Myungdong or Myeongdong (명동), the shopping mecca

I like and dislike Myungdong. It's a great place to shop but it really has just way too many people. So, if you're living in Korea and have a chance to go and would LOVE to avoid all the crowd.. I suggest you go early in the morning. However, all the action does start late in the day so I do suggest that you experience it if you already haven't. I came to Myungdong yesterday and today to do some last minute shopping before I leave for Thailand. Yes, I probably could have come here just for yesterday and skipped today if only I had not forgotten to take my passport and my duty free membership card.. Oh, and talking of duty free, if you're leaving Korea and/or going on a vacation do check out the duty free, they have great deals. Also online duty free is awesome as well.

Anyways, going back to my original topic - Myungdong, yes it's a wonderful place lots to shop, many places to visit near by and some wonderful shows to see. It's amazing how much has changed though.. It's mostly aimed at Chinese and Japanese tourist but still it amazes me how it has upped the variety in choices of food on the streets. 

Here you have the Korean-Chinese black noodle Jajangmyun (자장면) it's called black model because the sauce is black. Some call it Jjajangmyun (짜장면) but the peoper way of writing and pronouncing is JAjangmyun (자장면). 

Below is a picture of what it originally looks like...

One thing that totally caught me off guard is the pig feet... Yes, you may easily see them on the street at a local market but I hadn't realize they had started selling them on the strew of Myungdong. 

They also had kimbab..

Chicken and fish cake...

Meatballs...

Ribs...

Mung Bean Pancake (녹두전)...!!!

Strawberry Mochi! 

And CGV added something to their sign...

It was really interesting to see the changes and the crowd...
So if you have a chance do go and have a look-see! :D

Flavor & Recipe - a lovely little gift shop

A cozy little shop in the back alley of Itaewon area. You can find handmade candles and many different scented products. Love this little place. As soon as you're in you're greeted by the lovely owner of this little place as well as the relaxing aroma of different kind of scents. She also has workshops that you can sign up for and of you need a little area for your own group she also rents the place for a tiny fee. The place also has little trinkets that are perfect for presents :) If you're in the area make sure to stop by and take a looksee! (Will add map and info below) 

April 29th, 2013-DAY 1 of my trip around the Peninsula!

So my plan was to leave at 6am on Monday morning and drive towards Seolak Mountain. 
(Seolak Mountain is the highest mountain of the Taebaek Mountain range located in the Gangwon province.)

It kind of didn't work out because first, it was raining awfully bad with thunder and lightening.. and I had some unfinished business to take care of. But we - my mum, our dog, Nari, and I - were on the road around 7:40.

The reason for heading to Seolak Mountain was to visit the Ulsanbawi, which  I had climbed to the very top when I was 5 years old. And I have a medal to proof it!

Ulsanbawi is in a rock formation and tor climb it you have to go up these incredible steel staircases. The original path up the mountain was taken down because it was too old and getting rusty here and there so, they have a new and better and safer path up to the top. I remember this particular climb even though I was only 5 because it was slightly drizzling and when I was on the top I remember reaching up and being able to touch the clouds (or so I thought . It was the most amazing thing and it still is one of the most amazing memories that I have of my childhood. Also, the fact that I was only 5, and yes I have a medal to prove this, and climbed the whole 808 steps all by myself was very self-satisfying. So, I wanted to go down that memory lane and experience it again.

It did give me a fright and I was half worried and half daring when the rain kept pouring. Plus, we took the wrong highway, the longer one, and went around because I forgot to check the map and print it out before I left.. Though it was a  big relief to see the sun peeking out when we reached the east coast and finally headed to the mountain. The beach was just so marvelous that I had to stop and take a moment. So we parked and took pictures and breathed in as much as we could. I was worried at first because it wasn't what I had planned but I figured I'm not really in any tight schedule and this is what road trips are about.. So started enjoying the delays and detours. 

Since this was my very first time driving somewhere besides the vicinity of where I live AND without a map... we got lost again.. yes my fault.. but  no biggy...

When we finally reached the parking lot of the mountain, we were so glad that it wasn't raining anymore. However it was very windy and the park rangers and the shop keepers kept telling us we might not be able to make it to the top....NO! I told myself I came all this way and I'm going to the top. AND I did!

The wind was really strong. You could hear it howling and it also sounded like huge waves crashing in. You could also feel it push you this way and that..but after an hour and half we finally made it to the top with a few rest in between. 

And on our way down..

We settled on spending the night in Seokcho so found a nice motel overlooking the East Sea. Had dinner at the beach fish market and I finished my work that I still had to wrap up. 

I guess because of all the excitement I couldn't fall asleep so started writing this blog but didn't finish it because I started to feel drowsy around 1am. So.. here I am finishing it up. ^^*

Chung Wa Dae Sarang Chae

Since I've been working at Korea.net I've come across great information on and about Korea. It helped me a lot in the sense of getting to know this country and what fun things are happening throughout the country.

I probably wouldn't have realized that there were so many things going on in Korea on my own. I did know there were various kinds of fairs all over the peninsula but it didn't really drive me to actually want to visit one..

No, actually until the trip I took early this year down to Geoje and Tongyong I just had ideas of wanting to travel around here are there but action always failed me. But now, I think I want more.. enough of the excuses, it's time to just up and leave for the places that interest me.

One of my interest is photography. I love to take pictures and to see them. When I found out that there was a photo exhibit on Korean War and in colors well, I had to go.. I was planning to go with bunch of friends but that didn't really pan out and since it was only a 10-minutes walk from my office, I decided to go during one of my lunch breaks.

The location was in Chung Wa Dae Sarangchae right across from the blue house(Chung Wa Dae) and I thought they did a great job in organizing everything within the exhibit. Though the building itself, well, I thought it could have been a bit more traditional in the design, but nonetheless everything was clean, neat and modern.

When I first learned of this exhibit I imagined it was going to be just the exhibit however, they already had the place set in different sections: on the first floor there were exhibits and information displaying about the city of Seoul and Korea. Great touch screens that shows you information on parks, markets, and so forth; on the second floor, there was the Hall of the Presidents and G-20 hall. and in the lobby John Rich's Korean War photographs in color.

I had a great time and I'm planning to visit more often.. hopefully I will have enough time to do so. The photo exhibit will be held until the end of June so if any of you are interested you should make that visit soon. ;)

Oh, and on the day I visited they had tea tasting (they told me they have it every Wednesday and Saturday, but should check the schedule on the Chung Wa Dae Sarangchae web page to be sure [only down side is there's no English version]) Loved the tea, especially the green tea that they fermented and made into a round cylinder block shape.

short weekend trip down south - Geoje Island &Tongyong (March 19~21)

It was a long drive but fortunately the traffic wasn't that bad. We left early Friday morning of March 19th and spent 3days and 2 nights and came back home. Our first stop was Geoje Island, a not so big of an island famous for its natural harbors and shipyards, is located on the southern coast of Gyeongsangnamdo province. There were lots of things to see like the P.O.W camp museum, Windy Hill, former President Kim Yong Sam's hometown, Oedo(island) and lots more.. had this whole thing planned out.. however, we only made it to the P.O.W. museum because of the bad weather. It was drizzling, windy, and cold. Hence, the boat ride to Oedo was out of the question because on a really windy day or bad weather the ship doestn't sail. Now, the interesting site I have to point out and tell you is when we got there it was around 6 and I guess all the men and women working at the shipyard were punching out for the day.. so when I saw a sea of people on motorcycles, scooters, and bicycles flooding out to the streets.. well, what a site! It reminded me of the scene that I saw on TV where there are flood of bike riders commuting on the streets of China or Vietnam. It was ver interesting and my mother, sister and myself included we were all laughing and giggling with delight. (No, we weren't laughing at them we'd never do that.. it just was a thrilling scenery to witness, that's all)

Complimentary of my mother's friend who lives and runs a tourist office and accomodations we were able to stay at a pretty nice motel and settle in for the night after we had a full meal of raw seafood.

The next day, we called the dock and asked if the boat was running but we were told 'no' because of the weather. So, we decided to go to the P.O.W museum and while mother stayed in the car with our dog (she didn't come with us because she already had a tour of the place) we went around the place. There were some interesting things we saw and some part of the history of Korea that I didn't know about. My sister and I thought the did a great job in creating the park/museum and on a better day it would have been a much better tour.

After the tour of P.O.W we were planning to go to the Windy Hill, but since it was TOO windy we decided to just head out to Tongyong and meet up with a distant relative, a very distant aunt, whom I saw for the very first time. It was really nice meeting her and getting to know her even though it was for a short while. I really like meeting distant realtives because I don't really see myself as a Korean and being connected.. meeting relatives kind of gives me proof of that I am in deed and it also gives me a detailed description and explanation into our family tree and who's who and whatnot.. Plus, my dad's side of the family, though there are 4 brothers and a sister, they never have been close and they never will be. And I don't really think I'll see much of them since my dad passed. I mean they didn't really care before so why care when he isn't even around right? Anyways, enough of the Ko family history.. 

So, off we went to the bus termial in Tongyong and met our aunt(she came from Busan to visit Tongyong) and headed to another relatives house in Tongyong. We had great time chatting about families who's related to who and how and we got a better idea of things. It was weird because I felt really comfortable with them as if we've known each other for some time and kept in touch all these years even though it was my first time and my sister's to meet them. (My mom had seen them at ther wedding and couple of times afterwards so it's been a long time for her as well.) It was totally different from meeting my dad's brothers' families.. I'm always ill at ease with them. I'm not being prejudiced here nor do I have any feelings of hatred(no, that's not 100% true). But, I've always felt they were more distant than neighbors or even strangers.. Ok, I'm going to stop.. not a good thing to express all these negative on my blog..

... back to Tongyong, our uncle(my paternal grandmother's sister's son) took us for a drive around the little town of Tongyong and gave us an brief tour after lunch. Again, since the weather was too windy the cable car was not in operation so had to skip that and just be satisfied by driving by and hope for better weather tomorrow. They had just kicked off Tongyong Oyster Festival so we made a trip to the festival grounds within a university and had a taste of delicious oyster and our uncle bought us a box to take home. We also visited a really nice private resort and was mesmerized by it.. wanting to visit sometime in the future.. however, it's members only so not very likely to happen. We had dinner at a restaurant run by another relative of ours then turned oursleves in for the night. The next morning my sister and I went up on the cable car since the weather had cleared up while my mother went with our aunts and uncle to attend mass at their beautiful catholic church. After we came down from the mountain which was wonderful we said our good-byes and parted our ways. My mom, sister, and I took turns driving home.. and arrived save and sound.

I've posted all the pictures so you can view them on this site..click HERE ;)