Gwangyang international Maehwa festival is held when the apricot blossoms are blooming!! Usually the period would be around early spring in March. This festival is situated in Seomjin village whereby it has the largest number of Maehwa trees in the whole South Korea. The flowers only lasted for 1 or 2 weeks and at the same time also marks an end for the Maehwa festival. So, you can imagine that there were koreans from all over korea and tourist from all over the world for this big event!!

Bus ticket from Gwangju Bus station to Gwangyang.. It takes about 1 hour plus to get there.

Before taking the next bus to the festival, we saw a cherry blossom (sakura) while we are waiting for the next bus. This is the FIRST sakura tree I have ever seen in my entire life! It looks like Maehwa too, but it has more flowers compare to Apricot blossom. I could not get any close-up pictures as there were many bees around the tree. It's a bit dangerous.

Due to festive season, there were shuttle bus from Gwangyang to Seomjin Village every hour. Journey takes about half an hour.. (not including jam!!）

When the bus is close to the destination, we spotted many Maehwa trees around and some bazaar here and there. So, we left the bus and drop by to one of those bazaars. Though is not very big, these bazaars is  a korean snack heaven!! Lots of korean food and street snacks can be found here.

Here are some special food found there.
BIG oyster (bigger than my palm).. I didn't ask for the price, but I think it wont be cheap coz the oyster is really very big. Koreans eat it with a special sauce.

     Uncle opening the fresh oyster!
My new friends here. All are Malaysians except for one of them who is a Japanese.

As I mentioned before, Ginseng is famous in Korea. Therefore, there are many ginseng stalls on that day.

 Grilled octopus. It tastes a bit raw, but it's famous in Korea too. Many people love this. Uncle is heating up the grilled octopus.

Of all snacks in Korea, I think this is the worst one! This is silk worms. It's so common that almost every town in Korea sell this too. To me, it stinks and I hate the smell of it. It really disgust me sometimes, so don't ever call me to try it. However, (many) Koreans love it and they find it tasty and yummy!!

Ohhh.. This is ILLEGAL in Malaysia. Grill pork in the the public!! This piggie is big and fat!! Hohoho~~

In the centre of the bazaar, there were some entertainers to entertain the crowds. I didn't sit there to watch as we don't have so much time.

 The entrance of the bazaar..


Blossom trees are all around the place!!! This is like just 1% of the whole village!! It is so nice to just look at it from the top!

Taken by other photographer. Thanks to him!!


Some close-up pictures of the apricot blossom!


 I spotted a cute couple there. They were wearing couple shirt and picnic in the middle of the blossom trees!! How sweet!! Btw, many koreans brought their stuff and picnic there too. How I hope I can try it too. This would be so great!!

My friends from MMU, cyberjaya.


Super love these pics.. The petals were falling as if it were snow!!


And yeah, first time see so many blossom trees in front of my eyes is so exciting!!

  

This river is called SeomJinGang. It is one of the 4 major rivers in south korea.





Along the way to the top of the hill, there were many stalls beside the road. You could buy some art, photos, and buy some flowers to bring home too! The whole place is very happening. Lots of thing you could buy there!

This is so fantastic. It's really a big festival here. Therefore, if you happen to come to korea during Meahwa festival. Don't forget to pay a visit to this place!

Okay, this post is so long!! Im gonna end it here. Spring is coming! I guess the next post would be sakura?? and roses maybe.. who knows?? Stay tuned for more flowers!! Spring is a great season!

I went there on 23 March on a sunny saturday morning. Traditional market in korea looks similar to Yangdong Market. Many ajuma (aunty) and ajusi (uncle) will come to markets early morning to buy food! There are many markets in Korea, but one of the most popular one in seoul is Gwangjang Market (광장시장). It has abundant of food and stalls there. If you are in seoul and wanted to go to a korean traditional market, you can go there. For more information about Gwangjang Market, click here.


This is basically the view of the market. This is how it looks like.

Mr Korean Uncle is cutting radish to sell. The radish here is big!!

And just like other markets, there were many fruits stalls there.


And many seafood stalls too..

 And this is something different in Malaysia. You could easily find people selling Ginseng here too. I've heard that korea is famous for ginseng and it's cheap here.

 Multigrains..

yup, and this is a very special korean yellow melon found here. It is quite small, maybe a little bit bigger than an orange. But this fruit is so expensive!! Around RM30 for 4(small) to 5(big) melons. I wanted to buy some. Nah, but it is really too expensive. I end up buying lots of strawberries =)

More information of Yangdong Market, click here

Hello,
Time never stop..
And it's the third week im here...

Sometimes, when I opened my eyes in the morning, I still cant believe Im actually in the land of Korea..Well, this seems like a dream to me, staying away from my homeland for so long... I miss home?  *yes,although i don wanna admit it* Im getting used to the cold weather here, and sometimes starting to love it. Unlike the hot weather, my skin condition getting better each day since it does not turn oily even though i apply my sunblock on it..

Note: some photos below might be familiar since i have uploaded some of it to facebook.
This is basically what i ate normally..
This is Tteokbokki, also called as 炒年糕 in chinese..  It is tasteless without the spicy gravy with it. Basically, tteokbokki here is much more SPICY than the ones I had in Malaysia. And if they did not cook tteokbokki long enough, it is very hard.. and might broke your teeth!!


This is canteen food that i always ate.. Sometimes noodle, spaghetti, but most of the time would be rice and a little of vege and meat =)

Another Korean Food called Jjimdak whereby it's noodle with curry chicken.

This is bibimap. A very famous korean dish where it is rice topped mixed veges and a bit of meat.


These photos were taken when I was in downtown on last Saturday and Tuesday with my new friends i met in my university..






All we can do in downtown is shopping shopping and shopping.. There are just so many cosmetics, shoes, clothes.. etc..etc...etc........ however, the price is not as cheap as i expected. It's almost the same price as what we got in Malaysia, and maybe a bit more expensive than what we got in Msia.. but, cosmetic is slightly cheaper than Msia.. and you can imagine how broke i am now =(




 It wasn't common to see students sitting on the ground in Malaysia due to the hot weather. However, in Korea, people DO sit on ground and chit-chat (not studying, that is just in movie.. XD) Well, I've been wanting to do this since ages ago and finally, hehehee... this is my chance!! Here I am!! Love it when the weather is abit cool and the sun is out.. It feels great!!

 I love to take pictures around my campus during evening and night. This is the time where there are not many students moving around and lesser people will look at you as if you are a MAD person. However, night are usually colder and we don't stay very long since we are freezing!!!

Sometimes, when we have ntg to do (no more classes), we go for coffee with our lecturer.. He is a big american guy who rich in funny facial expression!!
He love to talk, share experiences and make friends.. Oh, he could be strict in academic but apart from that, he is a nice guy!! Im happy to get to know all my lecturers and new friends!!

And yeah, today is 白色情人节 (Literally means White Valentine Day) also known as "White Day" for koreans (and they really celebrate it). It is common to see a korean guy holds a large bouquet of flowers preparing to give to their girlfriend today! Also, besides flowers, you can see many of them are holding beautifully wrap chocolates and candies!! How sweet~


**Bonus Bonus**
By the way,

I met some awesome people in my university.. and they look so much like taiwanese artist!!
Firstly,

Hahaha.. My buddy Best friend (left pic)!! Doesn't she looked like 沈佳宜 (right pic)?? Who is the main actress of <那些年 我们一起追的女孩>.. I personally think that she is prettier than 沈佳宜.. maybe because her skin looks fairer.. XD.. no offence to her fans!!

Secondly, my korean lecturer..
OMG.. He looks so much like the late 大炳 from taiwan too (maybe he is much handsome than 大炳)! Some of my friends say he looked like 卢广仲 (a taiwanese singer) or 张栋梁 (a Malaysian singer)~ hmm.. however, he is a pure korean! =)