Soul Food in Seoul (day 2)

After the hotel breakfast, we braved the Seoul subway. Reputed to be one of the longest and most extensive subway system in the world, it was easy enough to navigate as there are english translations of the stations.

Cake selection

Wide array of breads

As we did not get a good feel of the city layout with yesterday's tour, we decided to go to Gwanghwamun to ride the Seoul city tour bus. The Downtown Tour runs every 25 mins like a hop on hop off bus. This passes through most of the city's tourists spots including most of the palaces. The tour guide spoke in monotonous robot-like tone that threatened to lull us to sleep. So after almost an hour we decided to go down at Namsangol Traditional Korean Village to get some coffee . We enetered Paris Baguette which is their local patisserie for some cappuccino and Bean filled bun.

Paris Baguette

Cappuccino 3000 Won, Bean filled bun 1000 Won

It was a good thing as we found a photostudio before entering the site that dresses you up in Traditional Korean costumes. For 15,000 Won , we had a great time donning and posing in Korean costumes. The photographer was so amused with our antic and whacky poses that he photoshopped our 'official' photo!

Our Official Photo

Basket weaver

Namsangol features traditional life and culture of Choseon Dynasty. They even have a basket weaver doing actual baskets. 






After this  we waited for the Seoul City bus. This is when we learned that the bus is rarely on time. In fact there was one time we waited almost an hour for the bus. our next stop was Dongdaemun. We went to the shopping building callled Migliore. If Namdaemun was Divisoria, Dongdaemun is like our Greenhills. Nine floors of shopping mecca ,organized according to what item they are selling.

with the food stall's lady boss

It was also lunchtime and  we headed to the top floor (9th) which houses the foodcourt. We chose that stall that has the most number of customers dining. This time we chose the Korean classic beef bulgogi which came to us served steaming on a big hotplate. It was good for2-3 people and costs 11,000 Won (Php 480).

The ever present appetizers

appetizers include fried egg, three linds of kimchi and sweet dried squid strips 

Vegetable broth with long huge bean sprouts.

Vegetable broth tasted like sweet corn and had really big and long yellow bean sprouts.

Beef Bulgogi- slightly sweet and non-spicy

N Seoul Tower

Next stop was N Seoul Tower, the 10th highest tower in the world (according to our drone voiced tour bus guide). We decided not to go down anymore as it involved more climbing and our feet were starting to ache (from shopping).












Changdeokgung Palace Complex was next on our list. It is the most preserved palace of the Choeson Dynasty and is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is composed of several buildings like  Myeongjeungjeon(main hall), Sungmundang and Haminjeong (conference halls), Tongmeongjeon (king's quarters),  and  Yangwhadang (Dowager queen's residence) .

Myeongjeungjeon

Sunmungdang and Haminjeong

Tongmeongjeon

It was past 4 pm and our last tourist spot of the day is Deoksugung Palace complex. This is near the seoul City Hall and there were a lot of policemen outside as a small demonstration was being held at the park nearby.

Junghwajeon

Deoksugung is another Palace complex with old style and some western style buildings. It was initially the residence of the descendants of the kings in Joseon Dynasty. The centercomplex (Junghwajeon) and the western style buildings are the only remaining original structures. 

GamJaTang before it boiled

After a brief rest, we ventured again at that alley beside the hotel. There is a traditional Korean resto with low tables and thin pillow seats. The place was half full and we decided to give it a try. We wanted a noodle dish and pointed to Gam Ja Tang. It is a pork sparerib stew with various mushrooms and glass noodles. The broth was only slightly spicy and hit the spot just right. The meat was falling off the bone soft. It was a bit pricy at 25,000 Won (php 1000) but it was good enough to feed 3-4 people. We could not finish the smallest order.

GanJaTang pork sparib stew

For dessert, we ate cherries we bought on the way home to the hotel. It was a bit pricy at 10,000 Won (php 400) at almost half a kilo, but I guess when on a holiday, we can make these few splurges!

Soul Food in Seoul (Arrival) : Korean chicken Soup for the weary soul!

I decided to start this even though I have not finished my Japan entry. This time I had the foresight to bring my MacBook Air.

After so much difficulty in scheduling the trip, Paul and I finally found ourselves at the Cebu Pacific Area at NAIA 3.Apparently this was the maiden flight of their new Airbus 330 Manila-Incheon and they were handing some freebies. Initially we thought it was to make up for the one hour delay of the flight.

with our cebu pac freebie shades. akala namin pang 3-D.

Four hours later we found ourselves at Gate 13 of Incheon Airport looking for car number 2717. The travel agency told us to look for the car. Eh wala......grrrr.... we were tired and hungry by this time and after several texts and calls to their local counterpart we finally made our way to Hotel Manu after an hour.
On the way to the hotel , we passed by the red light district in Seoul on the way to Boolim Hotel where other 8 pinoys were booked by the travel agent. The scantily clad girls were displaying themselves in see through glass walled stalls that looked like an aquarium.




Our hotel is located in Myeong-dong. The rooms are small but clean. It seems to be a fairly new hotel.

What fascinated us was the push button console at the bathroom. Talk about high tech bottom washing! My only gripe is that there is no complimentary toothbrush.

No english translation available

It was past 1pm and we have not eaten dinner! We asked the guys at the lobby where can we eat and they told us that most places are closed. He pointed us to the 7-11 two blocks away but we decided to take our chances at the small alley at the side of the hotel going to Namdaemun street. We struck gold here. We saw traditional korean restaurants with the typical stove in the middle of the table. We decided on the one with the western style chairs. Somehow we were not to keen to  sit on the floor.

cook it yourself chicken noodle oup

Chicken Soup for the Seoul

We found ourselves in a resto frequented mostly by locals. Language was definitely an issue as the lone waitress could not even speak an iota of english. There were no menu with english translation nor menu with pictures! As it was a mildly cold and post rain weather, we craved for some soup and we saw a wall picture of what seemed to be chicken noodle. Ok, she seemed to understand the word noodle! Finally we were making headway. Next determining how much to order. We looked around and there were other three occupied tables and we saw big pots on their table top stoves. This made us realize that one order would be good enough for two.

kimchi appetizers

In less than 5 minutes, a battered aluminum pot with leeks, chilies, chicken, chicken broth was placed on the tabletop stove in front of us. There were potato slices to thicken the broth as well as thick finger like stuff which was like gnocchi. The fresh noodles were placed on a separate plate to be placed in the broth when it boils. The ever present kimchi was there as pica-pica while we wait for our food to cook. In less than ten minutes it was ready. I forget to fish out the chilies and the broth was spicy. But whats interesting is that as we eat the spicy dish it became less spicy to us and it started to taste really great! More so when the potato started to thicken the broth. The broth and noodles filled our happy stomachs and our taste buds were satisfied with our first authentic Korean dish in Seoul. The chicken bits tasted like our local free range chicken and I guess that was the secret of the great tasting broth. The big pot of chicken noodle costed 6,000 Won (php 240). Great price for a great meal!

Korean ice cream

Walking back we passed by a small convenience store. We browsed and saw some ice cream. Paul chose the melon popsicle while I chose a chocolate covered green tea treat. Both cold treats for 2,400 Won (php94)

We went back to the hotel tired but happy. Looking forward to what hopefully is a great day of sight seeing and eating!