More Culture - The Nutcracker

This weekend past I went to my second ballet - I saw 'The Nutcracker' for the very first time. A while ago I wrote about seeing 'Swan Lake' in Seoul and this was my first experience with the ballet, I'm not a huge fan but wanted to see it one time just so I could say that I had. 'Swan Lake was OK, it was a bit boring for me and I did almost fall asleep at one stage in the second act and while I certainly did not hate it I was glad it was over when it was. I thought that if I ever went to another ballet it would probably only be 'The Nutcracker' again for the experience and to say that I've seen it at least once. 

With Christmas almost here 'The Nutcracker' is currently being performed in Seoul this December and a few of my friends decided to go. We manged to get some cheap tickets 24, 000 won each (discount of 20% for Expats and Tourists) and we saw the Universal Ballet performance at the Universal Arts Center.

It was very well done, the scenery and lights were awesome, I really liked the winter scenes and it really looked like it was snowing. The costumes were also great, very beautiful and lots of sparkle. All in all it was a beautiful production and my friends and I really enjoyed it. As someone who knows nothing about ballet I can't comment on the dancing except it looked great, the two principle dancers were beautiful and graceful and the children dancers were really cute and talented.

We did find the theater really hot, we were right up the back at the top (the cheap seats) but the view was great because we could see the whole stage. At intermission we really needed some water but the line for the cafe was huge and there was no water in the vending machines, I think that is one thing that really needs to be addressed. There needed to be some better way to cater to the crowds.

Pizza Hut - Getting Pizza Delivered in Korea

I did a post a while back about getting McDonalds delivered in Korea, they have an English site so it is super easy even if you are not so good at reading Korean (like me). I was recently speaking with a friend who told me that he was getting Pizza Hut delivered, I did not realize that they had an English site so was happy to learn about this. I am actually not really a fan of Pizza - well not western pizza, I do like the original ones with the really flat bread and just basic tomato, basil and cheese but every now and then it's nice to have something easy delivered like this.

It is super easy to do, much easier than the McDonalds site I think (at least for registering) however I did think it was interesting that the choices are limited on the English site, if you look on the Korean version then there are more options available for sides and things (perhaps it is a work in progress as I did find out it is pretty new). You can find the English order website here.

I know that you can get other pizza's delivered of course, pizza delivery is a thriving business all over the world however this is the only one I have tried so far. I ordered for the first time on Monday night just gone and it all worked out fine, you have to register by putting in your name and phone number - they will then message you a code which you enter back at the site. You then enter your address which is mostly from drop-down menus so very easy, you can either choose your building name from a list or you can write it in yourself - mine was already listed so I just used that and then there is one more free-form address line so I put my apartment number here. 

My pizza came in about 20 minutes so everything worked out well, the website is very basic and it is pretty easy to follow. I did also find this youTube video about ordering with this new English site so if you want to check it out from the blog 'Kyle Living in Korea' the link to the video is here.

Japanese Artist Riusuke Fukahori - Amazing

I just watched a video that is being shown on the Bus TV here in Korea. Was simply amazed by this artist so looked it up when I got home.  

His name is Riusuke Fukahori and he paints fish using a layered resin technique that makes them look 3D. 

Check out the video on YouTube below and also for some more pictures of this amazing artwork check out this article.

Shopping: Tmart.com - Haul and Review

As I enjoy shopping (both online and in person) I am always on the look out for new stores.  I recently heard about Tmart and thought I would have a look.  Tmart.com is an online shopping site that is based out of Hong Kong - some of the reviews that I read and watched on YouTube were favorable and it is cheap with the added bonus of free worldwide shopping.  I thought I may as well give it a go and see what they were all about.

Tmart offers a wide range of products such as electronics, clothing, makeup and toys and they offer Drop Shipping also. According to the website Tmart claims to have a comprehensive Customer Service including pre and post sale service and they say that they offer an 100% safe shopping experience including adhering to e-commerce safety standards and encrypting all payments. They have a lot of deals and offer a points reward system and there is a 90-day money back if there are problems with the merchandise according to their refund policy which is listed on the site. Tmart has websites based in different locations such as USA, Germany and Russia and also different warehouses. There are warehouses in America, Singapore and in Hong Kong so depending on where you live you can select the closest warehouse and presumably get your items quicker.

I chose a range of items - most of them under ten dollars with the most expensive item being NZ$11.95. I chose items across a few different categories so I could do a review.  I ordered some iPad cases, some camera gear and some jewelry.  I figured this would give me a good indication of the quality and service of the site.

Everything went well at first, the site is all in English as it's based out of Hong Kong so is marketed to an international market.  Registration was straightforward, they ask you to sign up for email marketing and promise discounts and coupons for this. You can pay through a few different means such as paypal, Webmoney or Credit Card. I used my New Zealand credit card for the purchase and again it all seemed pretty simple and worked as well as can be expected from an online store. Worth noting here that although I could see everything in NZ dollars the site charges in US dollars so my credit card was charged a small foreign exchange rate along with the charge.

This is where my experience with Tmart went downhill. My order was placed on the 31th July 2013 for about 12 items. Then on the 3rd of August I received a 'Back Order' email from Tmart informing me that the items I had selected were out of stock.  I was informed I could wait 2-3 weeks for the stock to be refilled and if they did not hear from me this would be what would happen.  On the other hand I could choose to cancel or change my items.  Now I would not have been bothered by this if one or two items had been out of stock but the fact that all of them were really irked me.  I think that it should have been noted on the website if something was out of stock, I did see some other things that had this note on them so they must do it but it seems that they were not up to date which for a big organisation such as this just seems ill-managed. So I decided that I did not want to wait for these things and spend money at a site like this so I cancelled most of the items - I did keep a few of the purchases because I did want to do a review on them and see what the site was like.  

The cancelling process was a bit more difficult that the ordering process, I was not sure if it had even gone through and I had to try twice to get it done. They did send me an email after that to indicate that my items had been cancelled. I also just noticed going back into my order history that all the items still show on my order history and there is nothing to indicate that they were cancelled so this gets marks off in my book.  It should clearly show that these items were cancelled and not shipped.

So I then got two emails on the 6th of August 2013 - one to say that a partial package of items had been mailed and the other to say that a partial refund had been made. The package eventually arrived to my apartment in South Korea on Monday 26th of August - that's about 20 days later so it was quite a long wait. The refund came through on the 7th of August 2013 and it was refunded back to the original credit card.

Well all that aside lets get down to it and see what I got:

1. 14mm Ball Shaped Rhinestone Pendant Necklace (pink)

Price: NZ $5.28 (discounted from NZ $6.81)

I did not really think about the size of this and find the ball a bit big for my taste, but that's more my fault.  I bought it because I got some earrings as a gift that are similar and thought they would go nice together.  It is of medium quality, it looks a bit tacky and just not quite up to the standards of something I would wear.  I will probably give it as a gift to a young girl.

2. Elegant Irregular Turquoise Rhinestone Necklace

Price: NZ $7.57 (discounted from NZ $9.77)

I bought this one because I liked the design, it looked really nice in the photo but to be honest it looks really bad in real life.  It looks cheap and plastic and the back of it has some kind of glue in patches that is sharp on the edges so would scratch if you wore it.  I still like the design but the materials are horrible, very poorly executed, I will probably just give it away as costume jewelry to someone.

3. Turquoise Water Drop Earrings with small round stone

Price: NZ $2.95 (discounted from NZ $3.81)

For the price these are what they are, they look a little cheap but the design is pretty. I would not wear them myself but I will probably give them away to a younger girl again. One of my tween cousins will probably wear them.

4. Petunia shaped diamond earrings (purple)

Price: NZ $6.50 (discounted from NZ $8.39)

These earrings are the pick of the bunch and I was more than happy with them. If everything had been this quality I would not have had a problem. They look really nice and seem solidly made. They don't look cheap at all and I will be happy to wear them. It was nice to have something wearable out of the lot but I ended up paying a bit for this one good product if you add it all up.

5. Magic Bun Hair twist styling tool care clip (black)

Price: NZ $3.68 (discounted from NZ $4.75)

Hair styling tool, makes a bun pretty quickly and seems to be secure.  I have not worn it out for a day yet only tried it out at home.

6. Stylus Touch pen for iPad (Free Gift)

Price: NZ $2.26 (discounted for Free Gift with purchase)

This was just a small free gift that was included with a certain amount purchased, you could pick from a few different items.  I certainly would not want to pay for it. It does not work very well at all.

Overall Thoughts:

I thought Tmart was a well executed site, easy to search and maneuver around. It was quite simple to register and purchase from and I liked that they have free world wide shipping. Their communication was very quick and my refund went through when they said it would.

The overall quality of the goods was very poor, I realize everything was cheap but I can buy jewelry cheaper than that in Korea and still have it be nice enough quality to wear as an adult.

I probably won't use this site again, they don't have anything that I can't get off Gmarket here in Korea and it comes a lot quicker (mostly).

Coming Soon - Goyang Rock Festival 2013

Some of you might be interested in the upcoming Rock Festival in Goyang City - Ilsan.  This will run over three days starting on Friday 30th August and going through to Sunday 1st of September.  You can purchase tickets for all or various days and it will be showcasing a lot of Korean talent.  The line up includes bands such as Kingston Rudicska, SpeakOut, AXIZ, Gate Flowers and Crying Nut.

You can find more information for line up, venue etc. here.

Website Highlight #6 - Hanguk Yeonghwa

Hanguk Yeonghwa is a website about Korean film run by a fellow Ilsanite. You can find reviews of films, information on festivals, interviews and much more on this site.  If you are a Korean film buff or really just a any type of film buff then this site is for you.  Lots of great information, I'm looking forward to checking out some of the films that I've been reading about in the near future.

You can find the site here - Hanguk Yeonghwa, and I have also placed a link on my side bar.  The address is http://hangukyeonghwa.com/

Hope you enjoy!

Ilsan, South Korea

I realized after looking back at some old posts from when I started this blog that I did an information post on Suwon which was where I lived and served as the basis for the previous name (and the current address) of this blog.  If you have seen recent posts this year then you will know that I have since moved to Ilsan so I thought I would tell you a little about Ilsan.

Ilsan (일산) is a district rather than a city, the city that Ilsan is located in is called Goyang City and it is located Northwest of Seoul. It is very close to Seoul and connected by bus, train and subway so getting to and from is almost effortless depending on where you are heading and as I've said before public transport is pretty cheap too.

Ilsan itself is actually split into to areas too, there is Ilsandong-gu (Eastern district) and Ilsanseo-gu (Western district). It is a area that is growing all the time and that has a number of attractions including, stadiums, event and art centers, shopping areas, malls and entertainment. 

One of it's most well know attractions is Lake Park.  Lake Park is a large park that features a huge artificial lake, the park includes various gardens, walking and biking tracks and a musical fountain   I actually live right next door to the Lake Park and it's a nice place for walking and taking photos, I've been practicing my photography over there this week.

There are a number of other parks all around Ilsan, there are lots of bike and walking trails and these parks are popular family spots especially on the weekends.

There are also a number of department stores like Lotte and Hyundai and two main shopping areas called La Festa and Western Dom - these latter ones are like outside malls and include hundreds shops and restaurants both big and small. Ilsan also has a Costco, which if you are not American is a large supermarket/department type of store that sells lots of home wares and groceries mostly wholesale. Here in Korea there are a few locations and they are popular with expats as you can get western food items there that you can't get anywhere else.

There is also a new shopping area and amusement park that opened up this year, it's called 'One Mount' and it has a shopping mall, a winter park and a water park. The shopping mall hosts some western chains like H&M which means if you live in Ilsan you don't have to go into Seoul to go to these stores anymore. The water park has good reviews, I've heard so far that it's pretty fun but can be very crowded, the amenities are nice and it's a good place to entertain the kids as it has about nine slides and 18 pools both inside and outside. The winter park is inside and is like a Santa's village type park that includes an ice road, ice lake and a snow slide. 

So that is just some basic info on Ilsan, if you are visiting or coming to live for a while I hope it helps to give you an idea of what to expect.  If you live in Ilsan or have visited, please feel free to comment and let me know what your favorite things to see and do are.  I would love to hear from you.