Even though its only two and half hours from Tokyo my journey was kind of brutal with the 90 minutes to Narita Airport, a two hour wait, then another hour plus in immigration after the flight and then a hour plus ride on the trains (I just managed to get the last one) to get into town from Inchon airport. I had a hard time believing that Sea Tac Airport was only 25 minutes from North Seattle on my last trip-I'm so used to airports being so far outside cities.
In the photo above is the view from my Air BnB rooftop rental in the Itaewon area of Seoul, unfortunately my arrival coincided with that of Typhoon "Lingling," so I haven't had the chance to use that balcony much and won't be likely to.
Itaewon is something like Roppongi in Tokyo used to be-an area with lots of restaurants and bars where young people congregate on weekends not far from Seoul station. Mural outside a bar.
Another uniquely named bar.
I got up earlier than expected and found a popular breakfast place, The Original Pancake House, that has been around since the 50s. The servings were massive and often come with a side of pancakes. I got scrambled eggs (only three thank god) with ham and also got served a short stack of pancakes unbeknownst to me. My first pancakes in some time. Anyway, I noticed that many Korean groups also ordered salad-Japanese people often eat salad for breakfast as well.
There was a little rain and today there's been a lot of wind but nothing major, nonetheless some attractions such as Changdeokgung Palace. I also noticed that some place in Itaewon-like the Nashville Chicken place down the street have decided to take the day off as well.
However, Tapgol Park was opened. I was being bombarded with branches and debris from the trees in the park though due to the strong winds. It's also very humid on top of that.
I was headed to Insadong, which is supposed to have a street fair every weekend-except when there's a typhoon blowing through.
An old teahouse.
A temple nearby Insadong.
I've been reading Graham Holiday's book, Eating Korea, and he mentioned eating a modern Korean restaurant in Seoul called Congdu that is still around. I saw that they were open for lunch so I ventured out in the typhoon for a little fine dining.
I got a set menu, for W39,800 ($33.50) that started out with a green salad with jelly and a sesame dressing.
The next dish was a cold black bean soup with gingseng.
The main dish was braised short rib in a house special galbi sauce simmered for six days with noodles and assorted vegetables. It was served with four types of kimchi-there were some original tastes among those as well.
Korean wafers served with green tea ice cream and a glass of Jejeu tangerine orange juice to round out the meal. I think ti was interesting take on Korean and reasonably priced.
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