Korea Trip Day 2

We woke up to the smell of a delicious food for breakfast courtesy of Mrs Yang. Although the weather outside was quite chilly, the sun shone brightly through the living room windows.

This young fellow must be wondering why are there so many guests staying in her house.

Mrs Yang cooked our family a full on breakfast in preparation for the upcoming journey to Seoul. On the plates you can see preserved lotus root, cucumbers, spinach, bean sprouts and tofu.

The grilled beef slices smelt absolutely wonderful after being marinated in bulgogi sauce for the night.

Strifried kimchi and pork stew.

This superb dish, 'tteokguk' is usually eaten during the new year. It consists of beef brisket, eggs, sliced rice cake, sesame oil etc. You can refer to the recipe here.

 The wonderful cook with her granddaughter.

We rendezvous at the church before getting on the bus to Seoul. 

This is one of, or perhaps the biggest Methodist church in Korea - Immanuel Methodist Church. From its humble beginnings after the war, it now has a office, bookstore, tuition classes, and accommodation for  international visitors such as our tour group.


The church is situated right across the road from Olympic Park. Only from this view could I really appreciate how vast was the city of Seoul.

Towards the mountains at the horizon, the city has a neatly planned grid of roads, townhouses, apartments, shop houses, and so on and so forth.

Interestingly Koreans have unique uses of English. On the left of the alley you can see a 'Mate Hotel'. I don't think I need to elaborate further on what is the hotel used for.

 What does 'Diesel warning, absolutestyle speederdesign' have to do with a fuel tank ?!

In the alleys of the bar and restaurant distrcit behind Immanuel Church, there is a blistering array of colorful signage and words interspersed with Korean characters.


Frankly speaking, I don't know what some of the words mean.


On the way to Lotte Mall, we saw some church ladies setting up a coffee station near a traffic light.

 Another monstrous Lotte tower is being build opposite the road from where the old Lotte World is.

  

In the evening, I had a pork cutlet steak for tea in one of the cheaper shops in the area.

 One thing's for sure, this meal ain't cheap - after converting, this is about RM 24 (about 8000 won) !

 

I was meeting a long lost friend - Jay at Olympic Park. Due to the sheer irony of NOT being able to purchase a prepaid SIM card in Seoul, I was forced to use a public telephone instead to contact me.

 The rays of the setting sun shine brightly through the center of the monument.

The Olympic Council of Malaysia left this stone here way back in 1988 during the 1988 summer Olympics.

It didn't take me long to find the Malaysian flag here.

I finally managed to meet Jay together with his wife. We went to an awesome Korean barbecue restaurant nearby.

Unfortunately I couldn't snap photos of the food as: 1. I didn't want my camera to smell like beef. 2. I was too hungry. But the food was really awesome, I must say ! ;)

 Thanks Jay and wife for a wonderful evening. I certainly had a blast talking to you guys !