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A Lion dance head. Photo taken in Melaka last year.

To those who are celebrating Chinese New Year.
Happy Chinese New Year!

祝你新年快乐 & 心想事成！

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Ok. Here comes my Korean trip post.

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Cafe 5CIJUNG

Cafe 5CIJUNG is a nice cafe in Garosu gil with super yummy scones!
I meet up with my Korean friend at Garuso gil on my first day in Seoul.
It was so cold on that day that we just wanted to hide in a nice cafe & talk.
She searched through the internet with her samsung smart phone & found this place with
lots of nice reviews and photos.

Pictures below are taken with LomoLomography fine color ISO 100 film.
Thank you paula for sending them to me :) 

I had banana ginger tea. I thought it might taste kinda weird when I saw it on the menu. But being a banana +  ginger tea fan I had to give it a try! It’s kinda new taste for me but it turned out to be not bad at all. I think they also added a little bit of cinnamon in the drink. My friend claimed that their hot cocoa was really thick & good too! Btw. Those complimentary home baked scones that comes with the drink are soooo soooo gooood!!! The jam was super yummy too & I think it’s organic. You can buy them in the cafe.

And I love how they serve their drink with those cute little bears. So cute right!

Oh, & I found another good review about this cafe by Seoulgride.com over here. go read if you’re interested.

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Cafe 5CIJUNG
02-512-6508
Open everyday from Tue – Sat 11:00 ~ 23:30 Sun, Mon 13:00 ~ 22:30
525-11 Sinsa-dong Gangnam-gu Seoul South Korea

Website : http://www.5cijung.com

Directions
Walk to the end of Garosu-gil until you see Starbucks. turn into the alley on the right side of Starbucks and walk around 5 minutes!? you’ll see 5CiJung Café on your left.

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#Photo taken on 16th June, 2011. Efiniti UXI 100 film. Canon EOS 300 camera.
Bangkok, Thailand.

To those who entered my 2 years blog anniversary giveaway,

sorry to keep all of you waiting for such a long time.

I’ve finally send out my prints to all of you who participated!

I posted different sets of prints to everyone. Hope all of you will like what you get.

* above 3 photos taken with iphone*

It might take 2-3 weeks to reach some of you who are in the States, Canada & Europe.

Anyway, I would appreciate it if you drop me a

comment / mail when you receive it.

Thank you for your support always :)

ありがとうございます・감사합니다・谢谢

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Happy New Year everyone!
I’m so sorry for the long absence…the truth is I have some problem with my notebook ;(
I haven’t been able to use it for more than 3 weeks now…am typing this from my brother’s old desktop..
Anyway, I’m going to do a recap of 2011 just for my own record. Skip it if you’re not interested.

January

Saw the first sunrise of 2011 at the miura beach. Traveled by local train to Yamaguchi & Fukuoka.
CNBLUE ZEPP Fukuoka Concert. Packed up my 8 years Japan life in boxes.
Moved out of my apartment on 31st January.

February

Traveled to a few places in Japan. I call it my sayonara trip :p
I have not post those photos I took during this trip but you can read a summary on
the places I traveled to over here.

March

Ended my sayonara trip at Ise Jingu and took the night bus back to Tokyo from Nagoya.
Managed to catch a glimpse of early sakura. My flight back home was on the 13th of March and
the earthquake happened on 11th, 2 days before my flight.
I was alone, packing my stuff at my friend’s apartment…
it’s the biggest earthquake I’ve experienced.

April

Just relaxing at home. Morning walks. Ate a lot.

May

Went to Penang with my Korean friend who was visiting me in Malaysia.
Registered myself to a few recruitment agencies and got a job through them.

June

Took a short trip to Bangkok before starting work. My2nd time in Bangkok.
I really love Bangkok & Thailand. Hope I’ll have the chance to explore other parts of Thailand next time.
I’ve posted most of my Bangkok photos and you can find them over here.

Oh. And one of my post got featured on Freshly pressed.
It’s my first to be featured on Freshly pressed.
Thank you so much for the opportunity, wordpress staff :)

July
Started a new job…

August

Occupied by work….practically abandoned my blog.
Went to butterfly park & bird park with friends on one of the weekends.

September
Blog 2 years anniversary. I was so occupied by my job.
I only made 1 post in this month.

October
Organized a print giveaway for my blog’s 2 years anniversary.
To those who have participated. Thank you for showing me your support. ;)
Don’t worry if you haven’t receive anything from me.
My prints are ready to be send out but having a full time job makes it a little bit difficult for me
to go to the post office. I’m so so so sorry for the delay ;(
I promise I’ll send them out once I have time to go to the post office.

Reached 500th post in this month.

November
Got stucked in the train for 2 hours!? on my birthday. lol

December

Treated myself a trip to Seoul to see my friends & attended CNBLUE concert.
I’m not a k-pop fan but I like CNBLUE. Also went to a 2 days 1 night trip to Melaka on Xmas day.
btw. Melaka is also a registered UNESCO world heritage sites along with Georgetown in Penang.
I have 7 rolls of film from my Korea trip & 4 rolls of film from my Melaka trip to show you guys ;)

I guess that’s all for 2011.

How was your 2011?

2011 was a year filled with changes for me….

I didn’t blog much in 2011 but in 2012, I wanna blog more. I will try to blog more ;p

Anyway, just wanna say thank you to all of you who are reading this &
I hope everyone have a great year ahead.

I wish for a year filled with peace, joy & happiness!

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Hi guys. Just a little update. Just wanna show you the guest house I’m staying in.

Photo credit to Kimchi Hongdae Guest house

I’m staying here for 5 nights. 8-bed mix dormitory. 

I stayed here for 5 nights in the 8 bed mix dormitory and another 2 nights in the 8 bed female dormitory. Female dorm have attached bathroom which is very convenient compare to mix dorm.

The guesthouse is located in Hongdae, one of my favorite places in Seoul. For those who are planning your trip to Seoul, I would recommend you to stay in Hongdae coz’ the airport train
(AREX) passes by Hongik University station. AREX train ticket price is 3,700won from Incheon airport to Hongik University station. It’s much more cheaper compare to airport bus which cost about 10,000won.

Kimchi Hongdae guesthouse is just 10 minutes walk from Hongik University Station Exit 2. I reached Hongik University almost midnite but the map directions provided by the guest house was very clear so it was quite easy to find.

They give out discount for guest who stay for more than 15 days & have promotions sometimes. 20,000won per night for 8-bed dormitory, which is quite reasonable.

Lockers in the room

Oh. And they have lockers in the room where you can keep your valuables but you have to prepare your own locks or you can get them at the vending machine in the hostel. Oh. Another thing I love about this place is it’s very warm inside the room even it’s winter. I only wear t-shirts & don’t feel cold at all. And the best thing is they have heated floor! (Ondol)

They have a washing machine where you can wash your clothes for 1,000won and 2,000won to use the dryer! I usually don’t bring much clothes and just wash them when I ran out out of clothes to wear. The dryer is really a savior coz’ it’s winter now! It takes around 45 mins for washing & another 50 mins for drying.

I took some photos but I’ll show you guys when I’m back from the trip. *edited with photos*

So here’s some photos taken with my point and shoot digital camera. Sorry that some of the photos are blurry…I must had too much soju  ;p

If you get hungry & too lazy to walk to the convenient store nearby, just buy instant ramen from the vending machine in the guesthouse. Oh. btw. They have water dispenser so you can also save your money on buying mineral water ;)  Convenient stores & supermarkets are just 5 mintues walk from the guest house. If you wanna cook your own meal, you can buy groceries at the supermarket and cook at their kitchen. There’s a big fridge to store your food too. But when I’m in Korea, I usually eat out coz’ there’s so much yummy food out there!

3 things I like most about Kimchi Hongdae guest house : location, free & fast wifi, warm heated floors! hehe

p/s: If you are a CNBLUE fan, you should definately stay here coz’ FNC Academy & Jass Cafe is just 5 mintues walk away… Actually I didn’t know until the Japan BOICEs that I met in the guest house told me about it.  Lucky me ;)

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Public toilet in Hongdae decorated with colorful paintings.
This was taken during my trip to Seoul in May last year (2010).

I’m writing from Seoul! yes. reached here late night yesterday.
It was like -2°c when I touched down at Incheon airport!!

I’m staying at Kimchi Hongdae Guesthouse in Hongdae so I’ll have lots of time
to explore my favorite place in Seoul ;)

Ok.. going out to explore & take lots of photos to show you guys.

p/s: it’s snowing outside!!!

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These photos were taken in May.
I brought my Korean friend to Penang island when she was visiting me in May.
It’s one of my favorite places in Malaysia.

btw. Georgetown in Penang island is a registered UNESCO World Heritage site.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes :)
Did I enjoy my birthday!?
Not really coz’ I was stuck in the train for more than 1 hour.
yeah..long story. Maybe I’ll tell you about it next time.

btw. I’m flying to Seoul coming Thursday!
I’m so excited.

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Last year’s birthday, I was walking alone in  Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑）.

But this year I’ll be with my family :)

Have a nice weekend everyone!

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Some of Shinjuku Gyoen autumn photos I posted last year …

The big momiji tree

Autumn Colors @ Shinjuku Gyoen (1)
Autumn Colors @ Shinjuku Gyoen (2)
Autumn Colors @ Shinjuku Gyoen (3)

Yellow & red Shinjuku Gyoen

Park benches

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More photos of  Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑）taken last Autumn.

I’ll be having a long weekend from today :) Yeah!

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Some of Shinjuku Gyoen autumn photos I posted last year …

The big momiji tree

Autumn Colors @ Shinjuku Gyoen (1)
Autumn Colors @ Shinjuku Gyoen (2)
Autumn Colors @ Shinjuku Gyoen (3)

Yellow & red Shinjuku Gyoen

Park benches

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Some photos of Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑）in Autumn.
These were taken last year…

Ah… How I miss Japan’s autumn so much…

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Some of Shinjuku Gyoen autumn photos I posted last year …

The big momiji tree

Autumn Colors @ Shinjuku Gyoen (1)
Autumn Colors @ Shinjuku Gyoen (2)
Autumn Colors @ Shinjuku Gyoen (3)

Yellow & red Shinjuku Gyoen

Park benches

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