Since I have very limited time left in Korea, the bulk of which will be taken up with final exams, interviews, presentations, and graduation, I don't know how many more posts, if any, I can get up here before I leave, so the rest might have to wait until I'm back in the States. Sorry guys.
Here's a little miracle in a bowl: chijeu bap, or cheese rice. Sounds kind of boring and greasy, right? Oh, friends, we were so wrong. For less than 4 dollars, you get a piece of heaven, and it comes out sizzling. Here's what it looks like up close:
Still weird, right? That's because you stir it like craaaazy, and it turns into this:
You can pick different kinds, like tuna, sweet potato (which is delicious actually), but the one I got above is kimchi galbi (korean short ribs). The ones with kimchi are spicy, while the goguma (sweet potato) was pretty mild and kind of sweet, actually. I've already been back Monday for lunch.
This is another treat we accidentally discovered while in the subway station in Myungdong. Not sure if the little corn shaped pastry is called a manjoo, like in the store's name, but they are goooood. They squirt batter into little corn-shaped molds, and then they rotate until they are cooked and automatically pop out of the molds. They taste like yummy, slightly chewy pancakes filled with warm custard. Mmm. Not sure why they're shaped like corn though.
This is the empty subway station exit where I go to get to church here. I know the subways in general are pretty quiet here on Sunday mornings, but hardly anybody but a stray grandma uses my exit, every single week. Kind of creepy...
Speaking of subways, when Alejandra and I went to Insadong, we got brown sugar syrup-filled pancakes from a street cart right before we had to go home, and decided to not eat them on the subway (kind of messy), and there wasn't a bench in sight. What are 2 foreign girls to do? Find an almost empty stairway up an exit behind a 7 Eleven sign to sit and eat your hoddeok. So many stares from the few people going up or down, but there wasn't really a choice, not really. We HAD to.
Part of Gyeongbokgung Palace
Our culture class went to the Palace Museum last week. I was wondering where all the furnishings had gone since all the palaces I've been to are pretty empty, except for a replica of a throne or something. It was right next to Gyeongbokgung Palace, which is the biggest palace in Korea.
The king's casual wear. Comfortable, no? Hmm...maybe not.
Maybe when compared to this crazy get-up. Question: did the beads on the hat ever hit him in the face?
A present to the Korean king from the United States - now it's one of like 3 of its kind in the world.
Record of every day of a king's reign - apparently you can look up individual days chronicles on some online database today.
After the fieldtrip, I wanted to check out a traditional market nearby, and ended up passing by part of
Cheonggyecheon in the daytime:
Also passed by an area that specializes in lighting and light fixtures. Both sides of the whole block looked like this:
Bet it looks awesome at night.
Gwangjang market was totally legit. Just a bunch of ajummas and ajusshis selling all kinds of stuff in little stores and stalls for a whole city block, I think. It's also the oldest market in Seoul, and it's famous for their mung bean pancakes - way better than it sounds.
They have huge grinders that grind the beans into a paste onsite, then make the batter in these huge vats and fry them in oil. The whole place smells so good.
They sell many traditional things, like these pretty hanboks. I love the one in back with coral and light yellow! You can get them made to order, but from the prices listed on the sign, they're about $200-350, give or take. While they are beautiful, I'd have to get one custom made for my broad western shoulders, etc., for it to look ok on me. How do I know? That'll have to wait for the next post...
P.S. I totally wrote the last post in Korean entirely by myself. Not bad for just a month of study, right? If anybody reading this speaks Korean, please don't look too closely...eep.
1 comments:
I have loved every one of your posts. They are full of interesting pieces of info and places to see but I always end up being hungry after reading them! The food pics always look and sound so good!I want to try the rice dish, the corn pastry and the mung bean pancakes. And I always have a hard time waiting for the next post. Thank you for sharing some of your adventures with us. The Hanboks are so beautiful and the embroidery on them is amazing!
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