Big Bang kicked off their epic journey across the world back in March 2012 for their grand-scale 'ALIVE' world tour. The boys faithfully visited the countries for their tour even as they were busy promoting their album and participated in various solo activities.
After the first day to the finale of their epic World Tour, leader G-Dragon himself blogged on Naver where he reflected and shared his thoughts on the tour.
The following is a translation of G-Dragon's guest "Star Column" blog post on Naver:
Hello, it's Big Bang's Jiyong.!!^^
I know it's late, but happy new year and I hope everyone is healthy.
First, the people I am the most thankful to are our fans and the staff who helped us to successfully finish the 2012 Big Bang world tour.
Clap clap clap!! You worked hard~!! Please take care of us during the Korean concert, too ^^
Now~ what's a fun story I can share only in this Star Column? I thought for a bit, and I realized that the Big Bang world tour was not a routine schedule but rather a traveling experience. So if I look back on it, everything is left to me as a fun memory. Out of those memories, I'm going to tell you a special memory~. It's short, but strong, so look forward to it! ^^
The first thing I remember is the thing that happened with Dara noona in the Philippines.
2NE1's Dara noona came all the way to the Philippines just to watch our concert there. (Noona~ Thanks!!^^)
Because noona was very active in the Philippines, we thought she would have a lot of knowledge about Philippines. Even before we arrived in the Philippines, the members, including me, kept asking her to take us somewhere good. In the end, Dara noona said she knew of a great restaurant, and suggested that we all go eat there. So we decided to eat! out! with all five members for the first time overseas. The members, manager hyungs, staff, and even the bodyguard team all went!! Because it was the first time eating out in another country together, everyone dressed up and we followed after Dara noona. ^^
At first, we were all excited, so we talked about this and that, enjoyed the scenery outside, and went like we were on a field trip. Dara noona said we had to go a little toward the suburbs, so we knew about that, but we just kept going~ going~ and going.
In the end we fell asleep one by one, and it started getting dark outside. (I heard this later, but Dara noona said she was getting nervous at that time. None of us knew because we were in different cars... ??)
So we got to an outdoor restaurant after a long 2 hours. It was apparently a restaurant where you can enjoy great scenery during the day, and the sunset is amazing from the restaurant. How.ev.er. We left late, so when we arrived it was a dark evening... In the end we had to eat in the darkness. Bbarabam~! (Dara noona version^^) But since it was a famous restaurant, we ate food that Dara noona recommended to us, and talked about a lot of things. We had a meaningful time. (The long~ beer bottle photo that I revealed is from here~ You know, right??)
[caption id="attachment_641239" align="aligncenter" width="498" caption="Philippines long beer bottle"]
Another shocking fact that we heard when we were almost done eating! The same restaurant had another branch location just 5 minutes away from the hotel where we were staying at... Bbarabam..... keke.
But I have no regrets about eating great food and spending a great time through all the conversations.
Just.. if you take away the fact that it took 2 hours to get there... ^^;
Dara noona!! Thanks for the great memories! Thank you~!!! ^^
Also, it's not that we had a special episode, but I also remember staying at London for a bit after the concert to travel around.
I felt a lot of things as I went around to this and that place in London, and I met fans who recognized me there... It wasn't an official schedule so I went faced a lot of issues because I couldn't properly prepare for the trip, but it was a time that I left with a good memory.
We're always moving fast in a car so I never really had the chance to walk around, so I had fun walking around leisurely, go sightseeing, and talk about this and that with the staff. I also liked eating street food and making great memories. ^^
I couldn't stay for long because of my next schedule, but if I get a chance I want to go again^^
Big Bang likes eating good food all the time. Especially when we go to a country, we always eat their special cuisine food at least once. In Singapore, the entire time we stayed there, we ate crab dishes for every meal, so I almost got sick of the crab that I used to love so much. Hahaha ^^; (But if we go eat again, I'll eat it!!)
But another type of restaurant that we always look for are Korean restaurants~! You can even say that we eat more Korean food when we go overseas, because we ate Korean food for at least 1 meal a day.
Sometimes, when we went to a Korean restaurant overseas, it tasted even better than restaurants in Korea, so there were a lot of cases where we were surprised ^^
One of the things we always do before our concert is that we always fill ourselves up with the side dishes and kimchi that we brought from Korea along with the Korean food and special food that the cook makes for us.
It's another opportunity where I'm thankful for the staff who take care of even the smallest of details so we can do the best on stage no matter when and where. ^^
[caption id="attachment_641246" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="In London with staff"]
Ah!! This isn't a memory from a certain country, but of a concert stage.
When the concert starts, the backstage becomes chaotic almost as much as a battlefield~ Because we have to change, redo makeup, and stand back on stage within seconds all while appearing like nothing happened. A lot of the staff and members move around and make a fuss chaotically. But there's one thing that we always do in that chaos, and it's to make sure to watch Seungri's solo stage!!
Youngbae and Daesung especially can be called cute when they run out from the quick dress room even though they're not fully ready and sit in front of the monitor to watch Seungri's stage..?^^
To us, Seungri is still always like our maknae, and no matter what he does, it's cute. So monitoring Seungri's solo stages has become a program for us.
It's sort of cool to see him come out so coolly, but it must be to only us that it's sort of cute, too~? ^^ (Seungri fans~ Don't misunderstand me~! Seungri is a member that's always cool to us, too!!^^)
[caption id="attachment_641249" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Seungri's stage that the members always watch"]
When the concert ends, we get together to talk about that day's concert. When we talk about the fans' reception, and the funny things that happened on stage that only we know, we stay in the waiting room for a long time after the concert is done. Even though we've only got male members, when we're together, we chatter endlessly ^^;
The members always talked about going on vacation with each other, and for me it was a little more special because it felt like I went on a vacation with the members. Because there were a lot of cases where we couldn't leave the hotel, we would always play in the swimming pool in the hotel or talk in the room to play. I couldn't see them because of my solo activities and overseas activities, and we were able to fill in our time together through this chance. I feel like I got closer with the members~^^ (Of course, they're close to me as family, and sometimes closer than family ^^)
[caption id="attachment_641251" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Jarkarta, with Taeyang"]
Meeting great people, going to great places, eating great food, and having great conversations.. I think that's the thing I learned the most through this tour, and I can say I'm happy with those things right now!^^
Jiyong's story is done~!!!
Everyone, good~~~ bye~~~!!~ Meet you at the Seoul concert~!^^
Source: Naver Star Column
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