We had to let her go.

Memories of her will remain with us, she left for the better.

愿他下世投胎成人，脱离畜道。

Trip to Haenam (Day 2)

2009-07-26T01:15:00.000-07:00

I woke up the next morning at 7.00 am, to catch the earliest monorail ride to the watch tower. This is what i saw while walking to the station... so beautiful... so calming ... i really like Haenam, I like Ddangkeut.

It's amazing that weathering can cause this stone to look like a man's face.

This is the tower, and as you can see, there's a track up to the tower, that's the monorail track.

This is the cute monorail, two cubicles.

View from the monorail cubicle.

Reached finally.

We got off and then walked further until we reach the southest point of the Korea Peninsular !

Here i stand at the end point of the Korea Peninsular.

I had a wonderful breakfast at the end point of Korea Peninsular...

Next destination, Dinosaur Museum !!

The dinosaurs are so real.

Dinosaurs lived here millions of years ago, the evidences are bones, egg fossils, skin fossils, foot prints, tracks etc that are found here.

This is our tour guide, a mobile ''English speaking guide''. It has remote sensors where it can sense where you are standing at, and explain according to the display items that you are looking at.

Real bones of T-Rex

These are real too.

Foot prints of dinosaurs

Track of dinosaurs, they found this in Haenam and made this into an enclosed exhibition hall.

Real skull of an ancient man.

Dinosaur egg fossils

This is bone fossil of a flying ancient bird.

How i wish dinosaurs are still alive... they are really amazing vertebrates.

Next Post Preview: My Temple Stay Experience.

Trip to Haenam (Day 1)

2009-07-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

I spent 3 days in Haenam last week. The trip was great and i really enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Haenam. Haenam in chinese character is '海南' (Hainan) ! It's the same as the Hainan Island in China, I was surprised when I first saw the word '海南' in the map. '南' is South, and '海' is sea, that makes sense because Haenam is at the South Western part of the Korean Peninsular overlooking the Yellow Sea.

We left Gwangju at 5.00 pm and reached Haenam Bus Terminal at 6.30 pm. After that we took a bus from the terminal to Ddangkeut and put up a night at a motel. The motel is clean, comfortable and most importantly cheap. Ddangkeut means 'end of the land', which is the southest part of the Korea Peninsular. It's a small township with harbour, motels, restaurants and stores.

Surrounded by green green agricultural land.

The bus that we took to Ddangkeut - Kumho Bus Line

Motel that we stayed.
Room (Only 30,000 won for a room this big)

Seafood dinner

Synchrotron at POSTECH

2009-07-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is Synchrotron not Megatron or Cybertron or anything from Transformers.

NOT THIS

IS THIS

(Picture of a French University synchrotron)

The round building in the picture is a synchrotron and i was given a golden opportunity to visit a synchrotron, the one and only in Korea at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). The Korean synchrotron is named Pohang Light Source (PLS). Basically this is a facility usually in the size of a football field or larger to create high frequency electromagnetic radiation. A synchrotron has to be round in shape so that the beams can run in a circular path under the pressure of magnetic fields to be accelerated close to the speed of light. There are only about 50 such facility in the world. The cost of building one is really high and the cost to maintain it in long tem is even higher. The designs of all synchrotrons are different but they are using the same principle. The Diamond Light Source in UK is one of the famous synchrotrons found.

This is Diamond Light Source, isn't it beautiful ?

So now, you should be wondering why do they want to produce light at the speed close to the speed of light... The ultra bright light produced will be channelled out to workstations where experiments can be carried out. The light can be used in super microscopes where scientists can view structure of tiny substances, like the protein structure.The fields of science that can be applied include biosciences, medical research, mineral exploration, environmental sciences, materials enginering and forensic sciences.

There's so much science behind this thing so it's impossible for me to tell them all here. This is a video explaining the working principle of synchrotron at PLS, it's a good video where it can help you understand more about it. Click here ---> VIDEO OF PLS SYNCHROTRON

Inside storage ring of PLS.

I have to wear this whenever i enter the storage ring, the red colour thing is a dosimeter for measurement of radioactive exposure.

Guest house for users of PLS. The guest house is very proper, it's a 3 room apartment with kitchen, living room and bedrooms.We put up a night at this apartment.

POSTEH is a town itself with buildings, apartments, shops, schools and traffic lights around.

Walking around the storage ring in the synchrotron.

Rainy Saturday

2009-07-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here in Gwangju, it's a bad bad thing if it rains because it will rain more than 12 hours continuously ! Our initial plan was to go to Mudeungsan, a beautiful and famous mountain in Gwangju. According to weather forecast it'll rain on Saturday NIGHT, who knows when we were almost leaving our dormitory, it rained ! At 10 am ! The trip was cancelled and we did not have any back up plan.

Beautiful Mudeungsan (San means mountain in korean, same as chinese)
Too bad it rained and we have to postpone the trip.

After a long discussion, we decided NOT to stay in our dormitory, we NEED to leave these walls and we shall go out for some FRESH air. In the end, we went DOWNTOWN.

rain rain go away, come again another day !

It was still raining heavily when we arrived downtown, it's impossible to walk and shop ...
so we seeked shelter at a nice restaurant and enjoyed a wonderful meal.

See ! It's Nasi Pattaya actually ! hahahaha

Bought this.. Missha's top range BB Cream ... this is made of ginseng, pure gold and some other herbs in which i duno what are they called in English ...

Ingredients:

天然山参10％

純金1500

冬蟲夏草

鹿茸

益壽老丹

等等

AMAZING !

Oh ... and .. this is my crown !
Hahhaha ... I had crowned myself !

~~ Princess ~~

Jay Chou and McLaren SLR 722

2009-07-06T03:58:00.000-07:00

I ran across a clip in youtube yesterday --> Jay Chou on CNN Talk Asia. The interview took place in Jay Chou's restaurant in Taiwan in which later i found out that the restaurant is called Mr. J French - Italian Restaurant. For more info on the restaurant, click here : Mr. J .

What made me crazy was, after the interview ended, Jay Chou sped off in his bat vehicle - like sports car. After googling it for a while, i found out that he's driving a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 Edition. How cooooooooooool !

Jay's cool toy.

This is the last part of the interview, please watch till the end ... where you can see him entering his car and driving off ... Base on some chinese media's reportings, they claimed that Jay has a collection of 20 vintage cars in his yard .... can you imagine how rich this guy is ?

Happy Birthday to Mein Keng

2009-07-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Mein Keng's (one of the UMS interns) birthday at Paris Baguette yesterday. The cake was fresh and yummy. I especially like the fresh cream, it's different from other fresh cream that i've tasted, it taste like yogurt.

Lunch with Labmates

2009-07-04T07:06:00.000-07:00

A treat from our lab's professor at a chinese restaurant near by.

These are korean style chinese food but still ... taste very much like chinese food ... they still serve kim chi ...

This is zha jiang mien, this is consider as chinese food in Korea, you can find this kind of noodles in every chinese restaurant in Korea.

Soil Environment Lab members.

This is one of the best meals that i had in Korea.

Trip to Seoul

2009-06-30T07:25:00.001-07:00

I went to Seoul by bus with friends -> Ah-Young and Melissa. The journey took us 3 and a half hour, the distance is 250 km from Gwangju to Seoul Express Bus Terminal.

I spent the night at Ah-Young's house in Seoul on Day 1.

The next day, her very kind mother brought us to lunch to try out fish soup.

This is fish soup, it tastes very much like asam laksa actually but minus the asam.Lotte World

Lotte World, a place that i have wanted to visit since a long time ago after watching a Korean drama - Stairways to Heaven. For a few episodes, the film was shot here.

Thrill rides that i will never try unless my bf would try it out with me. Coz ... you jump i jump, you die i die, hahahahaaa.

Parade

Since we're on budget, we did not stay in hotel, instead, we found a good place to rest for the night. This is a jim jil bang or sauna. Koreans like to spend time with their family and friends in a sauna, their sauna is of not ordinary coz they provide bed, common area, shower, jacuzzi, all types of sauna, restaurants, gym, cyber cafe etc. With a small amount of 10,000 won or RM 29, we can stay in the sauna for 12 hours.

Common area.

This is cold sauna, it's 4 degrees celcius cold.

Day 3

Gyeongbuk Gung (Gyeongbuk Palace)

The Korean government had spent a lot of money on protecting and restoring their historical heritage. Look at the condition, believe it or not it was built about 700 years ago.

The person under the red umbrella is the KING ...

After visiting beautiful Gyeongbuk Gung, we walked around the area ..

Next stop is Insadong, a street where they sell souvenirs, wood crafts and pottery.

We went Dongdaemon for shopping after that and returned to our guest house which cost 19,000 won (RM 57) per person for one night.

Day 4 is our last day in Seoul and is reserved for shopping.

Shinsegae Department Store which is something like Pavillion and KLCC.

And this is Namdaemon or i would call it Chi Cheong Gai (Petaling Street) coz it really looks like Chi Cheong Gai but larger and more stores and more variety. They have all sorts of counterfeit goods for sale but at a very unreasonable price.

End of trip

This is the most tiring trip ever and i had backache after returning from Seoul. Too much of walking especially when we have to carry our heavy luggage bags around and climbing the never ending stairs in subway.

This is Seoul Subway route.. human minds are amazing...

Bubbleflop

2009-06-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

I came across these lovely flip flops the other day at downtown. The brand name is Bubbleflop and i have never seen this brand in Malaysia before. I think these are really creative and eye catching. Each flops have a theme to its design.

Fun and Romantic

This is a korean brand and i think is only available in Korea. Prices are not cheap though ... averagely is 35,000 won which is around 100 ringgit per pair. But the quality is good and it's comfortable. If there's still money left at the end of my trip, i'll get a pair. But i'm not sure if i would wear it on my feet because it's just too lovely.

Sports

Fun and Romantic

Fruits

Sea

www.bubbleflop.com

Group Photo

2009-06-24T06:49:00.001-07:00

Concert

2009-06-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

This is a local band which combines modern and traditional musical instruments.

I think the combination of sound is good and they played well. Their music arrangements are impressive too.

The girl on the left is playing Haegeum. It's something like Er Hu but the method of pulling is bow is different.

Picture of a Haegeum (Source: Wikipedia.org)

This small flute may look weak.. but the sound produced is actually very deep and loud.

Kumho Family Land

2009-06-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Kumho Family Land.

This is the most meaningless game ever. I felt tortured after i came down from this. Watch the video and you'll know. This game is quite dangerous, my friend almost broke her bone on this machine. The staff which is operating this is a sadist, he saw my friends fell off the seat but he continued to operate this machine, spin it and shake it. My friends were tossed like beans in bowl. One of them who suffered most injury went to the hospital for X-ray after this.

Up up and away !

UFO !

Cultural Trip to Damyang, Jeollanam-do

2009-06-22T03:39:00.000-07:00

Damyang is about an hour's drive away from Gwangju downtown.

Our first stop is Metasequoia Road in Damyang. It was said that this road is the most beautiful road in Korea. This place is often used for shooting romantic scene in Korean movies or drama.

Road lined with Metasequoia trees and named Metasequoia road.
These trees can live for many hundreds of years.

Next is Bamboo Theme Park or Juknok-won. This park is about 320,000 square feet large and it's covered with bamboo trees.

After breathing through bamboos, it's blackberry picking time at Yongyeon Farm! This farm is not open to public, the farm owners happen to be the organiser's friend so they worked things out and arranged this blackberry picking activity at Yongyeon Farm.

Black means ripe, red means not ripe. Blackberry plants have thorns with it so we have to wear gloves and long sleeves clothing while picking.

And that's me picking black berries. It's really easy and fun to pick black berries.

Organic chicken for lunch at a very nice place !

Served with many side dishes.

This certainly looks like lizard's shit.

It might not look presentable but this organic braised chicken dish is really really really good.

After a hearty meal, we head on to tofu-making.

First, grind pre-soaked soy beans.

Cook it.

After cooking, pour it out and filter through cotton bag.

Add salt water so that the water will seperate itself from the beans extract and also to harden the beans extract.

Get the 'bed'(mould) ready.

Scoop the soya bean extract with water into the mould.

Agitate it so that water will flow out leaving behind the tofu that we want.

Fold the cloth.

Cover then put weight on top of the mould to 'squeeze' out water.

Turn over the mould and open the cover.

Ta-dah ! Here it is ! Fresh Tofu !

Cute kids. They are tour member's son and daughter. The boy speaks fluent korean, his dad is American and mum is Korean.

Last stop --> Gamagol Valleys
This place is a popular tourist spot with many waterfalls, valleys, hanging bridge and beautiful rocks and stones. But we're running out of time, so we just dropped by for a short 30 minutes. We did not manage to reach the waterfall which is located far inside the valley.

Hanging bridge.

End of Damyang trip.

Say No! to Zoo

2009-06-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

I visited Uchi Park's zoo and I have this pain in my heart where i feel so sorry for all the animals. They are locked in cages with little moving spaces. It's really unfair for the animals, just because humans has higher thinking abilities, doesn't mean that humans have the rights to lock animals up in cages and end their life as an animal.

Birds do not fly, they jump inside cages, there's not enough space for flying.

Monkeys climb on fences, not trees.

Leopard walks, they do not climb trees and do not run.

Camels walk on concrete ground, not sandy desert.

It's so sad.

Capuchin monkey in cage

Capuchin monkey in the wild, this looks way eye pleasing isn't ?

Poor Azo beer

Bird that can't fly

No room for flying

Poor doggie

Compare this in cage leopard to...

the blissful happy family leopard out in the wild.Bison.. they look sad...

This aging monkey ... sad.. sad.. sad... sitting on steel rod instead of tree branch.

Since when that giraffes need a house?

I hate zoos now ! I really do.

Say NO! to zoos ! Free the animals !

Falling In Love With 이루마 Yiruma

2009-06-18T06:11:00.000-07:00

Lately, i'm very into Yiruma. His type of music is calm and comforting. It's mostly piano solo but sometimes there are vocal and string instruments added. Yiruma is my dream guy. He's cute, charming, a pianist, a composer, gentle, romantic and so many more. Let me show you two of his famous pieces:

River Flows In You

He's pretty good in singing don't you think?

Kiss The Rain

Yiruma, is now 31 years old (as in 2009) and is married to Miss Korea Son Hye-Im. His wife is very pretty, what a matching couple. They already has a daughter. I heard that Yiruma composed a song for their wedding. How sweet and romantic.
Visit Yiruma's official website.There are 4 songs being played on the website, after entering, look to your top left the you should be able to see ' 1, 2 ,3 , 4' and each of them represents a track. Click 2 for River Flows In You. I don't know the name of song number 1, if anyone knows, please tell me ok? Thanks.
Yiruma has disappeared in year 2009, no album being released and no stage performance. I wonder what is he up too. May be he is too busy with his family. The latest performance of him that i can find is in Dec 2008. Yiruma, where are you?

World's Best Fried Chicken - KyoChon

2009-06-17T21:30:00.001-07:00

This is the tastiest fried chicken that i have ever tasted in my entire life.

It's KyoChon Fried Chicken. Note: I am not paid by KyoChon to say this.

We ordered the original taste. Oh it's so tasty, it's crunchy without any thick layer of flour coating, once you bite on it, you'll taste garlic and soy sauce.The taste is very different from KFC or McDonald's fried chicken. KyoChon is already a global franchise and it has extended its business to the United States. Check this out

http://kyochon.com/usa/

We ordered through delivery service without needing to pay any delivery charges.

If you come across KyoChon anywhere in the world, please do try coz it's really nice.

Yangdong Market - Subway - Downtown

2009-06-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

On the way to Yangdong Market, i saw this beautiful shop name Changeok, it is selling beautifully decorated traditional rice cakes.

Examples of korean rice cakes
Yangdong Market, the traditional market. I did not bring camera that day, these pictures were from my friend's camera. So sorry this is the ONLY picture that i have on Yangdong.

After Yangdong, we travelled to downtown by subway.

This is the subway ticket. It's so small and cute.

The most familiar place..... Downtown !

Finally got myself a pair of sandals. Finally.. finally .. after weeks of searching.

There are many churches around, some are big and very europian.

A catholic church.

The worship hall.

Night

2009-06-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

There are many 'interesting' places in this area like pubs, karaokes, night clubs and even some ''extra services''. Once, we went out late at night to look - see - look - see.

We saw these ....

There are so many of these shops . . easily around 20 ? 30 ?

This is the White House.

There are 'business cards' all over, as you can see here . .. they are lying all over the floor.. let's zoom in and see how does their 'business cards' look like.

These are only examples .. there are many many more with different designs..

Drinking session. OB Blue is good.

Museums in Gwangju

2009-06-13T09:19:00.001-07:00

We went to Gwangju National Museum and Gwangju Folk Museum today. The Gwangju National Museum displays exhibits of ancient artifacts and relics. On the other hand, the Gwangju Folk Museum displays items related to clothing, diet, housing, occupations, religion, celebrations and many more.

Let's start with the Gwangju National Museum.

Here is photo taken with two museum guides.

I like this tree.

The beautiful traditionally designed museum.

Admission if FREE.

These are photos taken explaining what they do at the Kilm. Kilm is a place for them to make porcelein wares.

Preparing the clay.

Shaping.

Colouring.

Drawing.

Quality control.

Ta dah ...

These are bells at buddhist temple. Only korean buddhist temples have bells that have dragon as the bell hanger.

The buddha. Buddhism is the main religion in Korea.

Some buddhism artifacts.

This is actually a Jar Coffin, believed to be the coffin for ancient King.
Inside the coffin they found bronze shoes, bronze crown and jade jewelry worn by the royal families.

This is a painting on mountains at North Korea. Actually there are beautiful mountains in North Korea. But .. . we're unable to visit these beautiful places.

Next, the Folk Museum. Admission fee is 500 won only (RM 1.40 )

This is the birthday celebration for 60th Birthday.

This is actually coffin carrier. Every village has one then everyone can borrow whenever they need it. For rich families, they'll have their own and made with expensive decorations to show off their wealth.

Traditional wedding. This ceremony is done at bride's house. They get married at the bride's house then only ride horse and palanquin to the groom's house to begin their marital life.

It's prohibited to take pictures in the museum, but the kind museum guide allowed us to take a few pictures .. so . . too bad i don't have many photos to upload here.

GIST

2009-06-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

These are the places that i pass by everyday going back and forth from my dormitory to my department.

A pond in front of the administration building.

I would describe Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) with these words:
CALM
SERENE
GREEN
PEACEFUL

Korean BBQ

2009-06-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

Went to try Sam Gyob Sal the other day, Sam Gyob Sal means 三层肉 or three layers meat (pork). It is eaten with leaves, onions, special sauce and some other side dishes. It's really delicious. I heard that they have four layers meat too which is even more delicious but that is more expensive. A set of Sam Gyob Sal for 1 person is only RM 17, for a bowl of rice is RM 2.80, the bowl of rice comes with two side dishes. Oh... it's so worth it !

My dessert after meal. Yogurt.

Went Downtown Again

2009-06-06T22:51:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday again !
Today is Korea's public holiday, the Memorial Day or 현충일(顯忠日) (Hyeonchung-il).
The traffic is quite heavy in the downtown area but luckily we're not driving ... hehe. ..

This is CGV, cinema.
Introducing, Bibimbap, a famous food in Korea. It's a mixture of vegetables, egg, mushrooms and rice. For those who fancy Korean food, i'm sure u've tried this in Korean Restaurants before.

I had a set of Mc Donald's Tomato Bacon Burger.
Mc Donald's in Korea is more expensive if compared to Malaysia.
Like this set that i had, is RM 15 (5,200 won).
But who cares, as long as it's yummy !

Sad thing i did not have much cash with me ... i did not buy much ..
and also, i need to save up to buy souvenirs for my family and friends at the end of the stay ...
will probably buy hand bag for my mum, then shirts for my brothers, my bf .... food for my dad.. how bout relatives? friends? hmm ... really need to save now ..

I bought this Green Tea Pure Cream from Innisfree, it's quite good, no oil water base moisturiser.

And they gave me so many samples and free gifts ...
it's too competetive here for cosmetic brands...

After that i went to Etude House, bought a nail polish remover and then Skin Food for nail polish. Here, Skin Food's nail polish, the lowest range (like this one) is only RM 4.20 (1,500 won), i think is slightly cheaper than in Malaysia.

This is Etude House.

I only purchased a nail polish remover that cost me RM 4.20 also, and they gave me this , a cute pink furry pen. It's really too competitive over here ....

Not only that, they gave everyone that enters the shop a free gift, today, the gift is a box of cotton pad. Sometimes they'll give bottled drinks.

Dunkin' Donuts

Untitled

2009-06-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

I went to Lotte the other day, wow.. look at this .. this is called FRESHNESS !

My healthy breakfast. A cup of hot chocolate and a calorie bar.

Coffee or chocolate drink from the vendor machine cost only RM 0.56 !
Drink ... drink ... drink more !

Celebrate Jasmine Rhu's Birthday

2009-06-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

3rd of June is Jasmine's birthday. Jasmine is an 'old friend' of mine. We went to the same Form 6 school (SMK Sultan Abdul Samad, PJ), the same university (Universiti Malaysia Sabah) and now the same place for internship (Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology).
On top of that, she's from Shah Alam too ... same as me !

Happy Birthday Jasmine !!

All 9 UMS interns.

Sweet potato cake from Paris Baguette. The two little cone like thingy are party popper.
It comes with the cake, so cute.

This is Jasmine

Got Sin Chan chips.

After the cake blowing session we went to Kimbabnara for supper.
I ordered water dumplings, so cute and so tasty.

It's a happy day.

A usual meal at the canteen

2009-06-01T04:15:00.000-07:00

The canteen set meal is the cheapest that one can find in this area. Pricing at 2,500 won (RM 7). There are two set meals : Set A and Set B to choose from. Rice and soup are the MUST in both meals. I like eating in the canteen.

The 2nd Gwangju Together Day@Chonnam National University

2009-05-31T06:04:00.000-07:00

Logo Designer

I saw this funny thing while i was waiting for bus to Chonnam, this is how it works.
1) Pay
2) Hop into it
3) Sit tight
4) It will swing like the Pirate Ship in Sunway Lagoon . ..
Interesting ?? Usually for kids la .. ..

I went to the 2nd Gwangju Together Day with Anne (my labmate), Ummi, Melissa and Nadiah. The Together Day was organised with the purpose of letting migrant workers, families and international students to ''get together''. The event was all right, mostly was art paintings activities. We did not stay for the talent show and performances... we just participated in the paintings.

Face painting

My art work ... nice ler .. . hehehe...

My art work also...

The water baloon is going to blast his face off.

Waiting for Bus No.30 to go back to GIST.

Shopping @ Downtown Gwangju

2009-05-31T02:08:00.000-07:00

Oh i love Gwangju... shopping shopping shopping. There are so many things to see and buy, and most importantly it's not expensive, some even cheap !

We're walking towards the underground market at the subway.
This is the underground market. It's something like Sungei Wang but with more choices and cheaper. The things that they sell from shop to shop are not similar, unlike the usual phenomena in KL where you can find the same thing in a few different shops.
This is the street in downtown where trendy chicks can be spotted and plenty of things to buy.

In Malaysia, Korean cosmetic brands that are commonly found are Skin Food, The Face Shop and Missha. Here, there are so many brands that can be found in one street alone. It's very competitive until they have to do promotion and announcements at their entrance.

Pizza Hut with Rain.

Lunch time.

Stuffs that i've bought today.

This T-shirt is 4,900 won (RM 13.90) only ! The fabric is nice and the cutting is good. This leggings are RM 11 ( 3,900 won)

This pair of lovely earrings only cost RM 14 (5,000 won)

Here, they like to wear gladiator hells.

Gyeongju Trip

2009-05-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

On 29th May 2009, we went to Gyeongju. There were two places that we had visited, the first one was the UNESCO world heritage Bulguksa (temple) and the second one was the Shilla Millennium Park.

It took us 4 hours to get to Gyeongju by bus, it was a long journey but it's definitely worth the time. The trip was great and everyone enjoyed.

Before we departed, everyone was given a packet of toast for breakfast, this is no ordinary toast, it is so so tasty, the layers consist of cheese, egg and ham. I like the packaging.

This is Gyeongju, intensive agricultural activities were seen along the way to Gyeongju.

The UNESCO World Heritage site, Bulguksa.

Bulguksa was packed with visitors. It is a very famous tourists spot.

Guan Yin Temple

Me and roommate Bombay from Thailand.

Buddha Temple

This is the Sukgatap, it represents the typical stone pagoda style. Its position derived from the presence of Buddhist preaching.

The stones on the ground are all flat in shape, people stack stones here as some form of wishing i think.
Shilla Millennium Park (http://www.smpark.co.kr/eng/main_eng.asp)

Find me.

You can express your creativity there, there are plenty like paper art, glass art, clay art etc.

Melissa and Jasmine

Performance Show

CISS officers and me

There were scenes of the Korean version F4 drama taken here in this park.

UMS Interns

At the market, i saw this, they sell garlic in an entire plant form.
But back in Malaysia it's garlic only.

My 3rd and 4th Day in Gwangju

2009-05-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

I'm so tired . .. and i need to sleep already as tomorrow i need to wake up at 6am for a trip to Gyeongju. i'll just post all my photos here .. . u guys could briefly guess what i did today through the photos. ^.^

After work, went to explore around the neighborhood.

The mask and BB creams are free gifts from my purchase.

My Second Day In Gwangju

2009-05-26T08:08:00.001-07:00

I started my day with a brief orientation hosted by the International Students Advisor.
The one standing in the middle with the pink coat is our
friendly, kind, helpful and efficient International Student Advisor.

I am placed in this building, the Samsung Building they called.
I am under the Environmental Science and Engineering Department.

The environment here is very ideal for research and studies.
Visit http://www.gist.ac.kr/english/03_admissions/sub_01.php
for information regarding admission.
They welcome international students from all over the world.

My multinational (Korea,Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand) lab mates. Thank you Anne (pink blouse standing front row most left) for treating us lunch.
They are really nice people, very friendly.

I had dinner at this Mc Donald's like place. This is Bulgogi Steak Burger.
Wikipedia: Bulgogi
Bulgogi (pronounced [pulɡoɡi] in Korean), a variety of barbecued beef,
is one of Korea’s most popular meat dishes

Back on the day of departure.

Friends Get Together Before I Came Gwangju

2009-05-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

This get together was held at Autumn Club, Quattro. Glad that most of the buddies made it.
We'll have another one next time !

Yum Seng... yum yum yum yum .....

Smile leh Ng Tai Sing... like numb already... Yaya... u got it finally... smile ^.^

Sen Cai and Leonard
Look at their eyes, they look the same... They grew more and more alike already. Jaime and NUR Azlin (hehehehe)
Weirdest combination
Sorry a Crystal, got your side view only.
This is the Seah Couple.

Same top different colour...

Mei Ching, Huey Fang and Sen Cai

Me, Jaime and Siong Yeng the miang.. eh he he he

What kind of pose is this? What are they trying to convey here?

A Long Journey to Gwangju, Korea

2009-05-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

Hi there, after 12 suffering hours of travelling, i've finally arrived safely at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST). The most challenging part was to try to sleep on a sitting position in the plane. From 12.10 am to 6.10 am. South Korea is 1 hour in advance of Malaysia. The weather is nice, day time the temperature falls around 23 to 25 degree celcius, and night time is around 13 to 15 degree celcius, like Genting la. ^.^

Oh, i'm so tired already, these are the photos that i've snapped today. No time to blog about it in details. I'll tell briefly.

Packing....

Travel by Airport Limousine Bus to Gimpo Airport for domestic flight to Gwangju.

This is the bus ...

My first meal in Korea, Kimchi Udong 6,000 won at BIZ Snack, Gimpo Airport

Check-in to the dormitory.

They have Starbucks beverages in their vending machine.

Most students move about by cycling. Very environmental friendly !

My room, i'm sleeping up there on a double decker. I'm sharing a room with 3 other students, 1 Korean, 1 Mongolian and 1 Thai.

Showering is a tough part because.... once you open the door, there is a shower curtain, after the shower curtain, there are 3 cubicles to shower which each of them is seperated by glass panels only, no doors ! I can see you, you can see me la. Everyone shower naked inside.

My dinner, pork cutlet rice 6,000 won... so yummy... kimchi again ...

And, the officer brought us to the bank to open bank account at Woori Bank, a local bank. The form.. no english at all ! All in Korean...

These stuffs were from the local store called Lotte Super, walking distance from GIST.
Memang susah, tak da tau baca oh, see picture only -.-

End of Day 1

My Return to KK

2009-05-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

I came back to KK on the night of 20th May 2009. I'm staying in the same house in Kingfisher. This house i meant, yeah, the freaking house:

To my surprise, once i open the room door, there was a pool of water on the floor... the roof is leaking ! That was not the worst part, the worst part was the mouldy table, i have never seen orange mould before.. so geli... and the room stinks ... i think probably the smell came from the pool of water and the mould...

Really yam gong lo, have to clean the floor and move this disease borne table out to the rubbish dump. I wiped all furniture in this room with dettol... if not... i'll not be able to pull through the night.. wildly attack by micromoulds... That was my first night back to KK, welcomed by orangy mouldy. -.-

OK, forget about the bad things, there are things that make me happy also. I went jalan-jalan with Bernard yesterday in One Borneo, we went into a Puma shop name Grace One, and i found this pair of shoes, after 70% off RM 65.90 only ! Wow... that was cheap. Other than the shoes, i bought 2 pairs of socks for RM 6.60 each. People, if you're ok with Puma, do visit this shop. Maybe you could find something that you like too for a very low price.

* Cheers *

The New Born Bloggy

2009-05-23T02:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, welcome to minim.crotchet.quaver. This is my very first post. I've been wanting to create a blog of my own for a long time and finally, on May 23rd, 2009, 5:30 pm, I logged on to blogspot.com and created an account. The whole process was a whole lot easier and faster than i've imagined. Just a few clicks only ^.^

じゃ、始めましょう！

The first thing i wanna share with you guys is: Two weeks ago i sent two boxes of books from Kota Kinabalu back to my house in Shah Alam. I posted through normal route which is ''sea'' (by ship) before i left KK. The charges were relatively cheap compared to flight. Total of 19 kg cost me around 18 bucks only. I was told that the boxes will reach Shah Alam in 10 working days.

True enough, the boxes arrived at my house on the 10th day of working days. But !!! One of the boxes was in bad condition, it arrived in two seperate piece. Let me show you.

See, the wrapper had detached from the box and the box was badly crushed.

I really don't understand how they handle my box until it can get to this extend.
Syabas to Pos Malaysia !