Korea Life Blog - Jongro Cinecore Trip 3


Here are some more pictures from around Jongro.



An ajumma organizes handphone accessories in her porta-store. Can anyone set one of these stores up? Are they legal? Do you need a permit?



A nice shot here for once. The accessories are cute and everything and make nice gifts, but I don't want anything extra on my phone as I keep it in my front pants pocket. Most guys do. That's why I think handphone accessories are usually made for chicks who carry phones in their purses (or stuffed in their back pockets with the accessories hanging out). The only thing I would consider buying is a clear plastic handphone casing to keep the phone from getting scratched. I'd also buy a Gargamel accessory if they had one.




At first I thought this was an office building for American companies, but it turns out these are hagwon names. I wonder if royalties are being paid. Somehow I doubt it. I want to study at the National Geographic hagwon. My grandfather had a massive collection of the magazine in his basement. When I was a kid I'd go down and look through the African section for pictures of boobies. That lasted until I found my uncle's Playboy collection in the attic.




I love these little mandu porta-diners. There's nothing more pleasant to see in Seoul than steaming mandu on a cold winter day.




A kid watches the big screen on this movie promotion truck. Now, it's bad enough to be subjected to this kind of thing parked on a street, but it's much worse when it's driving around town and distracting already distracted drivers. Even more outrageous and funnier are the promotional girl trucks. Hot chicks dancing on a moving truck must be the most dangerous road hazard of all time, both for the girls and the general public.




A long line outside a TGIF. I don't know what the attraction is to this place is. Koreans love it. Maybe they don't really. Maybe they just think they do. Maybe girls want to go there because it looks cool and trendy, and maybe the guys want to impress their girlfriends. The food is average at best and the prices are high, especially with the extra (VAT) foreign restaurant tax. I guess I've been in Korea too long but I don't miss this style of food. And I don't want to contribute to the homogenizing of restaurants that has knocked out so many unique places to eat, especially in America. I'd much rather support a family owned place. I hope you feel the same.



Here's Julie looking in wonder at the ridiculously large Peppers 'N Garlic sign. What a name for a restaurant. Come to think of it, those two ingredients are found in pretty much every Korean food. The name is suddenly making my mouth water. I want to go back to Jongro and eat there! I'd much rather try this than a foreign franchise.




This is part of the English section in Youngpoong Bookstore located nearby in the Chonggak subway station. I prefer this place over Kyobo as it seems to have a better selection and it's less noisy and crowded.



Lots of materials for the ESL teacher as well. To the left is a Jenga styled Uno game and kids Monopoly. Hmm, I wonder how much class time I can kill with those.


I still have quite a few more pictures to post so see you again soon!

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Jongro Cinecore Trip 2



After walking and taking a bunch of pictures (which I'll get to sooner or later) we spotted the theater. To get there you get take the subway to Jongro 3 Ga, go out exit 15 and walk straight for about 5-10 minutes to the busy intersection and turn left.




Here's what's playing. The third one up is the Silmido poster. The building looks cool on the outside, but it's really a bad design. There's no escalator and there are huge lines for the 2 elevators. When you get to the floor of your movie, you have to wait around the hallway or on the stairs until the theater is ready.




This picture is self-explanatory. There's not a single thing I can elaborate on.



We were well over an hour early but the only seats left were in the second row.
I took this dark shot before the movie started. I was surprised to find hardly any foreigners were there; it was packed with Koreans. I'm not sure why Koreans would want to watch the movie with English subtitles. Either they were just curious, wanted to practice their English a little, or they just wanted to see the movie at that time. I'm assuming the latter, but it kind of defeats the purpose of the showing, seeing that many foreigners probably arrived to find tickets were sold out. All in all I spotted about 5 or 6 foreigners. Not what I expected.


As for the movie, I don't want to comment too much on it. While the story itself is very interesting, the film drags. It's over two hours and the scenes are repetitive, tiring and overly dramatic. A few scenes, especially near the end, are plain outrageous. Both Julie and I were anxious for it to end. However, some people seemed to really be getting into it. The Korean girl next to us kept crying. But for Julie and I it was pretty disappointing. Based on such a powerful story, it's a shame the movie just falls flat.


Stay tuned for the rest of the pictures from around Jongro.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - Jongro Cinecore Trip 1

Over the next few days I will show the pictures I took last Sunday when Julie and I went Jongro. We went to see Silmido, a new Korean movie, at Cinecore theater. This theater, to my delight, is experimenting with showing new Korean movies with English subtitles. Overall we had a great time. Grab a cup of coffee and come along with us.



I met Julie in Sadang station, as usual. Amazingly a bus goes right there from Nowhere-dong, the tiny town I live in outside of Suwon. I love the public transportation system in Korea. The bus comes every half-hour and the trip only takes between 45 minutes and an hour. The longer the better - I usually read a book. On this trip I read a few chapters of the classic Blue Highways, by William Least Heat Moon. Julie is looking good and fashionable as usual with her new coat, fresh haircut, and red bag. Too bad she walks away when she sees my camera.




The Korean subway system always amazes me. The trains come every couple of minutes and if you have to wait you can check out advertisements on these flat-panel screens. As if on cue, there's one now showing the movie we're going to see.




Before jumping on the train I whipped out the camera to take a pic. This foreigner snickered at me, as if to say, "Chi, look at this new guy taking pics of the subway." To spite him I'm posting this picture of his bald head. Muhahah! Take that, Mr. Experienced Goonball!





Once in Jongro, we walked around a bit and then stopped off to eat. Here's a shot of the menu.




I bet your just drooling right now. Look at this wonderful dish. It's kimchi U-dong, or kimchi and Japanese style noodle soup. Damn I love Korean food. My eyes practically popped out of their sockets when I saw this, the dish boiling hot, the delicious aroma, the warm steam on a cold day.



Surprise. Here I am indulging in my dinner. I'm just so happy. It's a perfect day, really. I'm in Seoul with my Korean baby, I'm eating wonderful food, we're going to a new movie, the night is ahead - I feel so happy and full of life!




And here she is, my gal. She ordered a Japanese styled pork cutlet, don cass. It was delicious; I know this, because we shared our meals. The only thing I don't like about eating with Julie is that she gets full very quickly. When she finishes she sits and watches me, making me feel like a complete pig. Look at her skinny body. Even though I exercise regularly and she doesn't, I just can't compete. And she likes to remind me a little to frequently that my stomach has been getting bigger. Thanks, Julie!

The delicious meal cost a meager 11,000 won. That's just under $10. There's no tax or tipping either, which still amazes me. I hoped you enjoyed the meal as much as I did. Stay tuned for the next part.

written by shawn matthews    -|link

Korea Life Blog - BBQ Chicken



Here's a nice combo set from the BBQ Chicken franchise. In my opinion they make the best fast food fried chicken in the world. In Korea pizza is served with pickles and chicken comes with sweet radishes. I guess they take the place of kimchi, which of course is served with most everything. This reminds me of the time my boss took us all out to dinner to a place of my choice. I chose the new fried chicken restaurant nearby. My boss wondered where the kimchi was and near the end of the meal he tried unsuccessfully to order rice. The sweet radishes shown here on the left are delicious and provides a nice balance to the greasy chicken. Notice the convenient refrigerator magnet with the beautiful woman and the BBQ phone number. Can she deliver my food please? By the way, those magnets also double as bottle openers. I just love all this packaging.



OK, enough of the boxes, here's the goods. I ordered the fried chicken and Julie the yang nyeom, barbecue sauce chicken. I prefer the fried dipped in the mustard sauce. The yang nyeom is also good, but that's a lot of sauce and, while delicious, it's messy and makes the chicken slimy. You can ask for the sauce on the side though. This set costs only 11,000 won , about $10, and comes with a free bottle of Pepsi. I love how tax is included and there's no tipping the delivery goonball.




As an added bonus for Christmas (yes, that was my Christmas dinner) the order came with a BBQ sponsored calendar. I have no idea what this garble means on the cover: "west coast call greg at the studio 310 east coast call carol chislosky in newyork"...sounds like some kind of secret message for hiphop gangsters. Then to the right is the Purina symbol and "samstago 20 hermanos patchekos" whatever that means. Who comes up with this stuff? I can do better! My BBQ calendar would read: "number 1 chicken, han guk bbq. dream the chicken. magic chicken."



I need a calendar, but I don't want to look at these cheese puff teeny boppers each month - although the girl band Jewlry is looking pretty damn good for August. I guess I'll put it away in a drawer for reference until August when I'll hang it up.


Stay tuned this week for pics about my exciting trip with Julie to the Cinecore theater in Jongro where we saw Silmido with English subtitles.

written by shawn matthews    -|link