Blessed Christmas 2011

In true tradition of the Tan family, here’s a greeting card wishing all our family and friends a very Blessed Christmas and a great 2012!

Third Time Lucky!

So E and I were checking out Seoul at the first opportune moment by signing up for a visit to the Korean DMZ last Friday.  After the visit ended, we headed for Hongdae, making use of the city’s comprehensive subway system.  And almost at the same time during the journey, we were both attracted to a blue backpack carried by a young man.

I steathily moved slightly closer to him and stared at the bag intensely, looking for a brand name I could work with.  I found absolutely nothing useful, and then we arrived at Hongik University Station too soon.

With a little tinge of regret, we got off the train.  Throughout our whole exploration of Hongdae are, I was keeping my eyes open, hoping to find a similar backpack.  I cannot explain why I like it – perhaps it was the unique shade of blue that deeply captivated me, or the rather uncommon boxy look.  Either way, suffice to say that I could not get it out of my mind.

That night, we returned to explore Myeongdong, wanting to be somewhere nearer to our guesthouse.  And you would not believe it: as we were walking out of Myeongdong shopping area back to our guesthouse, we saw the backpack again.  This time, it was carried by a young Korean girl.  Because we wouldn’t be able to communicate with her and that it had also started raining then, we didn’t approach her to ask about the backpack.

This uncanny coincidence of seeing the same backpack, twice within the span of just a few hours, was just too… weird.  After we individually washed up and were winding down for bed, E and I started searching online for this elusive backpack, hoping to find out where we could purchase it.  And I tried all sorts of keywords and permutations, but nothing useful showed up.

E surmised it wasn’t such a lost cause because if we can see it twice in a day, it must be really popular.  And this boxy design seems to be ‘in’ this season.  Shouldn’t be too difficult finding it.  And she also declared that she was going to go up to the person and ask about the backpack if she saw it for the third time.

I saw it for the third time the next day.

I was alone when I saw a fellow SJ fan carrying the bag.  She was talking to her group of friends when I walked by and saw the backpack.  I hesitated, because not knowing how to speak Korean much, I was wondering how we were going to communicate.

Then I saw, or rather, heard a glimpse of hope.  She was speaking in Mandarin to her friends!  I mustered the courage to approach her and asked about the backpack.

Unfortunately, the backpack belonged to her friend, and not her.  She merely borrowed it, and didn’t know where her friend bought it.  At least I established that the backpack was bought in Seoul.  I was walking away when I thought I probably should at least get the brand name.  And so I headed back to the girl and asked if I could take a look at the backpack to see if I could ascertain the brand name.  She helpfully agreed, and even suggested that I could take a picture of the backpack, if it helped.

It did, because I found the brand name on the two decorative round bits on the cover.  To cut the long story short, I discovered on their website as to why the backpack was so popular – a variant of it was carried by Park Shin Hye, an actress, on a Korean drama called Heartstrings.

E and I each bought the blue backpack.  And then somehow, I managed to get the hubby on my side –  he too, wanted the backpack, in dark brown (I think my emphasis on the fact that this backpack could not be found anywhere in Singapore did the trick).

This backpack episode is by far the most hilarious incident encountered during my recent trip to Seoul.  And I am really starting to believe this theory of being ‘third time lucky’.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Wildlife

Stumped is how I would describe my reaction when I read the challenge – Wildlife.  Where on earth am I going to find pictures on wildlife?  I have not visited Australia to see the whales and dolphins in the wild.  And although visiting South Africa for their safaris is in the plan, it is not to be executed in the near future.  At least not near enough to give me some worthy picture for this challenge.

I had no photo in mind when I sieved through iPhoto and was fully expecting not to find any.  To my surprise and immense relief (I didn’t want to break my habit in accepting the challenge), I actually found one.

During one of my visits to Japan, we visited Nara Park, which is synonymous with the deers found in the park.  Apparently there are over 1,000 wild sika deers roaming freely in the park, although I must admit it didn’t look like there was a population of over 1,000 when I visited.

We were assured that these deers are tame and docile by nature, but I was attracted to this one surly-looking deer.  It had an expression which seemed to say ‘Not another group of irritating tourists coo-ing over us!’

Cute!  But incredibly smelly.  But hey, smell is one true indication that they are animals in the wild, isn’t it?