<3 Koreans

Why Koreans are the most godly nationality on the planet:

1) StarCraft

2) Nam Hyun Joon:

3) So Nyeo Shi Dae (SNSD):

CFA begins

I just gots my CFA material delivered the other day. It’s like a book-mountain.

This box is heavier than it looks

I count... 4000 pages. sexy.

This is what the Archmage reads in his spare time, when he gets bored at the Arcane Sanctuary in the magical kingdom of Dalaran.

Plane crazy

I totalled 9 plane rides over the entire trip. So did I get sick of it? not really.

1) Japan Airlines – JL1619

Aircraft: Airbus A300-600

Route: Tokyo Haneda – Hiroshima

Japan Airlines terminal at Haneda Airport

Taking off from Tokyo Haneda Airport:

Landing at Hiroshima Airport:

I wish CityRail would hire that Jap flight attendant lady to do their announcements, ❤

Cathay Pacific – CX110

Aircraft: A330-300

Route: Sydney – Hong Kong

Flight CX110 at Sydney Airport

Take off from Sydney:

Landing at Hong Kong:

Cathay Pacific – CX504

Aircraft: B747-400

Route: Hong Kong – Tokyo Narita

CX504 at HKIA

Seoul

Just bits and pieces of our 5 day trip to Seoul.

1) Seoul Tower (엔 서울타워)

Seoul Tower isn’t actually that tall – they just cheated and built it on a mountain. To get there, we took the Namsan Cable Car up the mountain to reach the base of the tower.

Seoul tower at night

There is a mini-village at the base, featuring gift shops, restaurants and a teddy bear tree:

Teddy bear tree complete with a korean flag at the tip

How romantic! Korean couples would scribble a message to each other on a couple lock, clip it onto the metal fence and throw the keys away:

"Lets love happily forever"

Beware of the flying keys from Seoul Tower (photo stolen from another blog)

A fuzzy view of Seoul city

Insa-dong (인사동)

Insa-dong is the cultural centre of Seoul, and easily made it to the top of Zoe’s “to-do list” because she’s a culture nut. The main street features rows of small, family owned shops selling souvenirs, books and genuine antiques all from throughout the Korean dynasties.

Dinner in Insa-dong

we were hungry and over-ordered as usual

To preserve the feel of Insa-dong, even the Starbucks company name was written in Korean on the store front.

Main Street Insa-dong

Close to Insa-dong was a exhibition gallery for korean pop stars – this one got my attention:

Rain's hand print

He has small hands like me

Myeong-dong (명동)

Easily Zoe’s favourite destination in Seoul, Myeong-dong is street after street of shopping galore. We didn’t visit the big department stores – it was all about the cutesy clothes shops and cosmetics houses.

Myeong-dong Station on Seoul Metro

Laneige House (cosmetics, apparently)

It's all young couples and uni students here in Myeong-dong

Turn left for shopping, turn right for shopping

My favourite banks in Korea - HSBC and Shinhan!!! Both in Myeong-dong

Before Myeong-dong:

too rich

After Myeong-dong:

not rich anymore

We also were lucky enough to stay in a Hotel Ibis Myeong-dong, for about AUD100 per night (shared between two). Great location, rooms and price. No toothpaste provided however, that was slightly annoying. Apart from that, very much recommended.

Historical highlights of Seoul

1) Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁)

Constructed in 1934, this palace was home to the imperial family, before it was burnt down by the Japanese. Then it was rebuilt, then destroyed again (by Japan). Most buildings in the photos are actually brand spanking new.

Gyeongbokgung Palace and Mt Bukaksan behind it

Gyeongbokgung front gate - complete with real royal guards (for the tourists)

Tourist moment

gone for a stretch

2) Changdeokgung Palace (창덕궁)

This palace was basically the remanants of the Joseon Dynasty about 700 years ago. Slightly less grand, but more cosy than the Gyeongbokgung Palace above.

throne hall

Government officials line up here according to their rank to bow to the king

Throne room with the korean "constellations" on the folding screen in the background - compare to the W10,000 banknote below

King Sejeon (top) and the same "constellations" background to his left. The trees, stone tablets and red/white circles represent celestial beings

Really small door (chest height) for mini-sized koreans back in the 14th century

Entrance to royal family living quarters

Servants' quarters

The king's backyard mini-lake playground

Frozen lake surface . Yes it is that cold

All kimchi’ed out – food in korea

While I stayed in Seoul for about one week, it was interesting to discover many exotic flavours of Korean food. Sydney korean food is much more bland and unadventurous in comparison.

Let’s start with Korean Air (KE724 Osaka-Seoul)

1) Korean Air catering

Perhaps the worst tasting ham-and-cheese sandwich ever. Although the canned pineapple pieces (yellow box) was sweet and yummy.

2) Chicken Galbi Fried Rice (Myeong-dong, Seoul)

In the Myeong-dong district where we stayed, there were so many cafes and eateries catering towards uni students and young couples. One particular restaurant lured me in with the “famous chicken galbi” (photo below). It’s like a giant-hot-plate version of “Pepper Lunch” in Chinatown in Sydney where the raw meat is cooked at the table.

Marinated chicken galbi fried rice (W5,000, $5,50) - no rice yet

Marinated chicken galbi - with the rice sizzling away... yummm

3) Myungin Mandoo (Myeong-dong, Seoul)

Also in Myeong-dong was a cute little specialised dumpling house

Entrance to Myungin Mandoo in Myeong-dong

Dumpling soup (mandoo guk, W4,500 $5) and Dumpling soup w/ rice cake (tteok mandoo guk, W4,500 $5)

“Kim-bap” korean version sushi (W2,500 $3). Tastes a slightly different to the usual Japanese variety. No wasabi to accompany it either!

4) Bonbap (City Hall, Seoul)

This is a chain store that specialises in korean healthy bimbimbaps. For dinner, we had a choice between this, or “Outback Australian Steakhouse” in the middle of Seoul.

Entrance to Bonbab in City Hall

Zoe's pick - Fresh vegetable Bimbimbap (W5,500, $5.80)

Spicy pan-fried pork with Kimchi and Tteok (W6,500, $6.80) - much, much more spicy than it looks. I needed about 1.5 litres of cold water to take down this dish.

5) Clam Noodle Soup & Bimbimbap at Incheon International Airport

As expected airport premium – very average but overpriced food.

Clam noodle soup (W9,000, $10)

Beef bimbimbap (W8,000, $8.40)

6) Angry Whopper at Burger King, Myeong-dong

Not to be missed – try out the “Angry Whopper Jr. ” meal in Korea.

Angry Whooper Jr. poster at Burger King

The only difference is that the tomato sauce was swapped out for chilli sauce in the burger, apparently.

Angry Whopper Meal - burger, small fries, small coke, 3-pack chicken dippers (W5,400, $6.00)

My arteries complained a bit after dinner here, but my stomach’s ecstatic moans of contentment drowned them out.

7) Korean Honey Court Cake at a street stall, Myeong-dong

Traditional korean court cake (W5,000, $5.50)

10pc, freshly made and individually rolled

Multi-talented crazy korean duo who run the stall

Want to see them in action? And how the court cake is made? I took a video on my Sony camera and uploaded to youtube:

It is basically made like this – 1) start with block of honey 2) Stretch the honey and dip into bowl of flour 3) Twist twist twist twist which doubles the string count. Keep twisting until it makes 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512… 16,000 strings. 4) Roll strings and fillings together (dumpling-making style).

Starcraft-ing in Seoul

#1 To Do in Korea – Walk into an Internet Cafe and play some Starcraft.

“StarCraft Syndrome” has penetrated deep into korean culture, where the game has become quite popular. By “popular”, I mean:

1) I’m sitting in the train, and right there on the public TV screens is a live StarCraft game being broadcasted on prime time national TV with rapid korean commentary.

2) The reception girls at the hotel (Hotel Ibis Seoul), when I asked one of them about StarCraft, she replied with “Zerg game??”

3) Apparently even korean schoolgirls knows that bunkers need to be loaded with marines before it can attack

4) (I stole this from another blog):

Anyway, you get the point. It was about 11pm on a Wednesday night when I left Zoe to hunt for an internet cafe around Myeong-dong district in Seoul where we were staying.

Entrance to internet cafe

I 1vs1'ed this guy in Big Game Hunter (he actually speaks english)

Preparing for "OMG ZERG RUSH KEKEKEE"

Unsurprisingly, I lost that game. Then I lost the next game afterwards, oh well.

Korean Royal Cuisine

We tried our Korean Royal Cuisine at Yi-Gung in Seoul (as recommended by Korea National Tourist Organisation).

They could have picked a better location – it was about 30 minutes taxi ride from Seoul and completely isolated from civilisation. Even our taxi driver got lost 😦

Inside the restaurant, it was all smooth sailing with 5 star service and beautifully decorated interiors featuring a mini-pond.

"At the Yigung Palace, nature comes alive in the form of the most unique and palatable cuisine made with water from Mt. Pukak and sauces created with only the best of Korean beans. Engage yourself in royal tables of the finest dishes amidst a natural environment fit for kings."

Zoe and I ordered the 10 course Danah Lunch menu ( W49,000, $51 pp) because we were both starving after the long, long taxi ride.

1) Seasonal porridge and water kimchi - There's no escaping kimchi in Korea, not even as a king. The porridge was very thick and coarse, and quite bland.

2) Bamboo shoots cold plate with soft persimmon sauce - much more sour than it looks.

3) Seasonal pan-fried delicacies (from left: prawn cake, shallot pancake, mussel omelette). The one in the middle tastes like shanghai dumpling.

4) Bulgogi beef salad - great quality beef. chilled salad was great for curing my travel-related vegetable-starvation.

5) Sinseollo (Royal hotpot) - beef balls (no funny white bits inside like tendon), meatballs, shitake mushroom, shrimp, sea cucumber, pinetree seed, green onions, ginko nuts and some more stuff that I couldnt recognise.

6) Clear noodles stir-fried with vegetables. Heavier-than-expected dose of garlic in the noodle.

7) Grilled fish with vegetables - I only ate the nuts on top (a bit too fishy overall).

8) Stir-fried beef and mushrooms - very greasy and stir-fried perfectly.

Lets take a close up on the mushroom:

9) Steamed rice and soup. Standard chilli variety kimchi makes a return in this rice and soup combo!

10) Pan-fried rice cake, ginseng stick and chilled sweet tea for dessert.

That was a lot of food! I wouldn’t imagine having that every day though, the poor korean king would be so sick of gourmet dishes.

Water Kimchi leftovers

The National Museum of Korea

The National Museum of Korea documents the history of cabbage-loving Korea up to 1910 inside an impressive looking building in central Seoul. (Admission – free)

Entrance signage

Outside courtyard

Main hallway

There were way too many exhibits to photograph, but these were some of the highlights for Zoe:

And here were some of my favourite exhibits:

Olden korean script (basically chinese characters).

Because I was born as a Rabbit in the chinese zodiac (year 1987), this leads to my favourite item – which I call “the rabbit king”. He is like a pre-historic asian Bugs Bunny.

Agalmatolite Zodiacal Rabbit - North-South Kingdoms period, 8th century Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do

A closer look at the rabbit king

Emerging from the museum several hours later

Kobe

Kobe is a cute little city located west of (and overshadowed by) the much larger Osaka city. It’s touristy-free and very hip.

JR Kobe Station

We had to walk through several interconnected underground malls from Kobe Station (Zoe naturally took the opportunity to do some shopping), before we could reach Kobe Bay. We timed it for sunset but the clouds ruined our plans. It was still very nice and relaxing to be away from Osaka.

Kobe Bay at dusk

We mucked around and stayed in the same spot for quite a while before moving along. It felt almost like I was in Darling Harbour in Sydney again.

Along the water of Kobe Bay was a very hip and trendy “playground” called Mosaic Garden with shopping, restaurants,  arcades and a mini amusement park with a ferris wheel (which is compulsory for every self respecting city in Japan).

Entrance to Mosaic Garden

Cutesy shopping in Kobe

 

I couldn’t believe it, but there was a Snoopy shop in Kobe… (Theres another Snoopy Town Tokyo posted separately)

Suction-cup Snoopy ¥1490

We picked up 2 cute suction-cup Snoopy’s to stick on my mums car windscreen (it’s a navy blue Honda Jazz) as a present.

The shopping arcade soon ended but we continued to walk along the water and through the CBD.

The entire Kobe CBD consists of 3 buildings

A memorial to the Kobe Earthquake that killed 6,400 people in 1995

Kyu-kyoryuchi (旧居留地) district features 19th century Western-style architecture where foreign consulates and banks built their offices.

Chinatown Kobe, selling jap-influenced (i.e. bland tasting) Shanghai buns, dumplings and dim sims.

On the train back to Osaka ( But it wasn't just the train that I wanted to take a photo of though... )