Not only was I happy that I got to go to Korea, but the thing is that I've become more interested in Korean culture and language while living in Toronto, so I was super excited to be able to go to Seoul (this was my second trip, but my first trip was not as memorable as I didn't really know anything about Korea at the time and wasn't really interested either).
Leaving Vancouver
Guess who I saw on my flight to Seoul? Kim Sooro! hahaha, only in a movie, Take Off. Sooro was a Gangster boss in that... it was only for a couple of seconds, but so nice to see a familiar face! hehehe...
Vancouver > Seoul
By the time we got to Seoul, it was already 5 or 6 pm, and the sky was all dark, whereas, I planned that we would still have energy to go out and have our first meal in Korea, but by the time we go to the hotel, we were all exhausted, I think it had to do with the fact that we had 9 luggages between the 3 of us and they were all super heavy! Our hotel room was totally stuffed with luggage... hehehe....
Bibimbap on the plane! I took some Korean spoons from them... hehehe... too bad cuz of 9/11 they stopped providing chopsticks... =P ; and then out line of luggage...
In the end, my dad and I went out for something to eat, and we ended ordering Tofu Soup! Very good, but a lot spicier than the one I have in Toronto... hehe.... Delicious
And they also gave us bibimbap again... hehehe... but it was fun to be able to mix it in a huge metal bowl like the locals do it!Before going out for dinner, my mom asked us to buy some fruits and stuff, so luckily right next to the restaurant we went into there was a small supermarket, and we went in to check out what was available... I was looking for my red pepper paste and chilli powder and ice cream in a tube (the last item is something that I looked for everytime I saw a convenience store or supermarket, but no luck, couldn't find it anywhere! Does anyone know where I can get it?)
(left to right): packaged oysters that sold for a really cheap price, but they were big and juicy looking! The wide selection of drinks!!!!! and they even have these pre-mixed packages for baking your own muffins/cookies/cakes etc.
Koreans are really clean, this is what we noticed during our stay, everything is packaged nicely, all the floors are clean and not sticky, you will never feel gross when you leave a restaurant / building, also they don't have garbage cans on the streets, but there are no litter on the streets, and also, we went to a food court later on, and people bring their trays and empty dishes back to the vendor that they bought from, there's no one to clean up after them...
And on the way back to the hotel, we stopped at one of those street food vendor carts that's on the back of a small truck, and bought DdukBokki and Fish skewer! It was yummy!
And on the way back to the hotel, we stopped at one of those street food vendor carts that's on the back of a small truck, and bought DdukBokki and Fish skewer! It was yummy!
And then we hit the sack to get ready for day 2!
Day 2
Gyeongbokgung > Bukchun > Insadong
We started the day off by walking to the closest subway station, and then took the Seoul Metro to Gyeongbok Station to see a historical Palace - Gyeongbok Gung. We discovered that they have a T-money card, which is kind of like a debit card issued by the subway.
In Hong Kong there's something similar, and it's been in use for a long time already, but the cool thing is that the cards are not boring, they have designs on them and also there are a lot of perks that come with purchasing one of these cards, esp if you are a tourist/foreigner. A lot of tourist destinations, saunas, and restaurants will give discounts if you present the card, also you can use the card to pay for bus fare and taxi fare as well!
Before going to GyeongBok Gung, we stopped for some food... and we had RAMEN! hahaha, and it was oh so delicious! We also ordered rice cake in soup and tofu soup again, I got my dad addicted to tofu soup, he orded that a few more times before we left Korea... hehehe
GyeongBokGung
There's not much inside the palace grounds, it's actually really empty and nothing really worth taking photos of, so I took most of my photos just outside of the main entrance where there were "Palace guards" so that it looked kind of like a real palace... hehehe...
I think it would be better to go in the spring or summer as the trees will be all nice and green and there will be flowers in bloom in the garden... but for me, palaces are not of great interest, it's nice to know that they are there though if I ever do need to go somewhere to enjoy scenery, but then again I'm sure huge groups of tourists are likely to ruin the calm and relaxed atmosphere of these palace grounds...
Right next to Gyeongbok Gung, is the Museum of National History and National Folk Museum of Korea. I visited the National History because it was open to the public for free for the 2009 year as they were celebrating an anniversary.
Next we took a taxi to BukChun (North Village) and it's actually really close, if the weather is nice, you can probably walk there, but my was complaining that she was tired... hehe.... and also since we didn't really know the roads, it was difficult to read a map...
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Day 2
Gyeongbokgung > Bukchun > Insadong
We started the day off by walking to the closest subway station, and then took the Seoul Metro to Gyeongbok Station to see a historical Palace - Gyeongbok Gung. We discovered that they have a T-money card, which is kind of like a debit card issued by the subway.
In Hong Kong there's something similar, and it's been in use for a long time already, but the cool thing is that the cards are not boring, they have designs on them and also there are a lot of perks that come with purchasing one of these cards, esp if you are a tourist/foreigner. A lot of tourist destinations, saunas, and restaurants will give discounts if you present the card, also you can use the card to pay for bus fare and taxi fare as well!
Before going to GyeongBok Gung, we stopped for some food... and we had RAMEN! hahaha, and it was oh so delicious! We also ordered rice cake in soup and tofu soup again, I got my dad addicted to tofu soup, he orded that a few more times before we left Korea... hehehe
GyeongBokGung
There's not much inside the palace grounds, it's actually really empty and nothing really worth taking photos of, so I took most of my photos just outside of the main entrance where there were "Palace guards" so that it looked kind of like a real palace... hehehe...
I think it would be better to go in the spring or summer as the trees will be all nice and green and there will be flowers in bloom in the garden... but for me, palaces are not of great interest, it's nice to know that they are there though if I ever do need to go somewhere to enjoy scenery, but then again I'm sure huge groups of tourists are likely to ruin the calm and relaxed atmosphere of these palace grounds...
Right next to Gyeongbok Gung, is the Museum of National History and National Folk Museum of Korea. I visited the National History because it was open to the public for free for the 2009 year as they were celebrating an anniversary.
Next we took a taxi to BukChun (North Village) and it's actually really close, if the weather is nice, you can probably walk there, but my was complaining that she was tired... hehe.... and also since we didn't really know the roads, it was difficult to read a map...
BukChun is an area of Korean houses that has retained the style that we associate with historical families. It's a small area, but the houses there are very well maintained, and we even saw some people reconstructing their house... it's mostly make out of wood and stone as you will see and the most interesting thing is the their roofs are tiled and oh so pretty =)...
We then stopped at a convenience store on the way to some museums in the area, and once again I was looking for the ice cream in a tube... but didn't find it. However I got my dad to try Korean ice cream, Melona, I think that's what it's called and he said that he liked the texture... YEAH!
This is a gallery, and the exhibit is called "Another Boring Day"... LOL...
We then stopped at a convenience store on the way to some museums in the area, and once again I was looking for the ice cream in a tube... but didn't find it. However I got my dad to try Korean ice cream, Melona, I think that's what it's called and he said that he liked the texture... YEAH!
This is a gallery, and the exhibit is called "Another Boring Day"... LOL...
This area, BukChun, seems like a small independent artist area, there are lots of little galleries and museums, as well as many little shops with workshops...
We came across this small cultural museum where they had this old lady in a room knitting, the funny thing is that it's like a museum where all the "exhibits" are behind glass, so this old lady, who's 93, is in a small room lying down on the floor knitting and we are on the other side of the glass looking in and she's totally used to having people stare at her...
A short bio on Kang Suk-Hee (93)
"She couldn't graduate any school eventhogh her elder brother graduate Seoul National University and established Hoseu Univ. & Daesung middle school high school
She has 2 sons, 3 daughters, 8 grand don and daughter. She devoted her life to teach and engrew them. Her life is the sample of korea wives.
Now she is too old to do something, but she has a talent knitting, she knitt every morning"
The mufflers and sweaters she knit are sold in England for W$ 30,000 and W$ 50,000 respectively...!
In the museum, there are other "exhibits" that you can see taking place, table carving, cooking, craft making etc.
If only I had space in my luggage, I would have bought one of those tables stacked up around the museum... the handiwork is beautiful
And we stopped for tea at a little family run tea shop, it looks like it is their home, so it was interesting to be able to go into their home and sit even though we were total strangers.... hehe...
We came across this small cultural museum where they had this old lady in a room knitting, the funny thing is that it's like a museum where all the "exhibits" are behind glass, so this old lady, who's 93, is in a small room lying down on the floor knitting and we are on the other side of the glass looking in and she's totally used to having people stare at her...
A short bio on Kang Suk-Hee (93)"She couldn't graduate any school eventhogh her elder brother graduate Seoul National University and established Hoseu Univ. & Daesung middle school high school
She has 2 sons, 3 daughters, 8 grand don and daughter. She devoted her life to teach and engrew them. Her life is the sample of korea wives.
Now she is too old to do something, but she has a talent knitting, she knitt every morning"
The mufflers and sweaters she knit are sold in England for W$ 30,000 and W$ 50,000 respectively...!
In the museum, there are other "exhibits" that you can see taking place, table carving, cooking, craft making etc.
If only I had space in my luggage, I would have bought one of those tables stacked up around the museum... the handiwork is beautiful
And we stopped for tea at a little family run tea shop, it looks like it is their home, so it was interesting to be able to go into their home and sit even though we were total strangers.... hehe...
Next stop after resting our feet, we headed to Insadong, this is a tourist spot as there are many shops and street vendors selling cultural souvenirs and local food...
(clockwise from top left): chestnuts roasting on coal, a popped rice cart and vendor, trying some Korean red bean fishies, Korean sweets being made
(left to right): a calligraphy shop with millions of brushes in different sizes and paper of every imaginable quality; a herb shop; a shopping mall with many intricate, handmade items - I saw lots of earrings that I liked!
An eyeglass store put out some funny glasses for passer-byers to try on... LOL
And afterwards we went to dinner and had wrapped meat!
The meat (pork belly) is steamed instead of fried, so it doesn't taste oily at all, and we wrapped it with some excellent kimchi and sesame leaf! I also put half a clove of garlic in each of my wrap, but it wasn't spicy or smelly at all... mmmm, so yummy!
The sesame leaf actually has no taste... well it's not like eating some herbs or mints where they are so pungent that it over powers the other food, this one is really to just wrap the meat in.
All of us agree that Korean food is not very oily which is good as my mom is very health conscious and I hate eating oily things that will make my mouth feel all oily and my dad should be health conscious but he's not... hehehe...
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And here are some random, funny, interesting shots from day 1 and 2
Family Outing: Remember how they have to break those huge walnut-looking shells? hehehe..
And see the Daniel Henney Coffee? Remember the CF that MC Yoo and Chunhee were trying to copy? hehehe...
The sign above is funny, because there's a museum on there that's called "Seoul Museum of Chicken Art", unfortunately we didn't make it to the museum as we got sidetracked, I wonder what kind of art they have?....
And the photo below on the right, my dad sleeping on the plane, he was drooling like a little kid... lol.... I know some may think it's gross, but as long as it doesn't drip on me, then I'll think it's funny... hehehe...
(clockwise from top left): chestnuts roasting on coal, a popped rice cart and vendor, trying some Korean red bean fishies, Korean sweets being made
(left to right): a calligraphy shop with millions of brushes in different sizes and paper of every imaginable quality; a herb shop; a shopping mall with many intricate, handmade items - I saw lots of earrings that I liked!
An eyeglass store put out some funny glasses for passer-byers to try on... LOL
And afterwards we went to dinner and had wrapped meat!
The meat (pork belly) is steamed instead of fried, so it doesn't taste oily at all, and we wrapped it with some excellent kimchi and sesame leaf! I also put half a clove of garlic in each of my wrap, but it wasn't spicy or smelly at all... mmmm, so yummy!The sesame leaf actually has no taste... well it's not like eating some herbs or mints where they are so pungent that it over powers the other food, this one is really to just wrap the meat in.
All of us agree that Korean food is not very oily which is good as my mom is very health conscious and I hate eating oily things that will make my mouth feel all oily and my dad should be health conscious but he's not... hehehe...
************************************************************************************
And here are some random, funny, interesting shots from day 1 and 2
Family Outing: Remember how they have to break those huge walnut-looking shells? hehehe..
And see the Daniel Henney Coffee? Remember the CF that MC Yoo and Chunhee were trying to copy? hehehe...
The sign above is funny, because there's a museum on there that's called "Seoul Museum of Chicken Art", unfortunately we didn't make it to the museum as we got sidetracked, I wonder what kind of art they have?....
And the photo below on the right, my dad sleeping on the plane, he was drooling like a little kid... lol.... I know some may think it's gross, but as long as it doesn't drip on me, then I'll think it's funny... hehehe...
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