04 Mar 2007

Competition In The Background.


All Wet Again.

The next morning started out wet again, making it a rather gloomy vacation thus far. We managed to join the groups for breakfast and was greeted with almost the same dishes we had for breakfast the day before. After breakfast, we were bugging Lim again, this time to get our free tickets to go on the ski lifts and gondola (cable car). After the shock of the ski lift scene from monday, we were still not up to taking the ski lift and since we didn't have skis, we didn't really see a point to it. After checking out the others enjoying the competition, we headed up to to top of the mountain in a rather spacious gondola. Joining us had to be the bear dressed for winter, posing at every corner. Bad thing was the weather had fogged the windows and all we get with each shot was a blurred vision of the scenery, which wasn't much as the trees and plants were rather dead-looking, but when it came to people skiing or snowboarding, all we got was fogged up windows. Well what else can we do but take 101 photos of us in teh gondola till we got a good shot.

Xiao Pui Taking The Cable Car Ride.


Scolding Xiao Pui For Getting Too Close To The Window


Best One Of All

We finally reach teh top and was greeted by nice warm air followed by the sounds of strong winds every time the sliding doors opened. Deciding that the environment up here might be different from the bottom, I stepped out to get a feel and was greeted by a refreshing blast of cold air and rain. The wind was really strong and the visibility was about 20 meters. I could see the people getting ready to ski and after their first push, they disappear from sight. We checked out the whole place, hoping to get a location where there would be a good photo opportunity but everything from indoors was blocked by fogged up windows. So we went out into the rain again, got some nice pictures and headed back in to defrost. Walking around the place, we finally saw the Winter Sonata location and at the same time, I spotted the Starbucks which was a big relief after the crappy tea I got the day before.

Amy's Winter Sonata Location Shot 4.








View From The Top

Once we were back to the bottom, Amy spotted the special gondola and was in it withing seconds asking me to take pictures. Without fail, she had to include at least one with the bear and I wondered what the other people were thinking when they saw that.

Amy's Winter Sonata Location Shot 5.

We went back to the hotel to change for dinner and headed down to the ballroom to be greeted again by the 3 musketeers. Amy wanted to take a pic with them but then some Mosquito had to try to interfere. He grabbed for my camera and my automatic reaction was to hold on tight and yank it back, giving the dumb-arse the stare that could've murdered him. Who the hell are you to take my camera from me? Well he got the hint and scurried off to his perverted hiding place and we both went into the ballroom to get as far away from him as possible. Tonight's entertainment was the prize-giving ceremony and the highlights of the whole ski trip for the tour groups. It was then concluded with a lucky draw session, where Amy and I were both lucky enough to get a prize each. However, I was made to do all the embarrassing work of going up to stage twice because someone didn't want to, and then having to explain that I was up there twice to take a prize for my friend. Good thing about it? The prize was something I wanted to get, the pair of chopsticks, while the other prize was fit right for Amy and her vanity.

With it being the last night and the possibility of meeting Lim being slim, we took the opportunity to take a pic with him when we cornered him to ask about the bus trip for tomorrow.

Playing With My Food - Rice With Red & Black Caviar.


The Flower Looks Familiar...


Oh!


Embarrassing Myself For Amy.

Mr Lim & Us.


Prizes We Won.

It was back to the Winter Sonata location for yet another shoot after dinner. This time, Amy even put on the uniform they hung there. I'm not sure if people were allowed to try it on but it seemed like it was, yet it didn't seem right. The place was just odd. Anyway, just as Amy took the clothes off, the hotel staff came in and told us it was closed for the day. I guess it was just pure luck we got everything done in the nick of time.

Later that night, with the excitement of going to Seoul, as well as the bother with packing, we stayed up a little late and got a bit hungry, finally ripping our instant noodles open and trying them. They're seriously much tastier than some of the ones we have, and much bigger too! The spiciness, however, was a let down. I'd take Koka's spicy rice noodles over any other instant noodles, anytime.

Amy's Winter Sonata Location Shot 6.

03 Mar 2007

We ended up sleeping in and weren't able to make it on time for the buffet breakfast and had to have ours at the cafe, where it happened to have one of the scenes filmed in. So during breakfast, we were actually taking pictures of the cafe and even pictures of photos in the cafe! But other than that, the strangest part was taking pictures of the bear... seriously.... people taking photos of the Winter Sonata-related stuff is normal to the staff, but a bear? I don't think so.

Amy's Winter Sonata Location Shot 2.

After breakfast, we were looking for Lim, who was supposed to give us our itinerary but didn't even leave his proper name card with us. In the end, we had to contact him through some tour guides as the hotel staff didn't know who we were talking about. The staff directed us to this one particular tour guide, whom we shall call Mosquito. He was nice enough to help us call his boss who liaises with Mr Lim regarding all the tour stuff and somehow managed to get Lim. Now a little more about Mosquito... while Amy was on the phone with his boss, I noticed that he was actually checking Amy out. He was actually doing it right before my eyes, looking at her all the way from head to toe and even had the cheek to check out the front and back. Then when he realised that I was watching him, he got a bit embarrassed and covered it up by offering me a stick of gum. So I told Amy what he just did, and we were already on the lookout for this pervert.

Well Lim eventually meets us and after some sign language and broken English, he introduced us to Mr Pak, our ski instructor who didn't speak English. Well since most parts about skiing is action anyway, who needs words? Honestly, we ended up learning though imitation and didn't even need him to speak much throughout our session. Pei fu... Pei fu... must be a master at his trade to be able to do that with 2 lost sheep. Before that, Lim brought us around to get our ski equipment as well as to where we could rent our ski clothes. Unfortunately, they didn't have pants big enough for my butt and I had to ski in my jeans. Well during this whole time, we had the Mosquito kinda hovering around and we would see him at almost every turn. I'm not sure if he was following us or he just happened to be doing almost the same thing we are. So Pak helps us get into our ski equipment, and even dusts off the bottom of my feet before letting me chuck them into my boots, which felt kinda weird and like a kid again.

Wearing and walking in ski boots are a pain... from my calves, right up to my head. first you had to think of how to walk in them without falling over, then you have to have them tight and so they're cutting off the circulation in your legs as they're clamping down on your calves. Then with them being heavy, you need so much energy just to walk a few steps, and worst of all up a slope. Somehow, Pak walks with them with some style, like his doing some 'stylised walk' ala Ludacris in the video "Stand Up". Well after getting the first problem of walking out of the way, we got onto the next step which was to put our skis on. I didn't have much problem getting them on, but I did have a problem staying still, and after struggling to not fall, I was actually sliding backwards and ended up falling as I tried in vain to stop myself. Then after getting my legs out from under me, Pak was able to free me from my skis, and at the same time teaching me how to do it. Well I eventually got used to getting in and out of my skis, seeing the many times I fell. Amy on the other hand, had problems getting in as she didn't have enough weight to push hard enough for the ski to clamp down her boot. Pak had to come over every time she needed to put her skis on but the good thing was that she was light and could be carried up with the skis on. After being taught the basics, we were made to climb up a gentle slope and ski down a few time, without any aid to help us stop and only the skills Pak taught us. After the third time, Amy and I were so tired that Pak was laughing at us trudging our way up, and gave us a break. That's where we took the opportunity to take a few pictures withe Pak and then some Mosquito had to spoil the mood by showing up. He not only showed up, he even waited for both of us to acknowledge him like we owed it to him. Bleh!!

Master Pak & Me.


Amy & I During Our Much Needed Break From The Ski Lesson.

After a the break, we went down the slope once more before we learnt to turn on our skis. We were about to wrap up when Pak wanted us try once more time turning with our skis and that's when we ended up with the dramatic finish to our fun lesson. I was trying to turn and was doing alright until I hit a little bump and ended up heading directly towards Amy. I tried like mad to stop but I couldn't and then my skis got locked with hers and we were just heading towards the wooden platform where we would be hurt. However, there was a little boy right in our path and his mom, who had time to drag him away, decided to just go hug him tight instead and stood there like an idiot. Good thing for us she did or we would end up really hurt and good thing for them was I was pushing myself away from everything just as Amy hit her. I felt Amy stop as I went down towards my right while I pushed her down towards her left. I think Amy took it really hard as she had a knock from the front and then had to take another on the left. Pak was too shocked to know what to do immediately and stood there looking at what we got ourselves into. I was laughing away seeing that no one was hurt while Amy was apologising to the "deaf" mom that didn't even seem to acknowledge her apologies, but it's her stupidity for standing there anyway. We got our skis off, got up and proceeded to get our rental stuff back and head back to our room for a warm shower. After all the falls I took in my jeans, my butt and legs were itching from the cold, and my legs were stinging possibly from the lack of blood cut off by the boots. After changing into dry clothes, I realised that my face and ears were also red and itchy from the cold and Amy took pictures to prove it.

Results Of Not Covering My Head While Skiing.

Finally, we made it to the buffet dinner and found out that we've been missing out on being greeted by the poor staff who had to wear these costumes. During dinner, we got to enjoy some b-boy performances before we were told that tomorrow will be competition day and to sign up for events that we would like to participate in. Seeing that we had our own drama earlier today, we decided that we didn't need to show off any more of our skills tomorrow and headed out for a walk after dinner. The place looked very different from the first night as they opened the slopes for some night skiing, as well as to prepare the slopes for tomorrow's competition. The amount of lighting used made the sky look as though the sun had just set and it made for some nice pictures.

Dinner Time.

Being bored and a little bolder, we ventured out towards the condominium looking for the one of the Winter Sonata locations. The place was rather dimly lighted and there was a parking area with a train next to the condominiums. We decided to check it out but the information given was all in Korean and didn't even have a name for it in English. Well Amy decided to take a pic with it and somehow we got more than we bargained for with that pic. Here I thought I was seeing things until Amy told me she felt that the train had a creepy vibe. Later when we checked the picture of her next to the train, we noticed something additional to one particular photo. Strangest part was that it kept morphing. I would have gladly put the picture up but due to the medium's advise to Amy, it was better if we dump that particular picture. The pic of the train, however, can still be put up so that anyone who goes there can either check it out or avoid it.

Well since we were both a little creeped out by the incident, we decided not to pursue the location in the condo area as it looked just as creepy. We headed back to our hotel and into familiar territory, taking pics just across the entrance to the hotel. This time we had company and didn't get as much as she wanted, nor could she try to make weird poses. But the group sure had fun imitating the life-size cut-outs of the Winter Sonata stars. We headed back to our room and watched the stupid things on tv till we fell asleep again. Good thing since tomorrow, we had planned to go up to the mountain top to check out the little ski lodge there, which happened to be another location. Well of course.... why else would she bother taking the cable car up to someplace when she gets so nervous even when the plane is taking off?

Finally Got It In A Pic.


Creepy Train.


Amy's Winter Sonata Location Shot 3.




Defrosting Next To A Log Fire.


Sleepy Time.

02 Mar 2007

Even Has It's Own Travel Bag, Courtesy Of My Mom

We finally land in Incheon somewhere around 6.30am (Korean Time), crossing time zones and even dates, to find gloomy skies and rain that greeted Amy when she stepped out to test the temperature. We were supposed to meet a representative that was able to speak Mandarin about an hour after we landed, and so first thing we did was shop. We went straight to a convenience store and bought ourselves bowl noodles (how Asian, but when in Korea...) and calling cards as our phones both didn't work. Time just zipped by and we had to find the rep who had given us instructions to meet at some bank, but no one seemed to know where we were supposed to be headed. We finally find her in some quiet little corner and she couldn't have picked a better place to get kidnapped in. Seriously, for such a big airport and with so many food outlets that had English names, she had to pick a bank, which no one seem to have heard of, that was located at some dingy little corner. To make it worse, she led us to the van that was supposed to bring us to town and from the dingy corner, she just made us walk all the way back to where we came from. Seriously I could've killed her if more people spoke English, but that wasn't the case and she was our only lifeline at that moment in time.

We head out to get into the van for the ride to Seoul and the rep just stands there like she's enjoying the cool temperatures while Amy and I were trying to keep our fingers alive. The cold just hits you and takes hold of your fingers first and wearing gloves didn't help much either. To top off the cold temperature, it was really windy and was raining rather heavily too. So not only were we being chilled, we were being sprayed with mist as well. By this time I was too tires and too frozen to take pictures.

We get into a heated van and were taken for a really long ride to Seoul. It took about 2 hours and I nodded off a few times along the way, seeing that I didn't sleep on the plane, I really needed a bit of recharging. It was just really dull anyway... looked like Korea lacked colour on it's buildings... even if there was colour, it just looked drabby. We finally reach Seoul and are transferred to a coach that would take us all the way to the Yong Pyong ski resort. As it was rather empty, Amy and I took separate seats and once again I slept. It starts to get cold in the bus and the change in temperature wakes me up, only to be greeted by the sight of snow-covered mountains beyond the dead-looking trees on the side of the road. That's when I finally woke up, with my personal battery recharged, and started snapping pics again.

Ohhh A Bit Of Colour!

Then as we neared the resort, we started seeing civilisation once more, and a little colour compared to Seoul and the way up to Yong Pyong. There was an area that looked like the main town of that part of Korea where there were quite a number of shops renting or selling ski equipment or cars that gave me a good indication we were nearing the resort. Along with the businesses were the fish being dried along the river, most of which were covered with the blue plastic sheets. A few more turns up the roads and we were greeted by apartments along both sided of the roads, and the frozen pond that looked like one could ice skate on. We finally stop and were told to get off the bus but weren't even told where to go or who to look for if we needed help, which was one thing we really needed.

Just Next To The River....


Fish Being Dried In The Cold


Frozen Pond @ The Entrance To The Resort

I stood guard with our luggage in the cold while Amy checked if we were at the right place, and we were told to wait in the lobby while the rep from the hotel came to get us. The guy comes and he doesn't say much except to follow him and he kidnaps my bag upon seeing that I had to help Amy with her other bag along with the 2 I had. After we checked into our room, we were supposed to go for our very first ski lesson but we were just too tired and hungry to do anything. So we told the rep, Mr Lim, that we had to take a rain-check on the ski lesson and started to explore the surroundings of the hotel while looking for something to eat.

Can See She Slept On The Plane....


Trying To Put On My Glove While My Glasses Were Slipping Off.

After a disappointing, and really expensive, bowl of udon, we went out and checked out the slopes as well as the buildings next to the hotel and what they had inside. Looking at the slopes, we were wondering where we would be brought to during our ski lessons and how high up we have to travel up on the ski lift. Looking at the people getting on the ski lift already made us nervous, and then I saw a couple who go on the ski lift, one person on almost each end of the chair and it toppled to one side because the guy was heavier. That really scared the 2 of us and at least gave us an inkling of what to do when it was our turn. After we got bored with the surroundings, we decided to take a nap before we would go down for dinner. However after our nap went on too long and made us too late for dinner as they already cleared the place and we were supposed to have a buffet dinner with members of some tour groups. Well we were left with our only option to get our own dinner and that was at one of the hotel's restaurants. We got a set for two and ended up getting our own buffet spread to choose from. Joining us had to be the weird one in the hoodie, that just sat at the corner of the table watching us eat. 

Wondering If We Were Gonna Ski Down That Slope...






View From Our Room


Amy Thinks I'm A Terrorist.


Joining Me For Dinner When Amy Couldn't Make It.

After dinner, we were out again to check out how the place looks at night as well as venture up towards the ski slope to check out the snow. Sadly the rain had made everything into slushy ice, just like tons of uncoloured and cola slurpee strewn all over the floor. How disappointing to know that it was as good as walking on ice-kachang. From the very first day, Amy was on the hunt for all the locations she could take pictures regarding the Winter Sonata drama series. First one was in the morning where she was talking about a bench but it didn't have a significant sign like other locations so she skipped that one. She even had a map of all the spots that had the Winter Sonata filmed at!! The first one photo session was then the one just opposite the entrance of the hotel but it was a different bench from the one earlier. Worse part of it all was having to pose the bear for the pics! "No no, chin up, to the right... your right... a little left, thaaat's it! Ready... Smile!"

Brrrr... Baby It's Cold Outside.


Amy's Winter Sonata Location Shot 1

We went to sleep rather late the night before because the excitement haven't wore off and they had something really funny on tv as well.