The Tale of the Ginseng Chicken and the Legend of a Flower

The famous ginseng chicken house. Perfect on a rainy day.



I think this one says the best ginseng chicken in town!
The samgyetang is a Korean chicken broth stuffed with ginseng and sticky rice. It is traditionally believed to cure ailments (Chicken Soup for the Soul maybe).

That's the magic of ginseng! It was quite yummy, pretty much tasting like, uhm, tinola. Actually, mas masarap ang tinola ni mama.

Afterwards, a yoghurt dessert at Red Mango, where the craze all started, was not to be missed!

We had a walk around the market place even if it was pouring!

And dropped by a ginseng shop to load up on ginseng teas!

Walked down the Korean streets!

And spotted Samsung everywhere. Gadgets, museum, apartment buildings, tea (!) and even fashion!

We later on went to see Legend of a Flower, a traditional Korean musical, it was a bigger production (and more expensive too!) compared to the one we saw yesterday.


It came with a nice Korean dinner!
What I would give to find these yummy, crispy seaweed chips again!

Had some bibimbap, a korean mixed rice dish with vegetables and chili paste. It was pretty good I should say! And hot!

We're not allowed to take photos but I took some anyway :)



We planned on hitting the clubs and headed to a place called the "Social Club". It was recommended by Markus' colleague. Was expecting a big, wild clubbing experience! It was more, uhm, underground.
Great music, but it was too early to be happening. The rain dampened our club hopping and we just ended up at JJ Mahoney's (as usual), only this time, a much better experience.

Still Pouring in Seoul....

The day did not look very promising so we took it slow. Markus and I started our day at the gym and some room service for breakfast.

Armed with two heavy duty umbrellas, we were off!

First stop, Samsung Leeum Museum. And it's not a gadgets museum....

The giant spiders greeted us at the entrance. (And were very visible from our bedroom window.)

They had an interesting collection of "traditional" and modern art. We were not allowed to take photos inside the museum but I took some anyway just because they are so cool.

Looks designer to me!

Some bling-blings!

The stairwell....

Cool modern art

A special egg.

Time for some food, I'm starving!

What's Cooking Korea?

I have never been on an international flight that took less than 25 minutes to get out of the plane, go through immigration, wait for the luggage, go through customs and out in the exit. Incheon airport is arrival at its finest!

1210am Asiana flight wasn't the best of times so that took half a day off of my Friday. The guy from the concierge of the Grand Hyatt looked like one of those guys from the Koreanovelas so that's a pretty nice welcome I should say not to mention the fantastic view(s) from the hotel room.

After a quick buffet in the hotel at 12nn, Markus and I were off to some (window) shopping at Shinsegae and Lotte. SALE! So I ended up with a few stuff. But it's raining!

But the highlight of the day was seeing a tradional Korean musical, Miso, at the Chongdong theater in traditional live music and costumes, a cool drumming act and almost circus-y performance coupled with some audience participation.

It was a worthwhile hour away from the pouring rain.

My first day in South Korea would not be complete without that yummy Korean bbq! OH MY GOD! It was amazing! The Korean colleague of Markus, Mr. Yu, brought us to the best in town.

The table was full even before the bbq arrived!

Yummy, juicy, Korean bbq!!!

And tried some cold soup. It was.. interesting. I'm not a big fan of cold soup.

We wanted to end the night at JJs Mahoney's which was just at our hotel but the bartender was such an a-hole. So we just left my Cosmo at the bar.

We ended up sitting around at the lobby bar entertained by a drunk Korean-American and, surprise surprise, a Filipino band!!! A trip outside Manila would not be complete without it!

To Kimchi and Beyond

The last time I updated my blog was when Herb passed away. A pro-skydiver, he died doing what he loved most. I wish that someday I can look back and know that deep inside, that I had continued to do what I loved to do despite of an uberly busy work schedule.

In all these years I had totally forgotten how much I loved to write. My mom just recently found my diary back when I was in 6th grade and I saw how I just wrote with wreckless abandon day in and day out about my summer crush whom I would check out in the neighborhood basketball court (yesssssss). And I just wrote. And wrote. And wrote. I ended up winning a poem-writing contest back in highschool and ended up in Heights (literary org of Ateneo) later on. And then it stopped there. With a few attempts here. And a little bit of it there.

While I was in the middle of a meeting this afternoon, I challenge myself to update my travel blog and leave a piece of recklessness into the digital abyss. I've done so much traveling and loved every minute of it that it felt like I was shortchanging myself by not writing about it! New Year's in Rio, exploring the Amazon, partying in Ibiza, sailing around Formentera/Ibiza/Mallorca, skiing in Italy, climbing Angkor Wat, living in Phnom Penh, getting lost in Luang Prabang, exploring Bali, backpacking in Florence and that's not even half of the amazing things I've done!

I'm off to South Korea this Friday. Got a Lonely Planet for a month now and had not even read it! Would be nice to get some travel tips from friends who've been there or would love to go there. So my dear friends who read til the end of this entry, care to share? The coolest one gets a pasalubong. Promise! Any ideas on pasalubong? Kimchi? Maybe?