Tag: Korea
Quarantine Must-Have: W. Dressroom Spray
How have your hygiene rituals changed since the start of the pandemic? For someone like me with a diagnosed anxiety disorder, quarantine has heightened my “hygiene theater” or the need to constantly sanitize exposed parts of your body and surfaces that you come in contact with, even if it’s mostly for a sense of security. […]
Throwback: Nami Island 2014
Around this quarter in 2014, my family and I were in Korea for the first time. The first stop of our group tour was Nami Island, also known as Namisum or Namiseom Island, located in Chuncheon, South Korea. Koreanovela fans may recognize this place as the backdrop of the famous Korean drama, Winter Sonata. The […]
Quirk of the Month: Miniature Korean Orgel House
I purchased this souvenir from Nami Island, Korea, back in January 2014. There were dozens of toy model houses on display in the shop, so I thought I’d make my own by purchasing this kit. This unopened Young Modeler kit gathered dust on my bookshelf for almost three years. On Christmas Day this year, I […]
Charlie Brown Café
When the first Charlie Brown Café opened in 2009, it had a lot of promise. As the first Peanuts-themed café in the world, it piqued the interest of the older generation who grew up loving Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock and the rest of the gang. But is it all just hype? I visited Singapor’s Orchard […]
Bibap, A Sumptuous Musical
Sung-through musicals (no spoken dialogue) work well in theme parks or tourist spots where visitors come from all over the globe. Not everyone speaks English or the location’s local language, so the actors have minimal lines and rely mostly on the musical performances, set production, and global pop culture references to string together the light […]
Looking For The Little Prince
In her broken English, our gregarious Korean tour guide, Mickey, explained that we were entering La Petite France, a park where the famous Korean TV drama, Secret Garden, was filmed. We were given less than an hour (one of the drawbacks of booking a tightly scheduled group tour) to explore the place, so we quickly […]
Everland: What Would Stefan Zwanzger Say?
One of my inspirations for starting KateWasHere is blogger Stefan Zwanzger, a.k.a. The Theme Park Guy. Ever since I stumbled upon his zany website in 2009, I would always picture myself in Stefan’s shoes whenever I’d visit a new theme park. Last week, when my family and I stepped into Korea’s Everland, I asked myself, […]