Wednesday, May 19, 2010

in seoul: nami island..

or more commonly known as the island where they filmed the first kiss in winter sonata, was the poorer cousin to our what-could-have-been-awesome trip to seoraksun nature park. we really wanted to take a short vacation there, enjoy a little bit of spring air and hike a little but the distance and our lack of appropriate footwear (hello, stiletto heels..) just didn't fit the bill. so i guess we'll just have to come back. back to nami island, the last few times we've been to seoul, we've deliberately avoided nami island or any tour that had anything to do with "tv drama filming". in our minds, its too generic and cheesy. and the last thing we want on a vacation is be stuck on a moving vehicle with a gaggle of school kids and hordes of pesky fussy tourist with their electric fans and fanny packs.

YET, there we were on a beautiful weekday morning on a bus. packed full of chatty ajummas and angsty school kids! weehee!! go, team! the minute we got onto the island, we deliberately walked away from the crowd swarming to the Winter Sonata Musuem and filming site and hit the quietest most boring part of the island..


trudging through the mud.. it was kinda scary at first cos even through the forest you could still hear the raucous laughter and noise somewhat likened to an IT fair. very disturbing. but the further we walk, the quieter it became.. and it was kinda nice. like we were in our own little bit of the forest....


where we found a little bit of this..


and a little bit of this munchkin. hello there!


and settled down in a cosy spot under a pink tree...


famous filming spots where the young lovers went cycling. i thought the abundance of shadey greens made this island very pretty already!!


and this charming little island has her own wildlife! these animals are so used to the crowds that they weave through traffic like an experiences tuktuk driver. this is the closest i've been to an ostrich!

by this time, most of the tourist are done with group lunches, have all hit the hot spots and were slowly leaving the island so we popped into their most popular restaurant for some cold noodles (best eaten in summer) and spring onion pancake with some cass beer!! perfect meal for dining under the canopy of trees.


and did as most locals do, rent a family bicycle! this was the BEST part of our day!! it was so difficult to cycle!! and moved so slowly. and it was so unliberating on the passenger side because all i had were fake steering wheels, wussy honky things and pedals that were too far away from me. so ungratifying to not be in control of the wheels.

here's a little silly video of us..


and a gratuitous picture of daniel where they first kissed. i swear i did not style this shoot. the model's own clothes and own pose.

so yeah! now we can say we've been to nami island, and actually had a great time frolicking in the woods and cartwheeling on their huge open fields.

oh one last thing! i do have a mini confession (daniel threatened to leak if didn't come clean). out of sheer boredom, i actually KNOW what  winter sonata is. i've watch most of it, didn't finish cos of the darn fake dvd but also made him sit through some of the episodes. so there you have it, i've come off my high horses and joined the ranks of aunties and sahms!! "Dae han min guk"!!

22 comments:

  1. i love that photo of you guys under the tree AND of you in that family bicycle! daniel takes such nice pictures! :)

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  2. haha thanks babe! it has been a while since we've had couple shots! he always gets so carried away taking the picture!! :) :)
    i'll pass on the compliments. he'd be glad to hear! :)

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  3. Hahaha, is that Daniel's normal speaking voice?!

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  4. Psst..I watched Winter Sonata recently too and liked it. And I was inspired to visit Nami Island because of it. Haha

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  5. The first picture is amazingly beautiful. I love it.

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  6. take more photos! can use it to decorate your future house! ;)

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  7. Lovely pictures babe... so sweet...i've never been there.. should really sneak up there on one of my next trips... and the video of D is so cute... can really tell it was really difficult to ride that thing :)

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  8. *tear* future house. thats gonna take a while.
    hahaa! :)

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  9. you should pop by if you have (1) day to spend, but if you have a longer time to spend, go to seoraksun! the pictures on google images are AMAZING!!!
    looks really pretty!!! and even more so in fall. my friend says te whole mountain turns fire-ry red. sounds amazing!

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  10. *ruffles zhing's hair*
    you know it'll materialises! just when, so start to have a good collection of photos now already! ;)

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  11. haha! yes we will start collecting now! :)
    actually, its a really nice thing to look forward to!! are you equally excited about your place? dreaming up designs and ideas already?

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  12. hahaha!! :) i did enjoy it for a while and then it got draggy. and because im such a wuss n mum didn't want me to get upset, she warned me it was a tragically sad show so i stopped almost two episodes till this end. i think i knw what happened though! :)
    thanks sweets! :) it helps when the place is pretty as well!

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  13. awww i like that one too! :) it was completely unposed but captured the moment perfectly! :)

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  14. *nods* this is his home voice. he sounds like a child! :) and for work he has a proper grown up voice that is about 2 octaves lower! :)

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  15. my place?
    its doing its foundation works now, i guess i'll only get excited about it when the buildings are half-way doned up?!
    i like minimalist style! and more cupboards and spaces to store stuffs! :)

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  16. awww thats nice! :) how long more?
    so exciting when you can start buying things for your house!

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  17. HDB said it'll be ready by 1Q 2013, but friends said it'll most probably be ready by 1Q 2012 (apparently needs to shave 1 year off the date HDB gives you!)
    soooo if its 1Q 2012, its like another 1.5ish years more?! =)
    i cant wait for it to be ready and we can start doing reno and buying stuffs!
    will you come visit???

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  18. of course!!! i would love to!!! :) :) :) thanks for inviting mee!!

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  19. Hahahaha, can control like that one ah?!

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  20. hahaha yeah! :) both in voice in behavior! :) completely different!! :)

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