Tees from TimidTales

I didn't set out to shop for the husband. I would get something if I see something. I thought I'd get him tees, but not those touristy designs. The material of those tees is terrible. Nothing popped out at me till I saw TimidTales Creative Studio. Oh wow, those graphics! They're awesome! Importantly, the tees were finally printed on a decent fabric. 

Loved the designs of 'Freedom Cat' and 'Friend'. Unfortunately they were out of sizes for tees in black. So I had to settle for black tees available in size L. Yeah, the husband has gone down to L for Asian sized tees. If it's American sizing, he's now an M. Too bad 'Angry Cat' wasn't available in the desired size anymore. I didn't need to dither over anything. I just swept up what I spied. Ended up with three tees and a tote bag. I didn't bother to get any tees for myself. That 'Angry Cat' tote bag is MINE. Heh. 

The husband loved the tees! These designs totally appeal to him. Of course where there are Korean words, I google-translated... just to be sure they aren't like super vulgar or something. Glad they fit him well.

Byeeeee Seoul!

Being decades-old friends doesn't mean that we can travel together. E, S and I can. We're compatible in terms of formulating to-do lists, and we complement one another's strengths and weaknesses. We have done do really fun and efficient work trips together, and we can do vacations together. 

I was quite prepared to navigate the streets to wherever we were headed if the girls weren't bothered. But S gamely took up the huge responsibility of using Naver to get us to where is needed. So I cautiously parked my brains and enjoyed her lead. I just didn't want her to feel overburdened. It's our vacation after all. E literally, and very merrily tagged along and handled all the accounts and timetables. LOLOLOL She only made it clear on one thing — 'do not pull me to the gym'. Walao. Sure, not much weights or sweat then. Well, she clocked her steps anyway. Hehehehe. Couldn't be more obliged to these gems.

We're just grateful that health, time and providence have allowed us to do trips together. Our approaches and attitude can be vastly different, but there's no need to fight on this trip because our outlook on finances, where to go and whether to do something are all similar. We seek a collaborative approach to meet objectives. This is not something taken for granted. Especially not for me. I do not compromise easily. 

I'm incredibly thankful for fine weather, smooth flights and a safe journey. Seoul has been so fun with these Seoul-mates, peppered with plenty of Seoul-ful moments. Till the next one, ladies!!! 🤍

Time to Pack Up

A week simply flew by. Before we knew it, it's time to pack up and go home. It has been such a much-needed break. I've been sleeping so well in Seoul without a dog to disturb my sleep. I went easy on the alcohol and carbs so that the GI tract isn't irritated. Every night, I've been having nine hours uninterrupted sleep. What a luxury! 

The housekeeping services have been unobtrusive and efficient. They noticed that in the room, we drank a lot more water than coffee or tea. So by Day 2, they gave us double the number of cartons of water. I'm just really tickled by the brand's PR spiel of 'Deep Water'.

The girls shopped and bought a whole lot more than me. They literally bought 5kg of dunno-what things each. E and S's suitcases only weighed 14kg coming into Seoul; they're going home with 22kg each. Ooooof. There's plenty of weight allowance in excess, but naaaah, we're not transporting gadgets or heavy ceramics. S would have bought another suitcase if she really wanted to. HAHAHAHAHA. 

I didn't do that much shopping. I can pack light, but if I don't need to, why bother. I came with 18.9kg and am going home with 20.5kg. LOL On this flight home, it's not a redeye. I'm not the least sleepy. But I'm still not a 'watch a film' person in-flight. I very much prefer to read. 

Lunch at SOUL

Made it to a lunch at SOUL 소울 at Yongsan-gu. I didn't exactly check with the girls if they would like to eat at this restaurant. I made the arbitrary decision to book this restaurant for lunch. Well, I kinda know their preferences. But this was mainly because I wanted to check out the neighborhood that isn't full of concrete buildings or anything close to Myeondong (that is not an area I like).

I didn't need to have a fancy meal in a fancy mall or a hotel. Give me some character in the location of the restaurant. Truly, the icing was a long afternoon stroll around the Haebangchon neighborhood located on the steep slopes. Navigate using Naver and get a ride via Uber. We had no problems getting to and fro the area. 

I love it that the restaurant made it casual-chic at lunch. We sat at the counter that wrapped the open kitchen and immediately felt comfortable. We loved its ambience. The lunch menu at SOUL 소울 was excellent. I actually didn't do that much homework before coming to lunch. I simply turned up to read the menu, and was pleasantly surprised by how solid the presentation was, and how well the flavors mesh together. 

I love their rendition of yukhoe with Hanwoo beef. The mul-hoe was cleverly not done spicy, and it used Korean sea bream (domi). Both dishes were gorgeous! I wouldn't have minded seconds for these. Hahahah. Lunch was accompanied by a light bottle of Bourgogne pinot noir. 

S had the Hanwoo striploin, and it arrived in the form of a Korean hansik. Lovely. A total feast for the eyes before she began the meal. There was multi-grain brown rice to go along too. Yay! 

My main of lamb tteokgalbi, which is supposed to be minced meat, came in a 'sausage roll', with the 'crust' being thinly sliced mushrooms. The accompanying cucumbers were presented exactly like the handle of the meat knife it came with. The meat knife's handle holds five colors, and Chef Dae Hyun Yoon explained that the five colors represented the harmony of yellow, blue, white, red and black, like how "we put our hearts, ethics, passion, efforts, and hospitality in our food as putting “soul” in the food." 

We felt it. It is truly so.

We were so tickled that a course of noodles/capellini had chopsticks that matched the colour of our earrings. Hehehe. Those are the details that the servers caught when we sat down, and they opted to match it. S wore a pair of gold earrings, and she got one yellow chopstick! E had on black earrings, and had black chopsticks; mine were diamonds and I got grey chopsticks. Oooof. Too cute. 

This E is an ice-cream/soft serve/gelato person. She's super into it. She's been having a soft serve daily. Oddly, we haven't had many chances to sit down for a bingsu. Too cute that the dessert included bingsu with truffles, leaning on the savory side instead of the sweet. Of course I liked it! 

Chef Dae Hyun Yoon and Chef Kim Hee-eun have put some much thought into the food and the flavors at SOUL. Our lunch menu today indeed told a story of Korean food traditions, and each dish had been uniquely presented with the chefs' contemporary signature touches. 

Chef Kim Hee-eun also does pasta upstairs at the roof terrace — Egg & Flour Fresh Pasta. It's so awesome to have the restaurant's ceramic plates and bowls made by the ceramic studio in the same building. The pleasing aesthetics and clean lines are made by ceramic artist Shin Boegun at Mujagi Studio. We popped downstairs to take a look at the works. Almost bought half the studio home. Heh!

Haebangchon at Yongsan-gu

Haebangchon on Yongsan-gu is one of Seoul's last 'moon' villages. The name translates into 'Liberation Village', and was originally a refugee camp for North Korean defectors and domestic migrants for Koreans from the south. 

From a migrant shanty town, it has completely gentrified to become a well, hipster town. The Seoul Metropolitan Government plonked in billions into the village as part of the urban regeneration plan. Still, it's got a lot more cool vibes than anything constructed in Singapore. It simply sprouted organically. The buildings are over 30 years old, and while it's charming, the plumbing and toilets are a nightmare for landlords and tenants. Much of the funds are used to revive and redo sanitation, electricity, heating, water supply, and such.

Shin Heung Art Market is totally taken over by cafes and little retail shops appealing to the young and the tourists. I dunno why, but there're a few Thai restaurants in this area. There're restaurants and ceramic studios that have sprouted around it. I love the Woori Book that's run by a Boss Shibe. LOL

We were up on the hill for that splendid lunch at 소울SOUL, and ended the walk at the bottom of hill with good coffee at Gombal Coffee Roasters. What an absolutely delightful day! Absolutely soul-nourishing. Much needed.

We All Know a Miss Kim

Since I'm in Seoul, thought I would read a book by a Korean writer about Korean women. Borrowed 'What Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories' (August 2023) by Cho Nam-joo, translated into English by Jamie Chang. (Reviews here, here, and here.)

The former television scriptwriter wrote the highly controversial (in South Korea) 'Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982' (2016), which seems like the story of every South Korean young mother dealing with misogyny and unrealistic societal expectations of women and motherhood. It prompted a nation-wide debate about gender inequality, #MeToo and women's rights. There's even a 2019 film adaptation of this book.

'What Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories' hold the stories of eight Korean women aged 10-80. It tells us their stories, trials and tribulations. Eight women; eight stories. I settled in for a rough ride.

The opening story 'Under the Plum Tree' didn't captivate me so much. It's probably because I work with old folks and palliative patients at the hospice, so I didn't get all the feels. Eighty-year-old Dongju, the narrator, regularly visits her eldest sister Geumju who lives at the home for Alzheimer's patients. Dongju reminisced about their childhood, growing up years, their lives, husbands, children and even grandchildren. And wonders at the end, what is the point of life and being in a vegetative state.

'But, Seunghun, I don't think I'd want that if I were her.  Your life is meaningless when there's nothing you can do but lie there like that.'

The light at the intersection changed to orange. The car slowed to a stop at the pedestrian crossing.

Seunghun asked, 'What is a meaningful life?'

.....................

And what about me? I'm not doing anything productive, just taking step after step towards death each day. Does my life have meaning?

In the eponymous story, Miss Kim is this mysterious office manager was fired from her role at a hospital advertisement agency. Everybody hired is a relative or friend of someone else in there. Miss Kim does all the little things in the office including sorting out the copier, and updating address books. She was somehow fired and a new intern replaced her. Things go a little odd when they kinda miss this cog in the wheel. She handled all the little things till nobody knew what to do. They even suspected she returned to the office to mess up things out of spite. 

Miss Kim's influence at the agency had grown much too big. She didn't have any of the managerial titles, she had long experience at the company but the lowest rank and pay, and she oversaw all the goings-on in the office and handled the actual managing. Promoting her or giving her a raise was out of the question. Because Miss Kim was 'Miss Kim'.

So she got sacked on a sunny day.  

In 'Dead Set', there's a feminist author who reconnected with her high school teacher and then got blamed for using the teacher's childhood stories in her stories, which wasn't exactly true because every woman seems to have an abusive male figure in her life. 

There's a long suffering mother and wife who doesn't seem too unhappy that her husband left home in 'Runaway'. The husband/father wants a new life for himself. The narrator is the youngest daughter, and most favored in the family it seems. She never told anyone about the credit card she has given her father, and that the transactions come through to her via text alerts on her phone. Her father puts small amounts on it now and then, as if to tell her he's doing okay. But she has never been able to track him down. The father never returned either.

I think of Father hiking up Jirisan Mountain, walking along the beaches of Jeju Island, and down streets filled with young people with a takeaway coffee in his hand. I am sorry to say that the rest of the family is doing just fine without Father. It seems Father is also doing just fine without his family. If he returns someday, I think we'll be able to go on as if nothing happened.

In 'Dear Hyunnam Oppa', the woman ditched her long-time boyfriend the moment he proposed to her because she finally realized he has been gaslighting her from day one. She doesn't want to be controlled by him, have him choose who she could be friends with, and live out his narrative for them her whole life. 

In 'Grown-up Girl', a young girl decided to get back at a group of male bullies in school. Her mother remembers her own childhood, what her mother did for a living helping abused wives and girlfriends, and finally decided to help the daughter keep the secret, and protected her rights in the school investigation. 

'Night of Aurora' is super out there. It describes the relationship between three generations of women. An adult daughter and her mother, and her deceased father's mother. Her paternal grandmother, and her mother's mother-in-law daughter-in-law. There's a whole discussion about women and their careers, societal expectations of women and motherhood. I get this story and how the author wants to link the Northern Lights to their emotions and story. Yet at the same time, I don't get it because it's tiresome. Stand up for yourself already!  

The last story in the book just killed me. 'Puppy Love' is simply hilarious. Good gawwd. What can I say? Privilege and self-entitlement do go hand-in-hand. Narcissism and misogyny sure start young huh. I don't actually have a favorite story. I don't mind them, and I like none of them. LOL Many stories use a 'Miss Kim'. She can be a teacher, a colleague or a passer-by. But not every 'Miss Kim' is that 'Miss Kim'. LOL 

Abalone Porridge :: Jeonbokjuk

We kinda felt like having abalone porridge for lunch, and opened up Naver. Lo and behold! What do we know? We were literally a 10-minute walk from a tiny restaurant whose menu only has abalone porridge. Yay!!! Chok, jok, juk. This is Asia and her various iterations of porridge in different cities.

While I know that abalone porridge is called 'jeonbokjuk', I can't read the words. Oof! I don't even know the name of the restaurant. I've learnt that Korean shops and restaurants' social media handles usually have nothing to do with their names. This restaurant is called 죽이잘맞아, which I copied and pasted here. Of course I have no idea how that is read or pronounced in Korean. Google translates 죽이잘맞아 into 'It's a good fit'. 

The restaurant does Empress Abalone Intestine Porridge. Its menu offered a choice of the number of abalones in the standard portion of 300g porridge. It also clearly stated the portions and number of abalones and how each person should have one bowl in English and Mandarin. No confusion there! I ordered three abalones for ₩28,000 and was pleased. Then I thought, I should have gone for broke and ordered FOUR abalones for ₩34,000. Haha. This was absolutely satisfying.

I like this porridge since it wasn't too watery, unlike a few other versions. It should be properly chok, congee, kinda thick, and not like Teochew porridge which is just tasteless rice grains in water. This iteration is also not too salty. Like many Korean restaurants, they go light on the salt in soup and porridge. They always give you extra salt at the side if you need it. It was fine for me — I didn't need to add extra salt. But I didn't mind the saltier fermented side condiments to nibble with each spoonful of porridge. This was definitely one of the best meals I've had! 

죽이잘맞아
34 Samil-daero 32-gil
Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea (Use NAVER to navigate) 
T: +82 2-741-2005
Hours: 8.30am to 3pm. Closed on Mondays.

Gwanghwamun Square

While I didn't manage to get to MPX Gallery to see Tatsuya Tanaka's world premiere of his 'Miniature Life' exhibition (yes, in Seoul), I'm glad that we managed to do long walks at a few museums, art galleries and two palaces. I don't need a giant dose of history or cultural things. But I would like to have a look at these venues and their contents in peace without maddening crowds.

E has never been to Seoul, so she wasn't too bored looking at the palaces that are super accessible to us — Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung. We did those very quickly. There're five palaces in Seoul. First-time tourists should do two, I guess. LOL I'm not that keen to go to all of them. Palaces don't interest me very much. They're just fancier feudal type of prison. I can view the changing of guard and the sorts on Youtube or something.

I'm hardly interested in skincare and shopping. Not when I don't have anything to buy for myself. If I do buy, they're all for the other girlfriends. I don't particularly want to do mindless shopping at Myeondong or anywhere else, or to see endless racks of clothes. These activities don't excite me. I'm just there to see how much Seoul has changed, what shoppers see in Seoul, and for the great company and the fun yet reflective conversations. 

Gwanghwamun Square is just next to our hotel. Neither S or I have gone to see the statues on our previous trips. E was quite happy to just tag along with us today. Heh. We had a stroll around the site, looked up at the King Sejong (hailed as inventor of hangul in 1443), the fourth king of the Chosǒn Dynasty, and much feted naval commander Admiral Yi Sun-Shin (1545-1598). That's not to say we didn't know of them before this. We did have to study history in school.

It was a breezy morning. Ahhhh... I miss this cool, crisp air. I've forgotten how lovely it is. Bright sunshine in 24°C and low humidity. Gorgeous.

Tamburins

While I am still marveling how cohesive and huge retail and cafe spaces are in Seoul, we walked into the three-storey flagship of Tamburins at Garosugil. Escaped the crowd on the ground floor and went upstairs where it had a lot fewer humans. 

Walking into the store is like being soaked in all elements of fashion, beauty and art. It's truly an experience. There were art installations of giant candles in the form of cats, and random displays of Korean traditional knots arts and crafts. We were welcomed to try out its scents. I happily washed my hands in the very nice sinks with a choice hand wash, then smeared a little hand balm on clean hands. Ooof. 

No, I don't know Tamburins because of Jennie (BLACKPINK). In fact, I walked by that wall in Sinsa-dong and S pointed it out. I was like, 'Who is Jenny?' Yeah, I didn't know how to spell it when I didn't make the association. I'm so not a BLACKPINK fan. I can't even name one song. I could vaguely name two members since their names are always in the news, and there're only four of them. But I can't quite remember their faces. Hurhurhur. Okay, whatever. 

Well, I wouldn't mind stocking up on two bottles of scents. Some of the girlfriends wanted perfumes from Seoul as well, but they didn't specify a brand. So I got them from Tamburins. If you have your passport with you, at many of these big-name shops, the tax refund is immediate — that makes it so much more convenient.  

That cute egg-shaped bottle got me. Heh! I really wanted 'Holy Metal' (that name!), but the scent didn't appeal at all. Took a sniff and decided on 'Late Autumn' for myself. Apparently 'Chamo' is their most popular scent; so I got that for the friends, along with 'White Darjeeling'. 

Hair Things in Seoul

Randomly, we went to get a scalp treatment at EcoJardin's branch at Aeogae station. E didn't bother with a scalp treatment. She got a hair cut and a color, and was super pleased with her stylist. S and I got a scalp treatment. I think the reservations system at EcoJardin is super messy. Zzzzzz. Only S has the patience to sort that out. The service at the salon is efficient enough; I have nothing to complain about it. But the staff can be inexperienced and their touch, tentative, nothing that makes you go wow. It's not very warm or welcoming, most of that likely has to do with the language barrier. 

No I didn't do any color analysis thing because I don't give a shit about what color suits me. I wear the colors that make me feel at ease, in the same way I do not sleep in floral bedsheets. I like plain monotones. The fewer flowers the better. Black, grey, white, and beige, and an occasional red or blue form the color staples in my wardrobe. I'm NOT changing this color chart.  

So I did a 15-step scalp treatment for ₩180,000. I'm not impressed by the microscopic scalp analysis. Hello, I know, that's why I'm here. Dohhhhh. I can't say the attention and treatment is anywhere near luxurious or pampering. It's simply, functional. It cleared sebum build-up, soothed the sensitive spots, and delivered a clean-enough scalp. And they gave me a halfway decent hot green tea. I liked the random gadgets used to massage the scalp, and I really didn't mind the massage chair's attention on my aching back muscles and butt as I laid down to rinse the hair under the automated water curtain. 

After all that, I really don't know what's the fuss about hair treatments in Seoul. The products are similar, if not the same. The treatments and the services cost the same as salons in Singapore, service isn't better, and massage chairs exist in salons that choose to have them. I don't really care about hair or skincare that much, so I don't drill down into whether salons in Seoul or Singapore are better. It just has to fit my schedule. 

The up side, this visit to EcoJardin matched the timing of a scheduled scalp cleansing thing that I would have done at my go-to salon at home. Any sort of basic scalp cleansing treatment would help to keep the scalp balanced. The lower humidity in Seoul is NICE, and that's the best reason to rave about how your hair looks after walking out of the salon and even the day after. The tons of perspiration in Singapore humidity contribute to a mad crazy pace of sebum produced. At least when they blew dry my hair and curled the ends, the ends stayed curled. Heh. 

Deadlifts, Presses and 40-kg Squats

The benefits of having a personal gym coach and getting familiar with all the weights and machines — I can adjust them on my own without looking like an idiot. I was never very interested in these gym machines. But nowadays, I will just do them for the resistance and weights.

I'm totally justified choosing this hotel. I'm utilizing the hotel gym daily. I'm not going to mess up my training plan and end goals just because I'm on a holiday. The gym is fully equipped and has fancy things. Lat pull-downs, squats and dumbbells, kettlebells, and finally the rower or treadmill for cardio. (And there're that two lovely corners for Pilates and Gyrotonic!) Like I said, 30-40 minutes would be preferable, but if I am pressed for time, I only need 20 minutes. I don't have an excuse to NOT pop down to the gym from the hotel room. 

My New Balance trainers gave way on the first day of this trip. I had meant to use it at the gym and out walking. After one use here, it kinda split. So I couldn't use it to walk outside. But it held up okay for all the gym sessions since I didn't do mad cardio and such. I also didn't bother to buy a new pair here since I brought along two other pairs of walking shoes (Doc Marts and an Onitsuka), and we won't be hiking. I already have NOBULLS at home. I did buy a new pair of gloves! None of that silicone non-slip bullshit inside. Just easy gloves for weights.  

I was pleased to find proper squat racks at the hotel gym. I didn't have anyone to spot me. So I wasn't going to be dumb. I did all my cleans and presses, and front squats with 25-kg. For my back squats, I racked it up to only 40-kg. Did the usual 10 reps X 3 sets for everything. My butt actually ached a fair bit the next day. 

Salt Bread & Hallabong Juice!!!

We went to have a look at Ikseondong. Had breakfast at Jayeondo Salt Bread & Jayeondoga (자연도소금빵&자연도가). I love shio pan. I just didn’t know that salt bread (sogeum-ppang) is also a thing in Seoul. I have eaten quite a few iterations from the different bakeries here. I like salt bread plain. With no filling. Salt bread is best eaten on the day of purchase. It tastes funny if you put it into the fridge, then heat it up the next day in the oven. Do not microwave, you will regret it. 

I'm not too hot about the smell of flour and butter baking. So if a bakery does it with filling, that smell is enough to make me run away. I could literally throw up if I have smell it for anything more than a whiff. So when I walked by Jayeondo Salt Bread & Jayeondoga at Ikseondong, it smelt more of salt than bread. Okay PASS. I bought salt bread from this store.  

One pack has 4 pieces of salt bread; ₩$12,000 each pack. I bought 3 packs. LOL At 10am in the morning, the queues to purchase and collect were non-existent. Damn, those buns are delicious!!! There’s something about the salt at this store. I ate four buns at a go. CARBS? DON'T CARE.

Had coffee and juice too. Wah. My fairly decent iced Americano came in a bowl and it was gigantic. I couldn't finish it. The chilled hallabong juice is sooo lovely as a breakfast drink. That sweetness is insane. This came with a real hallabong (or what we call a Jeju orange). The leaf wasn’t on a stem. It’s just separately stuck into the mandarin. Haha. We were too lazy to peel it, but we decided we ought to. Wow. It was a GOOD ORANGE. It's pretty much a sweet mandarin orange.

Ganjang-Gejang at Sinsa Kkotgedang

S really wanted to get her fill of ganjang-gejang (Korean soy marinated crabs). She's tried a couple of recommended and popular versions in Singapore and she prefers the flavors found in Seoul. We didn't feel like sitting at the roadside stalls to have this. Hellooo, lung fluke. I know that it has nothing to do with the prices, and everything to do with the hygiene processes of a restaurant. Still, a restaurant that specializes in doing raw marinated crabs should hopefully know what they're doing.

We went to Sinsa Kkotgedang / 신사꽃게당 in Gangnam-gu for ganjang-gejang. That's all the food they offer on the menu. LOLOL If you go, make sure you really like crabs. They have crabs done in different ways. Hahaha. They use flower crabs. So we took a set at ₩120,000 which came with two raw marinated crabs, and a spicy hotpot of cooked blue crabs. The hotpot also came with a pack of ramyeon. The broth was excellent.

S was super pleased with this iteration of ganjang-gejang. Heh! E eats crabs but I don't know how much she likes it raw and marinated. Hurhurhur. We told her to just have a taste of it on rice. We shared a bowl of rice. That soy-marinated raw crab went nicely with sticky rice. Slurrrrrrp.

The cooked crabs in hotpot were more difficult to get to the flesh. Zzzzz. I definitely didn't clean mine. E and S finished the ramyeon and the broth!!! I literally only had two strands. I'm not a fan of ramyeon or their spicy broths, regardless of how good they are. 

I like Teochew cold crabs and their marinated crabs; the latter is similar to the Korean ganjang-gejang. However, my shellfish allergies mean that I keep away from crabs too. Alongside prawns, they kinda cause the worst flares. I've had a major flare towards the end of February, so I've kept away from shellfish for two months. So I decided to throw caution to the wind and eat crabs at this dinner. 豁出去了. 

This is such a Fear Factor meal. It's not just a cholesterol bomb. It’s also my entire year’s quota of shellfish. Totally worth popping antihistamines and managing the swollen eyes and rashes after. Luckily the allergies held at these and didn't deteriorate. It was absolutely delicious. 

Whisky & Cocktails in Seoul

Feather, Seoul.

From what I've seen so far, alcohol isn't cheaper in Seoul. Soju and makgeolli are super cheap per bottle. Beer is cheap. But I refuse to do soju or makgeolli because they're quite sweet and for some odd reason, they give me a gigantic headache. However, whisky and cocktails aren't easy on the pocket at all. Their cocktails at cocktail bars average ₩27,000-32,000. Hotel bars are insane when they price everything in USD. Liquor tax is at 72% per liter. 

At one bar, I simply refused to have whisky when all the single malts I want are priced minimally at ₩50,000 a generous dram. The three cheaper and kinda eeky whisky are priced at ₩36,000 a dram. Grrrrr. I don't care about the free nibbles that usually come along. If you get out to the other less fancy bars, an Oban 14 y.o could be about ₩22,000-26,000. That's super acceptable. I like these bars. Heh!

I really like OUL Four Seasons Hotel for keeping some brand identity in their menu. They offer traditional Korean spirits and liqueurs as cocktails. That's delightful. I ended up with a 'Goosoo Highball' at ₩29,000. It was surprisingly good! It uses Won soju classic with toasted barley, crust of overcooked brown rice and demerara syrup seltzer. Delicious! Skip the food here. It's overpriced and not that great.

Otherwise, I didn't go mad drinking here. Light drinking — a glass or two at most. I also wanted to keep awake to make it to the gym the next day without being dehydrated. Hello, alcohol = sugar = fats. I must control alcohol portions lah!

OUL and Charles H at Four Seasons Hotel Seoul.

The Gyrotonic Bench & Pilates Corner at the Gym

If I'm in a city and in a decent hotel, then the exercise routine doesn't pause. I simply continue with it and find different slots in a day to pop by the gym. While I'm eating well in Seoul, I'm not going big on carbs either. I'm keeping it nicely moderate. I like my food, but I don't have an issue with portion control.

Happiness is turning up at the spacious gym and finding a lovely corner for Pilates, and at the other end, a Gyrotonic bench. Awesome. The entire space for the gym was impressive! Wow. It's also a fitness club. I guess it's smart of the hotel to monetize, and the trainers there also offer 1:1 coaching, which seems seriously popular at all the times I went in. 

After a red-eye, I wasn't going to cardio it or do weights. I wanted a spinal stretch and rotation. Spent a nice chunk of time rotating and warming up on the Gyrotonic bench. Then I went over to the Chair and Ladder Barrel to do some serious stretching. I didn't need the reformer or Cadillac tower at all. 

I knew that there's Pilates equipment at the hotel's gym. But I didn't realize how well-equipped and maintained it is. I'm walking a fair bit in this city. But I would still need to stretch and lift some weights. It's super convenient to come by daily for a quick one. All I need is 20 minutes and a number of fast but easy reps. No excuses. 

Eating Out in Seoul Ain't Cheap

We aren't exactly feeling the pinch when dining out in Seoul. We're only in the city for a week. We're not picking out the 'best of' restaurants, and not doing many fine-dining meals. We eat as we go along. Even so, nothing much is cheaper than Singapore. Our food budget is similar to what we spend at home. Our meals in Seoul average S$100 per meal for three persons. Our cheaper meals (say S$60 per person) are one-dish meals of noodles or porridge. 

Seoul's tourist belts are really quite the place to fleece tourists. In Ikseondong, every cafe sells things thrice the prices of everywhere else. It's expensive. Coffee is pricey and alcohol by the glass is rather astounding. When an on-trend salt bread goes for S$12 for four pieces in a pack, and S$8-$9.50 for a coffee, we know we're in the world's ninth most expensive city as of 2023. Singapore used to be in the thirteenth place, but we're now in fifth place. LOL

According to the Korea Consumer Agency (under Korea Fair Trade Commission), food prices have gone up this March 2024, especially in Seoul. This is likely due to increases in prices of nearly all food ingredients, agriculture, livestock and fisheries industry products. 'Shrinkflation' is also a problem when vendors opt to maintain prices of food but decrease the consumers' portions. 

Journalist Yoon Min-sik flagged out the data provided by the Korea Consumer Agency and wrote in The Korea Herald on April 28, 2024, 

In a bid to provide a general understanding of the dining costs in South Korea, the agency discloses the monthly average prices of the eight most sought-after dishes here: jajangmyeon, kalguksu, naengmyeon, samgyeopsal, samgyetaeng and bibimbap. The information provided since February 2014 is categorized by dish and region, such as a bowl of naengmyeon costing an average of 11,462 won ($8.30) in Seoul in March.

Except for samgyetaeng (ginseng chicken soup), I quite likeall these one-dish meals. Hehehe. These are easy lunches and dinners for one. Or as a casual fill-tummy meal. They're by no means low on carbs, but they would do in a pinch. I'm making my way through this list in Seoul. I can ditch bibimbap because we get enough decent ones at home. 

I don't know the prices in Seoul for these foods before and after 2024. As a tourist who stays in the town areas, especially in Gangnam-gu, one is resigned to paying extra for food and such. Even within Jongno-gu, we can still find decently-priced restaurants. But we're Singaporeans doing the comparing. Food in the central business districts all over the world are similarly priced. 

The banchan in Seoul isn't necessarily eye-popping plentiful unless you go to a higher-end restaurant. Korean food at home is always expensive, so I wouldn't know the differences, except for whether a restaurant does it well or offer decent ingredients. 

Cafe Onion in Seongsu-dong

Nobody plans an itinerary without taking a look at a city's TikTok/IG-famous photo spots and cafes. Tourists and locals alike whoosh to all four outlets of Cafe Onion in Seoul. The differently themed outlets are in Seongsu (industrial warehouse with rooftop tables), Mia at Bukhasan (like an art gallery with only indoor seating), Anguk (hanok style) and Gwangjang (street stall style). 

Of course we didn't visit all. We're not diehard fans of Cafe Onion. Heh! That lunch, we didn't want noodles or rice. We just wanted savory bread. Carb-heavy, but I was fine with quaffing one piece of bread or so. Went to the industrial chic Cafe Onion at Seongsu-dong. The entire area is home to warehouses, and has become rather gentrified. Ahhhh, I marveled at the space again. This one cafe is SO BIG. 

It was too hot to sit on the roof terrace. The sun was blazing. Found a corner bench on the ground floor to ourselves. Didn't have to squeeze with anyone. We shared all our breads. They were HUGE. I didn't expect them to come in such big sizes. I thought that the savory bakes and pastries would be okay but not the coffee. It would be even more obvious to me since I drink my coffee black. The coffee was surprisingly decent. 

We split an olive bacon focaccia, a salt bread, and a sausage roll. There was a 'Black Crunch' chocolate bun too. E and S loved the sweet bun. They ate it all. I passed on even having a bite of that. While I needed some bit of food and prefers a savory lunch, it was already too much dough and flour and carbs. 

Labor Day Rallies in Seoul

On May 1, we opted to hang out at areas near enough the hotel where we could walk back. Say, within a practical radius of 5km. It's May Day. As long as we're not in Singapore during this day, we would be walking into protests by labor unions and political parties everywhere. It's the same in Seoul. We're not that ignorant. Our hotel is sited smack in the middle of a few venues of Labor Day rallies, and there would be traffic congestion everywhere. We would be mad to try to get a cab back or head out to dinner.  

The police were out in full riot gear in the central Jongno district. Gwanghwamun Square swarmed with thousands of protestors all afternoon. They gathered to sing, wave flags and shout pro-worker slogans in criticism of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative government and its anti-labor policies.

It's Korean domestic politics and labor polices. It's not in my place to comment. I most certainly would rather watch the marches from the safety of my hotel room window than to be caught up in rallies that's none of my business. But our day's itinerary saw us walk by the protestors and police buses. It was absolutely interesting for me to observe these government sanctioned protests, and the police officers supporting registered rallies and marches. Of course it wasn't an air of festivity. In fact, it was a tad sober, and of course, tense. 

In Singapore, we see a lot more MNCs exiting our shores for a cheaper labor market and rental, and lower set-up costs. Retrenchment exercises are becoming the norm. We're not immune to global shifts and economic challenges, but we aren't modifying our labor laws fast enough to be more protective of our own. In PM Lee's final May Day rally before he steps down on 15 May, he zoomed in on tripartism and tripartite leadership. I hope our unions remain sane and gain a bit more clout to fight for the rights of our labor force. Our labor laws are scant. NTUC must do more to allay the average salaried employee's fears. 

PM Lee pointed out three imperatives (social cohesion, long term planning, and political stability and trust) that the future leadership team will have to focus on and steer everyone towards these so that we could survive the next 50 years with no hinterland and no natural resources. We're a construct, and we must stay a relevant construct. 

And we also have to be conscious of other potential divisions in our society: between the “haves” and the “have-nots”; the “Singaporean-born” and “naturalised” citizens; “conservatives” and “liberals”; “current” and “future” generations. All these differences can be exploited politically, to pit Singaporeans one against another, and divide and weaken us. Hence, we have got to continue to work hard to overcome social stresses and tensions, to enlarge our common space, and strengthen our shared Singaporean identity. It is not a static identity. It grows and evolves over time. We are not a specimen in the museum – like that 10 years ago, like that 20 years ago, like that 50 years from now. It will grow, it will evolve. The world changes, we adapt, we move forward. We have to guide that evolution, as best as we can, sensitively and thoughtfully. That is why we moved on the tudung issue, and repealed Section 377A of the Penal Code. These were controversial and difficult issues, but I decided to tackle them, and not to let them fester or to pass them along to my successors. So we prepared the ground carefully, worked out practical compromises, and moved to a more sustainable, long-term position, while fostering mutual understanding and acceptance. Always, when we are dealing with controversial issues, we accept that differences exist, but we will avoid accentuating them. Accept them, do not accentuate them. Instead we foster compromise, strive to enlarge a common space, establish the broadest consensus possible. We will always have fault lines to watch and mind. Never forget, whatever our differences, we are all Singaporeans, first and foremost. And only thus can we survive and thrive in a contested and fractured world.

Chimaek in Hongdae

There's no avoiding part-taking in chicken and beer when I'm not in Seoul alone. Chimaek, they call it — derived from chikin (fried chicken) and maekju (beer). Even I have heard about Korean fried chicken. It's like this standard menu of after-work food and drink with colleagues or friends. It's a casual and non-threatening meal that everyone can afford. 

On a night out to Hongdae, I was veto-ed and our dinner was... to no surprise, chicken and beer at Daily Beer. LOL The girls opted for a standard platter of 'Angry Bird', which were made up of bite-sized pieces of a whole chicken, but boneless. They also wanted a basket mix of crunchy shoestring fries and seasoned straight-out fries. 

E and S are great fans of fried chicken and fries. They were so pleased with their dinner — loads of meat and low on carbs. They didn't stir in the sauce with the chicken, and opted to have the sauce as a dip instead. They ate everything and cleaned out the basket of fries. The satisfaction level was high. I rolled my eyes. Why do people like fried food so much?! 

I am soooo dead. Chicken is my nemesis and greasy food makes me laosai. Fried chicken is like.... my most hated thing. I couldn't be happier to spot eomuk and odeng on the menu. Of course I ordered that. Otherwise I would have nothing to eat! I love mashed fish and dough. The pot came with some stem and root vegetables, and a hardboiled egg! OH YES. I only took two pieces of fried chicken. Had two pilsners along with the meal. The stomach stayed quiet all night. It was okay. I was beyond relieved.  

Grilled Beef at Bornga

Since we are in Seoul, we might as well have beef grilled Korean style. Heh. We weren't fussed with going to the 'best of' Korean BBQ places. Going to something easy along the way to and fro the hotel, shopping streets and beer would be okay. Found a random chain restaurant called Bornga at bustling Myeondong for dinner. 

Took the barbecue set for 700g of beef that included some decent flavorful cuts. They were unmarinated, of course. And unsalted. There were sauces for us to dip the meat in if we wanted more flavors. There was a generous platter of vegetables for us to wrap the meat in. Wonderful. That was a great carb-free thingy. The friendly ajumma grilled our meats for us. But she did it so fast that while we were hungry, it felt a bit breathless simply eating so fast too! 

There were already 700g of beef. We wouldn't be able to eat any more. There was a pot of chadol doenjang jjigae (beef brisket soybean paste stew), which was pretty good. We didn't want that much rice, so the three of us only shared one bowl. Teeehehehe. I managed to only eat one spoonful of rice with stew.