Petite France II

My new students are just so irresistibly adorable; I have that compulsion to steal them all home! One of them reminds me of a cartoon character (I just can't pinpoint out who), one who is passionate, nerdy and a Mr. Know-It-All, and who always talks non-stop, oblivious of the bored people that unfortunately surround him at that time.

Simba and I are heading to Kuala Lumpur from 25th to 27th Aug, and we are in such high spirits thinking about all the shopping and eating but tensed at the same time since it's Malaysia we're going and it could go very wrong if we aren't careful! Bits of our itinerary include shopping at Times Square and dinners at No Black Tie and Marini's on 57! Marini's on 57 is well-known for its convivial ambience and excellent customer service, and best of all its view of the Petronas Twin Towers.

Before I get started with my trip to Petite France (Seoul), I wanna advocate the goodness of a drink I ordered from Bangkok Jam (am always a big fan of Thai food) and it is the green mango shake with mint.

And I instagramed! Before you judge me on being so behind times, I wanna clarify that I did sign up for Instagram when it first started but I forgot my password (Again, my love-hate relationship with my absent-mindedness) and couldn't log in back. I even used Jun Wen's email to create an account but just couldn't remember the password too. And I gave up... until I recalled it like few days back.

My first Instagram photo was a picture of the angry hungry man at Chomp Chomp. Finally got down there to eat my fill of stingrays, sotongs, bbq chicken wings and satays!

Petite France II

We wandered to the Play House after the drizzle came haunting us once more.

A stamp of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry imprinted on it. In the effort to reminisce his reputable poetic tale The Little Prince which was elaborated in watercolours, he was too illustrated in watercolours.

We found table football in the room that looks rather disorganised and antiqued, as if it to preserve the condition from the past. 

This pin ball table kept us busy for 10 minutes, as we tried hard to win the highest valued prize! How hard you hit the ball will affect your chance of winning, and to get the precision in the amount of strength to apply, you would require tons of practice before you finally get the hang of it (unless you are lucky of course).

A clothes hanger/drawer that allows you to first drape your coat over and then keep your necklaces and ear rings into the moment you get home. An invention perfect for women!

What caught my attention were these ornaments which look somewhat like Scots Guards, to embellish the otherwise plain boring window panes.

Having exited from the Play House, we approached another roofed structure that stands tall in front of us, which turns out to be a small gallery cum cafe. The cafe, which is at the 2nd floor was at that moment vacant though I saw good reviews of it on some blogs, one of which envisioned some Korean wedding proposals to be held at the window seats since a view from seats like that overlook the whole of Petite France.

China plates up to greet gazes of awe.

The one pan I particularly like. Who would actually fry eggs with this, when it is just meant as part of your home deco?

Me who always jump at every opportunity to take a self-portrait. This time it was the dressing table which took the foreground.

Horse riding on a bike when it used to be a form of transportation for ancient humans. Technology has since advanced to the stage where houses ride on bicycles to keep their hooves clean and free from wear and tear. 

A bed of colourful plants which brighten up moods.

Being inept on tracking which way I have come from, and which way I have to go next, I followed the trail set by these beds of plants and it led us to a house filled with costumes which can be rented for photo-taking purposes. 

Nobody was there to help us with the procedure of renting the costumes and we were too afraid to try them on having read the threatening notice situated above these costumes. The notice that tells us to "experience cautions" and delivers a stern admonition not to damage its clothing. The most frightening of all is its use of English; so chim we could barely understand one sentence!

PH and I tried deciphering the whole bunch of sentences but got even more confused from it.

Found love locks too, and they were attached to a heart-shaped structure somewhere in Petite France. Love this photo that tells of a distinction between the focused bells close-up and the blurred out ones at a distance.

Always fascinated by teapots since they are short and stout just like me!

Wanna collect them all but nah they are too extravagant a hobby.

A collection of different welcome signs to hang at your door.

Open midway through the rooster's body and you find a space to hold your accessories. Ornaments can be of use too.

And then it's time for me to spook you out with pictures of creepy puppets and dolls.

I would gladly bag this ornament home if it was for sale. Love this plump lady wearing short tarzan-like dress sitting at the edge of the glass cabinet looking confident.

A picture of me taken in the background was definitely not unintentional. Lol.

Explored also a photo studio that takes portraits of you and your family or friends on our way out.

It was pouring near the end of our tour in Petite France, and the hope of touring Nami Island was vanished like a fart in the wind. :(

Petite France I

We chanced upon the poster board that featured a Petite France tour at the AREX subway station of the Incheon airport, which inspired Bro to add the attraction to our itinerary.
Although the journey by train took almost an hour, we were pretty thankful that the rain had tapered down when we reached the Cheongpyeong Station (The merciless rain had cost us our chance to visit both Everland and Nami Island!), and being ardent fan of Korea, convinced that Petite France has enough merits to be worth a visit!




Frozen in the gloomy weather, I found myself stranded in the sheltered station while Bro sprinted to the bus stop to check if the bus at the nearest bus stop could take us to the French cultural village at Gapyeong. (We were looking high and low for jackets to fight the cold but couldn't find any other than trench coats which cost more than a hundred so I ended buying an A&F jacket! Even so, u don't find any Korean trembling as hard as us. I think they live for fashion; they can wear thin chic frocks without looking like they are about to die from the cold.)

Once the sign at the bus stop assured Bro that we were indeed on the right track, we were good to go and that meant holding onto my bro's arm, braving the cold and walking at a tremendously turtle-like speed to reach the bus stop.

The not-at-all-sweet and very bland cappuccino dispensed by the vending machine.

Entrance; the gateway to 'flowers, stars and the Little Prince'.

One of the premises where the Running Man ran in.

Bro was attracted to the faint music coming from one of these French-styled houses and subconsciously followed to its origin. A girl singing with her beautiful, high-pitched voice in a small concert theatre has won hearts of many fans, including my bro's, who applauded and cheered loudly for her.

Located along the aisle that led to the theatre were rows of paintings of the Petite France architecture, one of which was really well-liked by my bro, one that illustrates how the houses look like when it snows.

Photoshoot on canvas.

Spotted Pokemon from the cafe! The structure, situated behind Charmander and Squirtle, that looks somewhat like a lighthouse was where Ji Hyo, the last surviving member in Running Man episode 40, found the last The Little Prince's coat, before she was chased down and caught by her pursuers!

Hand puppets!

The intense pangs of hunger led us to this one and only Western restaurant, which looked like it just waltzed out of fairy tale. The owner of this bistro was very amicable and spoke really good English.




Brochure which greeted us at the entrance, has detailed description of every unique house in the European territory.




The only times that Bro gave me peace was when he got hungry or when he was entertaining the comments on his Facebook posts on Korea. Lol.




The 7 days of dining in Korea was spent without any single guilt of ruining my weight management plans. My cheese croquettes; can you imagine how sinful it gets?




Bro also ate whatever he wants; no second thoughts of staying healthy whatsoever. Lol.
Cheese beef steak, but to keep guilt to the minimum and be in self denial, he finished the salad.



No drinks were sold in the bistro, but the owner explained to us that they specialised in upholding the reputation of their food standard and suggested for us to get drinks at a nearby cafe and added that he wouldn't mind us bringing outside food in. I was not at all surprised when Bro delivered not only my coffee but also a serving of waffles to satisfy his sweet tooth.

Our first stop was this exhibition hall nearest to the entrance.

In it was a sculpture of The Little Prince and his friend, the fox.

Simba likes this grey wool sweater which I bought one of the boutiques in Myeongdong. I bought it in a haste while Bro droned on and on about his life, so I didn't try it out in the fitting room and it turned out to be a little too big. :(
My asymmetrical white dress was bought from the same shop too. :D



As we walked further into the hall, we found ourselves surrounded by display cases of dolls dressed in European clothing of the early 19th century.

I will let the pictures of these dolls walk you through the fashion of the olden days.

I particularly like what's like the bubble dress on the extreme right. It brought out elegance and perhaps some contemporary fashion in the doll and I think the doll's dewy make up helped alot too.

And yup I had to zoom her in.

Clowns, who appeared in some of our nightmares and hung from the middle of nowhere, gave me the creeps.



Dolls in a cot watching the acrobat perform? Weird.
I would better not flood you with creepy pictures of more dolls. Bro was pretty creeped out since he sat on a nearby bench while I was snapping pictures of them one after another and told me to leave this dingy, eerie room asap.

Look at the umbrella hanging down from the signage as part of the aloft adornment to the gift shop, the umbrella that is covered with stretches from The Little Prince comic. I really nearly bagged it home but resisted after conjuring up memories of the 5 umbrellas hung from my cupboard. Simba, an enthusiastic collector of umbrellas, collected 2 from Nex, 1 from The Body Shop, 1 from Legoland and 1 from Doraemon Land. It was unlike me to not buy anything from a gift shop overseas but this time round I kept my cool and conscious since the prices of the souvenirs were outrageous!

Another unique element of Petite France was this memorial hall that is dedicated to Saint-Exupery, the author of the celebrated French novel, Le Petit Prince.

This was one of the initial stretches drawn by Saint-Exupery in his jotter book. From the information boards in the hall, we learnt that Saint-Exupery was a pioneering aviator and has won worldwide recognition from the novel that speaks somewhat of his life.

Le Petit Prince's children book.

A 50 dollar note with the author and the illustrated combined.

Situated in the attic of the hall, a TV features an episode of the cartoon in French and although we couldn't fathom any part of it, we had some fun watching the high resolution graphics and resting our exhausted legs.




Me with the sculpture of a page from the comic book, which seems to have been printed from the comic by a 3D printer!

Great for children's photoshoot! :D

Then, we set foot into the Orgel House to view the ancient musical instruments that were played by people who lived few hundred years apart from us.




An evidence to show that Bro had broken the rules of the Orgel House; Look at the notice on the top right of this pic and then look at what he is doing.
The reason that piqued his curiously into touching the music box was that this 200-year-old box plays the melody of the lyrics you loaded into it. Yes, the box can read notes!

A bottle that contains a globe that houses 2 ballerinas. 

"Please enjoy with your eyes." LOL!

An unique blend of a guitar and a harp. Bro couldn't contain his excitement upon seeing this and unhesitantly posted a question on his Facebook wall to his friends with this pic attached, "Guitar or harp?"

While on our way to the Play House, we investigated these houses with an attempt to probe into them by twisting the knobs of those doors but to our surprise, they were all locked! They turned out to be an accommodation for visitors who want to wake up in a fairy tale land everyday. We were lucky that no one was behind these doors at that point of time.



A life-sized pop-up fairy tale book of the Red Riding Hood and Cinderella to keep us enraptured in the whimsy countryside.