Korea: Food that we ate

Would you think that I'd write about my holiday and not about the food? Well, here is a compilation of the SOME of the food that we ate, in random order... marvellous, spicy, hot local delicacies!

My only complaint is that we always ate late ie past meal times like 230pm for lunch and 9pm or sometimes 10pm for dinner, and more food would have been better. :)

Forgotten the name... this I rank Top 3 - made with sambal-like soup and intestines, stomach, belly of the pig
On the left is sotong stuffed with something, and on the right is their local pork liver sausage
Syabu syabu... beef was very fresh and tender!

This is the safest non-spicy food for the kids. It's called bulgogi
Pizza Hut... hehe
Seafood Galbi
Before the seafood is cooked, just look at how big the crab and scallop is! I could almost eat it raw!
Dak Galbi - is a popular south korean dish, generally made by stir frying marinated diced chicken in a gochujang (chilli pepper paste) based sauce, and sliced cabbage, sweet potato, scallions, onions and tteok (rice cake) together in a cast iron pan on the table.
Pork chop - quite a common dish in Korea.
Cold noodle soup - naengmyeon
Pork Galbi
Samgye-tang, which is ginseng chicken soup. Go to Korea MUST eat this! The queue into the restaurant, at 230pm was still very very long down the block. Thank God we had a reservation made : ) Inside the chicken is a thick piece of white ginseng and pulut rice, a date and some other herbs.
Vic was very hungry at Insadong after walking around the shops, and others were eating. Fortunately we found this stall, they made sausages wrapped with fish paste and then fried till golden crisp! Only KW2000 and we have a happy girl!
Udon soup
Bibimbap - mixed rice with meat, vegetables, egg and chilli pepper paste

Korea Day 8: The places we visited

Day 8: Saturday, 27th November 2010

Today we wanted to do nothing but to shop, shop and SHOP! Well, in a way. The previous night I forgot to mention that me and the other lady friends together with only two kids, Amber and Victoria and our ever-protective driver/Korean friend, Pastor Paul, went shopping at Namdaemun and Myeongdong.

Totally awesome experience, as we venture in and out of small street shops, and happily convert the thousand wons into our ringgit, and find that... the things are still mega cheap... even BEFORE haggling.

My new hat


Not that the Koreans like haggling very much, they are most unlike the China chinese where you can slash prices by more than 70%, or walk off and the seller will call you back. Here, the price they offer is already low due to low profit margins, and at the most they cut down by KW1000 (around RM2.8)

Oh, and I forgot to mention also sometime during the earlier part of our trip, we shopped at Insa-dong, which is a great place for handicraft shopping!

This morning, we were suppose to go to Blue House, Cheonggye Streama and Skyway Seoul but we changed the itinerary to shopping back at Dongdaemun. Besides, when we checked out of the hotel, the sky was gloomy and rainy. It rained middle of the night, and the kids were happy to finally see something that remotely looks like snow... it was frost! So I guess Korea skies cry when it knows this is our last day. And also it's good to just stay indoors shopping then.

So, we went back to shop buildings like Doota, Maxtyle and Migliore. Then we headed to the much anticipated Jeil Pyeonghwa for the recommended "high quality, cheap price" goods but many of us were disappointed at the choices besides the narrow lanes between the shops. Reminds me of the upstairs of Seremban Wet Market, come to think of it. But their factory outlet(which resembles more like our shopping malls), called Outlet 2001 is a great place to unload your wons!






At night, we went to Yi Hwa Uni and Hongik Uni. These unis are apparently famous for their arts and design works, and some students have stalls along the roads selling their own creations, from hair accessories to woolly stuffs. But the prices, man... they are more than double of what we have seen!


For dinner, we planned to eat in Incheon Airport as our flight home departs at 1120pm. Fearing that the kids might be hungry, some of us bought some finger food first. The restaurants were too small to fit all 22pax of us!

At Incheon Airport, we said our goodbyes and thank yous to the two Korean families whom have been such great hosts to us. One family will return in mid December to join us in Malaysia again, but the other family, Pastor Paul, wife Mary and son David - we don't know if we will see them again. Quite emotional as David cries as he realises it's good bye until our paths cross again, whenever that will be.

Then we looked for dinner. No dinner. All restaurants and food court was close. There were staff, but they were not selling. When they close, they close. Even Burger King with some remaining burgers left behind the tills, were not selling because it past their close time. Hhmm... problem. We did order food on flight, but that will be past midnight. Finally we found a sandwich cafe and ate there.

Arrived LCCT earlier than expected, at around 430am, Sunday 28th November 2010.

Korea Day 7: The places we visited

Day 7: Friday, 26th November 2010


Korean Folk Village

In the morning we left for Yongin again, which is close to an hour drive from Seoul. We saw traditional wears, traditional Korean houses and dances and a mock performance of a traditional Korean wedding. The weather was nice and sunny, but still cold. (Mind you, I loooovvveee cold, and I come alive during winter so when I say cold, it's freaking cold, I tell ya. Poor hubs gave up his jacket to cover William who hybernated in his stroller.)
















N Seoul Tower

In the afternoon we drove up to Nam San Seoul Tower, had to hike up a small hill from the carpark. Got a rather pissed at Vic for not wanting to take pictures as usual, because throughout this trip, she has been very uncooperative when it faced with the camera!

Again, super cold weather, Daddy wore only one layer after sacrificing his jacket to keep little cowboy warm.

Korea Day 6: The places we visited

Day 6: Thursday, 25th November 2010


Jeongsan Auraji Rail Bike

This morning we left for Jeongseon which was about 1.5hours to 2hours drive down the mountain. Because the road was very windy, and also due to the wrong combination of food that went into Vic's tummy ie banana, cereals, cheese and Vit C drink, she vomitted in the car on the way.

The weather was chilly and very cold. The kids were wrapped up but I think William was still cold. Naturally they were excited, even mummy was! This place used to be a mining area and after the war, the rail roads and tunnels are converted to tourist attraction.

If visiting Korea, I want to say this is a must do! Besides the shopping, this happens to be one of the top 3 things, if not the best experience I had in the country. : )











Everland
In the afternoon, we continued our 2 hours travel down the mountains heading to Yongin - Everland! Arrived there around 630pm in time for the parade. Sadly, the place closes at 8pm and we didn't have much time to play the games and rides there. Because we wanted to maximise the rides, we missed the cable ride back to the entrance/exit point and therefore had to walk/hike 950m up a slop pushing William in his stroller and in the beginning part of the way, Daddy carried Vic on his shoulders! I thought I was going to faint from no-food-no-dinner-yet and the exhaustion.











After leaving Everland at 9pm, we headed to our Korean friend, Yi's brother's place, which was at an upper-middle class neighborhood called "bonda" (not sure of the exact spelling).. very nice place, but the host and hospitality awarded to us was very warm, very welcoming and very touching.