2003 Year End Party

All foreign employees of samsung electronics Digital Media group were invited for the year end party in Kore'as biggest Amusement Park Everland also called The Disneyland of South Korea. Although I have not visited Disney Land but those who had, says even though not same but its almost similar to it.

Around 50 Researchers from India, Russia, China and Japan along with their family members and friends represented a major portion of the Globe. It was so nice to be part of it.

Nanta Show: We were first taken to Nanta show. Nanta is a delightful, comedic musical Korean version of "Stomp" that transcends the language barrier. It combines Korean folk music and the pulsating rhythm of Samulnori, or traditional Korean drumming, in a crazy, fun way. Nanta debuted in 1997 and has since performed internationally in more than 141 cities.

Then we headed for Everland and withing 50 min we were there in front of Alpine restaurant located at the heart of Everland.


Kumar and Chandra with Shin, Benita and John

The Party was held in Alpine Restaurant in Everland . It was one of the nicest restaurant we had been to during our Korea stay.


Kumar and Chandra just after Entering Alpine

Russian Researcher's enjoying the Party

Mr Joker performing some magic with the Balloon

We won first prize for singing a korean song-Kim bhap.
It was the 256MB Samsung mp3 player YEPP.

Other's watching us while we were enjoying Singing



Winners of different events just before Prize distribution

It was an excellent Party.So much cultural variety and opportunity to meet so many nice people. We will definitely wait for the party next year again.

Ganghwado Temple Stay

The trip to Ghangwado :-suwon youth cultural center took us for a trip to Ghangwado for a unique experience of temple stay and to enlighten us about the history and culture of Ghangwa do.

Around 30 students from different high and middle schools and around 5 foreigners together with sycc teachers started the trip from suwon cultural center.

there was also an historian who explained the historical importance of Ghanghwa do ,Ganghwa island is the fifth largest island in Korea and is located in the West Sea.it has prehistoric remains as well as this island is a witness of the french and mongolian invasions

all these information made the trip more interesting.

Visiting the dolmans:-

after reaching ganghwado island we first visited a dolman site Because there were people living on this island from the prehistoric times, there are many ancient artifacts on the island. The most famous of these are the Goindol Rocks, designated as World’s Cultural Treasure. The Goindol graves are where the rulers of the Ganghwa Island in the Bronze Age are buried. There are about 80 of these stone graves around the island .

On the way Our bus stopped here too

Visit to Manisan:-

we were then taken to manisan mountain. here three mountain tops stands together. this is a very religious place for koreans. we had a brisk walk and it was very refreshing.From the top, one can see many islands of the Yellow Sea to the south, and on clear days one can SongAksan Mountain to the north also.

by the time we were all hungry so we went to a local restaurant to have lunch . the students were very excited and happy . chatting with them and with the teachers we had a wholesome meal.and headed for the journey again.

The museum tour:-our next stop was ganghwa do historty museum.The museum was located in a scenic place and we could see the sea from its observatory .

Inside the museum our historian explained many things like the world's most important cultural asset tripitaka koreana , the shifting of capital to ganghwa do during mongolian attack and the french invasion in 1866. Ganghwado can be said as the homeland of history.

Our bus stopped for an hour here

Chandra Inside museum

After learning so many things about ganghwado and korean history we left the museum and headed for our destination.

Jeondongsa temple :-

we reached jeondongsa temple within 40 minutes.Jeondeungsa Temple is an old temple situated on Mt. Jeongjoksan it was built around 1282 but has been rebuilt twice.The ceiling is constructed like a well, and around it are many beautiful and colorful sculptures, such as lotus flowers and bicheon. In the temple yard there is a bell from Song China, called Beomjong. Jongdeungsa Temple is not only beautiful inside but outside as well. Especially the sea that you can see from the temple is exquisitely beautiful in the morning and evening. Greeting sunrise at Jeondeungsa Temple is a nationally famous activity.

Our temple stay:-

The monks took all of us in a big hall . he brought dresses for all of us which we should be wearing for our 1 day stay there. the clothes are hand made and naturally dyed . also he explained the code of conduct of staying in the temple.

the whole group is divided into males and females and the males are given the rooms in male monk's residence area and the ladies were given rooms in the female monk's residence.

we went to our respective rooms and changed our dresses and got refreshed. we were then called to have dinner with the monks.

Just after reaching the temple and changing dress

the temple food is famous for its unique taste and the speciality is that its pure vegetarian and even no onions and garlics are used to cook food. After the delicious dinner we went to have a look around the temple and the nearby places
after that we all gathered at the hall to listen to a speech by the head monk followed by a short lecture about the history and culture of ganghwa do and Korea.
it was a real eyeopener class for us as we foreigners know very little about Korean history and culture. the lecturer made the class interesting with funny comments and acting .
we went to our rooms at around 9:30 pm .there we had a good time chatting with the students and the teachers .

The temple prayer:-
next day morning we woke up around 3:30 am in the morning hearing the sound of bell and holy sholkas chanted by the monks.
we hurriedly washed ourselves and reached the main temple . it was a big hall with a huge Buddha idol in front of us. we took our places and chanted some sacred shlokas .then the chief monk started bowing and we were told to bow for 108 times . the room had a very sacred atmosphere with the smell of incense and the chanting of holy words with the sound of bell we kept bowing for 108 times.
then we went to another room to listen to some holy speech by a lady monk.
we saw the sunrise from the temple which looks very heavenly from this point.
at around 8 am we had breakfast.

Our guide explaining us about how many books were stolen from Korea

afte that the guide took us for a visit to nearby library . this library hold a unique collection of many old books and documents. we learnt that during french invasion many important books and documents were stolen from this library which the korean people are now demanding back

. we could see many paper lantern with notes for the french govt asking to return the books

then we were taken to the hall again where many acitivities were wating for us

we learnt to make paper lanterns and were taught to bow in korean traditional way.and also learnt a few yogasanas.

Doing some yoga under supervision

The tea ceremony:-
Next was tea ceremony . Tea holds a very important position in Korean society. its given lots of respect and there are ways to drink the tea .

the tea ceremony was demonstrated by a lady .

she showed whole process very nicely . In Korea the green tea is very famous and its known for

its medicinal property. One lady monk described the importance of drinking green tea. we all enjoyed the tea and it was indeed very refreshing.

Demonstrating the TEA ceremony

Infront of one of the buddhist temple

Learning to paint:- Next activity was learning oriental painting.

the uniqueness is that its done with only black colour and the paint is made of coal.the paper given to us was hand made.

A famous korean artist was invited to demonstrate the process.

An oriental Painting by our teacher

all of us enjoyed doing this.even we tried to make something .

Learning the art

The first Painting. Not that bad

after the painting class there was a small break and in that time we went to the nearby souvenir shop to buy one.


around 12 noon we went to have our last meal in the temple .we changed our dresses and got ready for the departure.

we had a short photo session after that to make the journey a remarkable one.

Returning towards our bus

we paid respect to the monks who gave us a wonderful chance to stay with them and

enjoy a new way of life which is so different and refreshing .

2003 Diwali At Our Residence

In those days the Indian Diaspora in Suwon was limited to around 30. We decided to celebrate Diwali together first of its kind in Suwon. All together around 20 of us gathered together in our apartment. All of our rooms were almost filled. We had so much of fun. We played so many different types of games like antakshari and 20 questions.

Game of 20 question: It is a very simple and interesting game. Make two teams A and B. Then representative of team A gets a word from team B. Now team A has to guess the word by asking a maximum of 20 questions to their representative. The representative can answer only in YES or NO. Which ever team gets the correct word in lesser question wins.

The games went on till mid night till when we felt our neighbours might call Police if we do not stop shouting. The closing of all doors and windows as tight as possible to make the house a sound proof one was not good enough to block the high decibels generated out of excitement and joy.We had dinner. Every one cooked something from their home and brought along with them. There were all kinds of delicious dishes ranging from North Indian sweets to South Indian sambar, rasam.

Hof Day Celebration Inside Samsung Suwon Campus

Hof Day: Hoff day is celebrated in Samsung electronics on 14th october every year. On this day the employees take part in grand marathon race and then in the evening inside the campus gala festivities awaites them. Employees enjoy colourful cultural program along with beer and varieties of snacks in the open air restaurants arranged on the ground.

Selection of Best 10: For the cultural program 10 contestants are choosen from all the employees working for suwon samsung electronics campus. Suwon being Samsung electronics global headquarter houses more than 20 000 employees in the same Campus. Items could be Song, Dance or Playing any musical instrument or may be any other cultural item. The screening test starts almost 15 days before the main event and on fixed dates the selection is done by a panel of judges near the 4 big canteens inside the campus during lunch time. Interested performer needs to perform infront of the judges and the audiences gathered in front of the canteens as a selection process. Well I am not a singer but I love to listen to all kinds of songs and korean songs always attracted me. I have learnt a few korean songs. On the selection day I thought of giving a try and to have the fun of singing a korean song just for some amusement. I sang a korean song called My Son very casually and in happy mood. After around 2 days I recieved a mail telling that i have been shortlisted among the best 10 competitors for the grand competition on hoff day. WeeeeeeW!!!!!

The D Day: I was really excited and also a bit nervous. I went for the competition without much preparation as all these days I had lots of other things to do. The competition was supposed to start at 6 pm. Since Chandra was very excited too to see the program so my hr manager arranged everything to bring her inside the campus with special permission. The program started with a sexaphone performance and then it was a pop song sung and danced by a lady. I was the 7th performer. I went to the stage and sang the song the best way I could. My song a light mood and comedy song which is about a small boy who wants to become a rock star and his parents thinks the idea to be a rubbish. I could see Staidium filled people enjoy the song
On the stage while Singing

It was nice to see the ever busy and hardworking employees happy and clapping all the way. Chandra came on to the stage and greeted me with a flower bouquet as soon as I finished my song.

Host asking a few questions regarding our life in Samsung and Korea

Prize Distribution: We sat there and enjoyed the remaining performances. Then came the prize ceremony. The first prize a Samsung pc, went to a talented young lady who sang and danced together on the tunes of a famous pop song.Second prize was an Air conditioner which was won by a korean employee whose dream is to become a singer and yes he has a suberb talent.

Third prize a Samsung phone, the prize goes to !!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes it was my name being announced on the stage!!! there was a huge applause from the audience and my colleagues came to greet me. It came as a big surprise to me. I had enjoyed singing but never once did I expect any prize. I went to the stage and received my wonderful prize , a latest camera cellphone from Samsung which hit the market only a week ago.

The funniest part was I was infact looking for a good cell phone as my old phone had some problems. It was a great and a memorable event. I was too happy that people liked the song and the Prize coming my was just what it needs to make you totally flat.

Visit To Daechon Beach

After last years trip to Haundae beach in Busan we decided to Spend this year's Summer vacation in some beach again and this time the winning candidate was Daechon beach.

About Daechon Beach: Daechon Beach is a large nice beach located on the west coast of Korea, boasting the longest coastline on Korea's west Coast, is not as crowded as Haeundae, and the water is warmer. Daecheon Beach gently slopes for 5 km, and is covered with sand and beautiful sea shells. Made up of thousands of tiny broken shells, Daechon's shore is 3.5km long and 100m in width and extends into shallow waters, which are optimum for bathing.

The Journey: We started early in the morning and our train was around 8 am. We found many passengers on our train were actually going to daechon for spending their summer vaccation.

The kids were jumping and shouting inside the train throughout the journey one could see the joy and excitement in their actions. It took 2 hrs to reach Daechon and the train got almost emptied there. We went to the bus stop to reach the beach but got scared seeing the long queue there. Since lots of buses were there, we could get into one of them within 5 mins. The bus soon was jam packed. Thank god we got seats and the a/c inside the bus was on. Summer is really terrible in Korea. We could get a glimpse of the city on our way to beach. Soon the Bus was rushing through the fields and farms and within 20 min we reached Daechon beach.

Activities around the Beach: We got down the bus and changed our clothes so that we can freely play in the water without the fear of making them dirty. As we were nearing the main beach area we could see numerous events going on. The Mud Festival was on full swing and its said that the black-colored mud that is abundant along the clean and pure beach, is rich in minerals that contain germanium. This mud is well known for protecting skin and curing various skin diseases. There was also an exhibition going on displaying all kinds of beautiful things made out of sea shells and sea produces. We also discovered a special stall showing the making of pearls which is found in abundance in this coastline. They were also selling pearls at very attractive prices and yes we ended up buying a pearl necklace.

Fun at Beach: We headed towards the beach. Since it was only 11 am, the beach was still not crowded and we were lucky enough to choose a comfortable place and settled ourselves down. We went to feel the water. It was warm and very refreshing. The day was very bright, sunny and breezy resulting our decision to visit beach a worthy one. We had fun and played in the water for quite sometime looking around for stones and shells and to our delight we got quite a few very beautiful ones.

Ferry trip to a Island deep into the Sea: We noticed ferries taking people to some islands located deep into the Sea. As usual we could not resist the temptation to explore what would be there and we decided to go for it. The ferry was ready to start within 10 min . As it started moving we could see the whole beach area which was going far and far from us till it was no more visible. Now there was only water all around. After half hour journey we were dropped in a very small island. WOW!! Sea food restaurants here too!! in such a small island and in the middle of the sea. There was a cliff on the island and Kumar succeed in reaching the peak of that !!!!




We did adventure with the rocks ad Sea. Ferry comes every half hour and takes back those who wants to go back while dropping new visitors. We took the ferry back after one hour and reached the beach again.It was still 4pm only and our train was at 7 pm. So we still had lot of time to explore more.

Short Visit to Daechon City: We then thought of having a look at the city too. We took the bus and got down at the center of the town. The first striking thing of this small town is that there are no traffic signals!!! The pedestrians and the drivers all had wonderful eye communication which helped in running the traffic smoothly . we had a delicious lunch at a local restaurant and We must agree that the price was much reasonable compared to prices in Seoul.

Our Marraige Celebration In Samsung

On the previous days our colleague came and asked how about singing Korean song in the park beside the company restaurant tommorow afternoon during lunch break. Me and John were both little reluctant initially but later agreed. Then that evening we all went to "Noorebang" as they are called in Korea. They are Singing rooms with Hi Fi Karaoke systems installed where one could sing his heart out. We practiced for an hour and were ready for the next afternoon with no idea what it was all for.

The Event day: During lunch break at 12.30pm, the park beside the company canteen was full of people who usually take some break and smoke after lunch. The place was nicely decorated. That day one professional comedian was also invited to perform live for some 10 min. The Comedian after finishing his performance handed over the mic to us. It was an excellent display of talent by him. People were very happy and were laughing out loud.


The Comedian handing over the Mic to us

John and me Singing th Korean song "Naaye harurul ghamanhi"

Applause from audience- Most of them our colleague

The big Surprise: After we finished singing the Host asked us few questions, like " Do you live in korea wih your family? and where are they now? We said : "In Yong Tong-Our appartment". Next question he asked came as a big surprise. " Who are those two ladies coming our way?" and yoooo John and me were surprised to see Benita and chandra coming towards us smiling all the way. We knew very well that entry to the campus was restricted to employees only. After the initial surprise we were talking smiling and enjoying the claps coming from all our colleagues.

Flash Back Scene at my appartment at 11am: "Suddenly the hr manager lady came to our appartment . She asked me to get ready for a big surprise. She told me and Mrs John to wear Indian traditional dress and accompany her to the company. In no time we were inside the company and as we approached the event ground we could hear Kumar and John singing. " -Chandra


Chandra telling me how she had to get ready on such a short notice and had to rush


Beside the photgrapher

Host asking us questions on korean life and about Indian traditions

Enjoying every moment

Gift session: We were then called to accept gift from our Senior manager. We did not knew what it was but after coming home first thing we did was open the pack and peek at the box. ooooooo!! such a cute and beautiful korean traditional doll set.

Recieving Presents from Our manager


Our collegues sharing the moment with us


With John and Benita


Group photo with our team

Finally there was a group photo session and then we headed for lunch which was arranged by company in a very nice restaurant. There during lunch we were interviewed and later it got published in the compnay magazine.


The Cute Dolls we received as a token of Love

What was all this for???The occassion???? It was their way of celebrating our marraige. John and me had both joined Samsung Korea as bachelors and now after both of us got married they celebrated our marraige in a unique never forgettable way.