Showing posts with label TravelKorea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TravelKorea. Show all posts
Friday, November 9, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
2012 WKB Tour - Day 3
Hi everyone!
I'm back!, I didn't forgot the blog, turns out I've been sick since last week but I it all got worst over the weekend u_u,on monday morning I went to see my doctor and I got 4 days off of work X_X... and even thou I still don't feel 100% good I missed the blog and was worried for not blogging...
On my last post I talked about our Day #2 and how it was filled with activities.... Watching some of the photos that Korea Net uploaded on Flickr we realized we have lots of pictures wearing the same oufits and is by reviewing all the pics that you realize how much we did on this trip....
Day 3 had an early start.... We all had our backpacks ready for our trip to Jeonju and so we met the Cam crew at Seoul Station at 8am and boarded our bus for a 3 hour ride from Seoul to Jeonju, honestly I was impressed by the price of the ticket...looks like it's pretty cheap to travel around Korea :O, this was my 1st roadtrip in Korea and even thou I was really tired after just 3 hours of sleep I'm not the kind that can easily fall asleep on a bus so I enjoyed the view for over an hour until we got to a Stop station (is that the name??)... it's basically like a BIG parking lot with Restrooms, Coffee Shops, Mini Marts and we even catched a duet performing in there... In Mexico a Stop station is usually restrooms and that's it O_o ...in Korea you can find snacks, food and drinks in here. We stopped at Cafe Bene for a drink and we were off for the rest of our ride.
Around 11am we reached Jeonju and it was HOT and moist O_o but as soon as we got there we got taxis to get to our next destination.... FOOOD!!! Jeonju is well known for the Bibimbap, in May 2012, Jeonju was indicted as a Creative City for Gastronomy as part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network, this recognize the city's traditional home cooking, so you can only imagine how good we eat while in Jeonju (nom nom)
At the Taxi I was lucky enough to ride with the Yeon (yay!!), of course he wanted to ask us about how we felt in Jeonju, but I thought it was too early to such questions since we had just arrived, so I took his place as interviewer and started interviewing Dorothea (Germany) while Yeon filmed it :) it was the perfect chance to focus the camera on someone else haha, after a short ride we arrived at Gajokhwoigwan Restaurant were we received a brief explanation on Bibimbap from a teacher of Jeonju University (If you want to read more, I recommend checking this very informative post)
I can honestly say this is the BEST Bibimbap I've ever tried... the Gochuanj past is really spicy and we all had to drink lots of water but I love Spicy food so I had no problems with it being spicy :) , plus this was the 1st time I tried the Bibimbap with the raw eggyolk, this adds certain creaminess to the dish that a fried egg can not provide... not only did we have a huge serving of Bibimbap, we also got over 10 side dishes. My fave were the Gyegranjjim (Steamed Egg), Kimchi, The Pajeon and the Lotus Root that I've never tried before, by the end of our lunch we were ready for a nap (lol) but it was time to go Check in at our acommodation
We again took taxis and this time I rode the passenger front seat, the driver was this nice Ajusshi that couldn't resist and ask me where was I from... in Korean O_O Yeon played the translator role and after I said Mexico he started talking about Football and how Mexico had won the Gold Medal in the Olympics n_n
When we finally arrived at -what would be- our Hanok for 2 days/1 night... the Hakindang Traditional Hanok Guest House, this was once the home of Baek Nak-Jung (King Gojong granted him a government position out of admiration for his filial piety), this Traditional house was once an Upper class home from the Joseon-era and was built in 1905, you can read more about it from Korea Class Mavise blog here.
There were 3 rooms just for the girls (7 of us) but since Hanoks have this removable walls it was like a gigant room, we didn't have much time to wander around since we had to leave for a Tour through the Jeonju Hanok Village, after getting lost for a little bit (This was the perfect chance to take pictures!!) we finally met our Tour Guide, Jeonju Hanok Village has 700 traditional Korean houses, some are Stores, Restaurants, Tea Houses or just Homes for the residents.
We visited the Gyeonggi Palace and the Jeondong Catholic Church.
The royal portrait housed in Gyeonggi Palace, Jeongjeon was a portrait of the founder of the Chosun Dynasty, Taejo Lee Seong-gye. This portrait shows the king in royal attire, when attending to public matters, with a royal robe and crown.
This palace built in 1410 (10th year of the reign of King Taejong), houses the royal portrait of King Taejo, also named Bonjeon. Gyeonggi Palace was destroyed by fire during the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1597, but was rebuilt in 1614 (6th year of the reign of Gwanghaegun) and has been preserved to this day
Right after the Gyeonggi Palace we were exausted so we were treated with a Pattbingsu, we went to the Dessert Factory ~ Grandma's best and it was indeed a pretty good/refreshing pattbingsu with sweet red beans and bites of Tteok, this was the perfect way to chill and recharge batteries for our next destination...
Tea Ceremony and Fabrics Dyeing!, these I've done before, you can read about the Tea ceremony here and the Fabric Dyeing I did it when I was in school a LONG time a go, the difference is... I didn't use natural colorants before, in here we got to Dye the fabric with a Yellow tint made of Onion skins but flowers are
also used for different colors.
After the Tea Ceremony and waiting for our fine pieces of art/handkerchiefs to dry, we were off to have dinner and soon we found an -OMG WHAT AN AMAZING MEAT!- restaurant were we had Bulgogi, Bibimbap, Rice, Side Dishes, Makgeolli and Moju (A local drink made with Makgeolli and Soju, with a very sweet taste like cinammon and now one of my fave Korean Drinks) ... we ate and we ate a lot...I remember being completely full but the meat was soo good but we didn't get to finish it (yet again!)... we then took a walk (great idea after that dinner) and we were off to the Pansori presentation.
Pansori is a genre of Korean Traditional Music, the vocals are performed by a Sorikkun (singer) and a Gosu (drummer playing a drum called BUK), I couldn't understand a single word of it but just by the way it's performed you can get the feeling of the piece being interpreted... it was a lovely Moonlight concert and the perfect way to wrap up our day, at the end we got to meet the Pansori Performer and we all got a Book with her CD :)
That night I realized I'm very well Oriented as some of the other members of the Tour didn't know how to go back to the Hanok O_O
When we arrived at the Hanok some of us didn't want to go to bed at 9pm (Can you believe we did so much before 9pm?) so we decided to go out for a bit, plus we had just met Asif (WKB living in ....), we were looking for a place that someone recomended to HanJeon (Photographer / KoreaNet) but I don't think thats were we ended, we went to a place were you can drink Makgeolli and they serve it with side dishes.. That has a name but I can't remember right now and google is not helping me... :( so yea, after dinner we went to the Hanok just to go out and eat again O_O and that was it for our 1st day in Jeonju....
I feel tired just reading this but I would definitely do it all over again!
-Gisela V.
I'm back!, I didn't forgot the blog, turns out I've been sick since last week but I it all got worst over the weekend u_u,on monday morning I went to see my doctor and I got 4 days off of work X_X... and even thou I still don't feel 100% good I missed the blog and was worried for not blogging...
On my last post I talked about our Day #2 and how it was filled with activities.... Watching some of the photos that Korea Net uploaded on Flickr we realized we have lots of pictures wearing the same oufits and is by reviewing all the pics that you realize how much we did on this trip....
 |
| Thank You Korea Net for the pretty pictures! |
Day 3 had an early start.... We all had our backpacks ready for our trip to Jeonju and so we met the Cam crew at Seoul Station at 8am and boarded our bus for a 3 hour ride from Seoul to Jeonju, honestly I was impressed by the price of the ticket...looks like it's pretty cheap to travel around Korea :O, this was my 1st roadtrip in Korea and even thou I was really tired after just 3 hours of sleep I'm not the kind that can easily fall asleep on a bus so I enjoyed the view for over an hour until we got to a Stop station (is that the name??)... it's basically like a BIG parking lot with Restrooms, Coffee Shops, Mini Marts and we even catched a duet performing in there... In Mexico a Stop station is usually restrooms and that's it O_o ...in Korea you can find snacks, food and drinks in here. We stopped at Cafe Bene for a drink and we were off for the rest of our ride.
Around 11am we reached Jeonju and it was HOT and moist O_o but as soon as we got there we got taxis to get to our next destination.... FOOOD!!! Jeonju is well known for the Bibimbap, in May 2012, Jeonju was indicted as a Creative City for Gastronomy as part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network, this recognize the city's traditional home cooking, so you can only imagine how good we eat while in Jeonju (nom nom)
At the Taxi I was lucky enough to ride with the Yeon (yay!!), of course he wanted to ask us about how we felt in Jeonju, but I thought it was too early to such questions since we had just arrived, so I took his place as interviewer and started interviewing Dorothea (Germany) while Yeon filmed it :) it was the perfect chance to focus the camera on someone else haha, after a short ride we arrived at Gajokhwoigwan Restaurant were we received a brief explanation on Bibimbap from a teacher of Jeonju University (If you want to read more, I recommend checking this very informative post)
I can honestly say this is the BEST Bibimbap I've ever tried... the Gochuanj past is really spicy and we all had to drink lots of water but I love Spicy food so I had no problems with it being spicy :) , plus this was the 1st time I tried the Bibimbap with the raw eggyolk, this adds certain creaminess to the dish that a fried egg can not provide... not only did we have a huge serving of Bibimbap, we also got over 10 side dishes. My fave were the Gyegranjjim (Steamed Egg), Kimchi, The Pajeon and the Lotus Root that I've never tried before, by the end of our lunch we were ready for a nap (lol) but it was time to go Check in at our acommodationWe again took taxis and this time I rode the passenger front seat, the driver was this nice Ajusshi that couldn't resist and ask me where was I from... in Korean O_O Yeon played the translator role and after I said Mexico he started talking about Football and how Mexico had won the Gold Medal in the Olympics n_n
 |
| Inside of the Main Building at the Guest House |
There were 3 rooms just for the girls (7 of us) but since Hanoks have this removable walls it was like a gigant room, we didn't have much time to wander around since we had to leave for a Tour through the Jeonju Hanok Village, after getting lost for a little bit (This was the perfect chance to take pictures!!) we finally met our Tour Guide, Jeonju Hanok Village has 700 traditional Korean houses, some are Stores, Restaurants, Tea Houses or just Homes for the residents.
We visited the Gyeonggi Palace and the Jeondong Catholic Church.
The royal portrait housed in Gyeonggi Palace, Jeongjeon was a portrait of the founder of the Chosun Dynasty, Taejo Lee Seong-gye. This portrait shows the king in royal attire, when attending to public matters, with a royal robe and crown.This palace built in 1410 (10th year of the reign of King Taejong), houses the royal portrait of King Taejo, also named Bonjeon. Gyeonggi Palace was destroyed by fire during the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1597, but was rebuilt in 1614 (6th year of the reign of Gwanghaegun) and has been preserved to this day
Right after the Gyeonggi Palace we were exausted so we were treated with a Pattbingsu, we went to the Dessert Factory ~ Grandma's best and it was indeed a pretty good/refreshing pattbingsu with sweet red beans and bites of Tteok, this was the perfect way to chill and recharge batteries for our next destination...
 |
| Pattbingsu |
Tea Ceremony and Fabrics Dyeing!, these I've done before, you can read about the Tea ceremony here and the Fabric Dyeing I did it when I was in school a LONG time a go, the difference is... I didn't use natural colorants before, in here we got to Dye the fabric with a Yellow tint made of Onion skins but flowers are
also used for different colors.
After the Tea Ceremony and waiting for our fine pieces of art/handkerchiefs to dry, we were off to have dinner and soon we found an -OMG WHAT AN AMAZING MEAT!- restaurant were we had Bulgogi, Bibimbap, Rice, Side Dishes, Makgeolli and Moju (A local drink made with Makgeolli and Soju, with a very sweet taste like cinammon and now one of my fave Korean Drinks) ... we ate and we ate a lot...I remember being completely full but the meat was soo good but we didn't get to finish it (yet again!)... we then took a walk (great idea after that dinner) and we were off to the Pansori presentation.
Pansori is a genre of Korean Traditional Music, the vocals are performed by a Sorikkun (singer) and a Gosu (drummer playing a drum called BUK), I couldn't understand a single word of it but just by the way it's performed you can get the feeling of the piece being interpreted... it was a lovely Moonlight concert and the perfect way to wrap up our day, at the end we got to meet the Pansori Performer and we all got a Book with her CD :)
That night I realized I'm very well Oriented as some of the other members of the Tour didn't know how to go back to the Hanok O_O
When we arrived at the Hanok some of us didn't want to go to bed at 9pm (Can you believe we did so much before 9pm?) so we decided to go out for a bit, plus we had just met Asif (WKB living in ....), we were looking for a place that someone recomended to HanJeon (Photographer / KoreaNet) but I don't think thats were we ended, we went to a place were you can drink Makgeolli and they serve it with side dishes.. That has a name but I can't remember right now and google is not helping me... :( so yea, after dinner we went to the Hanok just to go out and eat again O_O and that was it for our 1st day in Jeonju....
I feel tired just reading this but I would definitely do it all over again!
-Gisela V.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Traveling to Korea... Expectation / Reality
 |
| Expectation / Reality |
A few months ago I ran into someone whom I took Korean Lessons with, after catching up a bit I remembered she had traveled to Korea just a couple of weeks back and asked how it was.... To my sorprise she said she didn't liked it O_O (WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!!!) I wasn't shocked because I want everyone to love Korea but because she was taking Korean Lessons and seemed to be very into Korean Culture, but no she was only into Hallyu/K-Wave, I'm not sure about her age but she is older than me (I'm 27) by at least 10 years.
When she started with "I didn't like it because you can not experience K-pop the same way you do it here (KoreaTown in Mexico City)"...I was like.. REALLY?? That's your reason??????????? HUH????????... how is it possible?
When she started with "I didn't like it because you can not experience K-pop the same way you do it here (KoreaTown in Mexico City)"...I was like.. REALLY?? That's your reason??????????? HUH????????... how is it possible?
 |
| Reality / Expectation |
So, let me tell you a bit about my experience with Korea.
After listening to her stories I was pretty relieved I didn't know much about Dramas, Kpop and Hallyu in general when I traveled to Korea...I wouldn't even dare to say more than 3 words in Korean :(. I was very into Korean Culture, I loved (still do) the language, the culture, the food and it just seemed like a very cool place to travel. I read TONS of K-blogs writen not only by Foreigners but also by Koreans so I new a bit about both sides of what was going on in Korea... when the time came and I traveled to Korea I wasn't really expecting anything and ended up having an amazing trip...I still feel like I didn't do enough even thou my schedule was packed everyday and sometimes I feel like I wasted too much time sleeping while I was there (What???!! this country has 24hrs deliveries, Noraebangs, Spa's, etc!!)
 |
| Reality / Expectation |
On the other side, this ex-classmate was VERY into Korean culture, on the 1st day of classes most of the people there said they wanted to go to Korea and meet their Idols O_o (Maybe that's why I never felt like I fitted in that class...), they would go to K-pop meetings, watch Dramas, buy (extremly expensive) K-pop products and would gather at a famous (expensive) Korean Coffee shop in Mexico to drink 8USD Teas with a 5USD piece of bread.
I know for fact she was expecting to go to Korea and ran into someone famous or maybe find a Tall, rich and handsome Korean man who would be mean to her at 1st but then would fall in love with her. Sadly she went to the other side of the world for pretty much nothing :(, I even felt bad when she said she arrived at Incheon and thought it was an Ugly place....
I wonder if all Hallyu fans are like this.... if they will feel disapointed if they travel to Korea and can't meet their idols, sometimes we read so many things about Kpop that we believe Kpop is TOP priority in Korea, although Kpop it is popular, not everyone in Korea likes it and not everything is about Kpop. Most people (I've met) think Kpop is for Highschool girls... which is what I told her.... there are some "famous" Mexican bands who are very famous in other Countries (RBD) among teens but in Mexico older people (like me :( ) don't even think about at ALL.
This is why I'm worried now... even though I'm not obsesced with Hallyu... I've seen WAY too many Dramas (On my 1st visit I've only seen "My name is Kim Sam Soon") and I know a tiny bit more about Kpop... what if I get dissapointed with my next trip to Korea???... have I been biten by the Hallyu mosquito? is this contagious?... will I be expecting a Goo Yoon Pyo to come and resque me from the bullies from Highschool?? O_O or am I expecting to run into BigBang on the subway?? (okok,,,maybe I am expecting that lol)... I wonder if I would see PSY horse ridding while crossing a street in Gangnam....
What Most Hallyu fans will expect:
1.-Kpop playing everywhere
2.-Seeing your idols everywhere
3.-Each and every Korean to be extremely handsome
4.-Sexy women wearing super short shorts
5.-Korea as a country to look just like in Dramas
Reality...remember this is only MY experience:
1.-Kpop was played in Shopping areas or Malls...not everywhere (most of the times I was unable to recognize the songs....)
2.-I didn't see anyone... one day I was at COEX Mall and people were gathering for an event...I don't know who it was but there were less than 20 people waiting for him...so it might have been just a book signing?
3.-..... Not everyone was dead gorgeous, I mean most people are into fashion and people tend to wear nice clothes but NO, not everyone is as cute as Gum Jan Di or Goo Joon Pyo (Can you tell I don't know many characters names?? lol)
4.-THIS I will give you... on my 1st visit I went in WINTER...once I stepped outside of Incheon my face froze...I desperately wore my 2 jackets, a hat, gloves and a scarf and still I was freezing but Korean girls?? pfffft they don't give a (insert your word here) if it's 0°C...they will go out with a miniskirt and high heels, you will see them on the subway, at coffee shops, malls, buses, etc... they are awesome, either they are VERY used to that cold or they are much more worried about how they look (I will go for the 2nd one)
5.-Korea does look like in Dramas because well it is pretty in reality, BUT.... remember most Dramas will show you the Big City, the newest mall, the cutest Coffee Shop and well..the BEST of the best, but there are also very poor zones, at night you'll see homeless people sleeping in the subway (this is a bit scary actually....), does anyone remember when Gum Jan Di goes to sleep on the subway on BBF?? well...it's like that O_O, but it's safe if you hurry and get out of there as fast as you can lol :P jk
Anyway, on My 1st trip to Korea the REALITY of my trip overcome the EXPECTATION..... I wonder what will happen on this upcoming trip 0_0.
How was your 1st trip? How did you handle the Expectation/Reality of the trip?
-Gisela V.
 |
| haha they do think different.... |
This is why I'm worried now... even though I'm not obsesced with Hallyu... I've seen WAY too many Dramas (On my 1st visit I've only seen "My name is Kim Sam Soon") and I know a tiny bit more about Kpop... what if I get dissapointed with my next trip to Korea???... have I been biten by the Hallyu mosquito? is this contagious?... will I be expecting a Goo Yoon Pyo to come and resque me from the bullies from Highschool?? O_O or am I expecting to run into BigBang on the subway?? (okok,,,maybe I am expecting that lol)... I wonder if I would see PSY horse ridding while crossing a street in Gangnam....
What Most Hallyu fans will expect:
1.-Kpop playing everywhere
2.-Seeing your idols everywhere
3.-Each and every Korean to be extremely handsome
4.-Sexy women wearing super short shorts
5.-Korea as a country to look just like in Dramas
Reality...remember this is only MY experience:
1.-Kpop was played in Shopping areas or Malls...not everywhere (most of the times I was unable to recognize the songs....)
2.-I didn't see anyone... one day I was at COEX Mall and people were gathering for an event...I don't know who it was but there were less than 20 people waiting for him...so it might have been just a book signing?
3.-..... Not everyone was dead gorgeous, I mean most people are into fashion and people tend to wear nice clothes but NO, not everyone is as cute as Gum Jan Di or Goo Joon Pyo (Can you tell I don't know many characters names?? lol)
4.-THIS I will give you... on my 1st visit I went in WINTER...once I stepped outside of Incheon my face froze...I desperately wore my 2 jackets, a hat, gloves and a scarf and still I was freezing but Korean girls?? pfffft they don't give a (insert your word here) if it's 0°C...they will go out with a miniskirt and high heels, you will see them on the subway, at coffee shops, malls, buses, etc... they are awesome, either they are VERY used to that cold or they are much more worried about how they look (I will go for the 2nd one)
5.-Korea does look like in Dramas because well it is pretty in reality, BUT.... remember most Dramas will show you the Big City, the newest mall, the cutest Coffee Shop and well..the BEST of the best, but there are also very poor zones, at night you'll see homeless people sleeping in the subway (this is a bit scary actually....), does anyone remember when Gum Jan Di goes to sleep on the subway on BBF?? well...it's like that O_O, but it's safe if you hurry and get out of there as fast as you can lol :P jk
Anyway, on My 1st trip to Korea the REALITY of my trip overcome the EXPECTATION..... I wonder what will happen on this upcoming trip 0_0.
How was your 1st trip? How did you handle the Expectation/Reality of the trip?
-Gisela V.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
I love Korea because.....
Hi everyone!
-Gisela V.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)