Rewind: [Transit on Transit] Seoul, Korea Dec 14-16 2013

I apologize for the lack of posts the past 2 weeks! I've been hearing back from the grad schools I've applied back in Janurary so it's been beyond overwhelming and lots of decision making are coming way. More updates on that to come shortly ;)

In the mean time, I just wanted track back a bit. Let's go back to December, right after I left Cambodia the first time. I made a round trip around the Pacific: Seoul, San Francisco, Tokyo and Bangkok within a period of a month. My main focus of the trip was to go back home for the Holidays and finish up my grad school applications and come back to Cambodia again to do my second half of my term here. Since there are no direct flights between US and Cambodia, I had to do a series of layovers, in which I took that opportunity to spend a few days in each of the cities. The trip was cobbled together last minute but it turned out to be a good break, especially since things were so hectic after quitting my job in Tokyo, moving briefly back to the US, and then relocating to Cambodia! 

One of my best friends from college, Jackie had been happily married and pregnant with her first child living in the suburbs of Seoul. Since I had a transit on Asiana through Seoul back to San Francisco, she had gratefully invited me to visit her “’hood”.

I love Korea for its people, food, and alcohol but I do NOT like its winters. Being from California, many know that I cannot stand seasonal nor extreme weather. It’s been hard enough to suffer through Japanese seasons (albeit beautiful) but Korean seasons are thrice as extreme, especially its harsh winters. Unfortunately out of the four times I’ve been there, three somehow ended up in winter and this time it’s no exception. The morning I arrived in Seoul, it was -6C and it was snowing. Living in summer weather for 3 months, I had to shroud myself with layers of whatever clothes that I had. Luckily Jackie literally clothed and fed me over a roof. 

 

Thank goodness for Starbucks Korea

Just love the name, perfect for fun night out

Ah, I missed you nice subways!

The Japanese shopping zone, Myondon

I have never been a fan of UGGS but trust me, for the cold winters in Korea, it is a godsend. Along with a hat, scarf, thick jacket, mask, and heat pads it’s finally tolerable to embrace the coldness. 

 Since it has snowed the day I arrived, the ground was dangerously slippery. With one pregnant girl and one klutz, we were in no shape to walk around. Hence naturally we spent most of our time at cafes or eating which was not a problem at all since we had a lot of catching up to do!

ddakpokkgi :) The man was really nice knowing that I was a foreigner he warned me it was "spicy". Thanks, but my tongue is pretty used to global cuisine..Korean spiciness is no problem ;)

BBQ

I don't eat meat too much, and certainly not grilled meat so it was quite a mesmerizing experience for me!

Dried squid..goes well with soju you know... ;)

Noodles on a cold day = happy

 

Kimchi at Myondon Gyoza is the best!! :) My favorite noodle place

Street food to warm you up

Kimchi galore at Lotte Department Store

After a cold day out shopping, our bellies deserve some warm goodness

Spicy octopus that makes even the locals skirmish over the spiciness!

Toss in the rice to finish it off!

Crispy fried rice

Potato peeled and fried...on a stick

On a side note, many people ask me good places to go and eat in Seoul.I will be frank, go look through Japanese tour books. I am not being bias but Japanese people are meticulous foodies when it comes to traveling and especially when it comes to Seoul since so many claim as Seoul-experts. Many of my friends in Seoul claim the same. Trust me, if your restaurant gets published in a Japanese tour book, it’s the ultimate seal of approval. Or if you are the ultimate foodie, you'd do what you normally do in your city: look up food blogs of locals. Of course, you would need to know the local language (or have a really good online translator) in that case!