Soul of Seoul

This capital of South Korea should be named as the fashion capital of the region! If Paris is known for her haute couture then Seoul should be known for her highly fashionable clothing for the masses! Not only the clothing are priced reasonably but they also made for people of all styles!

My lovely travel companion is an expert of this city and she took me to most of the accessible shopping districts namely Sincheon, Myung-Dong, Dong Dae-moon, Nam Dae-moon etc. As we marched through these districts, we sampled the street food along the way too. Cute little eats which taste as lovely as they look. I am slowly becoming a convert to why I should love this Oriental city like my travel companion. Before this, I always prefer the European cities.

With clothing as cheap as 3,500 to 5,000 won I can easily buy a few pieces and alter my style once in a while. I am truly happy with all this cheap buys and they do all fit me well despite lack of fitting room facility.

Another memorable encounter was that, us, four ladies stormed into a casino! With a free rolling chip each worth 10,000 won, we giggled our way to Seven Luck Casino and hoping to win some cash, at least to cover our meals throughout our stay here. I must say, we were all quite lucky and at least have won one bowl of Bi Bim Bap each. The rice bowl has become our daily staple together with Kim Chi and other Korean side dishes. Well, we can’t be staying in this place where all four of us were the reason for head turners. I wonder, what are so different of us compared to them? Maybe we were just slightly tanner, that’s all. Anyway, we human can always tell when someone is not local. How quick our mind can discriminate…

50-Year-Old Baby

A friend reminded me that he was looking forward to an article about our nation’s 50th anniversary recently. In fact, I already have something to write about it even before the faithful 31st August. I guess, the unavailability of tools which is my laptop or even a pen and paper have prevented me from jotting down my thoughts but mainly, I attribute it to the change of hectic-ness in my lifestyle lately.

But being a good re-caller of past events, I certainly think it helps a lot for me to recall the feel, the whole context of my thoughts and put it in writing even if the latter takes place much later. I can always recall the broader issues but never the minor details though.

As a new patriot at heart, I do have my share of thoughts but sadly, I only feel it when I’m not in the country. Such, is the dilemma of many of us who love our nation dearly but somehow, when we’re in it, we tend to focus on the wrong side of things. We tend to question how things really work here and why things happen this way. Are we lacking of good literatures to educate us on Malaysia? I remember reading Off The Edge and a writer wrote that we’re Malaysians when we’re in overseas but when we’re in Malaysia, we are Malay, Chinese, Indian etc. Why?

Our nation is still a young one compared to most of the countries in the Western World. I suppose, what we are going through now is natural of any nations en route to becoming a developed nation. But being a developed nation should be cautioned not to be construed as being developed economically only. Do think about developing intellectually, politically and culturally also, and the journey should not blanket the development of societal consciousness. If we question culturally how developed we are, we are still not known for our integrity yet.

Then again, in today’s world context, to survive is to have a strong economy, where this pursuit left many negative side effects. Competitive advantage, some said, but let’s think about our distinguished competitive advantage. What can we actually offer? We may have a good breath of things but how about depths? We may have sufficient infrastructure but, do we know how to innovate? More important fundamentally, do we know how to maintain it? Even more so, do we build something of impeccable quality in the first place?

I may be too immature to understand what exactly our nation is going through now. But I think I can be proud occasionally when I see the iconic KLCC but I’m sure I want something more concrete. Reality begins when we start wanting. So let’s want for an ethical Malaysia to start with.

Dame Anita Roddick

I woke up to this news this morning in Abu Dhabi. I feel wrecked as one of my idols passed away. Dame Anita Roddick will forever be remembered for starting a business with all the right intentions and successfully transformed it into a revolution in the business world. She proved that, business and ethics can be mixed and it's not an oxymoron as many would have thought. She had a heart for many environmental causes and her undying spirit to fight unfair trade practices will be honoured and continued to be remembered by her creation, The Body Shop.