Vie van Allegre

Once you got off from the ferry, you will be greeted by this gate below. I, uh, can't really figure out what is written there, but this is the most common entry to Nami Island. I think there is another wharf somewhere and another gate if you came by the zip line thing.
When i got off the ferry, i really can't help but to feel like super super really happy. And relieved, because i made it there to Nami Island. Thanks God the journey was okay and that i did not get astray like....... like i usually do. lol.

So, i was normally looking for the signs of Jason Mraz's presence, the banners, or probably a lead on where his room was... xD hahahaha... I did not find it, of course. Not that i couldn't *ahem* but it was just because when i stepped my feet there, there were too many distractions. Nature. Beautiful things. and I was allowed to enjoy my pretty much me-time in a strange surroundings with unfamiliar language and yet still feel grateful and happy.

....those, and the fact that Nami Island is truly a beautiful place. It was like a perfect escape place, whether you are from Seoul, or other major cities, or just dropping by to enjoy the peaceful surroundings, it was a place where for a moment you can actually forget bad things.

This is the front office of Nami Island. The very first building you can see after you go through the gate. They provided maps, guides, bike-rent and all the useful stuffs here. I grabbed one of the guide, thinking about renting the bike, but decide it will be rather inconvenient so i continue my very own exploration-almost-like-an-adventure by foot.

I dont think the Koreans speak English well, but they did try to communicate with tourists. They are friendly, and patient. So when you're in doubt of what to do first, try to speak with the nice officers at the front office. They will be glad to have the chance to help you out.

After walking and walking and walking i began to see that mostly Nami Island is a very nice place to take some very nice photo shoots. Dont expect a roller coaster or a magnificent theme park, because it was like a nature preservation. It's small, and in 4 dedicated hours you could possibly done with exploring it. But Nami Island is an isle of treasure, look hard and you probably found them. :)






Okaaay. So this is one of my favorite spot at Nami Island. I went here when it was Summer, so it was pretty hot. But in this place it was all green with wooden chairs and there were lots of trees so it was not that hot! I would LOVE a small piece of this place at my house! The feel is amazing!
I think that this place will be super amazing in Autumn and Winter, but that time I wass happy I went there on Summer. Or else I would not be able to feel the gentleness of the wind caressing my hair with mild green leaves spoiled my eyes with their beauties. :)



The blue band on my wrist is the ticket to Rainbow Island, the annual music festival in South Korea, in which Mraz would perform as a guest star. My band was blue because it was a single-day ticket. The yellow one was a two day pass, and you are permitted to camp around the island with it.



Did I say camp?
I did!
Rainbow Island festival is actually an Indie music festival. This year they wanted it to be not only music, but also nature. The whole concept is that people could leave behind all their works, their busy days, their unreasonable load of works, and come to an island where they enjoy music and nature. Where people can go back to nature by camping around the island, listening to selected music all night long.
So yeah, that is basically the noble idea to give people an escape even for just a while.
And for me, of course it worked! :)



At the first time, I went there with one expectation. To see Jason Mraz's live concert. I have been a super big fan, even if he decided to, uh, change his already beautiful hair to something... that is less 'his style' but whatever, it's his hair anyways.



His live concerts are the kind of concerts i will certainly go to because he sang DIFFERENTLY in his lives concerts. In a good way, of course. So it's not like you came to a live show and listened to CD, only that the singer is there in front of you. Mraz's concerts are amazing. He improvised, he sang freely and he is... amazing!! 

But then, i realized it was not only Mraz's concert, it was an Indie music concert. Mostly South Korean bands, of course and i have no idea of who they are. But.... it was not a K-pop bands. They were like... SUPER COOL!!!!! They have three stages there, and each of the stages have perfectly arranged shows and live concerts of small bands, and big ones of course and it was SO ROCK. That was my first concert ever, but was like REALLY REALLY AMAZING.



Oh, a bit intermezzo from the concerts. The picture above and below are photographs of my next favorite spot at Nami Island. It was near the Song Museum (yes there is a museum in the island, and yes it is a song museum). I didnt have time to go there, though, too bad..





While waiting for Mraz, Hye Joo asked me how i am going to go home after seeing the concert. I told her i was going to take the last subwas back to Seoul, to Jonggak station. And then this conversation occured.

Hye Joo: Great. Did you reserve the ticket?
Me: What ticket?
Hye Joo: The subway.
Me: *drinking tea
Kim: you did not reserve a ticket yet, right?
Me: *drinking tea
Hye Joo: Seriously????
Me: Do i have to?
Hye Joo: OF COURSE!! What were you thinking?? Oh, God, it's too late now. What time is it now? Oh no. Oh nooo. *starting to panic
Chad: Just reserve one for her. *drinking beer

Then Hye Joo took out her phone, do this and that, panicking again, do this and that again and she finally jumped out, screaming "I DID it!! Yay! you can go home!! you're safe!" *hug me

I was............ people, she was almost a complete stranger. She was worried for me, panic for me, and was so relieved when she got a subway ticket for me.
I was.... speechless. thankful, happy, really grateful, but not sure how to say it. There are times when you feel so thankful, but thank you alone seems not enough.

Not long after, Mr. Mraz appeared at the stage and he was so AMAZINNGGG!!!
I couldnt believe i was there seeing him with my own eyes, listening to him with my own ears, it was MAGICAL. I cant thank God enough for letting me have this chance. I was really really really happy! I've got my favorite musician singing in front of me, I have friends standing beside me, in one of the most beautiful places i've ever been too.. boy, i had no complaint. not a single one.
When we finally have to leave the concert before it was finished (because we have to take the last ferry, damn.), my good new friends INSISTED that they want to accompany me to the biggest transit station (which only about 5 or 6 station from Jonggak). Their homes was on the other way of the stations, but they said they want to make sure that i got home safe.
And the subway ticket? I did not pay for that. Hye Joo said that it was on her, and that she was happy that she met me and Kim said that I'm always welcomed in South Korea, and if i ever come back, i have to call him and he will take me around. Chad pat my back and said he will probably come around to Indonesia and that he will see me in Indonesia.

I am the luckiest girl alive. Because everywhere i go, God gave me good friends, and as HE promised, i am always protected.

When i finally got home (Rini was asleep already, said something about her going to this super amazing castle and that she will show me the pictures later), I opened Facebook and....... there were messages from them! Saying goodbye, safe trip back to Japan, keep in touch and everything.
There could exist, you know, something as "a world without stranger". All you need is music and nature. :)

Oh, and some little details about Nami Island. Dont worry if you got really hungry because they have this small food court and some good restaurants. They served really good ice creams!



I ate this Korean food, I dont really recall the name. But i think it was something like big omelette and it was delicious! I had ice cream after that and satisfied. Food was good and ice cream was even better.



Nami Island has various beautiful spot to take a picture. Like I said before, it was an island of treasure. You will need to look closely to find them!
It was said that there were wildlife animals in the island and you can come across some ostriches around. It was advisable to stay away and not touching the ostriches because they are untamed wild animlas that have the possibility of..... kicking you.

Yes, you can possibly got kicked by an ostrich at Nami Island if you dont behave yourself.

This coffee and ice cream shop thought that ostriches supposed to be really colorful and cute so they decided to use them as the mascot.





Yup, you are right. These are ostrich-like pens and yes they were for sale! 
I am not really a big fan of ostrich so i thought i will pass that. xD xD

There are plenty of things to do at Nami Island. They have some interesting water sports, and clay-making centre, and than Song Museum and Glass Museum and you can really spend good time there. Oh, on a lighter note, this place was a movie set for Winter Sonata, a very famous  Korean drama. You can see LOTS of landmarks that belong to the ovie. The 
bridge where the main casts had their first kiss, the romantic pine tree path, the bicycle the main casts used with wooden statue of the them and a memorial stone for one of the actor that committed suicide some years ago.

It will be really boring if i put those pictures too because you can easily google them. :)

So this is my report from Nami Island. I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as i do enjoy writing it!
I'll see you around guys.

Namisoem, annyeong higaseyo.

Why do people die?

There are sayings that death itself is a blessing as much as life is. Or maybe better. I don't understand. One day that person was there, so close to you, so within your reach, breathing so much alive, and then the next day he just.... gone.
How could people just.. go? Just vanished, like in a snap, in a blink of eye, then they stop breathing, stop talking, stop living.. stop being within your reach..?

Lately I'm surrounded by so many griefs. I landed in the airport (yeah, guys, by the way i'm home to Indonesia again! Pardon me for sounding so grumpy, cant help it), my brother hugged me and said one of our family's friend has passed away an hour earlier. 

.....................

so much for a 'welcome home' news. A total speechless, followed by a denial. I was just pretending I did not hear anything, not knowing that one of my best critic has no longer breath the same air with me. The moment I heard the word "passed away" it felt like I immediately built this emotion fortress, barricading anything that relates to death, sadness, grief and so on. I guess I am scared. Scared of what sounds like an eternal goodbyes.

A few days later, my uncle was gone too. I am so tired of crying, I felt like I am sad but the tears just wont come out anymore. So I just stood there in the living room, listening to my mum spoke over the phone but her voice and other sounds too start to become noises I dont understand. I was not sure how I felt. Is it grief? Sadness? Emptiness?

My cousin--whose father was in the coffin at the moment I spoke to him, was a brave guy. He laughed, he tried his best not showing his tears, so that anyone else, his mum, his sisters and nephews and other cousins could turn to him for comfort. But I think it was so stupid, he deserved every right to cry. So when he was alone, staring blankly at his house I came to him and just hugged him. I practically did not know what to say to him. And he hugged me back, and cried. Which was so good for him, because I hate seeing him smiling and telling everybody again and again that he was glad his father is at peace now. For me, he sounded like he was telling that to himself, like a spell or a chant so he wont break down at the critical moment.
Then I promised him I will be there, also if months, years ahead when he felt like sadness are going to tear him up from the inside (which, I sometimes still felt. Yeah, I'm not over my dad's death, I will admit it honestly and openly), I'll be with him.

The whole thing with death, no matter how many times I tried to inject something positive into my mind, I just could not see it. I could not see anything good of death, despite people sayings' about the dead person being free from all painful things, eternal peace and everything.

At some point I felt so....... confused. The other times I felt angry. Only I don't know who is it I'm angry at. I don't want to get angry at God, I still believe that things happen under His control. Still... I have so many questions. Why reunite family if death would just tear them up? Why do people have to experience death? 

How could people just..... gone? To a place I could not follow yet, all of a sudden?
When you grow up, you learn that people around you are not going to stay around you forever.
When you grow up, you learn that forever is God's right.
When you grow up, you learn that there is something called grief.
When you grow up, you learn that sooner or later you just have to deal with it.

Children have an abstract concept of death, I think. They just could not understand the meaning of eternal goodbye, It is something that they could not even imagine, and I envy them for that.

Hi there everyone. How are you guys doing? I've been doing great and having one of my-too-much-energy cycle this week! Basically I'm happy and the most recent reason has to be..............

I watched Jason Mraz's live concert in Korea!!

exactly. the Jason Mraz. and he was awesome. he was. just unbelievable. But I dont want to talk about him right now, I'll cover him up and the details of his concert in a beautiful place called Nami Island on the next post. :D so come back for updates! :)

Let's talk about the trip. If I have to conclude everything in one sentence then it would be..........
"the trip to Korea involving too much walking and running" lol!
seriously people, coming home from Korea me and Rini realized that our feet are literally begging us to stop walking. xD

We set up from Narita Airport on Thursday, June 7th (yep I skipped 2 classes back then. bad student.) and easily found in which floor the check-in port for Asiana Airlines is, thanks all the way to Akira, one of our friend in the dorm. (He's so nice, literally). Then, it turned out that we arrived way too early, and we have some spare hours to change money (Dont you ever ever ever in your life exchange your foreingn currency in an Airport, unless your condition is a life-threatening condition that FORCE you to do that in airport, meaning you dont have any other choice, meaning like me and Rini back then. Gee. they give you like the worst rate anybody could ever expected.). But I was glad then we arrived early because Rini got trouble because of her name. She has no last name printed on her passport or any of her official identification card and the people behind the counter kindly ask her to wait while they call to the office in Korea, to check if it is okay because when we booked her ticket we type 'Rini' at the first name column, and once again 'Rini' in the last name column. It was just the only thing we could do because apparentely you cant online-booked an online ticket without filling out your Last Name column.
The kind officers were smiling and told us that this is the first time they encounter case like this and quite confused and dont really know how they are supposed to handle this. Rini then told me it is not fair for the system to automatically judge that every single human being in the world have a last name. I was just laughed by then. But everything was well in the end, with Rini leaving the trace as the first person ever booked Asiana Airlines online ticket without last name. lol.
it's okay, it makes her unique anyways.

We took some pictures while we were waiting for the flights and I managed to take some sunset photos of which I thought was a very beautiful scenery. My camera is good and I love her but she is not as good as an SLR and my sense of photography is rather retarded so you might not see the real beauty but at least I'm trying to give you a clue  of what it should look like. :D



It must be aroun 5.30 pm because our flight was scheduled to take off at 07.00 pm and arrived at Incheon by 09.00 pm. The flight took a little longer tough and we arrived around 09.30 pm at Incheon. By the way I took this picture just before we entered the airplane and Rini was all about "you are such a papparazzi" to me but I was just laughed and say that because the result was good, it should be fine.

They provided a very very nice in-flight entertainment and you have a selection of good movies, music, concerts, news, sport matches and everything else. I was battling myself over watch a Korean drama or see a Holywood ones, but because we are going to Korea I feel like watching a Korea drama would add to the mood so I chose to watch this Never Ending Lovestory movie which was....... quite funny here and there but a bit boring.
I think Rini was watching some music event whit Korean bands and singer and we both pretty much trapped inside our own worlds and only talked when they served dinner (Honey-sauce chicken strips on rice, salad, bread with butter, mango pudding and orange juice) and both of us were delighted for the food because we were hungry and the food was delicious.
The flight was full of turbulence and in some time and another me and Rini would stop watching our drama and music and looked at each other, because the turbulence were pretty strong and often. But by God's grace we landed safely and happy. I practically cried when we landed, and I felt silly. I have no idea why I cried. Okay, I have an idea why I did, still it doesnt explain me crying in the airplane. Super silly. It was just the idea that I really stepped in on places my dad stepped before moved me to the point I felt like a crybaby. It was really a sentimental reason *sigh* yet i was grateful for that. The other part is because Rini is a real flat person, with less expression than anybody could normally show, so I think part of me was also displaying the expression she could not display, because to come to Korea is a struggle for her and Korea is like her dream. She almost likes everything about Korea, more than she likes Japan, in my opinion.

Well then we hopped to the Airport Limousine Bus (cost us 10,000 won, which was around 675 Yen and that was approximately 80,500 Rupiah). I asked a woman in the Airport Limousine Bus front desk and she was trying to describe everything in a mix of English and body language. Rini speaks a bit Korean but she was worried because she does master the casual language, but almost have no idea about the formal ones and therefore, she was hesitant using it to strangers in Korea.
It was a one hour trip to Jonggak, Insa-dong, one of the busy street in Seoul and we easily found the guest house we reserved, Ciara920. It was so late, around 12 a.m, but the street was still crowded. This quite surprised me because in Chiba, you call it a night by around 8 p.m. The streets go so quiet and the houses decided not to turn on their lights for whatever reason they have and it makes the streets dark. So when I first stepped out of the bus,my thought was, "wow, this city looked a lot like Jakarta."


so this is where we stayed for three nights. The service are pretty nice. The staffs are friendly and they also speak English so no problem with that. The rooms are small though, and you cant really rely on the breakfast they served. But it is pretty okay if you only intended to use the guesthouse as a sleeping place by nights and want to save money to do some fun things in Korea. They have a website in English, Japanese, Korean (of course) and Thai (the owner first built the guesthouse in Thailand) and you can check them out here.

I spent the first day in Korea with Rini, because the next day I have to go to Nami Island to watch Rainbow Festival (yes, the one with Jason Mraz in it) and Rini was not really into Nami Island. The other thing I soon noticed in Seoul is that there are A LOT of coffee shops and tea houses. MY. BEARD. They heave like soooo many cute homy classy little coffee shops and tea houses all over the street. I so could live here. lol. I captured one of the homey one here.


There are a lot of cafes like that all over the streets. You can pick your choice. I did not have time to go in and try though, our time in Seoul is so limited and entering a cafe is like number 100th priority so I skipped the cafe and promised myself if I ever come back to Seoul I so have to try one of those cafes. Oh, and people you know what? Seoul is a city of free internet services. Like, they even have the "Seoul Wi fi Spot" and several free services, even in their subways. And this amazed me, since I have been living in Japan for the past 9 months and in Japan you dont get anything free. I was beyond happy. BEYOND happy for this. So no worries folk, if you ever get lost you could always check the google map. Or if you need to know certain phrases in Korean language (which I so recommend), you can always refer to the internet. lol.

Our first stop was the Deoksugung Palace. It is located in Jung-gu, Seoul and we went there by the Seoul Metro Subway. Their subway system is amazing and really user friendly, even for foreigners. All you have to do is buy a card in the vending machine in the station, pick your language (English, Japanese, Chinese), pick your destination and enter the money. Here I found a pretty useful web you can use to search the whole subway stations. It consisted the time required to go to places you want to, the fares and the information for first and last train, plus a timetable for the trains. For those of you who are familiar enough with Hyperdia, you might find it similar to this one. So click here if you want to check out the Seoul Metro site. Trust me, you might find it handy.

So, back to Deoksugung Palace. It is a super BIG complex of Palace. It is not as popular as the Gyeongbukgung Palace, but it is a place worth to visit. For a complex that big, I was surprised to learn that it was actually the SMALLEST palace among five palaces that survived in Seoul. Deoksugung means palace of virtue and longevity, and was built for Emperor Gojong, in hope that he would gain a long life. Pictures worth a thousand words I think, so just check out the photos!












Among the five pavilions they have in Deoksugung, I personally like this pavilion below the best. It was not the biggest one, but I enjoyed its beauty so much. It added a really old feeling to the whole complex, Entering this palace brings you back to the Kings Age and I was thrilled I have the chance to visit this place. :D









The view in front of this pavilion was also beautiful. It was full of trees and there was this rock path and it felt great to just stay there.



There are  a lot of spaces in the palace complex that take form as gardens and small paths. And it was so easy for me to start imagining if ever there was kings and queens, princes and princesses, royal guards and royal families who walked through this places everyday. It is always amazing to see the traces of the past. I wished I have learnt a bit of Korean History so I can even more fully understand the essence of this Palace.




Ooow!! Ooowww!!! And when we headed back home to the front gate, there were this Royal Guards guys around and they were practicing the Royal Guards Changing Ceremony and there was this guy that appear as the general and he gave commands in Korean and everything. And I was like, oh-we-so-have-to-see-this and can-we-take-pictures-with-them?? thing to Rini and was really really excited.





Arent they look soooo coool?? And we found another cool thing!! There was this Hanbok (Korean traditional costume) stand and you can borrowed a Hanbok and wear it around (you cant enter the castle with it though) and took picture in front of the gate. At first I was really shy, because it was ike everyone looked at us, some uneasily, some with curious faces and a lot with friendly and approval smile. But 2 minutes later I was kind of getting the hang of it and enjoyed myself pretty much with the Hanbok thing.



................................And strike a pose with the cool general!!


p.s. why did my hair looked so out of control??? graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

After we were done with the Hanbok thing (because we were literally asked to return the Hanbok since they have people lining up now for the Hanbok), we walked around a bit, found this old church (which was beauutiful) and talked about what we should do next.


LOOK! Dont you think this is SO JAKARTA?? They have warteg, people, warteg. I am impressed.








We had a good time there in the river and decided to go for lunch after that. It turns out that this place was real close to Dongdaemun Market, the world renown market for every fashion item imaginable with cheap prices. It took sooo long for me and Rini to finally learn that the place we have been walking through for so many times was actually the Dongdaemun Market (feel stupid) and we were damn tired. But once we got rest for a while..................................
its SHOPPING time!!! I seriously, SERIOUSLY recommending this place to you all! This place is ridiculously fun for shopping. Its a heaven for shoppers and the prices are affordable and the items are super cute. I was crazy. Rini was crazy. We were like........ oh no there is no end to this shopping time. No way this can not be. lol lol lol.
I didnt take any picture of the place since we have been so busy shopping, lol. Sorry for that folks. But I was real happy and that concludes the adventure for the first day. I will be writing about Nami Island, Rainbow Festival and Jason Mraz on the next post so come back later and check the all the fun, okay? :)

Kisses from the stars, hug your loved ones tonight!

Blow, o blow, you happy winds,

I wonder if you have been here all along. I wonder if you have been watching me all these times. I wonder if you silently giving me my own space to grow. I wonder if you have been letting me do my mistakes, to grow from it. I wonder if you have been believing that you also need your time to grow. I wonder if you have been protecting me without showing it. I wonder if you have been noticing what I am up to in the middle of the night. I wonder, if you have been my knight all along.

Sometimes I feel like several things happened so fast and it almost look like blurry images passing through my days. It seems like I dont even have time to process anything, and to take a step back to look where I am right now and what kind of problems I have dragged myself into.