Author Archives: avnjl

About avnjl

Amanda is a lifestyle blogger who endeavours to better herself through reflective practises. She is known to be witty and analytical although at times she seems to be talking to herself. Cooking (food and literature) is therapeutic to her, so Indulge in her and perhaps drop her a note or two along the way? ;)

Jeju-do Olle Routes

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!
There are like so many things to see and do in Jeju!

Interesting waterfall, caves, structures and formation..

In the end, instead of trying to do everything, I settled with doing the Ollie Routes.
The easy ones of course. 😀 albeit long distance ones.

Olle Routes are routes marked out in Jeju-do (Jeju-island) itself. Meaning from the start point, you’ll get to walk free and easy, guided by blue and yellow arrows on rocks and orange and blue ribbons on trees. Pretty awesome a?

Screen Shot 2015-06-07 at 2.49.59 pm

While there are bus, I heard its not extremely good. and their Taxi fare goes by calculation of km multiply by an amount. 🙁 seems confusing to me.
oh well..

guess thats the good thing about getting on Olle Routes
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_4_12_13.jsp

Go check it!

thanks for coming by

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda

The Itinerary

Yes! I am very excited about the Korea trip.
Looking forward to feeling another city.
Initial plan was:

Day 1:
Garosu-gil / Sinsa-dong
Pyeongando Obuja – Pyeongan cuisine – Sinsa Station
Dosan Park – Apgujeong Station
Coreanna Art & Culture Complex – Apgujeong Station
Olympic Park – Olympic Park Station Line No. 5, P550

Day 2:
Insa-dong – Anguk Station, Line No.3, 328 (Cultural Shopping)
Samcheong-dong, Anguk Station, Line No.3, 328 (traditional house, quaint cafes)
Bongeunsa Temple No.3, 318 – Samseong Station
COEX Mall No.3, 318 – Samseong Station
Seoul Metropolitan Library – City Hall Station No. 1, 2
Ewha Woman’s Univ. & Sinchon – Line No.2 241 (University fashion)
Gureum Cafe (Night lights) – Dongjak Station Line No. 4, 9

Day 3:
Dongdaemun Market – Dongdaemun, Line No. 1,4 (Shopping Malls Street)
Namdaemun Market – Hoehyeon, Line No. 4, 425 (Traditional marketplace)
Myeong-dong, Line No. 4, 424 (Clothes & accessories, Cosmetic & Skincare Shopping)
Seoul Tower – Myeong-dong Station

Extra fillers.
Itaewon-gil – Line No.6, 630 – (Foreign shopping, leather, fur)
Hongik Univ (Hongdae) – Line No.2, 2A (Club Culture, Weekend flea market)
Munjeong-dong – Line No. 8, 818 (Outlet shopping)
Times Square – Yeongdeungpo Station, Line No. 1, 139 (Gigantic shopping mall)
IĂ­PARKmall – Yongsan Station, Line No. 1J (Electronics paradise)
Sawore Boribap – Apgujeong Station
Gaeseong House – Apgujeong Station

Then upon spending time, realised that:
Samcheong-dong and
Samseong Station
are actually very different, very far away.

So it became:

Day 1:
Garosu-gil / Sinsa-dong
Dosan Park – Apgujeong Station
Coreanna Art & Culture Complex – Apgujeong Station
Olympic Park – Olympic Park Station Line No. 5, P550

Day 2:
Insa-dong – Anguk Station, Line No.3, 328 (Cultural Shopping)
Samcheong-dong, Anguk Station, Line No.3, 328 (traditional house, quaint cafes)
Seoul Metropolitan Library – City Hall Station No. 1, 2
Ewha Woman’s Univ. & Sinchon – Line No.2 241 (University fashion)
Gureum Cafe (Night lights) – Dongjak Station Line No. 4, 9

Day 3:
Myeong-dong, Line No. 4, 424 (Clothes & accessories, Cosmetic & Skincare Shopping)
Seoul Tower – Myeong-dong Station


While everything is relatively easy to find online, there are still somethings that do stumble me.

Like when I’m at the Gimpo International airport, where is the subway station for me to switch, to take to Incheon International airport?
I didnt know that the AREX Train connects the Subway train.

If I want to trek my way up from within Namsan Park to the N Tower, how do I get to the Namsan Park by foot?

Which is the faster way to the airport from my apartment? The landlord said and drew on a map, “after the second intersection, turn right” a… I dont recognise anything on the map………

So how? …

:/ Some answers are found, others? I guess to be found. 😀

after reading more, it became…

 

30th June 2015

Dosan Park Apgujeong Station Line 3, 336 Exit 2 Bus No.3422
Coreanna Art & Culture Complex Apgujeong Station Line 3, 336 Exit 3 Bus No.3422 / 141
Garosu-gil, Sinsa-dong Sinsa Station Line 3, 337 Follow map & walk
Samsung   d’light Gangnam Station Line 2-D Exit 8
Olympic Park Olympic Park Station Line P5, 550 Exit 3

 

1st July 2015

Insa-dong Anguk Station, Line 3, 328 Exit 6
Samcheong-dong Anguk Station, Line 3, 328 Exit 3
Seoul Metropolitan Library City Hall Station Line 1,2 Exit 5
Ewha Woman’s Univ. Ewha Woman’s Univ. – Line No.2, 241 Exit 2, 3
Gureum Cafe Dongjak Station Line.4, 9 Exit 1

2nd July 2015

Myeongdong Gyoja Myeong-dong, Station, Line 4, 424 Exit 8
Myeong-dong, Myeong-dong, Station, Line 4, 424 Exit 6
Namsan Park, Seoul Tower Myeong-dong, Station, Line 4, 424 Exit 3
All That Jazz Itaewon Station, Line 6, Exit 2

 

So this is what it is, from the looks of it, parks, cultural places and landmarks takes preeminent compared to shopping. 😀

But with the MERS scare… I really hope it will push through… 🙁

Thanks for coming by

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda

That OCD

Planning for this Korea trip has been quite a journey…
Not just the selection of location part, even the reading through and putting things into proper pieces took its toll on me.

Lets talk about me first.
Yup,
ME. 😀

I’ve always pride myself in being an introvert, a person with OCD symptoms.
This whole journey of planning for the trip really put things into perspective for me.

So, I’ve intended to spend a weekend working on the itinerary. Having started reading on physical books, I was glad Im more or less ahead.

Friday came, I chilled out, cos I wasn’t in the mood.

Saturday came, still chilling,
then its 5pm, ok, time to start, so I started on it. Had to do a Seoul one and a Jeju one.

Collected the information into a notepad.

Worked all the way into 3am. Managed to more or less put Jeju one together. Refusing to go to sleep bcos I really want to achieve something, I pressed on…
Suddenly its 4:30am.

So I stopped and went to sleep.
Woke up feeling light-headed and heart heavy bcos what I’ve started on is not finished yet.
Don’t feel like working on it as theres that bitter taste.
Ignored it and then finally started on it in the evening,
went to sleep on time.

Went to work, came back. felt the nagging impulse to do it, but still the bitter taste is nagging, okay, I shall not work on it bcos I won’t feel good going to work the next day.

and so this whole nagging impulse and bitter taste kept going on and on.
To the extend that I felt like running away from it entirely (a.k.a fly back to SG and not be bothered about it cos I don’t have the things with me)

and of cos after a period of not doing anything and resting up, I got it finished in the end.
and thats the thing I realise about me.

I understood it is therefore important for me to divide up the task and take time to complete a huge project.

If I began on a task intending to finish it there and then, its not gonna end well.

OCD Cycle

 

Thanks for coming by

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda

Addressing self-doubt

What if.. I am actually not that awesome, that capable as I thought I am?
Or that I don’t have that kind of social circle that has those kind of suitable candidates/match?

Yes no doubt I have more initiative and intuition than some people around me.
But just how much should these standards matter?

Theres this guy, he responded with his opinions really strongly, absolutely brushes off mine as a waste of time and is bullcrap, he’s an entrepreneur. so he says.

I let him be and my take was, he just didn’t understand the need to run with the conversation and converse on a surface level first and then take the conversation to the next level.

As I think back, it really begs the question, just how much does my talents worth to attract the kind of man that I’m looking at? Are they available to see it?

What if my talents are not good enough for them?
What if there aint no such guys around this social circle of mine?

Would it be good then, to not insist on maintaining the standards?
Would it be good then to just accept what they can live by and keep my standards for myself?
Just be me and accept them as they are?

How much is too much? How much is enough? How much is good? How much is not enough?

I am awesome and capable to the eyes of some, what about the others?
How much consistency is there in these capabilities?

Sometimes answering self-doubt is necessary to go further and grow deeper…

If all my conversations and dialogues were no longer based on honest output, no buttering and beating around the bush, and that I have to keep certain details to myself, would that still be genuine? would that still be authentic?

Would that still be me?

am I even able to achieve that in the first place?

while the assumption is that my introversion would discourage the change, is there not a solution to it?

Need a little touch from heaven,
or as babies develop further after running and recovering from a fever…
or just someway to grow, get over and matured through it.

Something…

thanks for coming by

Be Bless
Love,
Amanda