Treasure Hunting

As if the big dinner at one of the cousins' house the night before was not enough, we had another BIG breakfast before heading to Kun Jib( the house of Grandpa's eldest brother) at 10:30am. They live in the Northern part of the city and a stream from the mountain actually flows through the house. It's the type of place where you can have a pretty happy childhood as it's close enough to school and yet can be running around in the mountain 30 minutes after class.








It was good to see everyone. All the babies we saw last time are big now. Changunnie was happy to hang out with all the unni's and oppa. There were dogs at kun jib and the latest addition, Jasper, was a very shy one. He probably was used to the abuse from the kids at home, he had no issue of Changunnie pulling his tail or pinching his nose. Strangely enough, he was afraid of adults. Turned out that one of our cousins rescued the dog from a cruel neighbour. I didn't want to ask about the details as that may include Jasper being a dish on the dinning table.



Lunch time was gamja ttang (potato soup with pork ribs) and a table full of side dishes. They grow their own veg at Kun Jib and the food was good. There wasn't a need for any MSG as the soy sauce, chili pepper paste, dweng jjang are all home made (and not to mention the kimchi which are done the traditional way by burying the urn under ground!) Changunnie ate well as her unni told her that there will be no play nor snack unless she finished her lunch.



We went to the bookstore after lunch to get Korean books for Changunnie and ended up having four bags of books and magazines for everyone. We also got out chili pepper flakes. I was wondering why we were buying different types. It turned out that you need different type for kimchi and chili pepper paste. Wondered if we could check everything in.

It was finally time to say good bye. I want to go back to see everyone soon. Maybe Christmas so that Changunnie can go ice-skating with her cousins.

Namdaemun Ajumah

If you a firm believer of "I would shop till I drop", think twice before you say it in front of Grandma in the morning of the "shopping day".

We were whisked out of bed at 8am as couple cousins arrived at the hotel for breakfast together (yes, how wrong I was to think the Park Hyatt was far away enough...) Myung Hee hyunsoo nim was there to my rescue. I took Hyun Jo and Changunnie (Hyun Jo stayed with us the night before because Changunnie would not let unni go) to the restaurant when I saw the cousins at the table. It was strange to see a bunch of men, looking very much alike and eating together. I think the clan ate enough to trigger a reevaluation of pricing of the Park Hyatt breakfast buffet.

We headed to the Hyundai Department Store and Changunnie bought three pairs of shoes (it should have been me buying shoes!!) I have no plan to spoil Changunnie but the shoes were so cute and I simply couldn't find anything I like in Hong Kong other than paying a fortune. Why do people think that it's ok to make really crappy shoes for children? The healthy ones are simply ugly (poor design, look like something from comic books) and the nice looking ones are impossible to walk in. Children's feet are different from ours and they need lots of support and enough flexibility. Some genius out there use hard leather to make the sole for children's shoes. I know I would sprain my ankle if I wear those shoes...

Next stop? KIMCHI FRIDGE!! Making Kimchi is no simple matter. The water has to be good, the temperature right. We can't dig a hole in front of the garage to bury the urns and so we turned to Kimchi fridge. You can have different compartment (thus different temperature) to assist the fermentation of keeping of kimchi. Don't underestiamte them. A 180L one easily costs more than USD 1,000. They looked beautiful too. I think ours is arriving in 1 month.

We met up with Grandpa and daddy at the Coex Mall so that Changunnie can go for her pororo show (a penguin like cartoon/educational programme character on SBS) whilst Grandma and I can do more shopping. My legs were already a bit shaky at that point but we decided to be the trooper.

We wanted to buy traditional Korean dishes but it's harder than you think, even in a place like Korea where people stress the importance of traditions. We asked around and were sent to new department store to buy those made by Hankook brand. Those are nice but not exactly what we were looking for. We want something made by hand. We finally located one shop behind the food court of the mall, the kind of forgotten place that you wonder why people open shop there.

We spent about 1.5 hours there, picking all the dishes, bowls, cups, pots....etc. Grandma joked with the shopkeeper that she could close shop for the day and the shopkeeper actually said "You bet! I will after I packed up your order". We ended up having three boxes of dishes (delivered to the hotel) and my wallet a lot lighter.

We wondered where we could go to get Korean pillows, quilt, and underwears (don't laugh, you get really good quality undies at low price in Korea) and the pottery shop lady told us to go to Namdaemun. Namdaemun was one of the four city gates in the old time and now turned into a major market place. A while ago, the city gate building (a landmark in Seoul) was burnt down and people cried. Anyway, we decided not to repeat the experience of being trapped in traffic along Han Kang River and took the subway instead.

You think you know the art of negotiation from working in finance? Wait till after a shopping trip to Namdaemun Market. Those guys can smell what you are up to the moment you get within 15 ft of their shop front. We walked back and forth (sneakers please if you go) and haggled about the price of everything that we wanted to buy. The big breakfast was protein rich but the release of energy was faster than we thought. We stopped by a roadside mandoo jib. The pork and veg buns they sold smelled good. KRW 3000 for 5 buns. Not the cheapest but not costing an arm and a leg either. When we were about to pay, the ajumah at the shop picked up a bun that rolled off the tray and tried to pass it on as a fresh one. Being a mother, I am a believer of the three seconds rule and I was sure the bun was on the floor for less than 3 seconds. However, the floor was NOT my floor and I was a paying a customer, I protested and another ajumah intervened and threw the bun in question into the bin. Warning for all your travellers: Get the ones fresh out from the steamer. Even if they were on the floor, the high temperature would have killed the germs.

We got our shopping done and hopped into a cab for dinner at another cousin's house.

Lost in Seoul

After a week in Jeju, it was strange to be back on the mainland. Seoul looked too modern, in terms of architecture and food outlets.

We stayed at the Park Hyatt near the Coex. The plan was to be able to go shopping in the Coex area and be a bit far from all the relatives so we have the excuse not to do crazy outing all the time. Well, how wrong was I.....

We arrived at Kimpo airport around 4pm on Friday and it rained a lot. The ride from Kimpo to the Park Hyatt was hell. We were moving at the speed of me crawling on the floor using two hands on the Olympic Expressway. That really gave me a good look of the Han Kang River. Was able to see the markings of the last flood which apparently was really bad.

The decor and setting of the Park Hyatt was nice for the hip and chic. It isn't practical when you have a curious toddler. Yes, they have blinds and frosted glass panels but having a big standalone tub means your toddler wants to swim with you or go behind the blinds to play hide and seek at the most inappropriate time. Last thing I wanted was being a caged animal, being observed when I am responding to nature's call. The sliding doors are another safety hazard. I got my fingers caught once and I used the four-letter word that I should not have used in front of Changunnie.

After a short break (including Changunnie destroying a chocolate bar in a record time of 2 minutes), we went to see Yong dong-pu Uncle (Grandpa's brother). His second son lives in the same building to look after the parents. Even though I don't want to be with relatives all the time, I always have a soft spot for this branch of the family. Myung Hee hyunsoo nim is one of my favourite and her children, Byung Hwa and Hyun Jo, are adorable. The first time I met Hyun Jo, she was an infant and now she's a 12 year old who won awards for her poems! Byung Hwa was a chubby little muchkin and now a very handsome young man. Seriously, anyone out there is a star scout, I have a good one for you.

Changunnie loves Hyun Jo unni and in no time, they were downstairs to see Hyun Jo's pet chicken and quail. They picked a quail egg from the cage and cooked it. The egg tasted like... well real egg! In fact, the yolk colour was darker and floated on top of the white.

The entire family moved on to a soondae jib around the neighbourhood. In Hong Kong,you get a "full" menu at Korean restaurant. In Korea, each restaurant sells one thing only. The place we went to sells nothing but soondae and organs. The serving was big but with the Son-sshi men around, the food didn't stay in the tray for too long. I didn't really get to eat because Changunnie tried to cross the street in search of ice-cream.

In order to let the others to eat, Myung Hee hyunsoo-nim and I took Changunnie and Hyun Jo to a near by park. It was peaceful until I smelled cigarettes. Turned out a bunch of middle school kids were smoking under the protection of the slide. They stopped when we approached them and unlike kids in HK, didn't talk back or anything but all that made me wonder what's going on in the world right now? Is it not cool if you don't smoke?

I could see the star

It is hard to know what we are missing without comparison. I knew the pollution in Hong Kong was bad. I am talking about air as well as light pollution. I still cannot comprehend why the government is wasting money for that stupid laser show in Central at night. It's not like everyone will stop what they are doing at 8pm to look up for the laser beams shooting in all directions from the top of skyscrapers along the harbour. Then, we moved to the boonies. Ah! I can see stars again. Well, I saw a real stary night last night in Pattaya.

There was an outdoor dinner at the local yacht club last night for my husband's conference. We walked around a bit after dinner and settled down in one of those nylon lounge chairs on the beach. I looked up and saw stars every where. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I didn't want to take any pictures because I worried the flash might disturb other people from looking at the stars.

Technology and money brought convenience to us but we don't seem to realise how much we have given up as a result. Simple things in life can bring so much joy but I suspect most people will not realise until the precious is taken away from them for good.

I don't think I can be very green but these are the things that I will make sure my family do

1. Bring our own canvas shopping bags and say no to excess packaging at supermarket. Plastic bags don't decompose and they smell and release toxic when burnt! (If lunch club members are reading this, you can call me the bag lady!)

2. Recycle. We bought a fertilizer drum. All leftover food (except meat) goes in there and 6 weeks later, we get fertilizer. It's been a long time since we last shopped for any lettuce. We are about to harvest some zucchini! It's good to grow our own veg in flower boxes on the rooftop and on the balcony. Reduce heat on the top floor too.

3. Use baking soda for cleaning

4. Walk more. I like running to the neighbourhood supermarket. 30 mins back ad forth and no need to pay for a gym membership

5. Use your own chopsticks if possible. If saving trees is not a good enough reason, ever saw documentary of some "wooden" chopsticks are made?

Step by step but we gotta go towards the right direction if we still want to enjoy what nature has to offer....