I'm gonna do a long post right now. And a very unimportant post for probably most of you people. But if you know the band BIGBANG, go ahead and read. If you don't and yet still curious, come join. But if really don't know anything about the band or the K-Pop world, and you do not have any interest towards it at all.. I suggest that you skip this post and just click next or close the window.
I'm not sure if this is even worth telling, but as a fellow VIP, I'd like to share my experience anyway.
I just came back from a holiday in Korea a week ago. It was a 10-days-trip and it was amazing. But, out of all the experiences that happened there, my last day was the most memorable one because I met one of BIGBANG's member - Taeyang.
So it was the last night and my friend and I didn't have any plan to do for our last day in Korea. So, we decided to stay up all night and 'camp' in front of YG Ent building. LOL. After eating in Yeolbong Hongdae (Se7en's restaurant) we headed to YG Ent building. It was around 11.30 PM when we got there.
There were a lot of fans there. There were about 8 Japanese fans, 2 Chinese fans, 2 Korean onnie fans and 2 Indonesian fans (which is me and my friend; although my friend is actually a Blackjack and not VIP). So, we thought... oh hey, this is great, we're not alone.
But after a few hours, there was no sign of BIGBANG at all. The Korean onnie had been asking to everyone that walked out of YG Building whether or not they have seen BIGBANG; but all of them answered that didn't know or they haven't seen.
The Chinese fans were the first to leave. Half an hour later, the Japanese fans finally gave up. Leaving only me, my friend and the 2 Korean onnie. We talked and we waited for another hour. I have to remind you, it was 10 degree Celsius at that moment and it was COLD! (especially for a tropical country citizen like me) So the onnie said maybe the boys wasn't inside because there was no other fans waiting. So they decied to head to BIGBANG's dorm. But, I had feelings they were inside, so I stayed.
It was 3.30 AM and still there was no sing of BIGBANG. At around 4 AM, three Japanese fans came and the 2 onnie came back again and said that BIGBANG was not in dorm also. So, I had greater feelings that they must be inside; whether it's Taeyang or GD or Seungri. But, not long after the onnies decided to go home and give up, since they had to go to work on that day.
It was getting colder and I needed to go to the toilet badly. So, I walked up to the security ahjussi and asked if I could use the toilet. So he said to follow him. He took me to YG Ent's back building and the toilet was awesome! Hahaha. Automatic toilet. So I thought, hey although I didn't get to meet the artist but at least I kinda went inside YG Ent's building and dump on their toilet.
I walked out, and as I was walking out across the garage, YG Ent's main building door opened up. And a man was laughing. I knew and recognized the voice. Turned my head. Ta-dah!! It's Taeyang! I was surprised. Taeyang was too. He prolly thought 'How come there's a fan inside the building?'
Security ahjussi told me to move out, so I did. Then I rushed out of the building and took my BIGBANG novel. Taeyang's car had started to drive out of the building but thankfully not so fast. So I jogged a little to chase it. I offered the book and asked him to sign it. At first he said not to the Japanese fans who was asking for photo, but thankfully he agreed and took my book. The car finally stopped and I hang out in the car window~ LOL
He signed it. And asked, 'Where are you from?', I told him I was from Indonesia. And he was, 'Oh... When are you going back?' Told him it is tomorrow, so it's my last day and it's cold, so please be nice and sign it. Hahahahaha. So he asked for my name and I spelled it for him as he wrote it on the book. And he wrote God bless you and I said, God bless you too Tae! And then we shook hands and he smiled. And then the car drove away.
He's so sweet, such an angel. I managed to keep myself amazingly calm while I talked to him, but afterwards I couldn't help but jumped up and down. And squealing and start squeezing and hugging my friend because I couldn't believe it was real.
Anyway, that gave me hope that GD was inside the building too. It was 5.30 AM so we waited longer until 6 AM. But at around 5.30 AM, even YG himself had gone home, so I thought where's GD????
Finally a man walked out of the building, start the car and parked it right in front of YG building. It waited there for half an hour, that I started to think is this man sleeping in his car? But suddenly another man walked out of the building. With a hat, white large hoodie. It all happened so quickly, I couldn't see the face clearly. He hopped on the car and just went away. It's so sad. But I have a great feeling it was GD. The walk, the style and everything and remembering that he's always the last one out of the building; I'd like to believe that at least I've seen GD's back (T____T)
So anyway, I only got to meet Taeyang, but that was more than enough. This was my first time ever in doing such a thing. I have never done anything like it before; so I'm glad it had a result.
What impress me the most is that, I had actually prepared myself to face an arrogant idol; although I am a fan, I had thoughts that there is a possibility that even my BIGBANG boys would be arrogant to fans. But Taeyang was an angel. When he talks and ask questions, he stares at you right in the eye and actually communicate with you. I like that. There aren't a lot of people who do that anymore nowadays.
So, although it wasn't a grand meeting. But I really wanted to share it.
P.S: I'm so so so so sorry that I'm writing stupid long like this.
I met Taeyang
October 28, 2011
So
Juniwise and I made an itinerary before we flew to Korea. But there's no
use anyway, while we were in Korea we practically changed the whole
thing due to the comfort we felt being in Hongdae area and definitely
because of our budget. So I'll just do a quick recap of what we did or
where we went in Korea.
Day 1 - late lunch in Ewha, then evening shopping
Day 2 - Deoksugung Palace
Day 3 - Heyri Art Village in Paju, Bought 'Heartbreaker' CD in Hongdae, searched for YG Ent Office
Day 4
- Bukchon Hanok Village, shopping in Insadong, Cheonggyecheon stream,
Kyobo bookstore to find GD's 1st Look Magazine, Ate Cheese Ramyeon
Day 5 - Coffee Prine Cafe, shopping around Hongdae, Yeolbong cafe, Hello Kitty Cafe
Day 6 - Itaewon for lunch, Sangsangmadang, Cafe Comma, met Yeolbong
Day 7 - Church in Yeouido, shopping in Myeongdong, N-Seoul Tower
Day 8 - (I totally forgot about the 8th day, I can't remember at all)
Day 9
- Interview in O-Check Design, Postal office in Hongik Uni, Shop all
around Hongdae (again), ate dinner in Yeolbong cafe (We just love this
restaurant so much), Camp in front of YG Ent
Day 10 - Home
Below are a whole lot of photos I took through my iPod and later uploaded
to my Instagram account during my trip in Korea. They're not in order, I
just gather them up randomly... Enjoy~
Instagrammed Korea
October 27, 2011
Today's itinerary is to shop in Myeongdong area and then head to N-Seoul Tower to see the famous love padlocks, the Teddy Bear Museum and also to see the beauty of Seoul at night time. I might not have said this, but Juniwise and I originally planned to see Korean foliage. But, we planned our trip a little too early, so most of the trees in Seoul was still green. You can see from the photos below, only a few tip of the leaves has starting to turn yellow/orange. But mostly... fresh and green.
We didn't take much photos in Myeongdong area, because we were busy looking around and going in and out the many different shops in that area. Since this post mostly contain photos of the tower, that's why I've entitled this post 'N-Seoul Tower'.
Since Juniwise and I thought the tower wouldn't be far from Myeongdong so we walked. Truthfullly... it really wasn't THAT far.
But, after going in and out shops in Myeongdong our legs were too weak
to walk. Thankfully the weather was nice, made it a 'wee' bit easier for
both of us.
Afterwards,
you'll find an elevator that takes you up to where the cable car
station is. Since there only one elevator, in busy days it would take
quite a while until you get a chance to get inside it. If you can't
wait, you can just take the stairs. Then you take the Namsan Cable car.
Now this one is a long queue. You just got to be patient standing in
line and going up the stairs. After you arrived at the top, you only
need to walk a little bit more then you'll see the tower.
The teddy bear museum was cute. But it was small, and the bears only showed history of Korea. Unlike the one in Jeju, where it has different theme and the bears are dressed up as many different historical people and also set in many historical events.
But, I must say... Seoul is even more beautiful in night time. Look out on the windows of the observatory. It has different names of cities of the world and the distance from Seoul to that city written on top of the windows. Maybe you'll find yours? I found Jakarta, Indonesia. It's 5,268.18 KM away from the tower.
N-Seoul Tower
October 25, 2011
Another leisure day for us. We decided to eat burger in the famous 'Smokey Saloon'. Huge burgers and a lot of varieties in the menu choice. If anyone would like to visit it, go to 123-5 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu. It's a little packed around lunchtime, you've got to be patient if you want to get a seat. Then after a delicious lunch, we went back to Hongdae area, to visit Sang Sang Madang. It is an art center, it holds exhibitions, art classes/courses and also has a store on the first floor.
We ended the day by having a drink in Cafe Comma. One of the wall of the cafe has really tall bookshelf and customers could sit and read the book they've chosen; so comfortable. But since my Korean isn't fluent yet, I could only read a children's book entitled 'Morning Kiss'. A story book about getting kiss by mom and dad every morning. So cute. Juniwise on the other hand... gave up on the thought of reading already. Hahaha~
Another chilly and happy day!
On our way back to hostel, we met the Yeolbong chicken.
So happy to finally got a photo together with this fat and cute chicken mascot. Weird me.
Take a look at its broken chili; all chopped off! Hahaha
Yeolbong
October 24, 2011
Juniwise and I decided to cancel our plan to Nami island, because we were too tired from walking and shopping around Insa-dong. So we finally decided to venture around Hongdae area instead. It was really fun, and Hongdae is definitely my favorite area in South Korea now!
So... First stop is Coffee Prince Cafe which was used as the filming location of the famous drama 'The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince' (my all time favorite Korean Drama; Gong Yoo!!!). If you're on slow internet connection, please be ultra patient, this post contains a lot of photos.
I love the way the cafe turns out to be exactly the way it is in the drama. But, I was disappointed to find out that those flowers on the wall are actually papers glued onto the wall. I really thought Go Eun Chan drew it on the wall. /sigh
After sitting around in the Coffee Prince Cafe, we went shopping around Hongdae. Moving from one store to another. Without realizing the sun finally set. We then found the famous Hello Kitty Cafe. But we decided to eat dinner and then eat dessert in the cafe. So, next stop is, Yeolbong restaurant. This is the chicken restaurant owned by one of Hallyu star - Se7en. And yes, I did came here with the hope that I would bump into one of BIGBANG member.
So, anyway, we did not meet Se7en neither any of BIGBANG member. BUT! Yeolbong chicken tastes really good! I would like to recommend this restaurant to anyone planning to visit Seoul; please come and try the delicious cuisine for yourself. It was more delicious because it was the most edible food I had in Korea. I don't eat spicy food and most of Korean food is spicy, so to find Yeolbong chicken amongst all the other Korean spicy food is delighting. Afterwards we went shopping a little more, and then we visited the Hello Kitty Cafe! First impression... PINK is everywhere!
It's definitely a Hello Kitty Cafe, 'cause there's basically Hello Kitty in every corner of this cafe. The latte art on the drinks we ordered was Hello Kitty shape, and even the mirror in the bathroom is Hello Kitty shaped. OH! Almost forgot... the toilet seats are also decorated with Hello Kitty ornaments! It's cute, but definitely not a place I would go every week. There are a lot of other cafes to visit in Hongdae anyway...
After 'hi-jacking' the free wifi in the cafe and checking up on twitter and saying hi to our family members, we then decided to go back to our hostel and rest. Great day around Hongdae, part two is coming! For we spent the next day around Hongdae also. Don't get bored yet!
Inches of Hongdae
October 23, 2011
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