travel: South Korea 2013: Day 1 Seoul: Gyeongbokgung Palace, Bukchon Hanok Village, Samcheong-dong, Gangnam

We woke up to a gorgeous (albeit very cold) day. Soriwool provided simple breakfast (toasts with jam & butter, boiled eggs, cereals, orange juice, and some milk). We had the toasts just to fuel us enough until lunch time, as we planned to spend our half day around the vicinity.

Our first stop was Gyeongbokgung Palace (we also stopped by National Folk Museum that is practically located side by side, but it is nothing to shout about. If you have limited time, skip this place during your trip). The palace is huge, but unfortunately a lot of the structures were not permitted for public access.

Gyeongbokgung Palace entry fee: KRW3000 per adult.

We did witness a special ceremony though - for choosing an honorary guard of the year (o_o), I think... unless the English translator was incorrect... .

Afterwards, we walked around Bukchon Village, a traditional village full of fully functioning Hanoks; some of them provide accommodation, others as restaurants and cafes, and the rest are still residentials. We also had our lunch in Samcheong-dong area, which is pretty much side by side with Bukchon village.

had lunch here. There was a bit of a queue, so we joined :P

The place we ate at is aptly named 'korean restaurant', which is the only english bit we saw from the banner. The place did not provide english menu, but the staff would patiently explain (albeit with their limited english and our best effort to understand body language...) what each item from their menu was.
We chose a set menu for two, consisting of a lot of side dishes, bulgogi, some soups, and rice (very nice rice cooked with special stock and mussels). The restaurant is small and patrons eat by sitting on the floor. Cue cramp legs. But hey, we are experts already in this whole sleeping and eating on the floor.

Total damage: KRW36000

After rolling out of the restaurants, we headed to Gangnam. It took us around half an hour to reach Gangnam station from Anguk station (the closest to our accommodation).

Our first stop at Gangnam:
Cafe Pawz

Furballs therapy. Nuff said.

The cafe is very clean (there is always a cleaning staff to clean after the dogs' natural businesses), does not smell at all, and all the dogs...

Oh God... all the dogs... . I want to kidnap them all.

You can spend however many hours here, provided that you buy a drink from the cafe. I had lemon tea and 1/2heart had matcha latte. Both were actually quite good.

This little cutie is my favourite (but it does not belong to the cafe. The owners brought her in today just for a little bit of funtime with the other dogs):

After spending a good at least one hour at the cafe, we bid goodbyes to our furry friends (relationships were quickly formed and bonding were sealed with extra help of some dog treats), and headed to...

...

...

Cat Cafe (also at Gangnam). Haha. 

You can reach this place by walking to the right (not the big main road) of exit 9 of Gangnam. Have a lookout of Cat Cafe sign on your left. It is located on the 4th floor of a building (take the elevator up).

The difference between dogs and cats? With dogs, they usually beg for your attention. With cats: you beg for their attentions.

Pah.

You have to pay KRW8000 per person to spend however much time you want at the Cat Cafe, and the fare includes a drink. Treats cost extra, and believe me, people: unlike dogs, if you don't have a treat, you won't have fun with the cats.

After spending another good hour there, we headed back to Anguk and had dinner at a place nearby Soriwool. The weather was crazy cold (still is), so we had some soup: Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), and Beef Ribs Soup.

Then shuffled quickly back to Soriwool to our warm room with heated flooring  to turn in for the night... .

travel: South Korea 2013: pre-flight + Seoul

Soon after our Taiwan trip over Christmas break 2012, 1/2heart and I booked in for another break during Easter holidays. Not too long though, as we could only manage to scramble 1 week break all up. But our intended destination has been pretty clear: South Korea.

This time, we choose Asiana Airlines - a south korean airline that flies direct from Sydney to Incheon airport - making my legs went numb during the 10.30 odd hours in the sky. It's probably would have been better if we had a layover somewhere, but as our planned trip is pretty short - 1 week - we didn't really want to waste any time.

You could not fault the service. Inflight crews are polite, courteous and very kind. (cue me asking them for another gochujang (red pepper) paste to smother my rice with, the stewardess beamed proudly that me-truly like their inflight gochujang paste, then proceeded to give me 4 tubes of them. I still have them in my bag now as I type this...).

But hey, I love their inflight bibimpap meal. 

Arriving in Incheon around 7 p.m. at night, we took the rail to reach our accommodation for the night: Soriwool.

Reaching downtown Seoul from Incheon airport by subway took us more than 1 hour. And lugging our luggage up and down the stairs : not fun. But at least our accommodation for the next three night is beautiful.

Soriwool is a hanok type accommodation, and I absolutely fell in love with the place. Quaint, comfy quiet, and ohmyf**god, the wonderful warm floors (due to their ondol heating) soothing our tired and cold feet (it is around 3-5 degrees outside). 

Room type: Geomungo

Cost: KRW120000 per night (includes breakfast)

Room comes with private bathroom and private small kitchen & laundry

the instrument this room is named after

1/2heart and our late night snack.

Let's see the place in better light tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a wonderful day... . 

travel: Bandar Lampung 2012, Part 4 + Final

02/01/2013

We visited my late grandma at her final resting place. After she passed a few years ago, she was cremated and her ashes were stored at a cemetery facility. I think it is pretty compulsory for my part to visit her whenever I go back to my birth town - not just out of obligation - but more out of love and respect I have for her (and all my grandparents in general, both from my mother or my father side). But this grandma is special: she was the one who gave me my real name :)

Afterwards, more food:

Stop no. 1: We bought some grilled chicken and fried chicken from another Padang restaurant: Dua Saudara, then proceeded to Sate Utami for some chicken and mutton satay.

Left: Tongseng. Right: Gulai.

Stop no.2: some street food.

Martabak, Ketoprak, Mie Tek-Tek.

03/01/2013

This was our last day in Lampung, so we did not waste anytime but to hunt for last minute food. After buying some snacks to be brought back to Sydney (packed in two boxes and turned out to be 18 kgs additional baggage. I am very grateful that we flew SQ back to Sydney and they did not charge any extra baggage fee), we marched on...

Stop no.1: Kampoeng Seafood. Was disappointed with the crab we had the other day at Pantai Duta Wisata, so my father ordered two more crabs... . Haha. These ones were much better. And some fried chicken and grilled fish that tasted very very nice. 

Stop no 2: This place served grilled pork. The eatery is owned and operated by Indonesians of ethnic Batak. My older sister and I liked this so much when we were still teenagers, and I have been wanting to eat here again. Alas, the place was closed when we visited it for the past two days. However, on 03/01, it opened! Yayy!

Tasted as good as I remember it.

Then we had to bid goodbye to Lampung as we had a flight to Jakarta at 7 p.m.

As soon as we arrived in Jakarta, 1/2heart wanted to get some fried dumplings (pangsit) from Bakmi Gajah Mada.
Being such suburban we are, of course we didn't know the closest stall for GM, and so we decided to take a taxi to mall Taman Anggrek - the only one we knew. Haha

20 fried dumplings to be shared amongst the three of us (me, 1/2heart, and my younger brother)

We stayed overnight at Jakarta Airport Transit Hotel, before catching our flight to Sydney the next morning - via a stop over at Changi. Jakarta Transit Hotel was nothing fancy and quite expensive (around A$130) for the quality. But it was clean and comfortable enough. 

04/01/2013

After our outbound flight from Jakarta, we had a layover in the afternoon in Singapore, and it was just after lunch time. So what did we do? Visit Lau Pa Sat :D

Carrot Cake & Char Kway Teow & some satays

Then we killed some time around Orchard Rd until we had to return to the airport to catch our night flight to Sydney.

And dang, it's still crazyhot summer here -_-

travel: Bandar Lampung 2012 part 3

31/12/2012

Wow, it's the last day of 2012. We have successfully passed another doomsday prediction.

Food Overeating adventure kept going on... .

Stop no. 1: Begadang II. This place serves 'Padang' style food. I guess for most foreigners, you would find the style similar to Indian food, where they use a lot of herbs, spices, and serve curry style dishes.

Stop no. 2: Idola. Sells Fish Cake - ("Pempek") Indonesian Style - and the cheapest but still nice my parents could find in Lampung (they said). The stand besides this place sold Egg Pancake ("Martabak/Murtabak Telor"). The style here was deep fried, though I have also tried less oily ones at another place. Equally good. We opted for duck eggs for the meat mixture to make it more fragarant and tasty. 

May I just say I won't be booking any appointment to my GP anytime soon. She will have a heart attack looking at my blood pressure/cholesterol chart right after this trip.

"Martabak Telor"

"Pempek"

01/01/2013

Happy New Year, everyone.

Wishing this year will be a good year for all of us with plenty of love, laughter, and happiness all round.

As for me last midnight, greeting 2013 in my parents' house for once in such a long long time brought me a sense of joy, although it was also a bit weird to watch the splendid fireworks display presented by Sydney only through Channel News Asia on television.

Compared to that, Indonesian New Year's Eve... ermmm... the fireworks were sporadic and all over the place (as they were alighted by general public). But I guess, as long as everyone enjoyed and welcomed year 2013 with joy, that's the most important thing.

Stop no. 1: Pantai Duta Wisata. Seafood. Nuff said .

This place would have been a gorgeous place if not loitered with random garbage and general unkempt. Pity.

Don't be fooled by the scenery photos below. I beautified these scenes by 200%

And their chilli was the bomb (below right picture). Definitely got my seal of approval. If you dare, ask for extra spicy (yes, I had it extra spicy. All other chilli sauce consumed prior to today were tomato sauce compared to this gem).

The other seafood we ordered: Grilled "chicken" fish (local calls it "ikan ayam", literally translated to english "chicken fish". As the meat is quite firm and chewy - a bit similar to chicken), Deep fried squid (very very yummy), Black Pepper Crab (more like sweet soy sauce crab. Hardly any black peppers. Disappointing);

Deep fried Tempeh & Tofu (very nice too), and Blood Clams (a bit of an acquired taste. Kinda smell fishy).

Stop no. 2: Rumah Baso - same management under Rumah Kayu.

Ah yes, we were back to this place we went to on the first day I touched down in Lampung a few days ago. But this time, we went to the building located just besides it for some meatballs soup.

It's hard to find good meatballs here without containing any preservatives - usually borax or Formaldehyde/Formalin (*gasp). Dishonest vendors would use preservatives to maintain longer shelf life of their meatballs, but at whose expense? 

Apparently this place claims to not mix any preservatives into their meatballs (well, it did not taste like they have used any, or at least any that I could taste. Borax laden meatballs are quite chewy and hard).