Awww, I still remember his name correctly! Mr. Park. Dia ni selalu berangan konon-konon dia adalah Park Ji Sung. Just because they have the same first name, it doesn't mean that they are related. Hehe. Kan?

So kenal ke siapa Park Ji Sung ni? Ok heols bukan pelakon mahupun retis K-pop. But, he is a footballer. He plays for English Club, Queens Park Rangers (QPR), Air Asia hahaha. And again, my trivia knowledge pretty much stops here. Hehe.

Picture googled

Mr. Park ni cakap, Gangnam actually refers to the classiest district of Seoul in South Korea. Korean Beverly Hills katanya and lebih kurang macam area Bukit Bintang kita. Ye meh? Tak sama pun. Haha. I wonder if he has ever been to Bukit Bintang. Mr. Park ni boleh cakap melayu. Shikit-shikit la. Tak banyak pun. Basic sajork. Macam iols. I can speak basic hangul (korean)! Hahahah. :p. Perasan.

Gangnam ni kalau translate literally, it means to south of the water / river. So kalau from Gangnam nak ke Seoul, memang kena naik jambatan melalui sungai Han. Hari-hari lalu ok naik bas, maunya tak ingat kan. Hehe.


So, haritu we stayed at YeokSam Human Touch Ville. Yeoksam ni memang dekat Gangnam. And this area is lined with the most expensive restaurants, cafes, clubs and even pharmacies stay open 24/7.


But let's be clear. It is NOT a hotel. This is like a suite residence with 4-star hotel services. You can get a room with completely furnished kitchen, bedroom and living room.

There's a PC-cum-TV with wifi available in the bedrooms. Hehe. Cakap pasal TV ni kan, congrats Helmi sebab menang LCD TV malam tadi. Hahahaha. Bertuah sungguh uols! I have never ever won any lucky draw contest uols! Sangat tak bertuah ni. Kekeke. But Helmi ni memang malam tadi LCD TV 32"! Tahniah! He is so damn lucky.

Ok, big advantage, yes LOCATION. Yeoksam station (subway line #2) is within 8 minutes walking distance. And Apgujeong is just next door. We even ate ice-cream in one of the K-pop celebrities cafe located in Apgujeong. Hahahaha gila kan. Well, I'm not a fan of K-pop semua ni. Jambu sangat la uols. Tapi a friend of mine, she's a big fan of DBSK (K-pop group), and dia nak makan ice cream kat sini. Keke. Untung sabut, timbul. Untung batu tenggelam. Betul ke peribahasa ni. Hehehe. Mana tahu kot-kot jumpa owner cafe tu kan. Retis ok. Maunya melompat dia kat situ. Haha. Layankan je lah.

So all top night hot spots are right away on the block. Neighborhood is kind of lavish place with lots of top rated facilities, brand stores, fashion authorities and of course, cars. You can get even  dozen of Ferraris by night or Lambos or Porsches  and macam-macamlah. Korean Beverly Hills like locals named it. True as it is.


CERITA #1 : MASALAH TIDUR DI GANGNAM

That was our room for 4 nights in Seoul. 1 queen bed and 1 single bed. My friend Eyda, dia dah cop katil queen ni. So ok lah. I guna single bed tu untuk tidur. It's already past midnight. Eyda dah tidur. And I'm always having major sleep issues. Lepas dah habis guna washing machine basuh apa yang patut, then I rasa nak online sekejap. Sedar tak sedar almost 2 hours jugak la duduk melangut depan PC. Hehe.

So dalam 3am in the morning, baru rasa mengantuk. And confession time. I have this one problem; I can't sleep alone. Penakut hantu sangat. Sobs. I consider my inability to sleep alone one of my greatest weaknesses. Entahlah tak tahu nak cakap macam mana. Sedangkan, takde la alone sangat. Eyda tu dah selamat tidur dekat katil sebelah. But, my bed tu ha sebelah tingkap. And katil tu single bed! So kiranya memang sleep alone lah kan? Haha.

Masa ni otak dah terbayang bukan-bukan. Sebab time ni dekat Korea, I terbayang hantu Juon! Hahahahaha.  My gosh. Mata dah mula tengok bawah katil. Kot-kot la ada si Juon ni merangkak keluar khen. Me and my imagination hahaha. I pergi tingkap and tutup rapat-rapat sambil pejam mata. Takut nak tengok kat luar. Haha. Lampu semua kena pasang ok sebab memang takut gelap kalau sorang-sorang je yang terjaga. Tsk. I'm simply too afraid to be by myself.

I still can't sleep alone though. Kadang-kadang I also shared a bed with my little brother. Ni kalau sorang-sorang still tak tidur la. Sebab my brothers selalu tidur lambat layan bola la x-box la. So if I dengar depa duk main-main lagi kat luar, I can sleep in my room, peacefully. Kejadian takut tidur ni kalau dah senyap sunyi sepi kosong, then I'm too afraid to sleep alone even in my room! Sometimes I even go sleep with my mom. Oh god I'm too old for that but it's a serious matter, I'm not able to sleep on my own at 26!

So it was cold outside. Early spring masa tu and temperature dalam -5°. Tapi I experiencing night sweats. Berpeluh-peluh. Haha. Takut punya pasal la ni. Nak tidur sebelah Eyda, dia dah conquer 1 bed. Dia tidur tengah-tengah katil uols! Sobs. Try kejutkan dia few times, tapi penat punya pasal kan, dia tidur mati! So how? Lepas penat kejutkan tak bangun-bangun, I have to think something very quick. Esok kena bangun pagi nak join tour, so nak tak nak, kena tidur jugak. So I tolakkkkkkkkkkkk dia ketepi. Hahahaha. Tolak banyak kali jugak la sebab tak bergerak. Tapi dia still tak sedar langsung! Hehe. Memang tidur mati sungguh. Keke.

Lepas dah muat-muat space untuk menyelit kat atas katil tu, so amanlah Fida di situ. Pejam mata terus lelap. Tak sempat nak mimpi, penat sangat. Hehehehe. Sedar-sedar dah pagi and Eyda cakap;

"Eh, macam mana you boleh tidur kat sebelah I?"

"I tolak you!! Hahahaha"

So that is one of the reasons, I can't travel alone. Lagi-lagi kalau tidur hostel, nak pergi toilet, toilet kat luar uols! Hahaha. Sadis nak kejut siapa mintak tolong temankan. Hmmm. So bukanlah sebab tak boleh travel sorang sebab takde orang nak ambik kan gambar. Hehehe. Ini pun ye jugak la tak dinafikan. Tapi main reason sebab masalah tidur ni lah. And satu lagi sebab, I ni suka berborak. Hehe. And rasa sangat selamat bila ada orang lain sekali. So semua problems and moments boleh share. Sharing is caring kan. Berdua lebih baik. Tak kesahlah travel solo, berdua, bertiga ataupun bercik kiah ber group bagai, asalkan kita semua happy dan selesa, itu dah memadai. Dok gitu? Bak kata Awi Rafael, "Janji Aku OK". Hehe.


CERITA #2 : NOM ICE CREAM  @GANGNAM

Timeout Gelato 

Lebih kurang macam Baskin Robbins je kan. Ok I love the gelato here. Putting aside the fact that it's a celebrity owned place, the gelato is actually freaking fantastic. Hehe. Suka sungguh la makan ice-cream iols ni! Hayoh. Jangan tak tahu I antara orang yang gigih beratur setiap kali 31 hari bulan sebab time ni Baskin Robbins bagi 31% discount hahahaha. Orang sikit punya ramai tapi sebab nak murah, beratur je lah. 

And if you google Timeout Gelato ni, dia ada jugak dekat Thailand sebab this franchise is originally from Thailand. So I spotted more than 20 unique flavors here. Of course I only get to try 2 at a time, or 6 if I taste my friend's cup too! Hehe.

Yang ni regular cup with two flavors. Cost dalam 4,500KRW. Dalam RM13 per cup. Tapi sebab share so divide by 2. Sorang bayar RM6.50 je lah. Hehe. Ok la kot kan. Tak mahal sgt. Ke mahal? Entah la. Susah kalau semua benda pun nak convert tapi teringin nak rasa. Hehe.

Dah alang-alang sampai sini , we asked the staff which one of the flavors is Yoochun's favorite. Hahaha. So Yoochun's favorite flavor is Green Apple Yoghurt. Of course we had to try that flavor kan. Nak tahu sedap sangat ke. Apparently, I personally prefer chocolates and caramel flavors.

So now let's see how much evidence is that this place is owned by a celebrity.

Itulah dia Mickey Yoochun. Nama pun. Mickey??? Hahahaha. So jambu is itttt? Retis Korea yang lelaki memang jambu-jambu belaka. Sepesen pun ye jugak. 

This place has been in business since 2009 so it makes sense that they've opened a separate business for merchandise. Boleh la nak beli T-shirts and pins and badges. My friend beli pin Mickey mouse tu. Harga mahal lagi dari ice-cream! Haha. 6,400KRW. Tapi sebab dia dah minat kan. Kena la beli. Itu bukti ok dia dah sampai sini. Hehehe. 

Kadang-kadang, bila travel benda-benda macam ni tak terjangka. Few times dah kena. Even dekat Paris baru-baru ni pun. And dekat Paris ni paling teruk sebab I got molested. Memang semua benda pun terjadi dengan cepat. Tak sempat nak elak, tak sempat nak buat apa-apa. Mungkin sebab all girls. Entahlah. 

So yang dekat Korea ni, he randomly hugged me, TWICE! Cerita dia macam ni;

My feet started hurting so much, and masa tu dah malam. 10pm or 11pm I can't even remember. So I told my friends kalau jumpa kedai kasut kena singgah kejap sebab Eyda and I need to buy another shoes. Dua-dua orang ni koya, pakai wedges berjalan. Kan dah sakit kaki! Hahahah. So padanlah muka kan. 

Lepas dah nak sampai area hotel dekat Gangnam, suddenly ada la kedai kasut ni. Kecik je kedai dia. Tapi banyak pilihan. But harus diingat, kalau nak beli kasut ni kena tengok-tengok jugak, banyak yang pig skin lining. Tengok ada tanda 3 dots tu confirm lah tuh pig skin. 

So sambil perhatikan kasut dekat dalam kedai ni, rasa was-was pulak nak beli ke tak. Bila dah jatuh hukum was-was tu, memang tak boleh dah la kan. Tapi, kaki still sakit teramat sangat ni. Jadinya, takpelah, beli slipper shoes je lah. Hahaha. Nak tengok slipper macam mana iols beli? Very the stylo okeh. LV lagi. Uols mampoo? Hahahaha. Ni hah dia;

Hahahahahhaaha. Nasib baik la ni dah last day kat Korea sana. Kalau kena pakai macam ni for 8 days memang pengsan. Fashion jenis apakah macam tu? Kekekeke. So RM44.14 lah harga nya kalau convert. Hehe. Biasa lah iols ni memang main dengan number everyday. Semua benda pun kena accurate. Hehehe.

Yang buat kena peluk tu, sebab nya nak murah. Nak discount! So berayam itik cakap Korea dengan orang kedai ni ha. Hahaha. And, mungkin la, mungkin orang kedai ni cakap, dia ni nak cakap Korea tapi ke laut sangat. Tapi memang I did try my very best uols. So pong pang pong pang masa I tgh cakap tu, tiba-tiba he hugged me.

Bukan hug yang biasa-biasa tu but he pulled me very close. Very tight hug. Terus terdiam and terkejut kejap. And I jerit;

OH MY GODDDDD!!!!!!

Lepastu dia lepaskan. And he smiled. And dia cakap;

"Oh my god, boraguyo?"
(What oh my god?)

Then he hugged me again. Kali ni lagi lama. Ishhhhhhh! Memang my friends yang lain dah keluar dari kedai tu. Tak nak jadi mangsa yang seterusnya katanya. Sobs. Memang bernasib malang sungguh. So lepastu I just paid. Haha. Pandai oppa kedai ni buat customers dia diam dari mintak discount kan.

Elok je keluar from kedai tu, my friends dah terkekek-kekek gelak. So depa tanya best ke tak. Hahahha motippp? Benci. I called my parents and they were laughing! Sobs. Ataupun mungkin ni lifestyle Korean but why me? Masalahnya oppa tu tak handsome pun. Hahaha.

So that's my story in Gangnam. Hehe. Kadang-kadang bila teringat balik, memang boleh tersenyum sendiri.

Memories are forever, aren't they? :)