Korea Trip Day 3 [ 한국여행 - 셋째날 ]

Made a day trip down to Guri [ 구리 ] today to meet up with Anes and Gyeong Min.

How to go to Guri [ 구리 ]:
Take the subway to Sangbong Station [ 상봉역 ], Line 7 [ 7호선 ], and transfer to Jungang Line [ 중앙선 ] and take the subway to Guri Station [ 구리역 ].

Met up with Anes and Gyeong Min and they brought us to look for places to have our lunch.

One of the alley 

A food alley which is famous for selling Sundae[ 순대 ]

We decided to have Andong Jjimdak [ 안동 찜닭 ]. The name of the dish literally means steamed chicken of Andong. Andong Jjimdak [ 안동 찜닭 ] is said to ordinate from Andong [ 안동 ] and is made with chicken with various vegetable such as potato, carrot, onion. These ingredients are marinated in ganjang [ 감장 ] ( Korean soy sauce ) based sauced. The dish is then steamed or boiled over high heat. 

The restaurant that is well-known for Andong Jjimdak [ 안동 찜닭 ]

Andong Jjimdak [ 안동 찜닭 ]

The dish arrived with a strong soya sauce smell. I thought that the dish might taste salty since it is cooked in soya based sauce but to my surprise, the dish wasn't salty at all. 

Although the chicken were cut into big pieces, but they had already absorb the taste of the soya sauce into it and thus making the chicken tasted more delicious. The carrot and potato were really soft and they seemed to melt into your mouth. The glass noodles in the dish were really chewy. Mild taste of spiciness start to arise as you continue to eat the dish. There were a lot of dried chilli being used in the dish and guess that is the main caused of the mild taste of spicy.   

Would recommend you to try this dish as this dish is consider to be nutritious dish with the high protein content from the chicken and the various vitamins from the different vegetables. This dish is also a popular dish among students due to the portion served at a reasonable price ( Around 20 000won ). 

After the lunch, we had a walk around the neighbourhood of Guri [ 구리 ]. The city of Guri [ 구리 ] is different from Seoul [ 서울 ] as the buildings in Guri [ 구리 ] are more clustered together as compared to Seoul [ 서울 ] and you can easily see residence area in Guri [ 구리 ] with shops and shopping centers nearby the residence area. 

Canel with beautiful trees at the side

Kindergarten with the appearance of a castle

The park were really spacious and there are a few playing area in the park. There are a few playgrounds with different equipment and there is also an area for youngster to enjoy soccer. 

Soccer Area

Gyeong Min decided to bring us to her high school and I was really curious as I had seen a lot of scenes of schools in drama and was wondering if they were similar. 

On the way to the school

Soccer field in the school

The main lobby of the school

It's such a pity that most of the areas were locked up and we couldn't explored further. 

We decided to pay a visit to Gyeong Min's house and before going to her house, we dropped by the mart near her house to grab some snacks. 

The outside of the mart

Vegetables for making kimchi

We spent the afternoon at Gyeong Min's house and also had a better understanding of a typical house in Korea.

We decided to make our way to Dongdaemun Design Plaza to view the 21 000 Led lit roses on the rooftop before it ended tomorrow. 

The LED lit roses

A sea of lighted roses

Failed picture with the missing background of the roses

It was really crowded and more people were making their way up to the rooftop so we made ourselves disappeared from the rooftop before we got lost in the sea of people. 

We walked over to Dongdaemun and we went into 오쭈 for our dinner. 

Couldn't remember the directions as we were like going round and round before we decide the venue for dinner. 

Adress of 오쭈[ 동대문 - Dongdaemun ] :

Seoul [서울시 ] Jong-gu [ 중구 ] Eul-ji-ro 6 [ 을지로6가 ] 18-37 B1층[ Level B1 ]

We ordered octopus [ 쭈꾸미 ] , cheese [ 퐁듀 ] and grape flavored Makgeolli [ 포도 막걸리 ]. 

Octopus [ 쭈꾸미 ]

Cheese [ 퐁듀 ]

Anes and Gyeong Min taught us to dip the octopus into the cheese before eating it. I was thinking inside my heart:"Cheese? With spicy food. That's so weird. " But seeing Gyeong Min demonstrating the way of eating made me feel that I should just tried it too, and surprisingly, the spicy sauce from the octopus actually goes well with the cheese despite the cheese was really thick. The cheese served as an effect of smoothing tool to reduce the spiciness. 

Grape Flavored Makgeolli [ 포도 막걸리 ]

The makgeolli does not taste like any alcoholic drink at all. It actually tasted more like a fruit juice and I feel that it had the taste of honey dew despite it is grape flavored. 

This restaurant will be a new add on of my list to try again the next time I visit Korea. There are actually many outlets of 오쭈 in Seoul, so just dropped by into any outlets.

We went for a walk at the Cheonggyecheong Stream [ 청계천 ] after the dinner and dropped by Gwangjang Market [ 광장시장 ] while we were strolling halfway through Cheonggyecheong Stream [ 청계천 ]. 

Alley of Kwangjang Market [ 광장시장] 

Seafood stall

One of the stores selling Korean side dishes [ 반찬 ]

Nurfa wanted to get a hanbok [ 한복 ] and we managed to find a store selling custom made Hanbok [ 한복 ] at about 150 000won which is considered a reasonable price as most of the hanbok [ 한복 ] were at least 300 000won and above.  

The entrance of the shop

Do consider this shop if u want to get a set of Hanbok [ 한복 ]. The shop is located near to the entrance of the food alley. The shop owner is really nice to allow us to take lots of photos in the shop itself.

Continued our journey in Gwangjang Market [ 광장시장 ] and stopped by a store to try some street food. 

Odeng [ 오뎅 ]

Ddeokbokki [ 떡볶이 ]

Kimbap [ 김밥 ]

Directions to Gwangjang Market [ 광장시장 ] :

Take the subway to Jongno-5-ga Station [ 종로5가 역 ], Line 1[1호선 ], Exit 7 [ 7번 출구 ]

We made our way back to Cheonggyecheong Stream [ 청계천 ] to complete the course of our exploration. Finally we reached the end of Cheonggyecheong Stream [ 청계천 ] and waiting for us is the beautiful view and scenery.

Directions to Cheonggyecheong Stream [ 청계천 ]:

Take the subway to City Hall Station [ 시청 역 ], Line 1[1호선 ]/Line 2 [ 2호선 ], Exit 4 [ 4번 출구 ]

It was really an nice meeting up with Anes and Gyeong Min. Really appreciate them for company us the whole day and with the cold wind blowing at the end of our trip. 

Last but not least, the 'special' photos of the day.

Theme : Darkness - Where's the humans

Korea Trip Day 2 [ 한국여행 - 둘째날 ]

I did not do much on day 2 due to the rain. It was raining the whole day and I couldn't get out since I did not have my umbrella with me. 

Went out to the nearby shops to grab my lunch. Saw this small little eatery that's look really quiet and local and went in for my lunch. Ordered a Bibim guksu [ 비빔국수 ], which is a kind dish made with wheat flour noodles. 

Bibim guksu [ 비빔국수 ]

The noodle came and the portion of the noodle was really a lot. The noodle was chewy and was cold. The boss actually rinsed the noodles with cold ice water after the noodle is cooked. Although the noodle look red and spicy but it actually tasted a bit sweet. The vegetables used in the noodles were really fresh. 

Would actually recommended people to try out this dish especially if you are the kind that enjoy bibimbap [ 비빔밥 ] but do bear in mind that the sauce used  in Bibim guksu [ 비빔국수 ] is not as spicy as the sauce of bibimbap [ 비빔밥 ]. Bibim guksu [ 비빔국수 ] is extremely popular in Korea especially during summer. 

Went back to the apartment and slacked while waiting for the rain to stop. Went to Myeongdong [ 명동 ] to meet Vanessa for dinner. We decide to have Yoogane [ 유가네 ] for dinner. 

Myeongdong [ 명동 ] brunch

To get to Yoogane [ 유가네 ] :

Myeongdong station [명동역] , Line 4 [ 4호 ], Exit 6 [ 출구 ]. Turn right after Uniqlo [ Uniqlo에, 우회전 ] Yoogane is on your left [ 왼쪽 ]

There are actually 2 outlets of Yoogane [ 유가네 ] in Myeongdong so you can always drop by the other outlet if the first outlet is full. 

We ordered mixed octopus and chicken galbi [ 쭈닭갈비 ]. 

Mixed octopus and chicken galbi [ 쭈닭갈비 ]

The serving was big but it is a must that you had to order 3 serving if you have a group of 3 people. We had a hard time trying to finish the food as the serving was really big and we couldn't request for 2 serving since we are a group of 3 people. 

The food was served and you do not have to worry about how you should go about cooking it as the waiters in the restaurant will help you with it and ensure that the food is cooked before they off the fire. 

When we started eating, the octopus and the chicken had already absorb the taste of the sauce into it. And the first moment that you tasted it, you will feel that the spiciness of the food is acceptable, but as you continued to eat, you start to feel the spiciness of the food remaining in your mouth and it gets hotter and hotter for every mouth that you eat. 

However, you will not feel any burning sensation inside your stomach despite of the spiciness. You can actually soothe the spicy taste by drinking water. 

Yoogane [ 유가네 ] in Korea definitely taste better than the brunch in Singapore despite of having the same menu. And the price in Korea is much more reasonable. If you have the chance to visit Korea, do try out their Yoogane [ 유가네 ]. 

Walk around Myeongdong [ 명동 ]  after dinner and bought some masks as most of the brands are having a 1 - 1 sales. Gotta myself 10 masks plus another 10 masks free. It's a must to replenish your facial stuff whenever you are in Korea. 

Did not have much photo for this day. Will try to capture more photos next time. 

Korea Trip Day 1 [ 한국여행 - 첫날 ]

27 Nov 2014 - Another trip to Korea and also meaning another new record of my period of stay for my vacation to Korea. 

This is the first time that I am taking Vietnam airline to Korea. Service was still acceptable despite of some small situations here and there ( But can't really blame Vietnam airline as it is not their fault ). I also brought the most expensive can drink which cost $5 in Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Airport. 

Enough of side tracking, time to be back to my vacation. Finally touched down in Incheon, and dragging my body to the custom and to find like hundreds of people queuing and waiting for their turn to the clear the custom. Waited for like about one hour just to clear the custom and to collect my baggage.  

After collecting my baggage, I make my way to the airport bus area and boarded Bus 1601 and set off to Suyu station [수유역], which will be my new home for the remaining trip. 

Did not really went to a lot of places today as I was really tired and didn't slept much on the plane. Decided to explore the neighborhood instead before meeting my friend for dinner. 

 The outside of the place where I am staying 

The surroundings of the place where I'm staying

The area that I am staying in is a residence area and you can really see a lot of nice and old housing as what you always see in the Korean dramas, and the shops that are nearby are really cool too. The shop owners seem to know everyone who passed by. 

Walked down the road and saw this unique plant which I am still trying to figure out what is that as it looks like flower but yet looks like lettuce. 

Beautiful colours combination 

Looking like a flower but yet the leaves make the plant look like a lettuce 

Was hungry so decided to explore further down the road and came across this shop. 

The exterior of the eatery where I have my lunch 

The interior of the shop was really cozy and when I take a look at the menu of the shop, I was kinda of surprised as there were a lot of choices and also the prices were really cheap. 

The counter of the eatery

I ordered Ddeokbokki [ 떡볶이 ], Beef kimbap [ 소고기김밥 ] and a Jjamppong Udon [짬뽕우동 ].

Ddeokbokki [ 떡볶이 ] 

( Nurfa said she must eat ddeoknokki for this trip so we order it )

The rice cake was just right, not too soft and also not hard. It was really chewy. And the dish came with fishcakes, egg and also cabbage. The ddeokbokki could be better if it is cooked longer to absorb the taste of the sauce into the rice cake. The cabbage was also kinda of too hard and also yet to absorb the essence of the sauce. 

Beef kimbap [ 소고기김밥 ]

The ingredients used for the kimbap

The Beef kimbap [ 소고기김밥 ] was really served with lots of ingredients wrapped together with the rice. The shop was really generous with the ingredients, especially with the amount of beef being used. However, there is a strong taste in the beef and it kinda of like cover over the taste of the rest of the ingredients.

Jjamppong Udon [짬뽕우동 ]

The Jjamppong Udon [짬뽕우동 ] seem really spicy by looking at the colour, however, looks can be deceiving as it doesn't taste as spicy as what I had expected. The udon is nice as it is not too soggy. Lots of onions can be found in the soup and thus contributing to the sweetness of the soup. For my personal opinion, the Jjamppong Udon [짬뽕우동 ] will be better if it is more spicy. 

However, the price of the food is really cheap and reasonable. I pay a total of 10 000won ( About SGD12 ) for the 3 dishes. I would come again if I have the chance to try out the other dishes on the menu. 

After the lunch, I happened to came across a store which sells second hand books and the whole store is being piled up with nothing else but books. 

A photo that is taken secretly before the boss noticed

They have different kinds of books inside the store, from children's books to novels and even comics. They even have limited books of other languages. Would loved to purchase a few books but found that the children's story books were too difficult for me as they were meant for the older kids. 

Went back to our room and explored the surrounding shops. Saw a shop selling tonnes of vegetables to a lady which I guess the lady is ready to make some new kimchi at home. 

Saw a few stores selling seafood.The seafood were fresh and alive and were also big. Nurfa almost wanted to buy the crabs back for her mum. 

Set off to Korea university area to meet up with my friend for dinner. Had a stroll around the area and found a lot of restaurants. Home sweet home after the exploration of the surrounding of Korea university. 

Sorry for the lacking of photos and there were nothing much, but promised to update with more photos for the following day.