[buzz KOREA] - Tokki's Dream to Revisit Korea and Meet with 2PM & Miss A

안녕하세요, My name is Noviani from Indonesia but my family usually call me Tokki  .

I write this post to share about my passion towards Korea especially with their culture, language, foods, beautiful scenery, K-Pop, K-drama, wait I think I interested in all about Korea. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Aah, yesterday my family celebrate Mooncake Festival (Mid-Autumn Festival) that fall on September 30, 2012. It's a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people. And happen on this year Korea also celebrate a harvest festival called Chuseok on September 30. So my family and I also want to say "Happy Chuseok Day" to Korean peoples.

Left to Right : Sha, Fan, Iin, Me, Yenni & Ay2

I travelled to Korea once on March 2007. I choose Korea not intentionally, I just decided that I want to celebrate my university graduation by travelling abroad for the first time. I'm always interested to know about culture or traditional heritage from other countries. So I'm searching on Google about a country that had a traditional heritage yet modern and then a several images appears on my Notebook screen. I'm in love when I saw pictures of Gyeongbokgung Palace, Nami Island & Mount Seorak and deeper in love more after my trip from Korea. At that time I only knew about Korea from K-drama like Winter Sonata, Daejanggeum, Hotelier, Endless Love etc. So I decided to go to this country to knew more things about Korea.

For this trip I used tour & travel services because I didn't know about the language and transportation in Korea. I also a little afraid since this is my first trip. But nowadays we can find information regarding the tourist site, accomodation, transportation, learn a conversation using Korean language or etc through official website like Korea Tourism Organization , Buzz Korea & Touch Korea 

There's also "Visit Korea 2.0" a smartphone application for travel in Korea developed by the Korea Tourism Organization.

If you are questioning, Buzz Korea is a global campaign and an integrated online community platform site that reveals Korea's tourism attractions and a variety of Korea-related contents through social media like Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. 

And Touch Korea is an interactive program that give you an experience to discover the charms of Korea online. You should try playing Touch Korea, it's really a fun experience. You can try lock of love attractions at N Seoul Tower, take a picture of traditional Korean wedding with your partner, making Kimchi, play Jegi-Chagi (Korea traditional game) & many more.

Here's a story about my trip to Korea & why I fall in love with this country :

This is the first time I use airplane as a transportation, but luckily I get Korean Air for my first flight experience. I enjoyed my time using this airlines, the flight attendant is  pretty and nice. The food is delicious too, especially the Cheesecake Ice Cream for dessert. I arrived in Korea on 10.00 AM and the local tour leader Kang Ji Eun-ssi bring us to Daejanggeum Theme Park to saw a filming place of the drama "Daejanggeum". I also had a chance to wear a hanbok (Korea Traditional clothes), take a picture with the main cast figurine. ^^ & eat ddeokboki.

We also go to Chuncheon Myeongdong to grab a lunch, we ate Dakgalbi (a stir-frying marinated diced chicken in chilli pepper paste with sliced cabbage, sweet potato, onions and rice cake). It taste delicious, the ahjuma owner also teach me to eat the dish with unique way. We took a fresh cabbage, put the chicken meat and chilli paste, rolled it and then eat it. I've only seen this on K-drama before, it's really great that I can experienced this. I also taste my first kimchi, it taste delicious and I try several types of kimchi while I'm here.

After that we spend our time to shopping at Chuncheon Myeongdong Street, this street is also famous for Winter Sonata filming scene. I also buy a giant strawberry (I mean this the biggest strawberry I ever saw), it tastes very good & sweet. How can I not love this country when I can enjoy many delicious meals here. ^^ --> Delicious Food 
 

We go to Vivaldi Resort to take a rest at night, this place is famous for ski resort in winter. 

At the morning, we go to Mt Seorak to visit Shinheungsa Temple, Grand Bronze Budha and ride a cable car to Gwongeumsong Fortress. The mountain was named Seorak because the snow would not melt for a long time keeping the rocks in a permanent state of white.

On our way to Mt Seorak, our bus stopped for gas. There were two ahjuma selling a black sesame candy and give us a free samples. Although we didn't buy, they remained friendly and chatted with us. I also remember when I'm arrived at Seoul, because I wasn't used to the weather in Korea, my facial skin gets really dry and peeling. There was an employee of cosmetics store that I've visited gave me a sample to apply into my face. The next day my face has improved. One more point why I love Korea. >< --> A friendly peoples

Next day, our destination is to play at Everland Themepark (an open space amusement park). I'm so excited in here, there's a parade show, beautiful garden and many cute merchandise store. Unfortunately, not long after I arrived a heavy rain is pouring down. All the attractions closed, so I spend the day mostly on merchandise store. 

Today is my last day, finally I go to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace at Seoul. The palace is more amazing & beautiful than the pictures I saw on the internet. I also visit the National Folk Museum of Korea located inside the palace. For my last destination, I went shopping at Dongdaemun Market for souvenir. And actually I'm a little amazed when Ji Eun eonnie told me that the market is open until dawn. But isn't that a good news? especially for a girl like me that loves to shopping till drop. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Other point --> Culture/Traditional Heritage, Beautiful Places & Shopping Paradise

My trip to Korea ends here... but wait it isn't end here, it's only temporary because I already decided when I'm in the plane headed back to my country that I must visit Korea again. There's so many places that I haven't visited (Nami Island, Teddy Bear Museum, N Seoul Tower, Myeongdong Street at Seoul, Apgujeong-Cheongdamdong-Gangnam and many more). There's so many thing I want to try like Jjimjilbang (public house), Noraebang (karaoke box), drink maekgolki at Pojangmacha etc. You can read my other blog about the things I want to do/ places I want to revisit in Korea related to previous event Asia On Air Program here

It's been 5 years passed since my last visit, through several years my interest to Korea grew more. I try many Korean food like ddeokboki, samgyetang, bulgogi, bibimbap and jjangmyeon in my city. But I think the best way is to taste the dish from origin country.  K-Pop Idol also gave me a positive personal influence besides their song/performance which tone up my daily life, that we shouldn't give up and work hard to pursue our dream. Almost all the K-Pop Idol must endure years training before they debut and become succeed.

I also try to learn hangeul from Charm Lee's Beginner Korean Class & now continuing my curiousity by attending the Korea Class at Korea Cultural Center Indonesia. My teacher Kim Jae Wook (김재욱 -선생) is very nice. He is so funny when he try to speak in Indonesian. Last week he celebrated his birthday, he gave us a slice of his birthday cake. Yummy.

  
I'm only beginner right now, but I hope someday I can speak Korean fluently and chat with my penpal friend Jung Eun Shin-ssi using Korean. I meet her from SNS, she's a very kind and pretty girl. We had a same interest about K-Pop Idol & K-drama. She also told me that I must visit Korea again, since there's a lot of changes from 2007.

Thank you for give me opportunity to share my passion towards Korea through this event. I know my trip is an old story but it's also unforgettable moment for me. I hope I will be choosen as one of the winners so I can share you a new story about my trip to Korea and how I met with my idol 2PM & Miss A.

For you who read this post and interested to visit Korea, c'mon join 2012 buzz Korea Awards Maybe you're one of the lucky winners including me. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Click here for a tips "How to apply blog content".

감사합니다