Tuesday August 19, 2008

Hey all! Here’s my long overdue post of pictures from Korea and Beijing.

Korea – Busan and Seoul (28th June- 5th July)

The streets of Busan city from my hotel room window. As you can see, it was raining. It was raining 4 out of the 7 days that I was in Korea so it kinda put a damper on the whole trip.

Up on a hill overlooking Haeundae beach. Busan is one of the cities in Korea located by the seaside so they have very nice beaches. It’s Korea’s ‘Waikiki’ according to the locals..

Street food. Tried something that looked like ‘Chee Cheong Fan’ but in a red sauce – horrible! Tried another fried ball of flour with cocoa inside…not good as well…

Most of our meals looked like this. Seated on the floor, barbequed meats with lots and lots of different types of kimchi. I was never a fan of Korean food so I didn’t quite enjoy the food there.

At one of their king’s tomb.

An artsy shot of the forest leading to the tombs.

Why Rain, you shouldn’t have….hehehe….

With a pretty Korean girl. She’s the hotel lift receptionist.

In Seoul with the Lonely Planet guide, looking for the place they recommended for good Ginseng Chicken, and I found it! And it was really quite good. Although food in Korea’s pretty expensive. We spent about an average of RM30 per person per meal.

Dad in the heart of the protest. When we were there, the South Koreans were protesting about the import of American beef, along with other discontentment..

Korean Folk Village – the Nongak, farmers’ dance. I got a headache just looking at them spin the string on the top of their hats…

The family enjoying a lil too much Soju and Hite at Namdaemun Market.

Myeongdong is the area where we stayed in Seoul. The night market here opens till about 11pm and there are lots of things you can get here like accessories, bags, clothes.

Went to the DMZ or Demilitarized Zone. This is the area between North and South Korea. You cannot get to this place by yourself, you have to join a tour.

The tour will normally include a journey into the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. It’s quite a steep walk into and out the tunnel. These tunnels were dug by the North Koreans with the intention of attacking Seoul but was discovered by the South Koreans after a North Korean soldier escaped and told the authorities about the planned surprise attack.

Beijing (29th July – 1st August)

We were greeted by hazy skies in the capital of China.

And everywhere we looked, the Olympic mascots were there.

The Great Wall of China, the Badaling section. There are many sections where you can climb the great wall but the Badaling section is one of the most popular spots near Beijing.

I only climbed up to 3 stations, it was too hot and there were too many people to continue on.

The Bird’s Nest Stadium. When we were there, the area was still closed to public so we had to take pictures from our car.

Wangfujing Food Market.

Look at the crabs, they’re so round!!

Scorpians, silk worms and crickets galore…take your pick.

We chose the tiny scorpians. They actually taste quite good, just like fried soft shell crab with salt.

Bicycle parking lot…

Forbidden City

Tiananmen Square. There are sooo many people in China that it’s hard to take a picture without having someone else come into shot. Especially at these tourist spots.

I was in Beijing on assignment for The Triumph Inspiration Awards 2008 Grand Finals. 31 student deisgners from 31 countries had to design a set of lingerie inspired by the theme “Female Fascination”.

Guess who was there as a VIP guest! Michelle Reis/Lee. I bumped into her in the toilet first and she was very friendly. She looks exactly like she does in the L’oreal Ads.

Media section was crazy packed. There were media reps from all 31 countries! Shaz, my producer/cameraperson was tucked away in one small little corner for 2 hours to record the entire show with no tripod!

The Judges from L-R, Viktor and Rolf – fashion designers, Jan Rosenberg – Head of Sales and Marketing Triumph, Helena Christensen – Model/Photographer, Lv Yan – China’s top model, Ellen Von Unwerth – Photographer and Sarah – Buyer and Creative Director of Collete. I got to interview all of them but Viktor and Rolf!

Some of my favourite pieces from the Competition…

Israel

China

One of the quirkiest pieces there from Japan

Austria

Amber Chia modeled for our Malaysian designer from LimKokWing

Singapore

Taiwan

Australia’s futuristic piece.

The Top 3 finalist, L-R, Japan, Germany and Norway

And of course, the kinkiest piece won!

To check out all the other designs, go to www.triumph-inspiration-award.com

With our top model after the show. Amber and I have worked together a number of times in shoots and events. And after knowing her, I find all that people say about her untrue. She’s really sincere and hardworking and she knows this industry is short-lived so she’s making as much money as she can now!

At Hou Hai, a nightspot by the lake.

The Malaysian team having a drink at one of the pubs, L-R, Kok Leong – The Star Photographer, Christy from Triumph Malaysia, LiZa – The Star Journalist and me!

That’s the end of my picture post. Will try to update more often. Looking forward to my work trip to Austria next month! And I’ll be going back to Kuching hopefully end of next month for another shoot. I’ve travelled so much this year and I’m really loving it! Work’s been really good and I’m really enjoying my life right now. I can’t thank everyone enough for their support and encouragement, it really means a lot to me. Anyways, till my next post, take care and be safe p
eople!!

Bel