“For the same amount of money, an expensive luxury item will make you happy for a while, but an unforgettable travelling memory will give you endless happiness for the rest of your life.”~임위호의사
- 1 째날: Oh, arrival in Korea!
- 2 째날: Exploring Incheon 인천 仁川
- 3 째날: Really ANYHOW drove ~ to Ganhwado 강화도江華島
- 4 째날: So much suffering & fun! Manisan, Dolmen, North Korea & Luge!
- 5 째날: Suwon 수원 水原 - Origin of water & FRIED CHICKEN!
- 6 째날: Hwaseong city of fortresses 華城- climb until want to die yah!
- 7 째날: 大長今 The day we became Period Korean Drama actors & actresses
- 8 째날: Chasing Korean Drama "25-21" in Romantic Jeonju
- 9 째날: How can one not fall in love with Jeonju, and fall in love IN Jeonju?!
- 10 째날 : ... of Bamboo forest and bamboo ice cream.
- 11 째날: Home-Town-Cha-Cha-Cha. Only just... on the other side of the peninsula~ Geokpohang!
- 12 째날: Yay... drive drive drive right back to Myeongdong!
- 13 째날: Totally immersed in the vibes of Seoul...
- 14 째날: Man, this is DISCO Pang Pang!
- 15 째날: Go home liao lor!
"You are really crazy about going holidaying in Korea," some of my patients' asked.
"Yah.. I don't know, man. I think it's just me lah."
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"Dar, remember ok.. this is going to be an adventure. So you must promise me, whatever we do, you must also do, OK?" I made Serene promise.
"Ah Li, this is going to be fun because it will be the first time we are going to drive in a Left-hand-drive car on a Right-hand-traffic country," I said. "Let's give it a shot." and we applied for our S$25 each 1-year International-Driving-permit from AA online.
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| collecting car at SK rental, T1, ICN airport |
A few days before we flew, Yeye 爷爷 was saying: "You all better get a bigger SUV or an MPV driving in Korea. With a larger car, the other drivers will give way to you all." Boy, Ah Li and I were so glad we didn't listen to him, as we had to squeeze through some of the nightmarishly narrow streets in the smaller cities and towns, that our conclusion was, the smaller the car, the better it will be.
1 째날: Day 1 [9th May 2022. Monday]
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| Drive from Incheon Airport to Wolmido in Incheon |
INCHEON 인천 仁川- Wolmido 월미도 月尾島
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INCHEON 인천 仁川- Chinatown
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| How come 엄마 'orh-bak-kak' (one eye black one eye white)? |
Chinatown, with its Pai Fang 牌坊, was the epitome of Chinese-ness, on this slight upslope street not far from our hotel. Seemingly not contented with the 45 minutes drive from Incheon Airport to our Sea Moon Hotel in Wolmido, we had to drive to that cramped public Car park next to Chinatown where Ah Li directed me to do a 3-point-turn with merely a 10cm space. ... *sweat*
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Of course, having the obligatory lunch of Jjajangmyeon at the famous 공화촌 짜장면식당 共和春 was the first mission.
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| "Come Incheon, must eat Jjajangmyeon," we've always heard about that. |
As always when we first landed the brain didn’t work so well and we just couldn’t get into the rhythm of things.
Incheon Chinatown was, personally to me, not much difference a Chinatown from perhaps elsewhere, with the brilliantly decorated pillars and walls. Not being the first time eating Jjajangmyeon, it reaffirms my belief that Jjajangmyeon was more of a bowl of 粗白面 on thick soya sauce. But hey, one box ticked- the original JJM in Incheon Chinatown eaten.
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| Serene says: "This one looks like the Chinese mafia place!" |
We walked 1km up and down the slopey streets of inner Chinatown only to reach the money changer Ajussi at the end of Chinatown, who told us he won’t exchange Singapore dollars with Korean wons. Ah.. frustrating. Of course, Kakao map only showed that the $ exchange was opened, but they couldn’t tell if the shopkeeper is willing to change S$. This was the first time it was happening to us. Strange. Luckily we could walk back to the 신한은행 Shinhan Bank branch mid-way in time before they closed at 5pm, to exchange S$ with K₩ at "897.50₩ to S$1," said the bank teller lady at the counter. Quite a good rate. And we opened up and whacked (exchanged) the $100 奶奶 gave us in our “一路平安” hongbao to fortify ourselves with sufficient cash.
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| "Wasn't it supposed to be Spring? Why is the sun so scorching?" |
Why? Because although the Wise MasterCard and the YouTrip MasterCard both work generally well, there were shops where these didn’t and most highway toll gates and some parking didn’t accept these two cards (but take T-money cards instead).. so we still needed cash.
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| One of the Sijangs in Incheon Chinatown... |
Parking was about S$5 for maybe 3 hours. Not too bad lah... but Ah Li very cute - kao-beh-kao-bu said expensive. I think this would be cheap if we compare it to Seoul, won't it?
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| Back to the Chinatown public car park to drive back to Wolmido. |
... Back to Wolmido 월미도 月尾島
We navigated that rather confusing short tunnel and multi-way junction at Chinatown back to that quiet nice and safe little corner of Wolmido. Enough adventure in the car for the day.
I was really REALLY planning to take a bus and subway to Myeongdong on this first evening. But Ah Li and 엄마 (Eomma) Serene were dead tired already. Ah Li was the first to die this night, in fact.
“If you had asked me to go Myeongdong I would still oblige but I know I am dead tired already,” said her. Poor thing, this Ah Li.
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So we ditched the idea and walked to Wolmi Hwetjib to have a wonderful meal of 광어회 (flat fish) and 우럭회 (rock fish) Hwe. Ah Li devoured the live squid (산낙지 sannakji)..
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“This is the safest option,” explained the young lady, on concentrating on eating the live squids.
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We had the whole restaurant to ourselves. Well… perhaps it was because it was Monday night ba….But the vantage point was lovely to see the sunset at Wolmido.
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"One of these evenings we must sit outside the Convenience shop and eat cup noodles like those Korean actresses and actors in the drama," reminded Ah Li. OK we will.
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2 째날: Day 2 [10th May 2022. Tuesday]
Woke up 9:30am. What a leisurely morning after a good night's sleep. Leisurely? well.. the ladies would find out...
“Let’s make today a real adventure ok? Trust me..”
“I don’t trust you.” Serene never trusted me when it came to adventures. Hahaha...
“Just follow me…
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Wolmi Cultural Road 웡미도문화거리 月尾島文化街
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The walk along the seaside of Wolmido to Wolmi Theme Park was a pleasant breezy affair. The weather wasn’t cold. The sunlight was warm on the skin but the gentle sea breeze brought us the coolness we enjoyed. The weather was 17.9 degrees. And Ah Li complained that it was cold. Cold? Serene was complaining hot hot hot hot all the way liao… Maybe like what our 성생님’s 어머님 said.. it’s 갱년기예요…
"At 0600 a.m. on September 15, the Marines landed at Wolmi Do, despite resistance and casualties, the initial objectives were quickly secured the next day, with Kimpo airfield being taken on September 17 and put into service only a few days later. Supplies and troops swiftly came ashore within the following days while Marines progressed towards Seoul. The following day after the initial landing, the Pusan Perimeter's defenders went on the offensive and eventually made the North Koreans retreat by the end of the month and were met by the U.S. Army units moving southwards from Seoul. On September 29, after two weeks of hard fighting, Seoul was returned to the South Korean government. " - National Museum of the U.S. Navy
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Anyway, Aiyah.. this Ah Li ah, she must be weakened from the months of intense and hectic studies and internship work lah..
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Wolmido Theme park 월미도테마파크
Our hotel was merely a short walk from the Wolmido Theme Park. I read on the web reviews of the Theme park and that it was already old and run-down.. And nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, Seoul has Lotte World and Everland but Wolmido Theme park and Wolmido MyLand are one of those few that still hold their worth here on the shores of Incheon, and where the local Koreans would bring their children and family, and where the young men and women would swarm on weekends and holidays to enjoy very very affordable rides.
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They knew something fishy was coming, but true to the spirit of adventure they both grit their teeth. We went straight for the kill. The Viking was opened. It was a pity that the 70m vertical-drop Hyperdrop was closed. It was also too bad that on this Tuesday morning the Disco Pang Pang also closed.
“I don’t want! I don't want to do!” complained Niang Serene.
“I’m scared...” Ah Li softly.
I gave the two ladies no chances. I went straight to the ticket booth and bought three Viking tickets and three bumper car tickets. Way before the trip I already prepared both of them: “Everyday is going to be an adventure one ah.. just close your eyes and just follow me,” I earnestly advised.
But on this morning… somewhere several tens of metres above ground level.
VIDEO 동영상
“I want to die..” wailed Ah Li
“I cannot already. I feel like vomiting. I feel like something stuck inside my stomach. I want to faint already…” Serene with all her psychotic symptoms all coming out hahahaha…
“I kept wanting to shout out but after the first few swings I cannot about anymore and I just grit my teeth and kept quiet,” said Ah Li. Poor thing.. it's ok what, just shout loud loud lah!
As the Viking continued to swing, the Ajussi technician who operated it continued to take pleasure in ensuring that the ship kept as right-angle to the ground as possible.. And the two ladies' legs were trembling involuntarily beside mine, as we all stood straight up at the end of each swing.. simply because the ship was STRAIGHT up! No matter how we kept ourselves to 'Please make it stop!' the Ajussi refused to stop his torturing. Did I enjoy it? Sure I did.
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But these two ah... Aiyoh these two ah.. really CMI.
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This Ajussi technician was very cute. He was sweeping the floor at the foot of the steps when we came and then with our tickets, he stepped into his control cabin and waved us through. After the Viking he even said, he was trying to bring us high and even higher. Wah lau.. this Ajussi was really quite something too... Hahahaha
After the Viking and the Bumper cars, we all walked jelly-legged.
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Memorial Hall of Incheon Landing Operation 인천상륙작전기념관 仁川上陸作戰紀念館
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After a most adrenaline-rushing morning, it was decided that we would explore the other parts of Incheon, namely the Incheon Landing Operation Memorial Hall.
We drove that 30 minutes drive but wah, we had to look out for blinking double red lights that meant nothing, and constantly-on red lights that meant something, and blinking double orange lights that just meant 'look here' and nothing else, and difficult-to-see U-turn spots with "zz-zz-zz" white marks on the roads, in addition to 'Turn right on red' which were, actually discretionary and merely 'suggestions'.. and we learned that in Korea, whoever reaches the traffic junction first has the right of way... Quite something.
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We were lucky to find free parking next to the Memorial Hall. Searching for a lunch spot, we also needed to walk up and then down the slopes of a hilly road. But it was worth it. We found a delightful little SikTang at the cross junction 교차로 (交叉路) run by a tall and plumpish young man who kindly taught us how to dip our sauces and what pancakes and 콩나물 (豆芽) to be put onto the grilling pan.
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“Here in this smaller part of Incheon, there aren’t usually that many tourists. They usually serve their locals. So there are quite delighted to see us foreign tourists,” I explained to Ah Li and Niang Serene.
Indeed the sentiment was further reinforced when the Ajussi who manned the chap-huay-tiam groceries store opposite the restaurant, where we went in to buy tomatoes and snacks and water, smiled to us and said “Oh you from Singapore? Singapore people ‘handsome’!” In Korean but with the word handsome in English.
... And we walked back to the memorial.
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Certainly, this was a sombre memorial hall. There were indeed some locals visiting. On this quiet Tuesday afternoon, the entrance staff greeted us and welcomed us in. I have never failed to be amazed by the power of the wills of these American soldiers and the American leaders in those good 'ol days of World War II when tens of thousands of able-bodied young American soldiers died in the Invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord on D-Day 6h June 1944, so realistically illustrated by Tom Hank's movie 'Saving Private Ryan'. And without a doubt, I have been pained by how so many ill-prepared young American GI's died in the early days of the Korean War when the then-Commander underestimated the gravity of the North Korean invasion in the early days of June 1950 during the Korean War.
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These were definitely the Grand old days of the American military might. Grand, yes. And old, also yes. With ourselves reading weeks after weeks, and months after months, of american teenagers toting automatic rifles in many of those Republican States of the notorious lunatic donald trump, shooting and wiping out tens and more of young children and teachers and innocent bystanders, and the likes of joe biden and his team not having the will nor the power to move an inch, the powerful gun-lobbying cowboys, I begin to question:
"What is the use of having so much personal freedom to own arms, when the freedom of individuals to the right of living can be so easily ripped away?"
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| At least these soldiers died for the freedom of the South Koreans. Salute. |
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Interesting it was, to see how the Koreans remembered General Douglas McArthur. In fact, Ah Li and I had a swell time pressing on all the buttons to see which part of Incheon (which beach head) was being landed and assaulted in which sequence.
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| Serene's splendid pano captures the beautiful 3-D model display of the assault of the Incheon Landing. |
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Time to go Myeongong already. Yay!
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| Took bus and Subway to and fro Myeongdong. |
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“Wah the vibes are so different!” said Ah Li. “Even being here my energy level goes up!”
“I cannot eat,” said Niang Serene. “It must be because of the Viking in the morning.” Nonsense. Until now still having the effects of the Viking? Rubbish, Hahahahaha...
Actually hor.. we never even planned to go Seoul at all this round. But the night before we flew, 爷爷 actually asked us to help him make a brand new pair of glasses. And obediently we acceded to the old wise grandfather’s request and left eh car in the hotel after our General McArthur’s memorial and took a bus followed by the subway, a one and a half hour journey to Myeongong and happily made him his glasses, in fact two pairs, and joyfully met Kim Mang Jung, Kim Hak Jung and their uncle Han Sang Mun 씨.
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“Oh this sesame coffee is so good!” said Ah Li, of the special boutique coffee from Mommo Cafe next door.
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Went walking around Myeongdong trying to look for Ah Li’s socks. “I knew exactly what I am looking for, the design of the socks..”
Ah Li has been talking about buying socks and socks and socks from this Korea trip. Initially, I told myself that, hey socks are aplenty in Korea, If we cannot find any in Myeongdong, we can always buy from the other cities - Suwon, Jeonju, Gongju, Incheon lah... but I was proven wrong in the end of the trip. Ah Li only managed to find THAT specific pair of socks in one of the small shops in Myeongdong. Only there. And she wiped that young SaJangNim clean of his that design. I still remember Ah Li quietly laughing when she told me: "I think he has to scramble to call for re-supply of this design after I finished off all his socks!"
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The underground shopping malls we walked, and one roadside stall young lady (who was quite so keen to sell us some socks) where we perused, and even deep within the underground shopping malls near Shichong - we checked them out.. there were socks stalls but the number of these was no longer as many as they used to be during those Pre-Covid days. The shops that sell trinkets and bags and clothes that made Myeongdong so exciting for young men and young ladies were still struggling very very painfully to re-emerge. In the Winter of December 2021 when we were here - Myeongdong was a dead town. And now in the Spring of May 2022, I would personally put a finger to saying that Myeongdong is perhaps another 10-15% of what it was in Winter 2021.
The number of shops remaining closed with ‘Rental’ signs in Myeongdong remained about the status quo from our last trip during winter in December 2021. The number of people on the streets has visibly increased.. by a little.. and we are seeing more Yellow-haired Ang Mohs, more Latin-looking foreigners, and more Aryan-looking ladies.. all good signs of a recovering tourist industry.
Earlier Kim Man Jung replied when asked: “Yeah there are tourists who are can begin to see on the streets now, compared to six months ago when you came. But still not that many yet,” he observed. “But are there MANY more planes from Singapore coming to Korea?” he asked. My answer was affirmative.
I explained to him although the number of Singaporean travelling to Korea has picked up, the number of planes flying from Singapore to Seoul hasn’t gone back to the normal days yet. Soon, they are going to increase the number of flights, but it would only be when the Korean government finally removes the pre-departure and on-arrival PCRs for travellers coming into Korea, then he will definitely see business increase.
“Actually after you posted our shop on the Telegram chat group we had Singaporeans coming in to make glasses,” Kim Man Jung continued. “And they told us they saw us from the Chatting room (chat group).”
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Manjok O Hiang Jokbal 만족오향족발 滿足五香豬脚
It was great to have Ah Li take the lead in navigation on the ground as she went ahead a little in front of us to look for those Hanguk 만족족발 .. and she found it, in a small 골목 (小巷) in 시청. I feel so reassured as the younge lady’s sense of direction, her alertness to the surrounding and the speed with which she sees things are all much quicker than ours. So I can just hold Serene’s hands while Ah Li leads.
“Ah Li ah," said Eomma Serene to her. "This Jokbal here hor, it's the BEST Jokbal I have ever eaten in the world. It's so tender but yet not oily, and it's fragrant and tasty. You can eat a lot and a lot and won't feel the greasy feeling in your stomach one." again, this coming from a Chef, it must be nothing but the BEST.
“Wah this Manjok Jokbal has Michelin stars for five consecutive years one leh!” Exclaimed Ah Li.
“yes that’s why I ordered the original flavour plus a side tteobokki soup dish and a sprite set for 42,000₩. The non-set one is at 39,000₩. So might as well get the set.”
Tonight the Jokbal (original flavour) tasted exactly like the Manjok Jokbal branch in Hongdae. Delicious as usual. What was more attractive was the whole restaurant was boisterously filled with diners young and middle age all gleefully chowing down on their Jokbal while speaking with the all-so-classic melodious Seoul Korean.
I was impressed that Ah Li actually finished a huge chunk of the dish. And her favourite white tteokbokki in soup.
“The Ajumma waitress was so friendly,” said Ah Li, who tried very timidly-softly to speak ‘계산해주세요’ to the middle-aged waitress.
“She smiles and talks to us, and she was so busily running all over the restaurant just now.”
The subway from Seoul City Hall was crowded with passengers as we made it westward back to Incheon but by the time we completed the 28 stations and arrived at Incheon station on Line 1, the passengers have thinned out so much. The whole one-hour 10 minutes subway+bus trip cost us 1850₩ only.
We walked out of the subway station into a light and lovely drizzle.
“It’s raining!” said Ah Li.
Hey, what’s a little bit of drizzle to spice up the nice little short walk from the bus stop back to our hotel?
Back in the room…
We thought and thought.. and thought very very hard... and then we finally decided ok we will change the last few days of our itinerary. We will leave Gyeokpohang on the 20th May morning and drive right into Myeongong and park in the guesthouse and spend two nights in Myeongdong following that we will spend one last night in another Sky Guestel on Yeongjong island which is the island where Incheon international airport was located so that we shorten our drive trip to the airport on the last morning.
That decided, we booked all the accommodations right on the spot. That was a great discussion, myself, Eomma, and Ah Li and it was precisely these kinds of on-the-ground last-minute decisions after we experienced the location, surveyed the landscape, and saw a clearer plan, we executed the assault toward our final objective, which has changed to two nights in Myeongdong. Having a car certainly made commuting so much less worrisome. Of course, honestly compared to taking public transport and such, renting a car is still a more expensive option. But it gave us flexibility, so much of it, and we could plan many many things in one day.
3 째날: Day 3 [11th May 2022. Wednesday]
The Any-how Drive from Incheon to Ganghwado
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| The one hour plus drive from Wolmido to Bethel Pension in Ganghwado |
“Ok we will wake up normal time 9am and then check out at 10am,” we decided the night before.
Every night before we went to bed, we easily calculated the distance and the time required by checking Kakao Map, which in all honesty, has been super-accurate. And knowing those details on this day, we were going to finally take to the highways and finally be truly tested in the deep sea, we just had to give ourselves more time.
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| Hehehehe.. the summary animated GIF. |
The C-shaped route from Sea Moon Tourist Hotel to the GS petrol station was supposed to be a short 5mins drive but somehow we were not familiar and missed some turns and ended up taking a long way, in the process our right side mirror hit-and-ran the backside of a pickup who was slanted straddling two lanes (hahaha.. his fault).. but wow.. no injuries to either vehicle.. and we finally did a top-up of 26 litres of gasoline at 46,000₩ (1,917₩ per litre) which turns out to be S$2.09, so much cheaper than Singapore’s current petrol price which stands at $3.03 per litre!
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So good!
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| Toilet break by the side of the driveway. |
Petrol pumped and we programmed our dashboard English-speaking GPS to Ganghwado.. and to our Ganghwa Bethel pension. We had my handphone KakaoMap navigation on simultaneously but somehow it seems that the car’s English GPS does a slightly better job of being faster and more responsive. Well.. we have the next two weeks to find out.
Today, my right veering seems to be lesser but not completely gone, as was painfully apparent by the way Eomma and Ah Li squirmed and screamed at me whenever the right side of the car came too close to the right-side curb or a vehicle on my right. These ladies ah.. I was trying my best to keep to the left side of the lane. But truly it was difficult for a driver who has been so used to driving right-hand drive cars to judge the distance of the new car from the right edge of the lane marking when he was driving in the left-hand drive seat.
There were plenty of huge container trucks and lorries and many of them were in a hurry.
But we were gradually beginning to get used to “Turn right on red” (advised by Michael Wang); “Turn right on red, yes.. when there are no pedestrian crossings on the side,” (reminder enforced by Kim Man Jung), “When you turn left, turn wide, don’t turn tight,” (great advice from Ho Chee Wai).
Some red lights seemed to be ‘merely suggestions to stop’ as Ah Li found out on the Internet, and blinking double amber lights are just reminders that there are crossings beneath them and can be ignored most of the time. And the lane markings on Korean roads are not as detailed as back home in Singapore with all the strict boxes and turn lanes marked clearly. Ah Li and I concluded that driving here in Korea, we have to use some kind of fuzzy logic. The reading of the lane marking was fuzzy logic, the crossing or not crossing a traffic light was aga-ration, and if people horned at us from behind, we can just ignore them most of the time.. and oh oh yes, the most useful Hazard lights... I kept using it to say “Thank you!!!” to drivers who allowed me to filter into their lane or those who gave way, especially to me, and important to those who were at the suffering end of my ignorance of the newly encountered Korean roads.
VIDEO 동영상
The transition from mainland Incheon to Ganghwado was so obvious once we crossed the beautiful bridge 초지대교 that connects to Ganghwado. Opting to hug the coastal side gave us a much nicer view though it took us closer to two hours to arrive at our destination.
“Wah the roads and the houses here on the island are just like our old kampong roads!” Said Serene.
She was absolutely correct. So much lesser cars and so much more serene and peaceful was this island.No wonder Ganghwado is famous for being a getaway island for the Koreans themselves.. they would take a weekend off or a few days to just drive here and enjoy the seaside and barbecue in one of the many many pensions here.
The roads are hilly, and scattered are the holiday chalets known as pensions all across the island. As we drove, we observed hardly any people and very occasional cars, once in a while, a small hamlet of convenient shops and restaurants would form a kind of neighbourhood centre, which quickly gave way to farms and further down to roads the occasional campsites and more pensions and motels.
The weather was nice and cool, about 18-19 degrees, dropping to a pleasant 14.9 degrees in the evening.
And the ONE GREAT THING ABOUT SPRING (to a Sua-Koo like me) was that sunset occurs later and the sky really turns dark only at around closer to 8pm.
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Ganghwa Bethel Pension
We easily found our Ganghwa Bethel Pension just on the side of a turn of the road and easily slotted our car into the car park. It was 12:30pm.
The SaJangNim said check-in was to be at 3pm wor... how ah?
Aigoo... really ah. This middle-aged SaJangNim and his wife were about to go off in the car for lunch, leaving an older Ajumma apparently the housekeeper taking care of cleaning up the rooms. Aigooo.... ok lah ok lah.. Maybe we just walk around and find lunch.."지금은 점심 드시고 3시 돌아오시면됩니다."(you can go eat lunch now, then 3pm you may come back again) alamak this SaJangNim ah.. really no give chance one ah..
Hmmm.. time to try out my Korean. Haltingly I told him we were foreigners and we just needed to use the restroom urgently, and yes we knew we would check-in at 3pm but perhaps if he could just let us leave the luggage in the rooms first and if he could be so kind as to let us use the toilet to pee first, and then we go have lunch then we will come back. Talk lah talk lah.. then his wife noticed and said wah your car was nice, and I told her you know it was our first time self-driving a rental car in Korea and our first time coming to Ganghwa, and when she heard that we were Singaporeans they said they have been to Singapore to which I replied Singapore is hot, all-round, but here in Korea there are four seasons and so much nicer. And finally, we kind of got the go-ahead to check-in at 12:30pm instead, after the SaJangNim very nicely showed us the rooms and how to operate the shower and all that.
Hmmm… I really have to thank my Korean Teacher. Being able to communicate, even if it was just a little bit, the little small friendly conversation does hugely lubricate situations and get us somewhere sometimes.
Nae Ri Seafood 내리 해불
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| On this trip Ah Li really whacked the sotong! |
We all three must have been tired. But Ah Li hor wah her appetite was ferocious one. She complained she was hungry already. Ok! We will walk 150m up the hill to this 내리해물 칼국수 Naeri Seafood which was run single-handed-ly by an Ajumma who cheerfully served us a huge pot of most MOST unexpectedly delicious seafood soup huge squid, Anglefish, tteokbokki, bean sprout in huge portion and another huge pot of noodle and Lala in soup.
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| These seafood are really so fresh! True to our SonSengNim's words! |
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| First sign that Serene caught Food-Coma liao... |
We had never had a seafood meal like this and oh the freshness of this, as we were literally at the seaside was out of the world and the taste was terrific. There were another two groups of patrons eating inside this restaurant, where one sits as per tradition, on the wooden floor.
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| Serene and I literally ate until we both FOOD-COMA-ed! |
Here in Ganghwado it seems that one could just walk around the neighbourhood because the 7-Eleven was just 350m further down the road the other side. We came back and slept like pigs while Ah Li watched movies and ate her snacks….
Go gai gai around Bethel Pension, Ganhwado...
And then 6pm Ah Li cleverly pulled us out of bed, knowing very well that once we both knock out, we would be gone for good, to go walk along the seaside with her to explore. That was a really fabulous move because we were able to see what the locals do around Ganhwado when they come to stay in these chalets (pensions) on vacation. Korea is such a huge country. You want sea, they got sea... you want mountain, they got mountain... you want river, they have plenty of rivers.. you want to eat, just search on Kakaomap and you will find anything you want (almost lah)... so the Koreans are really spoilt for choices when it comes to their very own local vacations. The Koreans ah.. wah lau eh, they don't need to travel out of the country to enjoy Nature, and to have a Great Vacation! Truly.
The beaches were not white sandy beaches but instead black, clay beaches with plenty of rocks, typical of Korean beaches on this side of the peninsula.
“The sky how come it’s gloomy gloomy like that one ah?” observed Serene and she was correct.
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The day was cloudy and gloomy. And as the sun began to set the temperature dipped, a little, and the sea breeze caressed and pleasantly chilled our bodies.
But this Ah Li really 真是没鬼用的. Kao beh kao bu said cold! 14.9 degrees only.. cold what cold?
She was the one literally wearing the Uniqlo down jacket all the way.. aigooo, silly little baby.
We walked into some nice Camping site 캠핑장 right at the edge of the beach where there were a few groups of young people barbecuing and enjoying themselves with their tents set up and cars parks by the side.
We walked into one of these and upon Ah Li’s urging, I asked the SaJangNim about the tents. She replied that the campers will bring their own tents and set them up and barbecue there. They don’t rent the tents.. they just sell the necessary groceries and some ingredients and provide washing facilities.
The Espaniola was a high-class restaurant cum bistro cum resort cum pension enclosure which we walked through and enjoyed the high-class atmosphere and the piped-in music. Later in the night as the three of us stood outside our balcony, enjoying the cool sea breeze as we ate our cup ramyeon, I shared with Ah Li that when we travel we much rather stay and eat and travel like the ways the locals do, which is these type of more down to earth and cheaper options.. eating in SikTangs frequented by locals, taking bus and subways like the locals, staying in accommodations that the locals would use. In fact, this Ganghwa Bethel pension wasn’t expensive. It was only S$63 a night. Nothing to complain about one. There were another three old couples who were staying in the other rooms on this same night. And honestly, if the Korean old couples stay here we would not be wrong.
On this evening Ah Li and I sat down and planned our next day’s adventure:
Manisan hike 마니산 摩尼山
Dolmen 강화부근리고인돌 江華古石墓
Peace observatory 평화전방대 平和展望臺
Ganghwa Luge 강화루지
Well, it was going to be a busy next day. But we decided we will wake up early at 7:30am, to an aghast Serene Gan... Little did she nor Ah Li know, the next day was going to be ANOTHER Adventure!
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| Drive whole day around Ganghwado |
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| Not bad. We actually prepared trekking outfit |
A 4.2km drive from Bethel Pension to Manisan car park brought us to our first destination on this really-packed day. The lovely thing about Ganghwado was everywhere we could literally just park. And all are free, at least all these places that we went to. The very courteous young attendance at the ticket booth at the foot of Manisan trail advised us that Course number 5 was a more scenic route and it wasn’t difficult" in Korean, and with that we paid the 2000₩ per person entrance and decided to take the easiest, but longest course number 5 단군로 3.2km horizontal distance up, and come down by the steepest but fastest Course number 1 계단로 (the steps route) measuring 2.4km horizontally back to the starting point.
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Manisan measures a mere 472m high. So it is actually just a few Bukit Timah hills hike. It took us about three hours in total, which wasn’t too bad, considering that Serene and I didn’t train at all.
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“You know, the Koreans are really mountain people,” I told Ah Li. “Even the old folks hike like it was nothing to them. Maybe that’s why there are no fat Koreans (hahaha..).”
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“That was why during the Korean War the American soldiers suffered badly when they first arrived because they weren’t familiar with the Korean terrain. The North Korean soldiers knew the land well, but imagine the American soldiers having to charge up every single bill with the North Korean armies waiting for them at the top of the hills… how many American soldiers had died, right?”
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Ah Li: “Yah lor… charge up also died, if turn back also would have died.”
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As we climbed, Serene kept kao beh kao boo-ing: “I can feel my heart beating very fast! Can you hear my heart beat?”
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| "Ah Li.. Ah Li...!" |
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| "Ah Li.. Ah Li yah, Ah Li Ah Li...!" |
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| "Ah Li saved my life!" |
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| Äh Li Ah Li... Ah Li yah Ah Li yah!" |
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| Finally Ah Li could enjoy a little bit of peace from all the Áh Li'-ing... HAHAHA |
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On this day, I won this Manisan battle, but Niang Serene and Ah Li both were very Guai because they obediently climbed up with me.. I really wanted to do Manisan in Ganghwado, after missing BukhanSan in Seoul during last year’s winter trip.
VIDEO 동영상
The descent was tough on the quadriceps and the knees but hey.. again we hadn’t had that kind of nice exercise for a long time and it was lovely to let the gluteus take over while descending.
The SikTang at the starting point 범호고향밥상 was a life-saving lunch point with Bibimbap and Sundupu Jjigae. A quick change to dry clothes and we were off at about 1pm to our next destination, the Dolmens, known as 강화 부근리 고인돌 (Ganghwa old tombs 古石坟). These were man-made tombs dated to the Bronze Age.....
The Ganghwado Dolmens 강화 부근리 고인돌 江華島古石墓
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| Well, I simply had to walk one round the Dolmen.. as it has been so famously depicted on blogs. |
After driving that 27km from Manisan to this spot, we parked the car and looked around and found.. hmmmm… no Dolmens to be seen leh.
“Strange. Where are the Dolmens?” I wondered.
In my mind that were plenty plenty of Dolmens concentrated in this area, and once we arrived wah straight away we will be greeted with a whole grassland of huge rocks, scattered all over a football field, or something like that... But little did I know that there was only ONE obvious and famous one, and the rest were tiny little inconspicuous rocks scattered over a very wide area. So on this day we walked and walked to the centre of the field and gladly took the picture of that single famous Dolmen.
We were at least impressed by the fact that there seemed to be some rock carvings on the inside of the Dolmen.
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“Not bad. Job done,” happily said Ah Li.
The Ganghwado Peace Observatory 강화평화전방대 江華平和展望臺
“Ok let’s make our way to the Peace Observatory then,” I urged.
It was another 8km drive up north and this road took us right the northmost point of Ganghwado, just across North Korea. In fact, we had to pass through a military checkpoint manned by a couple of very handsome soldiers who saluted us and allowed us through when we explained our purpose of visiting the observatory.
There were quite a few groups of local Koreans visiting on this day. And after paying 2500₩ per person and (again) climbing up a steep sloping road, we arrived.
“Wah lau.. why everywhere also have to climb hills and slopes one!” complained Serene. Haha..
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This Peace Observatory was erected to (perhaps) convey the hope of reunification and all the exhibits inside of North Korean propaganda and movies made in North Korea, had their detail explanations on Korean.
“Alamak.. all in Korean leh, I can’t understand,” said Ah Li.
“Ok don’t worry, since all these are in Korean, it will take us a long time to read through them and to understand. My main aim of coming here today is to look through the binoculars into North Korea at the observatory,” I replied.
And to the second floor, we went and did just that.
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| To me, it has always been interesting to watch North Korea |
“Wow this is so surreal!” exclaimed Ah Li. “I can see the people walking on the streets and cycling on the roads and people working in the fields in North Korea!”
She was so excited by this we changed more 500₩ coins to keep looking through the binoculars and watched and watched what those folks were doing in North Korea.
“I gladly use up all my 60cents (500₩) worth of coins each view, to keep looking at the North Korea side,” said her.
“It’s like we are doing a peeping-Tom at them,” I said.
“… without them knowing…” completed Ah Li.
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| This strait of seawater cuts the ties between loved ones... |
“You know,” I told the young lady. “My hope is one day we could make the trip into North Korea. It’s not easy I know, but I hope one day we can.”
So we talked about the Baegnyeon 백령도incidence in 2010 when a South Korean navy vessel was torpedoed and sunk apparently by the North Korean military but it never was officially established. And how the South Korean men were enlisted and their training was geared towards fighting a real war because they are in theory, still in a state of war with North Korea.
The Ganghwado Luge
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“I am very scared of speeding downslope one leh!” complained Serene. But she did so well, and so slowly, that at one point her Luge actually hit the right wall and got stuck and she could not disengage her vehicle until she twisted and turned the steering and it loosened from the side wall and continued downslope slowly.
She wasn’t bad at all. As the ride went on she actually plucked up courage and allowed the Luge to travel faster. I was right in front of her all the way to make sure she slowly and safely descended. Of course, Ah Li was way ahead and enjoying herself so much.
“It was so nice, right? Wasn’t it?” asked Ah Li at the end of it.
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Thinking back, the fact that Serene and I came down sooooo slowly we literally were stretching our dollars (won) and making our money worth every single but by doing that sloooooow ride.
VIDEO 동영상
“Wah we really travelled so many spots today,” said Ah Li at the end of the playing. “We couldn’t have done all these if we had not had a car, you know.”
Yes, precisely. In Seoul you can take the subway or bus, but here.. there are no subways and although they have buses it would still be inconvenient to travel to all these places spread across the Ganghwado island, all within a day. Ganghwado’s land area was half that of Singapore’s land size. But here many of the roads were single carriage roads and their speed limits on these roads were mostly 50km/h, some areas were strictly 30km/h, therefore it took time to drive from one part to another.
용궁횟집 YeongGoong HwetJib (Sashimi restaurant)
“Let’s drive back to bear our Pension to have dinner because by the time it turns dark we would be just nearby the pension and can drive back easily,” I suggested.
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| Drive from Ganghwado to Suwon |
VIDEO 동영상
Little did we know today was also going to be quite a long day, because of the drive from Ganghwado to Suwon. In retrospect, at the end of this day, we realised that we broke all the traffic rules that could possibly be broken in Korea. Was it easy to drive along the highway? Yes and no.
‘Yes’, because you simply just shoot 100-110km/h (speed limit 110km/h on highways) straight ahead and try to weave your way through huge container trucks and lorries which were similarly trying to one-up on you, while Ah Li and Serene were squirming at the side because the huge trucks were so near our car’s right side.
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| Rest stop along the Highway |
And ‘No’, because it was difficult to keep an eye on the GPS-directions while trying to keep the car from veering to the right of the lane from years of habit driving a right-hand-drive car, and trying hard to look at the Korean signboards (yes the English names were there too) and trying to lion for the toll gates. We had absolutely no intention to break the rules but despite all our good intentions, we invariably:
beat a red light driving
Get caught in the middle of a traffic junction trying to turn right but the light turned red.
We drove through not one, but three toll gates without paying because although we aimed for the cash/credit card payment booth, somehow we ended driving through the high-pass booth, and we missed a filter turn on the right side going through the gate.
misjudged the distance between a truck on our right side, and swiped my right rear mirror slightly onto its back. Luckily nothing major.
Walking across the traffic junction we actually missed seeing the red man and walked through the pedestrian.
We got out of a private building car park with no means of paying the parking fees, because the booth could not accept overseas credit cards and we inserted the T-money card instead of tapping it.. and had to trouble the hotel concierge to help.. but in the end it came to no avail, and finally Kim Man Jung rescued us by paying remotely for us.
“I cannot believe we were so tunnel-visioned,” complained Ah Li. “The toll gate signs, the T-money tap signs.. all these were just in front of us, yet we missed all these.”
The drive trip from Ganghwado took us about 2 and a half hours. Generally smooth-sailing, but, honestly-speaking, quite hair-raising at some points. Fortunately for me, I had Ah Li navigating on the GPS on my right, and Serene who kept reminding me of the speed limit along different stretches.
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| Crossing the 횡단보도 to Chicken Street |
Tightest of small streets to squeeze through...The small streets of Suwon was so narrow, not because of the street design, but because cars were parked illegally on both sides of the small street, leaving barely enough space for a normal car to squeeze through. We had to make a U-turn at one point because we were stuck in one of these small streets and couldn’t squeeze through. Terrible. The Koreans are a brave people, being able to force their ways driving through the narrowest spaces available.
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Suwon Chicken Street 수원통닭거리
Car parks were aplenty in Suwon. Not that expensive. For four hours of parking in the 공영주차장 public car park, it only cost us 5,400₩ (S$5.88). So parked we did. And walked to the famous Suwon Chicken Street 수원딝거리.
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“Suwon is famous for its fried chicken,” I said. “And here along Chicken Street we can find all the SikTangs selling various styles of whole chicken.”
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| Our first fried chicken at HaengGoong TongDak |
The first one we came to 행궁통닭 (Henggung whole chicken) run by a very nice Ajussi, we went in and ordered half half plate of fried chicken and Suwon King Kalbi chicken (수원왕갈비 닭). It was delicious especially with the Ajussi SaJangNim being so warm to us and asked about where we came from and how was things.
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| HaengGoong TongDak's style of soy and fried chicken |
But we were naughty and Ah Li was hungry. After we finished the 27,000₩ meal, we walked down Chicken Street, made a U-turn back and had another chicken in the restaurant directly opposite Henggung Whole Chicken, this second time round ordering a whole plate of fried chicken, because Ah Li said: “I’m still a little hungry. Why don’t we try another chicken shop?”
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| The second chicken shop across the Ajussi's HaengGoong Chicken |
Truth to be told, I really didn't have any much plans for this day, as we would always play by ear. And that we drove that 100km here, and that we just had not one, but TWO meals of fried chicken, meant that our brain-fog were setting in. Remembering what I saw on KakaoMap, that just next to Suwon Chicken Street, we could follow alongside Suwon Stream and walk back up north to where we parked our car just outside Suwon Fortress Museum.
Walking along Suwon Stream (수원천 水原川) and discovering 동남각루 (東南角樓)
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| 동남각루 東南角樓 |
We were a little confused in our orientation. But in retrospect, this was the part of the Suwon Fortress that was just near PalDalMun 八達門. Delighted we were to find what resemsbles a local vegetable market, blacksmith, cooking oil shops, spice shops, along the old street along the stream … it was kind of likea SiJang 시장 市場.
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And we saw an old fortress wall just beside the stream and we walked up to find DongNamGakRu (동남각루 東南角樓) just above the NamSuMun (남수문 南水門) the gate that straddles the Suwon stream (수원천 水源川). This DongNamGangNu was a little pavilion that was used for leisurely watching the city below during the ancient days.
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The climb up the steps was merely a prelude to what we would be doing the next day on a fuller scale, but hahaha.. Serene was already kao-beh-kao-bu-ing liao. It was a very interesting mix, right on the wall of the fortress we could peer afar and see the Catholic church in the mid-ground. It was the classic Ancient-modern, East-West juxtaposition so famously mentioned time and time again in Korea.
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Hwaseong Fortress Museum 수원 화성박물관 水原華城博物館
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Hwaseong Fortress was commissioned and building started in January of 1974 and contruction was completed in September of 1796. And in 1997. Hwaseong Fortress was entered into UNESCO World Heritage Site. That the fortress was built in the Joseon dynasty by then King JeongJo not only to form a defence entity and for preparation of the (intended) move of the capital to Suwon, but also that he built this to house the remains of his respected father the late Crown Prince Janghyeon escaped us, until we read about it.
Here, the middle of the city, Suwon Hwaseong fortress museum （수원화성박물관 水原華城博物館) was a lovely concept which illustrated the construction of the Suwon Hwaseong fortress and the history of Suwon from Emperor Taejong. Ah Li and I have always loved museums, all kinds of museums. And we found that in Korea, every city has at least one (or more) museum that was representative of the local history. Suwon Hwaseong Fortress was just one of them.
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This museum was not huge. And it was of just right a size for a slow 45 minutes walk-through. The photo on the entrance of how the Fortress surrounds the whole city of Hwaseong (the old name for Suwon) was magnificent. I couldn't help but sized it up and place it here because I could imagine the sense of security as a city dweller I would feel if I were to be living in those days of old, with the city fortress guarded by soldiers.
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The miniature models were brilliantly made and three of us had a delightful time inside. The construction of the fortress with heavy slabs of rocks using pulley systems and ingenious wooden instruments of lifting, all using man-power, was illustrated in detail. Even the black and white photos on display of ancient Suwon was a thrill to read and behold.
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“Wah many workers must have died during the construction,” I said.
“Yah, can imagine thot time all the people working were slaves and workers who were malnourished but yet had to work very hard to carry all these,” added Serene.
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| Serene's shot |
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Walking back to our parked car...
One of our happy habits, developed by this day in Korea, was to pop into the convenience stores and to see what kind of special cold coffee they had. We slipped into one of the CU stores. And encountered the very courteous store keeper.
CU Ajumma: “where are you all from?”
“Oh we hardly see Singaporeans here in Suwon,” she replied when told where we were from. “For the past 7 years I have never seen single Singaporean here. I mostly see Chinese - either Joseon people from China (朝鮮族) or Chinese who have been living here in Suwon. Sometimes I see Japanese but Singaporeans, no.”
That was perhaps why she was very thrilled to see us, three Singaporeans finding our ways in Suwon, and buying coffees and cup noodles from her CU convenient shop.
In fact many of the local shop keepers were warm and friendly, like the SaJangNim of the chicken restaurant, the store keeper in the CU convenient shop, the Ajumma in the fruit shop where we bought a packet of grapes from? And the old Halmeoni SaJangNim of the Tteok shop where we bought the traditional tteok (rice cakes) from. They all curiously asked where we were from.
“You know,” I said to Eomma Serene and Ah Li, “I really do think that Singaporeans are not too common here in Suwon. And here in Suwon, the feel and the vibes of the city is different from that of Seoul.”
In retrospect, I think actually many Singaporeans do travel to Suwon. Perhaps no where as many as to Seoul. Suwon is so flavourful a city that I am sure many would long to explore it. Especially so if Suwon's Hwaseong Fortress has been designated as a UNESCO World Hertiage Site. Perhaps in the past two and a half years, during Covid, tourists number has plunged.
“I think hor, after the long drive you all must be tired,” reasoned Serene. “Let’s go check into the hotel first, and rest a while before we go out again lah.”
Good idea.
Check in, we did, after pulling up into the wrong car park in the building next to the hotel, and after being frustrated by the failure to make payment for the wrong parking, we happily checked in and rested till 6:15pm. I was definitely glad that during spring the daylight hours are long in Korea, the sun rises at 5am something and sets at around 8pm, so we had plenty of daylight hours to roam about.
So we took a bus, and as expected, I made a wrong call to alight one bus stop earlier, and we had to exercise 1km worth of fat off from our bodies by walking to the Flying Suwon hot-air balloon..
Flying Suwon... un-flew
Before we even set foot upon Suwon, I promised myself that I would bring the ladies to fly up in thjis famous Suwon Balloon, just so that we could see the night city view from atop.
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| The balloon that did not fly |
When we arrived...
“The balloon is not flying leh,” said Serene when she saw the balloon anchored to the ground.
“I have a feeling it’s just a display set,” said Ah Li.
“Yah I agree. The real balloon must be somewhere behind,” I replied. And not long after that, I got proven wrong when the friendly staff approached us and apologetically told us the balloon was not flying today because of non-ideal wind condition.
Failed attempt, this was. Why? Because I didn't check online if they were flying, or if they were not due to strong winds.
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“내일은 어려울 것 같아요.” (Tomorrow will also be difficult, I think), said the Suwon hot air balloon staff. “The wind is too strong for us to fly the balloon these few days. You may have to call before hand when you come next week.”
“Kwenchana,” consoled Ah Li.
“There is always a reason for things happening,” Serene’s usual explanation for everything.
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| Climbing up to the JangYoongMun 蒼龍們 but cannot enter cos closed |
“It means unfinished business for we all. We may have to come back to Suwon again,” this Ah Li ah… very clever talk.
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| Serene's pano shot of the beautiful sunset |
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| And it gave Serene more reasons to engage in her favourite activity - taking pano shots. |
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| Despite it being a cool Spring night, the locals were dressed like it was summer. |
But hey, it gave us a chance to walk through JangAnMun and explore a small part of the fortress in the evening and oh it was soooo beautiful at night with the lights. And it was crowded with locals here to exercise their legs and their cardiopulmonary systems after dinner.
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| I have never seen a fortress wall so beautiful. Ever. |
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| Ah Li and I exploring the secret gate 暗門 안문 |
Hwahongmun (화홍문 華虹門) the gate with dome shaped openings below, that acted as a control for the Suwon Stream water flow, was our next destination.
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And so we kept walking. Travelling with a rental car is great. It gave us the flexibility of parking the car at a spot, and then take the rest of the journey on feet, on bus or subway. Suwon is a great little city to walk around. And we see so many little flavourful typical shops and alleys.“We must see the nice light up on this HwaHongMun at night,” I explained.
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| Serene jolly-ly took her pano shot of HwaHongMun |
한판 삼겹살집 HanPan Samgyeopsal
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“Let’s walk 1.1km to our dinner restaurant, this one called HanPalSamGyeop 한팔삼겹 that is highly reviewed,” I urged them and we walked through dark streets to the other side of Hwaseong fortress to arrive at a neighbourhood of restaurants.
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| Erm.. we didn't eat this. Just passed by... |
HanPalSamGyeop was not bad. For 48,000₩ we had 200gm of SaengSamGyeopSal, 200gm of pork collar meat, and 200gm of pork cheek, with a bottle of Cass Beer and a bottle of soju.
Totally jolly-ed, we walked back to buy buns from Paris Baguette, and Tteok from a traditional Tteok shop, which Ah Ali was so thrilled to have bought and to eat, and bought fruits from a fruit stall, and took a bus back. This time around the bus stop we stopped at was correct and we finally managed to walk back to our hotel.
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| Ahem.. hey, did anyone say that they are coming to Dr Lim's clinic (right on top of the photo) in Korea to do some beautifying body works...? LOL |
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Hmm.. I have always been confused by the multiple choice questions facing Korean pedestrians
and drivers. Not only are their zebra crossings multiple-choices, their traffic junctions
are also multi-lane multiple choice questions.
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| Multiple-choice Zebra Crossing |
Walk & Defend the Walls like a Korean soldier, Shoot arrows & Eat like a Korean soldier
After seeing parts of Hwaseong Fortress in the evening the night before, I was determined to explore more of HwaSeong Fortress in the day. According to all the blogs that I searched, HwaSeong Fortress is really not a tough climb, its perimeter was around 5.7km in a loop securing the centre of the city. And there were bastions, towers, and gates along that we could see and enjoy.
These two lazy pigs huh.. promised to wake up at 9am, I myself got up at 8:55am, washed up, and busied myself preparing breakfast coffee and buns and they both slept until 9:30am. Hahaha.. but hey holidays were supposed to be like this- if you are tired then just sleep in a little more lor.
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| This is the 연불대 練武臺 where the Emperor had his soldiers trained |
We drove the 5km to the spacious HwaHongMun public car park and it was a very right decision because later on as we walked we realised that the free parallel car parks along the roads hugging the Hwaseong fortress were jammed packed with cars heading in both directions and struggling to maneuvre out of each others’ way, not to mention parking the cars. It was a nightmare simply watching the Korean drivers.
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There was a very friendly middle-aged official lady guide who was so nice to give us some touring advice and a map in Chinese when we first arrived at JangAnMun (장안문 長安門) blur blur.. and not sure where to start, and we had to ask somebody… and surprisingly she could tell that we were Singaporeans by our accents and cheerfully spoke to us in Chinese and Korean.
VIDEO 동영상 of the Archery
No tickets for the tram-ride round Hwaseong... so just go for lunch first... Hwaseong fortress was a flurry of activities and it received troves of visitors on this Saturday morning, the weekend of the Buddha’s Birthday Holiday (부처님오신날). We didn’t manage to buy tickets to the Hwaseong tram by the time we arrived at the YeonMuDae ticket booth (연무대 練武臺) because we arrived 5 minutes late and the staff went for lunch and by the time we had our lunch and came back the timing for the earliest tram was at 3pm. So decided to just walk the whole city wall after lunch, we did. Yet again, another perfectly good and correct, but super-tiring decision (for 엄마 Serene and Ah Li).
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| The friendly SaJangNim whose NaengMyeon changed Ah Li into a NaegMyeon convert |
In our search for lunch before the fortress walk, we simply just walked down the old dongnae 동내 (neighbourhood) of old, old residences next to the fortress compound and tried to look for a restaurant. Surprisingly from in between some empty stores popped up a Naengmyeon restaurant - “DaeJang Naengmyeon” 대장냉면. Although she didn’t really like Naengmyeon, Ah Li got persuaded by us to give it a try. 알리가 냉면을 싫은데도 불구하고 그는 한번 먹어보기로 했다. The SaJangNim (surprisingly) again could tell, simply by looking at the way we dressed and perhaps our looks, that we were Singaporeans!
I asked him: “어떻게 아세요?” [How did you know (we were Singaporeans)?]
He replied in halting English: “I go Singapore ten times!”
Wah! No wonder!
Deliciously we ate and Ah Li became a MulNaengMyeon 물냉면 convert after this meal.
“I wouldn’t have though that here in the middle of nowhere there would be such a delicious Naengmyeon reatauarant,” said her.
“Here he just simply caters to the local patrons, that would be enough. He doesn’t even need too much frontage to attract walk-in customers,” I said.
This Suwon Hwaseong fortress 수원화성 水源华城, beautifully constructed as a city Defence wall to protect the city of Suwon, previously known as Hwaseong 화성 華城, completed in 1796.
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On this day, one day before Buddha’s Birthday, Hwaseong was full of visitors- almost all local Koreans, young and old, happily walking up and down with ease. Students came in droves to have the official guides bring them all over. Young men and women were seated on the grass having picnics in this lovely weather. We saw a couple of families of Ang Mohs too. I enjoyed the fact that the local Koreans would bring their whole family outing here, and enjoy and remind their young of the history of the place. Parents carrying their toddlers on their shoulders and actually climbing up the steep slopes of the castle wall, and even old Halmeonis and Halabeojis walking in couples, with their families, and in groups guided by official local guides, eagerly walking through every single gate.
“This kind of nice chilly weather with cool wind is what the Koreans would call 살살해,” I shared with Ah Li. Indeed, the weather was so nice. Cool on this morning and we didn't have to wear any jackets, except perhaps for Ah Li, who always needs to feel 'toasty'.
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| We practiced like the soldiers of old to fire at the enemies downstairs. |
VIDEO 동영상 of the top
We saw children, teenagers, and adults candidly attempting archery (at 2000₩ S$2.20 for ten arrows) at YeonMuDae, and mothers cheering their children on for improving with every arrow they shot. The contagious enthusiasm with which the Koreans partook in the sport was really a sight to see.
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We started that 5.7km walk along the fortress walls and passed through
leisure pavilions called Gakru (각루角樓) - 동남각루 （東南角樓）동복각루 （東北角樓),
Bastions called Poru (포루 炮樓)
Watch towers
Secret gates AmMun (암문 暗門)
… and many other towers for defense and military re-enforcement
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| Resting the legs and lungs at the top... |
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| The view from the top |
I kept wondering to myself, with such steep and high steps and such steep slopes running up and down, the soldiers of the olden days must have had been very strong. And it came to my mind that many would have been injured badly falling down these high rocky steps in the dark of the night and when the rocks become slippery with ice in winter. Many lives must have been lost not only while constructing the fortress, but also in defending it.
Was the climb easy? Actually, not that bad lah. Really. Some parts were steep, and we kind of found ourselves like not moving up despite taking one step after another (a little bit of exaggeration here), but otherwise steep steps were generally manageable. Because the authorities have reconstructed the stone steps carefully and systematically to ensure safety.
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| We ended at PalDalMun [Serene's favourite pano-shot] |
I reckoned we did around 8km of walking and climbing. It was really not too bad, because, in our past experiences, Serene and I realised that if we were to walk like this, day by day in Korea, we would actually burn off quite a bit of the delicious food we ate during our trips.
“Wah this Hwaseong fortresse really killed me,” said Ah Li after the whole walk was over. “My calves are aching (still recovering from the climb up to Manisan) and I really died-ed…”
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| The SiJang at the round-about at PalDalMun |
Along the way, Serene also kao-beh kao-Bu: “Wah lau eh. You sgtrekker again! Bring us walk up and down like that, so siong! I am very chuan ah, you know!”
“Kwenchana,” I reassured. “Like this you all would have burnt off that four mandu and the bowl of Nengmyeon we had for lunch.”
Ah Li was so tired that we scrapped the idea of going to DaeJanggeum Park, and decided to look for Bingsul. Found one we did near PalDalMun, but it was one of the most terrible-tasting bingsul - with rough ice flakes. Disappointed, we drove back to the hotel to sleep instead.
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| To the unlimited refill Samgyeopsal. 경기 수원시 권선구 서둔로269번길 2. (우) 16604(지번) 탑동 2-18 |
And 6:30pm we got up and took a bus instead to an Unlimited Refill SamGyeopSal restaurant in TapDong 탑동 neighbourhood, about 20mins from our hotel.
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This had very good review on KakaoMap and we were pleasantly surprised by the friendly Ajumma SaJangNim who changed our hot plate paper and who cheerfully introduced us to the various meats, all unlimited refill! She had not only Samgyeopsal 삼겹살, pork collar meat 목살, very tender and flavourful Kalbi Seasoned pork collar 갈비양념목살 and even duck slice 오리! What we found super delicious was two different flavours of Tteokbokki 떡볶이, tiny ones- one purple type that had yam fillings, and another white one that had cheese fillings.
The usual Soju and Beer! “Wah, had it not been for KakaoMap’s recommendation and navigation we wouldn’t have come to this ulu ulu little neighbourhood to enjoy such a lovely meal,” I remarked.
I have always loved venturing into those little SikTang run by Ajumma or Ajussi that are frequented by the locals. The best would be purely local patrons and noisy atmosphere and not one single word of English or Chinese... wah these would be the best! We could be assured of the most authentic of experiences.
“Yah, this is really worth it!” said Ah Li.
“Wah I really love the seasoned pork collar meat and the purple tteokbokki.” said Eomma Serene.
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| I knew Ah Li would not have enough of SamGyeopSal - so here we came. |
True. This little restaurant down a slope from the small main road on this evening had two ladies on the next table - apparently friends meeting after work, and another family of a young couple with their toddler daughter on the other side of us.. The Ajumma SaJangNim was surprised to see us three foreigners come into her restaurant. She thought we were foreigners living nearby but we told her we were actually tourists, and we came to her SikTang because we saw the good reviews.
Good restaurant, very friendly SaJangNim, and truly no cutting-corners good ‘ol delicious meat that makes a real down-to-earth gogi dinner.
[15th May 2022. Sunday. Vesak Day 부처님오신날]
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| Drive from Suwon to 大長今 to Gongju |
Oh, finally we acted in the period Korean Dramas! 古裝韓劇
Again, these two again dragged their waking up time. Haiyah… terrible lah. But it was ok. We decided after waking up that, heck, let’s just take a detour to the DaeJangGeum Park, one hour away from Suwon in Yonggin to see all the movie and drama filming background setups for all the famous period dramas we have watched.
Like so many of our friends who watch Korean dramas, there would inevitably be that few period dramas that catch the fancies of our eyes. And more likely than not, many of these are shot with the sets here in DaeJangGeum Park, owned by MBC.
"It sounds interesting," I recalled the ladies talking about this when we were discussing it before the trip.
After we were all tired out by Hwaseong Fortress the day before and had to skip our planned trip to the Park the day before, I was thinking that we would have no choice but to give this a miss. But I was glad we made that on-the-spot decision to just go ahead and still go after we check out from our Suwon hotel. It turned out to be a correct decision as Gongju, the next small little city, turned out to be a quiet and relatively 지루한 city.
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DaeJangGeum Park 대장금 파크 大長今樂園
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| Shooting Korean Drama in DaeJangGeum Parl |
VIDEO 동영상 of 大長今파크
Boy was that a great decision. We arrived at 11:35am, just nice to buy a 9,500₩ per person entrance fee and a 3,000₩ per person buggy ride to go around with a brief guide.
"오늘은 혹시 촬영이 있어요?" I asked the buggy guide if there was actual drama shooting on this day.
"아니요, 없어요," replied the lady buggy guide. Alamak... wasted. Otherwise it would have given us another anlge, another view point, to the many period dramas that we have watched.
“This was really quite a highlight,” I thought, after the end of the visit. Agreed Eomma Serene and Ah Li.
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Perhaps I imagined it or perhaps not, but many of the sets reminded me of scenes in the various period dramas I watched- the court where the judge ruled, the city main gate guarded by guards, the scholar's study room, the Emperor’s concubine chambers, the royal kitchen, the old market place in the old city, the nobleman’s grand home and courtyard, and so much more.
The few famous period dramas that Serene and I remembered, and reminiscence as we slowly pointed from one drama display board to another:
Empress Ki
The King’s daughter - Su Baek Hyang
Moon Embracing the Sun
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| Here below was the main marketplace street in the period drama where the bad guy chases the hero on a horse |
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| Here is where the evil Nobleman lives with his evil son. |
I really love my ARTBOX bluetooth tripod that has been with me for more than 4 years since I bought it from the Hongdae Artbox shop that few years ago during our previous trip with the children. So many years already and it still performs like magic, allowing me to shoot photos of ourselves as below. Nice!
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| Before entering the Palace to meet the Emperor |
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| Huh... how come today the Palace all the guards and the 宮女 on leave meh? |
"You know something," I told Serene. "Every set we walk to hor, we can easily think about which scene in which drama could have been shot right here. Because for example, in the court house, in the jail house, in the palace or along the main street of the city where the marketplace was, they simply just decorated it differently and bingo, it would become a different background."
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| This looks like a 客栈. And there was a family with young children taking this photo. So we followed them too. |
"And also, now that we start looking, we can see that the pillars and the many tiles on the floors are removable ones - so that the videographers and set producers can conceal wires, can connect their equipment to the power points, and looking up we can even see the light bulbs hidden in the lanterns" noticed Ah Li.
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| Didn't end up seeing the Emperor but found my long-lost same kind. |
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| Also found 엄마 and the 애기 的 same kind instead. |
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| This was where the famous scholar in the drama was educated as a Confucius scholar. |
Wah.. what a surprise awaited us at the end of the walk - our favourite actors and actresses!
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Arriving at Gongju
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| The so-so-only Gongju Hanok |
Parking here in Gongju was even more lawless than in Suwon. And we could just park anywhere where there was an empty space. Not a bad thing, but we just had to find a good enough spot close enough to our Honghuiguan Hanok Guesthouse. The host received us without even needing to check our ID… Ah Li concluded that we were the only guests staying on this day. And we think she was correct.
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The Hanok room was cozy but small. But ok lah.. just nice to house three of us although Ah Li kept harping and harping on how nice and big the Suwon hotel room was.. haha..
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| Samgyetang restaurant |
Lunch was a 흑삼삼계탕 黑參參雞湯 black ginseng Samgyetang in a restaurant set up in a lovely old Hanok, run by an Ajumma SaJangNim a few houses down the street.
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“I like that the restaurant is so beautifully decorated,” said Ah Li, referring to that authentic Korean Hanok atmosphere in the restaurant.
“I like it that when we eat, there are other locals eating in the restaurant as well, which means that this is for locals, and not targeting tourists,” I replied.
“Well, it’s not only that, but even the owners themselves eat in the restaurant,” joked Ah Li, which was true because at that moment the SaJangNim and her son was also eating on the table behind us. This was an observation made when we were having meals in another SikTang earlier in Suwon. I like it this way. It made the whole place so much more homely.
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We walked across the road towards GongSanSeong fortress (공산성 公山城), and Ah Li and Eomma Serene looked up…
“Huh?! Climb that steep steps again!” Serene kao-behed.
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But Ah Li just quietly accept the fact that we had to just make it up to that hill too and started her way up. Hahaha... I knew both of them had resigned to fate that their Korea trip was going to be full of mountains and slopes and steps.
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But frankly, this GongSanSeong was really small compared to Suwon Hwaseong. We were glad to have walked up because up there we discovered a small write-up that detailed the history of Injeolmi - the famous Korean Rice cake covered with soya bean, red bean or sesame powder - that was my favourite flavour when it came to Bingsul.
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Here was that story of Injeolmi, in scripted on the plate below the 雙樹亭:
“Gongju, the Birthplace of Injeolmi
Injeolmi is a type of Korean rice cake made by steaming and pounding glutinous rice flour cutting it into rectangular pieces and covering it with powder-most commonly soybean powder but also red bean powder or black sesame seed powder. The legend behínd the name injeolmi dates back to 1624 when King Injo sought refuge at Gongsanseong Fortress during a revolt. As the king was fleeing to the fortress, a Mr. Im of a nearby village offered the king some cut rice cakes covered in soybean powder. The king hungrily devoured a few of the rice cakes, and said, ‘My, these are delicdous. They look like rice cakes, but what are they called?’
When no one could answer, the king said, ‘These rlce cakes ought to have a name, and it is strange that no one knows what they are called. Who Is it that made these rice cakes?’
They were made by Mr Im, someone replied.
‘Mr. Im, you say,’ thought the King. ‘ Mr Im's rice cakes are truly delicious (Jeolmi 절미 絕美).’
Since then, the rice cakes were called Imjeolmi. Over time,the pronunciation of the word changed to Injeolmi as It is known today. It is also called "Gongju tteok’ (공주떡) meaning rlce cake of Gongiu by local residents.”
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So we were all delighted to find that one of our distant relatives in the past, a 林 씨, was the inventor of Imjeolmi (Injeolmi 林絕美) and now we could happily go order our Injeolmi Bingsu and devour it with pride!
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Ghost town after 6pm... this Gongju
Like the past few days, an afternoon rest even if it were for half an hour, lying in bed, was in order. Today was no exception. But by the time we got up and left the Hanok Guesthouse at 6:15pm we were disappointed to find that almost no shops were opened.
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If we thought Suwon was sleepy (which I subsequently admitted that mistake because we discovered that Suwon’s Rodeo street was just as bustling as Myeongdong in its heydays), then Gongju was almost a dead city… something close to that. Because after 5-6pm many of the shops were closed and the markets 시장 were shut, most SikTangs 식당 were shuttered at 8pm, and the streets were in darkness, with hardly anyone walking the streets.
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| a pano of the statue of King Muryeong |
Whatever remaining activities in this marketplace at about 7:30pm was what we could see along the main road.
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"Let's go back to the Hanok and eat cup Ramyeon ba!" said Eomma Serene.
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[16th May 2022. Monday]
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| Drive from Gongju to the romantic Jeonju |
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| Snacks & tteoks of all flavours! |
A refreshing re-discovery of Gongju!
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| Ajussi and Ajumma fashion! |
Oh, what difference a night made. After we checked out of the so-so Honghuiguan Hanok in the morning we drove to 산성시장 Sanseong sijang (山城市場) and oh at 10am the whole place was totally alive with Ajussis, Ajummas, Halabeojis and Halmeonis! The locals were out in full force doing their grocery shopping and what an authentic experience it was.
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VIDEO 동영상
We found the Rich man’s Tteok house (부자떡집) right at the market corner, and got our Gongju Injeolmi in original flavouras well as in red bean flavour. We were impressed to find that the prices of these local favourite snacks not that expensive, but one thing we found was that these rice cakes Tteok, they cannot be kept for too long. They would remain soft and fresh only for about one day. After that they started to turn hard and were no longer as tasty and as chewy. That was why tteok, if bought as a gift, must be bought FRESH, and delivered immediately.
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| BuJa TteokJib |
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Wow this Gongju Seongsan Sijang was such a great place for locals to buy not only food products but garments, seeds, primary produce as well as utensils, much like the wet markets back home in Singapore. Very thrilled we were, to be walking amongst the localfolks and being immersed in the cacophony of calls and bargainings in native Saturi,
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Time for a petrol refill before wqe head off to the next spot - Jeonju 전주 全州. Thankfully the GS petrol station was manned by a courteous young man and he helped me top up my petrol tank at 1,990₩ (S$2.16) per litre, still a good price compared to Singapore’s crazy petrol prices. This Hyundai Avante was such a fuel-efficient car. I probably only used two third tanks up till now. I could not imagine if I were to drive my 20 year old car here, wah it would have gurgled up petrol like a monster.
The Royal Tomb of King Muryeong of Baekje 百濟武寧王
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“Ok, now that we have our cup noodle breakfast in the Hanok and shopped the Gongju Sanseong Sijang, let’s go see how King Muryeong’s tomb looks like,” I said.
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The Royal tombs of Songsanri (성산리 宋三里) consists of the tombs of 13 royal families during the Baekje Ungin period (백제 웅진기 百濟熊期 475-538 A.D.) of which only 7 tombs remain due to looting during the Japanese colonial period. Tombs 1-4 were discovered in 1927, tomb no. 5 in 1932 and tomb no. 6 in 1933. King Muryeong and his Queen’s tomb was discovered most recently on the 15 July 1997, and these Royal tombs have been designated a UNESCO world heritage site.
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King Muryeong (무령왕 武寧王, 462- 523 A.D) was the 25th King of Baekje, one of the three kingdoms during Korea’s Three Kingdom era (三國時代), when Baekja was fighting with Goguryeo and Silla for control of the Korean Peninsula. Here in his tomb, King Muryeong and his Queen were buried.
Baekje was well-recorded in history to have had a very good relationship with China and Japan, and was a conduit for Buddhism to pass from China to Japan. What little I knew of Baekje and King Muryeong were from that Korean period drama “The King’s daughter - Su Baek Hyang 제왕의 딸 수백향 帝王의 딸 手百香”, when I was crazily chasing that Korean actress Seo Hyun Jin’s drama. The drama really did depict the historical background of King Muryeong and the historical era and I was so happy to be here in Gongju, the location of the old capital Ungin of Baekje.
We were again pleased to see a group of primary school children led by their teachers on a tour of the Royal tomb, as well as several old couples taking their time touring the tombs.
“Again, climb?” asked Serene. But luckily she need not s for too long as the climb, though steep, was very short.
“We are going to make it very relaxing today,” I reassured, somewhat not generating some level of belief from them two.
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| From inside the tomb... (an exact replica for us to experience. The actual tomb is out of bounds, of course.) |
The Royal tomb took not much more than half an hour and we were soon on our way to Jeonju.
“From here to Jeonju is 86km,” said Ah Li. And she must have been tired from all the adventures from the last few days because somewhere along the drive she fell asleep.
“Be careful! The speed limit is 110km/h!” Serene was really good in doing her job. I have designated her the duty of looking out for speed limit signs and reminding me.
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| What a romantic city Jeonju is!!!! |
Oh Jeonju 전주 全州, the romantic city of Hanok!
One hour and a half, and we were there in Jeonju. We had to take a sharp turn down a steep slope before ending up in a maze of narrow streets in between clusters of beautiful Hanoks (한옥 韓屋 traditional Korean houses). But hor… by now we are really trained-Korean drivers already and we did manage to maneuvre our way through. Though 한옥 이야기 guesthouse’s SaJangNim was really friendly and he actually helped me drive the car to their own car park behind the Hanok. So convenient! The Hanok was beautiful and the room was spacious and Niang Serene and Ah Li were thrilled.
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| The courtyard of our Hanok Story Guesthouse |
“Oh this is so much better than yesterday’s Hanok in Gongju,” a relieved Ah Li exclaimed. “Got heater on the floor some more. And so much space! It’s like our Sea Moon in Wolmido!”
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| The big engulfing, swallowing-tree in Jeonju Hyanggyo |
Jeonju Hyanggyo 전주향교 全州鄉校
“Let’s go and have lunch first,” commanded the Queen.
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| 전주향교 Which literally means the kampong school of Jeonju |
So we walked down Hyanggyo-gil (향교길 鄉校道) towards the old Confucius school Jeonju Hyanggyo (전주 향교 全州鄉校). It was a small school compound that was (re-)built at this present location during the Joseon period in 1603. It has 99 rooms, a front Confucius Enshrinement hall, and lesson halls at the rear. Again, there were local Korean groups and parents bringing young daughters visiting on this warm Monday afternoon. Impressive.
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| "Eomma sayang-hae!" |
I really appreciate that every city big and small in Korea has its own Hyanggyo (kampong school) that focussed on educating the people of the local district. Although sadly, up till much of the Joseon period, education was strictly a privilege for the Yangbang - the noblemen, the royalties, the scholars, the aristocrats. The vast majority of the common people, although they spoke the local Korean language, up till 1446, they had no written Korean language, and all the teachings and writings were done using Hanja, the Chinese characters. But somehow the use of Hanja wasn't ideal because it was different from the actual native Korean language grammatically and phonetically. Thus although the Koreans were a very traditional homogenous tribe of people education only started becoming more accessible to the common folks after King Saejong invented the Hangeul writing.
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| The delicious Naengmyeong specialty restaurant along Hyanggyo street |
“Oh this Naengmyeon looks so delicious!” Ah Li found this 냉면 예술 (冷面藝術 The art of Naengmyeon), and it didn’t disappoint. “Oh the Naengmyeon is sooo delicious! I didn’t know Naengmyeon could taste so delicious after our first visit to Korea years back when I found the Naengmyeon so tasteless.”
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“And the seasoned pork is so tender, and the Naengmyeon hor, they use mee-sua to make and the soup is so tasty!” added Serene. If the chef says it’s delicious, it cannot be otherwise.
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| Omokdae - Sup Sup Water lah! |
I promised the two ladies that we will just go up the easy hill behind to Omokdae (오목대 梧木臺) only 76.5m high, easily accessible by some short steps.
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Somehow we walked and ask I carefully checked my KakaoMap I realised that we were near that special point that I marked along 오목대로 which was that little house perched at the top of a small hill, where Na Hee Do lived in the Korean drama “Twenty-Five Twenty-One”. Even as we climbed the slope that Baek Yi Jin cycled up to deliver the newspaper to NA Hee Do’s home, there were a couple of groups of your girls and boys walking with us. We felt so excited, to be chasing the drama locations like the young fans, first time in our lives. Quite crazy.
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“You bluffed us again!” complained Serene, when we next walked up to Omokdae.
It was not that bad actually, and at the top it was so breezy that we finally did what we have always wanted to, which was to just lay down on the cool wooden floor of the pavilion and enjoy the breeze, a ‘Food coma’ moment. And wow.. two other Ajummas were actually doing exactly the same thing on the opposite end of the floor.
“Wah they are also lying down leh,” a surprised Serene said.
“I cannot believe you all,” Ah Li rolled her eyes and took our photos.
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In our never-ending pursuit of Na Hee Do moments, we took another walk down from Omokdae to that famous little tunnel just beside 한벽당 where Na Hee Do and Baek Yi Jin had so much memories and where they bade good-bye… and we had to wait for our turn to have our shots and videos taken.
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| We passed by a little temple and hey we were so happy to be able to 浴佛 as it was just after Vesak Day. |
It was really warm, and Serene and Ah Li were tired, and they really complained.
“Let’s go buy that fried chicken and then we go back Hanok 韓屋 and rest,” suggested Serene.
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And I brought them another long walk to the well-reviewed Hanguk DakJib (한국닭집) at Nambu Sijang to buy that fried boneless chicken (순살 후라이드 닭) 한 마리 2만2천원에 샀다. We all enjoyed it like crazy back in our Hanok, air-con turned on, floor heater turned on, showered, rested, and just kept eating seated on the wooden floor, and having our original Injeolmi as dessert.
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| Even our Hanok guesthouse is flavourful. We loved it. |
“Oh this floor and this mattress is so toasty, so comfortable to sleep,” Ah Li’s favourite words, but despite them, she watched her iPad until 1am.
It was a tiring day. But then again, when was there no tiring day on this trip? Hahaha.. but we had fun. Especially this being our very first time chasing Korean drama shooting sites. That was really interesting. Lived until so old already then do this kind of things....
[17th May 2022.Tuesday]
“Today I promise it will be a relaxing day,” and I did keep that promise.
The breakfast was truly a lovely homemade breakfast of Kim (seaweed), kimchi, egg, Korean pancake rice and some other banchan. Hearty breakfast with freshly brewed coffee.
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| Delightful breakfast! |
The SaJangNim even allowed us to use her dryer to dry our clothes.
Wanting to see how busy Nambu Sijang is, we cheon-cheon-hi walked that short 800m to arrive, but we were kind of surprised because at around quarter to 11am, it was actually quite quiet already, and Nambu Sijang was nowhere as crowded as Gongju’s Sanseong Sijang. But oh there were really quite a lot of things to see, fresh fruits, Samgyetang ingredients and all the chaplunk Ajumma things.
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| Eomma and Ah Li busy buying SamgyeTang herb packets in this Jeonju Nambu SiJang |
“I am very interested in the spiky spiky herb thing,” Ah Li was so intrigued by that EomNaMu 엄나무 thing that was used to make Samgyetang.
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| Jeonju Nambu Sijang at around the same time this morning was a little quieter than the Gongju Sijang |
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| Romi Rumi Bingsu |
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| The BEST bingsu |
After we had a most delightful Bingsu of Injeolmi and red bean in a quaint little cafe called Romi Rumi 로미루미, we stepped out with the intention to make our way to the Jjimjilbang 전주한옥스파편짐찔방 further up at 어진길. It looked good and the staffs were friendly, but on this day although the female 세신사 was available the male SaeShinSa was resting. Ok lah, we could always try another Jjimjilbang in another city.
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| PoongNamMun smack right in the middle of Jeonju Hanok Village (of course, Serene's famous pano shot) |
“Hey that one looks nice!” pointed out Serene.
She was right. Right in the middle of the roundabout was PoongNamMun (풍남문 豐南門), where we came across three young Singaporeans. I could tell, just from the utterance of one word from one of them. They were also touring Korea for two weeks, Zhou Wei, Jeanette and Bryan.
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| Fried chicken again! |
Shucks… da-bao-ed another fried chicken back to our Hanok for lunch? Yeah, that was exactly what we did upon Niang Serene’s suggestion, from 만년닭강정 along Taejo-ro. We seemed to enjoy eating deep-fried Korean chicken on the nice wooden floor in the Hanok room and echoing what Ah Li said, that this 후라이드 순살 닭 was very delicious, I personally found this one even tastier than last evening’s from Hanguk DakJib at Nambu Sijang.
“I cannot eat already. You all finish it ah!” commanded Queen Ajumma.
We ended up lying down and trying to gulp down the packet but could not complete it.
“Ok ok.. I know what to do now,” I suggested. “Forget about walking to the remaining two drama-shooting-sites. Let’s just drive because there are a little further apart and the weather is so warm.”
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| That famous Na Hee Do scene in the drama |
We were glad we drove because the first spot, that house from where Na Hee Do and her friends got into Baek Yi Jin’s car to depart for the seaside, was literally located in the middle of a quiet, abandoned old residential area and right there when we walked up that slope, after parking the car a short distance away, we found a group of young movers/workers sitting there resting from their work. They seemed to be surprised when we told them these steps just outside that very door were made famous in a drama and they kindly let us take our photos.
VIDEO 동영상
The second spot was Ahyeon Supermart. It was so a little hard to find, and we had to search, just like the abandoned house, for that spot. What was surprising was when we wanted to go into the convenience shop to buy something..
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| Here the female prefect said to the other boy: "말이 되는 소리를 해!" |
“Annyeonghasaeyo, SaJangNim,” we greeted the really old Halmeoni (grandmother) who still runs the convenient shop.
She was so candid, “Oh I don’t have things to sell,” this old old granny she knew we were here for the photos. “You can go ahead and just take the photos.”
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| This memorable scene where Na Hee Do asked for stickers from her friends. |
So… many must have come this way for the exact purpose. Well, at least we knew we were in the right place.
Jaman Mural Village
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Well, job well accomplished and towards Jaman Mural Village we drove.
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This mural village was a tiny little one. Not really that many mural paintings, but the slope was also quite steep and we again found ourselves wondering, as we watched a Halmeoni walk up with a walnut stick, how these old folks make their way up and down on an icy wintry day.
How long did it take us to walk around this Jaman Mural Village? Well.. including walking wrongly into someone's house's front yard and making a round... less than half an hour.
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I think Koreans are really artistic people. And I could tell that the artists in them have plenty of spaces to express their creativity and there are so many mural villages all over Korea, each having its own unique characteristic.
Jeonju will never be complete without walking the whole of Taejo-ro 대조로 and Hyanggyo-ro 향교로, the main shopping and eating areas. This being the Jeonju Hanok Village, there was no high-rise. We could, thankfully, park back at the Hanok’s car park and walk right out to the shopping area.
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| So intersting and so lively were the streets of Jeonju Hanok Village |
Taejo-ro and Hyanggyo-ro are at right-angle to each other. These two roads are very happening places and at mid-afternoon, they were really bustling with young ladies and young men in Hanbok strolling down the pavements. I was so awed by the grace with which they donned the traditional outfit and every young and not-so-young lady looked so beautiful in the satin wear. Just that this day was a little warm. I told the ladies that come winter we would try wearing Hanbok outdoors. Ah Li got attracted by a shop selling socks and accessories - a Knick knack shop, she said. And there were little things here and there that young ladies like her would like.
We had a lot of fun walking Taejo-ro and since it was so fun, we might as well push the adventure further.. we walked into a Hanbok Studio called Areumcheonsa Studio 아름천사 (the beautiful angel) and the SaJangNim did a great job helping us select the couple Hanbok and the young photographer did a great job botoxing our faces.
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| That young photographer who did such a great job PP-ing until we both looked so young! |
The end result was beautiful and for 46,000₩ (S$50) we got a beautifully printed shot and the original jpeg file. It was lovely. The young lady photographer (Ah Li suspected that she could be the SaJangNim’s daughter.. lol) even asked us to seat on the set and have Ah Li take our own photos using handphone while she spend some time photo-editing our picture.
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| These were ALL Ah Li's 100 plus photos burst all the way.. !!! |
That was quite something. A wonderful experience and just what I have always wanted and what the Queen loved.
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| Such a cozy, quaint little photo studio and their service was so good. |
아니, 뭐? Caricature for all three of us?!
“Now hor,” I sprung another surprise. “I want to walk into one of the painting artist booths and have three of us our caricatures painted,” and there was just this very young male artist along the street whose drawings were very beautiful.
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We sat down and he very carefully studied our features and made the sketches slowly one person after another. We didn’t know what to expect, but we just let the artist do his job and at the end of 45 minutes (wow, didn’t realise it took so long, it was really hard work), he did such a lovely sketch of three of us, that we were all held in awe! We loved it! He captured all our characteristics and our hair colour (sadly, mine was tinted with white strands) and Ah Li’s beautiful thick eye brows and Serene’s purple hair highlights as well as the tinted glasses we were wearing. I was totally impressed. What a memorable moment.
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| 와! 예쁘잖아! |
By that time it was almost 7pm. And although the sky was not dark, we were all feeling tired. Even a hearty meal of nice traditional Jeonju Bibimbap with beef bulgogi didn’t manage to bring up our energy.
“I think we are so tired already, forget about the Makgeoli restaurant and the Jjimjilbang, we just go back to the Hanok to rest lah!” suggested Serene. A good suggestion and gladly-followed.
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| Jeonju is famous of its BiBimBap. So come to Jeonju MUST eat BiBimBap one. |
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| Jeonju famous traditional bibimbap |
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| Oh Ah Li loved this beef 冬粉 thingy... |
“Huh, why so funny ah.. here in Korea when we leave the room at 10am and come back at 6pm (something) we feel so tired. Why ah?” wondered Ah Li.
“Maybe the past few days very siong lah!” Eomma Serene added. I think I agree with her. It was time to give ourselves a good rest. On this night.
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| Intersting scenes in the Hanok |
[18th May 2022. Wednesday]
One last Tweny-Five Twenty-One spot before we leave Jeonju - that would be Na Hee Do’s favourite comic book rental shop. Made a few turns before we finally just parked the car and walked to the spot, just outside 전주교육대학교 along 서학3길.
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Wah this really made our day, although we left out that school scene where they turned on all the taps and sprayed water in the air, it was quite alright. That scene was most likely difficult to replicate, and thus we didn’t even attempt that.
Onwards to the bamboo forest of Damyang!
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VIDEO 동영상
Another easy drive, one hour and nine minutes to Damyang-gun. After discussing, we decided that it would be better to drive to 죽녹원 (竹綠苑 Juknokwon bamboo forest) to satisfy our plan to visit that forest and eat the bamboo ice cream. So we arrived at (prnounced) Jungokwon Bamboo forest.
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Although the car’s GPS couldn’t exactly pin-point the spot, we aga-aga managed to make our way to the car park and walked to our destination. The old Damyang Hyanggyo (담양향교 潭陽鄉校) was still well preserved and just right beside the entrance to the Juknokwon bamboo forest entrance.
For 3,000₩ entrance fee we walked until we were contented and Serene pano-shot until she was satisfied and we walked down.
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| Relax and do nothing in Danyang Jungokwon Bamboo forest... literally. |
Is Damyang Bamboo forest good?
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Well honestly, it is a been-there-done-that thingy. I wasn't sure seeing rows after rows of bamboos on a hill was that great. It WAS a unique experience. But I looked back and thought that it was a good experience to feel it when it's green. Perhaps, when the whole scene is white-out by snow during winter, it may be worth another visit to feel the wintry-feel.
Is Damyang Bamboo ice cream good?
Well, it tasted "Just like green tea" in Serene's own words. Another tick-in-the-box for us.
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So far, driving in Korea...
Driving in the little town of Damyang was relatively easier as traffic wasn’t heavy. By this tenth day, we have figured out quite a lot of things about driving in Korea. Incheon driving was not difficult but not easy because there would be impatient drivers from Seoul on the roads of Incheon tyring to hassle us. Suwon driving was a little harder because the traffic was heavy in many of the areas and we were struggling to get used to the traffic light signs at that point in time, and the small lanes of Suwon were a nightmare because so many cars were parked on both sides of those lanes narrowing the artery to only 30% opened. Gongju was fine because it was a quiet place. Jeonju was surprisingly quite easy, in parts because by then we had gotten used to driving in Korea and in parts because Jeonju drivers were REALLY so much more patient compared to their Seoul counterparts, and they would slow down and wait for us to pass before making their own ways. Damyang was the easiest - very few cars and the drivers were a little no-government when it came to traffic lights.
So far we gathered that:
- Blinking lights were merely suggestions.
- Right turn on red- even the police car did that. So we were safe.
- Pedestrians walk over zebra crossings with fuzzy logic
- When cars horn at you they were just merely saying hello
- When you want to thank someone behind your car, just tick-tock your hazard lights a couple of times.
JNW Minbak
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I was looking forward to a nice Jjimjilbang experience in Damyang but in our unsuccessful search for a Jjimjilbang 8km away, we were led to narrow single carriage lanes in small little neighborhoods with almost right-angle turns that meant I could only drive straight in and hope no car would come in the opposite direction because I would not be able to reverse our car. I knew because we came to a dead end (almost) and we had to reverse but finally gave up and drove into an old Halmeoni’s house and porch illegally and made a 3-point turn. We did wave sorry to the Halmeoni.. we did.
Was it stressful? Well... to Oori poor Aegi, it was. To me... well, I knew somehow I would have to break some Korean law and drive into someone's front porch or front yard and make some illegal U-turn. Somehow we would make it out from there. All thanks to the defunct Jimjjilbang that was 'undergoing construction', according to one neighbour Ajumma...
If Gongju was sleepy, then Damyang was like a dead town.. because it turned even darker than Gongju came 7pm in the evening and the streets were really eerily quiet.
“Why are there no one on the streets one ah?” rightfully wondered Ah Li.
And she was correct. The only people who were still walking the streets were people going in and coming out of small little eateries and convenience stores, and people like us who drove on impulse into a Hanwoo (Hanguk beef) restaurant to have our well-deserved dinner after the Jjimjilbang failure. The slight deficiency in living H. sapiens traversing the pavements made the chilly evening appeared even colder, although the temperature was at a comfortable 14 degrees.
HanWoo Myeongga 韓牛名家
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Wah this Hanwoo restaurant was really quite something. It had quite many groups of locals eating there- old men and women, and even the candidates for the local elections walking in to say hello to the us to vote for them in the coming election. Here in this restaurant I failed miserably in trying to order, because it was later that we realised that we had to buy our fresh beef from the butchery next door and bring it over and then they will cook for us. We did that finally, a tray of Hanwoo for 40,000₩, and brought it back and ordered a 250gm of Samgyeopsal at 17,000₩ (damn good price) and two bowls of 누룽지 （锅巴饭 the Chao-dar rice at the bottom of the pot) made into porridge.. 세팅비 per person was 2,000₩. The whole thing was quite an experience. Eating in a small little town where the waiters couldn’t understand us foreigners, and we had to depend on what little Korean we could muster to express ourselves, and where guests took off their shoes to enter the restaurant to eat, and where half way eating you get Election candidates wearing sash with their names and numbers (exactly like what we saw in the dramas) walking in to bow to you and ask for your support.. Siong. Made me understand my own language deficiencies.
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“After this dinner what we really need is a Bingsu at the original Sulbing dessert just a walk down the street,” I suggested.
After seeing all the shops closed at close to 8pm, Ah Li remarked jokingly: “If hor.. if we walk down the street and find that even Sulbing is closed, then I am going to get out of Damyang!”
Fortunately we didn’t have to run out of Damyang. The Injeolmi Bingsu at Sulbing was not bad, it’s usual. But Ah Li said that we could have enjoyed it more had we had three servings of the condensed milk instead of only one, and Serene said it would have been nicer with more red beans and 料. We compared this 8,900₩ one to the first Bingsu we had in Suwon just beside Paldalmun gate (that ice flake was a sad sad Bingsu), and we compare this to the most delicious 11,000₩ red bean Injeolmi with all the flavors thrown in and all the ingredients at Romi Rumi in Jeonju, and our conclusion was that Sulbing has dropped to number 2, behind Romi Rumi.
This day was actually quite a relaxing day, compared to all the past days. In retrospect we could have just walked the bamboo forest then drove straight to Geokpohang the seaside town on the west coast. But then again we wouldn’t have known earlier. Next time we would know. Even walking around the neighbourhood yielded nothing more exciting than three cups of coffees and some gummy jelly, and all these were from the CU convenient shop, which seemed to be the most happening place in town.
Uh-oh... I forgot to book the next day's accommodation!
어떻하지?
Lying in bed this night. I thought and thought and felt something must have been amiss. And I found that oh it was that I’d forgotten to book the hotel for Geokpohang. I planned for the hotel but I told myself when I came to Korea and started having a local Korean telephone number I would book through the Korean hotel apps. And it totally slipped my mind, with all the excitement and adventure. By this hour that originally-planned Chaesukgang hotel was fully booked. And I tried unsuccessfully to book another accommodation and make payment through the App. Aiyah.. the Korean apps really were quite strict when it came to payment. All the payment options only catered to local cards and such.
My last resort- I called the reception of a Pension located right beside the originally-planned hotel. The counter staff Ajussi was very courteous but he was all fully-Korean-ed, like everyone in this small little town of Damyang. As I confirmed my reservation with him and the details, all those room reservation words and expressions our SonSengNim taught us, bobbed up and down on the surface of my consciousness, some came out of my mouth, others sunk back inside, and I kept digging and digging for more expressions.. sigh, not bad lah. Still managed lah. 칠만원에 일 박을 예약했다. So funny lah… after everything was over, I turned around and asked Serene, who was looking at me, if she understood what I was talking about. She nodded her head. But I myself weren’t sure of what I was telling the man on the other side of the line., hahahaha!! That was funny.
Now I finally understood why a local Korea phone number was useful, especially if we were on this kind of own-self own-time own-target driving trip. And I was glad we had one.
[19th May 2022. Thursday]
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| Serene's famous pano.. just that the boats nose got cut off a little... Kwenchana. |
Finally.. we were going to the west coast.. again!
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| Drive from Damyang across to the west coast.. to the little coastal town of GeokPoHang |
As we drove out of Damyang and approached Gyeokpohang, the scenery changed. We felt as though we were transiting into a more Kampong area.
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| Lavender Pension |
“Hey this feels like Ganghwado again,” said Ah Li.
“Yah, it’s like the Kampong in Chai Chee,” added Eomma Serene.
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Every time it came to kampongs they all appeared like Kampong Chai Chee to Serene. Hahaha… but hor.. Gyeokpohang is really a flavourful little town. Really a small fishery town with a fish market Geokpohang fish market (격포항수산시장 格浦港水产市场). Here the locals would come for a weekend getaway or a couple of days of nice holiday in the many pensions (chalets) and enjoyed themselves on the fresh seafood at cheaper prices compared to in Seoul.
VIDEO 동영상
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| Oori poor little smart Hunday Avante... finally can rest a little before the looong trip the next day. |
We arrived an hour and a half before our check-in time of 2pm. But we didn’t know how, we just talked and talked to the SaJangNim at the pension lobby and told him we were from Singapore and we were on a driving holiday, and despite he himself saying we needed to check-in at 2pm and we could go for lunch first, he ended up gladly giving us the key to our room immediately. That was very interesting. It was the second time it happened on this trip.
“I think if we can speak Korean to them they would happily accommodate,” Ah Li observed. Yeah.. it’s true, it’s really all about striking a good vibe with the other party and getting friendly. Here in Korea the people really do 讲人情的吧.
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| Everyday eat don't know what Korean ice cream |
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| The Geokpohang seafood market |
There wasn’t much to do here aside from walking around the fish market and as Serene rightfully decided, we really didn’t know how to buy the fresh seafood, so we might as well just go to a Hwetjib (회집 sashimi restaurant) and order from there.
That we did. Suddenly while we were walking a man ran towards us, catching us by surprise and handed us a name card and introduced his Hwetjib across the road, a very conspicuously located restaurant. We thanked him and continued walking until we came to a small street and saw patrons coming out at a small Hwetjib by the side.
“This one looks good,” said Ah Li.
A man who just finished his lunch and who was coming out of the restaurant saw us peering at the pictures on the door, and gestured us to give it a try. Since he recommended we would just give it a shot.
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The female SaJangNim was most animated and she enthusiastically told us to take the medium size set because the initial one we wanted was too much for three of us. So we did. And for 십이만원 이 번 세트는, we had a most satisfying Hwe lunch- 꽃게 (flower crab), 광어화 (flat fish Hwe), 오럭 (Rockfish), 오징어(gochujang squid), 저게 (clams), 표고버섯 (Shitake mushroom) and a whole myriad of banchan.
“Wah the crab is very sweet,” exclaimed Serene.
This meal was unique in its very own way, and was a great Hwe and Haemul (해물 seafood) meal, absolutely on par with the Hwe meal we had in Ganghwado’s 용진횟집, and according to the SaJangNim, the clams 조개 were specially Gyeokpohang produced and not found elsewhere in Korea. Even the 오럭 fish was freshly caught. Cutely this SaJangNim was so tickled by the fact that we came from Singapore that she revealed that she has been to Singapore twice.
“Please keep this a secret,” she said, as she gave us 서비스 (free of charge) a dish of three abalones 전복 and a huge bowl of 칼국수 (noodle soup with clams). We were truly spoilt here by the friendly SaJangNim. Sadly we had no chance to take a photo with her after the meal.
Satisfied, we walked back to our car.
“I think it would be better to eat at a restaurant which is so confident of its own quality that it didn’t need to run out and distribute name cards, but instead let its patrons do their word of mouth recommendations,” I echoed Ah Li’s earlier observation.
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| At Chaeseokgang, just beside the port. |
Chaeseokgang 彩石江
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| At the Chaeseokgang 彩石江 just beside the port... |
The naturally occurring geological thrust fault (they called it a reverse fault) due to earth’s crust moving. I really didn’t understand what it meant but the layers of the volcanic sedimentation could be seen on the side of the Chaeseokgang cliff (채석강 彩石江) with the water and wind-washed holes and formations. This peninsula called Byeonsan peninsula (변산반도 邊山半島) was created 100 million years ago when the volcanoes were very active here and there were dinosaurs even.
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Here at Gyeokpohang, the roads were quiet and relatively easy, and finally, we initiated Ah Li’s first drive on the road. And hey she actually did better than me in her spatial judgment of the car, as a driver sitting in the left-hand drive seat. Impressed, I was.
“Ok, let’s cheon-cheon-hi drive ok, Ah Li,” I told her. “Tomorrow will be a long drive so we take turns.. I drive some you drive some but as we approach Myeongdong I will drive. How about that?”
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I think that would be meaningful because I really wanted her to have a chance to try out the left-hand drive while we were here in Korea. It was so slow-paced today that we even managed to take a two hours afternoon sleep and got up at 6pm to take a nice stroll to the seaside.
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| The seaside... |
“You mean, we are NOT going to, and we will not be eating later again?” a shocked Ah Li plodded, when we decided it was time to retire for the evening. This aegi ah... forever was hungry one leh.. hahaha..
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“Eat again? How can we eat? We are still so full from the huge Hwe lunch just now leh,” replied Eomma Serene.
Non-stop eating... Oori... “Yah lor.. I can still feel all the Hwe swimming inside my stomach,” me too.
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But hor… Ah Li being Ah Li, her metabolic rate was super high one hor.. and at 7pm we ended up sitting inside the convenience store eating a boiled cup noodle with a piece of dehydrated egg and drinking zero-calorie ice tea. We were impressed by her power of consumption.
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The next day we had a 3 hour plus drive of 270km from Gyeokpohang to Myeongdong. So we really rested early.
[20th May 2022. Friday]
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| All the way almost 300km from GeokPoHang back to Myeongdong! |
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| The 公主 very lucky. Driving also got people feed her snacks one... |
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| Oh, yay! Can see Namsan tower already! |
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| One of the incorrect turns.. looking for the right way... |
So, if I ask myself - "Is it difficult to drive in Seoul?"
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12:30pm.
We arrived at the guesthouse in Myeongdong. The 초등학교 guard very kindly directed us to park in front of the guesthouse instead of at the side where there were CCTVs. Good man, he was.
Knowing that parking in Seoul could be expensive, I chose accommodation that has got parking available (apparently they said they have). It wasn’t the best of accommodations, but hey.. it was just next to Myeongdong Subway station and has available free parking. Of course, Eomma and Ah Li kept laughing at me having to courteously communicate with the SaJangNim every few hours for the TV, for the aircon, for the warm water, and for the aircon again… I was glad I had a local Korean number that allowed me to try to practise understanding what the Korean SaJangNim was trying to explain to me.
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| The correct way to park the car - in front of the 집- the primary school security guard taught me one. |
Problems solved. And we finally took our time to stroll down to collect 爷爷’s glasses and then go off for lunch.
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“There is this restaurant we came to long time ago and I have always wanted to go back, it’s at the end of Myeongdong,” I muttered.
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And we found the restaurant although it may have changed its name and it was currently called 감자탕, a franchise. Not bad, the cold don’t-know-what myeon was really cold and tasty, and the bibimbap for Ah Li and my 갈비갈국수 with 冬粉, that was so delicious. Despite Eomma kao-beh-ing that she was very full, we actually bought a Hotteok from that unfriendly Ajumma at the end of the street, that usual stall. Just for the sake of eating a Hotteok for 1,000₩.
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"Actually hor... haiyah, this Ajumma hotteok at the end of the street is really not the best hotteok yet," I still maintained. "We only eat it because it is here and it is convenient to buy."
In my heart, the most delicious hotteok was still the 3000₩ one by the Ajumma along one of the lorongs at Bukchon Hanok Village. Come winter we will definitely go there JUST to buy her hotteok.
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| The obligatory, almost-mandatory hotteok at Myeongdong. |
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"Let's find your socks!"
Ah Li was super thrilled to find the precise socks that she had in mind- the exact design, and she wiped that store out of that design of socks. She did a 30+3 and finished off all the pairs of that particular design. This girl is just like her father.
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| "This one doesn't have the socks that I want leh..." |
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| "Ah Li found her socks!!!" |
"You know ah, Papa..." said Ah Li. "Last time the socks used to be 1,000₩ per pair - years back. But now it's 1,500₩ per pair. But not bad still, they give a 10+1 pair bonussing."
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| We waited 12 days just to find this design. |
I had a chance to chit chat with that SaJangNim and upon asking him if he has seen an increase in the number of Singaporean tourists, or even other tourists, he said not really. But he believed it was going to get better.
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While Ah Li remembered this store for its socks, I remembered this ShaJagNim for being the only person on this trip who actually took the trouble, and was sincere in striking a conversation with (half-bucket) me discussing the local business, local economy, and tourist scene. I guess he was genuine in conversing, despite knowing that I was really not fluent in the language. Marvellous man, he was.
Well on this day, the streets of Korea were a little more crowded than on our winter trip six months back but the rough percentage of empty shops was still the same. We felt that there was a definite betterment.
Here in Korea we tended to cave-in to their marketing and buy many sets, day after day, of 2+1 of cold Ediya coffees at 2,200-2,700₩ before the bonus and 1+1 of 꼬깔콘 Ggoggalkon, that Harry Potter sorting hat cone snack, and even 2+1 of ‘Zero calories’ ice bottles of ice tea- all from the many convenient stores.
Massage? Finally!
This afternoon at 5pm Serene and I had a full body massage at Hakari massage 4F along Myeongdong for 38,000₩ for an hour, while Ah Li finally had some free time to roam around Myeongdong herself. It was a lovely massage and they even did wax soaking of our feet. At the massage, we met a young couple Johnson and Nicole who were here for a short holiday and who just returned from 4 days in Jeju. It was fun sharing with them our 25-21 experience (haha!). The SaJangNim of the Hakari massage told us a different picture from what the socks SaJangNim said. She expressed that she was beginning to see more Singaporean coming into Myeongdong. That was heartening to hear.
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But the time Serene and I whacked that two bottles of Cass and a bottle of Soju, we were both holding hard onto Ah Li to walk us back. Nostalgically we walked across the street to that Paris Baguette bakery to buy some cream pastries and within one hundred metres of walking out of the bakery, all three of us devoured our fresh cream cones.
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| Still so crowded... as always. Some brands will never fade. |
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We found that usual Ajussi SaJangNim and his wife who ran the Gaolak (군밤 炒栗子, fresh and warm for 5000₩ a pack) store in the middle of Myeongdong. They actually recognized us from our winter visit and were their usual friendly selves.
On this Friday evening the shops closed at 9pm, way better than the last round six months back. But Serene’s favourite Ajumma 오먹 stall was still closed. SPAO was opened but we couldn’t find anything that interested us, disappointingly.
Compared to any of us precious ten days, this day was really relatively relaxed. But it must have been because of our massage that Serene and I felt the soreness and an indescribable sense of fatigue in our lower limb muscles, very commonly post-massage.
[21st May 2022. Saturday]
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Woke up to a nice guesthouse breakfast prepared by the SaJangNim personally, of toast with butter and jam and capsule coffee and sunny-side-up. We even brought breakfast into the room for the just-woken up Ah Li to have breakfast in bed.
Namsangol Hanok Village.. to watch Korean wedding
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What were we going to do today? Our first destination was to Namsangol Hanok Village. What a coincidence this round when we visited there was actually an Ang Moh bride groom and a Korean bride who were holding their traditional Korean wedding ceremony there in one of the Hanoks, attended by their friends and relatives. We were very excited to have a chance to watch the couple bow and take sips from their traditional goblets. Imagine, an Ang Moh man and a Korean woman’s traditional wedding! We must have been very fortunate to actually have a chance to witness it.
VIDEO 동영상
Hongdae 에 가자!
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From Namsangol, we just took a subway to Hongdae. Wow Hongdae was truly happening and on this weekend it was full of young people, many many more than again our winter visit, and the street side door stalls were once again aplenty. Ah Li was running from one shop to another, handphone cover shops, airpod case shops, Serene was touring the hat shops and the ribbon shops.
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We could see that Hongdae’s youthful vibes definitely appealed so much to the young lady and her eye lit up with every shop we came upon. Even a young man performing rap on the pavement of Hongdae with a crowd surrounding and watching him brought back the deja vu of what Hongdae should be. I was telling both of them how nice I would be, I wish if one day we could go back to the days without masks when everyone can walk on the streets and take MRTs and walk into shopping malls without wearing masks anymore. I hated wearing the mask because no matter how I adjusted them my glasses still got misted up.
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Artbox at Hongdae was one of the highlights and Ah Li and Niang went crazy inside there. I could see how exciting all these merchandise are to young people like Ah Li and even Daiso was to Ah Li and Niang Serene. With a sense of joy I watched them zig-zagged the isles of the shops among the Koreans. Actually this round we began to see many more Ang Mohs, some Indians, and also some who appeared to be like Indonesians or Malaysians. I could sense that things were starting to return back.
“Finally we can eat our Gimbap,” I said, pointing to a Gimbap restaurant where we selves ordered a Gimbap, a cheese tteokbokki and udon. Really good student prices and delicious too.
“We don’t need to eat too much now first, this evening then we will have a more filling dinner.”
But Ah Li and Eomma didn’t let up the chance to have a stick of Omeok each at the beginning of the street where the Ajussi and Ajumma run their street side stall, for 1,000₩ each.
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Somehow hor… the bakery Tous les jours still drew us in and made us grab one whole loaf of long cream bread at 1450Cal and two fresh cream buns at 405Cal each.
“They should not have let me see the calories. Now that I see the calories I cannot eat it,” joked Ah Li. But bought them we did, in preparation for tomorrow’s breakfast.
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We knocked out for close to two hours in the afternoon. At 6:15pm we were out again on the streets of Myeongdong’s, starting from the Namsan side. Here the shops were smaller hardware houses, smaller SikTangs and convenient stores, while across the road the shopping area held bigger departmental stores. The big supermarket caught Serene and Ah Li in their whirlwind tour amongst the aisles and again Serene, expectedly, whacked packets of snacks for our drive to Incheon the next day.
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Dinner was at 돈돼지, just right the periphery of Myeongdong. Reviews weren’t good as I read on KakaoMap, but surprisingly the SaJangNim services is very well and there were heaps and heaps of people eating inside and we ate a very satisfying bowl of 수두부개 (tofu jjigae) and two-person share of 생삼곱살(pork belly)， 대패심겹살 (the roll roll Samgyeopsal) and beef gogi. The Sundubu jjigae jolted my memory to those earlier days when I enjoyed jjigae so much. And it was deja vu once again.
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“Wah that real Ajumma SaJangNim totally changed the way I feel about this restaurant. She was so friendly,” said Ah Li.
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| KaeRanBbang - Egg bread from the streets of Myeongdong |
계란빵 from the roadside store at 2,000₩ a piece blew both Ah Li and Eomma Serene’s minds for being so delicious.
[22nd May 2022. Sunday]
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We all woke up to a nice and pleasant-weathered Sunday morning. The sun was, as usual, firing full blast all its ultraviolet bullets. The ladies decided to skip the in-house breakfast and we simply just ate our Tous les jours cream bbang and Ediya coffe mix.
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| Breakfast prepared by yours truly |
“Korean’s 3-1 coffee cannot fight Singapore’s 3-1 coffee mix,” concluded Ah Li, who has just completed a three month stint interning in Nestle. Well, if a good scientist declared that then it must be nothing but the truth.
Another truth was also, Ah Li’s 11-year-old pink zip-luggage somehow got torn along the way and we decided that it was time to get new luggage.
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She has always set her mind on getting a Samsonite luggage ever since Serene and I used our Samsonite S’Cure spinner for many years and travelled all over. KakaoMap search directed us to the Lotte Departmental store Samsonite section and she bought herself her very own latest model, the newest blue Samsonite Tri-Tech Spinner, which was a real beauty and came with a double lock, and has ten year global warranty.
“Ah Li, don’t worry about paying the price if it’s a little more expensive. We get to get tax refund for this, and also you will forever remember that this was your very unique Samsonite that you bought in Myeongdong, even fifteen years to twenty years down the road,” I happily said.
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Yeongjeong island
I could sense her joy in getting her one and only Samsonite and we finally were set to drive that one hour, 60km, from Myeongdong to Incheon Yeongjeong island, exactly where the airport was located. It was better this way because we would only be 2.5km away from the airport and we would easily get up the next morning and make it in time to return our car at terminal 1 of Incheon airport, do our tax refund, and board nicely in time.
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| Guestel Sky World |
Sky World was an interesting residence because next to it was a complex of shopping and eateries. Our serviced apartment SaJangNim, who originated from 天津, China, 30 years ago and was married to a Korean and finally became a Korean citizen, told us there has been so few travellers that many of the dining and shopping establishments in Paradise across the street have been closed. We did manage to find a Korean SikTang run by an old Ajumma who cooked up a Naemyeon, a Sundubu Jjigae, and a beef kuksu for us and gave us a free servicing of Gimbap!
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Yeongjeong island was supposed to be quite happening, from all that I have read on the Internet. But like what Ah Li said, if we were only in a city or a town for one day, or even two days, we may not have enough time to leisurely explore it. Well, it was 14 days into our adventure and we have done what we possibly could in our quest, so I believed in many ways we have been very contented.
Wolmido My Land Disco Bbang Bbang
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Food coma didn’t really come after lunch on this day. I had one last quest, which was to do the Disco Bbang Bbang at My Land theme park in Wolmido. So we set off at 5pm for that 26+km drive, took a couple of wrong turns and ended up another 10+km on the highway including additional 1500₩ toll fee, and eventually arrived to find the whole theme park full of happily screaming and laughing young and older people.
“Wow… Wolmido is so crowded! It must be because it is a weekend!” said Ah Li.
“The Disco Bbang Bbang thing looks so scary, I don’t want I don’t want I don’t want.. I will get syncope one.. I don’t want,” Serene’s frown line deepened more than Saint Andrea’s Fault.
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| SCARED! |
Poor Serene, I could feel her anxiety and so we decided to forfeit her ticket. It wasn’t that bad lah.. each Disco Bbang Bbang ticket was 6500₩. But just by having that ticket gave her elevated heart rates and plenty of worries for a long time while she stood on the steps leading up to the landing, that ticket definitely had done its job. Accomplished. Hahaha…
VIDEO 동영상
So Ah Li and I took the challenge. The Disco Bbang Bbang DJ had a real Korean flare of jamming up the atmosphere and making everyone on board the rolling and jerking disc suffer but still laughed his or her head off while in the process of suffering. He took special pain to one group by one group, teasing and torturing us, while being very observant in saying something funny after asking each group some questions. The five young Korean girls, who jokingly told the DJ that they were 13 and 15 years old (obviously not) were at their best classic expressive Korean style and were not shy in throwing themselves right to the centre of the disc and dancing to the beat of a popular song being played that moment, and I must say they danced very well done too!
“Wow, in Singapore this would never happen,” I shouted to Ah Li, who was holding to dear life beside me. “Singapore’s young people would be too shy to even dance up here for every one to see!”
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| Wah fun leh! |
This Disco Bbang Bbang was a different type of adventure. It was not frightening like the Viking where you have your heart in your mouth with the weightless feeling when you were vertical. Here on the Diso Bbang Bbang, the fast spinning phase was actually a relief, we found later. The tough part came when the DJ purposely make the platform jerk strongly and our butts and legs would fling off our seats, with only our hands still holding on to the railing behind us, if we could hold at all. Some of the young men and young ladies couldn’t and actually got flung into the centre of the disc and were such a comical scene trying to scramble back onto their seats. One boy had to hug his girlfriend like crazy but still ended up dropping down towards the bottom side and hugged the safety officer instead, upon which the DJ joked “Oh perhaps you like boys?” to our roaring laughter.
“I think luckily Eomma never came on board,” I told Ah Li, who nodded.
“My arms are tired,” she joked.
Of course, her arms would be tired. I had to fling my leg across her knees so many times that my calf was painful.
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| Packet bingsu from 7-Eleven |
“I am so glad we did this,” remarked Ah Li after the whole 30 minutes experience. Yes, unbelievable it was a full 30 minutes of crazy ride!
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| Our large, large Guestel Sky World serviced apartment |
Ah Li: “Wah, we actually came in early May when it was relatively colder, and now third week of May we can actually feel the weather turning warm.”
And she was right. The last few days have been relatively warmer and most of the time we just went around in T-shirts and jeans.
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| Flying home |
So how ah, this trip?
This was an unexpectedly exciting trip, come to think of it, most of our trips were exciting because of a certain degree of uncertainty, a certain element of unpredictability. This trip was not an exception. We enjoyed it because we all were in the midst of all the crazy mistakes we made, and also because we had plenty of good laughs coming out of them. To be able to experience it and share the experience together was one of the more important things.
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| Finally.. sigh... |
At least now Serene can say 'Zebra crossing 힁단보도' and 'The drink is free? 움료수가 무료예요?' properly in Korean. And Ah Li and I can say proudly that we have driven on the other side of the road. Although we may eventually forget many of the details we encountered on this trip, what ultimately will happen would be, the whole experience would be deeply embedded in our personal mesh of subconsciousness, to be again raised to above water level in the future when the time calls for it once more.
Until our next Korean adventure.
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