Asia Report #7 - Korea Wrap-Up

I got an email from Dan this morning/last night. He said he ate crickets and spicy frogs in Laos! I want him to do a guest post on The PSG & CLC, but I bet it will be something like: "The crickets were crunchy. The frogs were spicy." I'm glad I wasn't there. I have no interest in eating bugs intentionally. Ever.

To wrap up Korea, I forgot to mention that before our rain-soaked eating adventure in Myeong-Dong, we had another rain-soaked day. We met up with Sueun, another sorta relative who had lived at my parents' house for about a year to study English and just a few months ago had gone back to Korea. The three of us wound up going to an area called Insadong, known for its traditional buildings, art galleries and artisan shops.

We walked up a narrow street and settled upon a restaurant called Woori Nara Manseh - which roughly translates to Hooray for Our Country! It's a line from the Korean national anthem. The restaurant had a lot of character, which was a nice change from the kind of sterility that plagues a lot of Korean restaurants. Dan and I sat on a bench that was also a swing. It was nice to sway a bit while eating. He and I both got the bulgogi, while Sueun got the vegetable bibimbop. Once again, there was a bounty of tasty banchan, including these just tender enough potato shoestrings slightly glazed in sesame oil, as well as a small bean paste jigae (not quite as good as the one we had in Suwon). Dan also had a Cass with his lunch and it was then he decided that Hite was his favorite Korean beer.

After lunch, the rain was coming down even harder, so we decided to hit Lotte World - an indoor amusement park. There, I ordered some not very good takoyaki and Dan burned his mouth by eating an entire not yet cooled down piece. I also got a wicked headache, which caused us to cancel our dinner plans.

Some random food related thoughts:
• Napkins in Korea are tiny and impossible to keep on your lap.
• I don't like Korean butter or margarine or whatever the substance they put on sandwiches, which I'd normally be very pro about, but has a terrible artificial taste, like Pam. Come to think of it, the takoyaki pans were sprayed with this ill-tasting stuff as well.
• You can eat and drink for very cheap in Korea as long as you stay away from the Westerny places.

Ok and one non food related thought:
• What is up with the communal toilet paper dispensers in this country, that is if they even provide TP at all! Most of the stalls don't have a dispenser. Instead you have to grab some on your way in. I find this maddening.