Fireworks!

For several weeks, I wanted to bring the kids to enjoy the fireworks that comes along with National Day rehearsals. For the 2nd year, we did not manage to score tickets (boo) and I think being able to enjoy the fireworks is a nice-to-have consolation prize.


It was just as well that my initial plans for fireworks watching did not happen, because it was perfect how last Saturday unraveled.


So thankful for the sister and her b for sharing their anniversary dinner with us, as we scored comfortable table and chairs, delicious food and drinks, amazing company and the perfect view (let's not be too technical of how perfect the drone view could be.. ha!). Even my earlier disappointment that the husband had a wedding dinner and could not join us... was uncalled for as he discovered that he had a wedding lunch, not dinner (hah).

Boomz.

Sight for sore eyes.

The children are so blessed to have family who love them so, and I know that I am grateful beyond words to have memory banks filled with such loving sessions.


It was a night worth celebrating too as the sister marked her first wedding anniversary. How quick time has flown, since then.


Feeling grateful for the amazing things in my life and am reminding myself to be happy, because why not?

Last Friday night

My siblings and I are pretty close. This is apparent from our regular meetings, even if just to eat at our parents' on a (mostly) weekly basis. We also make the effort to celebrate occasions together; the most recent being Dad's birthday.


Some weeks back, the brother & his wife invited us to their house for a meal + hangout. What a lovely idea!


The sister and I counted down diligently to the start of the weekend on Friday evening. Hoorah! We had bonus happy hour drinks together, just because!

8pm: dinner. Sumptuous spread.

All of us.

The meal was lovely, the company was nice; we chatted and caught up about nothing much at all; just enjoying the company and food. It felt so nice to just be in a cosy environment where we all felt very happy to be together.

The drinks continued and then we played some games. Speak Out is this hilarious game we played along with a gadget that prevented you from closing your mouth/lips. After some rounds of that, we then moved on to card games.

I'm sorry to feature only the husband but just look at how happy he looks!

The night ended past midnight, just when the sister hit her drunkenness. HA HA. It was a lovely night and I love that we do this, I love that we love.

Milestone

The husband and I have been in talks of moving for a whole year.


It started because of us planning ahead for primary school life, and options of upgrading especially since there are new BTO flats next to our current place. The motions of house-selling/buying has been on-going for several months; and two weeks back we finally crossed a major milestone. It is significant enough for me to put it here for posterity.

It will be fine as we are in it together. Onwards!

While it was such a momentous date, we still continued with our lives; brings to mind how the world is big and regardless of how one is - be it extremely happy, sad, tragic, good or bad, life does go on. So I guess we lived up to that by still being ourselves; i.e. silly.

"Mommy, take a picture of me!"

Family.

Exciting times ahead, as we go through the progress of moving and re-moving.. it'd be fun, somewhat painful, but definitely all good. Woot!

Day 8: Goodbye Seoul, goodbye holiday

After sleeping pretty late as we were packing, the husband and I woke up as scheduled. We had worked out the time we needed to take the bus to get to the airport in time for check-in and our flights.


Breakfast was coffee around the corner, and a simple restaurant two doors down from the hotel.

I had to re-order the dumplings. Yum.

There was some last minute things to get (vitamins for my dad), so the husband and I split up. I headed to get what I needed, and I decided to make a pit-stop for Bake tarts.

Yummy.

We packed up all our stuff, and made it to the bus-stop to wait for our ride.

His and hers.

We were on different flights, so the husband checked in first, while I hung around and waited for him to head in.

Saying goodbye in Seoul

After he went in, I passed time by going to the toilet, walking about slowly, and finally, the check-in counters were open for my flight. I tried to head in to meet the husband at his gate before he flew off, but I did not make it in time.


When I eventually walked to his gate, I only saw his plane on tarmac. I decided to walk about more, given that I'd be confined on flight for the next few hours. But first, lunch.

When in KR, must eat kimchi stew. YUM.

Though I was nearly at the end of my threshold for Korean food, I still made it a point to finish off my last meal with it. After all, I wouldn't have this 'authentic' food anymore after this day. So I did.
I ate alone slowly, soaking in the busy buzz at the airport. I walked up and down the airport from gate to gate, and got some loose change after re-claiming back some tax money. As a final treat (omg, so greedy!), I had a soft serve.


Finally, it was time to board and I did. SQ FTW!


I arrived back in Singapore on schedule and to my delight, the husband and waited for me at the airport so we could go home together. That touched me as I'd expected to be going home alone. Hooray.


When we got home, the kids were up and we managed to give cuddles before we sent them to bed and continued unpacking.


It had truly been an eventful week and I felt so thankful to have had this opportunity to spend this time with the husband. It's been a while since we did a non-beach-holiday; and despite the initial horrors of this holiday happening out of the blue, it definitely worked out in the end.


Thank you, dear husband for the amazing week together. I think it's always good for us to reconnect one-to-one; essentially really, for our self-sanity and to strengthen our partnership. I am reminded that I still love you very much and will always love to travel and do anything/something/nothing with you, always.

Day 7: our last full day in Seoul

After flying yesterday, it felt good to lay in this morning and know that we were not in a rush to go anywhere. The husband and I had planned to try the hotel breakfast (ambition since day 2), but it didn't happen because we woke up at 8ish am. By the time we rolled out of bed and made it to the restaurant, it was 9am. 45minutes was not enough time for a long, leisurely breakfast; so we opted not to eat it.


Instead, we ventured out. First stop, Mammoth Coffee which was just around the corner of the hotel's entrance to wake me up; then we strolled towards Myeongdong. The street felt so quiet and clean in daylight, very different from the bustling night scene.


After strolling about, we found a congee house that was open and was pretty crowded too. In we went.

1x porridge, 1x dumpling soup, 1x a-lot-of-serve-of-side-dishes

I had read about the Korean-type-dumplings but it was our first time trying it this morning, and I was sold! It was just how I like it - plenty of stuffing! Yum. We also bought the seaweed, and kimchi from this restaurant. Sounds auntie, I know; but it was so worth it. Yes, I say so even after lugging them back because we got to share them with our family, plus continue the taste of Korea even after coming home. The kimchi was the bomb - it was spicy, just the way we liked it. At breakfast, we discussed what we could do the rest of the day and there were several possibilities that involved a hair appointment, a meal at Michelin-star restaurant (Jungsik), trek at Bhukhansan National Park....


Our morning kinda got tense after, because reality is that while on holidays, people do fight too. Between picking time/when to eat and making arrangements with the restaurant, layered with miscommunication and assumptions, let's just say that the husband and I had a squabble. I'm just putting it out there, to prove that it's normal to be grumpy no matter where you are, but the process of talking it out, being patient and having the common desire to let things be ok again - it's part and parcel of life.


After being grumpy and upset and becoming better again, we moved on with our day.

First time on a public bus in Korea. Bus to Bhukhansan.

It was about 1pm by the time we arrived at the Bhukhansan estate, which is about an hour's drive from the city. We strolled the streets and went into one random restaurant to have our lunch. It was empty besides for the owners and we spent the next hour in there (1) using the loo (2) eating our lunch (3) experiencing catfish in its full glory and knowing that I don't like it much (4) having a laugh as we struggled to communicate with the earnest ahjumma serving us.

Google translate, a menu in Korean only, a lady who speaks no English = lunch surprise!

Pot of soup

Upclose and personal with catfish

Tiny prawn!

Lunch was edible (truth: I had more kimchi than rice or soup), and we moved on to trek. By this time, it was 2pm and our first stop - getting our bearings around the place.

I'm quite sure this says national park or something.

Here's one that we can read

The next 2 hours was surprisingly lovely. We started off at the foot and upon learning that it'd take us 4-6 hours for the short route, we were slightly taken aback. (Or maybe it was just me.) The initial 20 minutes were funny, as the husband lamented "let's turn back now, this will be how it'd be for the next 2 hours... exactly like this!"

30 minutes in, we found an opening that held wooden tents. They looked like triangular huts that looked like this.

I was grossed out and did not want to go in. So he did.

Tick off the bucket list - a headstand at Korea's national park!

It felt good to sweat it out after pigging out the past week, and being in nature brings out this joy that I cannot explain. The husband and I both enjoyed ourselves, which is why I was surprised at how good it felt (zero expectations helped) - but I think we both do enjoy being in the outdoors and it was a nice, zen feeling to be with nature and feel this happy innately. It is also a great reminder of how small I am. I am only but a tiny being in the whole, wide world and all the problems and fights that we face daily seem so insignificant in the grand scheme of things in the world.


How humbling.


I'm also reminded that the husband and I are good and mature enough to not let squabbles affect us; cos if we had not let go of our ill feelings from that morning, we wouldn't have this chance to continue having fun, discovering new things and being happy in this current moment this afternoon.

I am humbled.

Happiness :)

He was braver than me!

He made me do this.

More happiness.

There was passing showers at some point and we decided to go on. It felt really, really nice. I thoroughly enjoyed myself on this short hike (we did not make it very far at all!) and if we have the chance, I'll love to go conquer more of this trail.

We turned around at about 4pm, and made our way downhill. Some parts were pretty tricky and it felt good to get our bodies moving. We retraced our steps and took the bus back to the city. It was peak hour traffic at this point so the ride back was way longer than our ride to Bhukhansan.

Upon arrival, we headed straight for dinner. The husband had some inkling of what he wanted and we ended up at this little, local Korean joint. We ordered everything on the menu! OK, we did not but it sure felt like it. Hah.

Meal for two. By our gluttony standards.

Mmmmm something new! Pork thingy. Yum!

I swear we were judged by the tables next to us, as our table was overflowing with food. The best part? WE FINISHED IT ALL.

After this super filling meal, we split up. I had scheduled a hair appointment to pamper myself and the husband decided to chill and figure out his evening.

I have steam coming out from my head

Did I say I was full? But cannot resist snack.

The treatment was so pampering and it was the first time I did a hair treatment ever, and though it was very pricey, it was a session I chose to pamper myself. I spent 2 hours there being cleaned up - super worth it because I had grit from the national park to rid of! Gross but true.


The husband decided to go for some play and he headed to the Casino. When I was done at the salom, I strolled around Myeongdong, taking in the vibes as it was our last night. I did some last minute shopping and headed back to the hotel. I spent the next hour+ continuing to pamper myself by soaking in the bath tub, and relaxing.


I had to pack but made poor progress, and then there was a surprise delivery!

Two two chicken for supper!

Fried chicken was something I wanted to eat but never got around to... so on this last night, I felt truly loved as the husband went out of his way to tapau it for us.

We ended the night packing and packing... making plans for our commute to the airport the next day... and I went to sleep with my tummy and heart full again.

It was the perfect end to this day, full of love and promises. What a week it had been!

Recap: Day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6.

Goodbye Osaka, hello again Seoul

On our 6th day of holiday, we woke up early and retraced our steps from our apartment, to the Osaka station, to catch the train that goes to the Kansai Airport, to catch our flight back to Seoul. After sleeping so late the night before, we were worried about oversleeping and missing our flight. Thankfully, it went according to plan.


I don't seem to have pictures from our whole morning, but it was one that was tense and perhaps unnecessarily so. The whole hour train ride from Osaka city to the airport was sad, for me anyway, because I was (perhaps unnecessarily) emotional. Thinking back, it probably was due to nothing much at all, but at that time, I was really (1) ticked off by the husband's tone more than anything (2) irritated perhaps due to being tired anyway (3) sad as I dwelled on my own 70% of the train ride. In that time, I tried to meditate by taking deep breaths and trying to let go.


At the end of the ride, we made up and I understood that the ups and downs - even on holiday - is normal because of tension/ stress/tiredness/etc. I guess it holds true that it's always the same no matter where you are and it's always up to us to best manage it.


Our flight was slightly delayed and as we were rushing, we had to make do with airport kiosk food (I had a pau and the husband did not even finish his). This time back, I did not manage to sleep unlike our flight to Japan, and was happy to be back on ground again. We checked ourselves out from the flight and had a speedy meal at the Seoul Airport, before catching the airport limousine back to our hotel in Seoul.


After settling in, it was already late afternoon but because we had 'lunch' at such an awkward time, we were not hungry. We decided to hit the gym.

Clocked 9km (Jurassic Park for company) and some floor exercises

We washed up, and got ready to hit the streets of Myeongdong again! The nights that I was shopping at Myeongdong previously was more to browse only, because I knew that we were coming back. This was my last opportunity to swipe the shops and make my purchases.

Ready to go

I heard of Maple Tree House from some sources and we decided to try it out. Took us a while to find it (basement location, address not clear!) and on this night, we also did not have beer. I had my first soju on this trip.

We found it!

BBQ. BBQ. BBQ.

Honestly, the food wasn't bad, but we thought our BBQ at Itaewon was better. After this meal, I hit the streets and started to make my purchases. The husband got a waffle ice-cream... and we just strolled about. He helped carry some of the shopping load to the hotel as I continued walking about on my own. Window shopping rocks, the area was safe, and I needed to digest the food in my tummy.


That night, we slept quite early, I think and we decided that it was a good call that we opted to spend another night than need to head to the airport already/again the very next day!


Good night, world.

Happy birthday to our dearest papa

Dad turned 65 last Friday. He spent 2.5 days on a short cruise with Mom and it was lovely to know that they had some leisure time with each other.


For dinner, we planned to meet altogether and although everyone kinda had plans in bits and bobs, we agreed that everyone will meet for cake even if they couldn't make dinner.


However, it turned out that everyone could make it! We didn't eat fancy, but we didn't need to. We had home-made noodles with mee sua (longevity noodles), Mom topped up with some add-on dishes and we were so full. The sister bought tarts and the brother bought cakes. With our full family present, dinner couldn't have been more perfect.

Happy birthday... Papa...

Perfect 10!

It was such a lovely end to the week, and I felt so happy being part of this family. In moments of despair and uncertainty, in good and fun times - it's only made better and worthwhile because we have family to share them with.


Happy birthday Papa, you are a good man and we are so proud to be led by you as our head of the family. Here's wishing him the best of health and happiness!

Yoga progress - mini yogi series

Just after I posted my recent yoga progress post, this little yogi surprised everyone (herself included) and did this new backbend!

Bending backwards my little flexi yogi

She was so thrilled to have done it and to see her face light up was amazing. I felt so proud and happy for her!

Day 5 - our last full day in Osaka, shopping and having ramen at midnight

It was Sunday, 18 Jun and Father's Day! On the home-front, the children were well taken care of at a staycation planned by their Godpa, so it was nice that they spent it with him on this timely weekend.


The husband and I woke up with no agenda, except of course to eat, so we washed up and headed to fill our tummies. We headed towards Uniqlo - when in Japan, one must! - so we headed to the major mall a short stroll away from our apartment.


By this day, we finally were more familiar with the route from the train station to our apartment. To say that it's complicated is not true, but to say it's a breeze isn't either. The underground tunnels all look the same and as we didn't know Japanese or all directions, it did get slightly confusing. It was a lot easier on ground as we could identify big buildings and major landmarks. I guess it took us 4 days to be more aware of the directions.


Ferris wheel was one of a major landmark that we used to orientate ourselves

We headed to the basement of the major Osaka Mall (right above the underground Osaka Train Station) where as expected, there were major food stalls and options. We settled on this particular one called Top Chefs as it looked popular.

In the queue

They served fusion type of noodles in big, white shallow bowls that made the food look extra pretty. We had one serve of noodles each, plus a salad that I liked but the husband didn't (there was runny egg within - what not to love!). I had a standard tempura udon noodle and the husband opted for their signature dish, a mentaiko based one that was swimming in rich broth.

Our counter seats with lunch served

The pretty and tasty salad

Post lunch, we strolled through the mall browsing then attacked Uniqlo. It was sale period so we topped up on basics at a steal! The husband and I split up for a bit after and in that time, I went to get a strawberry shortcake. All the cakes and pastries on display always looked so good, I could not leave Japan without having one.
 



Yay

It was about 5pm at this time, and we'd given up the idea of an evening run. So why not have ramen and beer then?
 

Why not, indeed.

We had extra char siu and gyoza with the meal, finished off with dessert (my cake). BURP.

Back to our apartment with the tiny door... for a nap.

It was such a lazy time where we rested the next two hours. Without hunger to motivate us, we just lazed in the apartment. The husband took a short nap while I packed - we were due to leave the next day and I needed to sort out our shopping into our one luggage.


It was about 8ish when we were ready to head out and as it was our last night in Osaka, we made the decision to go to where it would be bustly with activity - back at Dotonburi. This time, we took a train there.


There were so many restaurants that we were truly spoilt for choice. Besides not knowing what we wanted to eat, the bigger challenge was if the food would be good. Every place pretty much looked authentic that it was really hard sometimes. I remember walking up and down a stretch and tossing options before we finally picked one that said "niao" on the outside. That literally means 'bird' but we figured it'd be fowl.. and we were spot on. In fact, everything on the menu was chicken and every possible part of the chicken!
 

You'd be surprised how much one can order just based on a
purely chicken menu!

Happy faces, post dinner

We strolled along Dotonburi, and just soaked in the sights, sounds and atmosphere. It was still so crowded despite it being late and a Sunday night. Truly, everyone must/loves to eat and I guess everyone also thought like us, to want to be in the thick of things.

Giant gyozas

Stopped for a snack - beers and ebi tempura

Giant dragon (popular ramen, no we did not try)

At this point, we'd walked by this particular ramen shop several times and it always, always had a queue. Since we were not hungry, and we had time, we decided to join the queue for this gotta-be-amazing ramen.

Cannot believe we're queueing for ramen! This was the start of
our queue which was outside the building

Forty minutes in, we had made it into the building and this was the queue behind us

Finally, after an hour, we made it! By this time, it was already just past midnight and I was close to being sleepy. Everything was actually running pretty quickly by clockwork, so it's really just the large number of people that caused the wait. We were led to a long bar table that was segmented into little booths. It felt strange! You filled in the details of your noodles into the card and passed it to the faceless staff moving around behind the wall. It was queer because they served everything through the hole, so we could see bodies but not any faces.

Waiting for our noodles

Verdict? The noodles tasted pretty amazing. Considering we were so tired, it was so late, we were not super hungry (not been for days), the taste of the noodles was still pretty awesome! The husband and I shared a bowl though, so perhaps that made it even better. I reckon it would have been overkill to have one bowl each. While I cannot believe we queued, I think it was not a bad wait after all to have such yummy noodles. Belatedly, we learnt that the place was called Ichiran, and they had branches in other states within Japan; so that means it increases the chances of us having this ramen again if we ever visit Japan, not necessarily Osaka only! Hooray.


Post ramen, we strolled about - being the tourist centre, some shops were still open and yes, there were also people still shopping. The husband and I called it quits as we had nothing left to buy and so we took a cab back.


That night, we attempted to pack more before crashing. We'd worked out a time to retrace our route back to Kansai Airport, to make our way out of Osaka.


Good night, Osaka. Ichiran FTW!


Read about days 1, 2, 3 and 4 here.