Met A Korean Celebrity

I almost forgot that my ski trip to Korea had some more photos yet to be uploaded, to continue from my earlier blog post ~ Winter Sonata



At the mountains in Hwacheon, we went to see the amazing ice carvings which were meticulously sculpted by the famous Harbin ice carvers from China. It was even colder inside than the winter temp -25C outside.


It was a spectacular and colourful sight at night to see many fish lanterns being strung up along every street in Hwacheon. Their fresh water fishes are very expensive and cleanest, according to the Korean folks.



Next morning, we were given special invitation by the Korean Tourism Ministry to visit their North/South border point which is out of bound to public. We passed so many sentry checkpoints manned by tough looking young soldiers.

No one is allowed to snap this photo BUT I did cheekily...
This is the view of North Korea with its double border fencing, dividing the 2 countries. Their mountains everywhere in the whole of Korea are very sharp looking and rocky.



At night fall, we arrived at the 5-Star Holiday Inn which has lovely mountain view and well heated large suite complete with separate living and kitchen are! I miss that place so much.



Everyone quickly donned into their heavy ski outfits which were rented from a store many kilometres away! Next time, buy some of your winter stuffs like hats, scarf and ear mufflers from Daiso outlets in KL for RM5 each! I paid mine like over RM100 coz none of my chibai friends taught me to get them from Daiso!

That's me ~ Grandma Twilight in yellow gear, ready to GO! Wooohooo!

They have so many world class ski resorts in their mountains and this one is popular with all night skiing fun for die hards. Many first timers fell, rolled and screamed. I also crashed into their barricade fencing when my braking failed! Kaneeneh it was too bloody icy.



Next morning, we went to their cultural centre after visiting the all-you-can-eat huge strawberries farm. We were taught the traditional way to make the best Kim-Chi with the freshest ingredients where after all our Kim-Chi were donated to the local orphanage.

Here's my "Grandma Twilight's Kim-Chi" and I hope the orphans didn't pass out after eating.


Later, we adjourned to the only well preserved old palace in Seoul which was spared from the cruel bombings of Japan's war.

It is very spacious and unique but not as huge and magnificent as the Forbidden City's Palace in Beijing. We strolled hurriedly around and proceeded to their real 'secret garden' far behind the hills.


This is the enclave of their 'secret garden' where the pavilion sits next to the frozen lake. Their monarchs had their sexual romps openly in this lake and pavilion. I could imagine wine being filled up in the pool with nude concubines swimming and teasing the princes! Just let our dirty imaginations run wild.


Next place, we visited the museum of a typical ancient home of the wealthy Koreans located in downtown Seoul. It was huge with courtyards and traditional winter heating where they laid burning coals under their floor boards! So pandai kan!

Look at their funny way of opening and latching their doors upwards like that!



After a week's fun in the FREEZING winter, we boarded a ferry enroute to Incheon International Airport. I love the sight of these flying hungry seagulls. Thousands of them flew to our boat and picked any food and crackers we offered. How nice to be a free bird, I thought?

On board the Korean Airlines flight home, we all hurdled to the back of the plane.
On my right, was a young tall Korean guy seated with his hands glued to his PSP watching a movie. The plane took off into the sunset and that's when the activities came to live.

Barely 20 minutes into the high clouds, 2 young teenaged girls giggled and came up to my right to approach this guy. They asked for his autograph!!! Wow! Wow!

Minutes passed, I lost count on the number of young teens parading to him to ask for his autographs using their T-shirts, Jackets, Papers, Books and anything they wore. Oh my, I took a good look at him and I really had no idea who he was! My entourage Malaysian gang kept saying that he was tall, so handsome and soooo gorgeous leng chai!

Alamak! We still had no idea who he was and they just snapped his photos non stop as well as making me the broker to get his autographs for them all without a fee. He kept smiling and repeatedly said "Thank You" very softly.




At midnight, I got home and googled my computer to find out his name!





Now guess who?




He is Korea's Badminton Star & Heartthrob.





Lee Yong Dae