Lunar New Year in Seoul - Part II

Food in Seoul

Seoul is a big city and therefore has some of the best and newest restaurants. We went back to Papa Sushi in Hongodae to get some delicious salmon sashimi. The bill was around $30-40; we had a large salmon sashimi, fresh rolls (9 pieces) and udon. We also got free prawn sashimi (2 piece) and cooked salmon.  We also tried the chain pho place in Hongdae, but it's nothing to write home to. One of the coolest restaurant was called Mies Container in Gangnam and it is literally a container-themed restaurant. There's even a hook/pulley thing in the middle of the restaurant. At this restaurant, you go up to order and pay for your food, then they give you a construction hat with a number so the servers know where to deliver your food. They serve bbq platters and cheese pans. This is suppose to be a very popular place and lucky for us, being the holidays, it wasn't busy. The food was delicious! We had a bbq tray (chicken) and a cream cheese and corn cheese pan. I couldn't finish my food but it was one fo the most delicious thing we had on this trip! We also went back to Wang Thai in Itaewon for some yummy thai food. I really liked the food there! Bonus, it's just a floor up from What the Book so we got some new books as well. I got some assorted dumplings at Mapo Mandu (Hapjeong stn) and 900 won macarons from Whale Macarons (Hongdae). The dumplings were fresh and delicious. My favorite is their famous pork dumplings. The spicy one was VERY spicy. At least for me. The macarons were delicious! In fact, I went back the next day to pick up some more for the ride home. They have all the classic flavors (salted caramel, chocolate, strawberry, greentea) and some mixed flavors like apple/passion fruit. In Hongdae, I also got a bubbletea from Boba Time (an LA-based chain).

Another favorite of mine was Crepe Rei near our hostel. They serve delicious Japanese style crepes and royal milk tea latte. On the day this place was closed, we discovered Secret Garden just across the street. It's a super small restaurant with made-to-order burgers. Neil had a teriyaki chicken burger and I had pork burger. Both were delicious. It reminded me of the food truck in Vancouver. One of the last meals we had in Seoul was in a food court type area in Hongdae. It had a grill to order pad thai stand and you can choose what you want inside. I can't remember the name of this place but it was DELICIOUS!

Everland

Everland is one of two theme parks in Seoul. The other being Lotte World. We could only go to one so we chose Everland because there was a 40% discount and we heard it's better from some students. The journey to Everland took over an hour, a subway, and two busses. We got the subway at Gangnam and took bus 5002 (not 500-2) to the last stop then a transfer bus to go to the park. I didn't know what to expect and I can only describe it as Korea's version of Disneyland. It had four sections: Kids, American, Animals and European. We quickly made our way to two rides Lost Valley and Safari to see the animals. We arrived pretty late so we had little time to see everything before the park closed at 9pm. We saw white tigers, tigers, lions, ligers, hyenas, giraffes, elephants, mountain goats, zebras, porcupines, bears and more! We waited to see the fireworks show so we hung out at the Rose Garden. It was super pretty lighted up. The fireworks was cheesy and I loved it! On our way out we saw so many other rides we missed but it was super cold and I was not looking forward to the hour long journey back to our hostel. Overall, for 28,000 won, it was worth it and I have would liked to see more of the park. 

Lunar New Year in Seoul - Part I

During the five-day Lunar New Year holiday, we decided to have our final trip to Seoul. Since we will be leaving in four months, this will most likely be the last time we go anywhere. Plus, we have a lot of money to save for the wedding for the summer.

Transportation

We worried that it will be busy with the bus so we went early Friday during the day to pick up tickets for Saturday AM departure. The bus ride was uneventful, the bus wasn't even full. People are definitely not traveling in droves to Seoul. But there were a lot of buses when we got to the terminal. It was so busy that the bus driver let us off while it was lining up to get into the terminal. On the way home to Gwangju, there were only 4 people on the bus, us and two older men. This is a 28-seat bus. It was great because we moved to the back and took all four seats in the back row. Transportation is definitely NOT a problem during this time. 

Accommodation

We went back to Fortune Hostel because we liked the area (Jongno) and it was easy to get to. A straight line from the Bus Terminal and only one change to get to the Green line. It was also very well priced ($50ish a night). The staff spoke English very well. There's continental breakfast provided but we never get up on time. 

Trickeye/Ice/Love Museum and Hanbok photos

We went to the Trickeye Museum/Love Museum/Ice Museum since we're in the Hongdae area. It was great! The Trickeye Museum was smaller than the one on Jeju Island, but it has all the other attractions (Ice and Love) so it was good. The Ice Museum was really cool. Very small and cold but very interesting. Everything was made of ice and there's a slide you can go down on. The Love Museum was fun, it's like the trickeye where you get to interact with the paintings. I also took the opportunity to take some photos in a hanbok (crossed off my bucket list!). It was 20,000 won for the clothes and hair. Would be an extra 20,000 if I wanted makeup and professional pictures. I chose not to do it and get Neil to take pictures for me in their studio instead. It was fun! 

Cool/Themed Cafes in Seoul

One of our goals in Seoul this time around was to visit as many cool/themed cafes as we can. Since we were in Hongdae, we decided to check out the Hello Kitty Cafe and Get&Show Cafe (lego-themed). It took a bit of navigating to find these places, we did. The Hello Kitty Cafe was up a set of stairs and it was huge! It's two stories and quite a tourist hot spot. It was soooo pink. I'm not a big fan but I can see the appeal. We sat on the first floor and had a mocha, sweet potato latte and two cakes. They were good but I think people really come for the atmosphere. We took some pictures and headed to the lego-themed cafe. At this cafe, you can pay 4,000 won to borrow a set of lego to build. You have 30-min to build and afterwards you'll get charged extra. It's a bit of a challenge for people. We saw mainly couples there building their lego sets. It is a great idea and we really enjoyed building our puzzles! Word of advice, time goes by really quick, we ended up pay 7,000 for the lego-building experience.

During this trip, we also went to the Bau House Dog Cafe, Thanks Nature (sheep) and Blind Alley (raccoon). The dog cafe was also in the Hongdae area (closer to Hapjeong Stn). There were puppies and big dogs there. It was very quiet there and only three sets of customers. The puppies and big dogs were separated, which is a good idea. We decided to feed some treats to the big dogs and I got a little scared because they SURROUNDED me. The dogs were generally very friendly and just want attention from us. It was sweet and little sad. The sheep cafe is a very nice cafe. They have a resident hipster grandpa artist who is also the caretaker of the two sheep in the courtyard. You can order your drinks in the cafe, commission hipster grandpa to draw your portrait and then go outside and pet the fluffy sheep. All in that order. The raccoon cafe was near Sookmyoung Women's University and a 15 minute walk from the subway. The area is very nice with lots of shops. Definitely reflects the young demographics. The cafe itself was super busy. There was only one raccoon and it was in a separate room inside the cafe. When we sat down, we were handed instructions on what to do/not do. We had to empty our pockets and bring no food in the raccoon room. My many years in Vancouver has taught me to be afraid of raccoon and that fear lingered the entire time, despite how friendly it was. Neil let it crawl around him. It's definitely a strange experience!

Seoul with Tommy & Stacey - Part 2 (with pictures)

<read part 1 first>

We were both still tired and a bit cranky the next morning but a quick stop at the convenience store, we greeted Tommy and Stacey with better spirits.

Today we wanted to head to the Hanok Village before the crowds so we got a cab there around 10am. Since we haven't ate yet, we stopped by a restaurant that was advertising Ginseng Chicken soup. Normally I am NOT a fan of ginseng at all. The strong medicinal taste really turns me off. But when the soup came out, the smell was minimal and the chicken was so tender. I would defintely have it again. My mom would be so proud of me for having ginseng without her coercion! 

We walked around the hilly area and there are some old-style houses mixed in with more modern ones. I think I prefer the Jeonju one more. It's more compact and there's an actual map to know what I'm looking at. Next, we took a cab to Norangjin Fish Market to get some fresh seafood. It was a very interesting place but after a while, all the seafood stands looked like they sold the same things. After almost walking the entire place, we chose a stand and got some jumbo shrimps ($14), jumbo scallops ($10) and little live octopus ($15). Then just after we paid and they packed up our food, a woman from one of the restaurants grabbed our food and said for us to follow her. She led us through a series of tables and chairs and finally told us to go into an enclose place with other tables and chairs filled with people. We found a seat for four at the back and sat down. Later, a woman asked us how we wanted them cooked. For the octopus we said "sashimi", the scallops "bbq" and same for the shrimps. When the food came we proceeded to eat and take pictures and videos. It was very yummy! Surprisingly between the four of us, we still couldn't finish it all. At the end, it costs us another $10 for each dish so that meal came to $69. Not bad but would've been expensive if it was just Neil and I.

We still had some time to kill before our Eland cruise on the Hangang River so we hopped into a cab and went to Coex Mall to kill some time. We walked around until we were tired and went to a coffee shop to have some drinks and rest. Then we caught the subway to head to cruise. Unfortunately Tommy twisted his ankle at one of the stations but we weren't that far so we kept going. And then we got off one station too early, so we grabbed a cab but after the cab dropped us off, we were still a good 10 minute walk away from the docks. We had to go to the terminal window to pick up tickets and sign some kind of waiver form. Thinking back now, it's almost like those airplane passenger list because we had to fill in our names, sex and date of birth. I guess it's in case the boat capsizes. Anyhow, this area by the river is very nice and lively. It reminded me a bit like Vancouver's English Bay. Lots of people around, flying kites, lying on the grass, biking, etc. Next time, I definitely have to go back.

After we boarded the cruise ship, we just sat down and they announced that there's going to a live music performance shortly after 8pm. At the beginning many people were sitting and once the boat started moving, everyone got up and just went to stand out by the rails for a better look and pictures. This was an ideal time to be on the cruise, we were able to watch the sunset then we passed the Banpo Rainbow bridge. It began to light up and we took many pictures. The weather was very pleasant, with a slight chill. It was a very nice way to cruise along the river (spoiler alert! We also saw one of the buildings that was used in the filming of Avengers 2). Next time, we'll have to do the cruise + buffet. 

After a long day of adventures, we headed back to Itaewon and grabbed some Thai food at Wang Thai. We ordered two curry and pad thai and some appies to share. The pad thai was amazing! I am still thinking about it now. I wished I had bought some home with me. Mmmm....another place we have to go back to! 

On the last day, I was hoping to say something to management before we checked out but. Again no one was around so we just left. We dropped off our bags at T&S's and went to get some western breakfast at the Wolfhound (a place Neil and I have been to before). We bid our adieus and went our separate ways. T&S went to do a little shopping before they have to leave the next day and N & I went do grab some books at What The Book and grocercies at High Street Market. 

And that was the end of our long weekend in Seoul with Tommy and Stacey. A short but very sweet trip!

Seoul with Tommy & Stacey - Part 1

During Tommy and Stacey's Asia trip, they made a one week stop in Seoul. We met them for the weekend and it was perfect that it was a long weekend for us! (3-days off!)

We're not good with leaving the house early. We slept in and and hurried to the bus terminal. Unfortunately the next bus wasn't leaving for an hour so we just went to a coffee shop to wait out the time. I'm generally not a fan of public washrooms and I happened to witness an old lady sitting inside a handicap stall with the doors wide open. I'm not sure what business she was conducting but I wanted to get out of there asap!

We finally got to our hostel (Pop@Itaewon) to check in and just took off to meet up with Tommy and Stacey. In hindsight we should've checked to make sure everything worked before leaving because the a/c did not work the ENTIRE time we were there. It was the worst two nights of my hostel experience, even worse than the other hostel (G Guesthouse) in Itaewon. From now on, we will NEVER stay at a hostel in Itaewon, no matter how convenient it is. My sleep, my comfort and my sanity is WAY more important. Because their office was only opened from 1p-10p - we would never back at the hostel to talk to their management to get it fixed. Another big problem was that there's a club/lounge right outside the only window in our room and being a weekend (long weekend) music, people's voices and singing came from it the whole two nights we were there. The first night, we managed to put ear plugs in and sleep for 5 or so hours. The next night, the sound went on till 4am and I just couldn't fall asleep for more than two hours. I was completely exhausted. When I got home, I passed out and sleep for a good 8-10 hours. I've never sleep so soundly like that in a long time. 

---- end of rant ----

So we went to Tommy and Stacey's hotel and met them in the lobby. We headed to a nearby Korean BBQ place to have some food because we were all quite hungry. Next we dropped off some stuff at their hotel and took a bus Myeongdong area for some street food and sulbing. I wish I couldn't eaten more! I got a mochi ball with red bean and strawberry inside. It had a really cute packaging - there's a bow on top to make it look like a bunny. I also had honey butter flavored sweet corn on the cob. It was AMAZING! I've missed sweet corn on the cob! The corn they have here is not the same. It's not sweet, it has a subtle flavor and tastes more plastic-ky. Tommy go a hurricane potato wrapped around a hot dog. It was interesting but was only okay he says. Before I had my corn on the cob, we went to Korean Dessert to get some sulbing. Neil and I shared the Mango Premium and Tommy and Stacey had the Mango cheesecake one. Oh man, they were absolutely delicious! I much prefer the fruity one over the almond one I had last year. 

This area was very much tourist-driven. So prices were a bit more than other places. The lemonade in a bag, I can get at downtown for $1, but here it was $3. So next I wanted to take Tommy and Stacey to Hongdae to check out the buskin and college crowd scene. We are a bit older but this place is quite cheap. After walking around the area and seeing several buskers, we decided to nip into a beer and chicken place. We headed to a place we've been to before but this time we didn't get to go downstairs because it wasn't as busy. After more food, we called it a night and cabbed back to our hostel/hotel. This was the night we discovered the loud sounds of someone saying "Encore! Encore!" and the broken A/C. 

Lunar New Year - Seoul Getaway

For Lunar New Year we got five days off and decided to head to Seoul. We booked our hostel in the Jong-no area called Fortune Hostel. It was great! Very convenient and close to the subway station. Only one train from the bus station.

We kept hearing about how it would be really busy to travel on this day but our trip was really smooth. We got there in 3.5 hours and no big traffic jams. After getting to the hostel, we decided to head out the Itaewon to grab dinner. We originally wanted to eat at a Thai restaurant but changed our minds and headed to Boiling Crab instead. BEST decision! It was delicious! 

After dinner we went to Tony's Bar for their stand-up comedy night. It was also very good. We'll definitely go back there the next time we're in Seoul. 

The next day (Thursday) we went to Gyeonbokgung Palace. It was a 20-minute walk from our hostel. Being as it's LNY, we got free entrance to the palace and there was also a festival going on as well. Too bad, the tour wasn't going on so that's another place I want to read up on or go again. I bought some treats at the various food tents. Next we went to find the dim sum restaurant Mong Jung Heon. It was nice and super fancy. The dishes were very expensive. The shrimp dumplings were delicious but the pork dumplings did not taste homemade at all. It looked and tasted like the ones I could buy at T&T in Vancouver.

Afterwards we headed to Seoul Grand Park Children's Zoo. It has been a long time since I was at a zoo and this one was pretty cool. During this holiday, it seems half of Seoul was empty and it's been remarked on by some comedians the night before. It was great because that meant we could sit down on the subway and the lines were not long to all the attractions, including the zoo. The zoo was huge! In fact, the whole park was huge! We spent at least two to three hours and there was a whole avian area we skipped (due to the avian flu warnings). We went back to the hostel to rest a bit before heading out for dinner.  We were going for Thai food (again, tried) but it was closed so we ended up across the street at an Irish Bar. Neil had some bangers and mash and I had fish and chips. It was okay.

On Friday, we visited the Seodaemun Prison and learned quite a bit about the Korean/Japan war/colonization. It reminded me a bit of the Alcatraz but less scary. It was definitely more educational. Next we went to the Coex Aquarium in the Coex Mall. Before the aquarium, we had some pho in the mall. The mall was beautiful! There's so much to see and it's just very pretty. The last time we were there, the renovations wasn't complete so we didn't see how beautiful it was. The ticket for the aquarium was pricey but we went anyways. It was interesting. There was a section where there were fish tanks in every day items like a fridge and a washing machine.

After the aquarium, we saw another Chinese restaurant so we went there to try their dim sum. It seems like this was another fancy restaurant too. The pork dumplings were much much better but the spring rolls were super tiny and meh. 

On Saturday, we had booked a DMZ-tour and the guide came to pick us up at our hotel at 7am. There were five other people in the tour with us. I really liked the tour, the guide was very thorough and gave a lot of explanation and history. She really took care of us. We took a van ride to a city near the DMZ (de-militarized zone) called Paju to meet up with other tourists with their own tour guides (mostly Chinese and western) to travel on a bus to the Third Tunnel. As this is not a UN tour, we couldn't go into the actual DMZ. That tour needs to be booked months in advance and cost slightly more. We did enter the DMZ through the third tunnel which went under this area. We gained a lot insightful information about South and North Korea. This tour was worth it and I would go on the UN tour to see more of the DMZ. 

After getting dropped off in Hongdae (after a gingseng store tour...) we went to find this sushi place my co-worker Rami told us about. The thing about Seoul is that there are tons of little and side streets that don't have names so it's a real challenge finidng anything! We walked around the area for at least 20 minutes before we finally found it! At one point I was going to give up but it was definitely worth it. We finally had salmon sashimi and it was sooooo good! We also got some "service" (=free) items such as a shrimp sashimi (I ate both and they were so sweet!) and a seared salmon.

That night after resting at our hostel, we headed to Itaewon again to do a bit of foreign grocery shopping. We also finally had some Thai food. It was a super pretty place (all purple!). The food was good but it wasn't excellent. It's too bad. We also dropped by a place called Ben's Cookies and bought half a dozen. We had them for dessert back at our hostel. It was delicious! One cookie was really filling.

By Sunday, we decided to do a little bit of shopping and then head home. However, we didn't find anything we wanted and just took the bus home. It was a very productive trip and there's only a few things we still have to do (i.e. rainbow bridge, fish market, etc.) Until next time Seoul!

MAN - ABD - SEO

This entire trip to get to Gwangju took over 24 hours.

We got to the Manchester airport by 6:30am. We found our airline counter (Etihad) and proceeded to check in. Good thing my bags were just on the limit! For some reason there was a massive line up to go through security that day. the line up went out all the way outside and even snaked around! It took us almost 2 hours to get to the security check! There was a bunch of people who didn't arrive 3 hours before their flight that had to be fast tracked to the front to not miss their flights. Crazy!

We still had a little less than an hour before our flight so we stopped to get some food. Pasty was open so I eventually got to try the Steak Cornish pasty and it was delicious. It was a bit big so I could only eat half of it. Neil picked up some more tea at the duty free. Surprise surprise.

The first plane ride to Abu Dhabi took about 7.5 hours. It was a very nice flight! We even got real forks, knives and spoons to use! No plastics. We were surrounded by children on this flight, many were toddlers. i didn't get much sleep at all. But at least this flight had a good free entertainment selection. I watched a couple of movies on this flight. I even watched a Chinese movie. This flight included a lunch meal and a snack wrap. I had the chicken and rice and Neil had the fish. His was much tastier, but they were both great. the snack wrap was delicious!

When we arrived in Abu Dhabi, it was super hot and humid. Neil's glasses fogged up right when we stepped out. We had to take the stairs out of the train and onto a bus to get to the arrival terminal. Our layover time was about 3 hours and I was able to convince Neil to visit the McDonald's. I was curious to see whether they had anything different and specific to this country. He ordered a McChicken meal (boring!) and I had the Classic Deluxe Chicken meal. This burger was huge! And much like a McChicken it also had a slice of Swiss cheese and a slice of tomato in it. It was very yummy.

The next flight took about 8 hours. This airline is very on point with their meals. Right away we got a cup noodle and a bun. Then they turned down the lights so we could get some sleep. I think I was able to get about an hour or so. Neil got a bit more. I ended up watching a few movies and TV shows. I watched Divergent which I thought was very good. I also watched 3 episodes of a show about the Silcon Valley. It was interesting. For breakfast I got beef congee and Neil got eggs and chicken sausage. It was very yummy.

The plane arrived about 25 minutes later than it's suppose to. It took us a while to get through immigration, there was a lot of foreigners. We eventually got our luggage and a Mr. Kim met us at the arrival terminal. He brought us to the bus station terminal and helped us with purchasing our tickets to Gwangju. The bus was to take off at 1:20pm. It was a 4 hour bus ride with a break stop at the 2 hour mark. Surprisingly this bus was very comfortable. Big comfy seats that recline back and the A/C was on. Many people were able to sleep including us. I had about a 1 hour nap. Neil even read his book on the bus.

By the time we finally arrived at Gwangju (U-Square) it was about five. Mr. Lee picked us up at the bus station and took us to the school right away to meet with the director, vice directors and some teachers.