KIMCHILANDIA CHRONICLES: JEJU ISLAND – LOVELAND

Kimchilandia Chronicles – Chronological recounting of Lonewulf’s great Korean adventure

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WARNING!

If you are under 18, or have a weak heart, please do not proceed on reading this entry.

I am actually warning you. See those cartoon characters they used on their entrance booth? Definitely not for kids.

HEY! Why are you still reading? Didn't I tell you to leave this page?

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There. Don't say I didn't warn ya

KIMCHILANDIA CHRONICLES: JEJU ISLAND – SOINGOOK MINIATURE THEME PARK

Kimchilandia Chronicles – Chronological recounting of Lonewulf’s great Korean adventure

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Christo Redenter

Yup, that's right. It is the Christ the Redeemer statue. But nope, we were not in Rio de Janeiro (how I wish we're there). Actually, we were in Jeju Soingook Miniature Theme Park. It features miniature versions of some of the most famous architectures, landmarks, et cetera around the world.

See? It's just a miniature version.

Anyway, please enjoy viewing our trip to the Soingook Miniature Park. :-)

THE MAÑANITA

When I was a child, we had this tradition in our neighbourhood that involved people secretly gathering on someone’s birthday (normally at the request of the celebrant’s family) and surprising him or her with an early morning serenade. Normally, people gather between 4-5am and starts to sing the serenade in front of the celebrant’s house – the first song is supposed to be sweet sounding and it is meant to gently wake the celebrant up. We normally use the song Silayan. And then the mesmerized celebrant lets us in and we continue the merrymaking indoors, singing different songs that celebrate life and gratitude to God. The singing normally ends with people dancing to an upbeat song, e.g. Mingaw mingaw ang tiyempo, sa pag-uros sa hangin... And then... eating time ‘till break of dawn!

We call this whole affair the mañanita.

WANTED: KRISPY KREME AMBASSADOR

The yummiest doughnut in town, is coming to my hometown!
/* Ugh, don't you just love rhymes?! */

KRISPY KREME, SOON TO OPEN IN DAVAO! Weeeeee... *happy dance*

By the way, they are looking for a Krispy Kreme Ambassador who will be based in Davao City. So shoutout to all my friends who are interested or who knows someone who's interested.

If you are all of these:

- Male (5'6) or Female (5'2)
- 18-27 years old
- graduate of Marketing, Mass Comm, or any related course
- has a pleasing personality
- and is very excited to be a Krispy Kreme Ambassador :)

please drop me a line. Or email an updated CV to me (thegreatnoel@hotmail.com) or to jmbathan@jambajuice.ph.

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Actually, you just need to email the latter addy. I only included my personal mail because I'm a nosy creature.

BLV T R NT

Before I start this entry, let me just make a (belated) congratulatory shoutout to my two brods in UPLB Street Jazz, Louie Canaria and Erik Javier. Yeah, I know I have already done this in Facebook but I just want to make this moment a part of my blog. :-)

Both Louie & Erik were part of the Megacrew entry of the UP Streetdance Club which won 3^rd place in World Hiphop International (Megacrew Division). Erik is also part of The Crew, a subset of UP Streetdance Club which competed in the Adult Division of the same event. They bested all the other entries... GOLD baby!

with Louie and his Bronze

Erik's Bronze and Gold

Great job, you guys!

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Okay, since I am now in a roll, and since I’m still on vacation, let me squeeze in this entry posts that I missed writing about due to my uber impossible work-school routine.

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First up, I want to congratulate my friend Jaja (Pooja Sujanani). She recently got married.

If you’re wondering if that’s her in the image, yes, you’re right. She is a pure blooded Indian who grew up in Bohol.

KIMCHILANDIA CHRONICLES: JEJU ISLAND – RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Kimchilandia Chronicles – Chronological recounting of Lonewulf’s great Korean adventure

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I knew this is a quite delayed post for my March trip, but I vowed to finish these Kimchilandia entries even if I have to do it inch by inch. :-)

You see, I have started my Masters in June and since then I barely had time to rest. Much less blog. But anyway, here’s another tourist attraction we visited while we were in Jeju Island.

Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum.

Mr. Ripley with Balinese dancers

Mr. Ripley in few of his countless excursions

VLAST FROM THE FAST - THE LETTER THAT MADE ME CRY

I'm quite sure this was how I looked back in 2007

Just a few days back, I was able to read an ancient letter I wrote back in 2007. It was a very personal email I sent to a good friend of mine, Ate Charm. And yes, as the title of the entry says, I cried after I read this letter. Well, it was actually pretty odd that I cried, but yeah, I did. Maybe it was the nostalgia. Maybe it was my innocence back then, or perhaps reading the letter made me vividly recall the melancholy I was feeling while typing that email.

Anyway, whatever it was, it's not important. I just want to share the letter here just to give you readers a glimpse of who I was or how things were when I was younger. :)

Just to set your expectations, there's nothing really extraordinary about the letter. No juicy stuff. It's just a correspondence I had with a friend. But it was extra special to me because reading it took me back to the time when I was very melancholic: I was stuck in college, missing my friends and colleagues who have left campus ahead of me, I was about to graduate and thus I was starting to miss the people I'm about to leave behind and Elbi-life in general.

WAIT. I take back what I said about "no juicy stuff". There are juicy stuff but I censored them as that I thought they are too private. lol

So anyway, here's the letter.

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--- On Wed, 4/4/07, noel co<thegreatnoel@hotmail.com> wrote:

From: noel co <thegreatnoel@hotmail.com>
Subject: te charm!!!!!
To: kewl16_sj@yahoo.com
Date: Wednesday, April 4, 2007, 3:00 PM

ate charm, musta ka na??

sorry ngayon lang nakapag-email.. busy talaga eh

KIMCHILANDIA CHRONICLES: JEJU ISLAND – CHOCOLATE MUSEUM

Kimchilandia Chronicles – Chronological recounting of Lonewulf’s great Korean adventure

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Wow. I have been soooooo busy with my work-school routine that I am recently finding it hard to make time for blogging.

But anyway, since I am currently uploading bulk photos of my Aunt's wedding and his son's christening (rushing this for my dear mama who's so eager to see the pics since she wasn't able to attend because she is in the province), I will squeeze in posting this one entry.

Luckily, this is not too time consuming as there is no long story to tell.

not your ordinary chess set

That pictured above is something that you don't want to play with. Because that set, believe it or not, is food.

It is chocolate molded into chess pieces. And while you're reading this entry, you will see a lot of "cute-ly" styled chocolates, because well, this entry's about the...

CHOCOLATE MUSEUM! Are you ready to salivate?

Shortstride & Arigato by the entrance of the museum

the facade

the welcoming lobby is a chocolaterie

KIMCHILANDIA CHRONICLES: JEJU ISLAND – TEDDY BEAR MUSEUM

Kimchilandia Chronicles – Chronological recounting of Lonewulf’s great Korean adventure

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We kicked off Day 2 of our Jeju sub-trip by having a warm morning with teddy bears.

I used to love cutesy stuff when I was young. Figurines, collectibles, potpourri, stationery, anything scented, stuff toys. However, that affinity disappeared when I started college. I don’t really know why 

I stopped liking cute things maybe because Elbi made me realize that life is tough, and cutesy stuff are just impediments in one’s coping with the bluntness of reality. (huh?)

So anyway, enough of that uhm darkness. I’m here to talk about light, delightful stuff! What’s good about the Jeju Teddy Bear Museum is that it made me get in touch with my old self. Now I’m liking cute stuff again. =)

Move over Michelangelo

I mean, how could you not be joyed when you see these adorable bears...

KIMCHILANDIA CHRONICLES: JEJU ISLAND – JEJU FOLK VILLAGE

Kimchilandia Chronicles – Chronological recounting of Lonewulf’s great Korean adventure

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umi-emo si koya

Folk villages are a common type of tourist spot in Korea. It is one of the must-go-to attractions in Kimchiland, so I insisted that we should visit at least one. However, even if there was one near Seoul, we were only able to visit the one in Jeju (one of the two in the island).

The Jeju Folk Village features an actual village, albeit uninhabited except for dolls, where you get to peek inside traditional village homes, farms, backyards, etc. The village also features an administrative house, where the most influential man in the village ought to live.

The compound has some restaurants and souvenir shops where you can shop for neat Jeju thingamajigs. Plus, there's an area where you can don traditional Korean costumes, for a fee of course. And it even has a hut filled with Jang Geum memorabilia. Yes, that Jewel in the Palace girl.

Wait. Why am I spoiling everything? Here, take a peek of our experience in the Jeju Folk Village.

Enjoy!

LOMA 356

OW. EM. GEE!

Anxious weekend is over. And the best part is... I PASSED!

I really thought I'd fail this one because one, I did not finish the two handbooks; and two, I was distracted with my then upcoming entrance exam for MS Finance.

YAY! No salary deduction for me. :)

Thank you, Lord! Pramis, mag-aaral na ako para sa next exam. :)

KIMCHILANDIA CHRONICLES: JEJU ISLAND - LAVA RUINS, A LABYRINTH, AND A GIANT SAUCER

Kimchilandia Chronicles – Chronological recounting of Lonewulf’s great Korean adventure

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Seongsan Ilchulbung (see source at the bottom)

Gimnyeong Maze Park

Manjanggul Lava Tube

From here on, I will classify my Kimchilandia entries per theme. This is because our Jeju trip, albeit short, featured soooo many different tourist spots that putting all one-day’s worth of activities in one entry is a Herculean task.

And besides, I don’t want the amazingness of a particular attraction to diminish; which I think would happen if I would squeeze them in one entry. Especially as Jeju island is the home of 3 UNESCO World Heritage sites.

So anyway, let me start by featuring first the destinations that are ‘nature’-related.

THANK YOU, CITIBANK

A couple of weeks back, my annual membership(?) to Citi was renewed. By the way, I was able to renew my Citi Classic Visa card for another year FOR FREE, thanks to a tip from my boss. But that's another story. (Maybe I'll write a How-To entry on this next week). So anyway, my Citi card has just gotten better because of these...

FREE coffee and donuts!

I received an SMS from Citibank telling me that I have a free cup of coffee and 3 flower doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. Yay!

Thank you, Citibank!

Looks like the devil has a good side after all.

LONG TIME NO SEE... FORM 5

Lookie, lookie... At number 18. I MADE IT!!! :)*happydance* Uh yeah... uh yeah... uh yeah... Hello again, studenthood. I'm all fired up. Now you may let the hell life of working and studying, plus the uberly exhausting travels in between, BEGIN. :)

Bring it, baybehh!

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Okay, so that was last week and I forgot to publish it.

Update: Just this evening, I officially became a student of MS Finance. :) Bye bye many thousand pesos. Hello to lifeless life. :) lols

I missed doing this. :)

Kimchilandia Chronicles: Day 4 – CHANGGYEONGGUNG AND THE FLIGHT TO JEJU-DO

Kimchilandia Chronicles – Chronological recounting of Lonewulf’s great Korean adventure

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the mysterious palace gate

 

view of Jeju-do from the high heavens

Before I start, let me share with you our dinner after our Everland adventure.

To somehow counterweigh our expenses for the first couple of days, we decided to eat cheap. We bought luncheon meat, noodles, and bab (rice) in Family Mart, a famous convenience store chain in Korea.  I cooked, and then Arigato and Shortstride took turns in cleaning.

By the way, just another tip, if you will be on the move most of the time (just like us, since we wanted to cram a lot of activities in a short span of time), you might want to eat light meals in Family Mart. It is a lot cheaper than eating in restaurants, plus you get to finish more quickly. And then just make up for a heavy meal when you are not in a rush.