The Straight Times: WSC '08!

Dear Readers,

Far from being a literated post today, tkwek sends us the soft copies of some of his travel pictures (at last!) They're taking some time to upload here, but oh well, it's worth it (:

This trip, in terms of photography, has been a 'people' rather than 'scenery' trip, and in the shots below you'll see faces, some familiar and some not. Together, these people made tkwek's trip worthwhile.

The Straight Times Editior

First and foremost, an airport shot - my teammates are the two on the left and the right is would-be champ, Nol Swaddiwudhipong! Standing with our luggage all around, it was quite clear that mine, the khaki one, was the smallest, engendering well-meaning parental fears that I hadn't brought enough things for the trip.

We touched down at Seoul, Incheon Airport, on the afternoon of the 28th of May. The Dunkin' Donuts shop there was there instantly rang a bell among the rows and rows of Korean shops and food outlets. Comfort Food indeed. This was a 'first meal there' for many of us, including Wei Han (Above).

We took a bus to Myungdung, where our hotel was. From the main road, our hotel was only accessible by bypassing this row of brightly neon-decorated shops (a successful money-making venture on their part) and here is ZhiYang, rugger.

Metro hotel lobby. In every soap opera, there is a centre scene of action, and this was it for our trip. Although nothing was very special about the room, the two laptops there with internet access was heaven for the whole lot of us AND those from the other schools, creating disillusioning scenes of happy (users) and unhappy (others). It was also the scene of rampant teasing, especially after someone's equally rampant offline messaging.

After an entertaining NANTA mime performance we headed back to the hotel, where we immediately discovered the wonders of a three-bed room (: However this ecstasy did not last for long as Naishad came over and we turned the room into a muggers den - which lasted for three days.

And yup, here's what a mugger's hotel room looks like.

Anyway, we mugged till lunchtime the next day, and headed off to fill our bowels with decent, non-maggee-mee food. So we headed into Seoul city's extensive subway system (a bit like our citylink, just that not all the underpasses are connected) to find lunch. What we found was scorching hot to a stinging extent, and Jeremy (Teoh) and I had to share a choc-ice-cream to cull the pain. (Excuses to indulge!) But what we DID discover was a very effecient food court system: You ordered your food, went to another counter to pay, and got a queue number. When your number was displayed on the board you could go get your food. In the meantime, there was free distilled water (with cups sterilized in UV conditioners) to keep your mouth full.

After lunch, (which we were given two hours for), we realized we couldn't stand the subway anymore, and headed out for some fresh air. Which brought us into the middle of Seoul's business/administrative district. Avid photographers like us can't resist a random scenery pic, can we?

(three spires)

After another mugging spree, and dinner, we went out to see the sights and sounds of the seoul city centre at last. unexpectedly, the streets were turned into a beautiful pasar malam of delicious smells and a whole lot of cheap (positively so) goods. Here's a glance.

Apart from the street stall, the bigger shopping departments earned a lot from these ventures too, and with those - oh my! - bright neon lights, it isn't surprising that they're drawing attention.

That night's outing ended without incident - Mr. Janus Lim (thanks again!) bought a slice of cake for me for my birthday (the next day) and we headed back to the hotel. During this time some mild surprises transpired (Naishad!) and we mugged/watched 'Curse of the Golden Flower'.

here's where we went for dinner, by the way.

The next morning, the seniors (thanks again too!) bought another cake and we shared that. And they got a nice birthday hat for me - a pointy one with a green christmas-tree thing around it - and i wore it around Seoul for the whole day.

(Below) Joshua. Eating. Need I say more?

The hotel told us that we'd to check out by 10, but the WSC bus to bring us to the English village (the competition place where the Cup would be held the next day) wouldn't come till 5, so we looked around town for somewhere to sit. and eat. and MUG.

and we found BK.

so we hung around there to mug until twoplus, then we went to sightsee! Zhiyang and weihan went to look at the dvds shop, while the rest of us went up to street level again. below is a picture of crazy singaporean tourists. one of them has a birthday hat. hrmph.