我的世界

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 ;)