9/19/11. FOOOOOOOOODDDDD

So if you haven’t picked up on this yet, I am all about the food, and it is all about the food in Seoul.

Ghryn and I went to Caffé Bene for breakfast, which is just around the corner from the hostel. I love the American style breakfast here. It’s a spin on what we get in the states, but somehow better. There’s more attention to presentation and balance of flavors. Plus, as you can see, you can get ice cream for breakfast. I got the French toast. Carbs = energy for another day of exploring!

First stop, Gyeong Bok Gung. This was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty and built in 1935. Cool architecture, and we serendipitously were able to see the changing of the guard. There were a ton of school children at the palace, which is nice to see. I like it when kids are educated about their roots and history. Similar to experiences in Kyoto, Ghyrn was a star solely because of his height and Caucasian-ness.

We were on a short timeline because we had to meet Andy and Dayong, a girl he was teaching English to. Or “teaching English to” ;) Totally being facetious. I forgot the name of the place we went to, but because Hongdae is a university town everything is delicious and inexpensive. You can find pretty much anything and more you get in the states at a Korean restaurant for $6 and it’s unbelievably good. I’m totally going to have food withdrawals when I leave here. Maybe I can sneak some food back, or better yet, an Ajumma.

I decided to pick something that’s rarer to find in the states – Naeng Myung with a spicy sauce and raw fish. Delicious.

After lunch Dayong showed us around her university, Yonsei. The first and the best! It’s known for its health profession-related programs, and the first hospital of Korea is on site at the campus (that's the picture of it below). It’s always a bit surreal to be on vacation, and to see students living their normal lives and dealing with their classes and problems, even on the other side of the world.  

We left the university and headed back to Insadong to get some souvenirs. Most people find the haggling to be an inconvenience, but it’s really fun for me. Some strategies: walk away and then come back (although, this can backfire because it shows that you actually want what they have to offer), establish a rapport by being as much of a jerk or as friendly as the other person, point out imperfections (this can piss off the vendor, though), or my favorite – show you’ve done your research. I usually scope out the market to see what the lowest price is, and then start lower, telling the vendor that something they have that I want is being offered at a significantly lower price elsewhere.  Time consuming, but it adds some excitement to shopping.

That being said, I am on vacation and have more time than I usually have to deal with BS.

Walking away with some placemats and table runners for my grandma and our moms, Ghyrn and I headed to a green tea shop in Insadong to pick up some tea. As you can see, purchasing edible consumables (no, not that kind), is a really nice experience here because everything is so clean, and quality control is high. We tried some tea and picked up a couple ounces to bring back to…someone. I think we’re in the mode of buying stuff, and sorting out who things go to later on.

Street food is AMAZING here. You can pick up ddeokk boki (spicy stir fried Korean rice cake) or hot deokk (fried pancake with a sweet filling) for about $2 a pop, and it’s freshly made and just…perfect. I can’t think about this anymore right now, though. I just salivated onto my keyboard.

Next stop, Namdemung, which is apparently known for its food, funny socks, and ginseng. Or, to the casual observer, this is what it should be known for. We picked up snacks and beers, and headed down to the Banpo Bridge, which has a nightly light and fountain show. The fountains shoot out from the side of the bridge and are synchronized with light effects. Pretty rad, and I feel like I’m in a Korean soap opera. That’s actually one of the nice things about visiting Seoul. Movies and TV shows are shot at public sites, and in a lot of restaurants you visit there are framed photos of scenes that were shot at or near those restaurants. I bet it if you actually live here, it makes watching a show feel more real.

After some Cass, Hite, and OB, I had to pee pretty bad. I didn’t know if public urination is a no-no, or a “no-no”, so we made a quick pit stop, and stopped at Apgujeong on the way to dinner. And were introduced to one of the kind of sad things about Seoul. Plastic surgery.

Ads for surgeons are everywhere in the subway stations and even though it looks like the procedure results are pretty amazing, I can’t imagine the pressure little girls face here to be pretty. Queue TLC – “So Damn Pretty”.  One little girl was staring at one of the ads as we were walking back to the metro, and I just wanted to give her a big hug and tell her she was beautiful. Not about to be jailed for pedophilia in another country though. Plenty of other things on my bucket list.

Dinner was at a bulgogi place, which was nicer and expectedly more expensive than what we had been eating. Interestingly, the cheaper food we’ve had thus far on the trip was much tastier. I can’t complain though. What we had for dinner was still much better than what you get in the States.

Back home now, and ready to sleep. I think we’re planning to hike another mountain tomorrow :D