• Authentic Bibimbap in Jeonju

    During my long long trip to Korea in April, I left Seoul and visited my friend’s hometown in Jeonju. If you have no idea where this place is, then you are missing out the most eminent aspect of Jeonju: Jeonju Bibimbap. Bibimbap originates from Jeonju.

    My friend and I booked our bus ticket for departure at 8.10am in the morning. This timing is too inhumane. We decided to meet at around 7am at the Express Bus Terminal subway station to have our breakfast together before embarking on our trip. This is clearly an excuse. We settled at this meeting time because we were afraid we’d both wake up late and miss the bus.

    At 7am that day, I messaged my friend to tell her I’ve reached! She told me to look for her at a certain exit number and boy, I walked. Have you ever groaned at the thought of the long walk, when changing from purple line to red line at Plaza Singapura MRT station in Singapore? This walk at the Express Bus Terminal subway station is at least 4 times of that distance. I put down my phone and concentrated on walking, for fear I would miss the correct exit. 10min later, my friend sent me a message to ask why I have yet to appear in front of her. The Express Bus Terminal Subway Station is Huge! Gigantic! Humongous! You get the gist? I wasn’t lost, it just took me a long time to walk.

    After a 2.5 hours direct bus ride, we arrived at Jeonju! Don’t ask me about the view along the way. I basically concussed 5min after the bus left the berth. I was woken up by my friend telling me we’ve reached, in time to see our bus pass going through the Jeonju entrance gate. Her mother picked us up with a car and off we went to have our Bibimbap! We went to a restaurant named “Gogung” for lunch.

    I trusted that my friend brought me to the best store in Jeonju for bibimbap and I was right. I only took a photo of the Bibimbap dish because my friend’s mother was dining together. Having to take pictures of all the food would mean she had to wait for me, and that would be rude. The side dishes and other additional dishes we ordered tasted good. The best is of course the main dish.

    Next, my friend brought me to their local supermarket for some fresh strawberries and cherry tomatoes. They were so fresh and sweet, nothing like those we have here in Singapore. Interestingly, the packaging of the strawberries and cherry tomatoes had stickers on it, indicating the names of farmers who grew that particular pack!

    After a filling lunch and fruits, we headed to a cafe for some energy replenishment in the afternoon. We went to the Cham in Coffee (참인커피) located in the Jeonju Hanok Village. This cafe is owned by Kim Woobin! He studied in Jeonju when he was younger and his parents are still living in Jeonju. Hence he opened a cafe there.

    Kim Woobin at his own cafe.

    And I was sitting at the exact same table as him.

    Below is a drawing on the wall.

    The poster of movie “Friends 2” with Kim Woobin in the middle.

    Some decorations and painting in the cafe.



    My friend and I chilled over a cup of coffee, overlooking the Jeonju Hanok Village from the second floor. The peaceful afternoon passed by quickly and it was time for me to tour the village myself.

    A description of the Jeonju Hanok Village.

    Look at how pretty the traditional Korean houses are! There are approximately 700 of these houses located here. To get this awesome full view of the hanok village, climb up the Ohmokdae hill, the highest place in town. It is next to the Jeonju Arts & Craft Exhibition Centre, and it took me around 10 minutes to reach the top.

    I took this photo to tell my personal fitness trainer that I was also exercising despite my vacation. Haha!

    I have no idea why, but we were tired once again. Perhaps it was the climb up and down the hill, or it was the heat. We once again retreated to a cafe, a different one this time, called Cafe Fermata (카페 페르마타). My friend highly recommended the honey bread and it was splendid. I think I could never eat honey bread from other stores again. Cafe Fermata honey bread has a thin layer of crust on the outside but practically melts in your mouth, as it is soft on the inside. My stomach is growling at this hour looking at this photo again.

    We walked around the shopping district and had dinner before going to the bus terminal. My Korean friend is so pretty. Beside her, I pale in comparison.

    It was finally back to Seoul for me. This time, on my own. I had a 1 day trip and find myself wishing I had stay longer. If you ever decided to go Jeonju, I would suggest planning at least a 2D1N trip.

    Gogung (고궁)
    Deokjin-gu, Deokjin-dong 2ga, 168-9 (Jeonju Main shop)
    Tel: +82 63-251-3211

    Cham in Coffee (참인커피)
    Jeonju-si Wansan-gu Gyo-dong 274-2 (In front of Gyeonggijeon Main Gate)
    Tel: +82 63-232-3003

    Cafe Fermata (카페 페르마타)
    Jeonju-si Wansan-gu Jeonju Gaeksa4gil 24-29

  • Fan Accounts turned Fanfics?

    Happy New Year everyone!
    Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015!

    How did you spend your New Year countdown? I was feeling lazy and decided to skip all invitations to stay home and chillax on New Year’s Eve. I’m not sure if you are aware, every year in Korea, the major broadcasting stations took turns for the New Year Eve countdown broadcast slot. This year, the countdown programme “Gayo Daejaejun” on 31 December 2014 was held by MBC. A long list of artists and groups joined in to celebrate the passing from year 2014 to 2015. The recording is held at three different locations to split up the overwhelming crowd to witness the programme live.

    This morning, I woke up to my Twitter filled with fan accounts of this Gayo Daejaejun by a single person. It is her first time travelling to Korea and to see her idols in person there. The fan accounts that came >10 hours late are very detailed and shows how much interaction she has with her bias from BEAST. Towards the end of her fan account, I am certain that she was, and still is having delusions.

    I declare that I am a fan of BEAST and I call myself a proud B2UTY. I have seen the members performed before me and I truly believe the good I see in them is really the good they behold.

    All fans fantasize about their idols, including me. I love how the male idols display their affection with their group members, concerned about their fans’ safety and well-being. I hope the idols I like are genuinely kind and positive. I am living in a faraway land that takes 6 hours of flight time to fly directly to Korea. One of the ways I could stay updated with news of my idols is through fan accounts on Twitter. These are accounts given by fans on Twitter, who have the opportunities to see a live performance or even meet the idols up front and personal.

    Like what Jongsuk said in his drama Pinocchio: “How scary it is to talk carelessly without knowing the weight of your own words”. The fan whom I mentioned above, has 16.6k followers on Twitter and this is the reach her words stretch. There are fans who yet have a chance to see BEAST in person and rely heavily on her tweets. Any words that are untrue may give these fans false hopes that they too would be entitled such an experience when they travel to Korea.

    When I see the replies given by all the international fans to her, I could see how much they held on to her words and everyone wishing they were there to receive the same treatment. I myself have seen BEAST perform live from row 1 and I agree that they give awesome fan service. Yet from my personal experience, they do not focus on one single person for that entire time on stage. The more I read, the more I fumed, which is why I am writing this post.

    I’ve highlighted the important parts because her posts are too long. There’s a summary given at the end, if you want to skip all the lengthy posts.

    Let’s go with her flow of fan accounts, starting with seats. She mentioned there were only 3 B2UTYs in the zone, she and her friend, with another person. We can deduce from here that she was not seated on the front row as another B2UTY was sitting in front of  her.

    Here, she added that the B2UTY sitting in front of her left, leaving only she and her friend in that zone. From this account onwards, you can see the personal interaction she cited with the BEAST members.

    Firstly, Hyunseung kept staring at her.
    Then Doojoon and Kikwang kept looking over, make eye contact and wave.
    Kikwang and her took turns making heart with arms and throwing at each other for a couple of times.
    Kikwang also gave her his boyish childish grin.

    She continues to say Kikwang would always sway his body to catch her eye.
    Doojoon waved goodbye to her a couple of times.
    Doojoon was almost always looking for her.

    She screamed for Dongwoon and he chuckled at her scream and waved at her.
    Then Doojoon, Kikwang, Yoseob and Dongwoon waved at her, as usual.

    From here onwards, her fan accounts took a step further from reality since it was with her bias, Junhyung.

    She said Junhyung kept staring at her.
    He was looking at her the whole time.
    Then he smirked and pointed at her.

    He kept his smirk on and continued looking at her.
    He would turn around and look around, but he would always turn back to look at her.
    Even up til the last moment on stage (I am doing translations from English to English, because her English is bad), he was looking at her and smirking once in a while.

    She re-tweeted another person’s pictures and claimed that he was looking at her.

    Again on the seats, this time she said she was on the last row.
    She then assumed (she used the word “think” but this is as good as an assumption) that Junhyung didn’t like them to take photos.
    She mentioned he looked at her again.

    She said she mouthed to tell him to go to her but he shook his head and smirked.  
    She pouted at him and he pouted back.
    She continued to say he looked at her again.

    She then explained how Junhyung took care of her by staring hard at her with fingers in his ears, as indication for her to do the same.

    And despite above assumption that Junhyung doesn’t like to take photos, she told him to smile at her camera.
    Then she said he smiled for her camera, according to her instructions.

    This is her post about the photo Junhyung smiled for her.



    She continued to say Junhyung was looking at her direction 80% of the time.

    According to her, Junhyung did a hand bow without bowing his head to keep looking at her.
    She added that she cannot be very sure if he was looking at her.

    She said he smirked at her and pretty sure he knew she liked him the most.

    She continued to add that the pictures are backing her fan accounts.

    She re-tweeted the following photos to imply that these are the photos that are evidence.

    She must be implying that he was pouting at her here.

    She “clarified” that she wasn’t boasting about her experiences which is in every way, a false statement.

    She continued to say this is like the look after he pointed at her.

    And she said she was talking to him (from last row) and he was staring at her.
    Then he laughed at her.

    She saw someone’s photo of Doojoon in action and claimed that he was dancing with her.

    Allow me to summarise.

    She was the only B2UTYs in the section
    In a big venue with hundreds or even thousands of fans, she claims that her section of seats only had 2 people (her and her friend) who were B2UTYs. Either she’s trying to say BEAST had very little fans (which obviously wasn’t true) or her statement of only 2 B2UTYs in that section not true. Of course I do not assume she’s lying. She is perhaps only blind enough to un-see all the other B2UTYs in the zone.

    Her seat
    She was sitting in the last row in her section of seats. From my conversations from artist friends, with the bright spotlight shining on them onstage, they usually cannot see beyond row 2. Unless of course they shield their eyes with their hands. Most of the times, the spotlight is simply too blinding. Yes they could hear your screams and determine where you are shouting from. But no, they cannot see you if you are seated at the last row. And her section of seats has more than 2 rows. BEAST members did not constantly shield their eyes to look at fans. Imagine how weird it would be. Again, I do not imply she’s lying. Perhaps, delusional.

    Junhyung’s smile for her camera
    She said Junhyung followed her instructions and smiled for her camera. The first picture is too blur to proof anything, evidence as good as none. You can’t even see who is who with this picture. I am quite certain she is not using a DSLR of likes, but a digital camera. Getting an image this blur with DSLR is hard.

    The second picture though, proof very well how far she was seated from the members, simply base on the amount of zoom she used to get the picture. The menu options further confirmed my suspicion that she was using a digital camera. Korean artists posing for a good camera such as DSLR is common. They would search in the crowd for a good camera and approaches the camera to pose for good pictures. Posing for a digital camera is rare because it is hard for them to spot your small compact digital camera in the first place.

    Junhyung’s bow while looking at her
    She put a disclaimer to say it might not be true, if a fan cam appears to be proof against her words. In another words, it is true if there is no such fancam. This is as good as sprouting nonsense and say unless you prove me wrong with a video, otherwise I am always right!

    Junyung knew she liked him the most
    How do I even start? Unless we get to ask Junhyung, we wouldn’t know for sure right?

    Pictures back up her “story”
    Those pictures could only confirm the members did the actions such as putting fingers into their ears, but it does not confirm whatever interactions she claimed they had. She did not appear in the pictures and judging from the background, we can’t even know where he was facing. I could say he was staring at me all the time!

    Doojoon danced with her
    She was telling stories based on pictures. A good picture appeared and she claimed the member was doing something with her based on the picture.

    Junhyung pouted at her
    Let me refresh your memory. She said he pouted at him and he pouted back, by which she swore it was the truth and she’s not delusional.

    A fan site uploaded the following picture of him obviously pouting at the fan site’s camera.

    This fan strikes again, this time to say he pouted after he turned from her.
    So did he pouted at her or not?

    Fan accounts time frame
    Lastly, I must share that usually fan accounts are uploaded at the time of the performance, or immediately after the performance. This is because our human brains are tricky and may sometimes insert images into our mind, which we really thought happened. For example, I once sent some Korean artists off from Changi Airport. Amidst the chaos, I vividly remembered one of them came forward to gave all of us a wave before heading off. Lucky for me, I was videoing the whole thing and no, he didn’t came forward to wave at all. I had no idea why I thought that happened. This girl’s fan accounts came after she went home and slept through the night, written the next day. I can say for sure that fan accounts to come this late and after a good night sleep, it is definitely 100% not the truth.

    On the overall, I choose to believe good in all mankind, so I keep telling myself she wasn’t lying deliberately. She is just plain delusional and believe in the images conjured up in her head beyond doubt, then spread those as if they were the truth.

    I’ve stated my doubts and it is up for you to judge.