South Korea and High Society

It have been some time since I wrote about my life. Things have been rather routine the past month. I'll start with my visit to South Korea in December. I really did enjoy the whole trip from 24th till 31st December with my family. Every year, my family would keep it in mind to travel to at least one destination we have not been to. There was Beijing, China, the Middle East (UAE, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia), Thailand, Indonesia and of course, Malaysia. This year my family plans to head to Turkey and Saudi Arabia if I am not mistaken.

South Korea is a strange culture. Strange as in it is awesome and surreal to an average study oriented Singaporean like me. Maybe it is because I only saw a certain side of Korea but even then I am really amazed. Out in the streets, young couples walk on the pavements visiting cafes and heading off to shops, huddled together in the wintry cold. Couples. Many of them. I rarely did saw children or families. And these lovelies were having fun. Our tour guide and translator, Mr Hong, told us that South Korea is very materialistic and social. Everyone must have connections and friends. They join all kinds of clubs; volleyball, basketball or squash. They want to do something and they want to have fun. But I  do wonder what happens if you do not have connections or don't join clubs. A culture in South Korea is that a person have to meet up with their friends at the end of the year as a sign that we are friends for the next year and forever. "He never invite me. I am not his friend anymore. When you get married, you want many people to come to your wedding. The more people, the more friends. People will say wow he have connections," Mr Hong gave a description of the elitism, can I call that?, in the country. Which is why there is the widely popular Hallyu culture. K Pop, Korean Dramas. Every Korean envisioned they want to be a Korean star. They undergo plastic surgery. Cosmetics. Dance schools. They want to live the dream. I think it is similar as to how we see Hollywood stars and how we want to live their High Life. Koreans are beautiful people, in my opinion. They are really pretty, how their skin glows and their facial features are just mesmerizing to behold. When Koreans come to our land we nudge our friend, "Eh, Koreans..." They really do reflect their society which I found so superficial, thus strange. It is so socially competitive. Their society is so focused on the value of this world I wonder if moral values such as compassion and family ties can be preserved. Afterall, most Koreans are freethinkers. Youth dominates their beliefs. I guess that made Korea such an alluring and magical place.

I went to Seoul, Nami Island, Mt Seorak and Pyeongchang-gun. Gosh, it is beautiful. The air is clean. The weather being winter is extremely cold. To compare, it is colder than the winter in Israel. The temperature ranges from -5 to 5 degrees. On my last day in Seoul, it snowed. Such soft and beautiful snow! Away from the capital, Korea have many beautiful spots. Mount Seorak for example. Korean wives and girlfriends would drag their husbands and boyfriends to one of the natural getaways during the weekends resulting in full bookings up Mt, Seorak. The view there is breathtaking. We took a cable car up to the mountain and watched the sun go down before taking a cable car ride down. Another place I have to mention is Nami Island, the filming site of Winter Sonata. The walking roads lined with straight pine trees... The expansive and simply beautiful sea around the island. The tranquility and beauty of the snow covered island is the definition of a romantic getaway. With soft music playing in the background of the main roads... I managed to watch the whole of Winter Sonata and I am thankful I did. I remember the filming sites and I could imagine how Joon Sang and Yujin had their playful and magical moments there. This was where they stood or lay down in the snow or made a snowman. Also, on one of the days, we went to Yongpyang Ski resort which would host the 2018 Winter Olympics. Instead of opting to ski, because we skied in Beijing before and it was not too fond a memory, we went on a gondola ride up the ski mountain at Pyeongchang-gun. And it turns out the peak was THE CABLE CAR place in the story Winter Sonata.

In the story a ski resort was being built by Joon Sang and Yujins companies and one day they went to inspect the restaurant located at the top of the mountain. Well, this is the place we were at. Very nostalgic. Other unforgettable memories includes exploring Seoul on our own on the 2nd last day. We took the underground railway system. Went to a hot spring bath with my brother Aliff on our own. After checking in, I heard Mr Hong mentioning to check the hot spring baths here. But it was late then and everyone was tired. At 9pm I asked my roomie, my brother, to lets head down to the underground hotsprings. At only 6000 won, about $8, we entered the hotspring. It was huge! 6 pools of varying mixtures and temperature. Everyone was naked. Of course the females and male were separated. But the male pools were huge. There was a Pine bath, an Alkaline bath, a cold carbonated bath, a cold waterfall bath, a normal hot bath, 2 sauna rooms one at 54 degrees the other at 72 degrees. and a purple bath which we do not know what is in it but nobody seems to go into it. It was a fun experience. I should have taken pictures but I think it would look perverted seeming as everyone's private parts were hanging out freely. Shopping at Dongdaemun and Hajadoe, visit to the Trickeye and Ice museum, catching an amazing drama, Cookin Nanta at the Nanta theatre, a stopover at a lighthouse, went to the base of the Seoul Tower. It is indeed a fun experience and I would gladly do all of it over again and without a tour group this time. I would gladly experience these with my friends and my future girlfriend/wife.

However, now I am back in Singapore. Straight back to work actually on 1st January. Something which I am not sure I am allowed to talk about occurred at work recently and it have left me partly scared, partly angry. It involves innocent parties and an uncontrolled irrational moment which tore relationships apart. It drove me to write the article on Law and Punishment... Frankly I spent a lot of my time at home. Reading a lot. Currently I am reading 36 Arguments to the existence of God, which is actually a fiction. I find it intriguing and complex. The words used by the author is so "atas". I had to refer to Google to find its definitions. I am also reading "Introducing Linguistics" and Singapore Business Law. Also I am watching Arrow, currently at the 2nd season. It is an addictive and great series, where the ending of one episode compels you to want to find out what is next, so you watch the next one. Something like reading a Dan Brown novel. But it is a great series, truly.

Music Hunters. Dope.

 Last Saturday night I went to Altimate at OneRafflesPlace with Sean and his friend Ben. They somehow managed to get all of us into the guestlist of the club, which means we went in for free. One phrase. High Class Society. It is so posh and high class! The bar/restaurant/club is located at the 61st floor overlooking the city. I can see the Esplanade and the Singapore Flyer. The people there are the high society. When we were queuing to get into the lift that would take us into the club, Mediacorp artiste Zhang Zhenhuan was queuing behind us. Standing right behind me in fact. The people who flock there are expats, English-accented females, office workers, bankers, SPGs and rich youths. Upon seeing two extremely handsome half angmoh half chinese boys flocked with beautiful girls in the queue, we told each other we are way out of their leagues over here. NSFs. Pah. Dj Andrew from Butter Factory was playing and the music was good. That was what we are that night. Music hunters. I had fun that night. There was a group of girls, 3, which is just nice, who were interested in us. We were enjoying ourselves. But one thing I admit, I really suck at approaching girls. Earlier on, I approached two Koreans asking for a dance. They politely rejected. These 3 girls, 1 in a black dress whom I find particularly attractive were rejecting other guys when they approached and kept eyeballing us trio. I didn't know what I should do! They clearly wanted to join us. One of the girl, in white, later on that night was grinding me, not the other way round. But I was not interested in her. I excused myself to the toilet. When none of us made a move, because for one we were enjoying the music ourselves and were distracted with ourselves anyway, the girls rejected other men advances and they left. 5 times. They left 5 times and they came back 5 times to dance with us. Wow. And we didn't make a move. Eventually found out only some things from the girl in white. The girl in white is Annabelle and they were all 20 years old. I don;t know why I couldn't bring myself to freaking let them in. Was it because of the earlier rejection, the fact that we are in a place out of our league or that I have some psychological barrier which didn't want me to let them in. I fear its the last... Something is holding me back.

Anyway, this will not let me down. This high society, one day I will achieve this and stand normally among their ranks. A person of respect but yet with humility. As Ben later on said, not as a Music Hunter here, but a Pussy Slayer. Hahaha. Until next time.