Korea, but not on Holiday

Back!

Since last Friday actually – left Seoul on the 6pm flight and I was home safe by midnight. But the work has continued so the blog has taken a back seat. Somehow coming home after a long day just leaves me wanting to just zone out in front of the telly… 😛

It was a busy time for all of us in Seoul the previous week – it was meetings galore. And for minions like me, lots of running around to manage the voluminous paperwork. The office where we had our daily meetings was literally a 1 minute dash across the road from our hotel so you can image that I didn’t see much! So, no, I didn’t get to shop, and no, I didn’t get to sightsee – just what I could see from the my hotel, what we drove past in cabs and what we came across on our various ventures out for meals! Haha. Acutally seeing Korea would have to wait till anor time.

Not that it was all bad though. For one thing, I actually got upgraded to Business on the way to Seoul! This is the first time I’ve ever gotten upgraded, and I was beside myself with excitement. My lucky break was due (I suspect) to the fact that I got a really late confrmation and the the flight was really over booked. Not that I cared at that point. Business would have allowed me to sleep better on my way there, but DD (who knows me too well) knew I just wouldn’t be sleeping – why would I when I would want to maximise my Business class usage? 🙂 Pity it wasn’t SQ though…

Business was fun, but I didn’t realise how much better it was till our return trip when I realised to my dismay that Korean Air Economy has no personal in-flight entertainment! Dang! I knew I shouldn’t have slept at all! 😛

Hitting the ground running was tough though. Watching day turn into night in meeting rooms… But there are the perks that sometimes come with getting round to dinner late, combined with the need for private dining rooms for discussion. Sometimes, you end up having to eat at some place nearby. Some place nice. Like The Ninth Gate at the Westin. You know those poncy places you see only on TV where your food comes covered with these gold covers that they whip off in synchronised motion? It was that kind of place. And an amazing view + great food = happy me. Pity the dinner conversation was all about work!

But on other times, when we were not being policed by management, us low level minions got away for some really good – and fun – meals. Since most of my colleagues have been to Korea many times before, they brought me to the gorgeous Tani Next Door.

And on the last day when we had a bit more time, we ventured out to the classy Wood & Brick where we spied many Korean tai-tais having lunch. Incidentally that was where I learnt one of my now new list of random facts about Korea – they serve kimchi/pickles at every meal. Notwithstanding the fact that we were at an Italian restaurant, we were served pickles together with the bread! Only in Korea I believe…

But aside from the fancy restaurants, I had more than my fill of local Korean food, in particular hot pot/spicy soup, which clearly kept me happy.

Ramyun (which tasted almost exactly like our fav Shin instant noodles) with Seafood Pancake

Spicy Tofu Soup with clams and scallions. My colleagues call this the national dish.

(Real) Korean BBQ. No finely sliced pieces of meat here! Just thick slices of pork belly laid on the grill which the server later comes round to cut up into bite-size pieces with a pair of scissors (no kidding)

Spicy soup (yes, again) with rice cakes and dumplings

(No pics of bugolgi cos those went real quick :P)

And did you notice random Korean fact #2 – small Korean eateries all seem to use the same kind of chopsticks – flat silver ones, quite unlike the types we use for back here.

Overall impression: Korea is expensive, but intriguing enough to merit a proper visit another time… Working trips just ain’t good enough when there’s real work to be done!