Changdeokgung Palace

This is the main gate to Changdeokgung Palace. The Palace is inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and is therefore a duly protected site.

It's within walking distance from Gyeongbokgung Palace. I've been inside on previous occasions, and the Secret Garden is just lovely. Unfortunately I don't have any photos suitable for sharing on this blog, except the following.



These are some photos of the changing-of-guards ceremony reenacted for the many tourists (and locals) that flock to the Palace.



The guard changing ceremony is held twice daily, and typically lasts about 20 minutes or so.

Gyeongbok Palace

Gyeongbok Palace (경복궁, transliterated, Gyeongbok Gung) is one of Seoul's top tourist attractions, if you're into royal palaces and that sorta thing.

I shan't bore you with its history, simply because I know nothing of it. If you're interested, an excellent article on Gyeongbok Palace can be found here. The internet is abundant with info on this Palace as well - just google it.

Tourist related info (opening hours, transportation, tickets, etc.) can be found here. More photos and an excellent overview map of the Palace grounds and how much is NOT opened to the public can be viewed here.

Instead, I'll just share some of the photos I took from my recent trip there, circa November 2004. The gloomy winter overcast isn't particularly camera-friendly, so be forewarned. Beware dial-up users - lots of photos ahead.


(This overview map flicked from www.visitseoul.net)



The guards at the outer gates to the palace (somewhere approximating no. 1 on the map).



The main gate to the outer courtyard (no. 2 on the map). Ticketing booths are to the right - KRW1,000 per adult.



Closer shot of the above. Note the 12 animals of the lunar calendar on the roof. They're on the roof of most of the structures here.



Shot of the gate from the inside, opposite direction.



Gate to the inner courtyard (no. 4 on the map).



The main hall (no. 8 on the map). Note the stone stumps to the left and right of the walkway - I was told that that's suppose to be markers indicating who stands where - they're each inscribed with the names of the respective ministers, generals and other senior government officials.

Also note the slightly elevated path in the centre of the walkway.



Here's a side profile shot. The centre path, of highest elevation, is reserved for the King. You'll see this elevated pathway throughout the grounds of the Palace.



The main hall (no. 8 on the map).



Close-up of the main hall.



The courtyard surrounding the main hall (no. 7 on the map).



The inside of the main hall.



That's the King, looking well after all these years.



A piece of artifact from the good old days - a sundial.



A nice tree.



Small park within the palace grounds (no. 11 on the map). Busloads of tourists from Thailand on this day.



This pagoda like structure (no. 22 on the map) is quite a beauty. It's actually one of the three inter-connected buildings housing the National Folk Museum.

Hope you enjoyed the photos.

Duck Bossam & Soondubu Jiggae

Today we're having dinner at Nolboo Bossam (놀부보쌈), one of the many branches of the Nolboo chain of restaurants. There's Nolboo this and Nolboo that everywhere in Korea.

You can't miss their branding, which looks like this:



In particular, I wanted to try out their duck bossam. I haven't had duck since the last time I had duck, and I've been craving for some ever since I started craving for some.



Scoping the place out.



Panning right.



It started off with a large pot-sized bowl of jang gook, Korean bean-paste soup. If I needed to draw a comparison, this would be the Korean counterpart of the Japanese miso soup. The soup had chuncky bits of mustard leaves and chinese cabbage in a dwenjang-based soup stock (bean paste soup). Warm, salty and a nice start to the meal.



This is the main course. Smoked duck bossam (오리훈제보쌈 - ori hoonjae bossam; ori=duck, hoonjae=smoked, bossam=stuffed kimchi). KRW20,000.

The side dishes are pretty straight forward stuff - mix of corn, diced cucumber, potatoes & carrots in mayo dressing, garlic and fresh green chili slices, samjang (mix of bean paste and chili paste) and pickled cucumber.



Clockwise from 12 o'clock : green lettuce (상추 - sang chu) leaves, shredded onions (양파 - yang pa) tossed in vinegar, sugar and light dash of dried chili flakes, the smoked duck, arrowroot (칡뿌리 - chilburi) kimchi and fresh chinese cabbage (배추 - bae chu) leaves. At the centre is the honey mustard sauce.

Grab either of the cabbage or lettuce leaves, pick a bit of everything and stack them on your vege, roll/wrap it all up and stuff it into your mouth in one go. Yummy!!



The duck is deboned and the resultant fillet is then rolled, tied and smoked. The smoked meat is then sliced and slightly baked before serving. The smell of smoked meat immediately hits you as the dish makes its way to the table. Think grilled bacon and you're not far off.

The meat lacked that "ducky" flavour that I had hoped for, with the "smoky" component overpowering any "ducky" elements of the meat. The meat is best savoured on its own; adding the other condiments to your palm wrap distracts you from enjoying the full flavours of the meat.

An interesting way of taking your duck nonetheless.



This is another house speciality, the arrowroot kimchi, or referred to here as kimchi bossam (김치보쌈). Sweetish, not overly spicy despite the misleading red and offers a nice crunch to the bite.



After a quick poke test on the tummy to confirm there's still space in there for more, I ordered another of the house speciality, the soondubu jiggae (순두부 찌개) + dolsot bab (돌솥밥) set.

The photo above is the soondubu jiggae, or soft tofu spicy stew.



There's some decent-sized prawns in there, some clams and just the right amount of silky smooth soft beancurd. The stock obviously benefitted from the use of fresh prawns (as opposed to dried shrimps which is more commonly used), and coupled with the right blend of chili paste, infused the jiggae with the desired oomph. Thumbs up.



This is the dolsot bab (돌솥밥), or hot pot rice. The sight of this instantly reminded me of claypot chicken rice, a favourite with the locals in Singapore and Malaysia. Anyway, getting back to this ....



Uncovering the wooden lid reveals this. The rice is boiled in this stone bowl over an open flame, and nearing the end, is topped with some kidney beans and a small cut of sweet potato. The rice is soft, moist, and just the slightest hint of sweetness and is the perfect companion to the soondubu jiggae. The soondubu + dolsot bab set costs KRW5,500.

Hope you enjoyed my meal as much as I did.

Yong Pyong Resort

OK. The previous post was my feeble attempt at comedy. Not very good, I know. Sorry .....

My New Year was spent at Yong Pyong Resort, and boy did I spend! The Yong Pyong (Ski) Resort is in Gangwon-do, the province east of Seoul. It's approximately 200 kilometres from Seoul, or about 2.5 hours by road. Several days if you walk from Seoul though. Yong Pyong, along with Muju Ski Resort, are the largest two in South Korea in terms of slopes, lifts, facilities and acreage.

I did notice, which isn't very hard as you see it everywhere, that the Resort goes all out to brand itself as "Yong Pyong All-Season Resort", highlighting that it's not just a winter destination. There's golf, trekking, blah blah blah .... anyway we're here for the snow and skiing. So let's go.

(p/s : ignore the time stamp on the photos - they're all screwed up)



Stayed at the Dragon Valley Hotel - KRW240,000 per room per night. Pricey for what I would regard as a very basic room. Sorry no photos of the room.

This is the check-in lobby.



This is the hotel's smallish (12-15 tables) coffee house right at the end. Had dinner there one night, KRW15,000 average per person for a plate of fried rice or chicken main course. The entrance to the Korean restaurant is to the right of the coffee house entrance in the photo above, just after the wine racks.



The Hotel's lounge, complete with fireplace, which is purely for show though. The burning of 2 puny logs isn't going to warm my -8 degrees body.



An overview of the main slopes. They look like ants on a sugar hill. This shot was taken from the hotel room.

The building to the right is the Dragon Plaza Ski House, which is the main ski complex. More on that later.



The walk from the Hotel to the slopes is only a short one, some 100 metres or so. Exiting from the hotel, you're greeted with this view.



This is the Dragon Plaza. This is where you get to rent your equipment (if you don't own your own) and lockers, dressing rooms, ticketing booth for the ski lifts, eateries, pro shops, ski schools and the medical facility. Speaking of the latter, there sure was a lot of ankle twisting going on there that day.

The ski rental rates are pretty decent. You can get suited up with skis, boots and poles for about KRW25,000 or thereabouts. Snowboard rentals are about 25%-30% more.

Complete info at their website if you need to know.



A fine day to be skiing or boarding. Clear skies, sunny weather .....



.... and about 2,000 people screaming their way down the hills.

Oh, and if you happen to see the many craters in the snow on your way down, that would be where my body and the ground met. My apologies if you happened to be one of those that fell into it that day.



The hills at night. Night skiing lasts until midnight. Impressive use of floodlights.



Obviously, it's less crowded during the nights, so it's an ideal time to try out that new three and a half somersault + back-flip routine that's been playing in your head for months.



Although it may not seem apparent from the photo above, it actually snowed pretty hard the next day. I can't seem to capture any snowflakes on my digicam. Anyway, trust me - it was snowing.



And yet the queue for the ski lifts doesn't cease.



I had set aside the last day to take the gondola (cable car) up to the peak of Mount Balwang. I was hoping to catch the supposedly great view from up there at Dragon Peak. It's too bad the weather was not permitting, and the gondola services were halted in view of the strong winds. You can't see Dragon Peak from down here. It's tucked away somewhere at the back of the immediate hills. Well, just my luck. Maybe next time.

Oh, and how could I not mention this. Yong Pyong is also where many of THAT popular TV series, Winter Sonata's scenes were shot. So it's no surprise to see Management capitalising on this with not-so-subtle hints and cut-up posters of the series' main stars strewn everywhere. If you're a fan of Winter Sonata, you'll feel right at home. You can all play a game of "remember this is where ..... " and "yes yes this is the spot where Bae Yong Jun kissed Choi Ji Woo" and so on .... needless to say, I'm not a fan.

All in all, it was a great start to the New Year. Hope you enjoyed the photos, even if they're not gastro-porn.

Gamja Tang

My first post of 2005. Happy New Year, everyone.

Today we're having gamja tang (감자탕), which means potato soup.



The place.



The meal



... or what's left of it.



Burp!