A Blogger's Journey: From Bacolod To The Blue House!

         (Bacolod Masskara Festival performers)

I was born in Bacolod City, the home of the Philippines' Masskara Festival. This city happens to be the sister city of Andong, South Korea's home of mask festival, which made me realize this sisterhood between Bacolod and Andong was probably not a coincidence. Me, being born in Bacolod City where people celebrate by wearing colorful masks once a year and now living in Korea where masks are also part of the culture!

You see, I started this blog in 2009 in order to enter a Korea Tourism Organization's online competition. I remember it took me less than an hour to put this up and had it running, after which I received a small gadget from the competition.

That was in the summer of 2009. Ten years and 916 posts ago.

(Bloggers from different countries welcomed by 
the First Lady of South Korea at the Presidential 
Presidential Blue House. 
I wore a barong tagalog and told the First Lady that I was from the Philippines and she told me she recognized the outfit.)

And what was supposed to be an open online diary about my life in Korea with posts about my neighborhood, Korean dishes and tourists spots became a medium for organizations and people to invite me to events and competitions, concerts, out-of-town trips with free hotels and meals, and tours. Yes, through this blog, I was invited to meet K-pop celebrities, dined at a Michelin-star restaurant, and had a once-in-lifetime encounter with tennis superstars (my sports!), among other unforgettable experiences!

(2019 Korea.net bloggers with our official appointments from the Korean government!)

From b-boy competitions to beach volleyball tournaments, from holiday skiing to Winter Olympics, from my favorite neighborhood restaurants to my favorite Korean dishes, from K-pop concerts to Korean musicales, from discovering other neighborhoods to discovering my own, and everything in between, I have enjoyed more than what Seoul and Korea have to offer.

I was first active with the bloggers' group organized by the Seoul City government and the Korea Tourism Organization. And in 2014, I joined the Honorary Reporters program of the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) that runs the Korea.net, the Korean government's official website.

And to welcome the 2019 Honorary Reporters, KOCIS held an induction ceremony in May 2019 at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul with no less than the First Lady of South Korea welcoming us! Those who live in Seoul and those who could fly to Seoul were able to join. And since I haven't been inside the Blue House before, I joined!

(The 2019 Honorary Reporters posing 

in front of the Presidential Blue House)

With a special ceremony covered by national TV channels and Korean media outlets and with a fabulous lunch at a separate location before the event, not to mention everyone went home with a lot of freebies that included a Cheonghwadae wristwatch that featured the signature of the President of South Korea, who would have wanted to miss it?

Now, as I am on my 11th year, I look back from where I came from so that my path towards the future is clear from where I sit and blog. My friend Cora, who used to be my neighbor in Hannam-dong in Seoul once told me that I should turn this blog into a book. Well, Cora, I'm not sure if anyone would want to buy it. But who knows? We'll see.

But in the meantime, thanks to all of you who once in a while drop by to read this blog. It has been fun writing for you and for anyone who cares to read stories from this blogger who came from Bacolod...and ended up at the Blue house!😄

(From Bacolod...to the Blue House!)  

'A' For Amigos, 'B' For Blue House, 'C' For Cafe Jass

After enjoying our unique lunch experience at the Tong-in Market's Dosirak Cafe, Junho, Hyunsung and I walked off our lunch to have coffee near the Insa-dong area. Hyunsung's cousin, Woong-cheol has a cafe around that area.

From Tongin-dong in the Jongno District, we headed to the Insa-dong area by walking behind the Gyeongbuk Palace. At the back of the Palace is actually the Blue House, the official residence of the president of South Korea, and as expected, this area is tightly guarded. I remember passing through this Cheonghwadae area a couple of autumns ago after coming from Michael and Sara's home near the Jahamun area, where I had lunch. And today, coincidentally, after another lunch, I was passing through this area again.

              (Tourists taking pictures of the Blue House)

As we entered the guarded area, we were stopped by the policemen on duty, who asked to check our bags and the reason why we were walking towards the Blue House. Sadly, they forgot to ask how our lunch was. Or what we ate. Ha-ha-ha!

When we got to the 'photo spot' in front of the Blue House, there were a lot of tourists already busy posing and clicking away. We joined them for a few minutes and noticed that the three of us were the only Seoulites in the pack. The rest were tourists! Junho said that locals don't usually venture into this tightly guarded area in Cheonghwadae to take pictures. But today, three strayed from the main road. Ha-ha-ha!

               (Pink flowers and a house colored blue)

We wandered through the alleys of Samcheong-dong before ending up across the northern end of Insa-dong on our quest to find Hyunsung's cousin's coffee shop. To find it, we simply crossed the street and walked towards that street behind Jogyesa Temple. And when we got there, the coffee shop looked familiar. I have been here before!

Cafe Jass is right behind Somerset Palace Seoul, a hotel where friends JK and Ruth used to live. Our friends used to have parties there and one occasion when I visited Ruth, she took me to Cafe Jass. 

And as we were enjoying our coffee (and the cheese cake on the house!), Woong-cheol, the owner of Cafe Jass,  started roasting his coffee beans and the delightful aroma of the beans filled the coffee shop, which then seemed to have awakened the senses of everyone in the room. It was already mid-afternoon by the time we were able to rest our legs from walking off our Dosirak Cafe lunch at Tong-In Market, passing behind Gyeongbukgung and in front of the Blue House, and ending at a coffee shop next to Jogyesa Temple.

What started off just as a hungry quest to experience the Dosirak Cafe ended up as a day-tour around the Jongno District and, well,...a blog! And thanks to my good amigos, Junho and Hyunsung, the Blue House and Cafe Jass were indeed worth the stroll.