➹ random: 옥수수 차 corn tea

I've been craving Corn Tea after sampling it at Bulgogi Brothers last Chuseok. Their brew was so light and refreshing and I think I liked it more than the cold juice I paid for! ^^



So I was delighted when I found an RTD 옥수수 차 at the nearby local grocery~


I had it cooled and excitedly took a sip ... and ... it had such a strong roasted corn taste that I had to gulp down water afterwards~ ^^ It was just a bit overpowering for me. But I gradually "warmed up" to it and was able to finish the entire bottle after a while.

I was curious then if all the Ready to Drink corn teas tasted the same ... So I headed to the Korean grocery and happily bought this:



Needless to say, I was sold with Hyun Bin's endorsement ^^. I didn't even take a look at the other corn tea brands haha~

And the taste? Ah, it has the same powerful roasted corn flavor. I wouldn't want to drink it if I'm parched ... it just doesn't quench my thirst. But I would like to slowly sip it after a nice full meal. The Bulgogi Brothers staff did say that this is good for digestion. ^^

➹ tv watchlist: noriko goes to seoul 노리코 서울에 가다

I am immensely delighted to have seen this Chuseok TV Special called 노리코 서울에 가다 ! This is such a beautiful, light, and pleasant story shot prettily with Seoul's amazing views and everyday sceneries. I ❤ it!!!! 진짜 진짜!


Oh, this scene is actually supposedly in Japan ㅋㅋ Seoul views farther down below.

The premise is quite simple. Mori Noriko is a Japanese hallyu-fan mom who goes to Seoul to join a singing audition contest on TV. She leaves her indifferent husband and troubled daughter in Japan while carrying a terrible health secret. She arrives at the studio, unable to sing hangul songs well but is determined to learn and pass the audition to become an inspiration to her daughter. She finds this rebel singer Kim Min Ha (Lee Hongki) at the audition and begs him to teach her how to sing for a fee. He agrees to do so for 1,000,000 KRW! He lets her stay at his grandmother's house and they struggle to get along as teacher-student. The story unfolds from there.

The oh-so-amazing shots of Seoul vis-à-vis the daily life of the characters. Here are some SUPER classic scenes which can almost make up a perfect Seoul itinerary:

1. Limousine Bus from the airport


2. 삼겹살


3. A Seoul street lined with PC Bang's


4. 노래방


5. Cliff overlooking city lights


6. Chicken place


7. N Seoul Tower at night


8. Day View! Hanok houses with the N Seoul Tower in the horizon


9. Star Avenue (Lotte ?) Glimpses of Janggeunseok (so is he the hallyu star the ahjumma is fangirling for!?) and Kim Hyun Joong!


10. Bus Stop


11. Samgyetang!!!


Interspersed scenes from Japan and Japanese language spoken here and there with hangul subs. If you're learning hangul, it's interesting to try to understand Japanese from hangul subs. It might be fun the other way around too.

Lee Hongki ❤ Ah, but that spazzing is for another post.





Brain teaser … Would going off in a rage speaking in another language intimidate locals? Haha, just a random thought … When the Japanese ahjumma was so mad, she bursted out in fluent angry Japanese and the Korean ahjumma backed out haha ㅋㅋmight be worth remembering.



And oooh! I have a similar set of headphones! ^^ Just saying ... I don't think they're Ahjumma-ish though ... ^^

➹ movie watchlist: 영화는! Hello Ghost

This is the perfect movie to make you burst out in suffocating tears while eating a mouthful of kimbap. Sounds like a wonderful afternoon, right? And you thought this was a comedy?


Well, indeed it starts off as one. Hello Ghost 헬로우 고스트 stars Cha Tae Hyun (My Sassy Girl; Speed Scandal) who did hilarious interpretations of the 4 ghosts who decided to live with him after his failed suicide attempts. I thought he did a brilliant job playing the crying ahjumma although this female character might have been the easiest for Cha Tae Hyun to portray. He managed to do the erratic personality switches without being too crazy (not Jim Carrey-level perhaps. in a GOOD way). I thought Cha Tae Hyun managed to remain specially endearing and gloriously pathetic and funny and unfortunate. Just the perfect leading man loser you want to cheer on.



It's just quite sad and at the same time fascinating how suicide attempts are taken a bit lightly in Korea. There was almost no panic shown by the folks who incidentally/purposely rescued Sang Man from his suicide attempts. Sang Man even thought that he would go to heaven should he succeed in his attempts ~ because he didn't really do anything wrong in his life ... I suppose, if for anything, the story confirms that good people won't die easily? ㅎㅎ Well, just maybe.

The movie, though released last 2010, fits perfectly with the huge retro comeback in Korea in these past months. I almost could hear T-ara's Roly Poly playing on the background while the characters were shopping for the manhwa movies. Nahh, that's just me. But at least I didn't feel like I was watching it too late.



So while there were plenty of nice laughs, we had just as much of those tearjerker moments. I tend to remember those sentimental moments more ㅋㅋㅋ. And of course, I'm such a huge crazy fan of symbolism's and all the little things making sense at the ending! And I sure don't need a shorter technical term for it. To me this is my "all-things-happen-for-a-reason-phenomenon". It's my OC-organized self believing that this life cleans up after its own messes; that there must be something worth waiting for and enduring for; and that dreams come true (cue: fireworks ㅋㅋㅋ). Oh well, here's another nice movie saying all that.

official site: http://www.helloghost.co.kr/

➹ 한글 translations of inspirational quotes

미소는 만국 공통어입니다
Everyone smiles in the same language.
Source: KTO Facebook Page



I thought that statement was incredibly inspiring ~ and so amazingly beautiful in 한글. So I suddenly wanted to find more quotes in Korean. It was mildly surprising to discover that save for the multitude of English sites posting quotes from kdramas, there aren't a lot of other online search results for Korean quotes. There are a couple of those for proverbs and sayings and even some for slang phrases but none really for quotables. So then I realized that there aren't a lot of quotables in my own native tongue as well. Or if there are, they would sound old-fashioned, awkward or even downright corny. Could it be that in these recent years (or decades even) we've enriched the worlds' English quote reserve at the expense of extinguishing quotes of other languages? ^^ Just saying ~

So anyway, it was also mildly surprising that the best resource for getting 한글 quotes or 한글 translations of quotes is via social networks! This Twitter @aQuoteAday account for one is PURE GENIUS^^! So much thanks for sharing some wonderful Korean translations of a variety of quotes. Here are some of my favorites (I backtracked to quite a long while agooooooo):

성공과 행복은 확률의 문제가 아니라 선택의 문제이다
Success and happiness are not matters of chance but choice -Zig Ziglar

믿는이에겐 증거가 필요없고 안믿는이에겐 어떤증거도 소용없다
To those who believe no proof is necessary; to those who don't no proof is possible. -Stuart Chase

가볼만한 가치가 있는 모든 장소는 지름길이 없는 법이다.
There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. - Beverly Sills

의견은 생각의 결과물이 되어야지 생각의 대체물이 되어서는 안된다.
An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it. - Jef Mallett

인생에서 노력없이 성취할 수 있는 것이 단하나 있는데 그건 실패라고 한다
The only thing in life achieved without effort is failure." -Anonymous-

정신병자가 되지 않으려면 때때로 미친짓을 한 번 씩 해줘야만 한다.
You must do a crazy thing once in a while to keep from going nuts.

And lastly, it doesn't exactly sound like a quote but it's worth remembering (and repeating to thyself)~

불가능은 없다. = Everything is possible.

And oh yeah, major kudos to King Sejong! ^^

➹ a 포장마차^pojangmacha menu

The first time I was in Seoul, I didn't have much time to do anything else outside of my fangirl itinerary. So I wasn't able to try eating at a 포장마차^pojangmacha then (heck, I didn't even get to visit Namsan Tower that time!). So when I came back for Spring-Summer of 2009, I thought I lucked out because there were lots and lots of 포장마차^pojangmacha tents around Jongno 3-ga where we were staying. However, we were intimidated by the occasional drunk boisterous office worker and by our sheer lack of hangul skills. We did deliberate at a distance while looking at the orange tents on our way back to our hostel ... but we always ended up taking our mildly hungry stomachs to the 24 hr convenience stores instead.

So last Summer of 2010, I was really determined to have my 포장마차^pojangmacha experience. We landed at Incheon at almost 11 pm and managed to check into our hotel at around midnight. We were starving from the flight and of course, there weren't a lot of dining options left open in our vicinity. PLUS, it was raining so hard that it was not encouraging to go walk around and look for a restaurant that night. Not that we wanted to go far because there was a brightly lit 포장마차^pojangmacha about 2 blocks away! So without an ounce of hesitation we brisk walked under the pouring skies, went inside the tent and got ourselves on the plastic seats. Game on!

Now, here were my glaringly incorrect assumptions on 포장마차^pojangmacha:

1. All pojangmachas serve 떡볶이^tteokbokki, 순대^sundae, 오댕^odaeng and/or 튀김^twigim
2. 포장마차^Pojangmacha food are all cheap

After we were seated, the good ahjumma came over and I just immediately asked for tteokbokki. But there was none. She gave us this menu instead and although I can sparingly read Hangul, I had no clue in the world what these dishes were supposed to be:



So in the end, we just ordered 라면 (ramyeon) which was the only familiar thing to me on the menu. It was perfect for the chilly weather anyway.


ㅋㅋ, the yellow pickled radish was much closer to me and it didn't make my camera lens fog!

So anyway, we thought it was going to come off cheap because it was just a simple 라면. But it turned out to be something like KRW10,000 (if I remember correctly). This is with cola already~



I was just surprised because I didn't think it would add up to KRW5,000 (of course, another ignorant assumption). We rationalized then that maybe its because we were in Yeouido so maybe things were a bit more pricey? But we didn't really know that.

So I tried to research more about this online and found out that these 안주 (anju: korean side dishes consumed with alcohol) are indeed supposed to be pricey on these 포장마차^pojangmachas. The 포장마차^pojangmacha we went in sold only 안주 and not the usual cheap snacks that I was expecting. We're really supposed to drink soju with the food and not just eat them on their own ㅋㅋㅋ.

So if it's 안주, the prices would be:

산낙지^sannakji (live octopus chopped up to be dipped in sesame oil or hot sauce) KRW15,000
닭똥집^dakdongjib (chicken gizzards stir-fried with onions and bell peppers) KRW10,000
골뱅이^golbengi (conch in hot sauce with vegetables) KRW10,000
새우구이^sewoogui (salted and grilled shrimp) KRW15,000
낙지볶음^najkibokkum (spicy stir-fried octopus) KRW15,000
오징어^ojingeobokkum (spicy stir-fried cuttlefish/squid) KRW15,000

And typically, the accompanying liquor would cost:

소주^soju (Korean vodka) KRW 3,000
막걸리^makgeolli (white rice wine) KRW 5,000

If I knew what these were at that time, I would have ordered 오댕탕 instead ^^. So now I know better for next time.

Now for some closing thoughts from our cute paper cup from the 포장마차^pojangmacha

➹ random: 잘자 mask

I went shopping for a new eye mask and found one with a simple and straightforward design:



How cute is it? I think it's perfect ^^.
잘자 (jalja) ~~~ Sleep tight everyone!!!

Note to self: I have to find a matching face mask, right? I wish there's one saying "할말이 없어".
.

➹ seoul palace tours: self guided or otherwise?

A visit to one of Seoul's numerous palaces is easily one of the no-brainer itinerary items for a typical tourist in Korea. A seasoned traveler's advice (or an expat's one) would be that a trip to one palace is enough for a 3-5 day stay. So it's key to decide which one to go to, right? There's plenty of information about these palaces on the Official KTO Site as well as on iTour Seoul. Do browse around and pick a palace which best attracts your curiosity and fits into your schedule.


And I mentioned schedule because

1. Most Important: Palaces are closed on specific days and
2. Some of the palaces offer Guided English, Japanese and Chinese tours (free!) on fixed schedules.

I consider myself a pretty much self-guided type of person so I chose the self-guided one on Changdeokgung Palace on my first palace visit. This one is more expensive than the guided tours, I think. You basically get a map at the front office and some audio device which provides you with a short discourse on specific spots in the palace. My audio device was a bit temperamental at that time so I didn't get to maximize its usage. Anyway, I was busy ooh-ing and ahh-ing and taking pictures and painfully navigating with the map to worry about the audio ^^.


So to make the long story short, we got lost. Me and my friend weren't best navigators out there. Plus the heat of that early summer day was a tad bit too much so we had to circle our way back to the gates sooner than we thought we would.

So that's the sad part of doing the self-guided one ~ I just had to call it out immediately haha. On the bright side of things, we did enjoy walking leisurely on the palace grounds. We took our time idling by the intricate doorways (and hiding from the sun at that) and admiring the lush greenery and the huge empty spaces. We sort of pictured the scenes from the historical dramas we watched. We were MOST LIKELY incorrect on where we imagined those scenes to play out but it was fun. It was more of a personal palace experience I suppose. That's how I remember it. Even if we were clueless on the historical details, we still thoroughly appreciated our own tour of the place. And that goes to show how amazing that landmark is.



So while a self-guided tour is completely memorable, I still wanted to try see what a guided tour would be like. So on the following year, I took a guided English tour at Gyeongbokgung, again with friends.


Oh and what a tour geek I was. I found the stories of the tour guide to be absolutely fascinating. I felt like the nerdy kid in school being so attentive and interactive with the guide. So sue me, I was finally enjoying learning things (too late maybe haha). Sure we had to walk fast and keep with the group in order to hear her lectures, and we did have limited time on specific areas so we had to hurriedly do our picture taking ~ but I think it was well worth it. The palace was huge (well, same with Changdeokgung) so we never would have visited all the stops on the tour if we were just walking around on our own. Since we were supposed to follow the guide, we didn't really notice how far we've walked from the entrance already. And soon enough, an hour (i think) has already lapsed. Time sure flies when you have somewhere to go ^^.

So that's that. It was great to experience both the self-guided and the guided tours. If I had to do it again, I would have done the guided one on my first trip and the self-guided for the 2nd ... just so I would have a greater appreciation of the palaces (added to my personal tour of the place of course).


Here's a crude compilation of some palace schedules and admission fees. I hope it helps you pick which one you should visit on your Seoul trip. Do let me know if anything here is helpful. Enjoy!

Gyeongbokgung Palace 경복궁 Seoul, Jongno-gu, 1 Sejong-no http://www.royalpalace.go.kr/	9AM to 5PM daily except Tuesdays (Nov-Feb) 9AM to 6PM daily except Tuesdays (Mar-Oct) Until 7PM on Saturdays, Sundays and National Holidays (May-Aug) Admission: KRW 3,000 Interpretation Services In front of information center, Hongryemun Gate (main gate) * English: 11:00, 13:30, 15:30 * Japanese: 9:30, 10:30, 13:00, 15:00 * Chinese: 10:00, 12:30, 14:30
Deoksugung Palace 덕수궁 Seoul, Jung-gu, 5-1 Jeong-dong http://www.deoksugung.go.kr/	9AM to 7PM except Mondays (Mar-Oct) 9AM to 5PM except Mondays (Nov-Feb) Admission: KRW 1,000
Changdeokgung Palace 창덕궁 Seoul, Jongno-gu, 2-71 Waryong-dong http://www.cdg.go.kr/main/main.htm	Non-guided Tour every Thursday at KRW 15,000* Guided English tours (1 hour and 20 minutes) at 11:30 AM, 1:30 PM and 3:30 PM except Mondays
Changgyeonggung Palace 창경궁 Seoul, Jongno-gu, 2-1 Waryong-dong	9AM to 5PM weekdays except Tuesdays; 9AM to 6PM weekends & holidays (Mar-Oct) 9AM to 4:30PM alldays except Tuesdays (Nov-Jan) Admission: KRW 1,000
Gyeonghuigung Palace 경희궁 Seoul, Jongno-gu, Sinmunno 2-ga, 1 bunji	9AM to 6PM except Mondays (Mar-Oct) 9AM to 5PM except Mondays (Nov-Feb) Admission: Free
Dongnimmun Seoul, Seodaemun-gu, Hyeonjeo-dong, 945-beonji	Open 24 hrs Admission: Free
Jongmyo Royal Shrine Seoul, Jongno-gu, 1-2 Hunjeong-dong http://jm.cha.go.kr/	9AM to 6PM/7PM (weekends & holidays) except Tuesdays Admission: KRW 1,000