The Praguematic: A Photo Journal

Prague Castle

St Vitus Cathedral

Charles Bridge

Old Town Square

Dinner on top of a hill overlooking the old town

Holla at my Eastern Europe trippies (trippies actually make it sound like something real trippyyyyy), I have finally uploaded some europe photos on my blog. Hard to think that this trip has been over for more than half a year, but it just seemed like yesterday where we were all doing that whole long walk from the Castle District to the Palladium Shopping Mall nearby the Old Town Square.

I am absolutely in love with Prague, maybe because I wasn't one of those unlucky ones who got pickpocketed. It is such a romantic city with couples everywhere making you feel like you're forever alone if you are not here with your other half. I would say this, is indeed THE city exactly like it came from a fairytale book. All the castles, bridges, baroque-style architecture buildings and hot Czech princes, made me feel like I'm being whizzed into an alternate universe where everything is dreamy and good. I would say this is one of my top five favourite cities in Europe, with London being the first.

It was a pity that I only spent a day and a half in Prague, sigh, the disadvantages of joining a tour package. We started off the day with a really long walk from the Castle District, stopping by St Vitus Cathedral with its impressive gothic architecture and stunning glass paintings depicting the story of Jesus, running through grape vines surrounding the castle district, taking a short break to munch on potatoes-on-a-stick, crossing Charles Bridge, and where our legs almost gave up on us upon reaching the Old Town Square where we finally saw the famous Astronomical Clock. I stood under it trying real hard to figure out how it works but to no avail, so if any of my readers know how...... please do comment below and show the young padawan here the ways... of thy Astronomical Clock with all the stars.... and moons...... and constellations.....

Had lunch at Palladium and then we had so much time to spare around the Old Town Square. I absolutely adore heading to Europe in December as there are Christmas markets EVERYWHERE. So much good food and cute trinkets on sale.... my only regret was that I didn't have enough money to have a mug of Czech beer (well I heard that it was good) as Prague was the second last city I visited.

I will be back soon, but meanwhile, continue staying awesome Prague!

xx,
Ming Rui.

Rail-ly Precarious

16 days in Seoul was definitely not meant for spending every single day in the city centre, hence we decided to take a train out from the city for a day trip to Gangwon-do in search of the Gangchon Rail Bikes as featured in Running Man! We started our journey from Seoul Station to Wangsimni Station (or alternatively you can head to Hoegi Station) to transfer to the Gyeong Chun line, which is headed to Gangwon-do! 

It took us HALF A DAY to get there, or maybe because we were all super tired and slept till 9 and only crawled out of the apartment by 10-ish. We only reached the Rail Park after a super confusing journey at 12 noon. Please do take note of what type of train you are taking as there are two types of trains running along the Gyeong Chun Line. One is the ITX, which requires you to "upgrade" your ticket at the machines located along the station platform, the other is the normal train, which brings you straight up to Gimyujeong Station, but takes super long. We went there completely clueless and was almost fined for ''not buying an ITX ticket'' as we boarded the ITX by accident. If the train conductor is not as nice as the one we met, you will be fined thrice the ticket price! So do watch out guys!

Gangchon Rail Park has a couple of starting points for the rail bikes. However the most easily accessed one is at Gimyujeong Station as the Rail Park is just at the right side of the station's Exit 1 (around 2-3 minutes walk). 2 seater bikes are 25, 000 won while 4 seater bikes are 35, 000 won. We took the 4 seater bike as we had 3 people. (duh)

The scenery at Gangwon-do is AMAZING. Gangwon-do is actually the mountainous region near Seoul and famous mountains like Seorak-san is nearby, and also, my Dong Wook oppa is also filming at Pyeongchang, which is also in Gangwon-do! If given a chance, the next time I return to Korea I'll retreat back to the mountains in Gangwon-do. Hehe, I've already spotted some holiday resort spots while on the train to Gangchon. 

We were supposed to peddle all the way from Gim Yu Jeong Station to Gangchon Station. The entire journey takes about 1 to 1.5 hours and you can eat while you cycle (even though that is a really bad idea as you would want to capture the beautiful mountains and streams around you with your camera). I would suggest having a cup of iced tea with you instead as the weather was really hot when we went and we still had to peddle hard.

There was a rest stop for food, drinks and toilet break! I swear Korean Ahjummas are hardcore. The ahjummas in front of us went so slowly we couldn't even go faster, while the ahjummas behind us were going so fast they were going to bang into our bikes any moment. The whole time we kept having to keep a lookout behind, while peddling the bike, while snapping photos. Goodness...... We were kinda sad to finish the ride, but quite glad to escape the horrible ahjummas.

Took an hour's plus train ride back to Dongdaemun and wanted to look for Butumak Galbi for some good grilled meat but............... the restaurant closed down! So we ended up having Budaejjigae (Army Stew), Tenjjangjjigae (something like miso soup) and japchae. It was so cheap and good but the portion was way too much for 3 girls who don't eat much haha.

Currently I have decided to take a break from my Korea travels and upload some of my Europe trip photos from last year. So.... stay tuned~

Stay hipsterrrific,

Ming Rui

Mantis Green

Here I am, back in my room, sitting on the same old chair writing about camp at 3.55 a.m. with a Photoshop class at church tomorrow morning at 10, guess I'm trying to court death.

My good friends heard my rants and worries about how I was gonna go for FOC all afraid that I can't make friends because I'm so weird/retarded/quirky/socially-awkward/rumoured-to-be-ugly/physically inactive/sloth-ly and I was just, flooded with so much negative thoughts about entering a school (almost) alone, with the exception of a secondary schoolmate who's soon going to be my roommate.

But really, thank God for such a nice group whom I feel so comfortable with. Mantis is blessed beyond belief with good OGLs and super fun-loving and friendly people who totally love one another too much, we just hang out ALL THE TIME together playing 洗牛奶, Animal, the bangbangbangchibangtrrrrrrrcarbontit game or annoying the hell out of one another with Mind Games like JOHNNY WHOOSH (gosh I totally hated that) and doing some goofy dancing in one circle while everyone else is just clubbing madly at Bash Night. It just felt like I was in the Korean Variety show "Roommate" where all 14 of us shared a room (or computer lab to be exact) and accompanied with one another throughout the entire 120 hours together.

After spending a good 2 years of my life having my quirkiness/creativity doubted by everyone around me, I was suddenly ushered into a new realm where everyone around me just made me feel like it's totally okay to be artsy, it's totally okay to doodle on rough paper while listening to a pointless talk, it's totally okay to love Broadway musicals, burst into some random dramatic singing out of the blue, and accomplish things I never thought I would be able to really do (like creating a makeshift kimono and sewing it up within like, 5 minutes)

Thank you Monks/Mantis peeps for putting up with my awkward ''OKAY GUYS LETS TAKE A SELFIE" moments since I'm elected as "selfie-rep" (I'm pretty sure my friends will laugh at how cliche this would sound) and really inactive moments as my knees are seriously "passing away" and I can't really quite run around/jump around/roll around that fast. I'm truly blessed to have met all of you during FOC and you guys made me feel so welcomed into this new artsy committee no matter how inadequately I've been trained in this area (science stream geek moving into arts school is like whuuuuutareyoudoingwithyourlife). I enjoyed all the small talks and deep conversations I have with all of you during the camp, be it during meal times/commuting on public transports/waiting for our turn to bathe and sleep/whenever and whatever and all that name calling, what ''xia0b1tchzxc" "xia0liAnzxz""Public nuisance" "rich and famous" "I am pink colour" "Taeyang! Dance leh!" "Fake gong gong"

I hope that we can still meet up very often in school for coffee or lunch despite our-soon-to-be-crazy schedule and we will be able to stay bonded until we are old and wrinkly and I am looking forward to see you guys in my class!!!!! And one last thing,

I am not rich and famous. Hahahahaha

Stay hipsterrrific,
Ming Rui

The Wilderness Must Be Explored!

When my mum saw our itinerary and discovered we are heading to Seoul Forest, she flipped. I had to explain to her umpteen times (even up till NOW) that Seoul Forest is NOT exactly a forest. It is extremely safe for girls to explore on their own but, definitely not alone.... no one really goes there alone.

Seoul Forest is located at the edge of Han River, it's something like our Botanical Gardens, but picture Botanical Gardens next to East Coast Park. A lovely spot to picnic at, we definitely did not miss out the chance to bring our breakfast there to eat on a bright Tuesday morning. The flowers were all in full bloom and it was absolutely picturesque.

Actually, the main point of heading there is to teach Min how to ride a bike, and feed deers! Yes there are D E E R S, real deers in Seoul Forest at the Deer Coral, which is easily accessed by biking there. Bike rental fees in Korean parks are really affordable, like the one at Seoul Forest is 3000 won per hour for a single bike, and 6000 won an hour for tandem bikes.

The deer coral was.... smelly. But we put up with the stench of the bambis' poopies while letting them lick the hay pellets off our palms. There was a significant number of deers, around 10-15 of them were sighted and they were all very hungry bambis snatching the food from one another. Sometimes I wonder if they even get fed.... sigh.

After the deer coral, we cycled on, past the underpass below the expressway to the bike path next to the Han River and the view was spectacular. I'm definitely gonna rent a bike for at least 4 hours next time to slowly pedal around the river next time I'm back. Bike date anyone?

Though we failed half of our objective as Min eventually still did not learn how to ride a bike, we still had lots of fun there EVEN THOUGH WE WERE MELTING UNDER THE SUN. Seoul Forest can be easily accessed by Seoul Forest station on the Yellow Line via the Seoul Metro System. Please remember to turn right once you see the sign of Seoul Forest, the left entrance (which seems more convincing) actually leads you to somewhere else.

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Leaving for my FOC next week, I am excited beyond belief yet scared to my wits for Fright Night as I heard my school is the best at it across all schools in NTU so I'm pretty much in for some permanent scarring/scaring (I hope not, really). Before I go pack, I hope to finish up another post on the Gangchon Railbikes so that you guys can get to feast on some good photos while I go have some crazy fun with my future schoolmates for the week. :) #admfoc2014 will be daeeebak.

Stay hipsterrrific,
Mingrui.