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. 

Five day holiday in Busan!

During the first week of May we had a five-day holiday! We started looking at prices to go abroad but because it's a little last minute, the prices were through the roof! We seriously considered somewhere in China or Japan. But we decided we will do Osaka in July and the China visa would take too long for us to get and we simply couldn't be bothered. The last few months with the new schedule and classes, has been exhausting and we really just want to relax. In the end, we chose Busan and stay in hotel instead of a hostel.

On Friday we took the 3.5-4 hour bus ride to Busan. This time I chose a different bus stop then the one originally and it's so much more modern! It's actually located in a mall so it was very busy. We had to walk to through a department store to reach the subway. Our hotel was located near Haeundae Beach called Hotel ForU.  It had said on the website that this used to be a love motel and was recently renovated into a hotel. We were a bit wary but it turned out very nice! It's very modern and looked great. They had housekeeping so every time we come back the bed was made and we had new towels. Too bad there's no room service hehe.

Rather than a long written detailed post, I'm going to summarize what we did in Busan. 

Day 1

- arrived in Busan

- dinner at Boi Brazil - amazing Brazilian restaurant! For $35/person, it was all you can eat meat!  There was five different types of skewered meats that they would deliver and shave onto your plate. My favourite was the bbq whole pineapple with cinnamon and brown sugar mmmm... worth every penny and even the meat sweats!

- walk along the beach

- first of many bubble baths

Day 2

- morning bubble bath

- breakfast at Sharky's 

- Holly's for a coffee and some blogging

- Shinsegae Centum City department store (known as one of the biggest) - I only bought a book there

- Megabox to watch Avengers 2 for the second time and got the Avengers popcorn tin and plastic cups that Neil now uses at work

Day 3 (rainy)

- morning bubble bath

- I watched Grey's Anatomy while Neil watched the fight on TV

- Indian restaurant - I think Gwangju's better

- Piewang for some homemade British style pies

- English breakfast for dinner

- baskin robins ice cream

- bubble bath (I took advantage of all the bubble baths I can have!) 

Day 4 

- morning bubble bath

- second attempt to go to a Korean restaurant An Ga - but still closed :( 

- walk along the beach

- also attempted to go to Sushi Berry but it was closed for two hours and we didn't want to wait

- ended up going to Ilpum Hanwoo - high-end Korean bbq restaurant attached to a hotel. It was good but very pricey. Also, there's a woman who helped us cook our food the ENTIRE time we were there. Maybe some people like it this way, but it was awkward. Neil and I were very aware of her the whole time and it made it weird for us to have a conversation so we ate in mostly silence with a few words here and there. Imagine you're going on a first date with a chaperon sitting right next to you. Good food, expensive but too strange of an experience. 

- nitrogen made ice cream along the Haeudae strip

- Japanese bbq skewere place for a night time snack (reminded me of Zakkushi)

 

Day 5 

- packed up, had breakfast and headed home.

Korean Makeup Reviews

Before coming to Korea, I've been very fascinated with Korean makeup. There are loads of blogs and video tutorials and reviews about Korean makeup. I was only familiar with a few name brands but since then, I've learned a few more.

I don't have a particular favourite brand yet. And I haven't used everything yet. But here's some stuff I've used. 

Skinfood

- Egg White Pore Foam

I've gotten this a recommendation from a co-worker. It's alright. To be honest, it doesn't make me feel anything. It foams up really nicely but it doesn't spell bad. But I don't feel like it's doing anything for me. I feel like the cleanser stays on top of my skin instead of going deep down. Right now I'm just trying to use it up so it doesn't go to waste. I alternate between using this and my other cleanser.

Tony Moly

- Egg Pore - black head steam balm.

I've read that this is great all over the internet. It's suppose to help cleanse your pores around your nose, which I find is a big issue for me. I'd like find ways to help clean those pores and minimize their appearance. It's got a very cute egg-shaped packaging. When you rub the gel-like substance on your nose, it heats up. I'm probably not using this often enough for it to work. But I do like it.

Etude House

- Aloe Moistfull soothing skin (toner)

I was looking for a toner since mine had run out. I went in asking for a toner and this was given to me. I've read that Korean toners do not have the same kick that western ones do. It's very gentle. It's feels refreshing to put on right after the shower. This big bottle lasted for more than six months and I use this every day. I put it in a small spray bottle so only a little comes out on a cotton at a time. 

- Sweet Cherry Tint

I really wanted a red lipstick and most of the ones tend to look pink on me than red. When the sames person put it on her hand it looked really bright red so I got it. But it still isn't quite the red I wanted. I just use it sparingly.

- Styling Eye Liner (white)

I really wanted a white eyeliner and honestly Etude House is very inexpensive. 

- Play 101 Pencils (Pearl, Black, Turquoise, Blue)

I found these were talked about a lot on the Internet. I like the pearly one for under my eyes but I always forget to put it on before my black eyeliner. The black is just standard. The other colors were on sale when I got it. I was looking for green eyeshadow so I got these. They are pretty thick and so I can just smudge it out to use as eyeshadow. Surprisingly there's not a lot of colors beyond pinkish and earthy colors for eyeshadows out there.
- Juicy Pop Tube
It's good to add a bit more shine to your lipstick. It was cheap and cute.

Isa Knox 

- loose powder

I was running out on the loose powder so I found this one at Olive Young (equivalent of Shoppers Drug Mart), I quickly got it despite it being $35. Creams and compacts are much more popular here, loose powder, not so much. So far I've had it for 3 months and it's still good. I like it. Even though now that it's summer, it might be too light. I'll need to mix it with the darker ones I still have left.  

Faceshop

- Chia Seed Moisturizer

I love this moisturizer! It feels silky and great on my skin. I put it on after my toner. The density is not too think and not too light. It feels light and smells great too but at the same times I can feel it giving my face more moisture. It's great to use during the winter time when my face is dry from the cold.

-Triple Eyes 

This little compact of three eye shadows were on sale when I bought it ($4). At first I just bought the purple shades, cause I love purple. Then I went back and got the smoky (black/grey) one too. The pigment is great on this! On top of my eye primer, it lasts all day for me. Great find! 

- Lip care cream - I'm mango butter!

Faceshop had a huge sale and I love lip balms so I got this. I'm not a big fan of having to squeeze out the gel because sometimes I squeeze too much. And because if I squeezed too much out, there's residue left so it doesn't look that great if it gets messy. It's okay. I alternate between this one and the Innisfree one. I put this on before my lipstick. 

- Ink Graffi brush pen liner

I love brush pen liners over pen liners any day! And these were on sale so I got two for when I finish using my Innisfree one. It was only $6 each! 

- Over Girl Edge Stick Pen (purple)

This is  roll-on eye shadow. I've only used it a handful of times since my regular makeup tends to be more browns and blacks than light purple. It was cheap when I got it so it's still worth it.
- Rice Water Bright - cleansing foam
I actually haven't used this one yet. I wanted to try it because it's one of those raved about products but I'm enjoying my Innisfree one right now. I'll probably use this when I'm done the other one.

Innisfree

- No-sebum Mineral Powder

This was a very popular product from what I've read. But to be honest, I don't see what the hype is. Maybe I'm not sure how to use it. It's a white powder that's suppose to decrease the shiny-ness of your face. But the compact is so small, it's really tedious to apply all over your face. Maybe other people have the bigger one or smaller face. But I haven't really touched it since I got it. 

- No-sebum Mineral Primer

Whenever I use a cream base foundation, I like to use a primer to smooth out the texture of my skin so it goes on smoother and cleaner. I like this product and it works well. My only qualm is that it's so small that it can used in a month - two months max. Maybe others only use it sparingly but I like to have it all over my face. 

- Green Tea Balancing Lotion

I was running out of my moisturizer so I wanted to get a new one and the salesperson recommended this. I touched and and I liked how light and watery it felt. The problem is that when I got it home, it was too watery. I felt like once it was absorbed into my face, my face felt tight and shiny. Also, it took a while to be completely absorbed. But I think if I use less it might be better. For the winter it's not moisturizing enough but it will be good for the summer when I want it to be more watery than oily. 

- Green Tea Balancing Skin (toner)

This came as a companion to my lotion. Also it was the same price to buy the lotion as the set with this. So I picked it up as well. It felt the same as the lotion so I will save this to use for the summer. 

- Green Tea Pure Cleansing Foam

I love this cleanser! It smells great and feels great! Every time I've used it, my face feels clean and breezy. 

- Canola Honey Lip Balm (deep moisture) 

I really like this lip balm. It's very moisturizing. It smells good. Goes great underneath my lip products. 

- Cherry Lip Tint

I'm trying to like lip tints but it's weird. They're suppose to dye your lips but not to the darkness of what it appears. Always slightly lighter. Also it feels dry when the lip tint dries. I just prefer more moisture on my lips. 

- Jeju Peach Hand Cream

I love their hand creams. It's very affordable and there's always a buy two get one free deals. I think I got this as the B2G1 for $4 each, so for $8 I got three hand creams to put in my purses. 

- Powerproof Pen Liner

I'm not a fan of pen liners because they are too hard and pokes my eye too much. I like to get really close to my eyes when my liner so this hurts. 

- Powerproof Brush Liner

From top to bottom: (1) brush liner + pen combo
(2) eyebrow pen + brush (2) brush liner (3) pen liner

My favourite eye liner! It goes on very dark and I have great control over it. The only thing was it was hard to get off if you don't use a proper eye makeup remover. I used to use wet paper to get my makeup but this doesn't work on it. You must you eye makeup remover. I thought I had originally bought these for $6 but the second time I got it was $9. Strange. Still good though. It lasts for a good 3 months and I use it every day. 

- Brush Liner + Pencil Liner combo

I really wanted a pencil liner cause I know eventually mine will run out. And this one came with a brush liner, so score! It's great to take on trips because I like to use brush on top and pencil on the bottom. 

- Eyebrow pen with brush

I used to use an eyebrow brush and dark brown makeup to colour in my eyebrows, But I thought I'd give this one a try and it's amazing! I love it! You have to use small strokes that go with the growth of your hair to make it look normal. I alternate between using this and my eyebrow brush. 

House (No. 3) Warming

At the end of the month, after settling in we decided to invite our co-workers over for a house warming and get together. Unlike Christmas, I only prepped snacks this time around. Veggies and chips. Everyone bought some drinks and dessert to share. There were raspberry sponge cake and cheesecake!

Most of the native teachers showed up and had no trouble finding our place because we are so much closer now. Two Korean teachers showed up! One even bought us a box of strawberries and toilet paper. Apparently a Korean tradition when someone moves into a new place is bring toilet paper. Interesting...

Rather than dancing, we opted for Cards Against Humanity game instead. It was great, especially when I was doing so well. It was great just socializing and talking with each other. As this was at the end of the semester, we had a lot of stories to share about our students and classes. We all dolled out advice on how to manage certain students and classes. The next month, we would have a whole new schedule and new classes and new students (obviously).

There are two major breaks in the Korean school semester: summer and winter. And also two new semester starts: September and March. Korean students graduate in February and move to a new level in March. So every March we would get a whole new schedule and change classes and students. In September, nothing really changes. But this is a busy time for new incoming foreign teachers. Our school should be expecting some new foreign teachers at that time.

Comedy Show @ Speakeasy Gwangju

One thing Neil wanted to pursue is comedy. Unfortunately Gwangju still hasn't built a big enough community of comics to really go anywhere. So whenever we go to the bigger cities like Seoul and Busan, we try to go to a comedy night. It's a shame that most happens on weeknights instead of weekends when we can go there. It's too bad.

When Neil heard there's a comedy night at the local pub Speakeasy, we made a point to head there. This comic was someone we had seen in Seoul: Brian Aylward. He was hosting a amateur comedy night and was very good so we knew it was going to be a good show. Apparently Brian has been on a tour all over Asia. 

We ended sitting with the comic himself! and a few of his friends. They were all very nice. Brian is actually Canadian, so I instantly liked him! His set was very good, as we had expected. Then we spent the rest of the night chatting and drinking with him and his friends. After numerous drinks and shots, I was well tipsy and super tired. We don't normally go out at night very much so I usually get tired easily. And especially with some alcohol in us. But it was definitely a good night, I'd do it again in a heart beat, even if it meant all the suffering the next morning.

Suncheon

So our friend and past colleague had moved to Suncheon at the end of last year. He's invited us out to visit whenever we're free. The last couple of months have been busy but finally we decided to take him up on the offer and take the 2.5 hour bus trip there.

We woke up a little later than we intended to and ended up getting there around dinner time. Ashley and his wife Amy picked us up at the bus terminal and then we all took the bus to a buffet restaurant. I can't quite recall the name but it was popular so we had to wait a little bit. After a nice buffet dinner, we decided to go for karaoke. 

At first we entered an establishment that reminded me of those 80s karaoke lounge from Chinese shows. There's a huge stench of old ladies' perfume and there were booths covered with purple velvet. Most of the patrons were well into their 50s? After stepping into this place, we quickly realized this was not what we were looking for so we said our goodbyes and hightailed out of there. 

The next place is very much the typical karaoke place so we planted ourselves down for the next two hours and belted ballads, rock songs, etc. It was  a great way to spend a Saturday night! After sufficiently wrecking our vocal cords, we headed back to A&A's abode. Their apartment is in a newly developed complex - even area. Everywhere around that area looked so new and clean! And their apartment was gorgeous! It was a three bedroom, with 1 bathroom and an ensuite, an open floor plan of the living and dining/kitchen space. Amy told me that she bought a lot of her future online - I wish I could do the same but alas she is Korean so it's a lot easier for her. 

After a night's rest, we spent the next morning walking around their area. It's very spacious with very tall buildings. There's not much traffic or people walking around because it's still new and people are slowly moving in the area. But because it's so far from the city center (very much a suburb), most people would need to have cars as the buses don't run that frequently. After walking around the area and having some lunch, Ashley decided to take us to the Suncheon Bay Gardens. It took us a long time to find a cab, reminded me a bit like Vancouver (lol). Amy almost had to call a cab for us but eventually we found one and started off on our adventure. 

This garden is not little, it was massive! We were too early for many of the flowers to be in bloom but I bet it would be so beautiful come spring and summer. There were lots of people there and we spent a good few hours and still couldn't walk around the whole place. One very interesting thing we did here was ride the SkyCube. It's a compact unmanned streetcar. It sits on tracks above ground (like a skytrain!). It takes about 12 minutes to get from the garden to the next stop. It fits about 8 people and costs $5 for a round trip. According to the brochure because it's run on electricity, it's suppose to protect the Suncheon Bay (world top 5 wetland) from exhaust and traffic congestion. From this experience, we also learned that Suncheon wants to be known as one of the most green cities in the world. As we were walking through an exhibition hall, I saw Vancouver named as one of the top green cities in the world. Made me miss Vancouver a little bit and feel a bit proud of my hometown. (both pic on the bottom if found via google)

After we got back to their apartment, Amy had make a wonderful roast chicken dinner for us! By the way, she has a full size oven that I am completely envious of! After thanking our hosts, we headed to the train station to head home. Unlike Gwangju, after buying our tickets we had to line up to get a seat on the bus rather than having it assigned. Needles to say, the station was super busy! Never knew so many would head back to Gwangju on the same night.