What happens in my Korean town

Anyang, a satellite city of Seoul, is the 15th largest city in Korea with two major districts. Dongan district, where I live, has a major park (named Central Park), over a thousand after school academies, and two major strips filled with restaurants and bars. 

This past weekend was actually the 15th annual celebration of Pyeongchon "first" street. No matter what town you go to in Korea, you'll find a series of neon lights on a strip filled with restaurants and bars. They usually refer to these strips as "il-beon-ga" or first street. 

As you can see in the picture above, a stage was set up with thousands of chairs lined up for the audience. This two-day event featured a series of performances including, but not limited to singers, magicians, dancers, and comedians. 

Some performances were better than others, but it was a great way for those starting out to showcase themselves. I've never seen my town so packed before. Restaurants were even setting up their business in the middle of the strip for people to sit on the floor and enjoy food while watching the show.

I'm not too sure if every town celebrates their first streets like mine, but if they do, it's something worth checking out.

Restaurant: Genji the Grill

Here is yet another addition to my ever growing collection of restaurant posts: Genji the Grill.

This restaurant was very spontaneous. My friends and I were hungry and walking around the Hongik University area when we stumbled upon this beauty of a restaurant. You can't tell much from the picture, but the restaurant has a huge front courtyard, a completely open first floor, and more on the second floor.

What we were immediately attracted to was this walkway right in the front. The decor overall is very Asian inspired and what most people would call "zen." Even people who were not even eating at the restaurant stepped in to take photos.

Although this restaurant was full of couples when I was there, it is also a good place to go with a good group of friends.

As you can tell by the pictures, the interior is all bamboo-wannabe wood. The service wasn't the best, as the waiters didn't seem very friendly.

I can't really categorize the food served at this restaurant. I want to say that it's Thai, but then they had other dishes on the menu labeled "fried." You would think by the name that it has a wide selection of grilled meat. There are few, but it definitely was not the highlight.

I ordered my all time favorite dish, Pad Thai. I must say, I had better for the price that I paid, but not horrible. However, don't get me wrong. The dishes my friends have ordered were really delicious. The prices on the wine selections are pretty good and like I mentioned earlier, it's a good place to go to with a group of friends.

Overall, the atmosphere of the restaurant is very chill and very clean. I wish the service and Pad Thai were better, but I would definitely go back to enjoy some wine with my friends.

Because we just happened to stumble upon this restaurant, I have no clear directions to get there. If you are familiar with this area, it's in the backstreets of where Club F.F is located.

Popsicle joint: Molly's Pops

If you're in the mood to eat good homemade ice cream, swing by Molly's Pops. Word on the streets is that they have the best popsicles in Korea.

Although you can get scoops of the ice cream, the popsicles are what stands out when you first walk in. They are arranged in an assortment of colors, as well as different flavors. Some of the flavors are pretty standard (mixed nuts, mint chocolate) while others are not (Erdinger's beer, wasabi, and makoli- Korean rice wine).

My friends and I were going to play games so the loser could try the "unique" flavors, but we decided that for our first time it'd be best to go for what seemed more appealing to us. I got probably the most "boring" out of my friends- brownie mix. Typical, but out of this world delicious. I literally tasted morsels of brownie in my vanilla based popsicle.

My friends got the wine and strawberry flavor, which was delicious. Almost like a sangria, but in a form of a popsicle of course! The alcoholic flavors are actually not sold to minors, even though you can't really get drunk off of these.

I ended up ordering another one....just because I could. I did not feel guilty about eating an extra popsicle because I went through a pretty stressful week. The pomegranate one tastes like a super concentrated pomegranate juice. It was sweet and sour and delicious all at once.

Although a little on the expensive side for popsicles, keep in mind that these are all homemade and the flavors are super concentrated. I'm sure they're also healthier than the processed and mass-produced kinds. Prices are 2800WON (~$2.50) per popsicle. I suggest going with a bunch of close friends so they can all order different ones and you can get a taste of all.

I could tell this place was pretty popular because every one who walked by the store would comment on how famous it was around the Hongik University area and how delicious it was.

Molly's Pops is a little hard to find because it's located in the back streets. Turn a right out of exit #8 at Hongik University station. Keep straight until you see a big T-world cell phone shop and turn left. Follow the side streets and you'll see the store on your right.

Country-hopping for the weekend: Taiwan

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to make a weekend trip to Japan. As mentioned in an earlier post, going to neighboring countries in Asia is super affordable. For that reason, I decided to hop over to another island country: Taiwan.

With a little bit of web surfing, I managed to find round trip tickets to Taiwan for a little less than $350. That's pretty awesome considering the fact that I looked for them last minute and it was during holiday season.

Taiwan is a beautiful country. It's not a vacation for me unless I see palm trees and that's one thing I was greeted with everywhere there. Aside from visiting a close friend and former CDI teacher, I went to Taiwan with just one goal: eat everything on the CNNgo list. This list is aptly titled, "40 Taiwanese foods we can't live without." My personal goal was to eat at least thirty out of the list and I accomplished it.

There are actually a lot more pictures like the one above, since that's really all I did on this trip. I didn't go to the famous 101 building, I didn't check out any temples, instead I ate my way through Taiwan.

Even though there were some pretty scary descriptions of certain dishes, I didn't back down. I kept a straight face and tried as much as I could. Shilin night market was a perfect way to knock out a ton off my list. I have to say though, the pig blood jelly didn't sit too well in my stomach...nor the "frog-egg" drink.

Do try out the foot massage offered in Taiwan. It won't be the most soothing massage you have received, but it will make you feel good afterwards. I went to the one at the night market and it cost only around $30 for an hour-long session!

Aside from all the eating though, I did get to travel around the city for the four days I was there. I was lucky to have my friend as a guide because Chinese is not my specialty. I love language and always try to learn a few phrases from each, but Chinese is one that I cannot, for the life of me, pick up. The tone and certain pronunciations are just impossible to follow.

 

The Taipei zoo is not anything too out of the ordinary. However, if you do get to visit, get on the gondola and go to the top of the mountain.

It's actually a bit scary because it dips and rises like a roller coaster ride. It's about a 25 minute ride from the zoo to the top of the mountain, but the scenery is absolutely stunning.

If you do make it up there, check out the Guan Ding tea house. Not only do they have some interesting tasting tea-flavored ice cream, but the lady that works there will let you try different types of tea brewed in her own special way.

I do have to say, the most fun thing about this trip was going shrimping. Not fishing, but catching shrimp! All it really is is a giant pool filled with some big prawns. You pay by the hour and however many shrimp you catch is how many you get to eat. My boyfriend and I were pretty lucky and caught seven together. The restaurant also has a grill for you to cook your shrimp to your liking.

My flight back home was also pretty memorable- I got to ride on the Hello Kitty jet. Everything from the pillows, TV screen, utensils, and even the decoration on the food were all "Hello Kitty-ed" out. Not much of a fan, but I must admit it was too cute.

Although I wish I had more than just a weekend to travel around in Asia, trips like this one are still a good way to relax and be able to experience something different while you're out here in Korea for a whole year. I think making small trips throughout my stay in Korea is better than having one massive one after. This way, I can come back to work and make up for the budget losses!

Incheon International Airport (ICN)

The scariest part for me when traveling to any country is what to do as soon as I arrive at the airport. Although all airports have the same procedures for non-citizens, it's always good to have a heads up on what to expect.

First of all, Incheon International Airport, or ICN, is fairly new. The airport is very clean and looks very modernized. One cool thing about ICN is that it has been rated the best airport worldwide for several years. According to my dear friend Wikipedia, it has one of the fastest departure and arrival procedures in the world. 

Like any major international airport, ICN also features a lot of culture within the airport. Along with pictures, you will also find live performances, such as a lady in a traditional dress playing an authentic Korean instrument.

I guess the most important part of this blog post though is what happens once you arrive in the country. You go through immigration, of course!

Call me inexperienced, but if you actually have a VISA to enter the country or an Alien Registration Card, you don't need to fill out the immigration sheet!
Once you're stamped into the country, you'll find yourself waiting for your baggage with hundreds of other people entering the country.

The coolest thing (at least I think) about the airports in Korea is the super accessible transportation. Not only do you have the taxi and train option, but you also have buses that take you all over the Kyunggi Province, as well as others!

Bus tickets are really cheap (~12,000WON) and you can either buy it at the kiosk or now you can self purchase it with the new touch screen machine. Buses come around as often as every half hour (depending where you're going) and you will even have people helping you put your heavy luggage under the bus.

Incheon International Airport also has rooms filled with beds and showers in the case of layovers. From my understanding, it used to be free but now they charge. 
Having been stuck in many airports (delay, layover, etc), I've become more adventurous in exploring airports and Korean airports have been the most impressive so far.

Beauty shop: Etude House

I mentioned in an earlier post that Korea is the aesthetic capital of the world. Continuing along, I wanted to post a blog about beauty shops out here.

There are a lot of beauty shops in Korea, but I wanted to blog about a particular one: Etude House. At first this store may seem too pink and too girly to go into, but there are a couple of things in there worth checking out.

Korea hasn't really grasped the idea of deodorant yet. However, it's not a stinky country. They are super concerned about hygiene, so I honestly have no idea how they hide body odor. Unfortunately, B.O and pit stains aren't things everyone can hide. For that reason, Etude house sells deodorants. I've seen spray deodorants here and there, but I feel like the idea of it is still pretty rare in Korea. I also mentioned in a previous blog post to pack deodorant before coming out here. I haven't tried this product yet, so I can't tell you if it works well or not. But I can tell you that it sold me solely based on the packaging. It's so cute!

This might come off as a bit gross, but I do not wash my hair everyday. If I did, I might become bald. The hard water in Korea also doesn't help. For that reason, dry shampoo is my good friend. America is all about the dry shampoo and even has sections in the shampoo aisle dedicated to it. I can't just use baby powder on my black hair, so lucky for me, Etude House sells dry shampoo. It's a new product even for Etude House, but I know it has gotten some great reviews from the residents here. I have no idea why they would be behind on these products, but I'm glad they're getting the hang of it.

Etude House also sells a wide range of cosmetics including, but not limited to nail, acne, body, and foot care products. It's located all throughout Korea. You can't miss the all-pink and dollhouse style entrances!

Baseball games in Korea

There might not be any American football in Korea, but there sure is a soccer and baseball culture. Although I have never been to a baseball game back in the states, I'm pretty sure I'm safe to say that baseball games in Korea are very different.

Currently, there are eight professional baseball teams in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO). Each team is owned by a major tycoon of Korea- Samsung, LG, Kia, Hanwha, Doosan, Lotte, Nexen, and SK- and has their own cheerleading team.

The crowd in these games is very enthusiastic and just listening to them cheering their favorite team alone is pure entertainment. It seems like each player has his own chant, usually a famous song with the words changed to his name. I'm pretty sure I heard a chant to "Mary had a little lamb" and even "Pomp and Circumstance." And instead of vuvuzelas, the crowd has these blow up sticks that they beat together.

Even though you can drink alcohol at American baseball games, there are no restrictions whatsoever in Korea. Beer is sold everywhere- outside and inside the stadium. They even have young part-time workers (probably university students) who run up and down the stadium wearing a keg on their backs and selling draft beer. It wouldn't be Korea without soju, of course. Instead of peanuts and pretzels, vendors walk around with pizza and fried chicken ready for you to eat. If you go to the back of the stadium, you can see families who bring their own grill and are having a barbecue. I don't even think they pay attention to the game!

I've only been to the baseball stadium in Seoul, but I know the teams travel to other cities like Daejeon and Busan. The stadium in Seoul is located at Sports Complex station on the green line (#2). You can buy tickets at the game, but if you don't get there early enough, it might be hard to find any. Don't ever get fooled by the hustlers standing in front of the ticket booths. They'll tell you that they are sold out and will try to sell it to you for three times the price. If you want to be safe, buy tickets on Ticketlink. Other than the private booths and table seating, the costly seats are still only 15,000WON.