Yahoo article - Burpple - Best Korean Restaurants in Singapore

After staying 9 months in Korea, I believe when I'm back in Singapore, I will miss Korean food alot. Below this article caught my attention and I hope that I got the chance to try it one day after I go back to Singapore !! (just by thinking, my saliva can't stop dripping !!)

Cut and paste from - https://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/burpple-best-korean-restaurants-singapore-022601403.html

Burpple - Best Korean Restaurants in Singapore

Burpple.com – 11 hours ago

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We love Korean cuisine for its wide variety - think spicy, fiery red stews to bibimbap to barbecued meat wrapped in lettuce leaves. If we've got you drooling, this will be your (almost) definitive list for the best Korean food on our shore!. This article was originally published on burpple.com.

1. 1. K.COOK Korean BBQ Buffet

   
   Photo by Seth Lui
   For Super Affordable Korean BBQ
   The BBQ buffet here might well be the most affordable buffet around. At only $14.90++ for lunch on weekdays and $24.90++ for dinner, K.COOK makes a great place for dining in groups and eating till you drop without burning a hole in your pocket. The meats are well-marinated and come in a good variety. With great value and a good selection, they're really bringing in the crowds - so be prepared to queue!

2. 2. Doong Ji Korean Restaurant

   
   Photo by shauneeie p
   For Superb Korean in the East
   Hidden amongst the stretch of eateries along Katong, you might miss Doong Ji if you don't look out for it. Offering really affordable set lunches, consider this a good lunch option if you're in the area. The food here is authentic, generous, and generally remarkable. The Seafood Stew is robust and spicy, packed with crab, prawns, octopus, clams, tofu, ramen and rice cakes, good for sharing among 3-4. Also share a Seafood Pancake; they're generous with prawns, squid and spring onions.

3. 3. Yoogane Singapore

   
   Photo by ThumbsForFood 
   For Awesome Chicken Galbi
   The snaking queue at this famous dakgalbi restaurant from Korea is testament to its popularity. For the uninitiated, Galbi is basically meat marinated in a ganjang-based sauce that is grilled at the table. The star here is none other than Yoogane's Chicken Galbi - spicy marinated chicken cooked with rice cakes and vegetables. Also go for the Galbi Fried Rice, that gooey mozzarella cheese fried with rice and bulgogi chicken is oh-so-satisfying. Kimchi-lovers rejoice, the salad bar is free-flow!

4. 4. Togi Korean Restaurant

   Chinatown 
   Photo by Katheryn Teo
   For Consistently Good Food
   It's pretty hard to go wrong at Togi, even though they boast an extensive menu. Special mention goes to the individual servings of porridge that come with the rest of the banchan; it's simple, comforting, and flavourful. Get the Seafood Pancake to share - crisp on the outside and loaded with seafood and spring onions, paired with a dipping sauce that adds that extra kick. The Japchae is chewy, sweet, savoury, and extremely addictive. If you're there in a group, order the Army Stew to share! It's a massive spicy hotpot loaded with ramen, sausages, luncheon meat, tofu, and vegetables.

5. 5. BigMama Korean Restaurant

   Tiong Bahru 
   Photo by Joshua Ng
   For Home-style Dishes
   The food here may not be fancy, but it's clearly prepared with heart. Start off with the Suyuk Boiled Pork Belly served with vegetables and sauces, you'll be taught how to eat it 3 different ways. Also go for the Dakgalbi, spicy marinated chicken with vegetables and Korean rice cakes. Don't polish off all the dakgalbi! Leave some and request for the leftovers to be fried with rice for an additional charge, it's worth it. Because of limited seating, be sure to make reservations!

6. 6. Kim Dae Mun

   Orchard 
   Photo by Andy Xu
   For Cheap & Good, No-Frills Korean
   This hidden gem preivously located at the basement of Concorde Hotel's food court has relocated a few floors up and expanded to accommodate the large following they have built. Do not dismiss this humble eatery, it dishes out superbly executed dishes like Kimchi Fried Rice, Bulgogi and Korean Rice Cakes. Go for the Spicy Chicken Soup Set, a fiery red soup filled with loads of ingredients and sweet potato noodles. Complete the meal by sharing a potato pancake. With nothing above $10, you won't have to worry about breaking the bank!

7. 7. 꼬꼬나라 Kko Kko Na Ra

   Tanjong Pagar 
   Photo by Andy Xu
   For Korean Fried Chicken
   Hailed as one of the best places for Korean Fried Chicken (KFC) in town, it requires lots of patience to nab a table during peak hours. The fried chicken here comes in three flavours: original, sweet and special garlic soy sauce. Go for the Combo Chicken Set to try them all. The chicken is pretty addictive with its crunchy exterior and juicy meat, and the coating of sauce completes the experience. Besides KFC, they serve dishes like buckwheat noodles, stews, and oden. However, your best bet is sticking to what they're known for. Don't expect a huge variety of banchan as they keep it simple!

8. 8. Bibigo Hot Stone

   
   Photo by belle ong
   For Customizable Bibimbap
   Originating from Korea, Bibigo builds on the popular Bibimbap and provides a unique, healthy option. Customize your bibimbap by choosing the type of rice (they even have black rice!), protein, and sauce, and is served with assorted vegetables. Also serving typical Korean fare such as bulgogi and stews, this is place has something for everyone. End your meal with the Sweet Potato Mattang, caramel coated sweet potato fries with rice crackers and candied walnuts.

9. 9. Kimchi Korean Restaurant

   
   Photo by Phoebe MQ
   For Healthier Korean Meals
   Kimchi Korean Restaurant serves relatively smaller portions to cut down on food wastage and to leave you feeling just satisfied - not overly stuffed. With smaller portions, you can also expect more affordable prices! Serving standard dishes like Japchae and Kimchi Ramen, they also have unique offerings like Seaweed Beef Porridge and Seafood Dolsot Bap. A must-try is the Andong Jjimdak, steamed pieces of chicken thigh marinated in a soy-based sauce - gloriously spicy and full of umami. You can overlook the fact that they do not serve banchan here, because that means more stomach space for dessert.
10. 
    

Korea Life - day 121 week 18 / (Seoul) Watching World Cup at Gwanghwamun

Korea life - 23 June 2014 (Day 121 week 18)

Coming from a small country myself, I never thinks that Singapore will ever has a chance with World cup (at least in the near future, there won't be a chance, even though personally I do hope that one day we would have a chance in World Cup too).  That is why this time since that I'm in Korea and Korea is going to be playing in the World Cup 2014, I would like to know what is the feeling to see more than 10,000 people watching soccer together.

And there was a match this morning 4 am, Korea VS Algeria. I'm not too sure how are strong were they (truth is I don't follow the matches at all, I only know the Japanese team only >_<). Met up with Qi first at her aunt's hotel first (her cousin and aunt was in town visiting her.), took a cab over to Gwanghwamun at around 2 am

Was shocked with the amount of people !! 

Before heading over, we believed that there would be full of people but we should be able to find a place for us to sit down and watch. But when we arrived, the places were full of people that we can't even find a place to stand !! After half an hour of walking here and there, we finally found a spot where we could sit down and wait (as the match still has 1.5 hrs more before it start)

While waiting for the match to start, we saw that there were people standing there shouting fried chicken for sale !! Just now we were still thinking to order, now don't even need to call, we could just buy from them. We didn't even wait for the match the start, we already started eating. There was really nothing to do, so we decided to eat as we wait.

Finally the match had started !! Once again, We could see how Korean love their country. Cheering was going on and on, everyone were watching nervously however first half match , the score was already 0-4 !! Even before the first half end, the Korean knows that there is no chance of wining, many started to pack up and leave ...  We started to feel bored too, so we headed back too 

Korea life - day 117 week 17 - (Seoul) Visa Extension

Korea Life - 19 June 2014 (Day 117 week 17)

Went to do visa extension for the first time. To be honest, the document that were needed actually were not very different to do but slightly different to collect (if you don't have friend around to help).

Things that the immgration officer need were
- Immgration form
- Receipt of school fees (get from the school)
- Certificate from school (get from the school)
- Bank statement of 5 million won (within 3 days of issuing) [I borrowed some money from friends!]
- a copy of your living contract (a proof of where are you staying)
- Fee of 60 thousand won 
- Need to bring along ARC card (passport not needed)

I don't know what do I need to do, so I just handed all the document I had in hand to the officer when I was my turn. She told me to us the 60 thousand won to purchase stamps at another counter (I was thinking maybe is because they are not allow to handle cash so they use this way to proof that we had pay). Came back with the stamps and the officer sticked to the immgration form that I had submitted in. Then they took my ARC card away and asked me to wait for a while at the front (at counter 1).

Maybe is was due to the summer vacation period, there wasn't many people at the immgration office therefore I only waited for less than 10 min and I gotten my ARC card with the new updated expired date. Gotten everything settle within an hours.

Korea Life - day 118 week 17 / (Seoul) Bye Bye class 2C

Korea life - 20 June 2014 (Day 118 week 17)

So soon, exam were over and it's time to say goodbye again. This term was shorter than before as we were more busy with assignment and presentation. Sad was that not all of us would be doing level 3, some chose to change to different school, some was heading back to their hometown.

Just as before, there were games waiting for us to play for the first two hours (Which I really had zero interest in it) then teachers gave out award to the top first (of each class).  It only after that our form teacher would lead us to other places to give up the result to the rest of us. Result was not as good as I thought but has no problem to get proceed up to level 3.

We had our last lunch with class 2C before really saying good bye to each other at a restaurant near Hyehwa station exit 1. Had western food (as we had a classmate that was vegetarian). Chit-chat all the way while eating, before most of us left, we took one last picture by the street before leaving the rest to go and sleep (didn't had enough sleep the night before, my eyes couldn't keep it out throughout lunch time!!)

Heard from the rest that, some of them went of to have fun and ended while late. To be honest, I don't have the feeling of best friend like I had with my classmate of level 1. I felt more closer to my level 1 classmate than this class. Is not that they are not close, just that the feeling is different. Even though that was how I felt, I still hope that in the near future, I will still have the chance to meet up with them once more!

Yahoo article - We don't wash the sheets and other confessions of a hostel worker

Sometime when travelling on budget, we will normally tend to look for hostel or guesthouse instead of hotel to save some cash of other thing. Of course not everyone will be like them, but this article make me think again if I should still look for hostel to stay for my next oversea trip ?


Cut and paste from - https://sg.news.yahoo.com/we-don-t-wash-the-sheets-and-other-confessions-of-a-hostel-worker-214721509.html

When you’re young and broke, staying in a hostel overseas seems like the best and most exciting way to go. A place to sleep and bathe is a good deal when all you brought with you is your backpack and best friend. It’s all fun and games, right? Well, John, an American working at a popular youth hostel in Paris, anonymously confesses to what really goes on at that cool party hostel in the center of the City of Light.

1. Most hostels double-book. Think you and your friends are about to settle into a quaint, private room where you can walk around in your undies and relax in peace and quiet after a long day of sightseeing? Think again. “We welcomed drop-ins and we pack them in, so you should be prepared to share a room with strangers,” says John. Sometimes they even welcome travelers to “just crash on the floor” for a discounted price. “Watch your step!”

Pro Tip: “Keep valuables on you at all times if there’s strangers in your room,” says John. “But for the most part, enjoy your new friends.”

[Related: We Think You’re Stupid and Other Confessions of a B&B Owner ]

2. It’s cheap for a reason. Guests complain to John about everything, like scratchy towels the size of washcloths, instant coffee, and lack of water pressure in the shower. John says his favorite story is when he overheard one girl complaining she couldn’t get the conditioner out of her hair because the water pressure was too low. “You’re paying 10 bucks a night. You’re getting 10 bucks a night … of plumbing,” John says.

Your worst nightmare (Getty Images)

3. They don’t wash the sheets. John admits that his boss would tell him to just shake the sheets out the window, spray some disinfectant on the mattress and make up the bed like everything had been freshly washed and dried. “Turn-around time was sometimes too fast for us to get linens into the laundry. There have been plenty of times I was told to ‘quick-change’ a room.” John says the comforters were never washed. Ever.

Pro Tip:  Never use the comforter.

(Photo: filipe brandão/Flickr)

4. Employees understand English. “One of the reasons I got hired was to help with translation and tutor French employees in English,” says John. He confessed that no matter how good his French-speaking fellow employees got at English, they chose to pretend they didn’t understand it. “It’s funny watching guests speak “French-lish!”

Related: Confessions of a Fed-Up Flight Attendant—Attack of the Ambien Zombies

Your McDonald’s habit will not go unnoticed (Robin Lee/Flickr)

5. They think your taste in food is gross. “Kids came back to the hostel with McDonald’s all the time,” says John. “I get it. It’s cheap and familiar.” His bosses didn’t feel the same way. “They couldn’t understand why they would eat greasy food when the cafe next door served fresh ham and cheese and steak frites at around the same price.” He says there were definitely some “french fry” jokes circulating around the hostel. “They called one kid ‘Micky D’ behind his back all week because a day didn’t go by he didn’t return with something from the fast food chain.

Related: Confessions of a Divemaster—Your Scuba Instructor Wants to Drown You

You’re better off exploring on your own rather than paying for a hostel tour (Ian Sampaio/Flickr)

6. Most tours are scams. “It’s an easy way for the hostel to make more money,” says John. “You stick a local with a bunch of kids and take them on a walk around the city.” John says that when travelers check in they are often wheeled and dealed into signing on to at least one tour before they get the keys to their rooms. 

Free white wine is never a problem (Melissa Wang/Flickr)

7. You’re not special. The bartender gives all the girls free wine. “We had a guy working the bar that always wooed the girls with stories of himself making his way through Paris with a little change in his pocket and a big dream of becoming a screenwriter in his head,” says John. “He was full of it, and the staff made bets on whether or not he’d get the girl to actually make out with him.

Yahoo article - Why are S'pore youths supporting this rant ?

Recently, many were posting this (below) video on Facebook and now even Yahoo did a article on it. It was from Singapore's Channel 8's drama <<118>>, where a part of a young guy talking about what were the worries that they are facing when living in Singapore. After I saw the video myself, I really do think that the guy is spot-on, too hush but is 100% true... 

<Cut and paste from - https://sg.news.yahoo.com/tv-clip-went-viral-080115822.html?linkId=10521173>

So many people have been talking about the Channel 8 show 118 that I had to go and find out for myself what the fuss was about. It’s actually over a 90 second rant by a young man about the cost or standard of living. His parents were chiding him for some underhand methods he had doing business – and he just let it go. In Mandarin. This is my very loose translation.

“You think I’m the only one anxious to make money? Go ask other young people, who’s not anxious? By the time I finish serving the nation and graduate from university, I’ll be 23, 24 years old. In a blink of an eye, I’ll be 30. In these few years, I need to get married; buy a house, start a family with kids; how is that possible without money? A flat now costs at least $300,000 to $400,000. Let’s talk about basic daily expenses…For someone working in the CBD, who takes two or three train trips, sometimes when you’re in a hurry; you take a cab, just transportation fees itself will cost $6-$7. Even the cheapest lunch cost up to $5-$6, a cup of coffee cost $6-$7 at a cafe! Never mind that, the government wants us to get married and set up a family early, but I’ve to get girlfriend first right? If I don’t bring her out for meals, movies, overseas trips once in a while and buy her branded items occasionally, nobody would want me even if I look as good as a celebrity. Some people have to go to university, take loans and even give the family an allowance. A wedding banquet cost $1000 and above for a table. A wedding photo shoot is $3000 to $4000. All this costs money, money, money! Our generation don’t ask for a luxurious lifestyle. Just to maintain our basic expenses, we have to go out and earn more money. I’m sure you don’t want your son to end up asking you for money to throw a wedding banquet or to buy a flat when he is starting a family. Yes, I agree my methods may be extreme and I’m in the wrong. But the fault is not in me, it is caused by the society.”

Apparently, the video clip resounded so much with people that it went viral. It touched a chord – or is it a raw nerve? So many people weighed in, applauding MediaCorp for the script. They said it represented reality – that everything was getting too expensive. I was thinking to myself that it was very odd for MCS to be so politically incorrect. I mean, where’s the balance? I mean, you can use your CPF money with bits contributed by employer for housing – and don’t forget all the grants you can get for staying with parents or near them. I mean, do you have to have coffee at Starbucks? You can still get coffee at less than $1. You don’t have to throw a $1,000 per table wedding banquet do you? Why not ditch that expensive girlfriend? And how dare you blame society for everything!

At least, I can hear these answers from authoritative sources and old fogies which will balance out his rant. Much like Tan Pin Pin’s movie To Singapore With Love, right? No balance. I doubt that her movie will make communists out of the people or make them resort to subversive action. But, hey, this MCS clip is really, really subversive. And it’s free-to-air!

So I was interested to see what MCS has to say about the clip going viral. TODAY obliged today.

The show’s scriptwriter Ang Eng Tee (of The Little Nyonya fame) said he had written the monologue to represent the views of a certain type of young person.

“The character is focused on branded goods and flashy cars. He represents that sort of young person’s values,” Ang said. “He feels life is stressful because a cup of coffee from a popular chain costs S$6 and he needs to buy his girlfriends branded gifts.” The 54-year-old writer said when he was writing the character of Shun Shui, he spoke to many young people, including friends of his 23-year-old daughter, to get their views. “I know a lot of young people feel a lot of stress and can relate,” he said. “(But) the clip that was uploaded to Facebook probably provoked a bigger reaction because it was an isolated 90-second bit of dialogue.”

Oh dear! So this is said to be representative of a sort of young person’s values. I hope it’s a small minority. (I hope it’s not like the beautiful young people featured in Sunday Times Lifestyle pages who don’t mind splurging several thousand dollars on a designer handbag not even a year into their foray into the workplace because it is a “statement’’ about their identity. In fact, I have no clue what that article was trying to prove – that there are such young people? Sorry, I digress)

Now, the scriptwriter said that if the clip was viewed in context, the character’s parents were chiding him about his credit card debt, “but this young person didn’t care’’. “I think he represents some of the people in Singapore. I don’t think there are a lot of them.’’ He said that there were other characters in the show who are “more grounded’’, like a 30-something who would rather drink $1 coffee at the kopitiam.

So revealing. The under-30s who play free and loose with money and an above-30 who is more frugal. Maybe, the younger character will age and be landed with house and family, forcing him to drink coffee at the kopitiam.

What is interesting is how so many people saw the clip and cheered it. It’s like taking someone’s quote out of context. What has happened to living within your means? And is it so important to maintain a certain lifestyle that you would break the bank, have three months worth of credit card arrears or do something underhanded?

I know this is just a drama series, but it is worrying to me that to some, it sounds true to life – when in fact, the truth is, most spending is within our control.

Korea life - day 111 (week 16) / (Seoul) dinner

Korea life - 13 June 2014 (day 111 week 16)

It was been a while we last had dinner with the rest, so I met up with old classmate with PQ to seafood. Haven't got to eat seafood very since I had started to live in Korea as it's not easy to find seafood dish like in Singapore.

There were some seafood restaurant around the school but it turn out that they were either serving raw seafood only or gilled shellfish only (they don't have a restaurant we serve both.) So we just ransoming choose one restaurant and sat in. However we all agree that after eating so much raw food, we felt like eating fried chicken. So after we finish the seafood, we went to have fried chicken with beer nearby.

Had beer and soju which chatting away the whole night and we really had a lot of talking with each other. We didn't need to worry if the people around us understand what were we talking about, so even had 19+ talks came out. (because they are all Korean and we were specking in mandarin)

Korea life - day 106 (week 16) / (Seoul) Bukchon & Samcheongdong for assignment

Korea life - 8 June 2014 (day 106 week 16)

Although I was still tired from my short trip to Gwangju, but there was no time for me to rest as we needed to continue our assignment. So we headed to bukchon hanok village & Insadong & Samcheongdong. Met up with my teammate first at the subway station exit, then walked toward bukchon. We choose to head to Bukchon first as it was nearer from the subway exit.

< Bukchon Hanok Village >

How to go - Alight at Anguk Station (subway line 3); Exit 2.
                    Go straight for about 500m to arrive at Bukchon Hanok Village
                    (Entrance is next to a pharmacy)
Visiting hours - 10am to sunset (Due to give residents (staying there) some peace, it has been advice that visitor are to leave before sunset and not to visit too early.)
More information - http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=561382

Before we came out of the station (next to the exit), there were introduction of Bukchon 

Walking from the subway station to Bukchon Hanok Village 

Bukchon Hanok Village is one of a Korea traditional village with a long history located between Gyeongbok Palance and Jongmyo Royal Shrine. The traditional village is composed of lots of alleys, hank and is preserved to show a 600-year-old urban environment. Now it is used as traditional culture center and Hanok restaurant (some are still resident area), allowing visitors to experience the atmosphere of the Joseon Dynasty.

Not only tourist, even locals comes and wants to take a pictures with the alleys of Bukchon. As we still had a few places to go, after going to a few area and took a few picture, we headed to Samcheongdong.

< Samcheongdong >

How to do - Alight at Anguk Station (subway line 3); Exit 1.
More information (thing that you can do at Samcheongdong) - http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SH/whereToShop/whereToShop.jsp?action=about&cid=995817

Samcheongdong is a hilly neighbourhood that is characterised by numerous small art galleries, shops and restaurants/cafe but peaceful and quaint area. Since each art gallery building along has its own unique architectural design, taking a walk and appreciating the building is a journey in itself. Many galleries have their own cafes, restaurants or craft shops, allowing visitors to enjoy art, shopping and lunch all under one roof. I was so hungry that I kept asking them to hurry out decide which cafe that they want to write about and I can order for them to take picture of it. And finally we decided on this - CHLORIS TEA AND COFFEE  house.

It has a very quite environment. Even though It has 2 storey, we choose to sit outdoor to enjoy the sun. I was starving that I just kept looking at the menu while the rest were busy taking picture of the area. Was quite shock with the price, but I was too hungry to worry about the price, I just order a set and waited impatient for the food  

My Brunch - French toast set 

 Took the bus from Samchengdong to Insadong. Even before I start to live in Korea, Insadong is a place that I will visit every time I'm in Korea, so I suggest to them why not let just take some picture and we can leave this place, as I know this place too well (not trying to be proud [-w-]). So we really just took some picture and left for dessert.

While eating the dessert, we took time to talk about it and decide how should we were to split the presentation into 4 for all of us. And because this time, someone suggest that she wants to do the PPT, so the rest of us just went back and write our speech will do. I'm just going to go back and take a nap before I start writing my speech.

Luckily it tasted not bad (although Wicked is still better) 

Korea life - day 105 (week 15) / (GwangJu) Short trip to Gwang-Ju Day 3

Korea Life - 7 June 2014 (day 105 week 15)

Our last day in Gwang-Ju before we take the afternoon train back to Seoul. Not wasting any time, after breakfast (by LJ once again), we bid goodbye to our nice hostel owner and took picture with the owner before we leave the place with all our things.

We headed to a traditional market that we saw on the first day (when we were looking for our way to the hostel). Turns out to be really a boring and normal wet market, just like the traditional market all around Korea. We got too bored so we just thought of heading out for lunch by cab. We went to a restaurant that again was recommended by the owner, however this time it's not as good as the crab restaurant yesterday. This is one Korean dishes that I don't know how to enjoy, but even thought we think that way, the place is full with people.

We don't know what to do and where to go after lunch, so we just took the cab and went to the train station to see the surrounding while waiting for the train. Although there were not much but some tents where set up there for some discount event, but it helped us to not notice that time were past by too slowly. Took a different train (compare to the train that we took when we came, this train cost cheaper but it take longer time to arrive) back to seoul.

Gwang-ju is, well is a nice place for food and there are some interesting places which located around Gwang-ju that are nice to go, but Gwang-ju itself is really quite a boring place. I don't think I will go there again.

Korea life - day 104 (week 15) / (GwangJu) Short trip to Gwang-Ju Day 2

Korea Life - 6 June 2014 (Day 104 week 15)

Our second morning in Gwang-ju, started early in the morning. Although hostel does provide breakfast, LJ woke up early to make breakfast for us while the rest were still sleeping. Last night, she didn't had the chance to wash up so she woke up earlier this morning to wash up first.

Went out to meet up with our old classmate, Joseph, who moved over to study here instead (He's here in Korea to promote Catholic study) after breakfast. Subway here in Gwang-ju is not as confusing as Seoul as there is just one subway line running whole Gwang-ju, so it's easy for us to take the subway. What make me like this place the most is that, no matter where we go, there is no crowd. SO HAPPY

Met up with Joseph at his university to take a look around. As the University students are on vacation, there wasn't much people in the campus therefore we had the chance to really take a good look of the campus, however the campus is WAY too big for us to discover.

전남대학교 / Chonnam National University 

We wanted to have a better chat with Joseph so we went off for lunch that the hostel owner introduce us to go. Even if we wanted to take the cab, it's not easy as there are 5 of us, so we asked the driver first if they willing to drive all 5 of us in one cab and we did found one which quote and off the meter.

<동원 게장>

Address - 111 Jisan-dong, Dong-gu, Gwangju
Cost - 8,000 won (side dishes are all refillable excluding rice)
More details other (Korean) blogs - http://blog.daum.net/sophia1009/8932754
(Don't understand Korean also can, picture speak everything)

Korean fermented crab and side dishes 

Korea Fermented crab which also known as Gejang, is made by marinating fresh raw crabs either in soy sauce or in a sauce in chill pepper power. Not many people able to accept this dish as the crabs are raw and some thinks can't accept the taste but if you like this, this restaurant serve the best fermented crab dishes (as you can keep refilling until you are happy)

We didn't plan ahead what to do in Gwangju so we decided to walked around the restaurant. Found a bus that goes to the city after our walk around the restaurant. Headed back t the central of the city to a big shopping mall to walk around and sent Joseph to the bus station before we take the subway back to our hostel to rest. We were too tired to go out so we asked the owner to help us to order pizza and we just stayed in. Tomorrow have to wait early to get ready to take the train back to Seoul

Korea life - day 103 (week 15) / (GwangJu) Short trip to Gwang-Ju Day 1

Korea life - 5 June 2014 (Day 103; week 15)

Tomorrow was a public holiday in Korea which mean there won't be lesson,  my friends (1A classmate LJ, CL & CA) and I decided to head to gwangju for a short trip (travelling for the first time without PQ ).

LJ had asked her Korean friend to help us to book the accommodation and transportation from Seoul to Gwang-ju few days before the trip. After our afternoon lesson, we took the 5.55 pm KTX train from Yongsan station to Gwang-ju station. Whole train trip took around 4 hrs, by the time we arrived at Gwang-ju station was already 9pm.

Top left pic - Platform to Gwang-Ju ; Top right pic - Gwang-Ju station
Below pic - Yongsan station 

When we walked out of the Gwang-ju train station, the place felt so much different from Seoul itself. Not many high rise-building, empty street (no cars and also no people),  or even on the subway, feel so scary. But luckily we had each other, so still not that bad. After an hrs of walking on the streets of Gwang-ju street, we finally found our guesthouse <Namdo Hostel> which was located on the 3rd floor

Namdo Hostel 

Namdo Hostel's offical website = << http://blog.naver.com/dewpark >>
Don't get afraid by the Korean words, the blog is written in both Korean and English.
It also introduce some nice places to go and eat or play.

After leaving our thing behind in our guesthouse, we went out for late dinner. As not many shops were open, we just went in to a ransom shop to eat something.  Went back to rest instead of exploring, store up some energy to get ready for tomorrow morning. But there is just one washroom, we have to queue up to shower, however we were not the only one need to use it, we need to share with the other rooms too. We need to keep a look up for the washroom and make sure to go in faster than other people or else we need to continue to wait. By the time I came out of the washroom, LJ didn't got the chance to bath and fall asleep.