What happens after Mirwana and Nowseeheart are no longer active

Salam.

It has been a ve~ry long time since I last blogging. Oh, the composing area is wider! Nice going!

I'm unsure how you would feel about this post, but it's my blog, so be it! [muahahaha]

Back in the early 2000s, nasyid was growing like mushrooms popping up after the rain. Somehow, I enjoy their good songs, but only 2 groups got my attention. Which are obviously Mirwana and Nowseeheart. Mainly its their voices that made me attracted. And believe me, if these two were performing live, the quality is always great! 

Other than that, I loved Mirwana because of their harmony. They are really creative and so I really enjoyed listening to the main vocal as well as the back up voices. Then, they made the acoustic version and rearrangement for Hikmah Kembara. Oooh! I just love those versions!! But the downside to it, I couldn't find any recording or mp3 of them T_T

Then, as for Nowseeheart, their singing are just great! As you listen, you would be wondering if they really are singing live; which they really are! They always exceed expectations.

However, since they are no longer active, I kinda feel lonely. No doubt there's Maher Zain, Irfan Makki, etc. They are are good singer, got nice songs and all, but for me that's all there is to it. Not enough to get my full attention. Keep in mind, I'm not disregarding them! And this is just my personal opinion. Don't bash me for my opinion, people ^_^

Then, the Hallyu wave arrived in Malaysia. When SuJu came to Malaysia somewhere around 2005, I couldn't care less. So what, they are selling music, but I'm not interested. So just let them be. I've always believe that if they are not good or popular enough, they won't reach me. I'm not the kind who go crazy over new things, nor I criticize new things when I don't know them enough to say anything. I mean, which senile people would go talking rubbish about something that they don't even know! Well, if they do then, what a pity because they are disregarding and  making a fool of themselves. -_-"

There are just too many products from Korea. Nice songs are enjoyable, but its' is these two songs below that really captured my attention. They somehow reminded me of great performances of my said favourite group. And their vocals is a HUGE factor. If you really feel the urge of standing against my points, please listen to them first. (",) [provided that you listen without prejudice] and please don't mind the fans ~peace!

The vocal control is just great

Their vocals spoke up for them

Korea from my lens

Salam.

Most commonly asked question is best tak pergi Korea? And I will answer Hmmm, best! 

Seoul is different from Kuala Lumpur, so it's absolutely worth going there for a sight-seeing. This is a series of scenery in Korea captured from my camera lens. Ok, not really mine, I borrowed the camera from my sister. Anyway, you get what I mean, right?  

This would be my last post about our Summer Adventure. Hope you like the pictures!

To Incheon International Airport

Namsangol Hanok Village

A view on our way to N Seoul Tower

Namsan Park from above

What a slope - Namsan mountain

Kids and teddy bears in front of Teddy Bear Museum

The gate of Dongdaemun in the middle of the road

People having a stroll along the Cheongyecheon river

A windy night in Dongdaemun

What do you think of this picture? Good enough for a postcard?

Gwanghamun

Gwanghwamun square at the center of the bustling Seoul

Jang Geun Suk!

A spectacular view of Namsan Mountain from The National Museum 

Pavilion and lake

This was captured in Itaewon. Any comments anyone?

Han river from the Banpo bridge

Community parks along the river

Seoul city

Couple bicycles at Han-gang park 

Rainbow fountain at Banpo Bridge

Banyaknya manusia...

Bank minyak...wohoo!

Outskirts of Seoul

Kincir angin!

Is it a sunset or a sunrise?

Ini bukan iklan Air Asia

Let's eat in Korea

Salam.

Many people are curious as to what were we eating in Korea. Here are our lunches and teas. We had our dinners at the hostel as they provided rice. I'm not that good of a story teller, so here goes pictures!

Naengmyun and Kimchee stew in Itaewon

Shrimp burgers and Patbingsu at Lotteria

5-taste tea and ginger tea at Miss Lee's cafe in Insadong

Extra Hot Seafood Risotto and Spicy Kimchee Spaghetti at Mr Pizza

Americano and Cappucino with Lemon Patbingsu at Red Mango

We also had kebab in Namdaemun. My favourite are the risotto and the spaghetti. Why? Because they are HOT & SPICY...hahaha...Naengmyun was spicy but they are cold. It's kinda unique as there were ice cubes inside the bowl. Ooooh...just remembering the taste and pictures are making my mouth waters. In a nutshell, I enjoyed them all!

Iced lemonade under the glaring sun in the hot summer was totally refreshing!

Kembara Musim Panas - Part 2

Salam.

I hope you enjoy reading my picture-blog. Here's the continuation of our adventure in Seoul.

Day 3

Off to Gwanghamun square and Sejong Center for Performing Arts. 

Gwanghwamun - the main and largest gate of Gyeongbok Palace

A breathtaking scenery

Sejong Center for Performing Arts (Running Man Ep 7)

At King Sejong Museum ( Running Man Ep 7)

King Sejong is great king in the heart of the Koreans. Apart from taking care of his people well, he had great ideas of systems and inventions which really helped his citizens. He is also the one who created the Hangeul writing system (which is still used till today) which shows his concern towards the illiterates. 

Running man fans, does this ring a bell? hehe

It also houses an exhibition about Admiral Yi Sunshin who was famous as the creator of the turtle ship and his intelligent war strategy against the Japanese in his time.

The museum is free; free admission plus free PDA borrowing. Cool. Plus, the PDA made the museum more fun. Extra cool. And I bought a cute King Sejong pen et the souvenir shop...hehe saja nak bagitau. There is also a booth at the entrance where the visitors can try out the king's hanbok. For free. Double cool.

With Haechi Seoul - the mascot of Seoul City. See the red-blue spiral thing? That's actually the mark for the beginning of the Cheonggyecheon stream

Crossing the stream that runs west to east through the downtown Seoul. 

Day 4

Seoul Folk Flea Market is actually a walk-able distance from our lodging. When we arrived, it was still very early. So we skipped the market and headed to the next destination after taking commemorative photographs. You know what, the old folks passing by were actually staring at us with a puzzled face. I am not sure if it's because we were taking picture there or it is due to our tudung. Hmm, the stares are really puzzling. They were even turning their heads to see us as they were passing by us. Oh, I should have greeted them in Korean language to see their reactions. Haha that could be fun...

Seoul Folk Flea Market (Running Man Ep 39)

Then we head to the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan-Gu. It's a very big museum with no admission fee. Yes, it is free of charge. Quite impressive. But there is no PDA in this museum. What a pity.

We were greeted by the beautiful scenery of N Seoul Tower at the museum entrance. Macam gambar poskad tak?

The extensive building of the museum (Running Man Ep 48)

After that, we headed to Itaewon and stopped by at Itaewon mosque. It is also open for non-Muslims who visited Itaewon, but they had restricted access. They are not allowed to go into the praying hall. An ahjumma tried to go inside, as she was curious to see what is inside. When the person in charge told her that she is not allowed to go in, she was questioning the reason as she couldn't understand. If a non-muslim asked me, I wouldn't know how to answer either, without offending that person, that is.

Masjid Itaewon

Itaewon is a place where you could find the imported goods and European-sized clothes and shoes. There is also a lot of halal food restaurants of Indian cuisine, Pakistani restaurant, makanan Arab, etc; but no Malaysian cuisine yet.

Our next stop that evening was Banpo Han-gang(river) park to see the rainbow fountain. There is a funny story about this. We asked the subway information center about which stop is the best; and with a puzzled look, he said it is of 10-15 minutes of a walking distance, so we decided to walk. And then we met with a very friendly English-speaking volunteer. They wanted to walk? was written clearly on his face. However, since we said we don't mind walking, he kindly instruct us on the directions. And you know what, the walk from Itaewon to Banpo bridge took up about 50 minutes! But since it was windy, and we still had time to catch the rainbow fountain show, I enjoyed the walk, especially while crossing the bridge.

The riverbank park from the bridge.

There were so many people; family picnicking, friends hanging out, bicyclers, and not to be missed, couples dating. It was a very nice park with a very nice view.

To think that we actually crossed the bridge on foot. From Itaewon to this Banpo bridge, crossing from that end to this end. Whoah! Jambatan Sultan Ismail yang kat Muar tu pun aku tak pernah lintas jalan kaki.

People gathered to see the rainbow fountain. I bet the best angle to enjoy the dancing fountain and light effects is from the river

A pair of Japanese tourists helped us took our picture

The two students were very helpful when we asked for the nearest subway station. Haha knowing some Korean phrases from Kdramas sure helps

Day 5

This time, we are going to have a look at one of the palaces. The biggest palace is the Gyeoungbok palace, but as Running Man fans doing a Running Man tour, we went to Gyeonghui palace where the Running Man did their recordings (Running Man Ep 8, Ep 71)

At the entrance of Gyeonghuigung, the Sungjeongmun gate

We met with a group of Singaporean tourists who mistook Gyeonghui as Gyeoungbok palace an ended up taking pictures for each other. "Wow, you ladies are very adventurous..."  The Singaporean tourist said upon knowing we traveled with just the two of us.

Say "Kimchee..."

Two adventurous ladies, huh?

Praise be to Allah for protecting us along the journey

Next door building of the Gyeonghui Palace is the Seoul Museum of History, the maroon painted building. Yes, there are sooo many museums in Seoul 

The interior of Seoul Museum of History (Running Man Ep 8). Jauh botol air tu merantau; dari Malaysia ke Korea

Seoul Museum of Korea is a museum dedicated for Seoul history as a capital city since the Joseon dynasty. There is no admission fee to see the evolution of Seoul going through the eras, and re-developing after the effect of war with Japan.

Current Seoul City model in the Museum

Day 6

We had a last minute shopping in Namdaemun in the morning and off to Incheon International Airport with the limousine bus at noon. With that, we wrapped up our adventurous journey in Korea...

At the front gate of hanok that we stayed for 5 nights before checking out

Subanallah...Another breathtaking scene from the plane window

It was fun. Did you have fun reading my blog? I'll be writing a few more additional posts later ^_^

Running man jjang!

P/s: now I feel like re-watching Running Man Episodes. Anyway, congratulations for the 100th Episode. Daebak! 축하 해요!!