Places to visit in Daejeon, a Korean city less travelled

My fiance lives a in city called Daejeon in South Korea. Most tourists know about Seoul, Jeju and Busan. Fewer would have travelled in-land. Daejeon is near the middle of South Korea, which is better known as the Silicon Valley of Korea.

Circled in red is Daejeon.

There are many corporate research institutes, centres and science parks in Daejeon, for example Daedeok Innopolis is composed of 28 state-run research centres, 79 private research institutes, with as many as 20,000 researchers. One of the famous institutions is KAIST. In addition, Daejeon Government Complex was constructed to move some government offices away from the densely populated capital Seoul. 

In this city less travelled, there are a few places which I will always go. The first being the hair salon. I am able to colour my hair, rebond and curl the ends with merely $100-140. It is really value for money. In Singapore, one will probably pay around $400-500 for similar service. The salon is called 하얀 미용실, located at Taepyeong 2 (I)-dong, Jung-Gu, Daejeon. You can also call +82 42-542-8545. However, you may need to converse in Korean. Not many people in Daejeon speaks fluent English, unlike Seoul which is more cosmopolitan. My Sungsoo is a rare Daejeon-er who can speak good English. :) 

Location of 하얀 미용실

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This is me during my first visit to this salon.

The second place which I have good memories of is the jewelry shop called 골드인 (Gold-In). It is very near Daejeong Station. This is where Sungsoo bought both the couple ring and my engagement ring.

Location of 골드인

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This is me outside 골드인.

I tried on their tiara... Suddenly, I looked very princessyyy. :)

My bling bling engagement ring from dear Sungsoo.

Other places which I love hanging out are the supermarkets (Homeplus and Costco). I used to go to Costco in California, USA. I love mega shops, as there are so many things to see. But you would need to buy in bulk. Homeplus is within a stone-throw from where Sungsoo stay. We usually buy fresh yoghurt before heading home.

Costco. Even the trolley is so huge that can fit me inside.

Homeplus. Sungsoo and his fashionable mom. :)

RoNeo Pre-Wedding at La Mariee

La Mariee has kindly created a music video for us as we begin our walk together as Mr and Mrs Ro. 

Dating a Korean

I did a quick google on "dating a Korean". It is interesting to note there are many sites providing advices. Some of which are listed below:

1) Dating a Korean Guy (The Things We Should Expect)

2) Dating Korean Guys (Advice and Stuff) 

3) Want to Marry a Korean? Here's 7 Things You Should Know!

4) Advice on Dating Korean Men Attracts Anger, Support

5) How do Korean guys treat their women?

6) Misconceptions about Korean Men (Part 1)

7) Misconceptions about Korean Men (Part 2)

8) Discover how Korean Guys Are Different 

9) The Shocking Truth About Dating Korean Men

10) What to Expect when dating a Korean Guy

11) Many more... 

A quick compilation of some generalized traits:
1) Possessive
2) Self-driven (money, career)
3) Particular about appearance and style
4) Expectations on gals (appearance, smartness, ability to cook)
5) Dramatic (hot tempered, expressive when talking)
6) Health conscious

Yet, each and every person has their own uniqueness, depending on their upbringing, exposure to overseas, person's strive, interests and priorities. 

My unique Sungsoo have some special non-Korean characteristics. 

1) Sungsoo can't take kimchi spice well. In fact, he loves Western food more (e.g. Pizzas), while I love korean food more and I eat more spice.

2) Sungsoo doesn't smoke. His family doesn't. Korean male smoking is among the highest in the OECD at 47.3%. Thank goodness, my Sungsoo doesn't. Well, I dislike the smell of smoke and the action of people smoking.

3) Sungsoo is very obsessed with doing work-out, building muscles and keeping fit. He was once 8% body fat. He started his work-out training when he was in America. He thinks guys in Korean shows (꽃미남) are too girly. *LOL* 

4) Sungsoo often gets mistaken for his nationality. The Singapore hawker aunty spoke to him in Mandarin and asked if he is from Hongkong. When we were traveling around, people thought he is a Japanese. 

5) Sungsoo loves a Singaporean (that's me). And his parents love me (a non-Korean). 

So how is it like dating Uniquely Sungsoo? We have done crazy things like dancing tango on the Singapore MRT platform. Once, we danced to the music in ThatCDShop in Raffles City Shopping Centre and the music was abruptly stopped to "get us out". Life has been interesting every since I met Sungsoo. Hope we continue to live what we love, and to have an enjoyable and fruitful life together. :)

A little story on how Sungsoo and I first started as e-pals...

When friends, colleagues, relatives ask me about how Sungsoo and I started, they will usually end up with an exclamation of disbelief after hearing our story. 

Well, Sungsoo and I started as e-pals (electronic version of penpal) in 2009. During that time, Friendster and Facebook have already started popularizing. However, we chose to use a social platform less conventional called Interpals. 2009 was the year when my dad turned 60. My sis and I decided to treat him for a trip to Korea. Prior signing up for a travel package, I did consider to go free-and-easy. That was Q3 2009 when I started to use Interpals and write to a couple of Korean e-pals for their recommendation for places to visit. Despite writing to a few, it was Sungsoo who was able to communicate well back to me in English. What caught my eyes was a pict of Sungsoo at Makansutra Gluttons Bay near Esplanade, with a table full of Singaporean dishes . 

Sungsoo looked so satisfied with good food laid in front of him.

My first thought was "This Korean has been in Singapore. And he loves Singaporean food. lol" There were a lot of topics which we talked about and Sungsoo was quite humorous. Always never fail to make me smile or laugh when I read his messages. For about a 9 months, I looked forward to every single messages he wrote and I loved it when he promptly replied. The communications grew longer (~1-3 pages) and there was endless topics which we could talk about, including typical topics penpals write about. From everyday life and observations, personal strengths and weaknesses, work, interests, etc... We didn't want to use any form of visual communication. At that time, maybe we felt e-pals are e-pals and there weren't a compelling need to go beyond writing. But eventually, we tried using the Singtel online sms service to send msges. That provided instantaneous replies but the system restricted us to maximum 20 msges a day and we carefully drafted each message so as to fully exploit the free service. Once, Sungsoo decided to call and when I picked up the phone, I was naturally nervous and I giggled a lot. Amazingly we spoke till almost 4am. We started to grow closely and we succumbed to adding each other on Facebook. Finally, on 28 March Singapore time midnight (equivalent to 29 March Korea time early morning), Sungsoo arrived in Singapore Changi Airport. 

Sungsoo was in Korea, Kat was in Singapore

First couple photoshoot @ La Mariee Wedding Studio in Korea (Part 1)

About 2 months ago (also the 1291st day after we first met), we did our first in-studio couple photoshoot together. And it is also our pre-wedding photoshoot. It was an interesting experience at La Mariee Wedding Studio in Daejeon, Korea. With my poor korean language abilities and multiple sign languages, I managed to communicate with my wonderful stylist. Prior trying on the gowns, the stylist put on a "natural sweet" makeup for me. It took more than half an hour for the makeup. I couldn't remember the number of steps, but it was definitely more than 20 steps. The stylist was very diligent in every detail. What amazed me was the speed at which my hairstyle was morphed in 5-10 mins each time and I had a great many gowns to choose from. The stylist would always spread open the gown... and *shoooh*(a sound she always made) and I would obediently jumped into the gown. The studio is 5 (or is it 6) storeys high and each floor has its specific theme and props. Sungsoo and I really had lots of fun. I am glad hunny (a nick I usually dearly calls him by) choose La Mariee for our once-in-a-lifetime photoshoot. 

Sneak Preview of Pre-Wedding Photos 

For more photos, please take a look at my later post.

Note: Do Not be confused with the La Mariee Wedding House in Singapore. There are two different companies in two different countries.