A holiday I would never forget
Holidays, a time everyone gets hyped up over, parents planning
activities for the family to spend quality time with and school children
( as well as teachers) jumping for joy. Hello, waking up late,
celebrating, goin for tuition and best of all, vacations! In myy case, a
holiday I would never forget is a fruitful one I expereinced five years
ago, where my family I spent six days in the land of K-Pop and ' kimchi
'- Korea.
Finally, after ages of waiting, our family
arrived in beautiful Korea. Stepping out of the plane, we could feel the
chilly weather to our bones. Never experiencing that kind of weather,
my siblings and I were totally excited. Passing through immigration and
baggage claim, we were talking animatedly about our new surroundings.
Since we went with tour group, we knew we were in good hands.
Incident number one. We were supposed to take a bus to check in at the
hotel, as instructed. I guessed I was overeager and without thinking. I
ran to a random bus and knocked on the door. The young bus driver opened
the door and looked at me with a puzzled expression. He started asking
me something in Korean, which of course I did not understand. I tried to
reply in English, but before I could make the attempt, my father
quickly apologized to the driver and walked me back to the tour group
who was watching from afar, shaking with laughter. It turned out that
the bus I was running to was not the bus we were supposed to take. I
dismissed my burning cheeks. I was glad I could be the butt of
everyone's jokes on my first day in a foreign country.
It
was a bit past lunch time when we were done checking in our hotel. Not
doubt, everybody's stomachs were grumbling. Thank God after checking in,
we were going to have our lunch and do a bit of sightseeing. While
waiting for the others outside the hotel, we walked around nearby. There
was a row of vending machines that sold various snacks and beverages,
including Haagen Dazs ice-cream , and instant noodles. My mother had a
craving for Nescafe, so she spent her first Korrean money on that.
At the restaurant, a delicious meal was already spread out for us. That
was the first time we all tried kimchi, a spicy and sour vegetable
side dish.I did not think it was horrible, buut I preferred the fish
kimchi much better. We all ate using chopsticks, so that was kind or
awkward for me and my siblings, as we were not skilled at using them
yet. Being Malaysians, we were used to rice, so it was a good thing that
the Korean meal included rice and a few other side dish, eaten from a
Bento box. It was weird though, the rice was stickier compared to the
rice we eat at home, mainly to make it easier to eat using chopsticks.
There was also hot and scumptious miso soup together with the meal.
Since my sister and my brother did not like it much, I finshed up
theirs. I gulped the warm soup down my throat- a nice connntrast from
the shivering weather outside.
One of the highlights of
our activities that we did in Korea was skiling. Everybody from the tour
group was looking forward to that, even the 52-year old couple
traveling with us. Since it was'nt fully snownig yet, the hill was
coverred with artificial snow. After grobbing our ski gear, we listen to
a briefing by the instructor. He was very help ful, especially with us
kids annd the elderly couple.
Feeling jumpy and
hyperactive, me and my sister made our way to the cable car and
successfully skied down a slope. I thought, " We're natural at this,"
and my sister could not agree more. When we came to see how our parents
and brother were doing, my brother started to throw a snowball towards
me and my sister. It hit me, and we started having a small snowball
fight of our own, just like in the movies! I guessed we got a bit out of
hand and my sister accidentally hit a woman's back. when she turned
around, she had this angry look on her face and started to walk towards
us.I hurried my siblings to continue skiing with our parents,and we ran
away before she cold catch us. Breathless, we giggled innaivety as we
recapped the moment.
In a way, skiing is like swimming.
Why do I say so? Well, when swimming ,you do not feel tired , but you
would see the effect when you get ravenous and eat more after a session
or when you aintend to tke a nap, but it is extended to long hours. The
same goes to skiing. When we arrived at the hotel after skiing, we were
drained out and starving. Instant noodles saved the day! We all ate
curry-flavoured Maggi together, savouring the memontary pleasure. We
also dozed off quite early that night , right after going for a walk to
enjoy the amazing night view of th mountains, and breathing the cool,
fresh winter air.
Shopping in Korea was also different
compared to Malaysia. Its malls were packed with small shops or stalla
on every floor. Big boutiques were not seen as much as the quaint
kiosks. Nevertheless, I found shopping at their markets more enjoyable,
especially because you could haggle the price. Their specialities were
crystals, fabrics and outerwear. Apart form that, I also liked their
wet markets , mainly because they were very clean and they did not have
that fishy smell. I remembered a shocking incident when walking through
the stalls of the wet market. A large fish jumped out its aquarium and
onto the floor. I stared at it and suddenly, I saw a huge cutting knife
slicing through the fish's neck! It was the owner of the stall's doing.
Then, the owner left the fish flapping around lifelessly without a
head.
There was also a treasure trove among the stalls of
the wet market- a tiny shoop which served grilled seafood. My family
stepped into the shop and ordered some grilled fish and cockles.
After saying our prayers, we devoured our mouth-watering find of the
day. Dripped in a type of souce, the seafood was the best I had ever
eaten, as you could taste the freshness. Or maybe I was just hungry
after a full day of activities.
If it was up to me,
there were so many things to write on my memorabe trip to Korean. Not
onli we got to spend quality time together as a family, but we also
learnt countless new things and even discovered hidden talents. My
father always said we should travel with an open mind and an open
heart. This is when you get to see your capability to adapt to changes.
Just enjoy the simple things in life and be thankful of what you have.
So, do just that. Who knows you might discover a part of yourself you
never know existed?
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