It's been a while but like good tea, important things takes the right amount of steeping to get the perfect result. So basically I have spent the last few weeks eating my way from 2014 to 2015. Coffee arrived after Christmas, our first visit together since I've been at post. We hit up a great all you can eat sushi buffet, wandered around the city, tried to avoid getting hit by cars, rode the ferry, and even found an orange juice vending machine (it was so sour...)
Sidebar: Perhaps one of the unique factors that come into allowing me to consider the Foreign Service as a career while still wanting to maintain a relationship is that long distance isn't a foreign country to me (see what I did there?) Although Coffee and I have been together for a number of years, the last (nearly) three have been exclusively long distance. Coffee's prior position had him posted for 2 years to the good ol' mid-west where snow, salted roads, and non-existent good ethnic food was an eye-opener to a California golden boy. Nevertheless he trudged through learning to wear different clothes for different seasons, hide from summer humidity, and cook 365 different variations of instant noodle in a pot. His first snow storm had him using our dog's washbasin and the dustpan to clear enough space from around his car to drive to work.
And you know where else it's cold? Koreaaaaaaaaaa.
(This video makes no sense at all and serves no purpose except to let you know I spent a lot of time searching out Big Bang paraphernalia for Ten. Go Top.)
That's right. You see, after arriving here, poor Coffee was defeated by food poisoning (and possibly pollution.)
We holed up on the couch NYE with Sherpa delivered soup noodles and Imodium for him. That same night, there was a stampede out on the Bund just in front of the hotel where we would have been celebrating with friends and colleagues. Be careful no matter where you are, people...
So after a miserable week for him, I decided we should take a short trip somewhere for a change of scenery. After doing a quick search on the Chinese travel site Ctrip, Korea turned out to be good for a last minute flight (about $300 rt.) We booked a room at Namsan Guesthouse, which cost us $92 for 3 nights total: not bad if you are interested in just having a clean room to sleep in, minus major amenities. The room wasn't mind blowing, but it did have heating, AC, a clean restroom, basics, and a bed. There was even wifi, a mini fridge, and free instant noodle and bread out in the common area. It was also super convenient, located near the metro at Myeongdong, probably the most popular shopping street area in Seoul. It was on a hill though, and I would recommend sticking to houses 3 and 2 which are lower on the hill- it was a long cold walk late at night when we got back every day.
This was my first time in Seoul and I loved it- it was a place with a great balance between the fast paced economic expansions of a developed country with super convenient wifi and convenient clean metro systems to the great street food and small mom & pop stores and shops that still fill the city life. Nothing could make me happier than wandering around putting delicious foods in my mouth while exploring all the little shops and alleys.
Look for the convenience store near #10 at the airport.
On top of all that, although most people there did not speak English, they were genuinely nice to tourists. Even when exiting the airport, there were very well organized free guides to the city, free information booths throughout the terminal, and at all the major shopping streets, red jacket wearing guides for people to consult. They even will display signs to show what languages each of the booths' personnel were able to speak. The taxi cars were all newer and nearly all had GPS running as well as signs for a free telephone translation service for tourists if needed. Although only one of the 5 drivers we used during out trip spoke even minimal English, pointing, charades, and google translate got us where we needed to go. Even getting a sim card at the convenience store was not that hard, although it requires you get wifi first to activate.
Yes, I even love convenience store food.
And food. I love Korean food and Coffee was quite happy with letting me run our itinerary by basically eating from one location to the next. We found it useful to look for the popular signs many stands like this bibimbap stand at Gwangjang market displayed, showing that it had been featured on a tv show (Running Man, in this case.)
Palaces of course, are amazing historic slices of time...
But I still find the best times being when I'm running from one food stand to the next.
I was even crazy enough to have milky soft serve with a piece of real honeycomb on top- apparently it was featured on a korean drama?
And as part of the new year update on this blog, here are some pictures of Coffee and my adventures in the Alive Museum, a photo op gallery that was lots of fun.
Plus, did you know Korea has dog cafes?! I miss my dog a lot, but getting to buy a cup of coffee (kinda pricey at $7-8) and play with all kinds of dogs is amazing! (And probably not anything that could pass health code regulations back in the states...) But really. Dogs + Coffee = so much love.
E-Emma?!
Another tip for dog lovers, Korea has dog clothes galore and for cheap ($10-18.) We bought a whole new wardrobe (i.e. all the costumes for dressing up poor puppy) and I will post pictures when I get stateside again. But today, just enjoy the photo overload below and say welcome to that brand spankin' new year, everyone. Happy 2015!
Legit K-BBQ, Outside. In a tent. The ladies zipped us up after handing us our meats.
First armored car in Korea, a gift from the U.S.
Hey! Look what I found!
Profit :)
Awesome ginseng chicken place. A favorite of the late Korean president.
Silky chicken with rice and ginseng stuffed inside. They even give you a little bottle of ginseng powder to sprinkle on top.
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