Kyoto, Day 8 - The Sun Is Out and the Blossoms Are Blooming

It was significantly warmer than it was in Seoul (high 50's) and the sun was shining.

From my internet research, I had made a list of potential markets to visit, so we started the day with some market hopping. The first market we hit was within walking distance at the Toko Kuni Shrine. Being accustomed to the massive markets of Thailand, Cambodia, and Seoul, this one was very, very small.

Like, this small. But very pretty.

The next market we hit was at Bishamon-do, just behind the Kennin-ji Temple, and it also turned out to be very small. But sometimes size doesn't matter. I found a beautiful pale pink pin of a woman in traditional Japanese clothing, and another charm with a green floral pattern, both made of cloth. I plan on wearing the pin with scarves and putting the charm on a bracelet or thin belt. By chance, the vendor threw in a hair clip I'd been eyeing for free. Love when that happens.

My souvenir appetite satiated, we walked through Gion and boarded the subway to get to the Daigo-ji Temple. From my internet research pre-trip, I thought that the temple would be right next to the subway, but just a warning, it's a bit of a trek.

Since we visited Kyoto during the cherry blossom bloom, there were special festivals going on. Daigo-ji was holding an annual reenactment of a cherry blossom processional in the 17th century, where the rich were literally carried through the temple grounds.

We couldn't see very well. We foolishly hadn't anticipated so many spectators and, like a parade, you had to get there early to have a good view. We did see some parasols and a few people being carried.

After flowing the with crowd back down the hill, we ate on the third floor of the plaza that houses the subway at a restaurant named Katsu-ya. It had the most people waiting out of the floor of restaurants, so we figured it was a safe bet. We both had panko crusted pork.

Hubs - covered with an interesting sauce

Mine - served with fried sweet potato, asparagus, and cauliflower

2 meals = 2289 Y.

As would be reiterated during our trip, Japan knows how to do their fried food. Always crisp and crunchy, never greasy. They put the U.S. to shame. 

Plates clean, we took the subway back to Gion and walked to the Maruyama-Koen Park. People had been picnicking all the day in the cherry blossom filled park. Almost every inch of ground was covered with blue tarp.

It looked fun, a great family and friend activity. Besides cherry blossom trees, the park also has food stands serving almost anything you can imagine. We noted it as a great dinner option for later in our trip. We weren't hungry, but we still ate green tea ice cream.

On the way back to our guest house for a rest, we stopped at 7-11 and bought milk, cereal, and some snacks.

Unless you have a peanut allergy, you should be eating these.

We had a community fridge, bowls, and mugs at our guest house. Eating breakfast there every morning was perfect. We saved money, time, and sanity, as we didn't have to wander around hungry every morning trying to find an open restaurant. 

After relaxing for a bit, we headed back near the Kennin-ji Temple to a restaurant we had passed during our market hunting that looked good. Our host in Korea had told us multiple times that we had to try okonomiyaki. This restaurant advertised serving it and was cute in it's tininess, only three tables. Unfortunately, all the tables were full when we got there, so we waited.

The young owner/chef ran the restaurant by himself. It was reminiscent of a great restaurant we dined at in Paris, L'Auberge des Deux Ponts. Okonomiyaki is a thin crepe-y crust, covered with various toppings, and cooked over a flat grill on our table. A sort of Japanese pizza that has not one component that is similar to pizza, flavor-wise. This okonomiyaki had green onions, calamari, an egg, and a bunch of other umami tasting things. We liked it.

We also had beautiful ponzu assorted mushrooms.

And fried noodles with cabbage, beef, pork, and squid. I hadn't meant to order this, but the loss in translation ended up being to my benefit because these noodles were better than whatever I had intended on ordering.

It's fun to watch your food cook in front of you. Add two large Asahi drafts and the bill was 3500 Y.

Near the restaurant, we walked down a touristy, restaurant-lined street on our way to Pontocho. Right in front of us, a maiko (apprentice geisha, we assumed she was a maiko because she looked young) hopped out of a cab, waved goodbye to the man in the cab, and disappeared inside a door.

The magical appearance of geisha can occur at any moment in the night streets.

Thrilled from our maiko siting, we walked down busy Pontocho, browsing in all the restaurants and admiring the beautiful cherry blossoms dancing in the street lights. There were a lot of people, and the street had a wonderful electric energy at night.

We took the subway, in attempt to see the Nijo Castle at night. Unfortunately, we arrived after the closing time of 9:30 pm and all the lights were off. Since we were in a new part of town, we walked the dark, quiet Kyoto streets, removed from the tourists of Gion, to the next subway stop over before calling it a night and heading back to Tanaka-ya.

*The subway in Kyoto was 210-280 Y one way, depending on how many stops you were travelling.

Seoul to Kyoto, Day 7 - Goodbye, Seoul. Hello, Kyoto.

I heart you, Seoul (lover's locks at the Seoul Tower).

I'm not going to tell you that Seoul is the most magical city in the world and that you must drop everything and go there. However, if food plays a large part in choosing your next destination, I think Seoul makes a decent argument to move near the top of your travel list. Like I said in an earlier post, Seoul gives Paris a run for its money in the cuisine department. But it's a lot cheaper.

If you love truly great cuisine at a truly affordable price, Seoul fits the bill. It's also an enormous city with a million things to do and places to see. The public transportation is top notch. I love how everything in Seoul goes up. Stores and restaurants are often located on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th floors, so you're constantly looking all around you instead of just straight ahead. It was a refreshing change of perspective. All in all, there's nothing bad I can say about Seoul.

After an emotional goodbye to our host (she's my best friend and I never know how many years will pass before I see her again), we took the shuttle back to the airport and flew on Asiana Airlines to Osaka. They served us salmon salad sandwiches. You know you're not in the U.S. when you get a salmon salad sandwich on an airplane.

We bought these goodies for the flight.

From the Kansai International Airport, we took the JR Express Haruka straight to Kyoto. I think it cost about 4000 Y per ticket, but it didn't make any stops and only took 70 minutes. From the Kyoto train station, we took a cab to Tanaka-Ya, the guest house that would be our home for the next few days.

Tanaka-Ya was located in Migawacho, only a few blocks away from Gion, the major geisha district. We were about a ten minute walk from the subway, which ended up coming in handy many times. Our room was a traditional Japanese bedroom with mats on the floors.

It was extremely quiet and comfortable in at Tanaka-ya. There are four guest rooms and two bathrooms upstairs. The shared shower was downstairs, and we never had to wait too long to get in. The woman who runs the place was very kind, and I would highly recommend staying here based on comfort, location, and the unique experience in staying in a traditional Japanese home.

We walked around Gion, searching for a place to eat. We were tired and settled on the cheapest place we could find, which happened to be sushi. I think after the long day we mostly just wanted the hot sake. For some reason, I thought sushi would be cheap in Japan, but it is still a luxury item, just like in the rest of the world.

Our plates of sushi were 1000 Y each.

We left the restaurant, still exhausted, and happily crashed on our mat at Tanaka-ya.

* When we visited Japan in April 2012, 1000 Yen equaled about $12.

Seoul, Day 6 - The Pig Did Not Die in Vain

After our night out, we took our time getting going this morning. Our host made us a great breakfast scramble and we did our laundry in her apartment.

Our last full day in Seoul, we weren't encouraged to go outside because it was cold. The entire trip it's been unseasonably cold for spring, but at the least the sun came out today. We bundled up and walked to AK Plaza and I bought a lovely natural pink lipstick that I will wear all the time and remember Seoul.

For lunch we walked back to a random restaurant across the street from our host's apartment building and went to a random restaurant on the second floor. We ordered samgyeopsal, which is cooked on a grill in front of you like galbi, but instead of beef it's thick, fatty cuts of pork. My favorite barnyard protein.

The samgyeopsal came with lots of banchan, the side dishes/condiments. We also had tofu soup that was very spicy, but I didn't eat much of it because I was busy stuffing myself silly with pork.

My favorite way to eat the samgyeopsal was to make a lettuce wrap with chili sauce, rice, and onions that I macerated in the bowl of sweet soy wasabi sauce we were each served.

This was my favorite meal in Seoul. Perfection.

We took the bus into Seoul and planned on taking a cable car up to the Seoul Tower since the sun was out and it wasn't too hazy. Unfortunately, it was too windy so the cable car was closed. The surrounding park was pretty, but it was too cold to hike up the hill to the Tower. We were forced to get on a bus which drove very slowly around and around and up the hill.

By the time we got to the top of the hill and hiked up to the Seoul Tower, I was ill with motion sickness and had to sit for awhile, take a Dramamine, and sip a Sprite.

There were lots of young people at the Seoul Tower. It seemed to be quite the high school date spot.

First time I've seen trees of lover's locks.

Seoul has many, many 20-ish story buildings, but no striking skyscrapers jutting into the skyline. The tallest building in the city is 60-something stories. But the city's sprawl is impressive.

As the sun set, the city lights turned on. Beautiful.

We took the bus back down the hill and hopped on the subway to a restaurant that served jeon and homemade makgeolli. The restaurant was dim and cozy, seemed like the perfect date spot.

I was inspired by the jeon and adapted my own recipe for it here. To recap, it's a sort of fried crepe/omelette with kimchi in it, topped with a grand slice of cream cheese. It was so good, serious bar food.

Unfortunately, I still was feeling under the weather from the motion sickness, so I didn't eat as much as I wanted to. And I certainly didn't drink as much as I would've liked to. The homemade makgeolli was excellent, I just wasn't feeling the white liquid on a weak stomach.

3 makgeollis + jeon = 19,000 W.

It was freezing, literally. 28 degrees. So we decided to spend the remainder of our night in Bundang.

We went to a more commercial restaurant called Wara Wara, which came off as a Korean TGI Fridays, but with better drinks. Their fun fruit cocktails were mixed at the table using fresh juice, so we indulged in a pitcher or two of those. The night drew to a close with good drinks and great conversation.

By the time we stumbled past the dopoki stand that we'd passed multiple times every day, I was ready for it's strange, spongy-yet-starchy texture and hefty kick of spice, layered over tempura shrimp and vegetables.

It was the perfect gut-warming food for a tipsy girl on a cold spring night. And a fine dish to bid us farewell to Korea.

Seoul, Day 5 - They're Not Noodles Out of a Machine

Our host kept saying we needed to get "noodles out of a machine". I was imagining this would be something along the line of a hot Cup of Noodles dispensed by a vending machine a cup of bad coffee, so I didn't ask questions and continued to vacantly nod at the suggestion. This morning it was suggested we go there for breakfast. I thought, fine. I don't care if our breakfast isn't very good. We still have two more meals to make up for it.

I don't know whether to blame the inadequate description of "noodles out of a machine" or my lack of imagination because this breakfast was awesome!

Yes, technically, they are noodles that are produced due to a machine transaction. You walk into the small restaurant and punch in your order on a vending type machine. The machine prints out a receipt and you hand it to the wonderful cooks behind the counter who prepare everything just like a full-service restaurant, minus the servers. All the seating is at the counter so they can easily reach you.

And it is CHEAP. Under 5000 W for a huge bowl of noodles with kimchi, vegetables, and a delicious sauce, served with broth. I could eat this breakfast a few times a week, no problem.

We took the bus back to Insa-dong to visit when it wasn't raining. We shopped and snacked on wonderful street food. We shared small custard cakes with red beans in the dough.

My favorite snack of the trip was found here: hotteok, basically a doughnut fulled with ground peanuts and cinnamon. So, so good (1000 W).

We tried sikhye (rice punch), reminded me of boba, not my favorite. I found a small wishbone necklace that I bought, as I've been looking for my perfect wishbone necklace for awhile, and I ended up finding it in a tiny shop in Insa-dong, Seoul.

I think many of the rice dishes at my beloved Chego use bibimbap as their inspiration, so I was excited to try it. We sat at a tradition Korean restaurant. I didn't love it, I found it bland. Especially comparing it to Chego's rice bowls that burst with flavor. However, Hubs loved it, one of his favorite things that we ate. Either way, it looked beautiful (5500 W).

We walked up to Changdeokgung Palace and took a walking tour through the secret garden. It was so beautiful. I love when beautiful places are hidden in a city, and if they weren't pointed out to you, you wouldn't even know they're there.

The tour was fairly long and covered a good amount of ground. It was so peaceful and the sun was shining down on us.

I'm sure it's stunning with the cherry blossoms in bloom.

By the time we were done, it was time to make dinner plans. We took the subway to the Norgangjin Fish Market.

Stall after stall of fish, shell fish, and every other kind of sea creature you can imagine.

We bought a medium-sized, clear-eyed fish and the vendor scaled the fish for us.

We took the fish to a restaurant directly downstairs at the Market. They cook whatever you bring them, and it was so much fun. They grilled our fish perfectly and we ate it with rice, wasabi, soy, and sesame leaves.

We drank bottled makgeolli (fermented rice wine), Hite dry finish beer, and soju. A lot of soju, because a soju rep. was there and gave us a free bottle of his company's product which we happily drank. I left the restaurant very buzzed.

bottled makgeolli

After our fabulous dinner, we took a cab to Apjeoung (near Gangnam) to a club to see two K-pop bands. I had a Max beer which was on draft. We were munchy so we ordered french fries for 10,000 W. They were fine but not worth 10,000 W.

The first band we saw was New Me, an all girl band, and the singer had a strong voice and the keyboardist was solid. I don't remember the name of the second band. The singer wasn't as good and the music wasn't as pop-y.

After that, we called it a night and took the cab back to the subway. It was an amazing day. Unique food experiences, a beautiful palace hideaway, and K-pop. What more can one want from Seoul?

Seoul, Day 4 - The DMZ is as Strange as You Would Expect

Hubs and I decided to take the DMZ tour. The bus left from The Lotte Hotel, perhaps the most chichi hotel I've ever been in. Our bus was filled with 13 year-old international students on a field trip. I was immediately worried, but they turned out to be relatively quiet and well-behaved.

Our first stop was at the Odusan Unification Observatory where we saw a typical living room and classroom modeled after present day North Korea. It looked like time stopped in the 50's.

A North Korean defector told her heart-breaking story about leaving her family, and escaping with her friend whose small child drowned along the way. She ended up in China and was able to fly to Cambodia and ended up back in South Korea. Her friend wasn't so lucky and was sold into human trafficking in China. Very harrowing. It's hard for me to imagine risking my life to leave my home.

After that, we went to the Freedom Bridge at Imjingak where POW's were exchanged after the war. There's also a rusted-out train coated with bullet holes which is kind of neat.

Banners at the Freedom Bridge

Our lunch was provided at a traditional Korean restaurant where you sit on the floor.

Bulgogi was thinly sliced beef marinated in what tasted like soy, ginger, garlic, and honey (there's a sweetness to it) cooked with onion. The meat cooks in front of you, and there was a station where you could refill any condiments at will. More kimchi, please! I liked wrapping the bulgogi in lettuce with rice. Delicious.

After lunch, we went to Panmunjeom, where the DMZ is, the area at the North and South Korean border that is "neutral." Panmunjeom is only a few meters deep and is guarded by UN soldiers. It consists of a set of UN buildings situated directly where the two borders meet.

The entire time we were there, North Korean soldiers watched us through binoculars. It was surreal, to say the least.

See the soldier standing in front of the large building in the background? He's watching us through binoculars.

We were allowed into the UN buildings used for diplomat meetings between the two nations.

The concrete strip marks the border between North and South Korea, so I was technically standing on North Korean soil when this photo was taken.

On the way back to Seoul, we stopped at the Bridge of No Return. On this bridge, POW's were given the choice whether or not to return to North Korea. If they chose to go back they could never return. Maybe it was lack of leaves on the trees, but it felt haunted in its desolation.

We took the bus back to Seoul and wandered around the Namdaemun Market, which had all sorts of crazy food stands.

Japchae (stir-fried vegetables and glass noodles) stuffed fried bread.

Pork bun.

Sausage breaded with fish cake. I didn't know it was fish cake when I ordered. I wish I could say I liked this, but I didn't. Too fishy for me. But so many Koreans were eating them, I had to try it. Hubs didn't like it either. The sausage was good, though. Similar to a spicy Polish.

From there, we walked down to Meong-dong and wandered around. We found a cute coffee shop and cozied up with a caramel macchiato.

The DMZ tour was expensive at 70,000 W per person (this includes lunch), but it was a great history lesson. The tour educated me on the plight of North and South Koreans, and the experience enhanced the whole trip because I felt a stronger, more personal connection with the country. I fully recommend the tour and think it's worth the splurge.