Seoul, South Korea: the Food

I bet you, my wonderful readers have been worried about what happened to me and concerned that maybe South Korea is not safe. Good News!! We are fine!

I am sitting right now in the lobby of our hotel, writing this blog while waiting for a taxi to the airport and then a flight to Japan. I figured it would be a good use of my waiting time to try to remember and write down what has happened since I last wrote (July 5).  Today is the 12^th of July, so a lot has happened and most of it was pretty interesting.

I think that the best way to organize what I have done and seen is by topic rather than chronological. I will start with food. I was surprised that there were many types of Korean food that I enjoyed.

This first picture is of Steve and I with our friend Dan eating Korean BBQ. First you choose which meat you would like to eat and then they bring you lots of sides. In the middle of the table is a large grill and the meat is brought over and the waiter comes by and puts the meat on it, turns it over and cuts it into pieces. You can eat it sort of like a burrito, but with lettuce instead of a tortilla. So, you might have a piece of meat, a piece of garlic, some rice and some kimchi (fermented cabbage) rolled up in a lettuce leaf. You are supposed to pop it all in your mouth and eat it in one bite.

Korean BBQ is tasty. One of the main things that people eat is Pork Belly, which sounds bad, but it really means bacon. So, you are given thick strips of bacon to grill at the table.

Another popular type of food here is Chicken and Beer. There are restaurants that sell just Chicken and Beer. You get a whole pile of fried chicken and order beer to drink. It usually also comes with some radishes. The chicken comes in different flavors. We chose Original and Honey, but there was also Soy sauce and Spicy. It was delicious, but mainly because of the fried coating!  We had this twice.

Then there are many other traditional Korean restaurants. Steve enjoyed eating Bibimbap which is a collection of vegetables, rice, seaweed, tuna, egg that you mix together and eat. I liked Bulgogi which is very thin slices of beef that is usually eaten with rice. When you go to a restaurant like this the first thing that they do is bring you a large number of side dishes to share. I don’t know that I could tell you what they all are. There is always Kimchi. 

Usually there was also some other pickled radish. Sometimes there was onion or sliced garlic. Often there were unidentified greens (probably seaweed). Once there was a green onion pancake. It tasted like maybe it had rice flour cooked into it. Almost every time there was some sort of soup. In this picture you see sprouts in a soy broth, but we often had miso soup.

There were also many places to get more recognizable food. This was lunch for me one day. A chicken basil sandwich, half cob of corn, French fries, salad, sauce, pickles and mango aid.

Meals in Korea are served with chopsticks and a spoon. Forks and Knives are unusual.

Oh, yes, and there is the time that we went out to have ice cream for dessert. We used the pictures on the menu to help us decide what to order. Steve ordered a nice looking ice cream sundae which turned out to be an affogado (a scoop of vanilla ice cream with caramel topping served with a separate shot of espresso which you pour over the ice cream.  It was delicious. I ordered the sundae pictured next to it which looked to me like ice cream with chocolate sauce. It turned out that it was shaved ice piled on with a red sweet bean-adzuki bean, sprinkled with nuts, topped with a scoop of ice cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce and served with cream to pour over the ice. It was huge. The picture shows the two things we ordered. The menu did not show the size difference. The shave ice with beans and ice cream is a favorite summer dessert here and after that I often saw it pictured at different restaurants. I don't know about you, but I don't usually consider beans as dessert.

Landing in South Korea

It is Tuesday, July 5 where I am, but maybe it is Monday where you are???? Anyway, it is pouring rain outside, so I decided that it is a good day to check out the gym at the hotel (just OK) and to stay inside and write about the two days here so far. 

This post will just be about first impressions. The second post will be my experience using the Subway and a few other things.

It is odd here.... but all of the signs are in Korean and I can't read them. I guess it was that way in Greece also, but English is an official language in the Philippines which is made up of 7000 islands and lots of very different dialects. They need one unifying language. It is not so with Korea. The Korean language works quite well here, but not English. I am surprised at how few people speak much English. Often you do find someone who can translate for you, but we have been to many shops and restaurants where there is no one to explain things.

My experience with Greece was similar. I could not read the signs, but I think that more people spoke some English. At least it seemed that way.

To start.... the food on Korean Airlines was weird. We had a choice between seafood and a Korean dish with vegetables. We chose the Korean dish, but we had to watch our neighbor sitting near us to know how to eat it. 


There was a little container that the stewardess opened and poured hot water into (soup?) and then there was a dish with some assorted stuff on it that we did not recognize.  There were 6 things... I think I could identify 2. There was a packet of Sesame Oil and a tube of Korean hot sauce. There was also a salad (I recognized that).

It turns out that the stuff in the middle of the bowl that they gave us was noodles and you empty the packet of Sesame Oil on it and then put in what hot paste you want on it (none in my case) and then stir it around and eat it with chopsticks. I thought it was OK. I let the stuff in my soup dissolve and then tasted it, but decided one new dish was enough for this meal.














It was amazing that we even got a meal since it was only a 4 hour flight! 

From the airport we took a Taxi to our hotel. It was about an hour drive. The striking thing is that the view of the city from a distance is so different than other places I have been. As we got closer I think that the reason is that multiple high rises are built in the same style next to each other so that you get a view of a lot of parallel high rises. I could not take a picture that adequately illustrates that. This image from http://editorsitinerary.cntraveler.com/korea/ sort of illustrates it.

Anyway, after a stomach problem and so much strange food I decided something that I never do in a foreign country..... I wanted to go to McDonalds!  or any place without pictures of strange food in bowls. 

After unpacking, Steve and I went searching for American-style food near the hotel. He had looked online and there was a Subway. I have seen McDonalds in EVERY country I have been in, so I am pretty sure there are multiple. We saw 7-11 and Starbucks, but they aren't usually too good for a meal.

Finally we decided to forage in a 7-11 and it was not easy. A good deal of what you can find in a 7-11 here is like Ramen (instant noodle bowls), honey flavored potato chips or other stuff I did not recognize.  We finally agreed on string cheese, crackers (we had bought them in the Philippines), apples, and wine. I was quite happy to dine on things I recognized and told Steve that I would be more open to South Korean food after that meal and it is true.  


In the morning Steve went hunting for something to eat in the room for breakfast. It was Sunday morning and many places were closed. Almost every other shop in this area where there are two colleges is some sort of coffee shop. Finally he found coffee and some bagels.  Can you tell which one is the onion bagel? The onion was pretty mild :-)

Later that day Steve went to his meeting and I went to the shop next door and got lunch. It was a lovely chicken sandwich and fries with a half corn on the cob and salad. I topped it off with Mango Ade which was delicious.

Our hotel (Ever 8) is nice. In the hallway the rooms look like bank safes. There is a really industrial feel. Inside the room is pretty nice and there is a kitchenette AND a washer/dryer (one machine that does both???-more on that after I try it out). There is a microwave, full sized refrigerator, hot plate and dishes! I think that there are many Ever 8 hotels in Seoul.

A Day on the Town

Steve had meetings all day, so it was tempting to stay in and read the book that I had downloaded from the library (The Farm-hard to set down) and be lazy. That just didn't seem right. I needed to make myself go out and explore. So, after postponing for a few hours and catching up on email I got ready and began my adventure.

First I had to master the subway. Seoul has a wonderful Subway system. You can really go anywhere in it. It is clean, cool and fast. At the stops there were glass barriers to the rails. I am not sure if that is to keep people from jumping, but I am sure it keeps the stations cleaner.  I had decided that I needed first to get one of their travel cards that you can load up with money and then use each time you go on a subway ride. 

After looking at the machines and trying to figure it out on my own I asked the men at the information booth. They seemed to understand what I was asking, but did not speak any English. They took me to a machine where for 3000 won (about $2.50) I purchased a card. Then I had to go to the next machine and put some money onto the card. The machine had a button to choose English, so that was straight forward. The problem was that I could not see anywhere how much a ride cost, so I was not sure how much to put on. I decided to put on the least that it suggested (2000 won) and then see what happened. 

When I went through the entry gate the LCD showed that it cost 1250 and I had 750 left on my card. I would have to refill it before I could come home.

I took the subway to the City Hall stop and got up to walk around and explore. I have never seen SO many huge video screens. In this picture which I took when I got out of the subway there are three. As I walked down the street there was one in every block or so. It looked to me like they were all playing commercials, but since I don't understand Korean I am not sure.

In this area I saw more business people. Near our hotel I feel like one of the oldest people when I walk down the street. Near City Hall there were more mature people (do you like how I said that?) I stopped to eat lunch at a Duncan Donuts!! Yes, I did say Duncan Donuts and lunch in the same sentence. I had a chicken sandwich and a capuccino. There were donuts, but I did not have one.

On the way I saw two temples which I will have to visit later and two impressive statues. I also saw that there is a on and off bus that I think I will take to learn the basics of what is here. There was a monument thanking the US for helping take back the 38th parallel. It had pictures of soldiers and I wondered if I might see my Mom because she was a nurse here at that time. Of course it was mostly generals and really important types, but you never know.

As I walked down I observed these helpful and friendly police people. They don't actually look very Korean to me.  They were outside of the Police station. I know that because it said "Police" in English.

At the Sejong Art Center there was an exhibit of the work of Joan Miro. I decided that it would be fun to see so I went in and after looking at the exhibit I sat in one area and took time to sketch (badly). I decided to take a picture of what I was sketching, turn it upside down and sketch it again and see if it improves. I will post the two sketches here if it seems helpful.

After the Miro exhibit I headed back toward the subway to return 'home'.  I was thirsty and so I stopped at Caffe Pasucci for something to drink. I ended up with a Peach Granita which was very nice. 

I did celebrate the 4th of July a little in the evening by having Korean BBQ. It was fantastic. In the middle of your table is a large grill and they bring meat and grill it for you there. They also provide you with all sorts of sauces, and vegetables to eat with the meat and kimchi! I also had ice cream and by accident ordered something quite strange. I can't believe I did not take a picture of it. It was in a large bowl and had shaved ice at the bottom and then mashed azuki beans with nuts sprinkled on them then a scoop of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce. It was served with a bit of sweetened condensed milk that could be poured over it. hmmmmm I will try to go back and get a picture.

On the walk home I saw this very interesting parking garage. I am not sure how it works... but here is my guess. You drive your car into the bottom slot and pay. Then the Blue machine rotates, like a ferris wheel, so that your car is stored up higher and another blank space rotates down. It seems ingenious like many of the things that we have seen in South Korea. 

I got my idea for this blog and also using big pictures from this blog:
Subway excursions in Seoul

https://seoulsuburban.com/

Let me know what you think!

Final Philippine Post

Starting on Thursday my picture taking gradually ended. It turns out that I was starting to have some stomach problems (which you do not want to hear about I am sure) and so I just had no energy. So, here are a few assorted last things to say about the Philippines.

One goal in coming the the Philippines, besides seeing friends was for Steve to do some lectures. His first two were for the Catholic Biblical Association of the Philippines. The second one was at Ateneu University, which is a Catholic institution run by the Jesuits.

We also met up with our friend Don Goertzen, a college friend. It was great to spend some time together and catch up. He is such an interesting person and has done some very interesting things in his varied career. He is about to go off and work in Kabul, Afghanistan for a few months!  The Philippines is home to him and where he plans to retire. He speaks Tagalog fluently.

Transportation

I think one of the first interesting things I saw here is a Jeepney. They are everywhere. The history of them is that at the end of WWII there were lots of jeeps and so they were cheap. People got them and repurposed them by making them long and they became one of the main types of transportation in Manila.

The second common type of transportation is a tricycle. It is actually a motorcycle with a sidecar built onto it so that it can carry two or three extra people. They are all over. Our friends here at times said that they would think of taking one, but it was way too small for our American bodies.

They also have a metro (light rail) and busses and taxis. Even with all of the various types of transportation the streets are congested most of the time. We spent lots of time in traffic going to one place or another. Most of the time we were taken in vans or took taxis. Unfortunately I did not get to experience a trip on a Jeepney.

Politics

One thing that was happening here which reminded me very much of home was the inauguration of the newly elected president. Rodrigo Duterte was elected despite swearing and offending most people. He even slandered the Catholic church which is very strong in the Philippines. One thing that is interesting is that in the Philippines the Vice President is elected separately from the President, so a more liberal person, Leni Robredo was elected Vice President. Because they do not see eye to eye they had separate inaugurations!

What is happening to our world when so many people are voting for people who are so offensive and for isolationist policies?

Final Impressions

Filipinos are friendly and optimistic people!  Almost everyone has a smile and sincere welcome. I wasn’t here long enough to know how deep that goes, but from the few people we know long-term I think that it might be deep. They took such good care of us. We did not pay for hardly anything and were given lots of gifts (a Barong (a man's shirt), a large piece of material which is a woman's traditional clothing, a t-shirt and jacket from Ateneu) I think we will try to go back sometime and try a different beach place. In the meantime I may try to like eating food with lots of bones. My apologies for the horrible picture of my friends, but I did not take all of the right pictures. I also cannot believe I did not take any pictures of the nuns!

It is also still a pretty inexpensive place to travel. For example a nice meal at a rooftop restaurant was the equivalent of $30.

Coming up
Next I will write about our adventures in Seoul, South Korea. It is about a 4 hour plane trip from Manila and then another hour by taxi.