I love Korea but.. there are just some things that I really miss and start to appreciate after I left Malaysia.

1. 100plus.

have anyone mentioned how delicious 100plus is to you after they have to live without it for months overseas? well, in Korea and also the awesome neighbouring country Japan, there is something similar called the Pocari Sweat. it tastes literally like sweat. I kid. it actually tastes like salt water. and it does not taste good. it actually tastes like those salt sachets I get from the clinic whenever I feel dizzy >_>”.

2. milo.

oh the sweet and delectable drink mmmm. there are “cacao” drinks and very dense chocolate drinks but nothing’s like milo. =(. I can drink milo everyday but hot chocolate here just makes me feel.. I don’t know.. like I’d get a soar throat after drinking it too much. =S. also, I head Milo makes you taller! not sure how true’s that..

3. speaking your mind and not worrying of offending someone.

although Korea’s much more direct compared to Japan, they still have their boundaries and it’s so unclear it drives me crazy. here you have to be polite and not talk back or tell them anything negative about them if they are older. but the older people here CAN diss you right in front of your face. at the same time, you should also lie to your friends regarding about how well they can do and how well they speak a language. but at the same time, you can also OPENLY talk about how a nosejob will really help them get a job in the future without offending some of them. HMM. I don’t quite get it yet when I learn more about it I’ll get back to you..

4. chocolates.

there are very little true chocolates here. what I mean is that.. most chocolates here don’t taste very good unless you get them from a chocolate boutique. I don’t understand why chocolate bars here are all so thin T_T. maybe that’s why people here don’t get fat hahah. but I really miss the thick bars of cadbury we have back home. those satisfying bites of chocolates…

5. cheap coffee shops.

I remembered how I went back home and went to a cheap coffee shop with my friends and our drinks came out to less than 15ringgit for 8 people. in Korea.. it’ll probably cost the same for one drink. well the problem with Korea’s that there are no cheap places to hang out at. if you want to hang out, you’ll have to spend money. even if you get your drinks at the convenience shop and drink by the street, it’ll most probably cost more than a coffee shop in Malaysia. =S.

6. male female friendships

in Korea, friendship between male and female is almost non-existence. if you were to go out with only 1 friend of the opposite sex, you both must be dating. they think all men are wolves which.. is probably true but the bad thing about Korea is that they do not believe how men and women can be JUST FRIENDS and not have anything romantic in between. which is horrible because when your friend of the opposite sex starts dating, you’ll most probably lose that friend. I am still good friends with most of my ex’s not that I have many anyways. haha. but in Korea it’s just impossible for ex’s to be good friends friends most of the time. and yet they get in and out of relationships pretty frequently. depending of the person of course.

7. Malaysian food. of course.

there is ONE Malaysian restaurant in Seoul and they probably serve the worst Tomyum and they also have the worst customer service I’ve ever been to in Korea. seriously? I went to this place called Savaro where they have Malaysian people working in it. but a Malaysian chef does not mean they serve even normal standards of Malaysian food. their Nasi Lemak was just edible, their roti canai’s super duper oily, rendang’s very bland and tomyum? the worst thing I’ve ever tasted on the planet. I even went there twice because I thought it might be that the chef had a bad day and I didn’t want to let one visit justify it. but their service was bad too T_T. the whole place was almost empty and it took them eons to get our order. because I can’t take caffeine I asked if I can change it to something without caffeine, they took over 5 minutes in and out of the kitchen and came out with “no, if you order the set there will be coffee even if you do not drink it”. wow. how inflexible. the bill came out to over 50 dollars (RM160) the first time for that disgusting super duper overpriced pot of tomyum (it was thick, super sweet and just.. well disgusting.) and it costed around 40 dollars on my second visit (for 2). pricey even on Korean standards. I find it super overpriced for unsatisfying food and service. it let me down twice and I never want to visit it again. if you were to ask me, I’d say.. go there and drink their milo. because that’s the most delicious thing they serve. =D.

sorry for the long complain. I just really dislike that restaurant.

8. the freedom to not be judged.

here, you can’t just walk out in t-shirt and shorts without correctly coordinating it. I feel weird myself for looking so different compared to other people but.. that’s how things are here. you start to judge and dislike sloppy people and think that the mainstream fashion IS cool. further, people here judge the size of your face, your height.. everything. it made me very self conscious sometimes. =/. sigh.

9. kaya.

as a person who LOVES food, I only eat the best of the best. I don’t take kaya that’s not fresh but ever since I’ve been here.. a bottle of Kaya means a lot to me. even if it’s from a bottle it just makes me feel so at home T____T. they sell Kaya from Singapore online here and they have a 1 year expiry date so I’m too scared to eat that ._. Kaya’s made out of coconut and.. who knows what they put in there to make them last for a year.

10. bubble tea. and movies. and watermelon. and mangoes. and durian. okay basically everything overpriced here and cheap in Malaysia.

wait what? there’s no bubble tea in Korea? OF COURSE there is. but the bubble tea here is even more expensive than the ones in Japan. I don’t want to pay 3-4 times the price to drink something I grew up with! they made bubble tea into some sort of luxury drink it’s just crazy. another thing is the cost of going for movies here. no wonder my friend watches a movie everyday when he visited Malaysia. because cinema’s here are quite so-so and it costs double to triple of the price of going to the cinema in Malaysia. they have like 10 different types of popcorn though. it costs 16 dollars (50 ringgit) for one watermelon and 5 dollars for ONE mango. 40 dollars for one smell-less durian. you wouldn’t feel like you had the luxury of devouring all the cheap and delicious fruits in Malaysia until you live in a country with super expensive fruits. oh, chicken here’s super expensive too. and I found out that it’s cheap in Malaysia because we get subsidy. so be grateful for every bite of chicken you have because that chicken’s an expensive chicken and it sacrificed its life for you to enjoy a meal. hence, DON’T WASTE!

okay, of course there are stuff I don’t miss. I still hate how we have to pay for h2o in restaurants. if it isn’t from a bottle it should not be charged! that should be illegal! also despite how unsafe Malaysia makes me feel T_T. oh well… oh and the toilets. I will never ever miss them. T_T. Malaysia should come out with dry and wet toilet. one with bidet/water hose and one without it. pfft. that’s all for now, bye!