Tag Results
1 post tagged seouldinning
48-Hours in Seoul:
One of the best parts to living abroad are the amazing travel experiences we’re able to have. This year we’ve been lucky and have traveled to many places around Asia – Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Myanmar as well as within China – Beijing, Xi’An, Beihai and Weizhou Island not to mention stops in the U.S. and a trip to Paris. All-in-all it’s been a great year. Earlier this month, we added one more to the list, Seoul, Korea!
We traveled with our close friends from Shanghai, Kim and Brian, as well as my friend Tori who was visiting from the US. Although we only had 48-hours we maximized it and took full advantage of this hard partying, non-stop eating town. When we were tired we knew a coffee shop was only a step away. Koreans are obsessed with coffee (to put it mildly) and most blocks contain 2-4 multi-level coffee houses that are packed with Korean’s young and old.
The food in Korea is second to none, think BBQ, Bibimbap (mixed rice dish with veggies, meat and egg), fried chicken, kimchi and delicious homemade soups. We couldn’t get enough. On our second night we did a nighttime Gangnam food tour with Seoul Eats, which included 3 restaurants – traditional Korean kimchi cakes, BBQ and fried chicken. The tour ended with karaoke where our guide even sang Gangnam-style for us….hysterical.
Other restaurants: Moon Jar and Saebyukjib (새벽집), a well known 24-hour dining experience that boasts some of the best Korean BBQ in the city.
Picture 1: Our group at BBQ during the Gangnam tour
Picture 2: 2 a.m. dinner at Saebyukjib
Picture 3 & 4: We visited Gwangjang food market – stalls and stalls of homemade Korean specialties. We had yummy soup and fried kimchi cakes….delicious but freezing since the market is outdoors!
Picture 5: Korean’s are known as big drinkers and they love soju an alcohol similar in taste to vodka but sweeter and produced with rice. You can even find it in the corner store next to the red bull! This is a picture of a soju “bomb.” Start with a shot of coke, place another shot glass on top with a shot of soju and finish it off with beer. A few of these and even someone who doesn’t like karaoke (like me) will be jockeying for the mic.
Overall, minus the traffic, we loved Seoul. It felt a bit like LA; a driving city, rolling hills, traffic and spread out. It’s more expensive than Shanghai and has prices in line with Japan but is well worth it for a long weekend.
