Have you ever dreamt of going to a place where it instantly relaxes you? The place where for once you can be happy for getting lost, because you know you will have the best moment of your life in there. But believe me, when I experienced Korea, it was beyond my imagination. Introduce me, Randy, a proud half Korean man from Indonesia. I was honored and lucky to be invited by Korean Association in collaboration with Korean Government, to be a part of Winter Games tour participants, going to the ginseng country, Korea. I was there with other participants from Indonesia for 6 days, we had the most fun of our lives. You wouldn’t be able to imagine our smiles when we first arrived there, we couldn’t even stop smiling from the first moment we knew we will be going to Korea.

  My father is pure Korean, he married my mother from Indonesia, and ever since I was a little kid, I always hoped my father would take me there one day. It would have made me the happiest boy to see the country where my father grew up. But all my dreams crashed when my parents’ marriage didn’t last long. I knew at that moment I will never be able to step my feet in Korea; it will be just another sweet dreams. So, when Korean Association and Korean Government came up with the invitation for us, I was the happiest man alive. You can’t imagine how it felt like to have your biggest dream came true. I have all the scenarios in my head, how snowy and relaxing and beautiful Korea would be. I want to explore and memorize every beautiful places in there, I will explore every inch of places I could go to and make the most of it.

All the participants have met each other previously at Korean Embassy to be briefed and prepared with items we might need for the Winter Games tour; therefore, we knew each other before we went to Korea. I was really glad the Korean Association and Korean Government prepared us with everything, both organizations are highly aware for all of our necessities. In the 7th February, we all gathered at Soekarno Hatta International Airport of Jakarta, Indonesia, I packed everything from 2 days before departure date because I couldn’t hide my excitement. We spent 7 hours of 40.000 feet flight and chatted in the plane how beautiful it would be there and what we would do once we arrived there. Our joy and excitement beat our tiring flight, and we finally landed at 9.00 AM local time on 8th February in Incheon International Airport. The first time I went out of the airport the weather is so cold, it was -9OC  and I thought to myself that I only needed some time to get used to the weather.

  The first place we went to was Petite French, I saw cute shaped French houses, it was a place where they shot the famous entertaining Running Man - one of my favorite Korean TV show, and the show is well-known in Indonesia. Then we went to Nami Island, where we ride a boat that split the icy lake, the most beautiful sight I have ever seen in my life; the tree, the snow, everything was beyond my imagination. Once we finished, we immediately went to Hongchun to take a rest in Vivaldi Park resort - the best ski resort in Korea - when arrived at the resort, I thought to myself; the Korean Association and Korean Government gave their best for us here, I can’t thank them enough.

On our second day, February 9th, we went to Gangneung Pyeongchang Olympic, we watched figure skating there and to add more fun to the day, we get to watched the Olympic live. It was my first time watching Winter Olympic live with my own eyes, the atmosphere there truly brought out our enthusiast, seemed like my Korea trip just can’t stop amazed me. We also went to the Samyang factory; a famous spicy instant noodle product - in Indonesia, Samyang is famous through Samyang Challenge on YouTube, a competition of who can eat this spicy noodles without giving up.

But not just spicy, Samyang is also delicious and became one of Korean favorite food in Indonesia. I was thrilled to get to know more about Samyang and how the company managed to established its product’s image so well. I witnessed the making of Samyang and got to directly met the Manager of Samyang company, heard him shared the history of this product taught me a lot about successful business and branding.

  On February 10th, we all get to play ski in the morning. It was my first time of playing ski, and I was curious whether I could or couldn’t play ski, and I still couldn’t believe that I could actually get to do this and not just seeing this on TV. Afterwards we went to Lotte World Tower (Seoul Sky), it was the tallest building in Korea and 5th tallest tower in the world. I took a lot of pictures there to keep the memory of the view from this building, for the third time Korea amazed me with its beauty. Not to forget that we also went to Hongdae today, we played in Tricky Eye Museum, the arts shown there gave trick to the eyes as if it were real, we all had a lot of fun in there, especially me; because I can’t stop running and exploring one art after the other. We also do souvenir shopping there to bring home, and checked in at Seoul Holiday Inn after, to rest our body. Every night before I went to bed, I kept thinking of how wonderful tomorrow would be, and believe me, it was the best feeling ever.

The next day on February 11th, I woke up fresh with new excitement because we were going to Seoul Tower today and Namsan Hanok Village; where we got to took lots of pictures in Hanbok and saw traditional buildings of Korea. To be able to knew Korea this much gave me a home feeling, I wished to live here one day, to be a part of a beautiful town would be an honor. Before the day ends and we had to go back to our hotel, we were taken to Myoungdong, shopping and leisure center of Korea. We got to witnessed Korean merchandises, and Korean food culinary - which I liked so much. Oh… we also watched Nanta Show theater, the best percussion show I have ever seen in my life.

Wow, can Korea stop amazed me everyday? It seemed like I kept having my mouth open out of amazement since I got here.

  Unfortunately, the trip must end, February 12th was our last day. This was the day where I finally decided that I will come back here one day, I have to. I got to meet Kang Kyung Hwa, the Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs. She told us many things about Korea, and her dreams of tightening the relationship between Korea and Indonesia, which I really supported, since I knew how Indonesian people also familiarizing themselves with Korean culture, and I think there are many things that Indonesia could learn from Korea. After that we went to South Korea’s National Palace, to had lunch with Korea’s first Lady, Moon Jae In -she introduced us to Korea’s traditional food, she shared many things with us and also directly build conversation with some of us. It was really nice to know how down-to-earth a first Lady of Korea is, I instantly felt the warmth welcome she gave us. She also told us how happy she was to get to meet us, because this is one of her dreams to be able to invited Korea descent kids to visit their home town. I was happy to hear it and hoped one day there will be many other Korea descent kids in Indonesia that get the same chance as we did to witness how beautiful their hometown is. It was an honor to be able to have conversation with the first Lady of Korea. From Korea National Palace, we went straight to Incheon International Airport, to flew back to Jakarta, Indonesia. When we touched down in Indonesia, I felt happy to be able to see my family and shared all my beautiful stories to my friends here, but sad at the same time, because I had to leave my dream city. But all the Winter Games Tour participants promised to keep the bond among Korean descent kids and will continue to reach our dream so that one day we will be able to bring proudness to our hometown, Korea.

  I can never thank Korean Association and Korean Government enough for this amazing life experience. I learned so much while I’m in Korea, from culture to business. I got inspired to open up a successful business one day from the branding and everything that I learned from Samyang. I also learn to protect the environment, that cleanliness is every citizens’ responsibilities - because Korea is very neat and clean, everybody knew to not litter. Korean people’s habit to clean of their plates after eating also something that I started to practice here in Indonesia once I got back. Also, ever since I’m back to Indonesia, I learned Korean language every day from books to Internet. I hoped one day I can go back there and be able to explore my inner Korean deeper. Once again thank you to Korean Association and Korean Government for the amazing experience, we all have the best time of our lives. And last but not least, thank you to Hanin Post and TV stations of Korea; KTV and KBS in recording our whole trip and shared our happiness with others.