Happy Birthday!!!1

Wow! Another memorable week! Last week was excellent this week was fantastic ;)

So I will Start with Tuesday night and a visit to a lovely restaurant in the most expensive part of Seoul (Details in the link below).

http://hiexpat.com/seoul-restaurants/by-food-genres/french/il-mio-sogno

The place had a fantastic atmosphere with candles lighting the dinner and some soft mood music. The courses were impressive and delicious. I did dread the octopus? But even that was delicious. The meal was truly fantastic with the highlights being the carbonara pasta and the tenderloin steak which was cooked rare to perfection. The price was very reasonable at 45,000 won per person (plus tax) so it ended up being 99,000 won.

Again I had my hand phone so the quality of the pictures is not great:

Wednesday was my birthday! What a great day it turned out to be with my best friend :) making me a wonderful meal of battered chicken salad and carbonara pasta! She also brought me a lovely birthday cake and a surprise present!

So I was very happy as you can imagine!

On to Thursday and another meal out this time at PhoMein: http://phomein.com/

This is Vietnamese Cuisine and is a little less formal than some of the restaurants I have been to previously. It has a very stylish décor, clean and well presented. The food is fantastic and the prices are very good. For a standard dish you are looking to pay around 11,000/13,000 + won.

This is really good value for money.

Saturday I was lucky enough to be taken to the final performance of Rock of Ages. Which was fantastic. It was also a little strange to hear all those old 80's rock tunes sung in Korean...

But it was a great performance and in the end the lead came over put his arm on my shoulder and sang behind me as it seems I was the only foreigner in the whole place :)

After the show we went to another restaurant. We were planning to go to TGIF but in Korea there are lines of people waiting to get into these places! So we went to Sala Thai (Jamsil).

http://www.seoulrestaurantreviews.com/2010/07/sala-thai.html

We did however still had to wait 7 to 10 minutes for a seat but that was far shorter than 30 - 40 minutes at other restaurants. The food again was fantastic, the pad thai was spot on however probably not as much chicken as you would expect to see in a similar dish in New Zealand. The place didn't feel overly cramped but you definitely knew there were people seated around you but floor space and high turnover of customers would be a high priority in Lotte Castle (building).

I must mention my new shoes which I purchased in Dongdaemun last weekend at an exorbitant price of 120,000 won :)

I have been wearing them all weekend and they are the most comfortable shoes I have worn.

So here ends another week. Next week has already been drafted out so I will be looking forward to some more excitement!

So I might leave you with a favourite piano song of mine and of course a Kpop track!

Taekwondo & Lotte World Hotel Chinese Restaurant

So another spectacular week in Korea. One I will not forget!

So last week I forgot which park I went to. So it was Seoul Forest and here is the link if you are interested in going:

http://www.seoulforest.or.kr/index.php

I have been to so many nice restaurants lately I have decided to post a bit more information about where i am eating these days.

This week was a fine dining experience at Toh Lim Chinese Restaurant in the Lotte World Hotel.

This was a private dining experience meaning that we had our own dining room overlooking Lotte World and Jamsil skyline. It was a delicious 6 course meal with appetiser and desert.

The room was spacious and spotless with a dining table and a seated lounge area by the window for a moment of relaxation after a pleasant meal. The courses were served to precision by the staff and everything was perfectly delicious even the sea slug. Although the courses looked small by the end I was feeling pretty full and content. Lovely music was also present being played softly in the background. At the end of the meal there was no pressure for you to leave and there was plenty of time to enjoy the view.

The experience will set you back 74,000 won per person but if you appreciate a good night out (perhaps even "high rolling" a bit) then I highly recommend this as a place to spend a nice evening.

I took some pictures with my "hand phone" or cell phone so they are not the best quality:

The link of course to Lotte World Hotel:

http://www.agoda.com/asia/south_korea/seoul/lotte_hotel_world_hotel.html

If you are not too keen on the high rolling thing but would like to enjoy a good pasta or a pizza and are in the Hungdae or Hongik University area i would suggest Pavarotti. As best as I can recall (correct me if I am wrong although I am 98% positive) take the subway to Hong Ik University (just after Sinchon) and get out at exit 4 take an immediate right down the first street and look to your left and there it is.

A relatively cheap pasta and pizza await you starting from around 10,000 won for pasta and about 14,000 won for a pizza. The place has a nice atmosphere and the staff there do take pride in their service.

Saturday was all about Taekwondo... well the morning was anyway. One of the students (Nicole) from the Taekwondo class I attend was having her black belt test that day so we all turned up to support her. I was amazed at how quickly things were being actioned. First was the Poomsae (similar to a Karate Kata) and then sparring and its all over. Nothing like my Kempo black belt grading which spanned over 1 Friday and 2 Saturdays.

So here are the boys and girls of Dongin Takwondo:

I also have a small compilation of the later in the morning sparring which was a little more exciting than the early morning stuff:

I will have to get permission to show Nicole's sparring before I can post it so maybe next week...?

Well another update done. No photo slide show this week (yeah I was surprised too!). I have no idea what will be the next update so I am anticipating the excitement ahead this week as much as you may be :)

I will however leave you with this clip which has me excited and motivated as ever:

Jamsil Park and Kpop Dancing

This weekend was fairly relaxed with a trip to a park near Jamsil... yes I don't know the name of the park... But I will do my best to find out later on.

It was a very large park with kids playgrounds, cycling tracks, playing fields, a lake with fish and ducks and just a lovely place for a casual walk a sit and a talk.

I have also been fortunate enough to have the opportunity of visiting many fine restaurants and will probably have to begin evaluating them in the future. This one was just outside Deokso, a little Italian restaurant where at the time we were the only customers!

We ordered some delicious pasta at about 28,000 won a dish and had a quiet meal accompanied by some soft classical music. There was a cafe upstairs as part of the restaurant over looking the river. There was some construction outside as it appears that they are putting in a stone path and some features so that patrons can enjoy a walk near the river after a meal.

On my way home I stumbled upon this not far from where I live:

Quite fortunate really as I have wanted to see one of these events for some time. So check out a couple of the acts.

Here is this weeks photo dump:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54304440@N04/sets/72157625180846090/show

Stay tuned next week for some Tae Kwon Do action!

Here is a bonus K pop vid for you all to enjoy :)

Namyangju Movie Studio's

This is probably going to be my last post. As you can see from the picture to the left I have decided to teach English in North Korea and crossed the DMZ line on Saturday...

Did you buy that one? Well it looks convincing enough.

Namyangju Movie Studio's was this weekends outing and boy it was a fantastic day to spend there. Panmunjom was of course my favourite place to hang out and cross over to the north side.

At the time there was some filming going on here and there all over the lots but I assume it was break time as everyone was around the tents relaxing.

There is a mock up of a village there and you can walk into the buildings and some of them were quite impressive inside. Well of course there was nothing inside them but still it was exciting all the same. I guess this is another couples hang out as there were many pairs walking around and even though there were a reasonable amount of people you could find yourself all alone in an ancient village back street.

On top of the hill is more of a castle or mock up of a wealthy area with larger buildings and bigger spaces.

I did see this sign warning of dangerous smoking squirrels:

There is also an inside area where you can look at movie props, movie miniatures and I also believe you can watch a movie there somewhere but I could be wrong.

Here is some more information if you want to get there:

http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/HA/HA_EN_7_2_3.jsp

Here is the rest of the photo set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54304440@N04/sets/72157625131652330/show

And here is a bit of fun for those who have a sense of humour even if the situation is a serious one:

Legend of Flower and Building 63 Yook-Sam

This week has truly been a significant and wonderful one to remember.

Thursday night I went to an amazing show at the Walkerhill theatre. Legend of Flower is something amazing to see with traditional dance mixed with contemporary and of course a dash of Tae Kwon Do.

I have posted below an embedded video from Walkerhill from their facebook page so you can see what all the fuss (or my fuss) is about.

I was sitting at the absolute front with a friend of mine and was dazzled by the colours, the scent of flowers and the theatrical display. I do love a good show and I hope this is one of many.

Eating dinner at "W" after the show was something of a treat as well. I have not dined somewhere such as this since going to "Dine" in the Sky City Grand Hotel. If you have been to Dine you will also be familiar with their prices. It is much the same at "W" with meals starting around 30,000 won which are delicate dishes such as one I will post in the picture show. There was a hamburger on the menu for 150,000 won and a New Zealand rack of lamb for 45,000.

A non alcoholic beverage was to follow at what I could only describe as a lounge room or bar. There is of course a bar and a DJ playing and three tiers of couches and comfy seats. Of course being in the hotel this is an exclusive area for those with some money to... well... burn. Our 2 drinks set the old wallet back 45,980 won... yes that's 2 non alcoholic cocktails. Why yes you are right once you get into the alcoholic range the prices spike remarkably.

So here are some Links to information about the show if you with to head on over:

(The show runs till 31 December 2010)

http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=1019428

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2010/04/145_63594.html

Saturday was a trip to Building 63 or Yook-sam (abouve is a stock photo as I didn't take one?!)

http://www.seoulkoreaasia.com/Yook-Sam.htm

You can spend the day here with friends or a loved one and the are several attractions to go to. IMAX, The Wax Museum, Sea World and The Art Gallery (observation deck)

At 32,000 won per person we decided to do Sea World, the Wax Museum and the Observation Deck.

Not quite like Kelly Tarltons; Sea World still has a lot to offer in terms of photography and pure enjoyment. There is even a little tank of fish that will eat your fingers... well a few nibbles anyway :)

The Wax Museum is another nice attraction where you can leisurely walk around taking pictures with your favourite personalities. The best part however is the little spook walk. The sound of screaming can be heard well before you know what's coming and it well worth a little fright :)

The view from the top of the building is amazing and even on a rainy night the lights of the city shone bright.

Here is the photo set:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54304440@N04/sets/72157624960098825/show

This appears to be quite a popular piano piece that I have heard for weeks on end here: