My Mind, I Took It Home to Korea

 

DSC00388nI have never been celebrated Winter in my life. I am from Indonesia, a very tropical country with never ending summer. Truthfully the idea of having winter is always on my mind. I always want to go to Iceland or even Greenland just to feel some winter euphoria. Then, I decided to go to South Korea this winter. South Korea is the closest place to feel the winter from Indonesia.

I arrived at Busan, I planned to took a bus to Seoul from Busan. When the flight attendant opened the airplane gate, all i felt was “This is no joke” I said that to my friend. I kept wow-ing wherever I go because that was totally different from my country. The weather, the people, the technology was completely insane. A that time, the weather is really cold, about -12 celsius degree tops.

At Day 5, I had the opportunity to visit Nami Island, located at Gangwon Province, not so far from Seoul. I always enjoyed scenery wherever I go. Nami Island and its neighborhood is really breathtaking. The place is also colder than Seoul. There was so many tourist back then. But, believe or not, they are local tourist from so many province in South Korea. I managed my self to ask one local tourist who speak English about Nami. He said, “I’ve been to Nami like 5 times, but I never get bored. This is my country’s asset, how can I miss?”. I don’t know but at that time while hear his answer, at that perfect scenery of Nami, all I think about is my home, Indonesia.

South Korea has so many great places such as Jeju, Nami, Mount Sorak, etc. South Korea also has “hallyu wave” for korean pop and korean drama which led so many tourists to visit this country. There’s so many westernization things also, but the people are very nationalist about their country. They love their country so much.
I looked up into myself. Indonesia also has so so so so many place to be explore. But I always wanted to go overseas because of many reason. Other than Bali, Indonesia has Raja Ampat Island, Borneo with their rich culture, and the beauty of beaches since we are “Island Nation”. When I was in Nami,all I think about is, “After this, I will go to the Gili, West Nusa Tenggara and walking through the sand while carry my sandals and wear my thin shirt”. I realized that I went away too much. I realized that there is so many things in Indonesia that you can actually do. And somehow, I feel lucky to have summer all the time. Because feeling cold is the last thing that I want after I felt all that coldness in South Korea. But yes, still I want to go to Iceland.

Then I went home, to where I belong. Thank God that I had the chance to go to South Korea. Because the people made me realize that I should explore my own land before I go abroad.

South Korea is giving me this idea. For my next trip, I already plan to discover Java, Bali and West Nusa Tenggara in a month. Wish me luck!

By Naresawari Notoprodjo

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