The 11 hour flight to Korea was dreadful, I even thought to myself that I will never come back. Holy moly, I don't know how people do it because I was just dying inside in my tiny chair for 11 hours, unable to sleep. So when I arrived at 8pm I was exhausted and wanted to just sleep right away without unpacking but I needed to unpack in order to get my things out of the suitcase and afterwards I couldn't fall asleep because it was morning in Vancouver. Aiyahyah....I've been in Korea for 3 days and I've finally overcame my jet lag.
I haven't been to Korea for 4 years and a lot has changed since then for example I was suppose to meet my friends at Shinsa station on the 2nd day of my stay but I had no clue where that was... I had to look at the subway map and managed to embarrassed my friends slightly by acting like a tourist (they usually look it up on their phones). I don't think I am 'acting' like one.. I am one.. Everything in Korea feels new and slightly awkward to me because I've lived in Canada for a long time.
Saying my goodbye to moosey at YVR
$10 (left- the men on the bill is King SeJong, creator of the Korean language, Hangeul), $50 (right- Shin Saimdang who was a famous writer, artist, calligrapher, noted poet in the 1500s.)
My first breakfast in Korea.
I had breakfast with my dad and my dad likes to eat rice and stew/ soup for breakfast so we went with seafood miso paste stew. It was $5 each. I personally prefer to eat lightly (i.e. a piece of toast or a granola bar) in the morning but I decided to be more Korean while my stay in Korea.
Then we went to grab a cup of tea at a cafe near by. In Korea, bakeries are all over the city and they sell lovely looking cakes that are around $15-$20.
Freshly baked bread (Cream cheese walnut bread) for about $3.
I was suppose to go to the dentist on this day but I couldn't get an appointment on the day of so my plan for that day got cancelled. Thankfully, my aunt called and she wanted me to come over to her place and stay over the night. When I went to my aunt's place, I got to see two of my cousins who I haven't seen for 4 years. I always miss my cousins when it's thanksgiving/ Christmas in Canada because I don't have any other family other than mom and brother to celebrate it with. Unfortunately, my mom and brother don't really celebrate those holidays so I end up celebrating it with my friends, which is still enjoyable but I do miss my cousins and 'family' like things we used to do back then.
At night, my other cousins who are 13, and 9 years older than me contacted me and asked me to come out to Gangnam (If you don't know where gangnam is, watch Psy's MV Gangnam style).
We went to grab sam gyeop sal (Korean pork belly) and I was pleasantly surprised by the thickness of the meat. I am used to eating really thin slices of pork belly but the one that was being served at this location were ultra thick. My cousin said there are thick and thin ones and they are served in various ways such as marinated in wine or miso.
Cold soup kimchi on the top left, Tofu with spicy sauce in the middle, another type of kimchi with dried radish bottom right
Pork belly is usually eaten with this onion mixture. I am not quite sure what the sauce is but you put in the onion and mix it until it gets soggy and eat it with your pork belly.
To be continued.....
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