WKB Tour - Day 5 / Final Day

Biking and our well deserved lunch!

Sunday was the last day of the WKB Tour with Kocis-Korea Net. I can't remember what time did our day started. I can only remember waking up, taking a shower and hurry up because we were leaving, we were schedules to ride a bike through the Island, some decided not to bike and take a "golf" car around the Island, I of course was very excited to ride a bike (HA! I didn't know what I was about to get into...)... I've been riding my bike for a couple of months in Mexico City on sundays...on AVENUES....so riding on an Island was way harder than I thought, 1st it was a HOT day, 2nd there were UPs and downs, you'll think the Up's were the only problem but some downs were scary because the road is uneven, at some point 3 of us had to walk with the bike because it was just too high (hahahaha), we finally reached the beach and it was a smoth ride for a little while :) *Happy times*, we got to the Lighthouse but it wasn't just any lighthouse, this one was on the form of Praying hands and some of us started praying to not ride the bikes anymore hahaha, the sea on that side of the Island was AWESOME! it was this green-blue water!, there was an elder couple there fishing^^ and after a little bit it was time to go back to have some lunch (yay!!), we were really tired and the Camera crew "offered" to take the bikes for us... but we didn't want to trouble them so we took the bikes and this time we won the people in the Golf car...until we reached the 1st (and highes) up... when I realized Grace was getting off her bike and getting on the car so Ema and I followed and the poor Camera Crew had to ride our bikes (Sorry guys!!!!!!), a couple of minutes later we arrived at our acommodation it was time for a well deserved lunch!, we had rice, Kimchi, a Fish soup and some banchan..oh yea and lts of water.

After lunch it was time to pack and go :( , we rode the back of the truck for the last time and talked about how much we were going to miss that truck haha, for some reason we all loved it.... although the 1st time I rode it I felt like an immigrant being taken to the US ilegally lol.

Fun times @ the Ferry

The owner of the houses where we stayed was very nice, he took us to the Ferry station and after we thanked him we were ready for our ride back to Gunsan. We took the "slow" ferry this time so we were up for a 90minutes ride (yay!...not so much), at 1st we were on the outter part of the ferry just having fun, taking pictures, joking around and some were trying to feed the seaguls again, after a little while I felt dizzy and I went back inside, turned on my music and plugged my earphones :D then Ema and Annabel joined me (I was actually on their seat as some guy was sleeping in mine haha), we listened to GD's new CD and then they started to educate me about Kpop :), introduced me to a couple of new bands and explained how they also felt a bit awkward by telling people they liked Kpop....

About 90mins after, we arrived at Gunsan's Ferry Station and it was time to go visit the Dongguk-sa Temple, this temple is the only remaining Japanese temple left in Korea after Japan's ocupation of Korea. The outside of the temple was completely different from Korean Temples, this was White and Brown (or black?..it was a dark colour), there were beautiful gardens surrounding the Temple and once inside you could feel the peacefulness of the place, the main room's ceiling was filled with Lottus lanterns, we had some time to enjoy the Temple and then we were off for an early lunch, this time we had a representative dish from the Jeonbuk area... Gan Jang Gae Jang aka Raw crab marinated in soy sauce, it came with banchan... LOTS and LOTS of Banchan and a Spicy crab soup... to be honest I didn't really like it O_o not because I'm picky with my food... Come on! I tried the alive octopus!, but this one had a slippery texture and not much flavour....as for the Banchand and the spicy soup I loved them, I don't know why didn't we put some of that raw crab on the boiling hot soup hahaha, even though I enjoyed watching everyone eat because for some creepy reason I enjoy watching people eating...

Once done with the crab we went to Gunsan's Modern History Museum and right next to it we saw the old Gunsan's Customs Office. The Modern History Museum holds a big collection you can find information going from Ships to the 3rd floor that resembles a Korean Villa, inside you can try on a Hanbok, take a picture, or do some ink stamps!

Once each of us finished the tour of the Museum we gathered outside and just across the street from the museum you can find the Jinpo Marine Theme Park, the park houses some retired military vehicles used in the past, on the inside of the Ship you can find weapons used during the Jinpodaecheop war and how it is the life inside this kind of ships, fun fact is…. Some parts are kind of Dark and creepy, this was the perfect spot to play some jokes on Ema (She’s easy to scare… Sorry Ema!!!), the Park opened in 2008 to commemorate Jonpodaecheop (Victory of Jinpo over the Japanese forces).

It wasn’t until I started researching for this post that I realized how important Gunsan is :O

After the Park we rushed to see a Japanese style Villa (?) in Gunsan, the place haven’t been completed, so we just looked around and then it was time to take Jessica and Asif to the bus station to return to Busan and Daegu *sad moment*, when we dropped them off at the terminal we took our last group picture and the rest of us went to the Famous Bakery “Lee Sung Dang”, this is the oldest bakery in South Korea and was founded in 1945, there’s a huge variety of Bread, Sweets, Coffees and snacks, I think each of us grabbed like 3-4 to try O_O but we all tried Lee Sung Dang’s most popular item… the Sweet red bean paste filled bread :)

                            
We packed our sweets and went back to the bus that would take us back to Seoul….this was the end of the WKB Tour… we arrived in Seoul around 10pm on a Sunday, I had around 13hours left in the country and I wanted to make the most of it, so when we arrived at the hotel I grabbed my backpack and went to Dongdaemun Night Market in order to find my K-pop souvenirs ha!, I took a taxi and less than 10 mins later I was there, I was told the place was going to be packed but it wasn’t!, I found a store dedicated to Kpop and did a little shopping there... and that’s how I got my BigBang’s Alive Special Edition CD :D , the next day I woke up really early and went out to buy as many snacks as I could :) and by 10:30am I was ready to part…. Maria, Annabel and Ema came to say goodbye L and that was it…I rode a taxi back to the Airport and had a nice talk with the Ajusshi and I couldn’t help it but I shed a tear on my way to Incheon… about 50mins later we arrived and this is where the bad part of the trip started… 

Our last hours together :(

My flight ticket was with Air France but operated by Korean Air…the 1^st part of my flight was Korea-Paris… I won’t deny it… Korean Air is awesome… I loved it and I wish Korean Air had flights from Mexico, the service is Top notch even if you are in Economy, the seats are very spacious and they had BigBang’s new album available to listen haha, 11 hours later I arrived in Paris…. This airport is…well Incheon should show the French how to make a proper Airport, my boarding gate was EMPY…well.. there were like 7 boarding gates and all were empty, the stores were closed and there was nothing to do… I had a 5 hour layover and after a while I got bored and fell asleep…luckily I woke up just in time for my flight… again things were confusing because I thought (once again) I was flying with Air France but my flight was operated by Aeromexico…I don’t know what is it but I just don’t like Aeromexico (Sorry Mexico, but you need better Airlines), the service was OK I guess… I slept most of the flight but I did notice that the flight attendants either don’t speak English or just refuse to do it..I understand this flight is going to Mexico and there are a lot of Mexicans on the flight, but there are also international passengers and not everyone speak Spanish, so even if you yell in Spanish really slowly they won’t understand you…ugh  K… good thing I slept as soon as I boarded the plane, just woke up when they were serving dinner and back to sleep…when I woke up again we were about to land.. YAY!! 33 hours later I was home!!!!

I still miss everyone very much but we Kakao/FB very often and whenever someone posts a new picture or something related to the trip I can’t help but to wish we were all back in Korea together!

Hopefully we’ll all meet soon for a new adventure in Korea…and I hope the Camera crew can Join us because now I’m used to give interviews hahaha.

-Gisela V.

G-Dragon

Kwon Ji Yong better known as G-Dragon (지드래곤) is BigBang’s leader, rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, model and whatnot with only 24 years (born August 18, 1988)… Amazing isn’t it??....I still can’t believe I’m 3 years older than him.

Lately I’ve been listening to more G-Dragon and reading more and more about him…why? …well to start his Birthday was just a couple weeks ago, he released the 1^st single of his new Solo Album and well…rumors on the internet say he will be the main producer of YG’s new girl-band…..

If you remember, I already talked a bit about him on This post and after that post I kinda became a BigBang fan (lol), I listened to Heartbreaker by G-Dragon and it was just catchy… and when I heard he was releasing a new Solo album I was already a bit excited about it…but then “One of a Kind” came out and to be honest I didn’t love the 1^st (2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th) time I heard it…. Specially the video and his “new” image for the Video, I just don’t get why should they dye their hair with such a weird colors… T.O.P.’s mint hair started very “minty” and then it turned a softer color…. But Bright yellow?... and with the hair braided like that?? Plus the little bear and the Tiger…. I just wasn’t feeling it… eventually the song grew on me and now I find myself singing Yes Sir I’m one of a Kind… Neh Hyung… Neh Noona …as for the lyrics?... We all know he is wild (Just look at that yellow, pink, white hair)…. And Young, we also know he’s got lots of money but I don’t think he’s sorry for being so popular….and that part I’m a bear that can do a lot of tricks — no, more like a fox …He really can pull LOTS of tricks and that’s what I like about him, he’s not your average Kpop idol, I think he does a great job as a writer and producer… Come on! He’s just 24!!!! ….anyway, if you still haven’t listened to One of a Kind, check out the video up next.

Less than 2 weeks after One of a Kind’s release, G-Dragon came out with a new video That XX this video was rated for an 19+ audience and the explicit in the song was replaced by a beep  on “That Beep”… The 1^st time I listened to this song I really liked it… and I normally don’t like this slow-romantic kind of songs…at least not on my 1^st time listening to it… I had to read the lyrics of course and I went all Awwww!!! He doesn’t seem to be the type of guy who’s friendzoned lol and guess what… it took me a few days to understand that he is both characters on the video… the Nice-friendzoned guy and the XX (aka asshole….) it was nice to see the change from One of a Kind to That  XX, I’m even thinking about getting his new CD due to be released on September 15^th and yes… this will be my very FIRST Kpop CD….. although I’m thinking about getting BigBang’s Alive and Super Junior’s 5^th album. 

Do you guys have any recommendations for other good Kpop CD’s??, are there any G-Dragon’s fans here? What do you guys think about this new Solo album?

-Gisela V.

K-Pop Cupcakes

It's been a while since my last baking recipe for you guys and this time it was time to combine Korea and Baking... So it was turn to make Chocolate cupcake with Kpop decorations.

For the chocolate cupcake here's the recipe:

1/2 Cup of Cocoa Powder
1 Cup of water
1 1/3 Cup of all purpose flour
1/4 Tea spoon of Baking Powder
1/2 Cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 Cup granulated sugar
2 Large eggs
2 Teaspoons vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 375F (190 C).
Get your muffin cups ready!!

Wisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a different bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs 1 at a time until smooth. Beat the vanilla and add the flour mixture until incorporated, then add the cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

Fill each cup about 2/3 with the batter a d bake for about 16-20 minutes or until risen. Insert a toothpick and if it's clean your Cupcake is ready!!!!

For the White Icing I got this recipe from Martha Stewart's website

1 1/2 Sticks of unsalted butter (very soft)
3 2/3 Cups of Icing Sugar

Beat the butter until fluffy and add the sifted sugar 1 cup at a time until smooth, if the icing is to thick add 1 or 2 spoons of milk until you get the consistency needed.

For the decoration you'll need food coloring paste or liquid, divide your icing according to the number of colors needed and start decorating!!!

After my last post I've been listening to more BigBang and GD&TOP (I'm kind of addicted now... Its a very good distraction lately)

So, here are a couple of cupcakes I made, hope you like them and try them on!!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Food Colouring!

                

BigBang - SuJu - I <3 Kpop - Girls Generation - SS501 - 2NE1 - I <3 ELF - Ukiss - FT Island

-Gisela V.

BigBang - 빅뱅

Hi everyone!,

I'm back....I feel like it's been forever since my last post (mine....not guest post) and also in life in general but I won't talk about it now because I'm still not strong enough, anyway lately I've been listening to BigBang, as you know I don't know much about Kpop and I can only recognize 2 or 3 bands but I'm getting there... so far I'm pretty aware of Super Junior, 2PM and now BigBang (I still can't tell the difference between SNSD and Wonder Girls....I'll get there soon)...so... BigBang I had a few songs on my iphone but nothing that I wanted to play over and over until last week when I was reading a blog and saw the video "Fantastic Chicken" which is apparently a parody of "Fantastic Baby"... and just like 2 years ago I couldn't stop repeating "Lucifer" by SHINEE now I can't stop playing "Fantastic Baby" I obviously can only sing the English parts but it's just fun :) 

Check it out .....

Fantastic Baby - BigBang

BIGBANG (빅뱅) is a Korean Hip Hop/ R&B band with 5 members, each one of the contributes with different Vocals or RAP. Just when the band debuted they were considered the new face of the YG Family (Online name for YG Entertainment).

The song “Lies” was BigBang’s first hit and not only had they started to gain popularity with their music but also for their Fashion.                                             

Lies - BigBang

Before BIGBANG each member had gained some popularity at the Entertainment business.

The (now) leader Ji-Young and Tae-Yang (Main voice) had been training with YG Entertainment since they were 12 years old, T.O.P. was already known as Hip-Hop/Rapper while Seung-Ri was 1^st introduced to the industry through “A Cokeplay Battle Shinwa” (A reality show in which Shinhwa attempted to create a boy band that could be a "second Shinhwa”), Dae Sung was the only unknown member of the band.

Mtv Korea transmitted a 10 Episodes long documental of each of the members (They were 6 members)  and the process they went through to make BIGBANG, an 11^th episode was then added when the FINAL (5) members were chosen.

Before the name BIGBANG several names were proposed by the members like “APEX”, “STUMP” and “DIAMOND”  but YG Entertainment’s Yang Hyun Seok thought the names where too childish and decided to name the band BIGBANG and that’s how finally on YG’s Family concert BigBang debuted on August 19^th 2006 at Seoul’s Olympic Park.

Before Bigbang’s 1^st album the group released 3 single albums, their 1^st single was “The first Single album” with a Remake of “This Love” by Maroon5 was recorded this single debuted with over 17.000 copies sold and later will hit the 40.000 copies. The 2^nd single was “Bigbang is V.I.P”  and their 3^rd (and last) single was “Bigbang 03”. It wAs the same year that the Official Fan Club was founded and the fans called themselves “V.I.P” (Because of Bigbang’s 2^nd Single), it’s known that fans wear a Black and White tissue with a BB on it for their concerts.

VIP - BigBang

On December 2006 BigBang had their 1^st concert “The Real”, one month later will release a new album called “Since 2007” later that year ad after a Tour through Korea the members decided to take some time to work on their Solo activities.

After taking some time apart, the group got together to release their 1^st mini album “Always” and in which G-Dragon (Band’s leader) was in charge of the production and wrote some of the songs for the album” this album contains “Lies” (Their most popular song) and was composed by G-Dragon and it was thanks to this album that they won the “Daesang” award at the 17^th Seoul Music Awards.

By 2008 Bigbang releases their 3^rd mini album “Stand Up” where the big hit “하루하루” (Haru Haru – Day by Day) is included, again under G-Dragon’s production it was then they managed to have 5 singles of the same album at the Top 20. Later that year they released their 2^nd mini album “Remember”.

Haru Haru - BigBang

BigBang will get the “Artist of the Year” award in 2008 at the M.Net KM Music Festival and later on they will gather on with 2NE1 to collaborate with the single “Lollipop”

On August 18^th G-Dragon releases his solo album “Heartbreaker” and Taeyang will also release 2 digital singles to promote his new album “Solar” to be release in 2010.

T.O.P joined the cast of the Drama “Iris” and his character was a mysterious killer called “Vick”

 

On January 2010 Bigbang offered a concer “Big Show 2010” at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium, later this concert was released on CD and DVD

At the end of May 2010 the group is awarded at the MTVVideo Music Awards Japan for “Best Video Pop” with Gara Gara GO!, “Best New Artist” and “Best Colaboration” for “Rain is Falling” by G-Dragon ft W-ind.

On June 2010 T.O.P released “Turn It Up”  being the 1^st Korean Artist to release a song on iTunes.

By the end of November YG Entertainment announced that GD and T.O.P will create a sub-group called “GD&TOP” and will release an album on December 24^th.

On January 2011 Seungri releases his 1^st mini solo album and BigBang reunited by February 2011 with the “Big Show” concert.

By the end of September G-Dragon was announced to make a comeback in October but later was involved in a Marihuana scandal where it was said that on May of the same year he consumed small amounts of the drug while being in Japan, later In July this information was confirmed and G-Dragon had to stop his activities.

On 2011 BigBang won the “Best Worldwide Act” at the MTV Europe Music Awards against Britney Spears. 

-Gisela V. 

Images taken from  www.ygbigbang.com 

BigBang's Facebook Page

Thank you to VIPProyectos BigBang for helping out with the BIO / Twitter: @vip_p_bigbang

K-Pop SarangDay in México

Ribbon cutting 

Just like I told you a couple of weeks ago, the Kpop SarangDay was celebrated in Mexico City on April 21st, sadly I was unable to assist but the organizers CoreaYMas and Korean Pop Mexico Company where nice enough to provide me with some info and pictures of the event. (Thank you guys!!!)

K-pop dance over

Corea Y Mas was the master mind of this event and turns out it is an international event, Mexico was in charge of the Opening and countries like Guatemala, Peru, Chile and Colombia will follow and it's expected another one in Mexico to give closure to this series of events.

Almost 300 Kpop lovers assisted the Kpop SarangDay event where CYM provided with gifts for some lucky guests, Dance groups covered Kpop songs like BigBang's and Girls Generation's.

T-Mark was also a part of this event with some of his famous Kpop covers, you can see the video of one of his covers here (http://coreaymas.com/2012/01/14/cover-de-2ne1-habla-del-racismo-hacia-los-fans-del-k-pop/) this cover is about how Kpop fans are seen in a weird way and the intolerance against them.

Kpop Fans dancing at the rythm of Mr. Simple 

The Korean association in Mexico was present in the event and everyone had the chance to take pictures with members of the association and the Organizers. There was also a sale of Korean products, a DJ to set the mod and get everyone to dance and the presence of some Press.

This kind of events are setting Korea on the Map in Mexico and hopefully soon we'll have Kpop groups comming to Mexico.

I also provided some more info regarding this event on the monthly segment with KBSeFM ~ DriveTime (which I will be posting the audio later)

   

We <3 Korea / DJ

So, stay tuned for more info about Kpop events in Mexico!

Also, if you are a BigBang fan please check this out.
VIPProyectos BigBang convocatory:

We would like to invite all of the international members to participate in an event to celebrate BigBang's TAEYANG birthday.
On a white paper you'll need to write your birthday wishes and add a picture.
Take a picture of your message and send it to VIPPROYECTOS2@hotmail.com with the subject "Cumple de TAE / TAE's birthday", a video with all the pictures will be made to celebrate!.

Thanks to CYM for the pictures!

-Gisela V.