Family in Korea Day 3: Gastronomic Lunch and Strenuous Walk

Self Bar, Cheonggyecheon, Go to Daejeon
Easter Sunday, April 8, 2012.


And since we arrive home very late, we started another day late (actually we almost started everyday late, maybe except the Everland trip?) haha.

Christmas Day Filipino Lunch with friends
L-R: ME, Valerie (Filipino), Jie Qu (Chinese),
Susie (Chinese), Toshiki (Japanese)

So we are scheduled to have lunch with my mom's friend, Ate Joan, and "my home" in Korea where I visited them 3times (Christmas Day, January and February) to have a Filipino meal! Some of the filipino meals I had were pancit, lechon manok, dinuguan, pato, chicken curry, nilagang baka, daing na bangus, fruit salad, cake, and many more (if you want to know more about those foods, just google it).  I just realized I visited them every month. And now, they are not here in Korea anymore :( Since her husband is a US Military official, they don't have permanent address. And right now, her husband is back in USA already after 2years of working in Korea.

We will eat in Self Bar (쎌빠), a very famous unlimited Samgyeopsal (삼셥살)  restaurant (Korean food famous for foreigners) and very famous for students because it has reasonable price.  To know more about the restaurant, check the link, though it will be in Korean: http://www.selfbar.kr/

In the subway, calling Self-Bar to reserve the seats

While we were commuting, I already contacted the restaurant to reserve seats for us since there are many costumers on peak hours and at the same time we are 11 all in all eating there.  I called them and talked to them in Korean (good thing they understand my poor Korean. haha!)


We met them at Jonggak Station Subway Line 1 (Dark Blue Line), and just around 8min walk going to the shop, depending on your pace.  For filipinos, we relatively walk slow compared to other nationalities so it took us 14minutes to go to the shop. haha. Sorrym I cannot find the google maps of the branch we went to but there are so many branches around Seoul and even in other big cities in Korea.


When we arrive the shop, the ground flr. is full, but no one is eating is the 2nd flr so it's like we reserved the entire 2nd flr. for us.  But it was also good for us because my family are so innocent on how to eat samgyeopsal. And imagine 8 people asking what, how, when, all together at the same time. It goes me crazy! haha.  After getting the feel of Korean meal, they enjoyed it so much that we stayed there for 2 hours.  The 11,000W per person was all worth it! hahaha.

Unlimited Samgyeopsal at Self-Bar

And yes, we also tried for the first time Soju, the Korean alcohol with 21% alcohol content. My uncle cannot take it since it's very strong already but my father and my other aunt can manage it.  As for my mom, she doesn't drink at all. My sister (13years old) also tried a very little sip. hahaha!

Soju cheers with my father

After the gastronomic meal, we had a walk in the famous 8.4km stream in Korea called Cheonggyecheon.  We took some photos and continue exploring the beauty of Korea. Around 5:00pm, we started walking to Seoul Station (we had luxury of time. haha), the biggest and busiest train station in the country.  Yes, we just walked from Jonggak Area to Seoul Station even though it is just 5min by subway.  By this, we were able to see more of the city rather than riding the subway and traveling underground without seeing anything.

My family with my mom's friend and his US Army husband (left most) at Cheonggyecheon

While walking in Seoul downtown

We arrive in Seoul Station around 5:45pm, 25minutes ahead of the 6:20pm train schedule so we went to Baskin Robbins for an ice cream to reward ourselves after a very long walk on a very cold weather. I suggest to try Baskin Robbins ice cream, one of the best desserts after a good meal or even just out curiosity on how it tastes.  And if you are with friends, I suggest to order 1 big cup with 3 different flavors and share. It's economical and a better choice than buying a cone for each. 


Here's there global website: www.baskinrobbins.com/
Korean website: www.baskinrobbins.co.kr/ 


Then we boarded the 6:20pm Seoul to Daejeon Mugunhwa train (ordinary train) and arrived at 8:21pm. By the way, if you travel around Korea, I suggest to take their regional trains because it is very convenient and you just have to be in the train a minute before the train leaves (as long as you have the ticket). Korea also has an extensive bus routes and is a good option as well.  Rather than taking the plane (except if you go to Jeju Island) where you need to be there at least an hour before your flight to do the check-in procedures.


Regional Trains: http://info.korail.com/2007/eng/eng_index.jsp
Regional Buses: http://traffic.visitkorea.or.kr/Lang/en/ExBus/

My small room in the school dormitory

When we arrived Daejeon Station, we took the taxi going to my school. Yes, the same problem we had when they arrive here, language barrier because we definitely have to split into 2 taxis. We went directly to my dormitory to show them my humble abode in Korea then off to a 25min slow walk going to the Hotel.  


When we reached the hotel, everyone were just tired that we need to shut down early. So here, we all signed off.