Korea 2013: day 7-8

Day 7: shopping in Seoul!
We spent most of the day shopping in Insa-dong. This area is full of shops and kiosks selling pottery, souvenirs and food. On Sundays the streets are closed to traffic which makes shopping easier! We stopped at a tea house and shared this large bowl of tea. It was iced, fruity and floral, very refreshing!

After taking a rest from a hard day of shopping, we headed back out to visit N Seoul Tower (picture below). The tower is located on a mountain (Mt. Nam) so I hiked a mountain! Well we hiked a bit of it and took the cable car most of the way. The long lines were killer and it was really crowded . But the view was worth it (kind of :) ). Seoul is beautiful at night, so many lights. When we got to the top of the mountain, we ate at the Italian restaurant there. Not too bad, the risotto was really white rice in gorgonzola cream sauce. The cream sauce was super tasty!

Day 8: more shopping
We were sleeping in today! Finally made it out if the hotel for lunch. Um, we ate pizza. Always a good base for shopping! In the Sinchon neighborhood, where we are staying, there are back alleys filled with stores, fun to shop around. We then hopped the subway (have I mentioned how awesome the subway is here!? So easy to figure out, will bring you anywhere) and went to the Namdaemun market (picture below). It has over 10,000 stores. Oh.my.god! So many stores! But in the end it seems like there are only 5 different types of stores. Still, really amazing to see.

For dinner we meet up with another friend of a friend. A coworker of mine has a friend going to school here, so we meet him in one of the university areas, Hyewha. Such a cute area! We ate at a traditional Korean restaurant, shoes off, sit on the floor. Really good, purple rice, tons of sides and egg soup. Then we went to a beer mart. It was like being at an American bar, except you go to the beer coolers and get your own beer. Then as you drink you put the empty bottles in a bucket that you bring to the cash wrap at the end to pay. Fun!

Korea 2013: day 5-6

Day 5: explore Busan
First, I need to address our toilet here at the hotel. There are so many buttons and I only understand a few of them! I must say, the button with the face on it scares me the most. I don't want to press it. And then I realize this is something you probably don't discuss, but I never read anything about this while researching and only found out days before I was leaving, but you don't flush toilet paper here. They have the fanciest toilets around (picture below), but culturally it is just something you don't do. It is hard to retrain oneself to remember this!

This morning we started late. We headed down to the beach and hiked along it a bit. Gorgeous scenery. And nice walking paths. We didn't really have breakfast so it was time to get food. Always a bit of struggle. We just start to wander and hope we find a posted menu with some English on it. And we did! I got a spicy tofu stew...with mussels. But I could just pick around them since they were still in the shell and it was full of tofu, not the biggest fail. It was really good. So glad I got a seafood allergy test before I left!

Then we caught a taxi to visit Haedong Yonggungsa Temple (picture below). A buddhist temple right on the beach. It was really beautiful. Some people were there to worship, some just to tour. We got some grape ice cream and sat on the beach rocks and just enjoyed the sun.

Dinner time came soon enough and we were craving pasta. It is nice that there are so many food choices. Love Korean food, but I couldn't eat any food every day of the week. So we googled a nearby Italian restaurant and headed out only to discover it was closed (explanation in Korean) so then we returned to our main strip where there 2 other pasta places. We picked the one with people in it, always a good sign! I gotta say, some of the best pasta I have had!

Lots of people were on the beach enjoying the pleasant evening weather and listening to the guitarists play on the boardwalk,  so we did the same!

Day 6: travel back to Seoul
Time to repack! I was ok saying good-bye to our Busan hotel. While it was nice to have a large bathroom, the decor was really outdated and wifi didn't work in the room (which is disappointing cuz everywhere you can get free wifi, even in the beach). Although it was a great location, a block from the beach. We needed lunch before we left so we started walking! After a few failed attempts at finding a readable menu we came across a Chinese restaurant. I ordered the noodles in black bean sauce with green peppers. Turns out the green pepper was jalapeno and it was crammed full of seafood (again, glad I got that seafood test!). Plus the noodles were just not that good, way too chewy (and Rachel said the squid was chewy too). Not the best lunch, but I have failed lunches at home too!!

We cabbed it to Busan station where you catch the express train to Seoul. It was really busy for a mid-Saturday afternoon! After taking time to get a donut for the trip, we only had to wait 1 minute til we could board. Oh and donuts here...not as sweet. The honey dripped on my donut was the sweet part. The train ride is a pleasant one, nice to stretch out just sit back and relax.

Arrived in Seoul and checked into our final hotel of the lag. After a minute or two pause to freshen up it was time to go on the hunt for food. We ended up making a big circle and eating right across from the hotel! I got a tofu dish (no seafood! ) and loved it. We spent hours after dinner walking and shopping. It was 11 at night when we returned to the room and no shops were even closing, crazy!

Korea 2013: day 3-4

Day 3: explore Seoul
Had breakfast on the rooftop garden of our hostel today. Beautiful sunny morning! Then we started out early to visit gyeongbokgung palace (picture below). The palace grounds are huge with beautiful mountain scenery behind them. We had a group of 13 year old boys very excited for us to take a picture with them. Um, sure! We spent the rest of the morning wandering the grounds til lunch called. 

We traveled to a small neighborhood, close to the palace and found another restaurant with pictures and some English descriptions. Very helpful! Plus, it looked busy. So we walked in and realized it was maybe more traditional? We had to take our shoes off and sit on the ground. My body is not use to sitting cross legged for that long! But it was real good! I ordered a red bean gruel with dumplings. Yum! The server wanted me to add sugar to it, but I liked it better salted, so I tried to slyly swap it our when they weren't looking.

We returned to the room for a break and to figure out evening plans. We were meeting a friend of a friend for dinner. She had us meet her a Hanjeongsik restaurant, it serves a full-course korean traditional meal with an array of savory side dishes. It was amazing! But I really can't understand these portion sizes over here (picture below). We sat down at the table and they rolled over a table top that slipped over the table top in front of us. The entire table was FILLED with food. I ate and ate til I could eat no more and there was so much left, I felt bad! We also ordered an earthen jar of rice wine that you scoop with a big wooden spoon into a smaller cup. Super good! Our new friend, Annie, then brought us to Gangnum where we ordered another jar of rice wine. Most bars require you order food with drinks so we had to order more food! We got an egg dish that we could share, it was really good too but I didn't need more food! Gangnum was amazing to see at night, vibrant neon lights, similar to New York's times square, but still different.

Day 4: travel to Busan
This morning started rainy in Seoul. We took our time having breakfast and repacking the suitcases, it was time to check out of studio 41st. This hotel was wonderful and served us well, the staff was super friendly/helpful and amazing accommodations (kitchen, laundry and a computer in the room), but we were off to Busan! For lunch we just picked up a sandwich at Paris baguette (pastry shops found all over the place) and made our way to Seoul station, a main hub. We were taking the express train. If you ever find yourself doing the same, get the first class seat for sure. It isn't that much more and is so worth it, you are on the train for 2.5 hours. But the free wifi helps the time past!

We headed to the taxi stand after exciting the train and even though we had the hotel address in Korean we did not end up at our hotel. The cab driver got us to the general area but dumped us at a really posh hotel. I figured that would be ok cuz they'd have a concierge that could help and they did! The guy got us a new cab and told the driver exactly where to go and we made it!

There seems to be a lot less English signage here and just from being tired and needing a break from Koran food we ended up at the most American place they probably have here, a tapas bar. I gotta say, the food was tasty! Afterwards we walked around a bit and then stopped for some Turkish ice cream. Tomorrow we really check Busan out!

Korea 2013: day 2

Day 2: explore Seoul

Started the morning in the common room of the hostel, fried some eggs (mine had a double yolk, must be good luck!), had some coffee and talked to the 2 friendly girls at the front desk. We decided we'd hit 2 palaces today so off to the subway we go!

The first palace was Changdeokgung we went on the Secret Garden tour. There were still a few cherry blossoms on the trees but we also caught a "rain" storm of falling leaves. Picture more of a special grounds area for royals than like an area filled with exotic flowers. There are many gazebos and path ways, a very private and peaceful area.
Picture below.

Lunch time! Rachel spotted this porridge place (dishes explained in English) so we thought that would be best!  I had the vegetable cheese porridge, perfect for a rainy day! Again though, so much food! But everyone in the restaurant was ordering their own bowls so we just went with it. The porridge came with side dishes, like Kim chi, a side of beef and something else like kimchi...after I ate it, discovered it was squid. Oops. Picture below.

We then went to deoksugung, which is the most urban palace, in the heart of the city. Temple structures stand with electronic billboards in the background. we had hoped to see the changing of the guard ceremony, but due to the rain they canceled it. So we decided to start shopping. We went to Insa-dong, which is lined with shops. Every other shop has got to be a skin shop, which explains why Koreans have such perfect skin! And you better believe we stopped at several of them (I am wearing a honey face mask right now as I type this!).

The rainy weather was starting to wear on us, not to mention all the walking. So it was time for a break, we headed back to the hotel where we stopped at a GS25 (maybe similar to a CVS back home) and bought a ton of snacks to try. We sampled them all but decided we better figure out dinner before we gorge on corn chips and caramel corn!

The guy at the front desk did some research and thought we'd really like Tara Jumak, a makgeolli pub (traditional rice wine). It was an experience! The chairs were decorated special for us (as if we couldn't stand out even more)! And the menu was 100% Korean. But the owner was Finnish and could communicate with us. I got an onion fried Pancake, along with all the sides, good stuff!

Korea 2013: day 0-1

Day 0: travel
Minneapolis to Chicago - flight was on time and smooth. Love that flight, you take off, get a drink and descend. Over and done before you know it! Then we disembark and experience total blondness. I really dislike the O'hare airport. Plus, no restaurants in the international terminal? I don't get it. Thankfully we didn't have a long layover (<3 hrs). Once on the plane, it was only a short time and I had a complimentary glass of wine, slippers and movie playing. Ah...vacation!
 
Lunch/dinner (not sure what meal of the day it was!) was fun, assemble your own Bi-bim-bab (picture below). Dozing, movies and whining about the flight length was the rest of the flight. With about 2.5 hrs to go all the kids on the flight started to have melt downs, it was deafening, they were expressing how we all felt though. Total flight time: 13 hrs 28 mins. Ugh.

Day 1: check-in at first hotel
We got off the plane, had some tense minutes wondering if I'd ever see my luggage again, and then found the airport railroad. One of the exits brought us within a 10 minute walk of our hotel. The folks at the hotel are super nice and very welcoming. By the time we got to our room (with its super fancy unlocking keypad) we were crashing, but wanted some dinner, at the end of the block was a very American place, called h. Salads, pizza, sandwiches. I didn't really care, just wanted a quick dinner and then off to bed! However we did have one glitch the restaurant...turns out the $12 salad  was more like a salad for 2 (or 3) people. Both Rachel and I just about died when we saw the salad size put down in front of us! Oh well. Don't think that's the end of a confusing dinner order! :)