I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

Our Seoul faves

• Ulji-ro Co-op Residence
  So despite the crazy crowds and if you don’t really mind roughing it out a little – that means not expecting hotel quality service (little toilettries, a luxury room with a view, pretty cleaned up part of town, room service, the service staff to clean your room thoroughly every day) then something like the Co-op Residence do nicely. Hey, how can we argue with free high speed internet access and really smart storage devices? It’s got a great location – five minutes away from the Dongdaemun Stadium Interchange Station, five minutes away from malls like Doota and Miliore, seven minutes away from PyongHwa Market, and just upstairs from back alley local restaurants!

  Starts from $80 a night, coin-operated laundromat with dryer facilities in the basement. Detergent comes free, bring your own fabric softner if you need it.

• Deoksugunggil
  The small alley between Deoksugung (the Palace right in front of City Hall and the Seoul Plaza Hotel) and the Dunkin Donuts hides an amazing calm in the middle of Seoul. It’s a pleasant walk through towards the Chongdong Theatre amidst maple and gingko trees, the side wall of Deoksugung, and the people going to Church.

  Past the Franciscan Library you’ll find a cute little restaurant called Little Provence. It’s not too bad, fusion Korean, like cutesy Japanese-French. Spaghetti carbonara costs $8 and Kimchi Pilaf (kinda like Kimchi Fried Rice), $9.

  About 300m past Little Provence on the other side of the street you’ll find Gimbapgwamandusai, a quaint old-style Korean Restaurant where everything on the menu is between $2 and $5. Try the Gimbap, the mandu and the Kimchi mandu. They also make bibimbap if you need something ricey. It’s opposite a cafe, and they make Gimbap in the window.

• Bistro d°
  Famed for brunch, this little bistro is actually a showroom for the special kimchi refridgerators. Amazing. Anyway, after Heesun brought us there for dinner we had to go back.

  Noteworthy is the dinner Prix Fixe ($38) – pre-appetisers, appetiser, main course and dessert. For the main course you have a choice of Sirloin or Tenderloin. The sirloin is especially good, it comes encrusted with peppercorns and is done just right.

  I also had the Black Cod – really good. $18. Grilled black cod on a bed of veggies with a light herb cream sauce. Really good.

  And the Fishermans’ Pasta – $34, serves 2 according to the menu, but this platter of seafood pasta was enough to feed four Asians, and the helping of seafood on it – mussels, clams, fish, prawns, lobster, scallop – was really generous. I’m a sucker for marinaras, so this was my favourite.

  The pickled veggies were also really good appetisers.

Oh oh, check out neat food reviews (in English) of Korean Restaurants – Mary Eats.

All prices in USD. 1USD ~ 950 KRW. 1 SGD ~ 600 KRW

We’ve been busy little tourists in the last few days. We ran amok around Dongdaemun, went for the DMZ tour (with third tunnel sans Panmunjum, unfortunately), flew to Jeju, skulked around Jungmun resort, went down the coasts and had our All In experience, ate at a pier, climbed a hill not because we wanted to, and ate a lot.

Despite the severe language impediment (which only stopped us from ordering food properly) it was easy to get around, easy to find stuff, easy to make arrangements for everything. It was a breeze.

Jeju on the other hand, was not quite what I expected. The resorts in the drama series made it look like a) the island was just resorts and b) it was as modern as Seoul. Strangely Jeju was more countryside, more laid back, but just as expensive! Probably because of the hoards of tourists trying to relive various All In moments. It was an adventure though, since most people at the wet markets didn’t speak any English or Chinese, and we had to get ourselves around the island by car.

All in all (hehee) Korea was a wonderful experience. The city works efficiently, the Seoul fall foliage is stunning, and Jeju has some of the most spectacular natural spots. The weather was mostly pleasant, except for the really cold day at the DMZ where the mercury dipped to under 10° C. Kimchi might be a bit too much every day, but you can still find a good selection of international cuisine to tide you by. And in Jeju, you can just eat at the hotel.

That said, the city is expensive and meals in general would cost as much as a meal in the US. It was terribly hard to find $2-3 dishes, although we managed to find a spot or two through the Lonely Planet guide. Decent accomodation will cost minimally $70 a night in Seoul (the Co-op came up to just under $100 a night) and even then it’s not the best thing ever. The luxury hotels will cost you easily $200 a night and the regular 4 star one around $150.

Oh oh, check out neat food reviews (in English) of Korean Restaurants – Mary Eats.

All prices in USD. 1USD ~ 950 KRW. 1 SGD ~ 600 KRW