Week 2 Diary – Exotic to the Extreme

Man, there’s so much to write about. I guess I’ll try my best to highlight some great and ridiculous experiences I had throughout last week.

First, I met up with my other aunt and ate Shabu Shabu with her. It was a fun experience as we continuously dipped meat and vegetables into the boiling soup and pulling it back out to eat. After that we went to E-mart (kind of like Korea’s HEB). It was a fun experience seeing how almost everything is on sale and has the special “Buy 1 get 1 free” deals. I was also amazed by such a simple mechanism, a bag, that allowed children to place up to 10 ice cream bars into it to keep it frozen and safe. I wish we had those kinds of bags back in Texas.

Next I went to visit my grandparents. My grandma made a huge feast of homemade side dishes and a variety of meat ranging from beef to fish. I was so full, but my grandma kept on feeding me till all the food was gone. I literally thought I was going to die that day. Lol. Next, my grandma took me to watch a documentary film about the recently deceased Korean cardinal. It was interesting and fun. Afterwards, we went to Myeongdong to eat at some famous Kalgooksoo restaurant. The Kalgooksoo and dumplings were AMAZING! Even though I was so full from earlier in the day, I finished a huge bowl of Kalgooksoo and several dumplings by myself.

So, the next day I pretty much had a free day, so I went out on a solo travel day. I first went to Insadong, which had a lot of traditional and historical Korean places, names, pottery, etc. It was fun walking around and learning about the history of Korea. There were also several creative and amazing snacks and food within the area. If I could I would have tried every single one of them. I definitely recommend anyone visiting Korea to go visit Insadong at least once.

So, later that day I went to Gyeongbokgung Palace. A historical royal palace that is well preserved and kept within Seoul. Man, I did not know how large the palace was until I actually walked around. Let me tell you how I felt like. The entire palace is actually like a huge collections of palaces, it was more like a city. So imagine walking from 6th street to Speedway, but not in a straight line but stopping by to look at every building in between the two streets. That is how this palace was like. The buildings were beautiful! I even got to see the changing of the guards ceremony. Seeing the beauty and immensity of the palace I wouldn’t have mind being a royal person back during Joseon Korea. There were so much more to explain and take pictures about but my legs were cramping at that point so I kind of stopped taking pictures. Lol. I do recommend people to visit Gyeongbokgung Palace, it’s a great historical site that speaks volumes about Korean history and livelihood.

So, later that night my aunt took my cousin and I out to eat Jejudo Black Pork Belly Meat. IT WAS GREAT! I can’t really explain how it tastes. I guess the best way to explain is that it’s a combination between pork loin and ribeye steak. I don’t think there is any other pork meat better than Jejudo Black Pork Belly Meat. And luckily, when I gather some money I could visit this place again with my friends since it is close by. This restaurant brings in Black Pork Belly Meat from Jejudo Island every morning so that it’s fresh and true to its original taste. Probably, one of my top three places for people to eat at in Korea.

So, I just made myself look absolutely stupid. The next day Elder Huh (Jin Huh) took me out to eat SamGyupSal (Regular Pork Belly Meat). Man, that tasted great also. Also, there seemed to be an endless amount of meat coming from the servers to the grill into my stomach. I was absolutely full by the end of it.

The next day, I met up with Yerang Church members who were in Korea. We sat and talked and caught up with each other’s lives while we drank coffee at Starbucks (Did you know Seoul is the number city in the world for the most Starbucks? Man, these Koreans love their expensive coffee). Afterwards, we went to a SamGaeTang (Korean Chicken Soup) restaurant to eat some SamGaeTang. Holy crap, I made the huge mistake of taking two shots of the Ginseng alcohol and a bowl of Makgeolli before even eating anything. I gotta say that eating a little buzzed made the food taste better! The broth was AMAZING! I guess that’s what you get for cooking lots of chicken together into a huge pot. Also, the chicken had rice and other things stuffed into it before it was cooked into the broth, which made it so amazingly tasty! Afterwards we went on a cool adventure towards an isolated village area within the mountains. We came upon a park that was serene and picture perfect. It was an amazing hike/walk! Afterwards we stopped by a small local beer pub to drink some beer, but it’s their snacks and food that was great! They had snails, yogurt, etc. And that’s how I spent my day.

The next day morning my aunt took me out to eat BuGoGuk (Dried Fish Soup). One of the several kinds of “hangover soups” in Korea. This was just what I needed to comfort my stomach. On the way back home there were some little market stands set up within the apartment complex, which they seem to do every saturday. What caught my attention was the tiny fish stand. There were squid, octopus, and several kinds of fish. Then we went home and cleaned up and rested for a bit.

Later that day I went out to go see “Guardians of the Galaxy.” This is where a lot of my strange experiences occurred. First off, during the bus ride to the cinema the bus driver was really rough on the brakes. On one of the brakes I almost fell sideways and accidentally grabbed the waist of the girl next to me keep her and myself from falling. Man, did this cause a super awkward weird atmosphere. I did apologize but everyone on the bus seemed to be looking at me with weird looks. After about 20 minutes of scrutiny I got off the bus finally. Next, I got lucky and unlucky, “Guardians of the Galaxy” seems to be a popular movie as only one seat was left (and yes in Korea you have assigned seating when you purchase a ticket). The last seat was way in the top left of the theatre, where only two seats are isolated. I got myself ready to watch this awesome movie when suddenly a SUPER pretty lady came up and sat right next to me. Man, this girl was awesome, we laughed at the same little nonsensical things and etc. But the problem was I was paying more attention to this chick than the movie itself, so I’ll need to rewatch the movie sometime soon. Lol. So, I came out of the theatre pretty happy and full of energy. I stepped into the subway station to go to Gangnam station to meet up with my aunt to eat dinner. As soon as I stepped out of the subway, suddenly hundreds of middle school and high school girls stampeded out of nowhere. I literally had nowhere to run and was pushed all the way out of the station. When I finally stopped in my tracks I found myself in front a guerrilla concert hosted by Taemin from Shinee (apparently he is doing a solo debut album). All these girls were screaming and shouting their lungs out. And by every second their numbers grew. I only took a picture of the very beginning stages of the gathering, it got too dangerous later on that I left, even the police had to come to handle the crowd. Then I met up with my aunt and cousin to eat DakGalBi. It was really good! Cheesy and spicy!

The next day I packed my things and went to my other aunt’s and uncle’s church. After church I went to their place, Yong In, to stay for about a week. Their place is the very definition of rural. There is literally nothing around the area except for rice fields, mountains, and fresh clean air. I enjoyed waking up every morning to see the mountain view and to breathe in the fresh air, but I dreaded having to ride a long bus ride to Seoul whenever I had to meet up with someone. I met up with my cousin also! Her husband treated me to an amazing dinner, Eel! This is no ordinary eel people. It tastes totally different from your regular sushi place eel. The eels were huge and was closer to a juicy beef in flavor rather than a fish. I also had some kind of berry alcohol, which was great! It was sweet and strong, but it wasn’t like “girly” sweet. I also had some Makgeolli with my cousin’s husband. The next day, my aunt took me to eat Sullungtang (Beef Broth Soup “A kind of hangover soup also”) to comfort my stomach. Man, living in a rural place has it’s perks. This place only used Hanwoo (Korean beef) and local ingredients. It tasted amazing! So smooth and scrumptious. And it was extremely cheap!

Later that day I went to visit Jong Ho Lee. She treated me to a feast of pufferfish! I was first scared of trying it, thinking that I might literally die (which does happen a couple times a year due to Chefs improperly cutting out the poison from the fish), but luckily I didn’t die and had a blast trying several kinds and variety of pufferfish! First we had fresh pufferfish meat salad. The meat was extremely tender and great! Next we had grilled and marinated pufferfish meat, this was probably the best tasting fish I had in a long time! Then we had pufferfish soup, which had the liver and groins of the pufferfish, very unique and strange but it tasted great! Then we had fried pufferfish, which tasted kind of like high quality fish sticks (I think kids will love it). Then we had fried rice with left over pufferfish, which was also spicy and great to eat. Then we had pufferfish skin soup, which was amazing to see the skin pieces bloat in size the moment we placed them in the soup. This place is definitely in my current top three places to eat when visiting Korea. You will probably hear more adventure stories about me involving Jong Ho Lee in the future, Lol, so just wait!

Well, that’s how my second week in Korea went. Sorry for the late post everyone! Alot happened and I had alot to write about. Week 3 will be just as busy as well so hopefully you guys will be looking forward to reading my future diary entries! Thanks so much for taking your time and consideration in reading this extremely long post! See you all next week!

-Moses Park-