A Visit to Korean Navy Combat Cruise

I would like to begin this post with a confession. This post has comfortably sit in the draft for the longest time ever. HAHA. This event is dated back in November 2014! Yes, this is one story that I told you I still haven't shared since 2015 and 2016. But finally, finally, it's here! Yay. 

So, this visit happened just a day after I watch the Korean Navy Combat Cruise performance and also the entertaining show performed by The Painters: Hero. The visit, I believe is part of the Korean Navy program, probably to introduce their Navy and also as the channel of education and information for ordinary citizen who is curious about how the Korean Navy Cruise look like.

Anyway, I went there with a friend of mine who also went with me to the event from the previous day. We almost gave up going there because (1) we woke up late and (2) the taxi that we booked did not show up even after thirty minutes! Back then there was no Grab or Uber like how it is now. So we thought that we could not make it anymore. The day before we were texted that the gathering spot will be in Mega Kuningan but what we did not know is that they were referring to Lobby Mega Kuningan in Lotte Shopping Avenue. We almost lose our hope and thought that we could not go but it turned out that the bus has not yet gone! I think we were both very lucky because after that, the bus went and off we go! Woohoo. Oh, in case you are curious how we can take part on the tour. All we had to do was just registering our full name and phone number and they gave us the confirmation message. 

Luckily there was no traffic jam so we arrived smoothly at Tanjung Priok Harbor where the cruise was. Oh, also, besides my friend and I, most of the visitors are school kids with their parents and teachers. I think one of the main reason is because it was held on weekday, even my friend and I are skipping class. lol. But maybe it was only in our group because when I saw the other group, there are couple of girls around our age too.

Upon arrival, we were divided into three groups of about fifteen to twenty people so we can simultaneously do the tour. I was in group A where we started the tour from the first cruise. If I am not mistaken there were two cruises that we can take a look on that day, or is it actually one cruise with two floors, I did not really remember ^^;

As we stepped inside into the first floor there was this Korean guy who explained things to us in his good English and on top of that, he is good-looking too. HAHA omg. Also, the guy on the left is from Lotte Shopping Avenue who helped translate the English to Indonesian for the children.

I honestly did not really remember what was explained on that time, since, well it was already more than a year ago. hAHA. But I think it was something related to the cruises that Korean owned and the country that the Navy has been to. We also went to the outdoor area with no cover and it was so so hot to the point that your shoes might stick to the floor if you stand too long. 

There was also this boat and while people were busy taking selfies, I was busy bombarding question to the navy guy. Lol. Like how he is actually serving his duty in army right now and actually in the middle of his university study. I was not familiar back then that Korean guy tend to start the first year of uni and then take leave to serve for the army and go back to uni after that. Also, when I asked why he chose Navy he said that there were more opportunities to travel overseas and visit countries like what he did at that moment. But the downside is that Navy obviously spend more time on the sea rather than the land. But he said he is enjoying it and he will end his army service by December that year, meaning that he must have gone back to university by now haha.

After that, our group went to the second floor ((or another cruise I am still confused if they are actually one cruise or two? haha)). While in there, we were being escorted by another Navy. In this floor we got to learn more about Korean history and also the weapon that Korean Navy had.

We went inside this air conditioned room where there are videos that showcase the miniature of the weapon and things like that. There was this middle-aged man whose name is Mr. Park who helped explain us the stuffs there though honestly I did not really understand about those things. Actually the other people from my group have already left but since Mr. Park has very nicely started a conversation with my friend and I, we can not leave just like that. He handed a wireless headphone where we can listen to the audio of the video showed there. 

He then tried to explain the Navy stuffs in English while looking at his notes. It was quite hard while trying to capture what he was saying. But then we talked about ordinary stuffs like if I was interested in Korean culture, I can easily hear what he says. I guess it was because he picked difficult words explaining the Navy terms haha. Anyhow, we talked about how I would like to visit Korea someday and how he said I already nail the Korean style ((because of my red hair)) and how he has just flown to Indonesia that day and join the Korean Navy for this visitation. After a brief conversation, my friend and I bid him goodbye and we catch up with the rest of the group.

Not long after that, we just stroll around the second floor and head back down since it was so hot. This other Korean Navy helped escort us and he kindly reminded us to be careful when going down. I had a brief chat with him where he asked if I like K-pop and I said yes and that my favorite group is SHINee. He said he knew SHINee and agreed that they are a good group. He said that Indonesia's weather is very hot and I said yes, that's why I wanted to visit Korea and see snow! In the end, he offered to help carry my bag while I go down because my bag was very big since I brought my laptop and camera that day. But if I remembered correctly I politely decline his order.

In the end, we went back to this spot which is like an open dining room and watch a documentary video while waiting for the other group to finish their tour. And being a chitty chatty person, also in my effort to get to know more about Korean people and culture, my friend and I decided to talk with some of the Navy and take pictures with them, including the first Navy guy who by far spoke the best English out of everyone. haha.

It was a very pleasant visit and everything is coordinated very very well. Even though we almost could not make it, I am glad we made it and got to see the inside of Korean Navy Cruise and talked with them, The people there are very kind, polite and friendly. Also, they all made an effort to talk to you even though their English are not very good. If there are more events like this in the future, I am more than happy to take part on it and share the experience with you guys. Though hopefully it won't take that long for me to post. haha.

Also, one more selfie won't hurt anyone, right? ^^

Cheers,

filicia

The Painters: Hero

Have you guys heard about The Painters: Hero before? Not yet? Well, me too. I had no idea who they are and what are they doing before I watched their performance. After I watched the Korean Navy Performance, the next schedule was the performance by The Painters: Hero. My friend had actually informed me about them and usually as the curious filicia, I should have done a little research about them, but I did not know how or why, I did not bother to find out about them. Probably because I trusted my friend so much or I was simply lazy on that time. Ha!

So, right after the Korean Navy Performance, the seat was supposed to be rearranged, but everyone seemed to be impatient so the audience pulled the chairs by themselves and dragged it closer to the stage. Because I wanted to see them up close as well, I followed what others did and ended up getting in the second row. Before the show started, the staffs were preparing stuffs on stage while we saw The Painters' guys were hanging out freely next to the stage, so...

I took pictures with them! Lol. I did not even know who they were or what were they going to perform during that time. I only knew that they were supposed to paint something, judging from their outfit. Haha, but I later learned more about them. On the first picture, on the left is Kim BumSeo, the newest member of the team, and on the right is Jung YeongWoo. On the second picture was everyone's favorite, Lee SeungHoon, who turns out to be 33 years old, legally married and officially a father! ((heartbroken lol)). On the last picture is Cho SangChul who if I am not mistaken is the leader of the team. Oh, I forgot to mention that they are called Jackson Team.

So, we got back to our seat and not long after that, the show started. I am not going to lie, I was grinning ear-to-ear watching their performance, even only from the beginning! At the start of the show, the four actors are painting their own black square while dancing to the song and acting comically. And by the end of the song, they had also somehow finished the paintings and when they are put in one place, it became one amazing painting of Korean mask.

I think they painted this only for around 5 minutes more or less. I mean like, how come? It was really fast, and not to mention that they were joking and dancing around while they painted this. 

Next, they pushed two big boxes to the middle of the stage. I wonder what they were going to do this time around.

Cho SangChul stepped out (and somehow pulled off his top) and started drawing the right box with white paint on a very fast pace. While on the left, we could see YeongWoo was drawing something with his hands but, they were all black?

But no! It turned out that YeongWoo was drawing with glue I guess, because when they flipped the box, suddenly all the glitter poured down and covered the black area. It turned out that he was drawing Indonesia's very own Garuda. SangChul too has finished his painting of Tiger. Jackson Team also did not forget to interact with the audience. They played an interactive game with one of the audience, in which I forgot to take photographs of. Though they come from Korea, and there was indeed a language barrier, they could deliver a very fun and joyful game and performance because the whole show was non-verbal, meaning that they did not have to say a single word and instead use their body language to interact.

After that, two huge white squares were dragged to the middle of the stage and this time YeongWoo and SeungHoon appeared from the back. 

They both did a literally speed drawing (they were really that fast!) while matching their movements with the song. Just like in the beginning, they would tease each other around and sometimes drew and one another's paper. It was so nice to see that almost all of their drawings were related to Indonesian culture. The one on the right was Monumen Nasional, Jakarta's landmark along with Ondel-Ondel, Jakarta's traditional attraction as well.

And at the end of the show, all four of them came out to the stage to bid their farewell with the audience. The last thing that they showed was a cubic play that you can see in the above picture. The whole show lasted for around 20-30 minutes but it felt so short and I really wanted to see more of their performance. Too bad that it was their last performance in Lotte Avenue as they had been performing for three days there. 

That was one of the staff on the right hehe. He made sure that the audience did not go to the stage. Now, after all these elaboration, I hope you had been enlightened about these amazing performers. But if you still couldn't grasp it, well, here is how The Painters: Hero described themselves. The Painters: Hero is an innovative art performance that stages the mind-blowing skills of live drawing with incredible visual effects filled with a witty blend of mime, dance and comedy right before your eyes. Rather than finding satisfaction from a completed artwork, The Painters: Hero embodies and shares the joy and awe-inspiring journey of creating works of art with the audience. I think that description is completely true and that is exactly how I felt during the time I watched the live drawing performance.

If you are curious about them, you should check out the website here. Their full performance in Korea lasted for about 80 minutes and in order to watch them, you have to pay for the ticket. So, Jakarta is pretty lucky to be able to watch Jackson Team for free though it was cut short. Also, in Korea they have more attractions, such as light drawing, marbling drawing, etc. They also had another four team named after Chaplin, Superman, Beethoven and Picasso. Chaplin Team had also performed in Indonesia some months ago.

After the show, they also had photograph session with the audience. The queue was not that long so I took pictures with them again. This time a selca ^^ hehe. Also, they were very nice and they made lots of funny expression during the photo session as well.

And also, SeungHoon let me borrowed his hat after that. And they were very interactive with the audience as well. They even gave us a free hug (uh oh, how nice of you guys). I promised myself that I am going to watch them in Korea if I had the chance one day. Though I had to pay for the ticket, I am very sure that it is going to worth every penny I spent. I really hope that more people would know about them, even though you are not a fan of Korean culture, they are so entertaining and fun!

And, here's a short video of both Korean Navy and The Painters: Hero performance. I think I have fell in love more with Korea ^^ They have so much cultural entertainment to offer, beyond K-pop and K-drama! There are some other non-verbal performances like JUMP and Nanta Cooking Show that I am very curious as well. Hopefully I can get to watch them one day. 

Cheers, filicia

I Met Kim Soo Hyun!

...or at least that was what I wished. hahaha. On November 2nd 2014, I had lots of fun hanging out in Lotte Shopping Avenue, Kuningan. I had a plan with my good friend to go there and watch two shows in a row. One is the Korean Navy Performance and another is The Painters: Hero.

girls just have to do selfie. lol. As soon as we reached the mall, we can hear the sound of a marching band already. We walked to the main atrium where the Korean Navy was performing but quickly got distracted when we saw the corner to wear free hanbok ^^ we have always wanted to wear one, so we just can not miss this chance (and I just can not wait to wear the RED one!) hehe.

We pretty much do not need to change to wear the hanbok because it is worn as an outer piece. There is one dress with the long green skirt and transparent top. Then there is a long-sleeved yellow blouse and the red outer piece. We can quickly used them just on the spot and it was not troublesome at all. 

So we snapped some more pictures and some mirror selfie. I like the one in the middle where I was tying up my hair haha. My expression looks funny there. And so, after we felt that the pictures are enough, we put off the hanbok and got into the main atrium to catch the performances we left. As mentioned before, the first was a marching band that play some classic marching band songs. But while we snapped some pictures, they started to play several K-pop songs including Gee and Mister if I remember it correctly.

Next up was numbers of navy who were marching to showcase some certain formations. They all looked pretty cool with the navy uniform and the weapon they are holding. Also, they all move in a very precise motion, salute.

Then, these two guys showed up and showed us that navy is not all strict and stiff. They also knew how to pull off an entertainment. They first sang a song from Eru, "Black Glasses". This song has become pretty popular in Indonesia because it was used as a movie soundtrack. Also, Eru has been performing a lot in Indonesia these days. After the ballad songs, they swiftly put on their black glasses (lol, literally) and heated up the atmosphere with the song by G-Dragon, "Crooked". They happily moved around and asked the audience to cheer on the song. Their voice on the other hand is surprisingly good and the performance is very enjoyable.

They ended up the whole show with a Taekwondo performance. They first showed audience some moves including hitting up some wood plates. That looked very dangerous and the wood pieces were flying here and there I came to the point that I should rather hide my camera under the chair. Many of the taekwondo players are girls, and they are strong. After that they finished the taekwondo performance with a happy cutey dance and also their own cover of EXO's "Overdose". Imagine having your favorite song combined with Taekwondo. Now that is amazing.

There, I told you I met Kim Soo Hyun. I am not really a big fan of K-drama but I did watch him in "Man from Another Star" and he is too adorable to not be loved. Anyway, this sums up my experience watching the Korean Navy Performance, I am going to talk about the second show which is The Painters: Hero on a separate post. And I also have a little video about both shows that I am going to put on the next post. See you there, kay?

Cheers, filicia