Friday began with the continued Korea Food Fest in MyungDong (명동), at an AMAZING chicken place called Young-Yang Center (영양센타). This place specializes in rotisserie chicken and chicken stew. This is the BEST rotisserie chicken that I have ever had…WOW. The chicken was moist, tender, fresh, and juicy. But the best part was actually the skin – crispy, crunchy, buttery (but I don’t think they used any butter), after the crunch, it just MELTS! We’re going back Wednesday as our last meal.
The rotisserie chicken mentioned above...moist, juicy, with AMAZING crunchy skin!
Mother's lunch, Korean Chicken soup (삼개탕)...amazing!
Friday night we went to stay with another one of my mother’s childhood best friend's family, the Choi family (I subsequently ended up calling her as my aunt as well). This aunt and her family was one of coolest and the most generous people that I have ever met. First, they rent for us a private luxurious apartment to stay overnight. This was one of the most beautiful and luxurious condo that I had ever stayed in and I got to sleep on a BED (as opposed to sleeping on a floor, a Korean custom, will explain in a later blog) and in a room all by myself! I was extremely sorry that I did not take any pictures of this place, I think I was so excited about the bed to think about anything else.
Dinner with the Choi's, featuring Korean eel BarBQ! Never had it, but was AMAZING!
eel being BarBQ'd...
Many ways to eat the BarBQ eel...you can eat it by itself, or wrapped in kimchi like the picture above...
eel lettuce wrap with Korean hot paste, garlic, ginger
Good times with the Choi's!
The next morning, our family and the Choi’s left for SurAk Mountain (설악산), located in Korea’s Eastern shore GongWonDo (강원도), it is one of the top national parks in Korea. Because we had to take 2 cars, I ended up spending most of my time bonding with the Choi’s son GookJin (국진…I just called him Jin). Jin was an awesome guy who taught me a lot about Korean pop music and we talked a lot about cultural differences between Korea and America.
Driving to SurAk Mountain...
Observatory in SurAk Mountain...
Taking the sky lift to the highest point in SurAk Mountain
Scary!!
Jin and I hiking up the rest of the way to the top of SurAk Mountain
If you follow our finger, you see a TINY Korean flag marking the highest point in SurAk Mountain...Jin and I decided to climb up to the top!
Success! We made it!!
View on top of SurAk mountain
Climbing down the mountain...ok, fake picture, we did trick few people :)
There is a huge Buddhist temple on top of SurAk Mountain...this is a statue that was next to the temple. This statue was HUGE! Look at the people to the left for size perspective!
Shopping for fresh caught seafood for dinner!
Picking out our dinner...first you purchase the fresh, LIVE, seafood...
Then the ladies in the back cut the seafood and prepare the Sashimi (raw fish) for you to eat! Then...
Then you take the tray of Sashimi to the restaurant upstairs. The restaurant takes the bones and unused parts of the fish and prepare a hot fish soup for you to have with the sashimi
Tray of Sashimi...
Delicious Sea Urchin ... don't be grossed out, it's a delicacy!
Night life at the hotel began with midnight ping pong...only in Korea :)
Nightlife continues with good times int he arcade...
Played Indy 500 in Korea...I lost to Jin
We spent the night in an AMAZING hotel/condo that the Choi’s rented out for us in SurAk Mountain. This is one of Korea’s top hotel/condo (another night on a BED!) and it had an amazing view of the Korea’s mountains. Saturday morning we had a great breakfast and headed to visit PakDam Mountain (백담사). This was a beautiful mountain that housed another Buddhist temple at the top of the mountain. This mountain is also famous because a former Korean president was sent there to repent for his crimes (after he did some time in normal prison as well). After PakDam Mountain, we agreed to meet the Choi’s for dinner later on in the week and came back home. I was so happy to meet the Choi’s and Jin, they are amazing people and I’m looking forward to hanging out with them again!
The room in PakDam mountain where the former president stayed
Buddhist monk praying inside the temple, believers making an offering, bowing, and praying
If you can throw your coin into the dish in the middle of the pond, your wish will come true. Here is Jin making his shot!
My aunt making her shot!
People build these prayer rock piles. If you can build your pile without them falling, your prayer will come true. If they fall while your building them, you will have bad luck. If you knock off other people's pile, you will have bad luck. Higher the pile, greater the reward.
I built a pile...not a big one...afterall, I'm catholic :)
Inside the temple
Hanging out at the temple
When we came back, I met up with my cousin SungMin (승민), who wanted to take me out to dinner. He took to me an AMAZING Korean buffet, Marisco Sushi & Seafood Buffet located in DaeHakLo (대학로). After doing a lap around the buffet, I decided to eat at least ONE bite of every single entrée in this buffet…I came close :) Here are some of the pictures of my buffet food crawl…again, don’t judge me….ready, set, GO:
Cakes of every flavor, fruit juice
Did you get a photo of Sung Min? Isn't that the young man who lived with you in Blue Ball? Tell him I said hello.
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