Memoirs of a Travelling Foodie: South Korea

March 2, 2012

Sunday Seoul Stroll

Seeing as we slept in a wee bit on Sunday, we had a bit of a late (but not THAT late) start to Seoul. Nonetheless, we perused through Nam Dae Men Market, ate some goodness, did some more shopping, checked out the Gyeongbok Palace etc etc. Seoul was a bustling city & unfortunately we didn't have enough time to really enjoy it to its fullest potential - SO I GUESS I just have to go back. I can live with that.

starting off the day @ Nam Dae Mun Market

street food nommms

nomming

pretty tutus

casual street kimchi

jenns fave

mirrors EVERYWHERE

tasty bug treats

adorable man

mirrors in the subway too

coffee break

shopping again...

Gyeongbok Palace

Cheongju with a side of Soju

After a week in HK, it was time for Jennifer & I to hop on a plane to South Korea. Our plan was to spend the weekend with our friend Kevin, who is currently teaching in the city of Cheongju. We arrived at the Icheon Airport in the afternoon & took a 2 hour bus to Cheongju. We wasted little time and had our first Korean meal - some good old fashion Korean BBQ. Let me just put this out there... it was OUT.OF.THIS.WORLD. I would go back to Korea JUST FOR THE FOOD. I don't think I had one bad meal, so so delicious. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyways, we ate, drank, played drinking games with Soju (ohhhhh Soju) & went out. The following day we had a lazy Saturday, having a scrumptious breaky/brunch at one of the bars we frequented the night before hehe. We then headed for some shopping and perousing about in dt Cheongju. We settled in for another incredible dinner (I srsly don't understand how good the food was) & went out once again. Anyways, long story short - Cheongju is an absolutely unreal city. I am SO lucky to have been able to spend some time there with two amazing friends & have a unique, non-big-city experience. Kevin was an undeniably GREAT host & I just hope I can repay him in HK or wherever!
Just a quick note about Soju. It is essentially a watered down vodka-like drink, based from rice (I think/assume) that is pretty much the national drink. We most definitely consumed it at every meal & played a peculiar game. First game was after removing the cap (w tie on) each person at the table tried to flick off the tie & for the person who succeeded, well nothing happened. BUUUT for his/her neighbours (left & right, in case you forgot) would have to take a shot of Soju. The second game was the winner from game1 would look under the cap, where there's a number from 1-50 & each person would try to guess the number. Once someone got it right, the 2 people to his/her left&right would have to take a shot. It sounds so simple here, maybe even a wee bit boring, but trust it was fun. I promise. Believe me pls?