One of my favourite purchase

Guess what is this?  This is one of my favourite purchase from Korea.
Its a fridge magnet which I bought from Nami Island.
I like it a lot becos I felt this magnet represents the Korean culture.
Ahh....I miss Korea very much....

19 Oct 2012 - Before flight

After check in, I went to Dunkin Donuts to buy something to eat before shopping time. Helped my friends to buy some duty free products and errmmm I burnt a small hole in my pocket as well!

a

Halloween is round the corner again.

I forgot the name. It tasted ok.

I was surprised to see this.  Many tourists went forward to take a picture with them.
A good cultural experience for the tourists indeed.

안녕 and take care.  I will be back.

Finally, I am done with my updates on my Autumn trip 2012. Looking forward to plan for my upcoming trip in April.  Jeju is one of my destination becos Jae showed me a picture of the striking rapeflowers scene in Jeju.  Today is 1 Jan 2013.  I wish everyone happiness and good health always. 

19 Oct 2012 - You made my day 고마워.

I went back to Seoul Green Residence and check out just before 11am. Housekeeping came in at 10.40am when I was still inside the room...

I dragged my feet to the airport limousine bus stop outside Ibis hotel and reached the bus stop at 11.15am. The bus arrived the moment I reached the bus stop. Sigh...why did it have to arrive so fast -__-  Actually, it was a good thing that the checkout time was 11am, otherwise I will not be able to see 재 before I leave Seoul. About 20 mins away from Incheon Airport, I received a call which made my day. Thank you so much for meeting me before I fly back to Singapore. Like I said, I'm going to miss you a lot.

*Picture taken with S3, effect by Instagram

19 Oct 2012 - Breakfast at 동대문 생선 구이골목

19 Oct 2012. It was my last day in Seoul. Sadddd...I will be back for sure. I took the subway to Dongdaemun Station, exit 9 for breakfast at Dongdaemun's Saengseon-gui alley 생선 구이 골목.  Walk straight from exit 9 for about 3 mins and you will see 우리은행 Woori Bank on your left.

You will pass by this building, Dongdaemun Shopping Town.

Woori Bank 우리은행

You will see IBK bank at the corner.  Turn to your left as shown.

Walk straight till the end of this row of stalls and you will see a small alley on your right.

Turn into the alley and walk straight.

Walk straight and you will see another alley on your right.
This alley is the Saengseon-gui alley 생선 구이 골목.
I reached here at 8.40am. It took less than 10 mins from exit 9 to reach here.

I did not check out the eateries in the alley.  I simply went into the first one that I saw. 

The menu is in Korean and the 아줌마 speaks Korean only. I ordered 고등어백반 Grilled mackerel rice set (no.11 in this picture).  No. 8 -11 are basically grilled fish set with rice. I am not an expert in fish, so I do not know the names of the fish. I also assume that no 1-7 comes with rice.

1) 낙지볶음 Stir fry octupus KRW8000

2) 오징어 볶음 Stir fry squid KRW6000

3) 제육볶음 Stir fry pork KRW6000

4) 청국장 Cheonggukjang KRW6000 

5) 순두부 Sundubu KRW5000 

6) 된장끼개 Doenjang jjigaeKRW5000 

7) 김치 찌개 Kimchi Jjigae KRW6000 

8) 꽁치백반 Kongji Baekban KRW6000 

9) 굴비백반 Gulbi Baekban KRW6000 

10) 삼치백반 Samji Baekban KRW6000 

11)고등어백반. Godeungeo Baekban KRW6000

What is the difference between "식사류" and "안주류"?  No.12 - 14 under 안주류 are more expensive than the rest in the menu. 왜?  Was it due to the portion?  I don't know. Please enlighten me.

No. 4, 청국장 Cheonggukjang and no. 6, 된장끼개 Doenjang jjigae are also my favourites. 청국장 Cheonggukjang is cook using fermented soybean Paste and some people said it has a stinky smell. Stinky meh??  I am fine with it.  Hmm...I wonder if the 순두부 Sundubu is the usual Sundubu jjigae that I like.

No.15, 뚝불 is something new to me and I think Koreataste explains it well. The leftover raw meat for bulgogi can be used to make delicious bulgogi soup, called ddukbaegi bulgogi 뚝배기 불고기 or ddukbul 뚝불 for short. In addition to the bulgogi, vegetables like mushrooms, onions and scallions and a generous portion of cellophane noodles called dangmyeon 당면 will be added to the soup and served in an earthenware pot.

A healthy set meal. I like the soup which has a very home cooked taste ^^

The green color paste in the small container tasted like wasabi but the green is so bright green, unlike the Japanese wasabi which we all know.

I still have 20 mins to spare before making my way back to the hotel.
I decided to check out the rest of the shops in this alley.

There were many eateries in this small alley.

What's that cooking in the pot?
Looks good ^^

Its time to go back. The check out time was 11am.
I will come here again if I have the chance.

Something caught my eyes when I was walking back to Dongdaemun station  ^^
Hohohooo...Jasmine and Kim will be very happy to see this!

Only KRW500.  So cheap!

윤상현 - "정든거 아시나요"

1 Jan 2013. 새해 복 많이 받으세요 ^^

May the world be filled with peace, compassionate love, happiness and harmony always.

           
                             

          I am beginning to like this guy, 윤상현. A funny guy who has a nice voice. 

Lyrics :

참 많이 다퉜죠 두 사람은 건너기 힘든 다리 건너편
어느새 와있죠 두 사람은 많이 사랑 했었는데
정말 우린 이대로 이렇게 손 내밀면 잡을 수 있는데
나 그대에게
정 든 거 아시나요 사랑보다 더 무서워요
습관처럼 한 손에 든 내 무엇처럼 내겐 너무나 익숙해서
잊기가 힘들어요 사랑이 다 지나가도
너 보고 싶어서 슬퍼 눈물 흘리는 나 그대에게
정 든 거 아시나요
이럴 줄 몰랐죠 두 사람은 많이 사랑 했었는데
그댄 어디 지금은 어디에 잠 못 든 채 내 생각 하나요
나처럼 말야
정 든 거 아시나요 사랑보다 더 무서워요
휴일처럼 나 쉴 수 있는 그 날처럼 내겐 너무나 편안해서
미련 따윈 버렸지만 그리움 더 커져가요
이 애태우는 마음 이 마음 어느새 이렇게 나 그대에게
나 그대에게 정 든 거 아시나요

Lyrics extracted from Korean-fans

18 Oct 2012 - Dinner at 요기

I took the subway from World Cup Stadium station to Sangsu station, exit 1 for dinner at 요기 Yogi. I have wanted to check out Yogi for the longest time and finally, I had the chance ^^  Turn to your right as soon as you got out of Sangsu station,exit 1 and you will see this. 

Past the shop in the above picture and you will see the main road on your right.
Walk straight for less than 10 mins and you will see 요기 Yogi on your left.

As you walk along the road, you will see Hollys Coffee on the opposite side of the road.

HoHo Myoll 호호미욜! I was so surprise to see HoHo Myoll 호호미욜 on the opposite side of the road. I visited this cafe on my first solo trip to Seoul in 2011!  Here's my earlier post on Lazing at 호호미욜 on a raining day.

요기 Yogi!  I have reached  ^^
It took me less than 10 mins from Sangsu station, exit 1 to reach here. 

The cup is for water.  How about the bowl?  단무지그릇.  Self service for radish?

Comic drawings as the decor.

The menu is in Korean and it took me some time to interpret Haahahaaa.. Oh gosh, can I eat all of them?? 제가 매우 배고프다 and I wanted something hot to warm my body...brghhh....The 아줌마 showed me a menu written in Japanese. Omg...that is worse for me ㅋㅋㅋ The more I tried speaking in English, the more 아줌마 will speak to me in simple Japanese.  I wonder why she keep talking to me in Japanese.  I gave up and ordered my food in my broken Korean ㅎㅎㅎ  I ordered 요기국수 Yogi noodles (KRW4500) and 납작구운만두 flat mandu(5 pieces for KRW1500).

If I am not wrong, the menu consists of hot and cold noodles, rice and side dishes. 미안해. I can't figure out some of the prices due to the light reflection.

뜨거운국수들 Hot noodles :

1) 멸치국수 Anchovies noodles KRW4500

2) 오뎅국수 Oden noodles KRW5000

3) 김치국수 Kimchi noodles KRW5000

4) 두부국수 Toufu noodles KRW5000

5) 육개장국수 Yukgaejang noodles KRW5500

6) 사글국수 KRW5500

밥메뉴 Rice menu :

7) 육개장국밥 Yukgaejang rice soup KRW5500

8) 김치국밥 Kimchi rice soup KRW5000

9) 사글국밥 KRW5500

차가운국수들 Cold noodles :

10) 비빔국수 Bibim noodles KRW5500

11) 김치말이국수 Kimchimari noodles KRW5000

곁들임메뉴 Side menu :

12) 옛날떡볶이 Tteokbokki 

13) 부산오뎅 Oden

14) 가래떡꼬치 Rice cake in skewers (2 sticks KRW2000)

15) 참치김치 Tuna Kimchi KRW1500

16) 참치마요네즈 Tuna mayonnaise KRW1500

I think 옛날떡볶이 Tteokbokki is KRW3000 per serving and will cost KRW4000 with 납작구운만두 flat mandu.  If I did not interpret wrongly, 부산오뎅 Oden is 3 sticks per serving at KRW2500. One stick will cost KRW900. I am not sure if I have interpreted correctly. It was my first time to see Tuna Kimchi and Tuna Mayonnaise as Korean side dishes. Were they Korean food? Enlighten if you know ^^

김치말이국수 Kimchimari noodles is cold noodles with kimchi rolls and slices of cucumber. I heard this is a popular dish on the menu. I think 육개장국수/ 국밥 Yukgaejang noodles/rice soup is cooked with beef.  It was my first time to see 사글국수/국밥, so I didn't order that just in case it contains beef.  

납작구운만두.  10 pieces for KRW3000, 5 pieces for KRW1500.

I called this flat mandu instead of flat roasted/grilled mandu cos they do not look like roasted/grilled at all ㅋㅋㅋ

요기국수 Yogi Guksu
This is a bit spicy for me but not bad ^^

I couldn't figure out what was inside the flat mandu. Seems like rice vermicelli was the main ingredient. Other than that, I can only taste the skin of the mandu. Not bad. I will still order this dish in my next visit ^^  Yes, I will be back to try out other dishes on the menu especially 오뎅국수.