我的世界

Me and my cousin arrived at Seoul World Cup Stadium just on time to start the match

It was really cold at night but I could see number of people make their way to stadium from subway station

As expected there were many scalpers who were (desperately) trying to sell 1st class ticket (which cost 50000won) for 3rd class ticket price (20000won)

I was like..."damn! i shouldn't bought those tickets from before if i knew there are scalpers who are trying to fire-sale tickets...

Our seat was at second floor.. row 41, I was expecting way up above but it was at the first row at the second floor....... not bad


I didn't expect this game to be a sellout but crowds like this seems.........
very dissapointing

Only about 1/4 of maximum capacity (about 68000) showed up... I guess
Both sides of the first level of the first class section were somewhat filled.. BUT
Opposite of supporter's zone...
nearly empty.. :(

Ushers who suppose to watch over stadium seemed to have no interest in doing their job because of very small # of crowds..
They were like.. "just sit wherever u want"

So after 5 miutes, we went straight down to the first level and stayed there till the end
Free upgrade~~~yay
I felt kinda sorry for those ppl at the first class who paid full price for ticket.. lol
I nearly did that but good thing I didn't lol

National anthem for Chile and South Korea played.. OMG look at the stand..

As South Korean national anthem played, those supporters, known as "Red Devils" raised giant Korean flag.. Very emotional
It'd be nice if there was more spectators..

Stretching durin halftime

OUCH! one Korean player fell down and medical staffs for Korean team are on their way to the rescue lol

Koreans didn't have any impacts during the first half.. Their offence was dissapeared, passings never worked out and they allowed some scoring chance to Chile..

Fans are getting anxious to see at least some good plays... :(

It was VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY cold... my feet were freezing

Well, in second half, Korean offence was somewhat came into the life but it wasn't enough to end their nearly 500 minutes of goal droughts... :(

They had some good chance but never connected to goal..

Instead of they score a goal, they let Chile scored a goal... The final score was 1-0 Chile... :(

It was fun to watch and cheer with supporters as we sat in supporter's zone.. But it would been much nicer if Korea scored a goal and bit warmer..

Plus.. since they didn't put their names on their jersey.. I had no idea who they are except few players from before... I think 1/2 of roster was changed......

I expect better result from them later :(

I, personally think that Seoul has one of the most complicated subway system in the whole world and it makes more sense when you compare Seoul subway system to our 'red rocket' TTC subway system.. lol

First, I introduce Seoul Subway map~ Don't get freaked out!

So, how do you think about this..?

Pretty complicated .. huh?

FYI, compare this to Hong Kong MTR lines


In that Seoul map, there's 10 lines but that was few years ago's version, thus there is a major modification and there's 12 lines running right now (which is not shown on the map). I think argh....two or three more lines are being built

When I left Korea in 1996, 4 lines were running and line #5 was under construction. Thus in 10 years, they doubled # of subway lines in Seoul to 12

When Seoul doubled # of subway lines in last 10+ years, what did TTC do?

The answer is ...
.
.
.
.
Yes...
That's what they built for 10 years!!!!!!!!!!! (yay)
I think those TTC ppl should learn "bbal li bbal li!" (quickly! quickly!) attitude from Korea lol Torontonians should learn how to do things quickly rather than correctly and slowly
Moreover, it's sad to hear that TTC's threatening to close that line :( because they are running out of money... aiya

This is typical interior for Seoul Subway
Compare to TTC subway, it's more wider and one good thing about the seat is during winter, it's being heated.. :) While train is moving, you can move from one car to another.. I tried to do same in TTC but when I tried to open door to go to another car, operator gave me a dirty look.. -_-;;

Being able to use cell phone in the underground subway is also a big plus as in Toronto, you can only use your cell phone when subway is above ground (e.g. High Park, Yonge/Bloor-Rosedale, Davisville, etc) For some lines, there's TV installed in every car so you can also watch TV as well.. ;) I doubt that TTC will install cell phone antenna in subway so that we can use cell phone in subway.. They have no money.. what do you expect .. *sigh*

During weekends or off-peak weekdays, it's not surprised to find vendors or beggars walking around subway trains to sell you some stuff (they always say they are forced to sell those products because their factory's being liquidated or closed down..) or beg for money.. Often, they do some performance (sing, play music, do all those demonstrations) so just sit back and enjoy the show~ (This will help you to kill some time in subway as 30-40min subway trip is average in Seoul)

They do announcement for station in Korean and English so even though you don't know Korean that well, you can travel around Seoul using subway w/o that much problems.. That's good.. ;)



They installed screen door in many stations.. When subway stops in the station, doors will be open so that you can board the subway. They had to made screen door to prevent people from committing a suicide .. -_-;;;

However the only downside about Seoul subway is for the most stations, when you want to transfer from one line to another, you have to walk for A LONG DISTANCE.. At the worst case you have to walk for 15min to change lines :(

Well, that's about it for Seoul subway system~!

Argh.....
Why Starbucks in Seoul, Korea has to be the most expensive Starbucks in whole world..?

One cup of grande size 'coffee of the day' in Seoul is like 4000 won (it's like 4 bucks in Canada)

Talking about some fancy ones.. like Latte... 3 cups of grande size Latte is like... almost 20 bucks..
AIYA!! I wouldn't be surprised if it was venti but for grande.. so expensive! But ironically every Starbucks in Korea are jam-packed with 7:3 female:male ratio and some Starbucks have 4 floors!! :(

It's more than twice of what we pay in Toronto (it's like 2.25 CAD for same one.. I bet) and more surprisingly even Beijing and HK are cheaper than Seoul!

I bought a cup of grande size coffee of the day in Beijing Airport and it was like 18RMB (I would say around 2.25~2.50 CAD), which is about same as Toronto's price...HK was about same as Toronto after FX rate calculation...

To all Starbucks lovers! Umm... iwe should be thankful for living in Toronto and paying 1/2 of money that people in Seoul (Korea) pay in Starbucks! lol

If we were in Korea and drink Starbucks as we do in Toronto... Then we probably wasted way more money than we wasted in Toronto Starbucks lol

Once again, we all should be thankful

Two weeks ago, I travelled down to southern part of Korea to meet my grandparents, uncle and some of my friends.

Both of my grandparents (mother's side and father's side) live in a small city called Milyang, which is about 1hr away from Busan or about 5 hours drive/train from Seoul or 2.5 hours if you take express train.. it was really convenient and saved my time a lot
lol

For those of you who don't know where Milyang is,

Click here to see location of Milyang
I stayed in my (father's side) grandfather's house for a day and before I went to Daegu next day to meet my friend, I had a lunch with (mother's side) grandmother.

I was thinking about going straight to Seoul after my brief stay in Daegu (I was showered with Soju in Daegu!) but my aunt wanted me to go to Milyang from Daegu with her as she was heading home. Because I wasn't really constrained by time, I decided to do so.. Thus I was able to stay one night in my (mother's side) grandmother. As like day before in Daegu, my aunt treated me with 4 bottles of cocktail (fruit-flavored) soju.. LOL
I wonder how many bottles of soju I had in two nights ;) and also how much it would cost to have same # of bottles of soju in Canada ...

Some pics of Milyang
1. Near my (father's side) grandfather's house:

2. Recently, this small city became famous after international success of movie named "Milyang" (which was shot in this city and also it meant "Secret Sunshine") and around this city I was able to find many signs related to the movie

3. Yeong Nam-Roo, one of historical landmark in Milyang

4. View of Milyang Station
5. KTX Train, which I suppose to take for my return to Seoul, approaching to the station
KTX, which stands for Korea Train eXpress is high-speed railway system for South Korea.
Korean government bought TGV train from France and started operation in 2004 after many years of delay.. Originally train trip from Seoul to Busan would take 5+ hours but with KTX going in 300km/h (suppose to be) it reduces traveling time almost by 50%. If Korea finishes 2nd phase of high-speed rail construction, it should just take around 2 hours or less

However, since this KTX stopped in all stations, it couldn't have enough time to reach its maximum speed @ 300km/h.. The highest speed that this train reached was 297km/h.. but it was still fast enough ;) (If I took the one that stops in less # of stations, I could've had another 300km/h experience)

Because Milyang didn't change significantly from my childhood period, I had no problem in finding a way in Milyang. Also it was really good to spend time together with some of my friends, uncle's family and grandparents.. I am looking forward to see them again in Korean New Year

Yup~~

For the first time in my life, I will be going to see a international friendly soccer match ;)

When I heard the news that Korea will play against Chile this wednesday at Seoul, it didn't take me a long time to decide whether I should go or not..

As soon as I decided to go, I went to nearby Hana Bank to buy a ticket for myself and my cousin. Because the game will be played during weekdays and since Chile is not a popular country like Brazil or England, I was kinda hoping for a lower price for ticket but argh.. not this time..

I bought two 3rd class ticket (which is at the second floor) and costed me 40000won (which is like about 4-50$ in CAD) when you compare this to Raptors or Leafs' ticket, price is not that bad but in South Korea's standard, Given that single ticket for Korean baseball/soccer league game is less than 10000won, it's kinda expensive I guess. I was thinking about getting a 2nd class ticket, which is just 10000 won expensive than 3rd class, but I didn't go for it when I knew that it's also at the second floor.. aiya

After 4th place finish in 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan, Korea's been going through many ups/downs with numerous head coach changes (5 head coaches in 6 yrs after Guus Hiddink in 2002 World Cup!) I hope Korean soccer team starts the year with winning fashion and hopefully do well in 2010 South Africa World Cup qualifying matches ;)

I will post pics from the match tomorrow ;)