{Agra Indian Restaurant} Seoul

If you're looking for some authentic Indian flavours you need to head to Agra in Myeongdong, Seoul. This delightful ghetto styled restaurant currently has an amazing lunch special for W9800. This includes a green salad (don't let is name fool you into thinking its boring and plain), a choice of curry and rice, naan bread and a coffee/lassi to end things off with.

When not eating something off their 'special lunch menu' the meals are pretty pricey and the portions aren't very big. Definitely worth a stop for their lunch special.

There are a few branches of Agra in Seoul (one in Itaweon above the Burger King and another somehwere else). We went to the one in Myeongdong, on the third floor just behind VIPS. 

Address:

Myeongdong Bldg. 3F, 52-13 Myeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Directions:

Walk out of Myeongdong Subway stop, exit 5/6/7/8 and head down the busy road with the giant Uniqlo. Turn left at Dunkin Donuts, then turn left again after 5 minutes at the VIPS. Its a little way up that street on the 3rd floor.

Have you eaten there before? What did you think? Any other recommendations for Indian restaurants in Seoul?

Gochangeup Fortress, Gochang

On Sunday, Farmboy and I (along with our new Saffa friend Lauren) went off to explore the Gochang-eupseong Fortress (고창읍성) in Gochang (Jeonbuk Province). It was a mere 40 minute bus ride from our town of Buan and cost W4600 each one way. We even had blue sky on Sunday(the first blue skies since being here) which added to the natural beauty of the fortress.

Geochang-eup was built during the early Joseon Dynasty. It is sometimes called Moyangseong, possibly because the Gochang area was called Moryangburi during the Baekje period.

It is surrounded by Bandeungsan, a guardian mountain to the east, and has three gates to the east, west and north, two floodgates, and a covering tower.

A stroll along the fortress walls brings you to a beautiful bamboo forest,. Standing in front of it you feel dwarfed by the sheer size of the natural shoots towering over you. It was eerily quiet around the bamboo forest, giving the area a mystical ambiance.

The entrance fee for the fortress is W1000.

For more info here is a link to the official website (and its in English!)

Here is a map of the fortress and the surrounding area:

*Myeongdong* and *shopping* and *food* oh my!

In our previos post on Myeongdong, we recommend going there if you could just go ther for the shopping. Well they have loads of cool restaurants and things to see too :)

Here were some of our highlites:

Lunch at this crazy delicious Indian & Nepalese Restaurant called Om Dristi

Then shopping up a storm at Forever21

And then coffee in the ultra posh area of Sinsadong

Finally ending off with supper at *most* people's favourite watering hole when your in a rush and strapped for cash:

All in all a very successful day in Seoul!

*Myeong-dong* Seoul

So living in/visiting Korea would just not be complete without a trip to the massive shopping district that is Myeong-dong.

Of course you've got to also see Yangsan Electronics market to pick up some cheap technological, Seoul Tower (we are still to go!!) and a host of the other awesome cool markets like Insadong for traditional Korean souvenirs,Namdaemun & Dongdaemun as well as Hongdae for a bit of a student vibe and cheap & funky places to eat...but really...if you only can go to one place for your shopping, go to Myeongdong!

Why not make a few days of your explorations of Seoul. Here are some great backpackers to stay at:

Blu Guest House close to Hongdae

Hong Guest House in the Seogyo-dong area

Banana Backpackers in near Insadong and their other location near Namdaemun

Directions

1. From Exit No. 5 of Euljiro Ipgu Subway Station (Seoul Subway Line No. 2), walk 10 minutes.

2. From Exit No. 5, 6, 7, or 8 of Myeong-dong Subway Station (Seoul Subway Line 4), walk 5 minutes

Seoul: *crackdown* on bad taxi drivers

Has a Seoul taxi ever refused to take you where you want to go? Especially on frigid or rainy nights?

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced a package of penalties and incentives yesterday to put finicky cabbies in their place, especially those who refuse fares or drop passengers off short of their destinations.

Seoul will designate one day a week as an “on-site crackdown day” and police will scour 20 locations for uncooperative cabbies, including Gangnam, Express Bus Terminal, Hongdae, Jongno, Yangjae, and Dongdaemun.

A driver who is caught refusing a fare will be fined up to 200,000 won ($181) for the first offense. For a second offense, the driver will have his license suspended for 10 days. A third offense will lead to a 20-day suspension, and the license will be revoked if a driver is caught a fourth time.

The government will also crack down on call-taxi drivers who turn off their radio receivers, through which they get passengers. Cabbies often turn off the receivers late at night to avoid fares to unfavored destinations.

At the same time, the government will reward call-taxi drivers who take passengers from 10:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. with 2,000 won to 3,000 won per fare. Part of the reward will go to the driver and part to his company. But the incentive will not be offered to call-taxi companies that employ drivers who are caught turning off receivers. And the company’s license will be scrapped if caught a second time.

The 120 Dasan Call Center received 15,165 complaints from passengers who reported they were rejected by taxis in 2010, up 13 percent from 2009. Kim Mi-ju

As we don't live in Seoul, we haven't experienced and bad taxi drivers (although we have definitely been in some pretty nasty taxi's in Daejeon).

Good for you Seoul!

P.S The following is from a great online Korean newspaper called the Korean Joongang Daily (*in English*) that you should check out to stay up to date on current affairs :)

Night time + snow = *fun on the slopes*

Seeing as we just *cannot* get enough of the snow here in South Korea, we again took *full* advantage of the wonderful hospitality of our fellow saffa (South African) friends up North in and around Wongju, and joined them for another few days of skiing.

This time, we hit the slopes  during the darker hours... If you're really lucky, you might even make a few friends along the way:

Its super cold at night, so make sure make sure you bundle up and eat plenty or ramen at the top or bottom of the slopes.

Above all else, have fun! And please don't do what some of our friends have done in the past and whack your head while trying to land super awesome jumps resulting in heavy concussion and loss of vision...it's a tough place out there, so take care of your pip!

*directions to Sungwoo Ski Resort from Daejeon*

• Head to the Dongbu Bus Terminal (the following buses go there 2, 102, 105, 106, 201, 501, 601, 602, 607, 611, 616, 701, 802 ) and then buy a ticket for Wongju *W10 400 each*. The bus takes about 2 1/2 hours to get to the Wongju Bus Terminal.


• From there, there is a free shuttle bus which will take you to Sungwoo Resort (about an hour journey). The bus stops opposite the Terminal and unfortunately the only time I know that it goes is 10 50 am.


• If you miss this bus, there is a pay bus which goes to Sungwoo Resort from Wongju Bus Terminal and costs W5 100.

• The price of ski/snowboard rental varies, but we were lucky to have friends with season passes which meant we got a huge dicount, only paying W15 000 to hire ski’s and clothing. The usual price is between W30 000 and W40 000

A great place to rent stuff is **ROCKY SKI CLUB**, their email is jj3623@hanmail.net and phone number is 033 342 8768/ 070 8690 8768 but get a Korean friend to help you as they can only speak a little English. They are super friendly and super helpful, and may even hook you up with a discount ski lift and gondola pass meaning you will only pay W32 000 each for a session lasting about 4 hours.

*Skiing* in South Korea...Hyundai Sungwoo Resort

*weheartit*

The majority of South Africans (*we may stand to be corrected on this one though*) have never been skiing, or set foot, in as much snow as here in South Korea. The first time i saw the snow falling from my classroom window about 2 months back, I remember being much more fascinated by it than the kids. Having even to take a 5 minute break from my lesson to go outside and play in it :)
And along with the snow, comes the snow sports!!! Yippee! I'm talking about the fun that is skiing, sledding and of course snowboarding! We can't talk for the snownboarding as we have yet to pluck up the courage to hit the slopes with a board, but as for the sledding and the skiing we can put a huge *TICK* next to those two.  And the bonus, skiing is so incredibly cheap here
There are loads of places to ski here in Korea, but so far we can just give you information on one place, and that is **SUNGWOO resort**, about an hour outside of the city of Wongju, just over 2 hours away from Daejeon by bus.Click here for the official touristy website!
If you are planning on getting to Sungwoo from Daejeon here is what to do:

• Head to the Dongbu Bus Terminal (the following buses go there 2, 102, 105, 106, 201, 501, 601, 602, 607, 611, 616, 701, 802 ) and then buy a ticket for Wongju *W10 400 each*. The bus takes about 2 1/2 hours to get to the Wongju Bus Terminal.
• From there, there is a free shuttle bus which will take you to Sungwoo Resort (about an hour journey). The bus stops opposite the Terminal and unfortunately the only time I know that it goes is 10 50 am.
• If you miss this bus, there is a pay bus which goes to Sungwoo Resort from Wongju Bus Terminal and costs W5 100.

• The price of ski/snowboard rental varies, but we were lucky to have friends with season passes which meant we got a huge dicount, only paying W15 000 to hire ski's and clothing. The usual price is between W30 000 & W40 000

A great place to rent stuff is **ROCKY SKI CLUB**, their email is jj3623@hanmail.net and phone number is 033 342 8768/ 070 8690 8768 but get a Korean friend to help you as they can only speak a little English. They are super friendly and super helpful, and may even hook you up with a discount ski lift & gondola pass meaning you will only pay W32 000 each for a session lasting about 4 hours.

The view of the resort from the top of the gondola

Getting our afternoon passes



Going up the ski lift for our first ski down the slopes

Only a short journery outside of Daejeon is Muju,  another Ski resort which a lot of our friends have been to, and which we are hoping to visit in the next few weeks so watch out for that! In the mean time, you can check out their website by clicking here.

If your here in Korea then get you bums out to a resort ANYWHERE and get on that snow! It's soooooo awesome!

Tour of the *D*M*Z*

After the recent bombing of Yeonpyeong here in South Korea, tours to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea had all been cancelled. That was up until a few weeks ago when tours to the DMZ were once again open to the public...yay for us as we had booked a tour withAdventureKorea and were holding thumbs that we would still be able to go. I mean a year living in Korea just wouldn't be complete without a trip there right :)

So this Sunday saw Farmboy and I up with the sparrows to make our way to Seoul (click here for booking train tickets in Korea*to join up with the rest of the tour group. The trip was really interesting and certainly gave us a look into life on the other side.

AdventureKorea were awesome, they picked us up from Hongik University Subway and the chartered bus, lunch and entrance fee's were all covered by the W41 000 fee! Not only did we have a really great cultural experience, but we met a really nice bunch of people too! Including some girls who live right close by to the armpit of Daejeon where we stay *thats the west most corner of this bustling metropolitan*

Here are some pictures...

Teachers Friendship Trip ~ Geunsan

This weekend it was time for our  Teachers Friendship Trip. This time we headed to Gunsan, a city in the North Jeolla Province, on the Western coast of South Korea. The biggest reason we headed there was to check out the seawall;

South Korea formally marked completion of the world's longest seawall in April 2010 , the first step in a massive project aimed at reclaiming the ocean for industry, tourism and agriculture by 2020.
The 33.9 kilometre (21 mile) Saemangeum seawall encloses 401 square kilometres (160 square miles) of seawater or tidal mudflats, about two thirds the size of Seoul.
"Saemangeum is the largest-ever engineering project in this country and will change the country's landscape," said President Lee Myung-Bak at the televised inauguration.
The government has so far spent 2.9 trillion won (US$2.6 billion) on the project, which began almost two decades ago but was repeatedly suspended amid a lawsuit by environmentalists.
Another 21 trillion won in state and private spending is envisaged over the next decade to reclaim land, build infrastructure and create giant freshwater reservoirs.
Lee called the structure, which incorporates a road, "the Great Wall on the sea", saying it would become an economic highway for South Korea to reach the world beyond Northeast Asia. Channel News Aisa

Ummm well ya, it's even in the Guinness Book of records! Anyway, we couldn't really see much, but anyways, it was great to have said I was there :)

After a few stops along the way, it was lunch!

After lunch at Kun San Seafood restaurant, it was time for some more picture stops...

And finally back on the bus for Noreabang (* karaoke* with ALL the teachers screaming at the top of their lungs and bouncing around the bus...beers in hand...and yes....I had to sing too)

A day in Daegu

This weekend we headed to Daegu to go and pick up a new lens for Farmboys Nikon camera. Someone was sellin their Nikon 200mm zoom lens for only W100 000! (thats about R600 or $100). The lens was a gift from the guys dad, and he hardly ever used it, so it was in great nic! For other great deals on every kind of item you can imagine, check out Daves ESL.

Daegu is only a 2 hour train ride from Daejeon (on the slow Mugunghwa train… click here for the KORAIL website to book your train tickets online). There is loads to see and do in Daegu, but once we arrived there we got sucked into the shopping ( we counted at least 5 seperate shopping malls! Not to mention the hundreds of other shops everywhere) and spent the whole day wondering around the busy streets and drinking coffee in cute cafe’s.

The shopping is all located downtown. To get there from the Train Station, go out exit 1 (which is right by the big Lotte Department Store) and then just walk straight (cross under the road) for about 10 minutes. You’ll end up right in the center of Downtown.

Primall is the name of the underground shopping where there are loads of great deals on Electronics…as well as the usual boutiques…

While we were walking around this really cool street performance started up right in front if us…it was bizarre but totally awesome.

The most delicious waffles ever. The coffee and waffle house is just opposite Bennigans and Burger King…

The cute little boy was chasing the bubbles he was blowing with his bubble gun…

If you have more time, then check out:
Mt. Palgong

“The mountain between North Gyeongsang Province and Daegu stands 1,193 meters high. It is as a famous mountain in Daegu and sits about 20 kilometers north from the center of the city. During the Shilla Dynasty, it was called “Bu-ak,” “Joong–ak,” and “Gong-san.” During the Goryo Dynasty, it was referred to as “Gong-san.” But in the Joseon Dynasty, the mountain came to be called by its current name “Palgong-san.” The area is the center of Buddhist culture in Korea and harbors many temples surrounded by its scenic rocks and streams. Azaleas bloom in the spring, while the luxuriant forests and clear fresh streams bring delight in the summer. Majestic golden-toned leaves dot the landscape and decorate the 16.3-kilometer roadway during the fall. In the winter, the snowy landscape is a must-see” Colourful Daegu.

There’s a big stone Buddah called Gat-bah-wi, and it’s said that he can make one of your wishes come true. You only get one so make it count!