By Jae-Ha Kim
Tribune Media Services
August 10, 2010
The Wonder Girls’ single “Nobody” became the first song by a Korean group to ever hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The quintet, which splits its time between Seoul, South Korea, and New York City, performs its radio-friendly songs in Korean, English and Chinese. After touring with the Jonas Brothers, the Girls hit a string of smaller clubs earlier this year. Known simply by their first names, Yenny and Sun (both 21 years old) and 17-year-old Lim chatted about their favorite vacation spots. Like a true teenager, Lim admits she’s always on the lookout for “famous restaurants and landmarks.”
Q: What is your favorite vacation destination?
LIM: I would say Hong Kong because being there makes me feel free and peaceful. And it’s a great place to go shopping!
SUN: I love the places that are really calm and relaxing. Beaches or mountains — it doesn’t matter.
YENNY: Definitely an amusement park like Six Flags. I love all the rides there!
Q: Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
YENNY: Lotte World, the famous amusement park in Seoul. I also enjoy going to Haeundae Beach in Busan, South Korea.
SUN: The beaches in Long Island were awesome. I’ve also been to the Grand Canyon with my friends. I was so impressed by the grand scale of the canyons. I was blown away. My first solo trip here in the U.S was taking a bus to Pennsylvania by myself to meet friends.
Q: What are your favorite hotels?
YENNY: Lotte Hotel (www.lottehotel.com) in Seoul. The Four Seasons (www.fourseasons.com) in Vancouver. The multigrain pancakes there are the best!
LIM: There are quite a few, but I would have to say the Marina Bay Sands Hotel (www.marinabaysands.com) in Singapore. They have really good service and I totally love the bedrooms there!
Q: What are your favorite restaurants?
YENNY: An Indian restaurant called Pongal (www.pongalnyc.com) in New York. It doesn’t get better than their chana masala and lassi.
LIM: In Hong Kong I like a Korean restaurant called Jin Luo Bao and Harlan, which is an Italian restaurant where I first tasted a Caesar salad and totally fell in love with it.
SUN: I love Serendipity3 (www.serendipity3.com) and Soba-ya (www.sobaya-nyc.com) in New York City, The Griddle Cafe (www.thegriddlecafe.com) and the Ivy (www.theivyla.com) in Los Angeles and Buca di Beppo (www.bucadibeppo.com) in Chicago.
Q: When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
SUN: My Sony Ericsson X10 cell phone, some books and my iPod.
YENNY: A: My phone, bible, wallet, diary and running shoes.
LIM: My phone, my PSP, my wallet and my diary.
Q: What are your five favorite cities?
LIM: Hong Kong, Seoul, New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
SUN: New York City is my all-time favorite, but I like San Francisco, Chicago, Singapore and Shanghai too!
YENNY: New York, since we live there. I love Singapore! The people are so nice in Bangkok. There’s beautiful weather in San Francisco. And something good always happens in Vancouver.
Q: What is your best and/or worst vacation memory?
SUN: One of my best vacation memories is when I had visited Sokcho, which is located on the east side of Korea, with my grandmother and uncle. I was raised there for over 10 years by my grandparents, so it was a really great family trip going back there again all together! Truthfully, I don’t have any bad memories.
LIM: When I went to Thailand with my family when I was 7 years old. I got to ride on an elephant! And the worst vacation memory would be the time when I went to Las Vegas with my family for the first time, because my nose bled like crazy and my parents had to call the ambulance. It was nonstop bleeding so we had to cancel some of our holiday plans because there was no way that I could have gone out.
Q: Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
YENNY: I’d love to go to Spain! It has always been my dream country and now I’m learning Spanish!
LIM: I would love to go to Australia, because one of my best friends told me about how great the beaches are there and how they have really good fish and chips! I would also love to go to Japan and Italy.
SUN: I’d love to go traveling in Israel for a pilgrimage and to Osaka to see my Japanese friends!
© 2010 JAE-HA KIM
Distributed by Tribune Media Services, Inc.
