Some traditional Korean experience in Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul.

Traditional Korean house. 

Stranded in the rain :( 

My parents :) 

 Surrounded by Gyeongbokgung Palace , Changdeokgung Palace and Jongmyo Shire , Bukchon Hanok Village is home to hundreds of traditional houses called "hanok" that date back to the Joseon Dynasty. Unfortunately for us , it was pouring when we reached the village leaving us stranded many times under shelters of the hanoks and also not be able to explore the entire village. Nevertheless , walking through the village gives you a going-back-in-time feeling as the houses there , as mentioned above , are very old and traditional. My parents and I appreciated the architecture of the hanoks. Many of these hanoks operate as cultural centers , guesthouses , restaurants and tea houses providing an opportunity to experience , learn and immerse in traditional Korean culture and we certainly did enjoyed that experience of a different culture. :)

A back alley in the village

3 Nights in a Valley.

 SO, we took a 1-hour train ride from Lucern Central Station to the valley of Lauterbrunnen. This valley is my favourite destination as it provides us with stunning views of mountains left and right to us. The valley of Lauterbrunnen is one of the deepest in the Alpine chain when compared with the height of the mountains which rise directly on either side. What I like about this place is the calmness of it as it has very little cars and little industrial life going on , also its surrounded by Mother Nature. At times we can hear the sound of snow and ice cracking somewhere in the mountains as if there is going to be an avalanche coming in our way! Accommodation in Europe is extremely expensive , thus we had to live in a hostel , which consist just our beds in the room. Kitchen , toilets and bathrooms are all shared with other backpackers from all around the globe. This gives us a chance to interact with people from different countries and we did! We actually got quite close with an Australian guy who was travelling the world since he is retired. To sum it up , Lauterbrunnen was worth the time and money spent and it gave us all a stunning view right outside our window and NATURE IS BEAUTIFUL ~~

View from our hostel.

Frozen Staubbach Falls. 

Dinner is served.

 Here are some of the pictures taken from inside the train when we were heading to Lauterbrunnen :) Please enjoy :)

Dancing Wires ~~

Final 

First day of class , first module , 3D Fundamentals , our lecturer , Mr Alvin Tan showed us videos of three different types of dances. He told our class to just sketch whatever we see on the video. I still remembered that our entire class was stunned. Mainly because that was the first day of school and most of my classmates just came back from super long holidays (just like me) and the speed of the dances were incredible especially the second video that he showed us. I would not not forget that video , when he showed the class , most of us were like "oh my god , what the hell is this" because of the sheer SPEED of the dance. And then we need to convert those sketches into a wire sculpture. Three small sculptures and a big final one. This process was fun and enjoyable just that the wire was a bit too hard , fingers hurt. We had a review session whereby everyone brings his or her work to school and they were stunning! The curves and looks of those sculptures were great. Personally , I'm happy with what I did because I redid the final sculpture thrice , before I had it right. I think most of the Dancing Wires made by the class are a work of art because me and my classmates all scarified our time and money into these sculptures and i think they should be appreciated and NO ART FORM IS UGLY in my opinion. So , these are my Dancing Wires ~~~ :)

Prototype 1 

Prototype 2 

Prototype 3

Hope for Reunification??

Says it all. 

Bell of Peace

 As the title of this post suggests , will it actually happen?? If it does , I would love to experience it if i'm still alive at that time. The story between the two Koreans , Soviet Union took the North and the United States of America took the South after Japan's defeat in the Second World War. Soviet Union introduced Communism while the USA introduced capitalism. War broke out between the two sides on 25th June 1950 when the North invaded the South. The bloody war finally ended on 27th June 1953 , the war lasted for 3 years and a month.

War memorial for those who died during the Korean War

Peace messages by South Koreans 

Dorasan Train Station , built in the hope of reunification 

 An agreement was signed to allocate a Demilitarized Zone , or simply DMZ , which it 2km wide from each side. No military installations are allowed in this area. During my trip to Korea in July , we visited the DMZ and you can feel the sense of devastation and utter sadness that the Koreans faced when they had to be divided among their families. Efforts had been made to increase the hopes for the reunification of Korea , for example , the Bell of Peace and the building of the Dorasan Station which links the two capitals , Seoul and Pyongyang. When I was at the DMZ area , I could actually feel the tension between the two sides as there are many soldiers guarding the area , barb wires , beware-of-mines sides and an army base. Unfortunately , the tension between North and South and the US had risen recently because of the North Korean tests on their long-range ballistic missiles. Hopefully , there will not be two countries in the Korean peninsula in the future. Reunification?? Only time will tell..    

South Korean soldier 

20 minutes at the Galleries.

It began during my Language Arts class that our teacher told us we have 20 minutes to explore the galleries in our campus and snap pictures of the art works that I personally like. During that time , it was an exhibition called , Made In Singapore , which commemorates 75 years of Arts Education. Most of the artists were from NAFA and their works are exceptional. These 3 are my favourite ones. On top is an art work called Another Sunny Afternoon by Hong Sek Chern , I like this work because there is a lot of perspective painting involved in it , which relates a lot to my course which is Interior Design. Above is a work called Till We Meet Again by Lawrence Liu. I like this work because it captures the tradition of Singapore and the people who worked in that area for a long time. The shops and the signboards of those shops were almost similar to those of the olden days. Lastly , below is The Star Vista II by Boo Sze Yang. I like his work because that oil painting looks like a very very futuristic shopping mall. I love watching Sci-fi movies and this painting looks like a setting for a movie like Star Trek. Overall , it was a well-spent 20 minutes in the galleries exploring the works of art from local artist ,I hope I can become as successful them next time in the future when I am working in the society. :)

BA BA BA BA BASSSSSS TIME ~

My sticker bass. 

Flea himself with his spin art bass. 

         
 I started learning the bass guitar when I was in secondary 3 , or 15 years old. Back then I have dreamt of being in a rock band and performing in front of a large number of people. My friends were forming a band but they lack a Bassist so I decided to join them by first learning how to play the bassssssssss. As time goes by I started to feel bored about how my bass looks like , just a plain colour. I was inspired by one of my favorite bassist , Michael Peter Balzary , better known as Flea, of a Funk rock band called the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is an amazing bassist , rank 3rd in the word. His basses are mostly customed finish with lots of colours. I wanted my bass to look colourful and I got inspiration from his Spin Art bass that he collaborated with artist Damien Hirst for charity. The bass was colourful and I really love it , unfortunately , I was not able to do the Spin Art finish , thus i went with pasting different kinds of stickers on it to make it look colouful. They were actually not stickers , I used my old magazines and cut out different portions that I like , paste it with a double-sided tape and then paste it on the bass. So after a few hours of cutting and pasting , my "customed" bass was finally completed. I would love to try the Spin Art finish on a new bass that I get in the future ( hopefully I won't screw it up)

Stickers galore 

A simple back

Another one of his basses

Headstock 

Flea's spin art basses.

First time surfing , fantastic.

Tired after 2 hours of Surfing. 

Our instructor , Rickco , showing us how to do it

Surfing in Bali was a wonderful experience. Unfortunately , it was only a 2-hour session of first-time experience of standing on the Surf board on the sea. My cousin and I took up a beginner's lesson on Surfing at Odessey's Surf School with our instructor Rickco. First he showed us how to paddle and then the proper step-by-step way of stand up onto the board. We practiced on the beach and it was time to go into the sea! My first few tries were awful , I fell , drank sea water and huge waves and currents pushing against you. I still remembered what Rickco told me ," You jumped on the board , you shouldn't jump on the board!" . From then on I make sure I do the right thing and yeah , I managed to stand up onto the board for the first time ( I think for 3 seconds ). It was a sensational feeling , the sea breeze blowing against your face , heard the waves behind you and the sound of the board gliding on the surface of the water was amazing. The tiring part of surfing is going back to my takeoff spot. I had to withstand huge waves crashing against me! And some of the sea water even went into my eyes , causing my eyes to be red and uncomfortable. Nevertheless , I still love my first experience of surfing. If I had a chance to further improve and practice surfing , I love to take that chance. :)

Takeoff Spot

Yup , just me falling 

Practice makes perfect. 

Cruising ~