Tam Ciak Po - Introduces the food she likes and hates!

Wong Kei Restaurant, Chinatown London

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:30:00 +0000

You can try to search Wong Kei London online and I bet the most words you’re going to see is ‘Upstairs! Upstairs!” Widely known as the famous Chinese restaurant that serves cheap authentic Hong Kong style food in Chinatown, they’re also famous for its staffs’ arrogance and attitudes. You’re most likely to be greeted with “Upstairs!” instead of “Hi” when you stepped in. The meaning is plain – go upstairs to find your seats or I’ll kick you out!

Such were the comments that I got from web, but my friend insisted that I should try Wong Kei, as part of the Chinatown experience. Gulp! OK.

You can imagine how sheepish we were, standing 4 feets away from Wong Kei entrance, summoning the courage to step in. “You walk in front,” I told CS but he retorted, “No, lady’s first!” Oh ya *rolleyes*, since when ‘lady’s first’ became CS’s life motto? I don’t remember him saying that when we’re digging in Baskin Robbin tub.

Then, a guy walked in. Like an automatic robot, a staff pointed down and guy A descend the stairs. A guy B came, and we quickly followed behind him. The same signal happened and we got to lower ground. Hey, we got a ‘Downstairs! instead of “Upstairs!”

As it’s only 6 pm, the place was barely full. An elderly Chinese man attended to us and surprisingly, no rudeness, no attitude. As my friend recommended, I ordered a beef fried hor fun and CS (still longing for authentic HK wanton noodles) ordered wanton noodles soup.

Oh Boy, my beef fried hor fun was huge! A taste at the hor fun, there's no doubt it was cooked with a good dose of 'wok hei'. There's not a single piece of hor fun that was overcooked, became 'melty' and stick together. While my photo didn't show it clearly, that's generous amount of beef in it but they're a little overcooked for me.

On the other hand, wanton noodle soup is okay la, but you’re going to be disappointed if you’re looking for the exact quality as in Hong Kong.

All things considered, Wong Kei is a good place for cheap food or when you’re craving for Chinese food after days of English bread. Afterall, the quality are not bad. Our meal only costs us around 7 pounds, the cheapest meal we had in UK.

Address : 41-43 Wardour Street, Soho, London, W1D 6PY

UK & Paris Trip Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 12:59:00 +0000

I opened my eyes, it’s 4 am. I wondered why would I be awake at this time, not that I had nightmares or I haven’t got a good sleep. Oh yeah, I was in London. By Malaysia time, it should be 10 am already and I was hungry. I finished up tomato and herbs macaroni I bought from supermarket the previous night and went for CS’s mayo shrimp sandwiches while he’s sleeping like a dead log.

That’s how I started my day 2 in London, with CS grumpy that I ate up his breakfast. I appeased him with the promise of good breakfast at Little Portland Café later.

My day 2 was designed to be a shopping day with plan to explore the long stretch of Bond Street and Oxford Street where all fashion shops flocked together. It’s a Monday, yet the crowds were nerve-racking. Summer sales were everywhere, that explained it.

My first stop was a 3 storey (or 4 storey?) Topshop building. Maybe the fashion shops in UK don’t usually stock up small sizes like 6 or 8, I found it hard to find clothes for my size except for new arrivals.

I was too naïve to think that I can finished these fashion streets with mere 6 hours. My legs gave way to tiredness and with our last strength, we dragged ourselves to British Museum. It will be a shame if we didn’t go to at least two museums in UK, as most of them are free of charge. I’m sorry as I could not provide a direction here. In UK, we stumbled here and there most of the time before getting to our destinations. Truth was, we had difficulty reading their street maps.

The way leading to British Museum – Museum Street.

British Museum is not big (in comparison to de Louvre) but well organized so we can find our ways around systematically and easily. Who needs a map that would cost 1 pounds each?

As I pointed out earlier, British Museum has more mummies compared to de Louvre - at least 6 from a few different eras – some nicely man-preserved like a wrapped gift while some are exposed that the mummy’s blank eyes are staring directly at me, the reason I didn’t take any picture of them. The cute part? They even have mummified cows and pets!

British Museum also has a good collection of antique clocks that made my grandfather’s 80 years old clock looks like youngster.

By 6 pm most of the attractions/shops are close or preparing to close, so we headed to Covent Garden.

The biggest crowd at the Jugglers.

Covent Garden is a place that should be in “places to visit while one is in London” but I bet it already is. P.S : There’s a big Apple store in Convent Garden that techies can drown themselves in there.

At night, the best way to end our day is by strolling on Westminster Bridge, admiring Big Ben and London Eye.

London Eye before total sunset.

Totally light up London Eye.

Breakfast at Little Portland Cafe, London

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:29:00 +0000

A trip to UK trip won’t be complete without 2 food – an English Full Breakfast and a Fish & Chips.

Hence, our first mission in London was to seek out this place, highly recommended by webbies for our breakfast. Just a few strolls away from the famous Oxford St., it’s a good place to start our day before we lost ourselves in shopping frenzy.

Their breakfast sets are not the cheapest in town but they’re reasonably priced at RM5.20 for big breakfast set and RM3.95 for small breakfast, both came with free coffee or tea. Just by looking at the dozens of food on the menu, I wished I could spend my lunch and dinner time at here too, just to sample each and every of it.

Their coffee didn’t meet our expectation, being nice smelling but bland. Not their fault because a few days later, we generally don't like the coffee in UK, be it Illy, Costa or Nero.

Small breakfast; 2 pieces of toast + bacon + sausage + sunny side up + baked beans. The toasts are perfect, the bacon, ham and sausage are without a fault and even the normally disgusting bake beans became my new friend.

CS’s big breakfast is different from mine by having extra bacons, sunny side up, hash brown plus grilled mushrooms which are second to none.

Address:
15 Little Portland Street, Mayfair, London W1W 8BW
Nearest tube station : Oxford Circus.

Paris & UK Trip Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:12:00 +0000

A quote from Gossip Girl season 4 – “Just as every summer ends, all tourists come home, all dreamers wake up.” That’s the case with me. I finally picked up my laptop and started blogging again.

And where had I been missing? I was in UK and France for a 10 days trip, something that took me one whole year to plan. It started out naively when I mentioned to my friends that I wanted to visit them in UK without knowing how much money will be needed. I even asked them whether RM3000 will be enough, lol! After a meticulous calculation, I set the budget at RM5K per person and everyone (literally, everyone) told me it’s impossible. But you know me.. I like to challenge a tight budget.

Of course, I had been warned, Paris is nothing like we imagined but still, it’s in my list of ‘places to go before I die’. I decided to brave whatever that’s in store Paris for me. Especially after watching 4th season of Gossip Girl, lovely.

My posts for this trip are going to be lengthy, since I wanted to give as much information (and directions) as possible for anyone who wants to go there, something that I wished before the trip.

After a long 14 hours nightmarish flight, we finally landed in Orly Aiport, Paris. We took the ride in Oryval and changed to RER B at Antony. If anyone must know the condition of their metro (their version of subway/train) I would say, horrible. No air cons, dirty, loads of graffiti and homeless guys. The metro stations are basically their homes and toilets, so you can imagine how’s the smell. No escalator or lift but luckily we only had one luggage to drag.

We had our first stop at Gare du Nord, the main train station of Paris serving many train lines including the Eurostar and TGV. The station is so big, complicated and we couldn’t find the paid lockers. The simple French that Iearnt before the trip proved to be handy. To get to the lockers, walk to one of the end of the station, passing by a few cafes and sandwich stores on left. Look out for the sign ‘conciergee’ or a symbol of luggage, go down an escalator at the end and you’ll reach the lockers. We were required to pass through tight security scanner (like those in airports) but thank god, no body search. Everything were self serviced here. Just choose the size of locker you’ll need – small, medium or large. All the available lockers are open so you can try and error to decide which size is the best for you. Once decided, just put your stuffs in and pay shillings via the machine by keying in the locker number. Remember to keep the receipt as you’ll need the PIN to open the locker later.

Finally we got out of Gare du Nord and took a short walk to Gare d’Lest for metro to Opera area. There’s no sign on how to get to Gare d’lest, so walk out Gare du Nord onto the street in front of station. Turn left along the front of the station, keep straight ahead up the Rue de Dunkerque until tracks leading into the Gare de L'est stop you going any further. turn right into the Rue d'Alsace along the tracks, descend long flight of pedestrian steps to the side entrance of the Gare de L'est. From there we took line 7 to Opera and there’s the Paris that I wanted to see – extravagant opera building in the midst of nicely preserved pre-war buildings, gargoyles, statues, and fountains.

A little short walk brought us to the Fragonard Musee (Perfume Museum) at Rue de Scribe. We tried to enter the museum but was told by a tourist guide (who was bringing his group of tourist from India) that this museum is not open to public. We found out he lied and went in, not before giving him dirty looks. The museum itself was interesting, showing us the development of perfumes from early France till now but it was very small and we only spent 15 minutes in there.

Next we walked to Galleries le Fayette, the biggest luxury shopping arena in Paris only to find it closed on Sunday. Although lonely and crowd-less, our leisurely walk in this area was enjoyable.

Musee de Louvre

Music performance outside de Louvre.

Cafes opposite of de Louvre and these 'Mat Salleh' really loves sunshine, don't they?

People modelling in front of de Louvre building.

In de Louvre's courtyard.

As it was the first Sunday of the month, entrance to a few museums are free in Paris, including Musee de Louvre. I know, I know, everyone is going to say IMPOSSIBLE because the queue will be the longest we had ever set eyes upon. That was very true. Disappointed, we walked to Jardin Tuileries, only to discover an easier way to enter De Louvre via Portes de Lion. There wasn’t a sign that says it’s an entrance to De Louvre. We thought it was another small museum around because there’s no queue at all. Realization only came to us when we saw the sign “This way to Mona Lisa”!

Porte des lion entrance, our 'secret passage' into de Louvre.

De Louvre is a humungous maze. In order to really appreciate all the arts and artifacts, one would have to come back another day. I am not into religious and medieval painting so we skipped to Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and took a whole one hour looking for the Egyptian section, only to be disappointed with only one or two mummies. British Museum has more (and better) mummies than De Louvre. Finally we took another one hour just to figure out how to get out of De Louvre!

I might as well add a tip here; buy bottled waters (notice the plural?) before you even get to de Louvre area. Bottle waters are super expensive in this area and even worst in the museum itself. We learnt this the hard way when we had to pay 2.60 Euro for a 400ml distilled water! If you’re thinking fountain or tap water, the answer is no. There’s no water dispenser/fountain here and the queue to the washroom is crazily long. Worst come to worst, buy waters from the street vendors which will cost you 1 Euro, pricier than other places but better than inside the museum.

By 6 pm, we were back at Gare Du Nord. We had to wait for another 2 hours before we can check in to Eurostar for departure to London. There’s no free public toilet in Gare du Nord and we can’t get into the washroom in Eurostar area yet. I ended up paying 1.70 Euro (about RM5.50) for a paid washroom. CS cracked a joke by suggesting that I might as well go for ‘big business’ instead of ‘small’ one to make my money worth it! That, earned a glare from me.

By 8pm, we filled up the Visa card for UK and queue for Eurostar. UK immigration enter point is at Gare du Nord, so travelers can disembarked right away once reached London. That’s when I started to worry. What will the UK immigration officers asked? What if they don’t believe that we’re going to UK for holiday? What if we get deported? There’s no other Asian around, and we stood out like sore thumbs.

P:S

Finally, it was CS turn. The officer looked at him and me, signaled for me to come forward too.

Officer : What are you here for?
Me : Holiday.
Officer : For how long will you be in UK?
Me : 5 days.
Officer : Where will you stay in UK?
Me : Tune Hotel at Westminster Bridge Road.
Officer : Where will you be hereafter?
Me : We’ll be back to Paris on day 6.
Officer : You’re a Parisian?
(Do I look like Parisian?)
Me : No, we’re departing from Orly airport back to Malaysia.

PASSED!! That wasn’t too bad.

After the stress, I totally forgot how did I got onto Eurostar train. For me, I would consider Eurostar as the best way to get from Paris to UK and vice versa. It’s so fast that it shorten a 10 hours journey to only 2 hours plus. Both main station is situated right in the smack of the busy cities with extensive metro/tube line to other places, not to mention we don’t have to worry about baggage limit. Plus points ; the scenery is good too.

Do you 'pek si ham?

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:33:00 +0000

Do you pek si ham? That's my favourite activity but highly hazardous to health and dangerous. Pek si ham is from hokkien dialect which means opening cockles. Hazardous because of cholesterol level it'll boost and dangerous? You run the risk of your cockles flying to other people's lap when doing that, lol! My favourite pek si ham spot is Fend ikan bakar in Kelana Jaya, serving quite fresh ones grilled with hot sambal!

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14 hours on Airasia X

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 11:09:00 +0000

I was never gifted with the ability to sleep like a log, unlike someone. (CS is shifting his seat uncomfortably now). So you can imagine my horror when I know I had to spent 14 hours on flight to Paris, on... Airasia. Worst news? We were assigned to middle seats on a plane, smaller than the one we flew to Korea and fully occupied!

The flight started with air turbulence and meals were served much later, when I could barely handed my boarding pass to the attendants with my sleepy eyes. Then I woke up, yuck... my international meal taste awful. Tips : Always order Malaysian Meal when flying out from Malaysia and International Meal, when flying back from abroad. You can't trust a French to cook your nasi lemak, right?

Nasi Lemak, anyone?

Something I had learnt from previous flights, neck pillow doesn't work. The seats are too 'straight' and adding a neck pillow made my head slumped forward, creating a C curve at backbone. Placing the pillow at my lower back makes me feel much better.

3 hours passed.. I knew I need to get a sleep, as long as possible. I was sleepy but I can only closed my eyes for a few minutes before sensing the pain at my neck and the trio that played "cho dai dee' behind me.

6 hours passed. I turned my handphone on (with flight mode)to learn the time and calculate my estimated arrival time. Arghh still a long way to go.

I slept on CS's lap but woke up 2 hours later. A throbbing pain on my legs and I had to get up and exercise before I get the full blown deep vein thrombosis.

Finally I popped in some pills, ahem.. paracetamol which seemed to make me sleep most of them time. That didn't work!!

12 hours passed. Finally, I got up, with towel in my hand and head to the toilet for a 'cleanup'. Back to my seats, I took out my cosmetic bag and settled my foundation and eyeliners.

That's how I spent the last 2 hours on Airasia. Voila... we're finally in Paris!

Tour Seoul with only RM1,000!

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 07:42:00 +0000

This is something that I have been proud of since returning from Korea. Despite people telling me how expensive Korea is, we did it with less than RM1,000. I share with you my itinerary and the list of item we had spent money on. Not included in the list are snacks, wine and fruits that we savour along the way and the beautycare products I bought ( I spent RM300 on them :p).

Day 1 :
Arrival at Incheon International Airport.
AREX commuter (not the express) to Seoul Station. 3,700 Won.
Seoul Station -> Jongno-3-ga station (our hotel). 900
Sleep.

Day 2 :
Bukchon Hanok Village (subway from Jongno-3-ga to Anguk station). 900 Won
Gwanghwamun
Lunch at Tosokchon. 14,000 Won.
Gyeongbokgung. 3,000 Won.
Namsan Park (subway to Chungmuro station = 900Won, transfer shuttle bus to Namsan Park is free.
Walk 30 minutes downhill to Myeongdong (not recommended unless you’re fit and wearing a good walking shoes.)
Shopping in Myeongdong and claim my free T-money.
Dinner at Two Two Chicken. 30,000 Won (2 person).
Subway back to hotel. 900 Won.

Day 3 :
Subway. 900 Won.
Entrance for National Museum of Korea - Free.
Subway. 900 Won
Lunch at Noryangjin. 61,000 Won (2 person)
Subway. 900 Won
Walk along Cheongyecheon Stream. Free.
Window shopping in Dongdaemun.
Street food at Dongdaemun. 5,000 Won.
Abaisundae and Mung Bean Pancake at Gwangjang Market. 3,000 + 3,000 Won. (2 person)
Subway back to hotel. 900 Won.

Day 4 :
Subway. 900 Won.
Namdaemun Market.
Pastries from Namdaemun. 3,000 Won (2 person share)
Sinsaegae Shopping Center (Korea’s version of Harrods).
Subway to Sinchon. 900 Won.
BBQ all-you-can-eat in Sinchon. 8,000 Won.
Subway. 900 Won.
Shopping in Myeongdong (again!).
Subway back to hotel. 900 Won.

Day 5 :
Shuttle bus + Ferry ticket to Nami Island. 23,000 Won.
Explore Nami Island on foot.
Lunch : mandu that we bought from Nakwon dong in the morning. 6,000 Won (2 person)
Back to Seoul.
Subway to Namdaemun. 900 Won.
Dinner : Galchi Jorim in Namdaemun Market. 18,000 Won (2 person)
Subway back to hotel. 900 Won.

Day 6 :
Walk from hotel to explore Insadong.
Brunch at Sadong Myeonok, Insadong. 5,000 Won.
Jogyesa temple.
Dinner: Spicy BBQ Squids in Nakwon dong. 9,000 Won.
Subway to Seoul station. 900 Won.
Change to AREX commuter to Seoul International Airport. 3,700 Won.
Return T-money at GS5 for refund of remaining credits.

Food + Transport + Entrance Fees = 149,900 (RM419.72, with my exchange rate of RM2.80)
Return ticket to Seoul (Airasia) = RM255 per person (include airport tax but exclude check in baggage, in flight meal and insurance)
Accommodation = 200,000 Won (RM550 with my credit card exchange rate RM2.75) for twin sharing.
TOTAL = RM899.72!!!

Booking.com and Asiaroom.com had been very useful to me for my previous trip but I can’t say the same when it comes to Korea. Instead, I use Innostel which is solely specialize on Korea hotels and recommended by Korea Tourism website. It has plenty of hotels, guesthouse, motel and hostel to choose from and runs promotion from time to time. I booked Kara Motel and was given 2 free T-money card loaded with free 7,000 Won credit inside!

Never book your hotel in the last minute. If possible, let yourself have a few months lapse time to wait until the booking website has offers and the exchange rate is at your advantage. Trust me, you’ll see the difference!

I’m sorry to break this to you, but Airasia has just started charging fuel surcharge again. So, you can forget about getting return ticket for RM255 per person. Airasia ticket is cheapest when they’re doing launching for new destination only. The last best price that I surveyed was around RM800++ per person. Still, add in together, RM1,500 per person doesn’t sound like a bad idea too. Shhh… I saw on news that Airasia is launching Spain and Italy this year!

All You Can Eat at Zen Japanese Restaurant, Sunway Pyramid

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 06:00:00 +0000

A few weeks back we visited Zen Japanese Restaurant in Sunway Pyramid after it came highly recommended by a friend, who had been there numerous times for their Sunday all-you-can-eat lunch at only RM52++. That sounded like a good deal to us.

Being a Japanese restaurant, the interior and ambience intrigued me a bit. On entering, the kitchen was on our right, which looked like it belongs to a pub, especially with the dark colors. On our left are the seatings in modern minimalist Japanese style. And where were we seated? Right in the middle on sofas made like moon shaped partitions.

As usual, the mixed sashimi to try out which one taste better before ordering them in bulk. As we were early, the sashimi were cut into thickness just the way we like. The less likeable one was the squid as they're too thin to begin with, and too soft. Freshness was satisfactory. After all, Zen is under the same company as Rakuzen. By the third helping, probably because the number of customers had increased significantly, the sashimi's thickness became a little bit inconsistent.

Chuka Chimni (Seasoned Scallop). Again, nothing to complain, just the way I had expected it to be. For some reason, CS doesn't like the Baby Octopus as he feels the seasoning were different from the usual.

Chawanmushi. Unfortunately, after tasting a really good one in Munakata, Zen's Chawanmushi failed to impress.

Tamagoyaki (Omelette). We love this because they're not too sweet nor oily. Plus, the good presentation certainly mean something.

Prawn Tempura. Prawns are very fresh and the texture is... I think the word 'bouncy' describes it best.

Unagi with great flavour.

Shisamo fish.

Beef Sukiyaki. I wouldn't recommend this as it was too salty and despite being beef sukiyaki, there's only one pitiable piece of beef.

Chili Ika (Seasoned Cuttlefish).

Yakitori (Grilled Chicken). I must be a weirdo, because until today, only Jusco's grilled items can impress me.

Salmon sushi. The taste was just as good as its presentation.

I had came to the conclusion that I would never come to love any Fried Soft Shell Crab, no matter how hard I tried.

A matter that my friend has strongly pin point to us, was to eat as much green tea ice cream as possible because they serve the best in Klang Valley. That was true, because we each had 6 scoops before going home, satisfied that we had made our total bill of RM127.60 worth it.

Galchi Jorim Street in Namdaemun Market, Seoul

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 13:49:00 +0000

Let me introduce you to my double personality, Yoda-po who tends to ‘surface’ whenever I lost my already-not so-good writing inspirations. I’ll step aside and let her reign for this post.

Out of word.
Can’t think good.
So forgive me.
But it’s good food, I promise you.

7th April, 4 degrees celcius, shivering.
Hot and spicy, is all I want.
Galchi Jorim, I thought.

What is that? You wonder.
Spicy Fish Soup, it is.
To Namdaemun, we went.

“Galchi Jorim!” ahjuma shouted.
Chose one shop, we went in.
In claypot, it was served.
7,000 Won, it had cost.

Sweet and fresh, it had taste.
Extremely hot, it was.
A bit salty, but I mind not.
A lot of bones. Please choke not!
Love it? We do.

“Kimchi again?”, I had said.
What’s to do?
In Korea, we were.

Gyeram Jim (Poached eggs), for 4,000 Won.
Neutral the spice, it’s good for.

My camera, I took out.
Ahjumas, excited, they got.
Take pictures here and there, they asked me to.
Kiss me, they nearly did.
Bye bye, we bade them.
Hotel, we went back.

Location : Galchi Jorim Street in Namdaemun Market. If you see loads of bronze color pot on top of blazing stoves, you’re at the right lane.

Street Food in Seoul, Korea

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:47:00 +0000

To describe street food in Seoul, I would use the words ‘colorful’ and ‘abundance’. Of course when I said colorful, I didn’t meant they put a lot of artificial colorings to them but because of the varieties. From meat to pancakes, japanese styled snacks like tempura and takoyaki to European styles crepes, bagels and sandwiches and the list goes on and on.

Here are some of the street foods, snacks or tidbits that I gathered along the way during my trip.

Chicken gizzard fried with pepper and onions. These little beauties (to me) taste very good and tender. Highly recommended if you’re into chicken innards.

Price : 3,000 Won.
Venue : Stalls in Nakwon Dong.
Station : Jongno-3-ga.
Time : Morning/Day

We bought these at the same stall selling chicken gizzards. At first, we thought they were cuttlefish but after paying for it, we didn’t know what to think. It was mushy, slimy and we certainly didn’t enjoy them. A Korean lady who can speak English told us they were pork skin. Yucks.

Enjoy a burning sensation to your lips with Tteokbokki, rice cake cooked with spicy sauce. I took this picture in Nakwon Dong, selling for 3,000 Won but the one I tried was in Myeongdong subway station for only 2,500 Won. Do remember to try them because they’re tasty and second, it will cost you RM30 (10,000 Won!) to eat them in Malaysia.

Traditional Rice Cakes. My regret was I didn’t buy more of these to bring home. I put them in my hand carry luggage and they still taste good on arriving home. The price range is big depending on packaging, quantity and where you buy them, so you might want to survey around first.

Price : around 3,000 Won for a pack of 13 pieces.
Venue : Small grocery shops at an intersection between Nakwon Dong and Insadong.
Time : Morning to night.

Strawberries from grocery shop in Nakwon Dong was a disappointment, albeit big and red.

Dunkin Donuts. Before you yawn at this, their doughnuts are way better than ours - soft, not too sweet with assortment of flavours to die for. Price starts from 900 Won and promotional items at 1,000 , 1,300 and 1,500 Won. Don’t worry about finding them as Dunkin Donuts is rather big in Korea and I didn’t come across any JCo or Big Apple there.

Makgeolli (rice wine). Local wines are sold like soft drinks in Korea. Packed into plastic bottles, they’re available in hawker stalls, supermarkets, restaurants and convenience stores. We had tried Soju and Makgeolli and the latter is our winner because of its light sweet taste.

Price : 6,000 – 6,500 Won for 750ml.
Venue : Everywhere.

Mandu is like our dumplings and filled with the usual suspect – minced pork and vegetables. I don’t usually like dumpling but CS would tells you they rocks! The skin is thicker (but soft) which was able to keep everything together even when we bite into it. There’s another Kimchi flavor which was special but not enough for me to forgo the original ones. We bought 12 pieces to Nami Island, and we still can’t have enough of them! The ahjuma can speak Chinese very well.

Price : 3,000 Won for 6 sizeable Mandu.

Venue : A small unremarkable shop in Nakwon Dong not far from Jongno-3ga station exit 4. You can recognize the shop from the trays of mandu and the big steamer at the shop front. They must be making hundreds or thousands of mandu each day!

Time : Morning till late night.

Ediya Coffee and Beverage, a good place to have a drink.

Thumbs up for the plaited pastries with sugar coatings, taste like sugar raised doughnut, but a very good one. The round shape type was alike to sweet potato balls, but I wouldn’t recommend eating too much of it or you’ll feel bloated.

Price : 3,000 Won for 7 pieces. Mix are allowed.
Venue : In front of a restaurant in Namdaemun Market.
Time : Morning/ Day.

Lan Je Steamed Tilapia, Kota Damansara

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sun, 29 May 2011 02:48:00 +0000

Lan Je is another restaurant that I had put on the back burner for a long time. Imagine that Wendy had told me about the place like two years ago and only recently, we made a visit there. I had heard that the queue at Lan Jie is almost as famous as their steamed fish. Thanks for the heads up from food blogs, we headed there really early and by 6.30 pm on a weekday evening we were happily seated in the restaurant.

There's only one style for the steamed tilapia (RM14 - RM18 varies according to sizes) except the level of spiciness - mild, normal or extra spicy. CS had banned me from eating anything spicy reason being my on-and-off gastric pain, so all I could review was their non spicy steamed tilapia. We followed what others recommended - ordering one fish each for ourselves though at the end of the meal, I found finishing one whole fish by myself was really excessive. We waited for half an hour for our fish albeit there's only a few tables around, so I guess it really takes that long to steam a fish?

Topped with loads of chopped garlic, ginger and some birds' eye chilies, I would say they suppressed the natural tilapia muddy taste really well while its freshness is something to write home about.

The Kung Po (stir fried with dried chilies) cuttlefish was pretty good too. It's hard to find food with decent Kung Po sauce but I am satisfied with this one at Lan Je.

Direction : Go through Persiaran Surian from The Curve to the direction of Segi College. Pass by the college and continue to go straight. You will see big outlets of KFC, Pizza Hut and Mc Donald on your right but still, continue on for a few more meters and turn left to an area with new shoplots. The best landmark would be the Mee Gulam shop and Lan Je is just behind this row.

Lotteria, Korea's version of McDonalds

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:31:00 +0000

While lots of tourists are concerned about cost of food in Korea, I found this to be the least of my worries. My suggestion would be, Go Fast Food, Go! But wait, Koreans don't go to McDonalds on first thought of fast food, but Lotteria, their very own brand of fast food chain. With burgers' price starting from 3,000 Won, it sure is a very good dining option.

Lotteria can be found at almost all tourist spots, but could have been better if they made the letter 'L' bigger than McDonalds' 'M'. We kept on walking past it branch without realizing it.

Instead of a table number plate, we were given this device which will go beep beep once our food is ready for collection.

Once we're inside, "Anyo Haseyo" ( hello in Korean) filled the air and the staffs looked at us expectantly. After a lot of 'err' and 'err' we pointed to the picture that attracts us the most in the menu.

CS ordered the Shrimp Burger (3,000 Won) which looked like it was made for ladies - pinky and small while my Hanwoo Bulgogi Burger (5,400 Won) was so 'macho'.

My instinct was right, CS is never going to have a happy ending with this. He couldn't taste anything from the patty that suggest shrimps. It was just plain and bland.

My Hanwoo Bulgogi Burger was not without a fault. The amount of vegetables and tomatoes given were too little compared to the size of the bread and patty. However, its ultimate winning point (which won me over, totally) was the juicy sweet piece of beef patty.

Lotteria has its own's version of McFlurry and Dairy Queen's Blizzard, which they called it Tornado. Priced at 1,500 Won, it was about the same price as McFlurry in Malaysia, slightly bigger and many times better. It was thicker, colder with generous amount of toppings.

Nami Island, where Winter Sonata starts.....

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sun, 22 May 2011 01:28:00 +0000

After much procastination, I decided to put Nami Island into our itineraries on the day just before we departed for Korea. My indecisiveness to go Nami Island was not without a reason. On the mention of this island everyone will link it to the drama series Winter Sonata, which irks me. No offense intended for the fans of Bae Yong Jun or Choi Ji Woo but I hate crying dramas and Winter Sonata happens to fall in that category.

Thanks to Zarina from budgettravel2korea, who detailed ways to get to Nami Island, we got there by taking a shuttle bus from Tapgol Park in Insadong area straight to Gapyeong Wharf with ferries embarking for the island. All we need to pay was 23,000 per person for admission, roundtrip bus and ferry trip.

Our bus tickets and the entry visas (more like a ferry ticket) for NI.

I might as well mention here, although that we can buy the ticket on the spot for shuttle bus, it is recommended to book the ticket via online to avoid disappointment. As far as I noticed, there's only one bus departing for the jetty daily at 9.30 am sharp. A little side note, the bus is parked at the road side across the Tourist Information Center, so do not look for a bus station or even a stand that sells bus tickets (buy the ticket from the bus driver).

Cute little ferry called Nami Maid. Notice Malaysia's flag in the picture?

The one and a half hour bus trip took us to the jetty with cute little ferries. As NI is not known for delicious or inexpensive meals, we packed our own lunch - 12 big pieces of mandu, grapes, water and my favourite makgeoli wine. Out of 12, 4 pieces are kimchi mandu and I was excited to try them until....... an auntie vomited a hell lot of kimchi in front of us when we were embarking the ferry!!!

It was stuffy in the ferry but fortunately the journey only lasted 8 minutes. I would recommend going to the deck to enjoy the wind if it's not raining.

Paid a little respect to the person, whom the island is named after - General Nami who was falsely denounced as a traitor and executed.

Jang Geun Suk (the actor of You're Beautiful) might rule the mainland but Nami Island is Woon Bin's domain, as the ambassador of UNICEF.

The squirrels are not too shy and easily tempted with fruits.

This sight is everywhere in the island but we never got bored of it.

The most sought after photo taking spot.

This bike must have something to do with Winter Sonata which is why it was 'enshrined'.

The Museum of Music is a good place to hangout as it houses a lot of traditional musical instruments from asian countries. The picture above is at its small foyer/library which looks a lot like Edward Cullen's room in Twilight.

A big art piece made from colorful fabrics exhibited at the Museum of Music.

Cute little bungalows for visitors who would like to stay over night. There are a lot of designs, themes and sizes to choose from.

Nami Island is a car-free small island. Every corners of the island can be easily explored on foot. The bus we came in earlier will leave for Insadong at 4 pm, which perfectly gave us enough time to explore the island without a rush.

By the way, packing lunch is the most sensible thing we did amidst this spring coldness. We got hungry faster than usual and food taste better in this weather. There are plenty of benches and gazebos on the island that made perfect picnic spots. Just choose one of them, drink your makgeoli wine and enjoy the breathtaking scenery.

RM22.40 All-You-Can-Eat BBQ in Seoul

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sun, 15 May 2011 13:16:00 +0000

Weeks before Seoul trip, I found out BBQ, especially when it involves beef, is expensive in Korea, even for Koreans. I frowned at the prices I found online. Cheapest menu would priced at USD10 for 150gm at Bulgogi Brothers, one of the franchise specializing in BBQ. A friend didn't make is easier on me when she said she spent RM500 for a 5 pax BBQ meal.

That was, before I came across this blog thenatstory.com, which told the story of cheap, good, all-you-can-eat BBQ in Sinchon area. With the main population comprises of young adults and university students (Sinchon has at least three universities in vicinity), Sinchon is full of budget food outlets catered for the limited incomes.

As it's in Hangul, I do not know the name of the BBQ shop. Here's a little instruction on getting there. From Sinchon subway station, exit via exit 3, which is next to McDonald. Turn at the first lane on your right and you'll see dozens of shops like Nike, Adidas, Face Shop etc.

Go straight until you see SK Telecom and Starbucks on your left as picture above. Turn into the lane between them, which is full of restaurants and cafes. Go along until you see the shop with yellow signboards (see below picture). One thing that will tell you you're at the right place is the 'Handmade Fry Pub' sign just above the shop.

As much as how it was said to be a good haunt for BBQ, there wasn't single customer in the shop and so was the case with the nearby competitors. We took a deep breath, got in and asked the lady, "Eight thousand?" just to confirm the price to which she replied, "Yes, yes." It certainly looked like we're the first customer because she just set to prepare the buffet line for us.

Do forgive me for the poor quality images as my Canon and iPhone couldn't work at their best in this dimly lighted canteen-like restaurant. However, please be assured the meat taste better than their look.

Kimchi, veges, sauces, frozen rice cake and gyoza to spice up our meal.

The ahjuma laid the aluminium foil on top of the hot plate and poked a few holes on it, probably to make it easier for the oil to drip down

We started with the Gyoza and the ham-like item but they failed to impress because they were not totally de-frost, contributing to the dry texture.

This piece of steak-sized meat takes a long time to cook but the hard work was well worth it. It was fresh, tender and juicy.

Our favourite is the thinly sliced meat with considerable amount of animal fats, which made the cooking easier while adding aroma to the meat.

Squid marinated in chili paste. The squids in Korea are generally humungous. The portion above is just half of the one squid that I grilled (I gave the other half to CS) and it's very palatable.

By now, you will have notice we only use the term - 'meat' instead of 'pork', 'beef' or 'lamb'. The answer is easy.. we do not know what these meat are. We did not venture to ask because we're sure the lady won't understand us so why bother? We can only hope against hope that no cute little doggy was harmed for our meal here, as Koreans are known to be canine-eaters.

Window shopping in Dongdaemun, Seoul

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Fri, 13 May 2011 17:29:00 +0000

I just noticed that we had quite an eventful second day in Seoul from the interesting National Museum of Korea and food hunt in Noryangjin to Gwangjang market. The only place that smeared our itinerary, is unfortunately the highly anticipated Dongdaemun. Note that this is only in my opinion because I was looking for a shopping haven like Bangkok only to find Dongdaemun more like Sungai Way with very costly price tag. Nonetheless, DDM is a good place to people-watching.

From Gwangjang Market, we walked along the famous Chengyecheon Stream where the movie Jeon Woochi was filmed. The stream is a long stretch andI couldn’t find the exact spot where Kang Dong Won fight the evil goblin, which is more scenic.

Dongdaemun shopping hub is made up of at least 3 main buildings specializing in selling clothes. I found them boring mainly because the good quality clothings will burn a very large hole in my pocket while the low quality jackets (with a cardboard written ‘ARMANI’ paste on it) cost more than buying (authentic) Zara in Malaysia. As for the street vendors, they’re usually reluctant to give discounts. We soon realized that food are the only things worth exploring.

DDM is full of restaurants, food outlets and street food. After the visit to Noryangjin and Gwangjang Market, we were full to the brink. I wanted to buy Isaac sandwich but gave up the idea.

The only things we tried was this sausage wrapped in French fries for 5,000 Won per piece. It’s a little pricy but the sausage is big and the French fries are crunchy. Overall, it’s tasty.

With Namdaemun will be closed by evening and Myeongdong’s shop packing up by 10 pm, DDM is a good place to wander if you’re not planning to return to hotel yet. It’s like the twin sister of Noryangjing, only that it sells clothings instead of seafood almost 24 hours a day with wholesalers active from midnight till 5 am.

Gwangjang Market, Jongno-5-ga,Seoul.

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Tue, 10 May 2011 15:32:00 +0000

Say what you may, but I'm totally merciless when it comes to food. I'm glad that Korea's weather in early April had been very cold, made me burn the calories faster and I was eager to draw a tick beside the list of food on my notes - 3 full pages of A4 papers.

A good place to hit as many birds with one stone is none other than the notorious Gwangjang Market. The moment we stepped into the covered market, known for its plentiful street food, we were inevitably greeted (or led on?) by the layers of aromatic smells.

The market can be entered from a few points which all leads into the heart of the market like tunnels, and along these 'tunnels', are where dozens and dozens of hawker stalls aligned. There's hardly any stall that is not having a brisk business even though competition is assured by the many stalls that serve the same food.

While the food dominates the 'main tunnels', the clothing industry rules the other small pathways. If anyone wants to buy a hanbok, I'm sure Gwangjang is the place to go. The hanboks are so pretty and colorful and stocks at each shop are quite unique.

Back to the food, the most domineering smell in this market would be the mung bean pancake, Bindaeduk. It's hard to pass by these stalls without buying at least one small size pancakes. Mung beans are grounded into batter using the huge stone mortar, then fried up with spring onion and beansprouts. I forgot how much we paid for the pancakes but rest assured that they cost only a few reasonable thousand won.

There's a few stalls selling these preserved seafood but as much as I would love to try, I'm left with just a small little corner (in stomach) to fit in the Abaisundae.

After food and clothings, kitchenware is another large business in Gwangjang Market.

Other notable food in the market includes Jokbal (boiled trotter), boiled intestines, seafood sashimi, Tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) and hotpots (shabu-shabu).

My main reason to be here in the first place - Abaisundae a.k.a the blood sundae. We paid only 3,000 won for a whole plate of them. Pig's intestine were stuffed with glutinous rice, boiled and served with a little pinch of salt. It didn't turned out as good as I imagined, quite bland but hey, that's an experience one must have when visiting Korea - sampling every culture and food, right?

To get to Gwangjang Market, get to Jongno-5-ga line 1 and get out from exit 8. The market is within walking distance from Dongdaemun. The shops are open till evening while the food stalls open till around 11 at night.

Awesome Lunch at Noryangjin Fish Market

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sun, 08 May 2011 13:21:00 +0000

Noryangjin Fish Market is probably the highest peak of our food adventure in Seoul, Korea. In fact, CS has keep on saying, "Let's go back to Seoul again next year, ok? I wanna go Noryangjin again!" for the past few weeks. The reason? The abundance of live seafoods, some we had never or even know it existed before. If you're a seafood lover, you're up for an adventure of your life.

Noryangjin is easily accessible by subway line 1 and line 9. Note that some of the subway map did not have line 9, which is a relatively new line. Changing between other lines with line 9 requires you to pay for the transfer. Therefore I would recommend taking the line 1, also nearer to the market compared to line 9.

As Noryangjin is outside of Seoul city center, english signboards are even rarer. After getting help from a guy we finally came to the 'gateway' to the fish market - a pedestrian bridge that leads to the market's rooftop parking lot. At this point, it became easier as the smell got stronger and stronger with every step we took. The fishy stench started to make us wonder whether we should turn back. We were glad we didn't.

We arrived on the first floor, where we get to take better pictures of the market on the ground, without getting hoarded by the traders. Even then, the traders were already looking up at us and I bet we're already on their hit list! We were totally intimidated. Gulp...

We stopped 3 girls whom I hope, could understand english given their younger age, to ask for a recommendation of restaurant. Unfortunately, they don't speak english and game between chickens and ducks began! As sign language came to a moot point, they took my hand and lead us down the 'selling floor'. We went to a few stalls to haggle (loudly), mostly which the girls will turned to me and shake their heads, saying, "Not good, not good".

No one can imagine the ruckus we made at Noryangjin Fish Market. There was a filming crew nearby that stopped filming and all attention to us, maybe because we're too loud or they're just wondering what the hell are we doing. Somehow, it was fun! After a few tries we finally brought 2 rock fish (woo ruk), abalones (jeon bok), and live small octopus (san nakji) with a free sea squirt (don't ask me what is this) and oysters. I wanted to invite the Power Puff Girl for lunch, but they declined, not before warning the trader to take us to a good restaurant.

Our rock fish sashimi. One moment, they were rock fish swimming happily in the aquarium. Next, they're struggling for life and finally they were on our plate. The sashimi texture were mildly chewy, at the freshest condition it could possibly be and its natural sweetness is fascinating.

Like mentioned earlier, we were given a free sea squirt, which after decapitation, looked like this. Even for me, I would recommend eating it with chili and garlic to subdue the strong fishy smell. It wasn't good maybe because of its 'head' which looks like ......

THIS. Not appetizing, right? You know it reminds you of something, but I don't want to say it.

Chilies + chopped garlic + bird's eye chilies + sesame oil = awesome.

This is our first time seeing and eating fresh abalones. We asked the ajuhma to grill them for us and they turned out to be just as awesome as the sashimi, once paired with the chili sauce.

Steam oysters were probably the least enjoyable dish that we had for the day. There were some sands and bits of shells in them and chewing them became very irritating.

The initial reason I came to Noryangjing - San Nakji. Small octopus were cut into small pieces and served immediately. As their nerves are still active, the pieces will still be squirming around. If you leave them untouched for a few minutes, they would appeared to be finally 'dead' but once you poke them, they will start wriggling again. We were careful to chew the nakji thoroughly before swallowing as they could cause choking hazard. The taste was very bland and probably not worth the hard work of chewing diligently. In the end, we just threw them into hot soup to cook.

Maeuntang (spicy fish soup). While we were busy enjoying the food, the kitchen were busy preparing maeuntang using the leftover fishbones from our rock fish. It was served piping hot on a portable gas stove. Since I had already use the word 'awesome' on sashimi and abalone, I had no better words to use now. The soup was incredibly strong, peppery and sweet. It was our favourite for the day, and believe me, I'm still drooling just by looking at this picture.

The restaurant where we had our seafood prepared. The owner ajuhma, like any other Koreans, takes pride in their cooking. She shake her head in disapproval when CS decided to separate wasabi from soysauce. She took up his plate and drained away the soysauce and recombine his wasabi with soysauce again. It was funny to watch because I had always felt, CS should be taught to respect someone's cooking.

Total cost for eating at Noryangjin:

2 stone fish (woo ruk) with free sea squirt = 20,000 won
3 abalones ( jeonbok ) with free 3 oysters = 10,000 won
Small live octopus = 10,000 won
Restaurant charges = 21,000 won
Total = 61,000 won (equivalent to around RM170 with exchange rate of 2.8)

The market operates almost 24 hours with wholesale auction going from midnight till morning. Hence, it's not a problem to come here for breakfast (if you have to eat seafood first thing in the morning), lunch, or dinner. A little tip though. It would be wise to put this agenda at the end of your day because the fishy smell could linger on your hair, your clothes and even your shoes for the whole day! Also, this would translate as, don't wear your best clothes and shoes there!

Seoul Trip Day 2 - National Museum of Korea

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:01:00 +0000

On our second day in Korea, we visited the National Museum of Korea, the 6th largest museum in the world - that surely means something. It was a 10 minute walk from Ichon subway station and we don’t have to find the place as hard as anywhere because.. we were accompanied by a hell lot of children on their school trip! All we had to do was follow the noises.

Opened in 2005, the museum was meant to house the large amount of artifacts that overflowed its old location at Gyeongbokgung. We had to walk the long stairways before we can get a full view of the building itself but not before admiring its open square of concrete and beautiful landscape.

Once inside the main exhibition hall, there is a customer service counter with staffs capable of Korean, Chinese, English or Japanese. Although there’s a sign of ‘no food and drinks’, we were allowed to bring our water bottle inside, as long as we don’t drink from it. There’s no reason for us to break the rules anyway, since water dispensers are easily available on each floor.

We took the free tour guide program in English which lasted for about 2 hours. For anyone who can understand chinese, I would recommend taking the chinese guide. Our tour guide was highly competent and knows the history well, only that we had hard time understanding English laced with Korean slang.

I'll keep this post short and let the pictures do the narrations.

Buddhism is pretty big in Korea, especially centuries ago, which is why the museum had such a big collection of buddhism relics.

Buddha statues, higher than human heights.

One of the national treasure no. 83 - Pensive Bodhisattva. An interesting fact told by our guide ; you can try sitting the same pose and you won't be able to keep your torso upright like the statue. That's because the early sculptors made the right arm longer to made his pose looked more upright and elegant.

Golden Crown of Silla Dynasty. I totally drooled at this.

Another national treasure of Korea : Bell of King Seongdeok. It measures 3.33 meters high, 2.27 meters in diameter, and 11 to 25 centimeters in thickness.

Exquisite jade color ceramics.

A chronology of history for China, Japan and Korea. A good chart to look at before starting to explore the museum.

Gyeongcheonsa Pagoda, a 10 story high pagoda made from marble in 1348 that now sits in the National Museum of Korea. The pagoda was built for people to worship in early days. It was once dismantled and moved to Japan during Japanese Occupation but was finally returned to Korea in 1960.

Two Two Chicken at Myeongdong, Seoul

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sun, 01 May 2011 13:38:00 +0000

I have never heard of Korea being famous for fried chicken but after reading some Korean food blogs, I was convinced to put fried chicken in my priority list. Some mentioned that Two Two Chicken serves one of the best ones and for that, I tried searching for its list of branches' address but failed. We decided to put our bet in Myeongdong since it's the busiest place in Seoul and jackpot!

Despite being one of the biggest franchise food outlet in South Korea, this outlet feels more like a family owned little restaurant. No uniforms, operated by an elderly couple occasionally helped by their son, when he's not too busy with his iPhone.

I had a packet of Tteokbokki in my hand and I asked the uncle whether I can eat them here. He looked at me, puzzled that I should ask, and answered' "Of course!" Unlike in Malaysia, Korean restaurants does not ban customers from eating BYO (bring-your-own) food.

All meals in Korea starts with kimchi. This is one of the non-spicy kimchi, with a mix taste of sour and sweet. Oh my... why are the kimchi in Korea taste so crunchy?

Golbang-i (15,000 Won), a plattter of hot and sweet seashells mixed with raw vegetables. The seashells were too rubbery and the sauce was too hot for us to handle.

Golbang-i came together with a handful of cold noodles which is bland, cold and boring. This will be the last time I am ever to try this dish again.

We went for the original flavour fried chicken because CS's refusal to accept them in garlic sauce or spicy sauce. Each set (15,000 Won) of fried chicken is enough to feed two. Put together with my BYO tteokbokki and Golbang-i, we had a hard time finishing all the food. Putting this factor aside, Two Two Chicken is just what a fried chicken should be - divinely aromatic, flavoursome, crunchy on the outside yet still remained juicy in the meat. Oh, did I mention they used mostly drumsticks and chicken thigh, that promised better meat texture? We packed some of them back to hotel as supper and they still taste so good even after a few hours.

Its menu does not offer too much variety but the fried chickens are more than enough to summon more foodie. For more info on the menu please visit their website.

continued Seoul Trip Day 1 - Namsan and Myeongdong

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 12:12:00 +0000

Namsan Tower, or some known as N Seoul Tower is situated at top of Namsan Park. We were devastated to find out that 2011 winter had been too cold that the cherry are not going to blossom after all. So, instead of perfect spring view we were greeted with dried and heartless trees at Namsan Park.

There’s a few way to get to this huge park but I’ll put it in another post later. We reached the parking lot of Namsan Park via shuttle bus but that still required us to walk a little slope up the hill. Walking up a slope is nothing new to me but I happened to wear heels instead of sneakers!

The most interesting agenda of NT are the Love Locks. Lovers from all over the world come here to ‘lock’ their love (padlock) and throw away the keys so that their love will last forever. A few years ago, only the fences were full of locks but when they were too full, trees were added to provide more space.

Even the sheep-shaped bonsai was 'victimized'.

Tourists and locals alike, love Namsan Tower. We took some time to explore the surroundings and the shops. We didn’t visit the Bear Museum or go up the tower due (7,000 Won) to the mix review I read online.

Remember when I mentioned we found a better place to try hanboks than Gyeongbokgung? Here it is - Korea Tourism Info Center in Plaza M Level 5, Myeongdong.

The hanboks in here are so much better in colors and designs compared to Gyeongbokgung's and some studios that offer rentals and photo taking for a price. Best of all, it's for free.

I had seen Myeongdong in many K dramas and movies but still, non of them prepares me for the overwhelming crowds. It's very alike to Women's street in Hongkong, full of vendors selling clothes, shoes, snacks, cosmetics and skincare.

Grilled dried squids, 5,000 Won for each packet.

Underground shopping center is common in Korea. Myeongdong underground shopping center is one of the famous ones but I think it's kind of overrated. I prefer to stay above the ground.

Cosmetics and skincare are cheap in Korea, also happens to be my biggest loots from this trip. The skincare shops are so concentrated in Myeongdong that it's not surprising to find 5 or 6 same brand shop. The bad side is, the plentiful same shops made me lost my sense of direction. CS never has any sense of direction so he lost nothing. Tips : never ever use a skincare shop as landmark to navigate in MD.

Averagely, shoes and clothes in MD have prices out of our league, but we found good deals in Lotte Young Plaza, so much better than its elder sister - Lotte Departmental Store. All in all, we love MD and even visited it twice during the trip. Another little tips though; make a list of what you want to buy first or you'll ended up buying skincare like you had been possessed.

Seoul Trip Day 1 - Bukchon & Gyeongbokgung

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:58:00 +0000

It is time for me to share my trip to South Korea, specifically Seoul which I did 3 weeks ago. Ah... I miss Seoul... We really had a good 6 days time even with the large language barrier and malfunctioning of my sense of direction.

We woke up in Kara Motel, feeling groggy from the lost-in-the-city adventure we had the previous night. I thought it wasn't that cold in Seoul after all. So, I chucked my jacket (CS had no jacket because he left his at home!), armed with only tops and cardigan and we stepped out of the motel. A gush of cold wind woke me up, chill to bone and I ran back and get my jacket plus gloves.

First on our itinerary was Bukchon Hanok Village. I thought I had all the information and maps that I need to navigate around, but we're lost, the moment we stepped out of the Anguk station. I made the starting point with Unhyeongung but then, where exactly is the palace's front and back? After a few trys to get help from passersby, an elderly man spoke to us, "Follow me!" Somehow we did what he said (I wouldn't do that in Malaysia) and after a while we were in streets full of hanok houses.

The elderly man (let's just call him 'uncle') can speak very few english but he knows how to write chinese. He scribbled on my notepad "China?" to which we wrote back "Malaysia" in chinese.

We were taken to Baek Inje's House in Gahoe-dong, but it was closed for renovation. Surprisingly the uncle started to keep pressing on the doorbell (yes, a hanok house equipped with door bell and CCTV) and called for the guard. We tried to convey the message 'it's all right, we can go to somewhere else' but he's insistent that tourist should not be rejected at door.

We were led into the house but the guard warned us not to take pictures in the house or its compound, which explained why I only have the above picture. Inside this door, is what used to be the house of upper classes in old Korea. We got the chance to explore its living corners, storages, chambers and even the lavatory!

The streets in Buckhon made us feel like time had gone back to a century ago.

The other side of Bukchon/Samcheong-dong which were populated by expatriates and Caucasians. In short, rich people's residences. I certainly would love to own a place like this someday.

Our tour guide uncle was very kind and did not mind spending 2 hours taking us around Samcheong-dong and Bukchon area. His family started to worried about his whereabout and called him! Still, he even offered to take us to Gyeongbokgung but we didn't want to take his kindness for granted anymore. After some assurance that we'll be alright, he bade us goodbye.

Then we walked to Gwanghwamun Square, which had appeared in hit TV series 'Iris'.

The square lined by shallow streams on both side. We're curious about the numbers and Hangul written in the streams.

It was still early so we had the square all by ourselves save for some passersby.

The pop jet fountains, functioning at certain time daily, was fun to watch and would be playable too if not for the cold weather.

Gwanghwamun Square is also the resting place of King Sejong's statue and .....

a certain General Yi Sun-Shin.

Just metres away is the Gwanghwamun gate itself, which served as the entrance for Gyeongbokgung.

Lunch at Tosokchon.

Gyeongbokgung constructed in 1394 and was the main palace of the Five Grand Palaces in Seoul, translated in English as "Palace of Shining Happiness." That, of course, guaranteed us with massive crowd during our visit.

The lake on the left side of the palace.

Guard changing ceremony will commence sharp on every hour. The ceremony takes quite a long time and walking that I got bored after a while.

X marks the spot but these stones marks the officials' status in the court. The smaller the number, the more important one is and the top officials stand at the furthest front.

A hall used to hold ceremonies and celebrations overlooks the beautiful lake. A perfect place for party.

The main hall where the king meets the officials and discuss country matters.

As I was expecting Gyeongbokgung will boast grandeurs and luxuries, I was a little disappointed to find the place simple and minimalist, unlike all the palaces I had been to. In fact, the main hall, secondary hall and the rest of the quarters are very much the same except for the sizes. A little tip for visitors, if you like the idea of wearing a hanbok and have your photos taken in this surrounding, head to a cafe near the left side fences. You can try on the hanboks for free but the line can be frustrating. We gave up after waiting for 30 minutes but later found a better place to try hanboks.

To be continue to Part 2

A review of Kara Motel, Seoul

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 15:50:00 +0000

You might probably ask, what the hell am I doing in a motel!

When I got into a forum and asked about affordable accommodation in Seoul, a few helpful Koreans suggested that I look for a ‘motel’ instead of ‘hotel’. I grimaced at this suggestion because we all know what motel usually means in Malaysia. They assured me that the motels are clean, safe and even decent with half the price of staying at a hotel. In fact a lot of Koreans stay at these motels when they’re having domestic holidays.

Of all the booking websites I sifted through, Innostel is the one that provides the best offer. While my initial budget for accommodation was set at RM250, it slowly descended to RM150 and finally downed to RM120 which is Kara Motel. With my credit card’s rate, I actually paid only RM110 per night, even cheaper than most guesthouses. CS was very happy with this budget.

To be honest, I can’t hide my disappointment when we got into our room 702. It was small, aged and we were rendered without a wardrobe and safety box. The window serves as an escape outlet in case of emergency more than for scenery. The PC (it’s not unusual for hotels to provide computer in Korea) is antique.

On my second day, I started to appreciate this small little room that I started to see it as comfortable. The floor has heating system to keep our feet warm, the bed sheet is clean and we were well entertained by the big LCD TV in our room. Maybe because we made the room really messy, the housekeeping only helped us to empty the bins and changed the towels for 6 days we were there but that didn’t bother us much.

Bathroom is clean and the only complain I have is that the shower only gives me hot or freezing cold water, nothing between that. Toiletries are provided but in big bottles, so you’re actually sharing them with the previous tenants and the previous, previous before that.

Location wise, Kara Motel is superb. Its side door is just right in front of exit 3 of Jongno-3-ga subway station that interconnects line 1. 3 and 5. This area is called Nakwon-dong. Just around the corner is the tourism spot Insadong area. Unhyegong, Changdeokgung, Jogyesa and Bukchon Hanok Village are within walking distance. With that, Gyeongbokgung and Gwanghwamun are also reachable if you donned on a pair of good walking shoes. If you’re planning to go Nami Island, you can even take shuttle bus from this area to Nami Island jetty. What more can I ask for?

Almost 80% of Nakwon-dong made out of food outlets but still, there’s a lot of street food lining the roadsides. The only problem you’ll face here is you never have enough stomach space to stuff them all. It’s just too bad we always left our hotel early morning and only returned when we’re too dead beat to enjoy the area. I foresee my return to Kara Motel.

Endnote : Although a motel, I didn't see any prostitutes or patrons of such thing during our stay, only tourists like us.

Samgyetang at Tosokchon, Seoul.

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:40:00 +0000

It was cold on 4th Apr 2011 but both of us knew we need to walk even faster. We were behind schedule of our plan to reach the destination before 11.30 am. As CS's leg is longer, have better physical fitness and he's not wearing heels (damn the heels), I asked him to disregard me and go ahead. His mission... to beat the crowds to reach Tosokchon first!

Tosokchon, is a restaurant in Gyeongbokgung area, widely acclaimed to serve the best Samgyetang and it was frequently visited by late South Korea President Roh Moo-hyun. All my researches told me, the queue can get really long and I would hate to stand outside in cold.

11.45am, we finally stopped at Tosokchon's door step, panting and catching our breaths. No queues, yet! My schedule remained perfect! And finally their staffs are the first batch of people who can understand our langguage as they speak Chinese quite perfectly. We felt as if we were given back our mouth and ears.

The restaurant is housed in a traditional hanok building with 3 sections for customer seatings. There isn't any noticeable difference between the three except being separated by thin sliding doors. Most of the time, they were open. Chairs are alien entity here. We sit on the floor with cushion mats as buffer. I was thrilled. We are eating Samgyetang, the traditional way!

While waiting for our Samgyetang, I couldn't help but started to munch on the kimchi, readily available to us in jars on our table.

These changed my perception on kimchi, Those that I had tried in Korean restaurant in Malaysia before, are too soggy and somehow just spicy, spicy and spicy. The kimchi here, emits stronger smell and despite the fermentation, the vegetable remains crunchy. The best part, it's not all about spiciness. It has some tangy taste tinted with sweetness in it.

This was what we had been walkathon-ing the whole morning for. Samgyetang translated as Ginseng Chicken Soup is surprisingly a cuisine designated for summer even with the 'hot' properties (chinese herbs terminology) of ginseng. The Koreans used to have it in summer to replenish the energy (qi) or stamina lost in the heat. To make a Samgyetang, glutinous rice and a whole ginseng is stuffed into a spring chicken and finally cooked in broth with jujube fruits, garlic and ginger.

The chicken was already cooked so soft that a little push on it, gave way to the glutinous rice in it. Although a little bland, the meat taste good once compensated by soy sauce. The glutinous rice made me feel like asking the waitress what brand they're using, because I would like to smuggle a pack back to Malaysia. It's not because of the taste but more because of the right level of stickiness and texture it gave.

Samgyetang is an acquired taste. People who loves only strong flavoured food and with less regards for healthy goodness, might not like this cuisine. For me and CS, we welcomed this meal with gladness. It totally warmed us after getting abused by cold winds in Buckchon area.

Each order of samgyetang is inclusive of tea, water and a small cup of ginseng wine. (I remember I took the picture but I just couldn't find it!) I only took a lick at the wine and gosh... my throat was burning and I was coughing. Took a second try, sipped it really slow and finally got the catch of it.

Method of payment : show this tag (given by waitress) to the cashier when you're exiting the place.

Turned the tag around, and it'll become a menu.

Although Koreans generally have very little obese case, you should look at the amount they eat! They can finish a whole samgyetang each and still order for rice and other dishes while I'm struggling to finish mine. Two Korean ladies who sat beside me must have thought that we were saving money, that they shared their seafood pancake with us. (We met a lot of Samaritans today) The pancake has generous amount of squids, prawns and spring onions while the texture is close to our oyster omelette.

By the time we're leaving, this is what greeted us at the doorstep. Longgg... queue. And I irritated them more by taking picture of them like saying, "Ha Ha, I got here earlier. But of course, you know me, I'm not that bad.

In order to get there, walk pass the front of Gwanghwamun (gate into Gyeongbokgung) on right. Go straight and cross the road, you'll see some policeman stationed at this junction. You are near the presidential house at this point. After crossing, walk on all the way until you see the exit 2 of Gyeongbokgung subway station. Turn right and walk until you see GS25 family mart on your left. Turn at the small lane beside it, and Tosokchon will be only a few steps away.

I stalked Lim Ju Hwan

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:07:00 +0000

After watching Korean drama Tamra the Island, I was smitten by Park Kyu played by Lim Ju Hwan. Since then, my laptop wallpaper logically changed from Edward Cullen to this :

Not to mention that I change it weekly, different background and scene but always with Lim Ju Hwan in it. I just love him in Hanbok!!

By the title of this post, I must say of course I didn’t purposely stalk Lim Ju Hwan! I’m not yet to that level of creepiness. It was CS who challenged me at first. We were in Seoul last week and CS suggested that we are so much closer to Lim Ju Hwan than previously, why not find out where he lives? He spoke those words with evil smile because he knows that would be mission impossible, but I decided to irritate him by saying yes!

My only clues : Lim Ju Hwan still uses subway sometimes. The line that he uses are mostly 3 & 4 and he need to change the line once from his workplace to his home. (Information from a translated magazine article).

Looking at the subway map, the only station that interconnects line 3 & 4 is Chungmuro. Yeah, we narrowed down to our (my) hunting ground!

Re amended our itinerary, we change train a lot at Chungmuro a lot. Always on full alert at this station like a hound hunting for its rabbit, keeping eyes on guys that are around his height and built. But did I catch my rabbit??

Answer is… fat chance, NO!

If Korean artistes are that easily bumped into, all Korean drama fanatics would have rushed into Seoul like crazy and I might have put my next target into stalking my another favourite actor Kang Dong Won. I might as well add, I decided to ‘stalk’ Lim Ju Hwan just for the fun of it and to irritate CS, since I’ve never done that before.

My effort is not totally futile. We did see a leng chai in Chungmuro station who looks.. well.. pattern is close to Lim Ju Hwan’s type (but not him). He’s an attendant/guard in Chungmuro station! I would have ask him to take a pic with me but hey, my train’s here…

Murni Discovery at Aman Suria

noreply@blogger.com (Fraulein) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 04:35:00 +0000

Remember the days when we had dinner or supper at Murni SS2? We had to crane our necks to find a parking space, stationed our friends at north, east, south and west so we can 'book' a seat once some customers decided to leave, sitting by the roadside and risked getting squashed by some drunk drivers? Now you don't have to endure those things at the new branch at Aman Suria. Apparently it wasn't new anymore. Some bloggers had actually blogged about it a year ago, but I was thrilled to 'discover' the place when I was circling the area recently.

This branch was named Murni Discovery, instead of just Murni. Like its big brother in SS2, it too, has very extensive menu.

CS went for his usual favorite, while trying to find out which one has the better Roti Hawaii (RM5). One can choose either to have chicken of beef for it. Good news... Murni Discovery won this competition with very palatable beef chunks, sausages and generous amount of cheese.

Work of a savage... That's what happened when you combined CS and meats!

Every few seconds, the waiters will bring out plates and plates of Mee Raja, proving it to be the best seller here and of course, captivated my interest. Though pricier at RM8, the portion was real big that threatened to sabotage my weight lose program. The noodles are special. Looks almost like instant noodles but were actually thinner and have the texture (when I bit it) close to Hakka mee. Stir fried together with prawns, squids and others, it pretty much summed up to being 'special' and 'tasty'.

As for drinks, we can't say much as the waiter gave us the usual fruit juice instead of the juice special that we ordered. As usual, papers and pens are not their main apparatus when taking down someone's order here.

Murni Discovery
Jalan PJU 1/3B
Sunway Mas Commercial Centre
Petaling Jaya, Selangor