seoul-12-06-17

Got up and had a quick breakfast at the hotel buffet -- nothing special (some toast with cheese, an omelet, some fruit, coffee, etc).   Just enough to not be hungry for travel today as I don't plan on eating lunch so I will be hungry when I 

land in Seoul.      

Dropped off room keys and walked right onto the free bus that leaves the hotel and drops people off right at the Airport Express train station.    This was the only time in Hong Kong that I was in a bus, but there wasn't too much traffic.

Easy right single stop to Airport Express Building and then only a two minute way for the train to the airport.    About 23 minutes later I was at the hong kong airport.    Traded in my Octopus (MTR) card for cash back -- $70 HKD which

I used later to buy myself a starbucks hot chocolate and a banana nut bread slice near my gate.       Went to the KoreaAir check-in counter and got my boarding pass and then went through security and passport control to get to my gate.

I did check out the food court, but nothing looked worth trying, other than the above mentioned starbucks snacks.   I also exchanged about $100 USD for Korean Won (currency) even though I am sure the exchange rate at the HK

airport was a ripoff - just didn't want to have to wait on the other end to get some starter cash.

Had about a 2 hour wait at the gate so read my kindle a bit before queuing up to Board.    I was in a window seat way back in 43 (very very economy).    There were many more seats and although the seat spacing was okay (almost

like united economy plus) it was still a major downgrade from my long haul flight to Asia.    Or course this was just a short 3.5 hour flight, so not a big deal.

Only bad news was the guy next to me probably had a cold, so I went through a number of anti-bacterial wipes to try and keep as "clean" as possible.    Fingers crossed!    I skipped the offered beverage(s) and meal (would have been

BiBimBop) in favor of "risk management" on eating next to someone sneezing from time to time.

Landed a little late -- making gate time about 4 hours in transit.    Long long long walk to get to customs and immigration queue, but it was a very short queue once I got there.   Cleared in only a few minutes.

Got a little confused about finding the correct train platform and figuring out how to actually get a "T-money" card (their subway/train "e-card").    Had to loop back a short ways to a "C U" convenience store and queue up to buy the

card.    Once I had the card I found out it is sold empty so I had to figure out the 'add money' machine (not too hard) before the gate would open to let me in.    Of course I just missed the train so had to wait about 15-20 minutes for the

next one.

I had a foodie tour setup that I had to get to a particular spot at 7:40pm and it was now about 6:10pm.   I decided to give up on trying to get to the hotel, checkin and return on the subway/train system (it was a slight backtrack through

where I was going now to the meeting point).   So instead of taking the express train (~43 minute ride) to Seoul station I took the "All Stops" train (~56 minutes to Seoul station) so I could get off at the Gongdeok Station exit.

Managed to get on the all stops train and get a seat for this long but uneventful ride and got off around 7:10pm.    

The meet point was near exit 7 but I wanted to lock my bags up in a locker.    Kept asking at info booths where the lockers were (the folks manning the booths spoke very little english but it worked out).    I was very fortunate in that

the first set of lockers I found was literally just by the exit I wanted to take!   It took a few minutes to figure out the system -- it is electronic but not a fully easy to use interface.    However I managed to get my stuff locked up and

headed upstairs to the exit to the meet point, which was literally just next to when the stairs exited at street level.

I was about 10 minutes early so the above was the right call

The foodie guide showed up -- turns out I was the only person on the tour that night and, as luck would have it, this was the founder of the walking tour company.

His name was Joe McPherson and his company is ZenKimchi International / Korea Food Tours is the same one that provided a similar tour to

Anthony Bourdain and his crew when they were in town!   Joe actually was the host for that dinner too and he took them to the same place he was about to lead me to.

We walked a few blocks to the first of two restaurant stops on this night crawl tour.    It was a korean BBQ restaurant where you (or in this case Joe!) cook your meats and egg

mix them with the variety of sauces and veggies provided.    Here's their sign and front door -- I NEVER would have found this without a guide and, based on the culture, it was unlikely that

a solo traveller could have had such a meal as they are meant to be somewhat communal in nature.

The place was packed, but they had a table waiting for us with a "hot coal pit" in the middle and a circular metal BBQ grill with a "diameter well" around it.

The waitress came by with a variety of side dishes/veggies/sauces/kimchee as well as a plate of pork belly and sliced pork tenderloin.   Also a bowl of whipped up eggs.

There was also a bowl of warm soup for each of us.

Here's the detail that he emailed me laster:

Jeong Daepo 정대포

description

갈메기살 Galmaeggisal (pork skirt meat)

소금구이 Sogeum Gui (salt rubbed pork belly)

183-8 Dohwa-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Joe proceeded to pour the eggs into the "diameter well" around the hot plate so they would cook up and then to load the meats onto the BBQ and use tongs to keep turning the pieces over

to keep them.

Here's a video of Joe cooking up the meats, garlic and the like:

I'd asked Joe about North Korean food as I'd read up that there were some North Korean speciality dishes 

present in South Korea.    So he ordered us up a big bowl of North Korean cold noodles.    I believe that these were

buckwheat noodles, served cold in a somewhat cooling (both temperature as well as 'feeling') broth with a hard boiled egg 

and some veggies.    It was quite refreshing after the heavy meat BBQ that I'd just consumed.

We finished up what we could and then headed a few blocks away to what I assumed was an open air stand (or close to it -- somewhat a long 

row of tables inside what looked to be a warehouse type alley).    

name

Bindaeddeok Market

description

빈대떡 Bindaeddeok (mung bean pancake)

모듬 튀김 Modeum Twigim (tempura variety platter)

모듬 전 Modeum Jeon (savory pancake variety platter)

동동주 Dong Dong Ju (rustic rice beer)

Details from Google Maps

23 Mallijae-ro, Gongdeok-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

+82 2-706-0603

Joe grabbed a basket and started loading it with lots of random items.

Things like big shrimp/prawns, half shell of some type of scallop, seaweed pancakes (small), little skewers of spam, veggies and fish, etc.

Various of these items went onto a big basket tray that Joe had picked up at the start of the line and then he paid at the cash register.

To my surprise we then left the tray with them and headed up a flight of stairs which he referred to as "the Harry Potter Entrance" 

(as you'd NEVER know what to if you hadn't been there -- I would have just paid at the register at the end of that long line of items

and assumed that I'd be leaving with my items -- wondering why they walked away with them!).    Apparently not knowing what to do wasn't

limited to me as a tourist - there was a korean guy in front of us who also was clueless and Joe had to tell him (in Korean) to head up stairs.

Here is the staircase looking back and the restaurant at the top filled with people having a good time--

We sat down and in a few minutes the food that Joe had picked out showed up all fried up and ready to eat!

There was also a large scissors that Joe used to cut everything up into bite sized pieces.

What a feast!

Joe also ordered us some additional coke (in the metal cup) as well as two kinds of much stronger drink!

The first was an unfiltered alcohol served in a towl (far left in image above is the bowl one drinks out of).

It was relatively smooth (didn't burn going down).  Here is a picture of the bottle - especially enjoyed the message

"ENJOY SLOWLY" printed on the bottle itself!

The second drink was a clear fruit infused one, VERY VERY smooth.   Think long island iced tea, but less sweet.

This was served in shot glasses, though drunk a sip at a time.   I had 2 and half shots of this over the course of the meal, which is a lot for me.

Very very good.

We wrapped up the pub crawl as they were closing down around 11;20pm and made our way back to the train/subway station.

Got my bags retrieved from the locker and walked to our respective train (same line; his going back towards the airport and mine going one more

stop to Seoul station).   Said goodnight as a very full and happy camper!

Took the train to Seoul Station and then spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get out of the building... it is huge and while there were signs in english the late hour,

lack of understanding what the signs were saying and maybe too much booze made it hard for me to find my way out.   I finally found a young korean couple that took pity on me and

pointed me to somewhere that eventually got me out near the bus station portion of the station.

There was supposed to be a bus (at least during the day) to the hotels, but I couldn't find it and past midnight there wasn't an official "help desk" that was still open to ask.

I eventually found a taxi line, which was quite long.    I heard the name of the area I was staying at and a guy who I assume was trying to organize taxis looked at where I was going

(showed him my iPhone reservation) and said "no, walk -- only 10 minutes") and pointed me in the correct direction.   My iPhone does have google maps that work for such things, so I used

that and walked to the hotel.   It was fairly cold out (not slowing, but around that temperature) and my heavier gear was in my bag but buried so I didn't want to open it up.   Brrrr.

Anyway, made it without too much trouble and checked in.

My first assigned room was on the 9th floor with a view, but it smelled like a smoking room.  I called the front desk and they switched me down a 2nd floor room (no view, ADA room [maybe I needed it!?] but

no oder or smoke.    I took a quick shower and passed out for the night!