Jaebudo.

Weekends are, and have always been a day for adventure. Saturday usually begins with a breakfast eaten either at home, or along the snail-paced traffic leading to the place we fancy.

One particular Saturday in June, we included a new stop in our weekend itinerary: Jaebudo. We basked in the sun all afternoon, got dirty and played in the mud till the sunset came. Here's how Jaebudo looks like.

We stayed until about 8 pm, not minding the mosquitoes and the darkness of the vast open space. Our adventure ended in a Kalguksu restaurant and it turned out to be the best hand-made Kalguksu we've ever tasted! I wasn't able to take photos of it, however I do have a photo that looks a lot like it. It was from our visit to Daebudo. Read my old post here if you've got plenty of time to kill.

Chasing Cherry Blossoms.

If you are to ask a Korean what is the most beautiful season, I bet the answer would be Spring. Here they call it "The Queen of all Seasons", and I could totally agree to that. What makes Spring so worth the wait are the cherry blossoms. I'm sure everyone knows how delightfully pretty these flowers are especially when they're in full bloom. I gotta say walking on a street filled with rows and rows of cherry blossom trees, and flowers draping above your head like a canopy is such a magical experience.

On my second day here, Chris took me to Yeouido where the Cherry Blossoms festival is happening. We went there after working hours hoping that it wouldn't be so crowded anymore, but we were wrong. The traffic was so bad and it was hard to find a parking space. Not even the freezing cold temperature could deter the wicked number of tourists from visiting. It was a little early to visit Yeouido. The flowers are still not in full bloom, but I'm sure next weekend, it's gonna be a hundred times more beautiful. Here's how the Sakura Festival looked like.

Other than the cherry blossoms, these are the things that caught my attention. I'm not sure what the ribbon thingies are for, but I'm guessing it's people's wishes that are written on it. It's quite common to see this in Korea, but what I can't understand is that how writing wishes in special ribbons and hanging it for everyone to see could help make it come true.

There were a lot of artists that night. They make beautiful portraits of people with cherry blossoms on the background for a very steep price.

Even though it was awfully cold that night, still I saw some people having picnics right beside Han river. I can't really blame them though... The river and Seoul's city lights look pretty spectacular at night.

Hope you all enjoyed the tour!

Hello to Spring!

The weather is awfully cold for Spring this year, but I'm not complaining. In fact, I am enjoying every minute that I'm away from the hellish heat of Manila. Funny thing, I wasn't dressed appropriately when I came here. I thought this season is about light shirt and skin-tight cardigans. It didn't cross my mind that the weather would be more like winter. So I was there at the airport shaking and desperately trying to keep myself warm while others in fur coats were dodging glances at me. On my way home, I noticed how different the surrounding looks from the previous spring season (*same day last year). The trees are bare and flowers are still trapped in their tiny little buds. I sort of expected to see a more colorful sight than that. But even so, I'm glad I came here this time. I love to wait for flowers to bloom and see the surrounding slowly change from bare to beautiful.

There are some major changes this season and I'm having my fair share of adjustments and getting-used-tos. It's like a fresh, new start; a clean slate. To give you guys a hint of what I'm going through, I'm sharing a few below.

• We just moved to a different place so my days are mostly spent on arranging furniture and cleaning the new house. It has gotten so noisy and stressful in our old place and Chris thought it's about time to move. I'm so glad he did! There's not much difference from the old one when it comes to size, but I find it more comfortable here. I love that it's more peaceful and quiet, plus the wallpaper is really, really nice!

• Chris recently got promoted and it poses some serious disadvantage for us. Here in Korea, promotion equals to longer working hours, more business trips abroad, bigger responsibilities, and a lot more people to suck up to. That's why I don't really blame Chris for looking so beat these days. He looks like he really needs to go to a spa or something...

• Health wise, I could say I'm doing well and I'm still pretty fired up to lose another 10 lbs. The only thing that bothers me is that I'm gonna be away from the gym. Working out has been very much part of my routine in Manila but not here. I'm scared I'm gonna gain weight so as much as possible, I control what I eat and try to do some floor exercises whenever I can.

• I'm missing my two, 6 month old puppies every single day. They're staying at my friend's house in Manila while I'm here. I just hope they're fed well. My Mom can't take care of them because she's going to Australia late of next month to visit my sister who is now pregnant...

• And yes, in a few months I'm gonna be an aunt. I'm practically clueless when it comes to kids, but I hope I'd be a good aunt.

It's still a little early to enjoy the real beauty of springtime, but in my five days here, I already did a lot of sightseeing and travelling. I hope you all join me as I get to enjoy and appreciate the myriad of sights, sounds, and tastes of this wonderful season.

Here's to Fall!

A change of season brings with it great anticipation over all that is fresh and different. Now that the summer heat is long gone, and Autumn is once again upon us, I look forward to more ethereal escapes and creating wonderful memories that will last a lifetime.

Like no summer sojourn is complete without a trip to the beach, no Autumn travelogue would prove fit in topping off this memorable season without photos of trees glazed with vivid hues of fiery reds, crimsons, and golden yellow colors.

Here's to Autumn, and to a lot more enchanting memories to come!

Of Spring and Cherry Blossoms.

It is often said that the changing of the seasons is like the cycle of life. To witness the long dormant life of winter, beginning a new life in the ever turning wheel of time, Spring is the continual reminder that all things are re-born and that LIFE goes on.

I know it's still February but I am already in the Spring mood. I feel it coming, it makes me happy to think about it. There are so many things I'm looking forward to in Spring. It's a fresh start, a clean slate, and a new beginning.

Here's to Spring!

First snow.

While in the middle of doing the laundry yesterday, I looked outside and saw snow all over the place. Although this may not be the first snow this season, it's my first time to witness it since I got here. Don't get me wrong, I have seen snow multiple times before but there's always something magical with the first snow that makes me feel like a kid all over again.. So I told Chris that we should go out for a walk. And since his empty stomach was rumbling from hunger, he readily nodded.

We haven't eaten anything all day, so we had lunch first at the resto nearby. I'm feeling all japanese and got some pork cutlet, 'tonkatsu' in japanese, 'tonkasu' in korean (you drop the 'T'). They serve it in gigantic plate (double the size of your regular plate back home) with some 'udon' in mildly-flavored broth on the side. The restaurant was feeling a little generous that day so instead of giving me one, they gave me two pork cutlets! Wow...



After lunch, we walked for about 20 minutes while it's snowing till we arrive at New Core Department store. We need to buy a few things, not exactly 'we'.... but Chris has to get a few things and since I'm a 'very' impulsive buyer, I would probably end up with a shopping bag as well. Before we entered, we saw a cute spot and Chris volunteered to take this photo (before the snow totally melts)...

It took him 2 hours to buy a pair of pants, a sweater, and a long sleeved shirt!!! I was fuming mad that it took two hours when he can all do that for 15 minutes. But of course, I controlled my despicable temper so I just let out a sigh every now and then. He knew I'm terribly upset that he made me wait that long, so he sort of offered to bribe me with a cup of latte and a slice of cheesecake.. Isn't that a little childish? But the soft-hearted me (eeew.) prevailed and I just couldn't help but lean on his shoulders while walking. The air was romantic, there were christmas lights everywhere, we could hear some christmas songs being played, and it's snowing a little; everything felt like it was taken right out of a movie..

Before going home, we went to HomePlus to get a few things but ended up getting a cart-full of groceries instead. I'll be forced to show my kitchen flair (if there's any...) once again and cook him some good home-cooked meals. I'm terrified just thinking about it so enough of that. We then went to have dinner before heading home. Dinner was 'bossam', and as usual.. it's good to the last bite...



Just before entering the house, I saw this...



Neutrogena finally arrived. What a great way to end the day!!!

First snow

Last night marks the first snow this year. I think it's about -3 degrees celsius now and the forecast warned us that it's going to get colder and will have heavy snowfall on the days to come. So cold that it's difficult to go outside... everything's frozen and slushy.

It's a habitude for couples to meet at the first snowfall of the year and leisurely walk together. It's supposed to be romantic and all.

Whenever it snows it reminds me of the song 'I'm dreaming of a white christmas' which makes me think about christmas back home.

1st day of Winter

Yes, it's already winter... I heard from the weather forecast that the temperature will drop below zero so I armed myself with a thick coat, gloves and scarf before heading out to visit Hyewha Catholic Church and attend a mass officiated by a Filipino priest. The mass attracts thousands of attendees and it is entirely done in Tagalog... The church became a gathering spot for Pinoys from all over Seoul and Gyeonggi-do.

Just outside the church the streets are flooded with people selling everything from hotdogs, century tuna, bagoong, longganisa, ampalaya and to my surprise they even have tilapia and bangus. The usual selling price is 3 or 4 times higher than the original price so I hesitated to buy.

The air is so dry thesedays that I have to put on lotion twice a day and I perpetually use the humidifier. Before I came here, I didn't know what a humidifier is or how it looks like (since manila is sooo humid I never had or will ever have an opportunity to use it there!). Well, it's just a simple machine that is filled with water and using ultrasound or heat energy, it heats up the water to produce steam and make the air moist.

I got this one last winter and it still works very well.

Sudden freeze in Autumn

We experienced a sudden freeze in Gangwon-do today. Since it's raining here at the capital city, it snowed in some parts of the northern peninsula where it's much colder. This incident proves that winter is on it's way. The streets are filled with fallen leaves, trees have withered and most of them bare. I'm stowing away my light jackets to make room for winter coats. Autumn has been my favorite of all seasons... the air is so clean and crisp, the trees changing into wonderful colors, mountains are like a beautiful painting so pleasing to the eyes.

Trees slowly turn bare. Whenever I see trees in this state it makes me a bit gloomy because something so precious as their wonderfully colored leaves shouldn't be desolated. I love seeing snow but I really dread winter. It's such a pain to go out at this time. There are countless times my feet went numb while walking in snow. Here, we have to spend a lot to heat up our places and it can be such a pain when the boiler go bonkers...! Not to mention all fruits and vegetables are so expensive cause they grow it in greenhouses and not outdoors. Korean people like drinking when it's cold, it's suppose to give their body warmth. Ehyu, I don't know what my winter will be like. I just hope it'll be fun.