Korea: third day adventures.

Our third day in Seoul started like the others, but we went local-style and decided to hit a bread/coffee shop called Bonespe instead of the nearby Starbucks. The bread shops are laid out the same as Japan, you grab a tray and tongs, choose your bread, and pay. We ordered two coffees (kopi cho se yo, then show two fingers), then they asked something we couldn't understand... confusion ensued. The cashier mumbled something to the girl behind her, probably "Just do it, they're eating here." or something worse? Everything was fine and dandy, we sat down with a pager, and waited. The pager went off a few minutes later, and I went to the counter to pick up our pastries. Come to find out, they cut our pastries into pieces and piled them nicely on a plate, so they must have been asking if we wanted the pastries cut, interesting. They were quite delicious, albeit a little sweeter than I'm used to, especially the ham and cheese, which was quite a surprise (hint, pass on the ham and cheese).

After breakfast, we set off to explore some of the other parts of Insadong. Along the opposite side of Cheonggyecheon stream (Myeongdong side) is what appears to be, the "garage sale" district, if my father was there he'd think he'd died and gone to heaven. I don't know the area's name, but it's endless shops of tools and home hardware. It really does look like a garage sale on the sidewalks of Seoul.

One man's junk is another man's treasure.

... and a closer look.

After touring the streets of shops, it was time for lunch and the wife and I split up. My good friend from the previous night was meeting me for lunch, so it was time for some bibimbap. Dolsot bibimbap in particular, which is rice, marinated vegetables, meat, egg, and gochujan (Korean hot sauce) served in a searing hot stone bowl. From the hotel it was a couple minutes walk to Cham Sook Gol (link is Japanese), which was recommended by another friend.

It comes out in several dishes. Rice and vegetables in the big stone bowl (don't touch!), beef and raw egg are separate, if you don't like them just discard. Soup and kimchi are on the side (apparently kimchi is all you can eat in restaurants).

Just add as much gochajang as you like, then stir the whole thing together. Everything gets cooked in the stone bowl. Cham Sook Gol is really good for bibimbap, but they also have other things as well like grilled meat selections.

After a nice lunch, we headed to a coffee shop, then off to visit the biggest palace in Seoul: Gyeongbokgung.

It was in 1395, three years after the Joseon Dynasty was founded by Yi Seong-gye, when the construction of the main royal palace was completed and the capital of the newly founded dynasty moved from Gaeseong to Seoul (then known as Hanyang). The palace was named Gyeongbokgung, the "Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven." With Mount Bugaksan to its rear and Mount Namsan in the foreground, the site of Gyeong-bokgung Palace was at the heart of Seoul and, indeed, deemed auspicious according to the traditional practice of geomancy.

from the Gyeongbokgung website.

The palace is gorgeous, painted in bright colors with all kinds of different geometrical design patterns. Lining the tops of the roofs were these cool animal sculptures.

If you noticed, it wasn't very crowded this day. That's because, unfortunately, it was closed... so we couldn't get inside. If you're visiting Seoul, don't plan to visit Gyeongbokgung on a Tuesday.

It was getting pretty late by the time we finished at the palace, so my friend and I parted ways. I had to get back to the hotel to meet up with wifey and meet up with her friends. They ended up taking us out to dinner on the outskirts of Seoul. I have no idea where, but it was about a 40 minute drive, we crossed a bridge, and there were lots of condominium complexes. First up was this squid dish, cooked in a pan at the table. The sauce was spicy, but was incredible. It would later become the base for a sort of fried rice type dish.

The next dish was a seafood stew, again pretty spicy with fish, clams, crab, abalone, shrimp, and vegetables. It was also very good, but we didn't get to finish everything. One thing about eating in Korea compared to Japan is the portions are just huge. I don't think we ever finished everything we were served, the whole trip.

The last dish was my challenge dish for the trip: live octopus tentacles. They arrived on a plate all chopped up, and squirming around. It didn't look very appetizing, but I gave it a try. The flavor is just pretty bland, like eating cooked octopus or squid sashimi, but not bad at all. You just have to chew fast, or the suction cups will start sticking to the inside of your mouth, that's not fun at all.

It was a wonderful dinner, and afterwards we visited their home and kids. We ended up getting back to the hotel around midnight, but because we had to wake up at 4 in the morning, we didn't want to go to sleep. It was time for a last late night walk.

Wednesday was a holiday in Korea so people could vote. Lots of people took that to their advantage and were out at the bars quite late. It was a beautiful warm night, and as you can see the bars have tables and chairs sprawling out onto the sidewalks, we really wanted to join in for a pint. There were also these outdoor covered stands, where the owner basically served out of the back of a truck, pretty cool.

Eventually we got hungry again, and wifey didn't get to eat one of the things on her list, so we got her an order of topokki from a street vendor. It's a dish of sliced fish cake boiled in a spicy sauce, which was quite delicious. It tasted like mochi to me, rather than fish cake.

Lastly, we needed some dessert. McDonald's is open 24 hours, so we stopped in for some soft serve. I've never seen this at McD's in the US or Japan, but Korea has hardening chocolate sauce à la Dairy Queen!! I haven't had something like that since I was a kid, so it was a must try. Yes, it was excellent, and should be carried at every McDonald's in the world!

Ahhh... it was time to call it a night so we could pack for our 5:30 am pick up.