Seoul City Transit Tour (Traditional Korean Lunch)

*This post was originally posted on our main blog on 03/31/2010*

We were actually pretty happy that we gave Cheonggye Plaza a miss. I wasn't really in the mood to walk around in the rain to look at some man made stream :P Also, it was already way past lunch time (or so it felt like) and we were hungry! Our tour guide explained to us on the bus that we will be going to a popular traditional Korean restaurant, in the outskirts of Seoul city.

I really have no idea where this restaurant is located or the name of this restaurant (everything is in Korean!). I might ask Ashley to read the signs and try to figure out the name of the place. Oh yes, Lil Miss Korean Boy Band fan now reads Hangul too! Man, this K-Pop craze is getting out of control. Anyways, it looked like a pretty popular restaurant, with tons of tours buses parked outside. Looks like this is where all the tourist go to for the 'traditional Korean lunch' part of the tour..haha! :P

If I am not mistaken, the restaurant consist of three levels (maybe four?). The ground floor is for walk in customers, the second floor is for tour guides as well as their bus drivers and the third floor has small private rooms for various tour groups. I am not too sure, but looks like there is also karaoke somewhere in that restaurant! LOL!

Ahhh, this is our tour group's private room. We had to take off our shoes and place them in the little nooks beneath the floor before sitting down in our individual booths/tables. We shared a table with a guy from New Zealand and his Israeli girlfriend. Our tour guide told us that water and Korean tea is on the house but we needed to pay for any other drinks that we ordered. OK, got that! Now bring out the food please...

So, what did we eat? Of course, they brought out a few different kinds of banchan (side dishes). Now, let me state that I am not really a fan of kimchi. I would usually just eat the spinach and beansprouts but since I was in Korea, I figured I would try a piece (just to see if it taste any different). Guess what? It was different!! Man, I guess I have been eating bad kimchi all this while. That's why I didn't like the taste. This was actually good! Since the other three 'angmohs' didn't like the taste of kimchi, I had the whole dish to myself. Yay for me!

For our mains, we had a choice between Bulgogi (of course) or Bibimbap. Bulgogi is thin slices of marinated beef grilled with mushrooms, onions, spring onions and garlic. It is usually served alongside some lettuce and rice. Bibimbap on the other hand is a bowl of white rice with vegetables that are seasoned and sauteed. It is then usually topped with chili pepper paste and a raw egg. Almost everybody (except two people, I think) went with Bulgogi. I would say that it was a good choice. The servers allowed it to cook for a bit, then they would come and mix it all up and sort of like 'stir fry' it in front of you. The meat was so tender and the sauce was really sweet and nice. Super yummy!

Look at the size of the pan. That was a three person portion. Even after sharing, we still couldn't finish all the food. Let me say it once again. It was really really yummy! One of the best bulgogi I have ever eaten before. After lunch, we all piled into the little bus again and headed back to the airport. It was a fun ride back, with our tour guide teaching us Korean phrases, giving us Korean candy to munch on and some Korean trivia. We even received a bottle of hand lotion each, compliments of the Korean Tourism Board! After arriving at the airport, we still had quite a number of hours to kill before our flight back to Malaysia. Stay tuned to see what we did!

Seoul City Transit Tour (Insadong Market)

*This post was originally posted on 03/26/2010*

After Gyeongbokgung Palace, we all piled into our little tour bus and headed to Insadong. Insadong is a dong (neighborhood) located in the Jongno-gu district of Seoul. Originally, it was made up of two towns whose names ended in the syllables "In" and "Sa" which was divided by a stream that ran along Insadong's current main street. It used to be a residential area for government officials about 500 years ago. During the Japanese occupation, the wealthy Korean residents were forced to move out, sell their belongings and Insadong became an area well known for trading of antiques. After the end of the Korean war, many flock to the area as it became South Korea's hub for an artistic and cafe lifestyle. Today, it is a tourist destination, known as the largest market for antiques and artworks in Korea.

Our tour bus dropped us off at Insadong-gil, the main street in Insadong. Known as a 'traditional street', it is connected to a multitude of alleys that lead deeper into the district. Our tour guide told us that we had about 45 minutes to walk around and that we are to stick to the main road (I guess if we venture into the small alleys, we would definitely take more than 45 minutes to get out!). So off we went!

Insadong-gil is pretty unique, I would say. It has a balance of old traditional shops as well as ultra modern ones. You can get pretty much anything here, from antiques to modern art. Our tour guide told us that we could find souvenirs here but we actually had a tough time trying to locate any. I guess our definition of souvenirs is different from hers. She must be referring to nice Korean handicrafts and artwork (which cost a bomb) and we were thinking more of fridge magnets! We did however manage to buy something for my sister. She is a hugeeee K-Pop fan, so when she heard that we will be transiting in Korea, she told us to pick up some Super Junior and 2PM (for those of you who don't know, they are Korean boy bands) socks. So errrr, we got her that. I think it's about US$3-4 a pair. It was a little embarrassing for two 30 something year olds to go ask the shop keeper if they had boy band socks, but hey, we would do anything for Ashley :P

There were not many people out in Insadong that day. I am guessing it's because it was a weekday (we were there late Monday morning) and also due to the weather (cold and rainy). We were told that if we were to visit on a Sunday, it would be so packed, we can't even walk. It has been reported that Insadong gets approximately 100,000 visitors on a typical Sunday. Wow! That sure is a lot of people. Even Queen Elizabeth II paid Insadong a visit while she was visiting Korea a while back :P

Apart from antiques, traditional handicrafts and art stores (Korea's oldest tea house as well as oldest bookstore are also located here), there were many modern cafes and restaurants in Insadong too. Check out the Korean Starbucks! Yup, you can find a Starbucks no matter where you are in the world. I bet there would be one in the middle of the thick Amazon rainforest too! :P We didn't go inside but I wonder if the menu is a little different than what we are used to. I know that they have Kimchi donuts in Dunkin Donuts, so who knows what they have in Starbucks. Kimchi frappuccinos?

The rain began to come down hard the moment we got on our tour bus. Originally, our next stop would be Cheonggye Plaza, to see the man made stream. However, due to the heavy rain, everybody agreed to give it a miss when our tour guide asked us if we still wanted to go down and walk around. We just took some pictures of it from our bus. With that, we are off to our next stop. The traditional Korean lunch!

Seoul City Transit Tour (Gyeongbokgung Palace)

*This post was originally posted on our main blog 03/23/2010*

Sorry for not updating for a couple of days. Our apartment building management is in the process of installing new cable wiring for the entire building, so our Internet connection hasn't been the best lately. Hopefully they will be done by the end of this week or next, if not, I'll just go crazy with the Internet connection being disrupted every half an hour or so.

Alritey, back to the Korean Transit Tour. I guess you guys remember me blogging about Kevin and myself going on a Seoul City Tour while we were in transit on the way back to Malaysia last month. Our first stop was the Gyeongbokgung Palace in northern Seoul. It usually takes about 45 minutes (depending on traffic) or so to get from Incheon Airport to Seoul. It took us about an hour and a half cos we were caught in rush hour traffic. We arrived just in time to watch the changing of the guards ceremony in front of the Heungnyemun (the 2nd Inner Gate) Gate. I managed to record a short clip of the ceremony. Check out the above vid!

Here is a photo of Kevin and I in front of the Heungnyemun Gate, with the guards in full uniform behind us. There is a total of 3 main gates, with the Heungnyemun Gate being the second. The main outer gate (Gwanghwamun) is currently under reconstruction. When the Japanese invaded and took over the palace in the early 20th century, the palace was heavily destroyed. They even moved the Gwanghwamun Gate to another location. Today, the Korean government is still in the process of restoring the palace to it's former glory and one of the big projects is to move the Gwanghwamun Gate back to it's original location. So, for now....the Heungnyemun Gate is used as the main entrance to the palace.

There are many buildings in the palace grounds, each built with a specific purpose. Here is Kevin in front of Geunjeongjeon Hall. This is the throne hall, where the king formally granted audiences to his officials, gave declarations of national importance and greeted foreign envoys as well as ambassadors during the Joseon Dynasty. In 1985, this building was recognised as one of Korea's National Treasure. You can also see our tour group behind Kevin, with our tour guide holding the Korean flag :P

This is another one of Korea's National Treasure. The Gyeonghoeru Pavilion is a hall used to hold important and special state banquets during the Joseon Dynasty. Originally constructed in 1412, it was burned down during the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592. The present building was constructed in 1867 on an island of an artificial, rectangular lake that is 128 m wide and 113 m across. Everything looked so beautiful and serene, with the frozen lake and lovely architecture. Please excuse my super red face. I was actually freezing my toes off, with the temperature hitting the below freezing mark that day. Very very cold day. Oh another piece of trivia. You can actually find the picture of Gyeonghoeru on a 10,000 won banknote. Just thought I should throw in that interesting fact :P

From the pavilion, we crossed over one of the three bridges and headed out to the National Folk Museum of Korea (which was just next to the palace). We didn't have time to go in but we just looked at various sculptures and decorations that was on the museum grounds. Here is Kevin posing with the sculptures of the twelve Zodiac animals. Yes, he was born in the year of the rabbit!!

Here is the main building of the National Folk Museum of Korea. The museum has three exhibition halls which illustrate 'The History of the Korean People' from pre-historic times to the end of the Joseon Dynasty in 1910, 'The Lifestyle of the Korean People' and 'The Lifecycle of a Korean from Birth to Death'. It also houses a children's museum and an outdoor exhibition. The museum was originally sited on Mt Namsan and was moved to Gyeongbokgung in 1975.

We had some time to just walk around the palace and museum grounds, just to enjoy beautiful scenery, amidst the crisp and cool winter air. Many people have mentioned that Korea is a very beautiful country and I totally agree with that. Everything we saw around the palace grounds looks like it's been taken out from a painting, it was so beautiful.

As much as we would love to spend more time just enjoying the palace, it was soon time for us to leave and head to our next destination - Insadong! Time to put on our walking shoes and head out to for some souvenir shopping. Stay tuned, I will blog more about that in my next post!

Gyeongbokgung Palace - Seoul, Korea
22 Bunji, Sajikno
Jongno-gu, Seoul
Tel: 02-3700-3900
Web: http://www.royalpalace.go.kr

KFC @ Incheon International Airport

*This post was originally posted on our main blog on 03/17/2010*

Remember me blogging about our 12 hour layover in Korea and how we had to wait for almost 2 and a half hours before the transit tour desk was open for the day? Well, to kill time, we went to KFC for breakfast. It was actually a toss up between KFC and McDonalds but KFC won because McDs was serving their regular breakfast menu and we wanted to try something different (something that is not on the US or Malaysian KFC/McDs menu).

Ordering our food wasn't an easy task. About 95% of the menu was in Korean, with tiny English words here and there. It took us quite a while to figure out what we wanted and proceeded to order by pointing at the pictures on the menu (you would think that the menu would be in English and that the workers would have a better understanding of English, since this outlet was in an international airport after all).

Kevin ordered the Tower Burger & Chicken set. The set consist of one Tower Burger, one piece of chicken and a drink. The Tower Burger was pretty big and looked really yummy. Spicy white meat chicken fillet (something like the Zinger fillet), hash browns, lettuce, some sort of sauce and melted cheese in a sesame seed bun. I didn't try it but Kevin says it's really good.

For his chicken, he had a choice between original, spicy or garlic (some new promotion that they were having at that moment). Of course we tried the garlic. I took a bite of his chicken and mmmm mmm mmmm. Realllly good! They should consider putting that on their regular menu! Crispy on the outside and juicy in the inside. Really well marinated too...awesome! The fries in the photo is part of my set. Nothing to shout about I guess, just regular fries :D

I ordered the Shrimp Burger set. It came with one shrimp burger, a single serving of fries and a drink. The Shrimp Burger was really good. One crunchy shrimp patty (with pretty big chunks of shrimp), lettuce and some sort of tangy sauce in a lightly toasted sesame seed bun. Very yummy indeed!

We also ordered an eggtart each for our dessert. The pastry was nice and flaky and the filling wasn't too sweet (which is a good thing). However, it was way too oily/greasy. Overall, it wasn't too bad.

So, what's the damage? The bill came up to KRW 14,100. I can't remember what is the exact breakdown of each item but KRW 14,100 is approximately US$12.50. I am not sure if the pricing is the same for all KFC outlets or this particular one is more expensive because it's located in the airport. I guess $12.50 is not too bad, it's about the same (maybe even a little less) as what we pay for a two person meal back in the States. Stay tuned for more about our transit tour in my next post!

Our 12 Hour Layover in Korea

*This post was originally posted on our main blog on 03/16/2010*

On our way to Malaysia, we had a 12 hour layover in Seoul, Korea. Since both Kevin and I have never been to Korea before, we figured it would be great if we joined one of those transit tours, just to see what Korea is like. The timing of the layover was also great. We flew into Incheon Airport from JFK really early in the morning (around 5am) and we fly out of Korea to Kuala Lumpur at around 5pm the same day. It was just perfect to join one of the day tours.

When we arrived, it was still way too early and the transit tour desk wasn't even opened yet. So, what do you do when you are bored? Cam whore! :P Yup, we just went all over the airport taking photos (Incheon Airport is really nice!) and stuff. We also went to KFC to eat some breakfast and of course, to waste more time while waiting for the transit desk to open. Will blog about that later on.

While roaming all over the airport, trying to kill time (2 hours to kill before we could register for the tour), we saw some pretty cool stuff. Check this out. You can find an "Etiquette Bell" in every stall in the restrooms. What does it do? Well, I am guessing that Koreans are pretty shy people and that they do not like the person in the next stall to hear all kinds of 'bodily sounds' when they relieve themselves :P So, all you need to do is choose what kind of sound you like (ranging from music, running water, flushing of toilet) and press the bell. This way, it will mask any other sound that might not be too pleasant to the ears! Hahaha! Since it was 5am in the morning, nobody was in the restroom except myself. So, I had a great timing testing out all the sounds and laughing to myself (yes, I know...LAME!). I am just thinking, wouldn't it be more embarrassing if you used the bell? Just imagine that the restroom is crowded with people and suddenly there is music coming from your stall. Everybody would then know that you are doing your #2 in there!!! LOL!

Here is another funny thing that we saw at the airport. We had to go through immigration before we could check in at the transit tour desk. When we went to fill up our arrival card, we noticed that not only were there pens provided, there were also reading glasses!! Of course it's normal to find pens at the counter but reading glasses???? Boy, those Koreans do go out of their way to make life easier for everybody :P

After waiting for like two and a half hours, the transit tour desk finally opened. We signed up for the 5 hour city tour. That particular tour originally cost US$80 per person but if more than 4 people signs up for it, it will be only $50 per person. By the time we signed up, there were about 6 other people on the list, so were pretty pleased to that it will only be $50 per person. The lady at the counter then told us that since 2010 is 'Visit Korea Year', there is a 50% discount on this particular tour! Yeah, so we only paid $25 per person! The tour includes a return trip from the airport to Seoul (takes about 45 minutes on way), an English speaking tour guide, a traditional Korean lunch and a free gift. There will be three main stops during the tour (excluding lunch). We will begin by visiting the Gyeongbokgung Palace (entry tickets to the palace is included in the tour), then some souvenir shopping in Insa-dong followed by Cheonggye Plaza to see the man made stream in Sejong-ro. The tour will end with a traditional Korean lunch. A whole lot of stuff for just $25 a pop! I will blog more about the transit tour in my next post :D

The Streets of Chinatown on CNY

*This post was originally posted on our main blog on 01/29/2009*

After the Firecracker Ceremony at SRD Park, we headed back to the heart of Chinatown. We were told that there will be more celebrations there but we didn't really know what to expect. As we wandered through the narrow streets, Chinese New Year music and lion dance drum beats filled the air. The closer we got, the louder it became. We could also hear lots of cheers, laughter and children squealing with excitement coming from around the corner. This is what we saw when we made that turn.

It was just crazy!!! The streets were just packed with people and they were shooting confetti cannons into the air! Some were really big and they shot out parachutes with 'lucky sayings' attached to it. It was just a sight to behold. The ground was just covered with confetti!! There was so much confetti that when we got home later on, we still found confetti tucked in our coat pockets and in our hair! :D It seems that it's a Chinatown tradition that they shoot confetti cannons every year, on the 1st day of Chinese New Year. You could buy them from street vendors at $5 a piece for a big cannon and 3 for $10 for the small ones.

This is the aftermath. Empty cannons laying everywhere and confetti just covering every inch of the ground. When I took this photo, they were still shooting the cannons. I bet you can't even see the ground by the end of the day.

Lion dance troupes were just everywhere! They would dance in front of shops and some shop owners would invite them into the shop or restaurant. The troupe would of course receive a hong bao from the shop owner after dancing in the shop. The whole atmosphere was just so festive. There were all kinds of lions, there must be at least 12 different troupes that day. Everything is so colorful and nice. Here, I'll just let the photos do the talking.

We ended the day by going to a Dim Sum restaurant for a late lunch. I will of course blog more about that in the next post. It was certainly as experience to celebrate Chinese New Year in Chinatown this year. Of course nothing beats celebrating Chinese New Year back home in Malaysia but I guess it was as good as it can get when you are so far away from home during this season. I'm also really glad that Kevin took the day off to head down to Chinatown to celebrate Chinese New Year with me. He knows that it can be tough sometimes to be away from the family during the holiday season and I know he did everything he could to make this a great CNY for me. That is why he is the best husband in the world!! :D

CNY Firecracker Ceremony 2009

*This post was originally posted on our main blog on 01/27/2009*

We woke up bright and early on the 1st day of Chinese New Year. Despite the frigid -7C temperature, we were all gung ho about heading to Chinatown to join in the Chinese New Year festivities. We took the PATH to the WTC station and started walking towards Chinatown. We saw online that there will be a Firecracker Ceremony, hosted by the Fukien American Association. There will be lion and dragon dances as well as lighting of firecrackers to usher in the new year.

We know that it's in Chinatown, but where in Chinatown? I looked it up online and found three different locations! Oh well, just head towards Chinatown and we can ask around :D We tried the first location, Chatham Square. It's nearest to the WTC Station and it was the location for last years Firecracker Ceremony. Guess what we saw there?

Nothing! Not a single person in sight.

Maybe the other side of Chatham Square? Nope...I guess it's not here either! We proceeded to ask a cop if he knew where the ceremony was. He said he has no idea, he was also waiting for further instructions! Wow, I think it's going to be a long day :P So, we continued walking towards the heart of Chinatown....

...stopped to take a photo with Confucius and continued walking. We decided to head towards the famous information kiosk under the big dragon to get more details about the location for the ceremony. We found a group of 'lost' people asking the same question and the helpful guy at the counter pointed us to the correct direction. It's at SDR Park, at the corner of Canal and Forsyth St. OK, now we know where to go! Another 6 blocks to go.

By then we were feeling a little hungry and started to look out for roadside food carts. Anywhere else in NYC, when we are hungry...we buy Hot Dogs, Kebabs or Pretzels from the street vendors. In Chinatown, it's Egg Rolls and Fishballs on a Stick!!! Only in Chinatown....

After getting our Egg Rolls, we continued walking and we saw some Lion Dance troupes getting ready to head towards the same direction as us. Woohoo!! We are on the right track!

At last we saw a park with flags waving in the air. Yes! We are at the SDR Park at last! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the firecrackers!! Since the ban of firecrackers in Malaysia, I have not seen many firecrackers around, let alone so many! They must be at least 15ft long..at least. There were not many people there yet, so we managed to get a good spot, right in front.

The crowd soon began to grow and the dragon and lion dance troupes started to arrive. There were reporters and news crews from various news networks too.

I believe 'Choy San' was spotted in the crowd too! ;P

The crowd started to get excited when a large group of important looking Chinese businessmen in long coats and gangster hats walked in with their wives in thick fur coats. They must be some really important people in Chinatown. They were lead to seats specially reserved for them and something tells me the ceremony is about to begin.

It started with the Veterans marching in and both the American and China national anthem being sung by some lady.

With that, the ceremony began! Fireworks started shooting out from behind the firecrackers followed by the firecrackers! Boy, I have forgotten how loud they can be! It just went on and on and on!! I had my fingers plugged in my ears for the entire time. Poor Kevin had to take this video clip, I bet his ears were ringing for a bit after the firecrackers stopped!!

After the firecrackers, the lion and dragon dances began. It was followed by some cultural dances by the ladies of the association.

The 'important' people walked around to greet the crowd for a while and left with their 'bodyguards'. With that, it marks the end of the ceremony. We then headed to the heart of Chinatown to join in more CNY celebrations but I will blog about it more in my next post :D