scryttle's thought of the day

ASHP mid-year meeting in Las Vegas! (1 of 4)

2005-12-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

About one third of the people from our class (not including the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years) met in Vegas right after finals. As long as we attend all the required sessions and events, the school would reimburse us the registration fee. So why not?

The overall experience was new and exciting (in the beginning at least). I wouldn't recommend staying there for more than two nights because a lot of us got really bored after 3 nights and I was there for four nights (not counting the first night)! I never had to fly to Vegas, so I found it very surprising to see slot machines at the airport. For the first 3 nights, most of us stayed at Sahara, which is very close to the Convention Center. All of the events took place at the Convention Center.

Day 1:
Olga, Pannyun, and I left early to make it to the 9 AM session about residency while Aileen, Linh, and Stephanie slept in (a good number of them went to Pure the night before). I believe Pure at Caesar Palace was voted one of the best night clubs in the US in 2004.

The residency talk was mainly about the process of applying for residency programs after one graduates from the pharmacy school and the benefits of doing so. Like many other people, I've thought about residencies but I don't know if this will be a definite decision. I was so sure about declaring the pharmaceutical care pathway, but I'm not so sure anymore. However, that doesn't mean that I'm not no longer interested in the clinical aspect of pharmacy. I simply have found other possibilities.

There are three different pathways at UCSF: Pharmaceutical Care, Pharmaceutical Science, and Health Policy & Management. As of now, I'm positive that pharmaceutical science is out of the question because I can't see myself doing research for 20+ years. I've only recently developed an interest in HP&M. How? Blame it on Medicare Part D. I'm sure not everyone is familiar with Medicare Part D. Basically, it's about prescription drug coverage for the beneficiaries of Medicare. Enrollments for Part D began in November and it will become effective on Jan 1 2005. The huge problem with this plan is that it's extremely complicated...not that Medicare/Medicaid and insurance policies are not complex enough already...Somehow I've developed an interest in health policies and I'm eager to learn more about it.

After the residency talk, the three of us left to go to Paris for the champagne brunch buffet. We paid the price for the breakfast buffet ($13) but we actually had access to everything except for the champagne. The brunch buffet costs $24, with unlimited glasses of champagne. Everything they served was pretty much the same as that one time when we (Ann, Christina, Jessica, Michelle, Tina, and me) ate there less than a year ago. I have to say...I got my money worth this time!!! I love the desserts at Paris!!!

After we finished eating, we walked to Bellagio and watched the fountain show; it was really pretty. Then we took the free shuttle back to the Convention Center for the 2 PM session about career opportunities (I thought it wasn't interesting at all). After the session, Nancy, Pannyun and I decided to go shoe hunting at Fashion Show Mall. Since we had to dress professionally, I only brought two pairs of heels and didn't bring any comfy shoes at all. By this time, my feet were hurting badly. I got a pair of REALLY comfortable shoes from PUMA in less than 20 minutes. That goes to show how desperate I was. Nancy got 2 pairs of shoes from Macy's and Pannyun also got a pair of shoes there. Macy's were having a family weekend sale so there was an extra 10% off.

We continued shopping inside the huge mall. Meanwhile, we were trying to get a hold of Amy to join us for dinner at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. Cafe Ba Ba Reeba is a Spanish restaurant that serves mainly tapas, paella, and sangria! The four of us ordered:

Two orders of paella: lobster paella (paella de langosta)
Three tapas: baby spinach salad, chorizo bits, piquillo peppers, and eggs (ensalada de espinacas)
roast tomato filled with tuna (tomate relleno de atun)
grilled squid in olive oil & garlic (calamares a la plancha)
A pitcher of sangria: black raspberry sangria

Paella is a traditional rice dish made with varying combinations of rice, meat, vegetables, and seafood. Tapas are cold and hot "small dishes" kind of like the size of dimsum. I've never eaten at a Spanish restaurant before. I definitely recommend everyone to try it!

When girls go out to dinner, how can you forget about the desserts? Even the desserts are mini-sized. I think this is a great idea because they were all $1.99 each (except for the ones that have liquor in them). So we ordered 3 mini tapas desserts:

Three milk chocolate cake (tarta de tres leches)
Caramelized banana with vanilla ice cream (platano al caramelo)
Coconut bread pudding and sorbet (torrija de coco)

The desserts were too irresistable to eat AND watch!

After dinner, we walked on the Strip and we happened to saw the pirate show at Treasure Island. We were all very surprised and dissapointed. The last time I watched the original pirate show was back in 2001. Now, the new show is called Sirens of Ti. This show is not the family kind of show that parents should bring their kids to watch (at least that's what I think) because the performers are dressed very scandalously...but it IS LAS VEGAS...

First quarter recap (3 of 3)

2005-12-13T23:36:00.000-08:00

So there was Kim and Lily's b-day celebration at our apartment (30 min after the fire)

Kim and Christina made jello shots (blue and pink cups shown in the picture); they were really good! I took like 4 shots! (HAHA)

Some more pictures from the Walk to Cure Diabetes in October:

The UCSF medical center team:

From left: Jenn, Michelle, Stacy, and me (we were the only pharmacy students there; Jenn, Michelle, and Stacy are the coordinators for operation diabetes)

There was Karen's surprise b-day party:

The cake was huge...and pretty heavy

Everyone was happy and smily... :)

From left front row: Christina, Karen, Kim, Nancy

back row: Rosalyn, me, Amy

Who knew that pharmacy schools also have fraternities? We actually have two pharmacy frats at UCSF: Kappa Psi and Phi Delta Chi. Over half of our class pledged for one of the two (PDC alone has 50 new pledges). It was difficult for some people to choose one over the other. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to pledge for PDC; I felt a sense of genuineness from PDC that I didn't find in KY. The pledge events don't take place until the winter quarter...more reasons to be looking forward to the upcoming quarter. The 2005 PDC pledges:

First quarter recap (2 of 3)

2005-12-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed first quarter very much. Mainly because of the many hands-on experiences available to us, the "student pharmacists". This is something Mary Anne Koda-Kimble (UCSF School of Pharmacy Dean) emphasized in her speech during the White Coat Ceremony in October, that the ceremony marks our transition from "pharmacy students" to "student pharmacists".

APhA is the one organization I decided to join very early (every pharmacy student joins this). Why? Because you get the OTC handbook just by joining. (For those that don't know what OTC means: OTC stands for over-the-counter; aka nonpresciption drugs) The handbook is a 3-in-wide, hardcover reference text required by the CP (clinical pharmacy) series. Besides this obvious benefit of joining APhA, it's the student projects that interest me. The projects that I'm interested/involved in are the following three:

Operation Diabetes
Hypertension/Cholesterol Project
Operation Immunization

A handful of us attended the training sessions for diabetes and hypertension/cholesterol. The training session is required for those interested in measuring blood glucose, blood pressure, and choleterol tests for the public at health fairs. Christina and I were practice buddies; we were partners for diabetes, cholesterol, and later, immunization training. They told us that punching a small hole in your finger tip doesn't hurt. But let me tell you from my personal experience, it DOES hurt! Ok...ok...it's not THAT bad, but it stings. Especially when you're milking the blood for the cholesterol testing, your finger just becomes numb. I don't mean to scare anyone...because it also depends on the type of machine and test strips you use.

A group of us signed up to go to the San Mateo health fair near the end of October. I'm SO glad to take the time out to go to this event. The San Mateo health fair is supposed to be the largest health fair we can participate in. The event was mainly organized by a group of dedicated pharmacists and APhA. There were tables for blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol, and bone density tests - all free access to the public! In addition, there was also a big section of various displays of health issues like AIDS, lung cancer, women's health, OTC/herbs, etc. I was responsible for measuring cholesterol level. I was a little shaky for the first two people; I had to poke them twice, but I gained confidence and actually knew what I was doing. It went pretty smooth from then on.

The course instructors for CP managed to incorporate immunization as part of the class this year. Did you know that licensed pharmacists and intern pharmacists in California can administer immunization shots to the public? Our class of 2009 became the first class to be immunization certified in November. First, we had a written pre-test on different vaccines for MMR (mumps, measles, and rubella), influenza or flu, tetnus, pneumonia, just naming a few. Then we had a 2-hour immunization training where we were divided up into small groups. We partnered up in pairs and gave each other two flu shots intramuscularly (they were actually saline solutions). Christina and I happened to be partners...again. So we heard that one or two of our classmates bursted out with tears after receiving a shot from their partners. As for myself, I didn't have a difficult time giving Christina shots. Afterall...I had enough practice on lab rats. But of course, it's a totally different experience the second time around.

First quarter recap (1 of 3)

2005-12-10T10:12:00.000-08:00

I figured that I'm REALLY going to keep things short. Things are just not THAT special (to me) to talk about after 3 months have passed.

First of all, pharmacy school started on Sep 15 and we had a week and a half of orientation before this. For the first two weeks or so, it was unnecessary to buy groceries because we got free food by going to organizational meetings like APhA (American Pharmaceutical Association), ASHP (American Society of Health-System Pharmacists), CSHP, AMCP, WHO, ASSP, bla bla bla... It's a mouth-full of acronyms.

Classes are structured very much similar to the ones at UCSD. This past quarter, I took 18 units of classes, of which the first four are required:

Biopharmaceutics
Physical chemistry (thermodynamics)
Biostatistics
Clinical pharmacy practice I
Women's health issues
Student AIDS forum
Introduction to pharmacy pathways and careers

They say that first quarter, actually, first YEAR is the easiest of all 4, and we should get the most out of it by joining twenty organizations, going clubbing every Wednesday night, and hanging out at the bar every Thursday night. I agree to the first part of the previous sentence. First quarter was not so bad. In fact, UCSD gave me a tougher time. I guess UCSD prepares its science majors well. Friends who know me know that it's a miracle to find me at a club. I just don't care for it that much. But I went once for Grace's birthday celebration, at Harry Denton's Starlight room. To my surprise, I actually had fun. It was fun to see everyone there. I haven't been to a bar yet...something to venture out next quarter.

If you haven't heard already...we had a scary fire accident about 3 weeks in to school. We threw a "house party" for Kim and Lily's birthday. It was about 30 minutes before our guests arrive. I was lying in my bed, trying to get some rest and all of a sudden, Kim runs into my room and yelled with a panicked voice: "Sally! We have a fire in our kitchen!" I ran into the kitchen and Christina was standing in front of the stove, trying to put out a pot of red, scorching flame that is about one foot high. Apparently Christina was trying to boil a pot of oil with the lid covered and kind of forgot about it. The smoke alarms went off and Nancy and Amy (our neighbors/classmates from downstairs) came up and we were all trying to figure out a way to put out the fire. Meanwhile, Christina was running up and down the stairs, looking for a fire extinguisher, but it was no where to be found! We called 911 and opened the windows. The pedistrians and street neighbors knew we have a fire incident. The fire remained strong and our living room was filled with gray smoke. I panicked for the first time. Finally, Mike (Nancy's boyfriend) helped us put out the fire with flour just before three firefighter trucks came. I never knew the firefighters are so tall and built until I saw them close in person. The man that came up to investigate the aftermath of the fire was a giant to me!

Here's a picture taken downstairs at Amy, Linda, and Nancy's apartment (same layout as ours) during first week of school:

from left front row: Kim, Pearl, Christina, Amy (in green), Karen (in khaki), Nancy, me, Terrence

back row: Diana, Lily, Trevor

Life in San Francisco...

2005-11-08T22:35:00.000-08:00

It's been more than 2 months and I still haven't talked about my life here in San Francisco. Well, my first impression of SF during the first few weeks was: "It's so COLD!" But now I'm immune to the windy and cold weather. A lot of things have happened...so I'm just going to give a brief re-cap...

South Korea Trip (6 of 6)

2005-10-10T00:05:00.000-07:00

Date: July 2, 2005

Today was our "shopping" day. We spent our day in Namdaemun Market (南大門市場;남대문시장) and Myeongdong (明洞;명동). If you don't know already from the previous posts, Namdaemun market is a huge market where you can bargain almost anything you buy, such as clothes, purses, souvenirs, kimchi, roasted seaweed, ginseng, etc. And Myeongdong is of course Seoul's number one shopping spot besides Apgujeong-dong Rodeo Street (狎鷗亭羅迪歐街). If you're wondering about Rodeo Drive in Beveley Hills, you're right about Apgujong-dong. This place is considered the richest neighborhood in Seoul and many celebrities shop here. Myeongdong is different from Namdaemun market in that there are more good-quality brands and therefore is more attractive among the young people.

In the morning, we left our hotel and took the subway to Namdaemun Market station. The four of us split up and I went along with Millie. We wandered by ourselves until we saw this one shop that sells souvenirs at a cheaper price than others. We got super excited because they had really cute things there. When we walked into the store, we also saw posters, calenders, folders, framed keychains of Korean stars! It's not that I'm obsessed about them, but I ended up buying a Rain 2006 table calender and a Rain plastic folder. Technically I didn't pay for the folder because the vendor gave it to me for free. The thing is, I was really indecisive whether I wanted to get it or not. So I picked it up and then I put it down...then picked it up...then put it back again. I guess he could tell that I was REALLY interested in that plastic folder, so he gave it to me for free at the end! Millie and I bought a lot of stuff from that store (so we can bargain), and we ended up paying at least $10.00 less than we were supposed to. Or maybe the vendor was not too good at math. We each got a plastic shopping bag from another shop for $15.00. It seemed that those shopping bags were pretty popular; we saw a lot of people carry them around.

After we finished shopping at Namdaemun, we walked to the Mesa Department store a few blocks away. It started to rain pretty hard at this time and we didn't have enough umbrellas to share. So we quickly walked there to hide from the rain. There wasn't much to see in Mesa because I felt that everywhere I've been to carry similiar items. The only thing we bought from here was white chocolate ginseng covered almonds. I remember Millie and I picked up a vacinity map in Japanese from the store entrance because they didn't have it in Chinese. So we were reading it and trying to figure our where we were. A Japanese woman and her mom showed us a map and asked us for directions in Japanese...they thought we were Japanese. Then they realized that we don't speak. Millie and I scrutinized the location of question on the map and eventually were able to point them to the right direction.

In the afternoon, we walked to Myeongdong for more shopping. We first went to this five-story store that sells almost everything you can think of. This place was packed with people. And I really mean "packed"; it was really difficult to go across from one corner of the floor to another. Although I didnn't get anything from here, I got a pretty purse from a different store for $15.00. The print on the purse is pink and white interlocked squares. On each (shorter) side of the purse, there's also a small cell-phone pocket decorated with a white ribbon.

After we were done with shopping, we started looking for things to eat. There were a lot of street-vendors that sell snacks. I got a small bag of caramelized sweet potatoes for 2,000 won ($2.00). The outside has a hard caramel layer almost exactly like the 糖葫蘆 (caramelized tomatoes on a stick) you can get in Taiwan and the inside is soft. It tasted pretty good but I felt that I could make it myself.

We saw a middle-age couple selling butter roasted octopus on the side of the road and it looked very tasty and smelled so good! The price was based on weight and I got a bag of 140 gram for 3,000 won. When I took a bite, I was like "Wow! This is delicious!" While we were sitting down and relaxing, we noticed that they have very good business. The wife was responsible for roasting the octopus and the husband was in charge of handling orders. I wasn't surprised to see them sell one bag every 5 seconds or so!

When you come to Myeongdong, you got to get 만두 from "명동만두". 만두 is steamed dumplings that look exactly like 小籠包. Millie and mom went there and got us a box of 10. I didn't think it was that special at all. All I could say is that I've had better ones from China Town in San Francisco.

While we were walking, we saw this place called Cafe Iceberry. There were two huge poster stands in front of the store that displayed their featured 빙수 (shaved ice), pronounced as bingsu. Bingsu sounds very much like 冰沙 in Chinese and it also means shaved ice in Chinese. The four of us shared one tower and one green tea bingsu; they were $4.50 each. Honestly, the shaved ice in Taiwan is still the best I've had in my life, and most importantly, cheapst!!! (like $2.00)

The last thing we ate at Myeongdong was ginseng chicken soup (蔘雞湯;삼계탕) from 百濟蔘雞湯. Ginseng chicken soup is a signature soup of Korea and is thought to be very good for one's health. The typical ingredients include a whole chicken (small), glutinous rice, dates, chestnuts, cloves garlic, sesame seeds and ginseng roots. The soup was not cheap; the plain white chicken was $11.00 and the black chicken (烏骨雞) was $18.00.

Before we headed back, we took a picture in front of Myeongdong Cathedral (明洞教堂;명동교회). The reason why we wanted to come here is because one of the scenes from The Beautiful Days (美麗的日子) was filmed here.

South Korea Trip (5 of 6)

2005-09-04T21:33:00.000-07:00

Date: July 1, 2005

Although it was drizzling when we woke up in the morning, we had no choice but to visit Dae Jang Geum Theme Park (大長今主題公園;대장금테마파크) today because it was going to rain the next day, big time.

Getting there from our hotel was not too complicated, but it still required some effort. Around 10 A.M., We took the subway from Dongdaemun Stadium station to Chang-dong (倉洞;창동) in order to transfer to Northern Legislative station (議政府北部;의정부 북부). This alone took about 1 hour. According to Millie, there are two ways of getting to the theme park from Northen Legislative station. One can either take the bus or ride the taxi. Of course, riding the bus would be a lot cheaper than the taxi. However, waiting for the bus could take up to 2-3 hours. So, I simply asked a taxi driver to take us to the theme park. How long did it take? It took about 20-25 minutes for a cost of 15,000 won (approximately $15.00). Considering the time saved, $15.00 wasn't such a bad deal. By the time we got there, it was already 11:30 A.M. The driver took us all the way to the entrance of the park. The entrance fee was $5.00 per ticket.

Dae Jang Geum Theme Park is inside the MBC Culture Park (MBC is one of the television broadcasting companies in South Korea), located in Yangju City (揚州;양주), in the northern outskirt of Seoul. MBC built this place especially for the filming of Dae Jang Geum. This was probably my happiest day in Korea. Dae Jang Geum is my all-time favorite. Being there was like a dream come true.

Because of the rain, there weren't too many people in the park. This was a good thing because we could take better pictures this way. When we got there, we met Lee Kyong Won (李京源;이경웡). He played the supervising eunuch in the later episodes of the drama. We even asked for his autograph!

For those of you who have already seen the drama, you should be very familiar with these pictures. For those of you who haven't seen the drama, I strongly recommend you to go watch it! The highest viewer rating was like 54% when the drama was on. More than half of the population in South Korea was watching the drama! Dae Jang Geum has also become the drama that made the most profit in history. This "Jang Geum" wave sweeped the whole Asia, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, etc.

All of us also tried on the traditional dresses ($5.00 per person). It was really fun! The one that I had on was the dress Jang Geum wore when she became the emperor's royal physician and was given the title "Dae". We took a picture with the girl that was in charge of renting the dresses. She was kind of shy. At the end, we also visited the souvenir shop. Inside the shop, there were posters from the set on the walls, including the original scripts used by the actors/actresses! I got a little Dae Jang Geum figurine for $12.00, similar to the one I saw in Insa-dong. Then, we took the taxi back (this time for $10.00) to Northern Legislative station.

From there, we made two subway transfers in order to get to Yeouido station (汝矣島;여의도). What's so special about Yeouido? Well, all I know is that Millie really wanted to come here. Why? Because KBS is here. KBS is another television broadcasting company in South Korea. Many of the popular dramas we've seen were produced by KBS, including Winter Sonata (冬季戀歌), Full House (浪漫滿屋), 18:29, etc. In order to get to KBS, we took the Yeouido Park exit. It took about 10 minutes to walk to the Central Building of KBS. We toured the 4th and 5th floor of the building. The staff there led us to a room that broadcasts news. She even asked me to read the Korean on the monitor a few yards in front of me. Although I could read Korean, the staff still helped me to get through. I don't remember every exact word I said but I was pretty much saying "Hi, my name is Sally, I'm your host..." It was pretty fun!
As one of Park Sun Young's (朴善英;박선영) number one fans, Millie was super excited to see the "Goodbye, sadness" (悲傷啊再見) poster. This drama is currently playing in South Korea. Some people might not be familiar with Park Sun Young, but you would love the character she played in 18:29. KBS closed at 5:30 P.M., so we left and took the subway to Sinchon station (新村;신정).

Sinchon is the area where three major universities are located: Yonsei University (延世大學), Ewha Women University (梨花女子大學), and Sogang University (弘大). There are numerous coffee lounges, restaurants, clothing stores, jazz cafes, nightclubs, etc. This place is very popular among young people. The main reason for us to come here was to go to the record store where "Beautiful Days" (美麗的日子) with Lee Byung Hun (李秉憲;이병헌) and Choi Ji Woo (崔智友;츼지우) was filmed. I bought something that I had to get: Rain's First Live Concert DVD pack ($28.00). The DVD pack includes 2 concert DVDs, 1 single CD, 1 picture booklet, and 10 3x4 pictures. Plus, if you get the DVD pack, you also get a free poster. How could I not get it after seeing it waving at me?

South Korea Trip (4 of 6)

2005-08-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

Date: June 30, 2005
Destinations: Chuncheon Nami Island (春川南怡島;춘천남이섬) and Chuncheon Myeong-dong (春川明洞;춘천명동)

In order to go to Nami Island and Chuncheon Myeong-dong, we had to take the train. We left the hotel around 8:00 A.M. and took the subway from Dongdaemun Stadium to Dongdaemun. Then we transferred to Cheongnyangni (清涼里;청량리) to take the train at the Cheongnyangni Train Station. By the time we arrived at the train station, it was almost 8:30, and the train to Gapyeong (加平;가평) leaves at 8:30!! My goodness! I ran like no other to get the tickets from the ticket window; it was $3.50 each. The lady at the window told me to go quickly because the train was leaving soon. Oh my! So then we all ran to the platform as if we were running for our lives. Finally, we got onto the train safe and sound. Right when we got on, the train slowly began to move away from the platform. How close was that!

The total train ride to Gapyeong station was going to take 1 hour and 20 minutes. Nami Island is located in the countryside of Chuncheon, a city Northeast of Seoul. As the train moved further away from Seoul, there were more and more green fields and trees outside the windows. The feeling of getting away from the city was unspeakably gratifying. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the peaceful ride... Once we got there, we proceeded to the exit. There were many taxies outside. So I walked to one of the drivers and told him that we were going to "남이섬" (Nami Island). He signaled us to get into the car. I sat in the front seat in case if conversations need to be made.

The first thing I asked was "how long is the drive?"
"7-10 minutes," he said.
I translated it into Mandarin for my mom, aunt, and Millie.

When we were almost there, the roads became really bumpy and were covered with yellow mud; it must have been the rain from yesterday. Thankfully it was bright and sunny today! We paid our thanks to the taxi driver ($3.80). Like he told me, we got there in a little less than 10 minutes, despite the muddy roads.

In order to get to the island itself, we actually had to take the ferry. The ferry + entrance ticket was $5.00 per person. When we aboarded the ferry, there was a Japanese tour group. I noticed they were all women (moms and grandmas), except the tour guide. I wonder why...Millie took a picture of the ferry across from us. I didn't know that the ferry can withstand 1 van and 1 mini truck all at once!

There were posters and huge banners everywhere on the island, directing tourists to the filming spots of Winter Sonata (冬季戀歌;겨울연가). We kind of just followed the Japanese tour group, so it wasn't hard to find the different locations. Many of the earlier episodes of the drama are set in Nami Island, from scenes of Joon-Sang (played by Bae Yoon Joon) and Yu-Jin (played by Choi Ji Woo) riding on a bicycle to their first kiss near the lake.

Millie and I kept taking pictures nonstop. I was so excited to see pictures of behind the scenes. I wish I could see the actual filming of any Korean drama. But it's probably very unlikely. I was very surprised to see their statues and the table where they made their little snowmen. There was also the "Drama Cafe" (戀歌之家). Drama Cafe is basically a store that sells posters, notebooks, keychains, etc. There were also a collection of photos and wooden plaques with autographs and messages from those actors/actresses that participated in dramas directed by 욘석호. Did you know that Summer Scent (夏日香氣), Endless love (藍色生死戀/秋天的童話), and Winter Sonata (冬季戀歌) were all directed by him? He wanted to make one for each season. Right now, I think he is about to start filming the last one of the four called Spring Waltz (春天華爾滋).

We took the ferry back at around 12:00 P.M. because we needed to head to Chuncheon Myeong-dong for lunch. In order to get there, we had to ride the train to Chuncheon station. So we took the taxi back to Gapyeong station and purchased the tickets; it was $2.80 each. The train came at 1:15 P.M. and it took about 40 minutes to get to Chucheon station. Same as before, I asked a taxi driver to take us to Myeong-dong. I really liked this young taxi driver. (Not just because he was young) Knowing that we were foreigners, he tried to speak English with us. After we told him that we were going to Myeong-dong, he said a lot of Japanese and Chinese go there. He even offered me a cookie. I took one to be polite. What was even more interesting and nice of him was that when we got to Myeong-dong, he told us the cost was 2,200 won. Then he smiled and said "2,000 won, discount." We all laughed and expressed our thanks. What a funny guy. I wonder what made him change his mind?

Right when we walked into the main street of Myeong-dong, there was a display of Bae Yoon Joon and Choi Ji Woo's hand prints. Chuncheon Myeong-dong is the place where the lovers are supposed to meet up on Christmas Eve. But of course...something happens and the sad stories begin.

What's the representative dish of Chuncheon? The answer is: barbecue chicken (烤雞排;닭갈비). Every tourist that come here must try it. There's this whole street that sell just barbecue chicken. It was difficult to choose which restaurant is good. We kept walking until we were near the end of the street. Then we came across one called Myung-Mule (名物). We figured this should be a good one since there was a "Good Restaurant" sign outside the restaurant, rated by SBS. I also noticed that almost all the restaurants that we passed along the street had people came out to get business from us, but this one didn't.

When we walked into the restaurant, a waitress asked us to sit down on the wooden floor. I guess she overheard us speaking in Mandarin, so she began taking our order in Mandarin. How lucky were we! We ordered 3 servings of barbecue chicken for $25.50. In the middle of the table, there was a huge, black, cooking pot. After a short time, the same waitress came back with several plates of lettuce, cabbage, white onions, sweet potatoes, rice cake, and marinated chicken. Before throwing all of this into the pot, she instructed us to put on the aprons she brought for us. The waitress was so nice that she even helped us cook the chicken. We were the only ones in the restaurant that received this kind of special service. After a few minutes, the barbecue chicken was ready to eat! It looked extremely delicious, and the taste? Even better! This is nothing like the American-styled barbecue from TGI Friday's or Dave & Buster's. This was by far the best food I've had so far in South Korea. Yum!

South Korea Trip (3 of 6)

2005-08-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

Date: June 29, 2005

A good thing about independent traveling is that you can change the itinerary whenever you want in order to avoid sightseeing in the rain, for example. Originally, we planned to go to Nami Island (南怡島;남이섬) for the day, but the weather report said that it was going to rain the entire week. So, we decided to push it back until the next day and to spend the day inside COEX Mall and Lotte World.

Around 10 in the morning, we took the subway from Dongdaemun Stadium station to Samseong station (三成站;삼성). It only took us 10 to 15 minutes to get to COEX Mall on foot. The mall is huge and complicated, especially when you don't know how to read the directions in Korean. It wasn't long before I found the information booth. There, I asked for directions to the Kimichi Field Museum (泡菜博物館;김지박물관). The receptionist knew we were tourists so she asked one of the staffs to lead us there (how nice of them!). I kept turning my head to look at the shops, fearing that I would miss anything exciting. It took a good 10 minute walk to get there. I think it would have taken us at least 25 minutes to get there on our own because the place was so big. The ticket to the museum was $3.00 each. Overall, I thought the museum wasn't that fun. However, they did have a good display of instructions for making different kinds of kimchi.

After leaving the museum, we wandered by ourselves. We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant called "重慶". I remember we ordered 炸醬麵 ($5.00), 海鮮馬麵 ($6.00), and 跑馬麵. It was interesting to taste the Korean-style 炸醬麵. The dish is made with a dark, sweet sauce over noodles, white onions, meat, and shrimp. You could find 炸醬麵 in any Chinese restaurants in Korea (it's this popular). After lunch, I got an ice cream cone from McDonald's. The cone was about the same price as in Taiwan ($0.30). So I was really happy (finally something cheap to eat). I took a picture of the "McDonald's" sign because I thought it was really cool to see it written in another language besides English and Mandarin.

Inside the COEX Mall, there were little shops, restaurants, record/video/VCD/DVD stores, etc. Right beside the COEX aquarium, I saw a seafood restaurant called "Deep Blue". There were pictures of celebrities posted outside the door, including Lee Young Ae (李英愛). The restaurant has become pretty well-known because a lot of celebrities come here to eat. One of the restaurant scenes in "Full House" (浪漫滿屋) was also filmed here. I've always wanted to get a dictionary ever since I started taking Korean, so I purchased a Korean-English dictionary ($14.00) from Bandi & Luni's Bookstore.

Finally,we left the COEX MAll and took the subway to the Jamsil station (蠶室;잠실) in order to visit Lotte World (樂天世界;롯데욀드). Lotte World is famous not only because it's the most frequently visited attraction but it's also Korea's largest indoor amusement park. We went to Lotte Mart before going to the park because the moon-light pass is not valid until after 5 P.M. The ticket was $18.00 each with coupon (originally $26.00). The supermarket was very similar to the ones you see in Taiwan. There were also free samplings!

I was pretty amazed when I walked into Lotte World. It was new to me because I've never been to an indoor theme park this large. It felt like another world! Lotte World can be separated into Lotte World Adventure and Magic Island. Magic Island is outdoor and it has a blue and white castle similar to the one you see in Disneyland. One of the most famous rides in Magic Island is the Gyro Drop that drops from 70 m (2,297 ft for those in the U.S.) in the air. Choi Ji Woo went on this ride when she filmed "The Beautiful Days" (美麗的日子). Millie was brave enough to go on the ride by herself (she's the one in the center wearing a yellow shirt).

On the other hand, Lotte World Adventure is entirely indoor and it's about 3 to 4 times the size of Magic Island. Two floors below the ground level is a gigantic ice rink. This was where they filmed the ice skating scene in "Full House" (浪漫滿屋). Also, the carrousel has become a super popular ride because of "Staircase to Heaven" (天國的階梯). When it was 7:30 P.M., the world carnival parade started. I remember the last time I saw a parade was like 6 years ago at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The parade was short but I thought the music and the costumes were spectacular. We hung around for awhile and left to take the subway back to Dongdaemun station.

We ate dinner at 路邊攤子 (street vendors) in Dongdaemun market. I was really disappointed at the quality of the food. The food wasn't cheap at all, and everything tasted just ok or pretty bad. Both 烏龍麵 (Udon noodle soup) and 辣炒年糕 (spicy rice cake) were $3.00. The Udon noodle soup tasted alright but the spicy rice cake was the worst; it had no other ingredients except the spicy sauce and the rice cake...no wonder it's called "spicy rice cake". The only thing that I liked was 炒黑糯米腸 (pork intestines stuffed with black sweet rice). This was $10.00. We also ordered a bottle of 真露 (the most famous rice liquor in Korea) for $3.00. I did not like it at all; it tasted just like rubbing alcohol.

South Korea Trip (2 of 6)

2005-08-20T00:43:00.000-07:00

Date: June 28, 2005

Our plans for the day were to ride the Seoul City tour bus and to watch "Cookin'" at night. The bus makes rounds at all of Seoul's best-known spots.

Therefore, in the morning, we walked to the Dongdaemun information center about 10 minutes away from Co-Op. We met a girl that works at the information center. She has been taking mandarin for 4 years already. So she helped us purchase the tour bus ticket and told us where to purchase the Cookin' tickets. The downtown tour ticket was $10.00 each. The man in charge of the information center was very kind to us. He asked us where we're from and I told him we're from Taiwan. Since we've never taken the bus before, he came out of the building and showed us where the bus stop is.

The buses run either the Downtown or Palace Tour, and passengers can get off anywhere, then reboard and proceed. We first got off at Insa-dong (仁寺洞;인사동). Insa-dong is famous for its tranditional craft stores, art galleries, antique shops, tranditional tea houses and restaurants.

I found some surprises while walking on the main road. First, there was the tea resturant where they filmed "The President That Plays The Piano" (彈鋼琴的總統). Choi Ji Woo (崔智友;최지우) plays the main actress in the film. For those that don't know who Choi Ji Woo is, she has become perhaps the most popular Korean actress in Japan because of the drama called "Winter Sonata" (冬季戀歌;겨울연가). I took a picture of the autographs in front of the tea resaurant. Choi Ji Woo's is at the most bottom (click on the image to view a bigger-sized picture). One more thing, it was very easy to notice which actor/actress is popular among the tourists. When I was walking on the main road in Insa-dong, pictures, posters, and other related items of Bae Yong Joon (裴勇浚;배용준) and Choi Ji Woo could be seen from store to store. Although they're super popular in Japan, I'm not their biggest fan. But I took these two door-sized pictures of them anyway.

Inside one of the stores, I saw these two really cute cartoon figurines of Daejangum (大長今;대장금). I would have gotten it if they were not this expensive. The currency exchange of "won" to "dollar" is roughly 1000 to 1. So, the one on the left costs about $17.50 and the one on the right costs $24.50! When we were getting ready to leave Insa-dong, we passed by this little shop on the side of the road that sells kkul tarea (꿀타래) or "traditional court cake." This thing looks similar to 龍鬚糖 (dragon whisker candy) in Taiwan. 龍鬚糖 in Taiwan is made of peanut powder. The one in Korea is made of peanut powder and black sesame. The 3 men selling the court cake were kind of funny. They spoke in English, Japanese, and Mandarin to get business; they kept saying "很好吃" (it's very delicious) and "快點來買" (come get it). We got a box (contains 10) for $2.00. The back of the box says that the cake is made of honey and malt, and was once presented to the king and valuable guests. It wasn't bad, but I think I still prefer the one in Taiwan. It's sad because I don't see vendors selling 龍鬚糖 anymore.

We got on the tour bus to continue with our Seoul city trip. The next stop was at Cheong Wa Dae or "The Blue House" (青瓦台;청와대). Similar to the White House of U.S., the Blue House is the presidential residence of South Korea. This picture was taken across the street from the gate because tourists were not allowed to get too close.

After 30 minutes, we got on the bus again

and got off at Deoksugung Palace (德壽宮;덕수궁). The ticket for the palace was $1.00 per person. Deoksugung Palace was one of the five royal palaces of the Chosan Dynasty. Nowadays, it is often used for filming. Junghwajeon (中和殿) is the main hall of the palace. In front of the hall, there are court stones that indicate where each civil and military official should stand during official meetings. The one closest to the hall is the 正一品 rank, this is the highest rank and it's relatively the same as the prime minister of a country. The ranks begin from 正一品 all the way to 正九品.

Since the Nanta Theater was close to this stop and that we were afraid tickets would be sold out by 8 P.M., Millie and I went to get the tickets from the box office; it was $45.00 per ticket with coupon (originally $50.00). The tickets go from $40, $50, to $60 for VIP. After getting the tickets, we headed to Namdaemun Market (南大門市場;남대문시장). Inside the market, we bought two 人參豬腳 (ginseng pork leg) for $5.00. I thought it was pretty good because it wasn't too oily (or maybe because I was hungry). For the rest of the afternoon before the Nanta show, we spent roughly 30 minutes each at Itaewon (梨泰院;이태원), Myeong-dong (明洞;명동), and Seoul Tower (首爾塔;서울타워). Itaewon is densely packed with diverse ethnic restaurants such as Indian, Italian, Mexican, Pakistani, and Thai. It was also here that I first tasted Korean shaved ice. To be honest, I think the 刨冰 in Taiwan is still the best and the cheapest too! On the other hand, Myeong-dong is the trend-making center of Korean fashion. This is where young people like to hang out. In a sense, Myeong-dong is like 西門盯 in Taipei. Since we didn't have enough time to go shopping here, we decided to come back here some other day.

By the time we got to the last stop, Gwanghwamun (光化門;광화문), it was already 7:15 P.M. We then started walking to the Nanta Theater because the show begins at 8:00 P.M. So what's Nanta? Nanta (亂打;난타) means "cooking" in Korean. This is basically a percussion performance integrating cooking and rhythm. It has become an acclaimed show in Korea and other countries. There are only two shows per day and the show is performed by different groups, always made up of 4 men and 1 woman. A different group performs at each show. Some of their tools include kitchen utensils, pots and pans and garbage cans, broomsticks and chopsticks and kitchen knives.

The picture on the left is the banner outside of the theater. The one on the right is a shot of the stage at the very beginning of the show. Pictures were not allowed during the show...so I didn't take any more pictures of the show. Millie and I were so glad that we were not with a tour because people that came with the tour left right after the show. In order to get the performers' autographs, we had to get something from the shop. So I got a program and Millie got a T-shirt for them to sign. We were able to shake hands with them too!!!

The entire show was approximately 2 hours long. We enjoyed the show a lot (two thumbs up!!). I definitely recommend Nanta show to everyone!!! Finally, we took the subway from City Hall station (市廳;시청) back to Dongdaemun Stadium station.

South Korea Trip (1 of 6)

2005-08-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

Date: June 27, 2005
Time: 2:45 P.M.
Who: my mom, aunt, Millie, and Sally

We left Taiwan and headed for Incheon International Airport (仁川國際機場;인천국제공항), located in Seoul. The flight took about two and a half hours. Although this was my second time traveling to South Korea, I was nevertheless very excited. This time, we planned to spend most of our time in Seoul (首爾;서울) and Chuncheon (春川;춘천). Before we even left the U.S., Millie spent a lot of time on planning our schedule and figuring out the transportation system. I wasn't that worried about communicating in Korean because I thought I'd be able to get by with what I know. Afterall, I only know what I already know.

Once we arrived, Millie and I got 4 bus tickets ($7.00 each) heading for Dongdaemun Stadium (東大門運動場;동대문운동장). Our hotel (Co-Op Uljiro) was less than 5 minutes away from the stadium on foot. Right beside the stadium is the Dongdaemun market. Dondaemun market is best known for shopping.

After we lugged our baggage off the bus, we started looking for our hotel. It was not so easy to find since the sky was already dark. So, I got out a map and started asking pedestrian for directions. (Yes, in Korean) I remember asking this girl near the Doota shopping mall. At first, she said she didn't know. Then, she turned around and asked her friend sitting beside her. They looked at the map and conversed among themselves (which I didn't really understand). Finally, they pointed their arms in one direction and said something in Korean.

"얼마 걸려요?" I asked.
"10 분 걸려요." One of the girls answered.
"So straight then right?" I asked in English...hoping that they understand what I just said.
"Yes. straight and right." The same girl answered with some hesitation.

It seemed that they didn't know where the hotel is located, but I trusted them. So this was how I became the "official" tour guide in the next couple of days.

Fortunately, we got to our hotel safely without too much trouble.

Left: A beautiful night view from our room on the 13th floor of Co-Op.
Right: what our kitchen looked like

We hunted for our dinner in the food court of Doota mall.

Thanks to Jessica...

2005-08-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to start with Blogger. Why? Probably the same reason as everyone else who's not or no longer using Xanga.

To make it "seem" like I post frequently, I'll post by "topics" instead of by "dates". This way, individual posts can be short and cohesive.