Day3
Make kimchi > Famous SamGyeTang > DongDaeMun> MyeongDong
Early the next morning, we went with a local guide to the Food & Culture Korea Academy to learn how to make kimchi and dessert and try on hanboks... tehehe...
Our instructor was, wait you're going to be surprised, the food consultant on the drama Gourmet! I just watched the drama two months or so ago and it's so cool to meet someone who worked with the actors on the drama. She taught them all about the food that they used on the drama and also prepared all the beautiful dishes that you see in there!
She told me that Kim Rae Won was standing at the counter where I was working at... hehehe...
Then we got to play dress up and try on hanboks, it was funny... but I wished they had a better background, like an actual Korean house... oh well... I had fun picking out my outfit!
Our guide is a young lady called Hannah who studied in San Diego for a year or two and came back to Korea and decided to be a tour guide as she didn't like to sit in the office all the time. She was extremely nice and hopefully I'll be able to meet up with her again next time I am in Korea.
Afterwards, Hannah recommended us to go to a very famous SamGyeTang (Ginseng Chicken Soup) restaurant, which was really close to the academy that we were at, so we went there for lunch!
Even from the main road, we cold see the line up to get into the restaurant, but thankfully they were experienced with people lining up and the service was quick. This restaurant is not only a must-go for tourists, but is also frequented by locals, so that shows that it's not soup that has been modified to suit the tastebuds of some foreigner. I tried SamGyeTang the first time I was in Korea more than 5 years ago, and I remember that I didn't really like it at that time, but this time, I really enjoyed the soup! Maybe there are different ways to make SamGyeTang, but I definitely think this is a good way to get people to eat Ginseng... hehehe... as I know it's hard for people not used to the strong taste to eat it...
I must say that my tolerance for Korean spiciness has definitely increased... hehe... most of the kimchi and banchans that I had were not that spicy for me anymore, which was good as I was able to enjoy them all!
We ordered one White Chicken Ginseng Soup, one Black Chicken Ginseng Soup and a Seafood pancake! I have to say both the soups were SUPERB! I couldn't get enough of it! hehehe..., the seafood pancake was a little disappointing, the dipping sauce they gave us was like just soy sauce not like in the Korean restaurants in Toronto where it's a little flavoured, and the pancake was really crunchy and not chewy enough... don't know if this is how the pancakes are supposed to be and we've been having non-authentic pancakes in Toronto... I'll just have to make sure to travel around Korea some more and find out...
and then as we were already sitting on the floor, my mom took a short nap after the meal... lol
Then we headed to DongDaeMun (which means East Big Gate, it used to be the city gate, when there was a wall around the city). This district is good for shopping, but it's huge so it's quite easy to get lost. Also we discovered there were three buildings that should fabric and buttons and other accessories that you can use for making clothes or sewing, which is like paradise if you are into that stuff! It was fun seeing fashion design students running around looking for fabric with their notebooks.... hmmm, I should have checked out if they should ribbons.... next time, next time...
And then we came across this food market, KwangJang Market, and everything looked so good! Usually when I see street vendors selling food and I want to go and buy a snack, my mom is right there behind me saying, "Wingsi, it's dirty, don't eat it, let's go... wah look at all the oil...." things like that... but this time, she actually said, let's eat here... hahaha...
It's actually quite nice in there, not dirty like wet markets or street food in Hong Kong, everything felt clean... don't know if you understand, but in HK, even though I think the food is good, sometimes when I have to sit down to eat it, the store makes me uncomfortable because it looks so dingy and the chairs/stools look dirty....but what can I do... here in Seoul, it's different... =)
It wasn't even that late in the day yet, but this food vendor market place was already bustling with activity! There were so many things to try! Mandu, Kimbap, Bibimpa, Sashimi, Fried pancakes, Noodles, an endless array of food!
Top right: this vendor even had pig head for sale, it was cooked and everything, but it was just too weird, we couldn't bring ourselves to try it... my dad said that they used to sell dog meat as well, but guess that now they've stopped as Seoul and Korea is trying to present a better image
Not only did this market place sell cooked food, but you can buy fresh fruit and chilli powder and red pepper pastes and dried goods! hehehe...
Don't know if you can see it, but the middle photo is of mushrooms for sale and the way they sell it is not by the pound or kg or by weight, but by blocks, they use a wooden block to scoop it out and it will be sold as according to the number of blocks you buy.... interesting... never seen that before, although my dad says that that's what we all used in the olden days...
After walking around DongDaeMun's shopping malls, we decided to go to MyeongDong, which Hannah (our guide) had recommended we go to. It's another shopping district, but it has a mix of cheaper, smaller, independently owned stores and also huge international brand names. This is also the place where they filmed a scene in Gung (aka Princess Hours) with Chae-kyung (Yoon Eun Hye) and Shin Goon (Joo Ji Hoon), where they kissed in the middle of a busy square... I was trying to find the exact square and wanted to take a photo, I don't know if found the right place... hehehe....
Another drama, That Fool, Goo DongBaek's work place is the post office and that's in the area as well... While I was walking around the area I forgot about the place and so I didn't go to the post office, but as I was leaving the area to head back to the hotel, I saw it from the taxi that we were in, but it was too late to take a photo!
I walked around the district and noticed that there were a lot of beauty store, The Face Shop, Skin Food, Etude House, and some other ones that I've never heard of before were all in the area and there were like 3 or 4 of the same stores within the district.... it just shows how popular those stores are.....
Also I find that the influence of American culture is very strong here in Korea. Although Koreans have retained their language and mannerisms, the things that they buy and like are more towards the American market... they have lots of Forever 21 and ZARA and Dunkin' Donuts here! It's funny cuz in America, I find it quite hard to find a Dunkin' Donut store....
One of the things that I had hope to be able to find when I went Korea was glasses that are quite popular with Korean celebrities. For those of you who watched Family Outing, you will notice that a few of the members wear glasses... well guess what??? it wasn't that easy to find, but I just happened to be walking in a department store and a new eye glass store had opened, so they had glasses for a cheaper price....!!! So I got a few pairs!
How do I look?
And for dinner we had bulgogi, and the funny thing is that they served it with a green chilli, the kind that we always see on Family Outing that they just eat like it's not hot... well, we got to try it! hahaha, and I asked my dad to try it first... hehehe to see if it really wasn't hot.....
I tried it too, it's really not hot at all, it's like eating a bell pepper! =)
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Day 4
Coex Mall > Coffee Prince > Namsan & N Seoul Tower > Vegetarian Restaurant at Insadong
As the cafe where Coffee Prince was filmed would not open until 12pm, so we had to kill some time, and we ended up going to the Coex Mall which is close to our hotel. Coex is short for Convention and Exhibition Centre, and they've thoughtfully built a mall underneath the centre... hehehe
... so that people can shop and eat when they need to... I think this is a good idea as most convention and exhibition centres are in the middle of nowhere and don't usually have much food choices, this is good because there were a ton of restaurants to choose from.
When we got to the mall, we had some trouble finding the entrance to the mall, as the plaza in front of the C&E centre was packed with students. Apparently, there was a university fair that day, that's why there were hundreds of students waiting outside the doors...
Outside of the Coex, there was an exhibition of cows called Cow Parade Korea, this was because 2009 was the Year of the Ox, and Beef in Korea is a prized meat. It was interesting to see 30 -50 cows all lined up outside of the Coex.
Each cow was created by a different artist
The interior of the Coex mall was very impressive, it was HUGE! I think I read somewhere that it was the largest underground mall in the world. And the have a touch screen map which I haven't seen in many malls...
I went into a stationary store and omg, all the agendas and notebooks and pens that I saw! I could have spent hours in there! I ended up getting an agenda for 2010... hehehe... it was only W$ 4,800! and then there was a huge book store in the mall as well, and unfortunately I forgot to look around and see if they had any magazines that I want to buy... I ended up buying magazines at the airport which may have cost a little bit more, I don't know.....
When it was time to go to the Coffee Prince cafe, we left the mall and took the subway. The station and area around the Coffee Prince cafe is known for it's bars and cafes as hang outs for youths. =D Walking along the way to the cafe, we passed by many shops and coffee and tea houses.
Before going into the Coffee Prince cafe, we stopped at a nearby restaurant to have lunch and then went to the cafe for coffee and dessert afterwards.... hehehe...
We ended up having Kimchi Fried Rice, Kimchi Mandu and Mandu and Rice cake in soup.... Mashida!
Ahhhhh! hehehe, Finally I get to visit the Coffee Prince cafe! It was very quiet inside, as a lot of the adoring fans had already been there and the hype for this drama has died down quite a bit already... hehehe... But I still enjoyed my coffee and dessert there!
After enjoying our coffee and getting my fill of looking at all the little details that I saw in the drama, we left the cafe for Namsan. A lot of major cities have towers and many tourists go and visit... usually I am not impressed with those towers.... and after going up I find that it's a waste of money.... cuz nothing can compare to the skyline of Hong Kong. But at Namsan, although we didn't go up the tower, we went up the mountain that the tower is situated on and there were lots to see there!
It was cloudy that day, so some of the photos may seem very gloomy, hopefully when you go there it'll be nice and sunny! =)
I noticed that ever since Coffee Prince the drama, it has been very popular for shop windows to be decorated with drawing using a white marker.... the middle photo above, the cable car is drawn in with a white marker... hehehe
The steps from the cable car up to the tower are really big, I usually have to take two or three steps before I reach the next step...
N Seoul Tower
And the Teddy Bear Museum that was visited in Gung (another Korean drama), it's up on Namsan!
And then the thing that I was looking forward to most of all...................... the place where lovers come to swear their love will never die! hehehe.... Remember Andy and Solbi from "We Got Married"? This is where they went to join locks so that they will stay together for always...
Look at all the different locks people use! It's quite sweet, they write a message on the lock and then they throw away the key after the lock their locks onto each other.
This couple, I had to stalk for a while before I finally got this photo... but they were too in love to notice me ...
And then on one of the walls outside of the gift shop, I noticed something, it was a wall of tiled messages, "Love Messages Tile Board". You can purchase a tile in the gift shop and write a message of love to spread around the world. I think it's quite meaningful and just a stunning sight.
On this trip, I find Koreans to be very artistic, they try to do something unique no matter what it is, whether it's the tile board idea or the Cow Parade at Coex. They might have copied it from other places, but at least it's the first time I've come across this...
By the time we were ready to leave Namsan, the sun had set and the tower was lit up, and although the night view of the city could not compare to Hong Kong's, it was still quite pretty...
Then we headed to a vegetarian restaurant in Insadong for dinner. This restaurant serves Buddhist temple food, and it was definitely interesting... never really had a meal quite like this...
Doesn't this look like one of those Court Food sets from the drama Gourmet?
The dishes are not like Chinese vegetarian food, which is very oily and they try to imitate meat with tofu and other vegetables, all the dishes taste very simple, there's not been much cooking done. I can't say that I like it very much, but it's definitely a nice meal to try once in a while.
Dessert
One particular thing to note is that this restaurant has only one menu, everyone who goes there has the same food, it's a menu of 20 dishes and it costs W$ 39,600 per person. Kind of good since you probably won't know what to order anyways.
Also at 8pm every evening, there is a performance of traditional Korean dance. So while we had arrived early and finished our meal before the scheduled performance, we went around the restaurant and took photos....
The Ladies and Men's room signs were funny... now that I look at them they are a little scary...
And then my mom and dad tried on my new glasses, yes, everyone looks good with them!
And then, the performance begins...
And at the end of the performance, the gave gongs, drums and fans to the customers and asked them to join in the fun, it was actually just a bunch of people walking around in a circle banging on percussion instruments.... too noisy! hehehe...
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Day5
Gangnam > Flight back to HK
On the last day in Seoul, we decided to stay in the area of our hotel so that when we are done, we can leave for the airport without having to travel too far....
First off we visited a temple near the hotel.
On our way to Coex Mall to do some last minute shopping before leaving for the airport, we came upon a wedding banquet happening in the hotel attached to the Coex - the InterContinental Hotel.... this is so cool, cuz I've seen this so many times on tv, and also hoped that I would get to see a real wedding while I was in Korea, and couldn't believe it that I was so lucky to really be able to see even the outside where the receiving line was....
The bride's parents leaving the receiving line and entering the banquet hall
And I found a door that was unlocked and unguarded, so I just stuck my camera in and took a snapshot of the interior... sorry that it's not very clear...
Inside the Coex Mall, they also have a kimchi museum, it's quite interesting, it's not very big, but if you just want a quiet place away from the hustle and bustle of the shopping mall, this is a good place to escape to...
And as our luggages were all as heavy as the limit the airline would allow, we didn't want to buy anymore stuff, but we came across this jewelery store that had handmade earrings and the craftmanship was just so beautiful, we ended up spending nearly two hours just choosing earrings! My mom and I had so much fun we didn't even know it was time to go to the airport to catch our plane...
Some of my favourite Korean celebrities, these are photos of them on tv, I watched some Korean shows in my hotel room and even though I couldn't understand what they were saying, it was still funny!
hotos when I was talking... LOL...
