secret garden in changdeokgung palace

Lovely couple <3

On a bed of ice

Ahjussis :)

welcome to nami island

Welcome to Nami Island :)

Love this candid photo of my parents :)

This is just small portion, but these trees are amazing <3

Mommy :)

korea: streets and people pt. ii

Little coffee shop in a truck

I wish I took a better photo of this woman. I like her overall look, esp those glasses.

Kim Soo Hyun :">

One of my favorite shots in this trip :)

Namdaemun Market. Look at that crowd!

Ahjummas! :)

korea: streets and people pt. i

This is the thing when you write about a place a year after: I do not know where to start anymore. 

I guess I'll just start by saying I was not keen to go to Korea at all before. Maybe because 1) I've never traveled to a country that required a visa; 2) Applying for visa seemed risky to me; 3) I was not familiar to their culture (yet).

The idea to make it the next country to visit came from my Dad whom I've heard wanted to go to there. But later on, I found out that it was actually Japan, and not Korea, haha. Whatever.

I booked the tickets 9 months before the trip and kept the thought aside for a couple more months until I began getting hook to a Korean drama. By the time we get to Korea, I was excited, pumped up and ready to fangirl squee.

We went in February, in the midst of winter. Living in a tropical country for my entire life, the cold did not NOT bother me anyway, hehe.

Incheon airport is almost an hour away from Seoul, so for the most part all I saw was dry land. As the bus turned to go in the city, this was the moment I still could not forget until today: I felt like I entered some vortex and got transported into a very foreign, yet cinematic street view.

Overcast weather, crowds of black winter coats walking, leafless trees arranged in rows by the sidewalk.

I was alienated in the beginning. But over time, that alienation turned into fascination. Everything seemed appealing to my senses.

Every corner I pan my sight to is straight out of a K-drama scene (well, obviously!). I was literally, happily, in it.

The cold is paralyzing, that's one drawback for me. But the cold seemed to be the meaning of it all. It established the real feel of being in Korea.

It's a country that I could visit over, and over again. 

I used Kodak Portra 160 and 400 alternately, but some mishap happened in scanning in the first film lab I went to that I had to rescan them to another lab. I don't know too if the scanner in Incheon airport screwed up my film because you'll notice how different the tones are when they are only from the same roll.

Spotted this couple who brought a Nikon film camera with them :)

korea: a travelogue

My trip to Korea would have to be one of my favorite travel destinations so far. I love it. I visited last February during the coldest tip of their winter. The temperature was unbearable for me who grew up in a tropical country — despite donning four layers of clothing.

I took home only four rolls of film because I spent most of the time burying my frozen hands into my pockets. The rolls are still sitting in my table waiting to be processed. I'm not intentionally marinating them, but I'm not as anxious in seeing them right away, as I am usually in my travel photos. I guess I'm sort of building the thrill this way.

So here's a travelogue, since it will take me months before getting into the photos.

P.S. If you've watched the Korean drama You Who Came From the Stars, then good luck trying to get the song off of your head :) It has to be this song or nothing else. I'm still obsessed with that show, FYI, that's why I had a lot of fun making this one. Enjoy! :)