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Gastro Tour Seoul @ The K-Style Hub
This past week, I was invited by the founder of Gastro Tour Seoul, Veronica Tae-Ahn Kang, to attend a tour at the new K-Style Hub. I’ve of course heard about Gastro for a few years but just hadn’t had the chance to go on a tour so I jumped at the invitation. The K-Style Hub is the new tourist information center downtown and is really modern and chic inside, a great step up from the previous location. The three floors that make up the hub are split into a floor for all the info a tourist could possibly need from culture and history to medical tourism as well. Not only…
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Ansan Mountain In Seoul Is A Cherry Blossom Best Kept Secret
If you’re looking for a beautiful cherry blossom spot in Seoul you might not have heard about, here it is: Ansan Mountain. When the cherry blossoms begin to bloom in Seoul, the city awakens from the winter and it is gorgeous. There are some really popular cherry blossom hot spots to find like Yeouido Island, Seokchon Lake or Namsan Mountain where Namsan Tower/N Seoul Tower sits, but there are also just cherry blossoms cherry blossoms cherry blossoms everywhere you look. It’s actually really common for people to walk out their front doors only to realize that their street was lined with cherry blossom trees all year but they didn’t realize…
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An Amazing Bamboo Forest on Geoje Island
On a recent trip to Geoje Island in Korea for a business meeting, my host took me to a bamboo theme park or the Maengjongjuk Theme Park (맹종죽테마파크). I was pleasantly surprised when we came upon the natural 90,000 square meter bamboo forest on the side of a hill. If you’re looking to enjoy the beautiful nature of Geoje Island, definitely check out this bamboo forest. Get ready to find this bamboo forest on Geoje Island in Korea: (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking. Thank you for your support.) Basic Info Address: 700 Geojebuk-ro, Geoje-si, Gyeongsangnam-do…
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Every Single Day: Nothing Of It & An Interview
The Korean indie band Every Single Day has released their 6th full length album titled Nothing Of It. Nothing Of It features new songs and also some old favorites that have been re-done or collaborated on. “Tick Tock”, originally from the drama Pasta, the first drama the band wrote and produced music for back in 2010, was reworked with the female vocal styling’s of Lee Sang Yu (이상유) of Rocket Tree (로켓트리). When discussing how they chose the songs to pull from their past, Sung Nam explained that “on the original Pasta OST we thought “Tick Tock” didn’t sound as good as it could so that’s why we chose to give it a make-over on…
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Bongeunsa Temple: The Must See Korean Temple In Gangnam
Bongeunsa Temple (봉은사) is definitely one of the most popular Korean temples in Seoul along with Jogyesa temple. The popular temple sits in the ritzy Gangnam-gu area and tourists from near and far stop by as it’s an easy temple to find while out and about. While most of Korea’s Buddhist temples are set up in mountains entailing at least a short walk or hike into a forest, Bongeunsa is one of a few temples in Seoul that sprawls over an expanse that sits just beyond a major thoroughfare, though of course it wasn’t planned to be that way. While I would direct tourists to take the time to hike…
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My Top Ten Adventures of 2015!
Much like 2014, not all of the adventures I undertook this year involved traveling yet this year managed to be extremely adventurous and full of first time experiences. I love looking back at my year and appreciating everything that I’ve done. It’s always fun to reminisce and be thankful for the experiences, events, people and more that I have had, gone to and met. I hope that everyone takes the time to recall their year as we near the end and I hope that everyone has at least a few moments to smile upon and be grateful for. Here are my top ten adventures of 2015! (This post contains affiliate…
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Korean Food: What to Know About Oritang
While it looked similar and it had duck as the main ingredient, it wasn't as thick as the oritang that I had become accustomed to eating in the north. My father-in-law explained that this was actually oritang and what I had wanted based on my description was oribaesuk (오리백숙). I had never heard of the latter and was sure that my teacher friends had always ordered the former, but it seems there is quite a difference.
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Every Single Day: Rocking Out With a New Album
My husband, Jae-oo Jeong, has been super busy lately in the studio with his bandmates jamming and recording new songs as well as collaborating with other bands on old songs for an upcoming sixth album, Nothing of it. To get people pumped, they’ve been releasing a couple digital singles each month for the past two months and will continue to do so for another couple until they release their entire album at the end of November. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.) Every Single Day has worked…
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Taean-gun: A Guide To The Beaches, Forests, and More!
Summer in Korea can be hot, humid, and a weekend away to the coast is an absolute must to cool off. During the summer, the humidity can be so immense in Seoul that taking a walk is more like swimming through hot heavy air. The only cure to really get that deep breath is to find a coast with breezes blowing this way and that and calming ocean tide sounds. While I usually recommend heading to the gorgeous beaches with white sand and emerald blue waters on the east coast of Korea in the Sokcho and Gangneung areas, the west coast has some hidden gems too like the rocky seaside…
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What’s A Mother To Do? No Changing Tables In Korea
It's fairly easy to take her out without causing much of a scene, but one thing I've noticed again and again is that wherever we go, if she were to need a changing, there wouldn't be anywhere to do it. Bathrooms just aren't equipped with the necessary changing table and though in the past five years bathrooms around Seoul have generally seen a big upgrade in cleanliness, they are far from clean enough to change a baby if there isn't a changing table available. What's a mother to do?
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Maybe Doesn’t Mean Maybe In Korean
Maybe is one of those words that loses its meaning, or the subtlety of the word, in translation. While most English speakers will use 'maybe' to mean 'possibly but most likely no', Koreans will generally use 'maybe' to mean 'yes'.
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Live Music Fun This Summer!
It’s difficult to imagine a better way to enjoy summer than with friends, some drinks and live music. The warm weather is begging people to get outside and the music festival summer extravaganza is about to kick off! Here’s a list of the festivals to look out for to listen to live music and dance the summer away: 1. HaeBangChon May Festival May 22-23, 2015; HaeBongChon local bars & pubs, Seoul This year is the 10th anniversary of HBC fest and if you’re looking for a good way to kick off the summer with some good eats, craft beer and loads of foreign bands, this is the local fest for…
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How To Perform A Korean Jesa Ceremony
Jesa (제사) ceremonies are performed to honor the ancestors that have come before and paved the way for those that live today and the Lunar New Year is one time during the year that almost everyone partakes in the memorial rite.
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How To Set The Table for Jesa
On Seollal, before anything else, family members awake very early to cleanse themselves and dress in nice clean clothes. They may even wear a Hanbok, a traditional Korean style of clothing. Next, the table will be set. The table setting varies from region to region and family to family, but there are some basic rules that are followed everywhere.
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Learning Korean Can Be Laugh Out Loud Funny: Funny Korean Words & Phrases
Learning a new language is a difficult task for anyone. Some of my favorite words or phrases are the ones that are just so literal in my own language that they are hilarious. Here have been some of my favorites that I still try to splice into conversation even if it's just to make myself chuckle a little.