HAPPYDALKIS

Sunday, 18 December 2016

14 Nov 2016 - Trying out 청국장 Cheonggukjang for the first and last time

On my way to have lunch.

From Jongno 3ga station, exit 5, I made a right turn.

You will see this building (낙원악기상가 Nagwon Instrument Arcade) when you turn right.

Walk towards the place as shown by the arrow.

Go down.

Walk through the door.

Ooooo...to my surprise ^^

It is an underground market selling food and grocery.

Quite a small market.

After walking several rounds, I finally found the eatery, 일미식당

It was hidden at a corner.

I think the unit no. was 148.

They used to have 해물 된장 찌개 Seafood Doenjang Jjigae ...

So sad they dun have it anymore.

But a lot of their customers came here for their 청국장 Cheonggukjang (The first dish on the menu).

The second dish is stir fried octopus, for two person.

The third dish is stir fried pork, for two person as well.

The first thing that welcomed me was the horrible smell of Cheonggukjang!! I could smell it at the entrance of the eatery. I have been contemplating to try Cheonggukjang for years hahaha Finally, made up my mind after much assurance from my Korean friends that the smell will not stick onto my clothings. Oh my god, it was so smelly that I almost wanted to leave. No wonder people said it smell like stinky wet socks. Errr...wanna puke at the thought....

I waited till most of the customers left.

It looks ok as contrary to the smell.

This is definitely healthy food. Some people commented the one who cook this has forgotten to add salt but I don't think so. Well, I have tried and won't be eating this again lol Many of my Korean friends, including my airbnb host do not like Cheonggukjang! If you have tried Cheonggukjang before, do drop a note here ^^

14 Nov 2016 - Back again

I reached Yongsan station at about 11am. Took the subway to Seoul Station to collect my luggage from the Travel Premium Centre and made my way to Hongik Univ Station, exit 4 for my accommodation. Yup, as always I booked an Airbnb apartment in Hongdae. There was a guest who checked out in the morning and my host was on the way to clean up the apartment. He allowed me to deposit my luggage in the apartment first.

Light drizzle when I reached Seoul and it lasted almost the entire day.

Not sure if you find this slope familiar. My accommodation for this trip was one of the apartment in this building. Coincidentally, I also stayed in the same building but a different apartment in 2014 My accommodation. I didn't know my accommodation would be in this building again when I booked. I did asked my host about the location before booking but perhaps he did not really understand what I was asking. I love staying here, everything except this slope. Cos I have a heavy luggage. I am fine with slopes and stairs but not when I have a heavy luggage. The challenge is going downslope with my heavy luggage. One can chose to use the lift instead of the slope but if you chose the lift, you got to climb two flights of stairs. The host is quite new to Airbnb when I first booked and hence not many reviews. All the reviews at that time was "VERY GOOD location and VERY GOOD host". I came to know about the location about 3 weeks before check in......that was when my host emailed the details and map to me...

So dark when I came out from the lift.

Well, it was not always like this during my stay.

Dark maybe becos of the rain???

During the day, the lights will be off.

I think there was only 2 days during my stay where it remained so dark even at nite.

I could hardly see where I was walking.

I had to switch on the touch light function in my mobile phone.

Sunday, 11 December 2016

14 Nov 2016 - Here I come, Seoul!

Seoul here I come!
Bye Naejangsan!! Bye Jeongeup!!
So grateful for the beautiful memories ^^

Bought a sausage roll for breakfast from Dunkin' Donuts at Jeongeup Station.

13 Nov 2016 - Nonghyup supermart

So happy to discover a Nonghyup supermart beside my motel!!
My Korean friend told me she likes to shop at NH cos they sell real organic food.

I bought 우엉차 Burdock tea ^^ Cos my Korean friend gave me some to try and I love it. Just drop about 2 pieces into boiling water and drink it like drinking plain water. She told me Koreans love to drink this cos good for blood circulation. My friend drink it daily cos she has cold hands cold feet easily. She also told me its good for bowel system(not sure if I got her right lol) If you want to ask the staff in the supermart where to find this, you can say "우엉있어요? 차마시는거요." I forgot to say the second sentence and the staff showed me the whole piece of Burdock lol

I can well afford supper tonite hahaha
My supper of garlic butter baguette with cheese Makgeolli
Yummssss ^^

13 Nov 2016 - Mushrooms rice for lunch

Decided to have a late lunch cums early dinner at Naejangsan before taking the bus back.

Walked into a random restaurant.

And ordered 표고버섯덮밥.

Its something like bibimbap and this dish has mainly mushrooms as toppings.

Not bad but so tired from chewing all the veggie and mushrooms hahahah

Taking the bus back.

If you use cash for your bus fare, it will be 1400won.

13 Nov 2016 - Naejangsan here I come!!

Bus no. 171 time table

I wanted to wake up at 6.30am to start hiking early but woke up much later...
This bus stop is outside Daiso next to Paris Baguette.

Jeongeup Train station circled in red. New Prince Tourism Motel in Blue.
The bus stop for bus no. 171 is somewhere along the Blue line(as shown in picture).
However, when I took bus no. 171 back, it dropped us somewhere near the Red line.

The bus was pretty punctual.
I got on the bus at 8.58am and used T money to pay for the fare.

Reached here at 9.32am.
The bus stop was opposite Cafe Brown.
Not sure where to go, I took the route as shown in the picture.

It turned out to be the correct route ^^
Saw lots of tourists from China.
Long queue but fast.
It didn't take long to get a ticket.

I got myself a map from the Tourist Information Centre just before queuing for the

ticket. I wanted to try the route as highlighted in red in this picture but I didn't manage

to visit Wonjeokam.

Entrance ticket 3000won.

So excited!!
시작!!!

Saw a bus stop right after I paid for the entrance ticket.

I am not sure where the buses go to but I decided to walk instead of taking the bus.

I wanna enjoy the fresh air and the beautiful scenery as much as I could ^^

Saw the cable car station.

I did not record how long I took from the ticket entrance to reach here.

Hmmmm....30mins???

Well, I spend a lot of time taking pictures ㅎㅎㅎ

Seriously, the surroundings was so beautiful that you will not notice how much you walk.

Long queue and that's not all....

Super long queue....

I knew it would be a long queue unless I arrived much earlier.

I walked on ^^

It was cold but I felt so blessed to have such nice weather.

So blessed to have such awesome scenery

So blessed to be here ^^

날씨가참좋다 ^^

Naejangsa Naejang Temple.

Always attracted to their vibrant colors ^^

Saw this insect and so surprised to see a heart shape on it!!

There were many of these insects!

He has a great voice and he sang English songs really well.

Continue walking

Until I reached here....

Not sure where to go but seems like most people went up (on the right as shown in the picture).

I was contemplating whether to hike up 불출봉 Bulchlbong Peak a not. It does not have the most difficult hiking route but not very easy for beginners. I always enjoy hiking in Korea very much and have hiked a few mountains before, but I considered myself as a beginner becos I hardly exercise in Singapore lol