And the lovely story ended....

.... YESTERDAY.

Monday evening 18:20 (Korea time) flight out from Incheon International Airport, direct to Tullamarine Airport, arriving in Melbourne at 07:10 (Melbourne time).Almost 11 hours worth of flight, but I hardly slept a wink. As usual I was up watching movies. Caught "Pitch Perfect" by Anna Kendrix and Brittany Snow, "Arbitrage" by Richard Gere, "Looper" by the dreamy Joseph Levitt-Gordon, and "As One 코리아" by Ha Ji-won and Bae Doo-na. Slept for perhaps an hour or so. After touching down Melbourne I sorta made a mad dash to the immigrations hoping that the queue would not be as long as usual. Fortunately it was not, but the baggage seems to take forever to come out. As usual I took the sky bus and then transferred to train to get back home. Reached home at around 9.30am.

Showered and got out of the house again at 10.30am. Reached work just before 11am. I was so tired I nodded off a few times (I think I did) trying to sort out my emails and getting my work done. Colleagues asked me why didn't I take the day off since I just flew in in the morning. But 8th was the deadline for one of the projects and I need to consolidate and edit all the data before we enter into reporting period on 9th and 10th. I knocked off at 6pm because I was so tired, otherwise I would probably stay longer to finish my work. I had to stop by the supermarket otherwise I'll have nothing to eat, and then headed home. Slept at 11.30pm, earliest bedtime ever!

Today I worked from 9am to 8pm.... My new role is finalised and a mass email was sent out to everyone in Melbourne and Sydney to congratulate me. Like yay!! I won't be working at the restaurant until Sunday, and I am thinking of cutting my hours there so I can concentrate on my proper career. So most likely I will work on Sunday whole day, and perhaps Friday night, at the restaurant..... And when I've earned sufficient money, I will quit. 

Really couldn't bear to just leave Korea like that. I had so much fun in Seoul over the past 10 days it sucked to draw a full stop to my trip. There were so many adventures I just simply loved it! Met up with lovely friends and had good catch-ups with all of them. Plus Seoul felt like home to me since I have stayed there before, know my way around, and I can actually converse with the Koreans without much problems.  Sigh... why do holidays have to be so damn short?!

Highlights of Seoul:

1. SNOWBOARDING! At Phoenix Ski Park in Gangwondo
My first time snowboarding, and I love it~ I wouldn't say I started off completely fine though. I was so frightened initially I needed two instructors to help me overcome my fear, and when they failed, they passed the job to a professional trainer (with a snowboarding licence - the other two were amateurs who coach as a hobby). Eventually after much effort I slowly started to coordinate my legs and feet and grasped the feeling of directional moving and braking. Gradually, I managed to loosen up and with the help of the  pro instructor in front of me, I was able to enjoy myself fully inching slowly down the hill with the heavy board sliding on the snow. 

The clothes I wore were thickly padded, so even when I fell it wasn't painful at all.

Waiting for Jay at the bottom of the hill after I glided down the Intermediate-level hill. 

2. Mount Seorak and Sokcho
Jay unni brought me to her hometown in Sokcho where I stayed one night with her family. She brought me to the famous Mt. Seorak, one of the tallest mountains in Korea, and which has the most amazing views EVER. Hiked there, but the path was rather slippery I was so fearful I will just slip and fall off the mountain or something.... I actually fell once too.... Clung on to Jay for dear life LOL Jay was good with the icy roads as most Koreans. The hike itself was not as pleasant as my other hikes are because of the slippery roads, but the spectacular view made up for it so much the slippery roads became just a small issue.... 

Sokcho is near the sea so summer is probably the best time to visit. Went to the filming spot for "Autumn in my heart" - the drama that started the Korean Wave back around 2001. Part of the drama was filmed in Sokcho's seaside, and it is now a tourist attraction.

Jay's family treated me with great hospitality. Her mother cooked sumptuous meals for us... I don't just love Korean food, I also crave for home-cooked food~ Jay's 2 dogs also made my stay a lot more fun, especially the smaller dog 가을 who is just so cute I hope I can take her home with me....... Initially the two dogs barked at me non-stop when I just stepped into the house. Eventually 가을stopped and got chummy with me. The other dog 나루 was less approachable. He has a bigger body and this fiercer look that speaks "Don't you come near!", and he barked at me for ages before he decided that I am harmless. Unlike 가을 who licked me from time to time, 나루 never licked me but allowed me to give him a pat. Both dogs follow their owners all the time, but when told, they would stay with me in the room. 가을 would lie beside me listening to me talking nonsense. She slept with me and Jay as well that night. Sometime during the night she slid off the bed (maybe because the bed got too warm with the electronic mattress.. I felt hot too and kicked off my blankets), but comes back up. In the morning, both dogs came onto the bed to get us off the bed. 

I just love dogs. My entire attention was on them the whole night instead of on TV. I can't stop hugging and kissing 가을. It's just LOVE... 

This view was absolutely stunning.... I couldn't bear to leave the place without snapping heaps of photos to capture its beauty. It's just like a painting... So breathtakingly beautiful. Astounding!

Finally, someone took a photo for us. Actually we could just have asked... But we opted for many self-shot photos which captured our faces perfectly, but not so of the scenery. 

We each wrote a wish for our family...
Don't ask me why I have to write in three different languages. I just thought, since the moment anyone sees my name will know I am not Korean, so I will write in English, but then my parents speaks mainly Mandarin, so I have to write their names in Chinese.... And then since I am in Korea, I have to write in Korean too.... I am so confused.
What was also confusing is I have been writing in traditional Chinese for the past year or so. Maybe because I really think traditional writing looks way better than the simplified ones and also since I am half Taiwanese, I might as well use traditional writing. But of course, there is also a (main) reason to be different from the PRCs. I really do not want to be one of them, or anything similar to them!
My handwriting is forever so ugly.... Look at Jay's neat and small-ish handwriting... 

A lovely little doggie, 가을...

This type of cold noodles is a North Korean speciality. 칡냉면 is the name. 

Dinner by Jay's mommy - 삼게탕

3. LOTTE WORLD THEME PARK
Like 10 year old kids, me and my new friends Dee and Ruby went to Lotte World Theme Park where we rode on roller-coasters, the Viking, Fluming Pipe and lots more. 
Actually I have heard that Everland offers more exciting rides, but it is not in Seoul and takes about 1 hour ++ to travel, minus transit time. We were all too tired the night before so opted to go Lotte World which is located in Seoul.
We actually spent 10 hours or so in there... Most of the time was spent waiting because each and every ride has super looooooooooooooooooooong queues ranging from 30 - 80 minutes wait.... :S

This Merry-Go-Round was also featured in some drama (I think it was called "Stairway to Heaven"). 

On top of this shot was "Lotte World 2013" but the person who took the photo just failed to capture what we'd like..... In the end this photo became a little meaningless because we did our hand signs to represent what was above us.... SHEESH! 

4. NYE and New Year 2013
NYE was of course spent on the mountains snowboarding. But after that I got my wish - Korean 삼겹살 and soju for dinner!! So Jay unni brought me to Hapjeong to a place she knows, and she bumped into her friends there. More surprisingly, out of the three friends, I have met two of them before from my previous trip. So we kinda know each other.... Had lots of soju and other alcohol, with lots of pork belly.... LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! 

And then it was at a small pub in Hongdae, where Jay, Hyun Gyung and I had drinks over dried cuttlefish, and counting down with the next table where someone fished out his laptop and started putting on at the countdown of 10... Quite intereseting. 

삼겹살 !!!!! 

Hyun Gyung, Jay and I...

돆국수 - A dish Koreans will eat on New Year's Day (1.1) consisting of rice cakes and dumplings in a broth. They usually eat this in the morning, but since we all hang out late on New Year's Eve, we missed breakfast and had this for dinner instead. 

5. Meeting friends just makes it all better
Got to meet heaps of friends here.... And had a fabulous time and some very well-deserved catch up. There are still a few more friends I did not get to meet though because I didn't have enough time.... 

Victoria and I
Managed to meet her just on the day before I board the airport bus heading for Incheon Airport. Had a great chat with this friend from America who has lived in Korea for the past 2 years. 

Old Classmates from Yonsei Uni.... Airi from Japan, and Lesley from Taiwan. 

My lovely Chloe... She's my little sister whom I've met in Melbourne through work. She's Korean, but she speaks perfect English, has a English bf (his name is Tom and I also met him along with Chloe) and has a feisty but sweet personality. 

Jinbo - a friend I met in Guest House Korea in 2010. 

Subong!! Midori's husband. One of my most favorite Korean friend ever because I like his laid-back personality, and 'heck-care' attitude. One of the funniest person ever...

And Midori - Subong's wife! Had to meet the two of them separately because Midori was leaving for Japan for a 2 weeks vacation just the day after I arrive in Seoul. So we had to meet on the night I arrive for a quick catch-up. 

And of course, plus my many meet-ups with Jay unni, and also Hyun Gyung unni... and my two new friends, Dee (from Singapore) and Ruby (from Thailand)! 

Special THANK YOU to Jay unni!! You made my stay so much more fun! Thank you for taking time out to bring me to places despite having a crazy hectic work schedule. Love you lots!! xcoxo

6. Random: KYOBO Bookstore!
Yes... I am a nerd or geek or boring person. But I love bookstores. I love to read. I love the stationery in Kyobo. I can easily spend 5 straight hours (or more if I didn't have to go) there, spending 2 hours on stationery and 3 hours on books. Bookstores remind me of my besties Vanessa and Andy for some reason. We have that same passion for bookstores and its books, and I know Vanessa and I have the same passion for stationeries. Wahahaha... They just pop into my mind whenever I pour over books and the endless shelves of stationeries. :D

I need more time! Perhaps I need a one day allowance for a bookstore like Kyobo!

bad picture, but this is the B1 entrance of Kyobo bookstore just at Gwanghwamun station. 

Korea was great fun! So much fun in Seoul.... I really cannot bear to leave at all... I will have to go back again soon!

If I have time I will do separate posts from Busan, and Japan as well. But for now, I shall leave it as it is and head to bed now... ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz