Touring Bogotá, Colombia's Capital for a Day

Bogotá, as seen from the top of Monserrate Mountain

 
While teaching a group of Korean ten year-olds recently, I noticed a misspelling of Colombia in the textbook. When I pointed out the mistake, the kids insisted that it was spelled correctly, showing me a  Korean-English dictionary entry on a smartphone for places like British Columbia and the District of Columbia. I asked the students to spell Colombia again, with the second "o". They finally saw Colombia, the country.

"Oh teacher! You are a genius!!" Well, I try.

I taught English in Bogotá, Colombia for about seven months. It was my passport to the beautiful country. If you're interested in teaching in Colombia, you can learn more here. But this entry isn't about teaching there.

From Bogotá Resident to Tourist

My mom made plans to visit me in July, 2012. As a result, I purposefully avoided the majority of Bogota's tourist attractions until she came. I wanted to see them for the first time with my mom to keep it interesting.

Bogotá is the capital city of Colombia. Left is El Norte and Right is Bolívar Plaza

For her visit, I allocated only one day for Bogotá. Why? Because even though Bogotá is an enormous city, there really aren't that many interesting touristy things to see. For the average tourist, I think one to two days in the capital are enough.  In the end, we did about a day and a half in Bogotá, with the half day being the same day she flew out.

Winter Wonderland: The Garden of Morning Calm and Chungnyeongsan Recreational Forest

The Garden of Morning Calm's winter lighting festival

For Valentine's Day weekend, I decided to head north of Seoul with a travel group to check out the Lighting Festival at The Garden of Morning Calm.

I had taken that week off from work, and didn't do many exciting things (unless you think going to immigration is entertaining). This little day trip was a good way to end my week.

Valentine's Dinner at On The Border in Pyeongchon

But first, there was Valentine's Day! In Korea, it is tradition for the woman to give the man a gift for the holiday. Likewise, there is another holiday, called "White Day," which falls a month later on March 14. Then, the man is expected to give the woman a gift. However, for the single folks, their day is on April 14, where you all gather together to eat black bean noodles, called Jajangmyeon, and wallow in your sorrows!

Who can say no?

In my case, I decided to take my date to a restaurant. The week before, I showed him some tacos I made, and subsequently found out that he hadn't tried Mexican food before! He's Chinese, and doesn't typically eat the expensive foreign food in China. Recalling my good experience last time, I took him to another On The Border location, this time in Pyeongchon. It has the same yummy, mid-priced food. This one can be reached by heading out Beomgye Station exit 4, which is on Seoul Subway line #4. This location is right inside the Lotte Department Store on the 8th floor, next to TGI Friday. This On The Border's phone number is 031-8086-9805.

A Change in Diet -- My New Challenge

These lamb chops from a restaurant were amazing! But I'm trying to eat less red meat.

 On the way to improving my health, I have been thinking a ton more about the types of food that I'm eating. Often times I'm in a rush, and I just feel too lazy to shop and cook! But I want to make a change to that.

What am I doing now?

I'm skipping breakfast. I feel like I'm always out of ingredients, and I just don't feel like picking up more. I also don't feel like getting up to cook every day.

I'm eating out a lot. As a young professional, I find myself eating out at restaurants. I'm ordering take out instead of cooking my own meals. This isn't so bad, but the best Korean foods, such as soups, are either impossible to take out or are too expensive. So I find myself gravitating toward stuff I shouldn't be eating so often.

I know it could be worse -- I could be eating at places like McDonald's, Pizza Hut or KFC! They're tempting, but I try to avoid them like the plague! The thing is, I know I could be doing better.

The Korean Folk Village in Yongin, and Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon!

The Chuseok holiday gave me a five-day weekend in Korea, and I wanted to do whatever I could to celebrate the holiday and appreciate my free time! Aside from doing homework for school and cleaning my apartment, I set out to learn a little bit about Korean history.

Suwon's Hwaseong Palace and Fortress

On a Thursday, which happened to be Chuseok day, I paid a visit to the Hwaseong Palace and Fortress in Suwon [수원 화성 (행궁)], which happens to be the city I live in.

Scenes from the Hwaseong Palace in Suwon City, Gyeonggi-do Province

 How did I get there? From my neighborhood, it was a simple 20-minute bus ride away. I personally took a bus to the Hwaseong Henggung stop, then walked to the folk village. From Suwon Station there are many buses that head there, such as the numbers 2, 7, 7-2, 8, or 13. At least some of these would be taken be leaving out of exit 6 and crossing the street to the bus stops on the other side. You would get off at Jongno sageori (which means intersection).

The palace was open, and it's open every day. On Chuseok day, it just happened to be free, and all of the guests could just walk right in and explore.

Better than Busan! Our Weekend at Jumunjin Beach (주문진해변)

Two weeks ago, a friend invited me to go to the beach. This beach was called Jumunjin (주문진), which is located on the east coast of South Korea, in Gangneung City in the Gangwon Province (강원도 강릉시).

Jumunjin Beach

I had always heard that the beaches on the east coast of Korea were better, but I hadn't gone to the east coast at that point. Now that I've been, I can safely say that I also agree with that statement. If you're looking for nice beaches in Korea, but haven't checked out the east coast, then you're really missing out!

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo and Friendship!

Last weekend has been an eventful one for me.

At first, my heart was broken by someone and I was a bit upset, but luckily for me I was able to recover and I had a great time.

Cinco de Mayo at On the Border restaurant

It started with a simple Cinco de mayo get together at the On the Border restaurant located by Apgujeong Rodeo station. On this particular night, a group was able to buy out the restaurant for a get together. We were able to have all-you-can-eat tacos, burritos, chicken wings, salad and nacho chips. Not to mention a seemingly endless supply of margaritas! I tried a bit of everything, and I'm happy to say that the food was all great! 

On the Border, taken from their website

To those who might be concerned about the quality of the food, On the Border served us our tacos, burritos and salad with real salsa, sour cream and guacamole. The servings also had an acceptable amount of meat. Don't worry, I've been to my fair share of Mexican restaurants in Korea and have gone through the tragedy of paying a fortune to receive substandard food. Imagine paying more than $20 for a plate only to receive more lettuce and tomatoes than carne (meat/beef)? At On the Border, this is not so. I was also cynical about the margaritas ("Oh, they'll probably run out then serve only cheap beer...") but these surprised me as well. They truly meant all-you-can-drink and the drink was strong. They kept those coming too. 

To check this place out, keep in mind that the restaurant is located in Seoul by the Apgujeong Rodeo station on the Bundang Line. After coming out exit #6, walk straight and make a left onto the first small street. Then, make a right into the first little alley way and walk down. The restaurant is located on the left.

Here I was able to meet some chill people and have good conversations.

Club Answer

Our next stop was club Answer in Cheongdam. 

We took a taxi there, so I can't be sure of the exact directions, but the internet tells me it's close to Cheongdam station on line 7. 

Chicken Ginseng Soup and French Toast ... A Food Post?

This week has been a good one in regards to food. I've cooked some good meals and had a chance to try out some soup at a famous restaurant in Seoul.

The front entrance of Tosokchon

After doing some shopping, I decided to try out a restaurant with some folks. The restaurant is called Tosokchon (토속촌) and it is located in northern Seoul, a couple of streets down from Gyeongbokgung station (line 3) exit 2. Walking straight out of the exit, it's about two streets up. After a left turn onto a small street, the restaurant is located a little down on the left side.

Tosokchon is famous for its chicken ginseng soup, or samgyetang (삼계탕) in Korean. Samgyetang is a soup dish of a whole chicken, stuffed with rice, cooked in a broth with Korean ginseng. There are many varieties, but this is the main idea of the dish. Aside from it being very delicious, this soup is also said to cure and prevent illness. It is even consumed in the summer months to restore nutrients lost in the heat.

After arriving, I ordered a simple dish of samgyetang, which comes with tea and few sides including cabbage and radish kimchi. They also give you a shot of a ginseng liquor. The soup itself was great and filling. The sides were good too. The ginseng shot was pretty strong and wasn't tasty at all -- but this obviously isn't the point! The experience set me back 15,000 korean won, or $13.28. Not bad!

The restaurant has a touristy feel to it, since it's aesthetically nice and they had a host dressed up in a hanbok (Korean traditional dress) seating people. It's also a restaurant where the patrons sit on the floor to eat. That's something that looks cool from a touristy perspective, but it can get uncomfortable. In any case, the food more than makes up for it. I would definitely recommend this place to others.

Another Saturday on Yeouido

At the Cherry Blossom Festival

So, this weekend I went on a date to Yeouido, which is an island along the Han River in Seoul. The first time I went there was for their annual Cherry Blossom festival with friends. The blossoms aren't out yet though. It's best known for being home to Seoul's investment banking district.

Well, we didn't go there to invest anything, but rather hang out and enjoy the nice weather. Spring's technically here, and we can sense that the actual warm weather will be coming one of these days.

The 63 Building

The 63 Building from the Outside

First, we went to the 63 Building. Up until about 10 years ago, it was South Korea's tallest building. It's still impressive today and its main attraction is the view that it offers from the 60th floor on top. On a clear day, you're supposed to be able to see pretty far. However, when we went, it was just a bit cloudy. It was still clear enough to see how Seoul is surrounded by mountains. There was also a little museum up there showcasing some rather strange paintings, with plenty of "paintbrush art" consisting of brushes on canvases.

The 63 building is home to a few businesses and there's a bit of a mall inside. Aside of the views from the top of the building, it hosts other attractions such as an aquarium, an IMAX theater, and a wax museum.

Not a wax figure, but it was cute!

We skipped the IMAX and went to the wax museum next. It was an entertaining place full of props that you could use for pictures. They made sure to put up plenty of warnings letting us know that we were financially responsible for any figures we damaged! It wasn't amazing or anything, but the figures were still recognizable. They had different sections for things like political figures, horror themes and sports stars.

After that, we went to the aquarium. Again, not amazing, but good enough for a fun day. Colorful fish, seals, penguins, etc. They host little shows there often and we happened to catch a "synchronized swimming" show. It was a woman creatively moving about a large tank with fish inside. The fish just swam around the tank without a care in the world.


Noryangjin Fish Market 

Some fish on display

We then decided we were hungry and stopped at the convenience store for a bottle of wine. We took that wine to Noryangjin Fish Market. I had been to fish markets before, but mainly to gawk at the fish. This time was quite different, because this time I was shopping for dinner!

Winding down to departure

So here I am, with a few weeks left until I go back to Korea again.

You see, I've been in the USA since the end of October, which means that I'll have been in the states for a little less than four months. I just counted now, and I'm personally shocked that I've been here for less than three months. It has felt much longer than that.

I'm currently staying at my father's house, along with his wife and a toddler who is my half-sister. I'm from a small city with very limited public transport and I also haven't had a car here, so that has had its challenges. I generally like to stay active by going to places and doing things and that has been difficult. Having a small child around also has its stresses, and the wife is a stay at home mom. So they are around all the time, kind of like having a room mate that is always there. I don't quite fit nicely into this second family that my dad has, and I have definitely been in their way as well.

Despite all of the time we spend together in close proximity, we haven't really done much together overall. Dad's wife told me once that she wanted to try Korean food, so I thought it was a good idea for all of us to go to a local Korean BBQ place.

The restaurant, also called "Kahl-Bee". I had to explain to dad why the different spellings existed.

It was like a nice version of what you would typically find in Korea -- with MUCH larger portion sizes. We ordered some dishes such as samgyupsal (삼겹살), bulgogi (불고기) and dumpling soup with rice cakes (떡만두국).