#49 Nami Island // Garden of Morning Calm

Visited Nami Island (남이섬) & Garden of Morning Calm (아침고요수목원) which were both in Gapyeong!

Both places can be reached by taking the Gapyeong Shuttle Bus that is provides pick-up right outside Gapyeong Island!

But to take the shuttle bus, first we have to travel to Gapyeong from Seoul!

From Seoul, take the subway to either Yongsan or Cheongnyangni to board the ITX-Cheongchun which will bring you straight to Gapyeong Station.

Remember to check for departure times of the ITX from the station, they only have a frequency of 30mins - 1 hour!

You can check the schedule here: http://www.letskorail.com/ebizbf/EbizBfTicketSearch.do#

Select either Yongsan or Cheongnyangni for departure location and arrival location as Gapyeong.

Tickets cost 4800W for departure from Yongsan & 4000W for departure from Cheongnyangni.

You can even know the ITX arrival time at Gapyeong from the schudule!

It takes about an hour to reach Gapyeong from Seoul.

Train arrivals are very punctual so remember to be there on time to catch the train! 

If you're taking the train from Yongsan, do remember to tap out the station and buy your train tickets before entering the ITX platform!

We didn't know about that and there was no barricade when we wanted to transfer from the subway to the ITX so we just hopped on the ITX which was just at the next platform!

Turned out it was wrong! 

There was a ticket check when we were on the ITX, and we had no tickets to show!

After we explained that we came from Yongsan (with loads of communication breakdown), the ticket conductors told us that we had to buy train tickets.

So we paid for the tickets on board the ITX itself hahahah

Luckily they didn't chase us down the train, else I won't know where we are at!!!

So once we reached Gapyeong we bought tickets for the shuttle bus that stop over at Nami Island, Petite France & Garden of Morning France.
I think it costs 6000W, so it's worth it if you're going to 2 places at least.
It's difficult to visit all 3 unless you really plan your time well as the buses only come at certain timings, 1 per hour.
You can enquire about the bus timings at the tourist information counter at Gapyeong.
There was this ahjumma who could speak chinese when I was there!

Nami Island is the first stop and you could see a bungee tower from the bus stop.
Follow the crowd and walk past the bus stop and you'll reach the Ferry location.


The place is designed as though you're gonna enter a different country but it's just an island haha



And we got our tickets at tourist price, 8000W each




It takes about 10mins via Ferry to reach Nami Island.
There are timings for the ferry too, so do search for it to plan your schedule.

I didn't watch the drama that made Nami Island famous so I wasn't too interested in the place
but it's a nice place for a day trip for cycling and picnic!
Saw some korean families doing that!
We just walked around, look at what was there and had lunch.
Probably spent about 2 hours there and we left for Garden of Morning Calm.





After the ferry ride, board the bus for garden of morning calm at the bus stop that you alighted previously.
I thought Garden of Morning Calm was near to Nami Island,
but omg, the bus ride took an hour!
I even took a nap on the bus hahahah


I thought it was probably a walk in the park buy I was wrong again.
There are actually stairs and uphill, it was like a mini hiking trip.
You can get the map from the information counter and follow their recommended route(best course) or create your own route.

If you're nature lover you really should visit Garden of Morning Calm!
We saw photos of the place during different seasons and they look the prettiest during Spring!!!
You could check from here http://morningcalm.co.kr/_ENG/html/seasons.php

At the end of your jouney you can take the shuttle bus and alight at Cheongpyeong Station to take the ITX back to Seoul.
We wanted to have dinner around the area before boarding the train back to Seoul but there was absolutely nothing around the train station.
The nearest buildings seemed like a walk so we just settled for some snacks from the convenience stall.
So if you're gonna have a full day event it's better to bring some snacks along!

#48 Dining in Korea #1

Eating in Korea can be a headache at times.

Especially so, if you can't read korean. 

At times like this, I'm forever grateful to have attended basic korean lessons at NTU.

Finding a place to eat during our first week with C's family was difficult, as his mom's a vegeterian.

So places that we dine at must has food for vegeterian and carnivorous humans like us (⌒_⌒;)

Throughout the first week when travelling with C's family, the sentences that I use at every meal will be 

"Is this vegeterian?" 

or

"Is there meat in this? Can you remove it?"

Learn it here: http://www.sweetandtastytv.com/blog/korean-phrases-for-vegetarians-and-vegans

Somehow, it seems that they don't really understand the expression 채식 음식(vegeterian food)?

Whenever I ask for it, they will be giving a puzzled look, or take some time to understand?

Now, going on to the restaurants that we went in Korea.

Gogung(古宫)

This was our first meal after reaching Seoul. We were't very hungry since we had breakfast at the airport just about 2 hours ago. 

We ordered a meal for 2 and an additional Jeonju Bibimbap to share. 

However, this came with heavy negotiation with the restaurant who wanted us to order a 5 person share before we were allowed what we intended to order.

This is when we realized Seoul is not exactly friendly to sharing food,

Strictly 1 person to a serving. 

Gogung is apparently known for traditional Jeonju Bibimbao

But I don't remember it tasting any different from the bibimbap that you can taste anywhere on the streets.    

The Jeonju Bibimbap doesn't contain any meat, so it's suitable for vegeterians.

Can't remember the name for this, but it tasted like bulgogi with mushrooms.

Came with the set for 2 person.

Jeonju Bibimbap

Banchan (Side dishes)

Mostly suitable for vegeterians.

Makgeolli (Rice Wine) pictured at the back which came with the set.

Bibigo

There's Bibigo in SG too, but we've never tried it!

We went to the branch at Gangnam!

It just happened that when we were there, they were having this special menu that has food for vegeterians!(ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

But sadly, I have no photos of it...

After deciding on what you want, proceed to the cashier and place your order.

Carry your tray with the side dishes back.

The staff will deliver the food to you.

Prices were resonable! 

8000W for a Yukgaejang (Spicy Beef Soup)!

According to C, the meat was never-ending.（‐＾▽＾‐）

Tosokchon

It took us quite awhile to find this place cause we took a wrong turn after exiting.

It's actually pretty simple, but I can't give any directions because I'm bad at it. Sobz ●︿●

I believe you can find it online or get the address and Google Maps it!

Tosokchon is the famous place to have Samgyetang (Ginseng Chicken)!

Read online that their standards have been dropping, but if you have never tried ginseng chicken before, it's best to try somewhere known!

This was their menu. 

Poor C mama could only ask for seafood pancake without seafood.

But the pancake was hugeeeeeee!

So it's definitely worth the price you're paying!

Ginseng Chicken, 15 000W

We were pondering if rice was included, or we had to order it until C's father told us that there's glutinous rice in the chicken!

The soup was light, so definitely suitable for brunch on an empty stomach.

Ginseng taste wasn't that strong, so if you hate ginseng like me, no worries about it.

The larger cup serves tea.

The smaller cup is for the Ginseng Essence.

It was sooooooooooooo bitter! 

I ended up passing it to C mama after 1 try hehe.

We arrived somewhere before 11am and there was no queue.

Shortly after we ordered, the room started filling up very quickly and was full in no time!

However, there are many rooms available in Tosokchon, so they can sit many customers at a time.

Even when we left, there still wasn't any queue!

Yoogane

 Now that there's Yoogane in SG, I guess everyone knows what they sell!

Basically you order sets of what you want, and they will stir-fry it for you!

Yoogane is famous for 닭갈비(Dakgalbi), which is essentially diced chicken in chilli pepper paste.

But if you must have seafood for your meal, they have seafood sets too!

We ordered the dakgalbi set, forgot how much it was but relatively cheap compared to SG prices!

This was 4 servings! 

And the waiters/waitress will help you to cook and fry them!

We ate at the branch in Myeongdong and they are relatively used to having foreigners, so it's alright even if you don't know korean!

We added on ramen instead of rice and it was goooooooood!

You have the choice of normal rice/fried rice too!

The only difference of fried rice is that they will help you to stir-fry it with your remaining sauce, chicken & vegetables at the end!

And if you're wondering what's there for vegeterians....

Other than the stir-frying sections, Yoogane also serves noodles!

Most of korea's cold noodles do not contain any meat.

So for Mama C, we actually ordered cold noodles for her!

It was 9000W and an extremely big bowl!

Myeongdong Kyoja

This place has been recommended by many people on the internet, that's how I got to know!

They are famous for their dumplings, so that's all that everyone eats!

If you're there, you will see the same thing on everyone's table.

The legendary noodles and steamed mandu!

That bowl of noodles is a huge serving!

I had a hard time trying to finish it even though I'm a die-hard fan supporter of noodles!

Even C didn't manage to finish it!

And I thought the mandu were just normal so you can actually skip it.

Just the noodles will do.

The mandu & dumpling contains meat so none of them for Mama C ):

I was hoping they would have some with chives stuffings instead so Mama C could try too, but nopezzzzzzz.

One bad thing of dining in Korea is they're too unflexible with their food!

ASking if they can remove 1 ingredient from their food normally results in rejection ):

So for Mama C, she had cold noodles again ):

But at least it was of soy base and the noodles were green!

We're guessing it's made from spinach!

Parking in Plate

This place was made famous by 1 of the couples of "We got Married"

Maybe because we went there in the afternoon, the food was alright, but the ambience wasn't that good.

This was some pizza fondue, recommended on the menu.

If you are there, this is something you must order!

There's bacon, corn and cheese on the pizza and you make it even mroe cheesy by dipping it into the cheese fondue!

It was perfect for cheese lovers!

Love the addition of corn too, a different crunch from the pizzas in SG.

Can't really remember what pizza is this? Pepperoni?? (*´艸`*)

The special thing about this pizza is that you don't use your hands!

You eat it using your spoon to scoop the pizza!

I like this concept, makes eating pizza fuss-free!

Ordered this Salad Pasta for Mama C!

I've always doubt how good salads can be but this was daebak!

The veggies were fresh and the sauce made them refreshing in the summer heat!

For the first time in my life, I actually feel ordering salad wasn't a waste of money!

Dining in Korea with a Vegeterian is not easy.

1) You will always have to check with the restaurant if there's food that does not contain meat.

It will be hard if you don't know korean, so try to learn some phrases.

2)And then if there isn't, most of the time, they won't agree to remove the meat from the dish.

So it's actually useless to ask, but I still try, hoping it will make a difference hahaha.

3)Then again, if there's food for a vegeterian, it's normally cold noodles or bibimbap, so there's very limited choices. If you go to cafes, there's cake and salads though.

If you are looking for traditional vegeterian food there's quite a bit of them actually.

We intended to visit one on our visit to Insadong.

It's called "Baru Gongyang"

 But it was closed by the time we reached ):

Read reviews online that it was good, it was sad that Mama C couldn't try it.

I'm sure she would have enjoyed it though!

And so this is for the first part of dining in Korea with C family :)

#47 Completion of Summer Studies

Back home since last week from spending 49 days in Korea.

Even though it was my third trip, there were still so much things to explore!

This trip was different from the previous 2 mainly of a few reasons:

1.  Learning the language

I think this is the main difference! Learning Korean has definitely made a difference to my trip! On my previous trip, my friend was the one doing all the speaking. I felt like that was a wall between me and the Koreans because I couldn’t understand them and this made me kind of disconnected with people. I couldn’t really immerse in their culture and feel what they want me to know. But this time even though, my Korean was just basic level, I could hold very simple conversations with people. Not only does it make koreans more open to sharing stuffs with you, it also makes you feel closer to them!

2.  Friends

This is probably the last trip that we are gonna have that involves such a big group! There’s no denying since everyone are getting more and more busy nowadays! With the start of final year means the start of FYP and everyone are gonna have a different schedule, since we all have different projects ): Holidays are probably not even gonna be holidays anymore, I foresee myself cooped up in the lab doing experiments!

3.  Areas Explored

I went for my first trip with my aunt and it wasn’t easy for a grown up to bring 5 kids around! We were in Seoul for only 4 days, if I remember correctly! With the amount of kids and limited time, all we did was visit those main touristy areas! I don’t even remember going myeongdong? We spent half of our trip at amusement parks though to cater to the kids hahahahh.

On my second trip, I visited Korea for a month! But I spent 2 weeks out of Seoul, so there were only 2 weeks in Seoul, which meant I did practically touristy stuffs again oh gosh!

Third trip, I really really spent the whole of the trip in Seoul, except for the 4 days in Busan! I didn’t even bother to visit Jeju, since I don’t want to spend the extra money and flights and I have loads of stuffs to do in Seoul! I thought I won’t be able to do them but I was wrong! Some places that we went, there weren’t even tourist around, just locals!

As much as I love Korea though, I think it will take a while before I visit again, since I practically covered everything in my to-do list.

Everyday, me and C must visit somewhere and do something.

We didn't waste a single day, even the day after clubbing.

Slept at about 7am but we dragged ourselves awake at 1pm and headed out,

This trip as been very fruitful, covered much of downtown seoul and gyeonggi-do, even places that not even many tourists go!

As with all our trips, C was the navigator again hehehe, couldnt make it to many places without his GPS skills. 

And also I made it back alive, thanks to him making sure I cross roads safely again, carrying my buys when it gets too heavy for me and being my photog/selfie hand hehehe ✿♥‿♥✿

I can't wait for our next trip, but I guess this means tackling FYP and graduating first!

Shall also document our travels in the upcoming posts, before I forget them all and waste all my research!

#46

Cycling with a view!

Photos from Samsung NX3000.

Tried out the new park connector from ECP to Marina Barrage!

So much more exciting and shorter than having to cycle to Changi~

We cycled to not only the barrage but also to gardens by the bay and MBS.

Cycling with boyfriend is the best because I get to skip doing all the hardwork like cycling up a long slope twice hehehehe ( ˘ ³˘)♥

Hope we get to do this again soon! 

#budgetdating

Cycling can be my second favorite sport after swimming ｡^‿^｡

 SASG (SATU + FBSG) at interns day.

Getting 3/4 day off work and getting paid for it! (¬‿¬)

 Last assignment for internship!

Visiting the scrapyard with these blades.

Gigantic safety boots looking like clown shoes, sucks to have small feet sometimes.

<<SASHIMI TERMINATOR>>

That's my part-time occupation.

I love you sashimi, forever and always(◍•ᴗ•◍)

Korea is 5 days!

I'm so excited and ready to visit my favorite country :))

Just got to finish this luggage packing.

Defensive pessimists

"Defensive pessimists," she says, "prepare for a situation by setting low expectations for themselves, then follow up with a very detailed assessment of everything that may go wrong." Once they've imagined the full range of bad outcomes, they start figuring out how they'll handle them, and that gives them a sense of control. 
http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Defensive-Pessimism-How-Negative-Thinking-Can-Pay-Off

That's why I hate it when people tell me to stop being pessimistic. What's so bad about planning for possible failure?

#43 2015

Last meal of 2014.

SO DAMN YUMZ.

SUCHA CONCENTRATED AND SALTY SOUP BASE I LOVEEEEEE

NOODLES RIGHT HARDNESS I LOVE

CHASHU SO TENDER I LOVEEEE

TOGETHER WITH RAMEN EGG

OH AND THE FREE FLOW TAOGEI OMGGGG I think we almost finished a whole bottle

Best decision to end the year with this meal!!!! 

I WILL BE BACK KEISUKE TONKONTSU!

This year fireworks were different? 

Should be right since it's #SG50 bet they will make it more grand since it's the last segment of the show and starts 2015 with it.

Love the gold ones that falls like fairy dust! 

Didn't get full view cause we were further this year but the best parts are the ones higher in the sky anyway :D

Also no squeezing to get out of the area!

Had some starbucks at Suntec before we went to Plaza Sing for midnight movie.

  Prata for supper.

Lazing at Bugis+

To the temple for yj to baibai before attempting to take first train back

But we failed, it ws packed like sardines???

Where did the people come from seriously?

Waited for the crowd to clear and we only boarded the third one.

Not a bad thing cause we had seats muahahahahaha

Some lizard fell from the ceiling as we were walking back to hall

Scared the shit out of me as it landed with a loud thud and I saw something white

Thank God it didn't land on me I could cry if it did

Hope this means a good year ahead :/

Slept the whole of my New Years day though. 

Woke up at 4pm and lazed around for C to wake up.

Dinner at Miaoyi with C and his family.

Therefore conclude, my tastebuds can't appreciate atas food hahahah.

Haven't got to think of my resolutions though.

But seems redundant cause I don't seem to fulfill any of them every year.