Doota!

Mommies, girlfriends, bargain shoppers, fashionistas, and fellow bloggers, be sure to visit Doota! in Dondaemum. 8 floors of shopping area- B1 trendy/ sports, L1 women clothes, L2 more women's fashion, L3 Shoes & bags, L4 Accessories & Make-up, L5 men's fashion, L6 Children's shopping haven, L7 souveniers& homewares. Pick up children's hanbok for as cheap as 32,000W (USD30). Remember- if you are buying a lot and paying in cash, you can ask for discount. Ask for calculator and punch in the number you are bargaining for. You can't bargain too much in this place, disc usually goes up to 5% of total value.

Travel Seoul

I lived in Seoul for 9 months as a housewife and I didn't really enjoy my time there due to lost in translation and homesickness. However, re-visiting Seoul with Baby J and friends turned out to very enjoyable. Here's what we did...
We strolled Baby J in the park. There are various parks by the rivers and many people jog, walk, play tennis, reading book, and many other activities. We saw the ducks by the river and it was first time for Baby J to see ducks up close.

Shopping!! Upscale shopping Corso Como on Apgujeong vs affordable shopping in Dongdaemun. Fantastic Korean beef, I'm not a big beef eater but I can taste quality! The Koreans carve good meet for the grill... I went into shopping craze for 3 different visitations to children's section! Its all about shopping, eating, hanging out and walking around till the wee hours. There are many 24hr restaurants, mini marts and super-late-night shopping.

For many local Koreans, or just these few Korean chaps we were with, they haven't visit the Namsan tower. Its a tourist thing and it was quite fun when you are with funny and easygoing group. We went on weekend, so there weren't any partking and there was a long queue to get on to the airconless cable car for an awful 5 minutes ride due to heat, so I highly suggest to visit any tourist place during weekdays.

Chaining locks of well wishes and loves on the gate. I had seen this display of love chains in Yellow Mountain, China, and well, that beats anything else...

Other worthwhile places to go in Seoul for the well-travelled visitors:

1. Everland Theme Park - this is fantastic for both adults and children. Ride the Express roller coaster which is touted as the Asian tallest roller coaster! Don't forget to purchase the picture outside the ride for a funny remembrance on how your face and hair look like.
2. Apgujeong Rodeo - Sit by any cafes and pay about $5 for coffee to people see. If you are lucky, you may chance upon local celebrities.
3. Nami Island - many dramas are filmed here, so walk down the memory if you are a Korean drama fan.
4. Eden Club - ever wonder where the beautiful and hip people spend their Saturday night? Eden. Wow! Back in my prime time, where I used to club, and let's just stick to Jkt, S'pore and HK, Eden Club in Ritz Carlton hotel has the most good people under one roof and on the same night. I haven't step into nightlife since I got married and due accompanying friends, that I got to sample Eden, and I was overwhelmed by the scene! Me and husband left at 1.30am and our friends told us when they left at 3.30am, there were still many people getting into the club.

Hello Kitty Exhibition in Seoul

Hello to all Hello Kitty lovers ~ We attended the Hello Kitty exhibition and saw some inspiring Hello Kitty stuff for Baby J's birthday thats coming up soon, which was of course, Hello Kitty theme.

Cardboard bookshelf made out of 3d apple; Hello Kitty cutout cardboard table and flower shaped bench; Hello Kitty artwork.

A huggable Hello Kitty; Siamese twins Hello Kitties, an interesting Hello Kitty diety...

Look! Its a crystal Hello Kitty! Its 3d and it turns to red suit and yellow suit.

Korean Gift Exchange (Ham)

Happy couple and their matchmaker. What a happy day for the couple to get engaged but who knew what trouble brewed for the friends to get this engagement be a successful one.
A brief introduction for Korean 'Ham', known as the gift exchange, is done by groom-to-be's friends and bride-to-be's friends. The 'Ham' is the box carried by Squid masked man and it contains the gifts for the bride's family. In order for the "Ham' to be sent to the bride's family, the bride's side has to 'persuade' these stubborn men. They have to use bribery in form of money in envelopes, alcohol and snacks and womanly wiles. It can take hours and it can be easy or it can also get ugly, they all depend on how the groom's friend play it out...

1. The groom's friends had arrived and the bride's representatives (family and close friends) came to greet them. This just started and they had parked far from where the bride's family's place. To get the groomsmen to come forward, money was laid to bring them closer. Getting to know the groomsment and negotiating. Few steps forward. Cigarette break.

More enforcement came forward - bride's unmarried girlfriends and brother to bring the drinks and snacks. Pouring and feeding the Squid man. The girls were not as patient as they pulled the Squid man to come forward. Baiting Squid man with more drinks to move while Squid man stood his ground and sat again.

Using some femini wiles to get Squid man going while the men asked Squid man's rep on how much it would take for them to get going. Many onlookers watched the show while one of bride's gang took away Squid man's chair forward. The grooms gang parked themselves again at the spot and the girls asked for more enforcement.

I pretty much left the scene after witnessing 1 hour of these banterings, negotiations, pullings, laughter and fun, as I had to bring Baby J back to our accomodation to sleep. I heard the Ham took about 2.5hour for Squid man to break down and send forward the Ham.

Cute Car Spotted

Spotting a spotty car in Apgujeong, Seoul

Visiting Insadong

Ssamzie in Insadong is an oasis of window-shoppers to stop by. They always have nice exhibitions hung in the air

Butter Finger Pancakes

As quoted (found on the table)
"Butter Finger Pancakes are made with top quality ingredients, making sure every last bite is comparable to no other pancakes you have tasted... ... And we won't stop stop until everyone is smiling!"












It was Chusok and no restaurants or stores are open, other than international franchises. We thought that Butter Finger was a franchise but turns out its a local brand.
Menu serves brunch items, food was good, not disappointing.

Mountain Grave Visiting

During Chu-seok (Koreans Thanksgiving or Harvest season. Chinese celebrates Mooncake festival in same day), there is a custom to visit ancestral graves to pray to them . My in-laws were some of the many who went back to their old hometown before the holidays to visit the graves; we went few days ahead to avoid the traffic of all the other Koreans to return to their own hometown.


I have to say that it was a tedious visit as the graves were scattered in different mountains. It was explained to me that the more effort you put in, the more sincere it is to the ancestors and they will then bestow good luck for the new year. Whatever the reasons are, it was an experience for me in the sense of culture and mountain trekking.

We drove up for 3.5 hours to the hometown, climbed 5 mountains, ate the prayers' snacks after sending some to the Mountain God (you throw the snacks to the mountains to show respect you are in their territory).

I tried to take some pictures of each mountain we climbed but failed to take pictures of the last 2 mountains. It was a very tiring and sincere work to show regards to the ancestors...

Trailer Restaurant

Its a trailer and a restaurant in the middle of a parking lot in Juk-Jeong province, Bundang. Its very accessible to the hungry drivers who drives through the parking lot and to the office workers around the building.

Although the space is small, it has 4 tables, kitchen, 1 standing AC, and its surprising cozy. The menu has about 10 items and bimbimbab that we ordered was very much decent, considering the price of W4,000

Ita amazing how the lady can take order, cook up the dishes and washes them in such small space.

Korean Signs

I was very surprised when I arrive in Seoul, I felt that the store signs on buildings were very messy. I guess after awhile, the messy signs become quite useful. You start noticing stores and other services you wouldn't know existed in your area.
I have remember seeing a sign for the clinic who specialize on nasal problems, just in case I have the urge to cure my husband's snore :)

BuDae Chigae - Army Base Style Stew

BuDae means army base and Chigae means stew. Budae Chigae came from a humble origin - story has it that in the past, after the Korean war, some Korean people start scavenging US military base in Korea for scraps of food to cook as they were very poor and hungry. They put everything they can find such as Spam, sausages, minced beef, and macaroni and cook it with their local products such as kimchi, vegetables, tofu, and ramen.

After the years, it was cooked in restaurants and became popular. With all the ingredients, it is a very tasty, spicy and distinctive stew.

One day, I like to try making this simple everything-all-in stew, once I figured out what is the soup base. If anyone know, please let me know.

Fast Comfort Food

Ah. E-Mart, our usual one-stop shopping for grocery, electronics, hardware, car stuff and even for my husband's haircuts. So as often we come here, we have our meals here too and we usually order family size. After having daily intake of Korean meals, I crave my comfort food - Chinese food. I can't believe I craved for Chinese fast food but I did at that moment.

We get to see what could tempt us to order... there was the Japanese deep-fried food and there was the omelet rice that looked delicious but hey, we couldn't resist this...

Spring rolls, egg frid rice, vegetable in oyster sauce, deep fried sweet and sour chicken, Sze-Chuan style stir-fry pork and in the middle, Korean Style for Chinese Cha-chang Mien. Tasty but a little to the oily side...

Sweet Tooth

Fancy cafe called Harue, in Apgujeong, serves some good desserts with hefty prices. Coffee for $10? A place too see people and to be seen. Here's some mouthwatering pics of dessert I had today.

Yum! Pancakes with fresh cream in between, topped with sugary fruits and gelato ice-cream.

Toast with bean powder (supposedly healthy), smothered with honey and topped with a crown of whipped cream.

Wall Art in Subway Station

This wall art can be seen in To-Gok subway station enroute to Bundang line. I think they should commission more art work like this to beautify the bleak underground subway.