The quest for the perfect Glühwein

It's time for mulled wine and gingerbread and we spent the past weekends benchmarking different spots in Seoul where one can fight the freezing cold. We started two weeks ago in the European Christmas market, in Seongbukcheon Fountain Square, a joint effort from several European embassies. The mulled wine was nothing to write home about (almost bitter tasting), but anyway, we are in Seoul, right?

Seongbukcheon Fountain Square

The square was too small for so many people but we found a tiny empty corner close to the Christmas tree to drink our Glühwein and eat our rösti, which was selling like hot cakes, despite some cooking flaws!

Seongbukcheon Fountain Square

To be honest, we were so disappointed with the Glühwein that we went straight to the German pub Zum Hirsch in Itaewon. Their Glühwein was what is supposed to be, spiced and fruity, fragrantly sweet. We had a winner! We accompanied it with a potato salad. Not a usual combination, true, but the only other vegetarian option was fries...

Glühwein, Zum Hirsch, Itaewon

Last weekend, after missing the French Christmas Market, which closed at 4pm (really?), we went to the German Christmas Market in the German School in Hannam-dong. Funny enough, it opened at 4:30pm and closed at 8pm, a tad more adequate to our Portuguese weekend schedule. We had a very decent Glühwein, which made the -10º C that evening feel like -5º C. The gingerbread was also more on the perfection side. 

Glühwein, German Christmas Market

We finally tried the doenjang bibimbap in 툇마루 restaurant in Insadong. It's soul food, home-made and it tastes great. The banchan are not vegetarian though. You get all the ingredients on the table and then it's DIY: put the lettuce and chives on top of the rice, together with the fermented bean paste and tofu. Mix and this is the result:

된장비빔밥, Doenjang bibimbap

The rest of the week we spent it trying no to fall in the street. With the freezing temperatures the whole city is a giant ice rink. Koreans are pros - they keep running (they are always running somewhere) and I haven't seen a single one fall down.

Hannam-dong

But now it's time for... bolo rei! Europe, here we come!

Quick escape to San Francisco and Napa: with no flowers in our hair

United Airlines had this great deal for San Francisco and craziness made a go for it, with a valid credit card. It’s a 10 hour flight and 17 hours of time difference. We arrived on the same day and a few hours earlier than our departure time from Seoul. How wicked is that?

Nevertheless, as soon as we disembarked and got the rental keys we headed to the Golden Gate Bridge, one of the world’s longest suspension bridges, the ninth longest to be exact. It was so impressive that we crossed the Marin Headlands to Bonita Point for better overview photos.

Golden Gate Bridge

For the ones visiting San Francisco this peninsula across the Golden Gate Bridge should not be missed. It’s not developed and hosts amazing wildlife. While taking photos of the bridge we spotted these ones sunbathing.

Sea lions in the Marin Headlands peninsula

We rode off to Calistoga, where we were spending the night. The nights in Napa are cool and we were happy to have a fireplace in our bedroom (that was a treat!) – Anyway that’s what makes Napa wines so balanced in sugar / acidity: sunny days and cool nights. Though in the last 3 years, California has faced a period of drought, which is seriously harming the Golden State, which contributes the most to the US GDP.

We picked two wineries to visit, one big with a self-guided tour formula and a small one, by appointment only. Both were worth it. Some wines were a novelty to us, like the Zinfandel and others a surprise, like the tempranillo, a grape that brought us memories from our homeland despite being grown thousands of kilometers away from the Iberian Peninsula.

We grew fond of the Petite Sirah (its oaky essence made us bring a bottle home!) and tasted one of the best Chardonnays of our life in Vincent de Arroyo winery. In Sterling vineyards we had an amazing Sangiovese with a Christmassy flavour.

Petite Sirah

Despite the clouds the valley looked stunning dressed in autumn colours.

Calistoga, Napa Valley

Sterling Vineyards

Back in the city we also tried Su Yuen Pinot Grigio, from Coppola’s winery – mild and sweet, marries well with more acidic and sour dishes.

The city itself was not a disappointment but it was not as captivating as we thought it would be. It seemed to us that all the freedom it fought for once didn't entail other social problems, not stemming from sexual orientation.

Our favourite place was no doubt the Ferry Building. A lot of groovy restaurants and small stores concentrated in one place, selling varied items from fresh oysters in Hog Island Oyster to vegetable dumplings in the most popular Vietnamese restaurant in town: Out the Door. We queued like the locals and rejoiced for the creativity being sold at decent prices.

Second favourite place was Alamo Square and the view over downtown. The colourful Victorian houses aka “painted ladies” in Steiner street helped in the ranking.

Alamo Square: "painted ladies" and SF downtown

From the hipster places we have been to (and there’s a lot of them), we can highlight the Sweet Woodruff – the kitchen is bigger than the seating area, so you can see what is important here! Plus, the selection of wine is not bad at all!

In Four Barrel, in the Mission District, they roast their own grains brought from small farms in Guatemala, Ethiopia and El Salvador. Impossible to avoid the queue since the place is very popular but worth the wait, especially for one of their pour-over coffees.

We could skip easily Fisherman’s Wharf, which is probably the most touristic part of town, if it was not for the lazy sea lions hanging out around pier 39.

Sea lions in Pier 39

If you’re going to San Francisco... make sure you don’t miss them.

“Autumn leaves” II and soul food

Three weeks ago we went to Pureun Arboretum near Onsu Station (Exit 3, Lines 1 and 7) for some more autumn photos. The minibus number 07 links Onsu station with the rear entrance of the Arboretum but the distance is also walkable (around 1 Km) – just follow the signs. We were blown away with such intense colours.

It has several theme gardens (rose, maple, hibiscus, herb, vegetable etc.), with both Korean plants and from around the world, spread in an area of more than 100,000 m3. The main attraction for us was the old railway track on which you can promenade.

Old train track

Another reason to like autumn in Korea is that 호빵 (steamed buns) are back. We love the sponginess and the "smoking hot" red bean. There are other fillings, ok... but we only buy with red bean filling (팥호빵).

Hobbang (호빵)

Another breakthrough in the baking field is that we finally managed to get to May Bell bakery, twice! This bakery in Itaewon is one of a kind and every single Seoulite knows it. Interesting facts: it opens at 11am (yes, I wrote bakery!), and closes as soon as they run out of bread, which happens around 2pm (yes, 2pm). Customers start queuing outside even before the opening time, which makes buying here a great challenge.

We had to queue both times, and there's a lot more choice if you're among the first customers. Getting there is so hard that people buy in quantity. This place’s secret is not only quality ingredients but also lower prices when compared to other bakeries. Our favourites: multigrain bread, fig rye bread, cranberry rye bread and the red bean and walnut bread. The focaccia and the baguette are also good but not our favourite types of bread. Our priority is ALWAYS to stock up on read bean bread!

Red bean bread galore

Meanwhile Sambazon (the açaí bowls shop) has opened and we tried it last Saturday. They have three sizes: small (cup), regular and large (bowl). The one in the picture is the regular size (7,500 won). It's packed with tasty fruits (mango, kiwi, blueberries, banana, dragon fruit), chia seeds, goji berries, and further greatness. Hard to believe that a shop like this can survive by only selling açaí, but anything can happen in this fast-paced market.

Açaí bowl

Also on Saturday, and because the days are cold enough, we went to Daejong Sundubu for some heartwarming uncurdled tofu stew. They make their own tofu and, in our opinion, this is one of the best 순두부찌개 in Seoul. The banchans are also delicious and they brought us a refill without us even having to ask for it!

Uncurdled tofu stew and side dishes

정말 맛있어요 (really delicious)!

Okinawa: Japan at its southernmost limits

I should have written this post almost two months ago but laziness got the upper hand. In October we were in the Japanese tropics for 10 days and absolutely adored it, despite the weather conditions. We have a soft spot for Japan and not even two typhoons (one of them the worst of 2014) could demotivate us.

We started off in Naha. We hoped to do some sunbathing in the first 2 days, so we had booked a hotel in Itoman, 10km south of Naha airport. Our hopes soon kicked the bucket when we realised the first typhoon (Phanfone) was approaching and the swimming pool and beaches were closed for the next days. We pulled ourselves together and decided where to eat. We were told at the hotel that Itoman was bustling, but as far as a small fishing village can bustle!

We had lovely grilled mackerel, noodles with squid ink, sashimi and tempura. We tried for the first time Okinawan awamori, which is drunk with water and ice. Not our favourite but we left the bottle almost empty. On the way back to the hotel we tried to save a little kitten but in vain. This was not the booze seeing things. There was an actual kitten meowing in the bushes.

Okinawan Awamori

The next day we spent it in Naha City, visiting the Shuri castle, which was the palace of the Ryūkyū Kingdom and was almost completely destroyed in the battle of Okinawa in 1945. We strolled along Kokusaidori Street (literally International Street) and had our first Okinawan soba for dinner, and Okinawan doughnut for desert. The Okinawan soba is actually different from the buckwheat noodles known as soba in the rest of Japan. These noodles look more like udon and sometimes have a curly shape. The broth is closer to a ramen broth. Some restaurants have vegetarian options, but the more traditional ones only have the soba with pork on top.

Ishigaki soba

Next day we were off to Ishigaki. The weather was improving and we were happy. The domestic terminal in Naha airport looks more like a nursery than a place where people board planes. The place is packed with orchids.

Naha airport domestic terminal

We rented a car in Ishigaki. Driving on the wrong side again… by this time we should already be used to it, after Malta and the Seychelles. International driving license (under 1949 Convention only!) is required for Japan and they really check. The island is small and traffic is almost non-existent except in Ishigaki City. After checking in to our “villa” in Nagura, we drove straight to Kabira Bay, which is postcard worthy when depicting the Yaeyama islands.

Kabira Bay, Ishigaki island

If you are in for one of the best culinary experiences in Okinawa, then Hitoshi Ishiganto should be on our list. Fresh, melting in your mouth sashimi and out of this world seaweed tempura!

Taketomi island was next. We spent a full day there cycling, looking for star sand and being careful not to step on sea cucumbers in Kondoi beach.

Star sand

We had a diving tour booked for the next day. Diving spots were south of Taketomi and Kuroshima. The sea was pretty rough on the first spot but better on the second and third. We saw for the first time a giant moray and that was worth the bumps and the rain we put up with that day.

The second typhoon was already approaching and the north port of Iriomote, another Yaeyama island (second biggest in Okinawa Prefecture), was already closed. We took a ferry to the south port and a bus to the Urauchi River mouth, and then trekked until the Kanpiree waterfalls (Kampirē-no-taki).

Kanpiree waterfalls

On the next day we were flying back to Naha. After filling our stomachs with tofu and rice (plain is good!) off we went to the airport, surprised to see that our flight was still confirmed. Naha airport was closed shortly after we landed. We checked in the hotel and went for the last time (so we thought!) to savour the local treats in Yunangi: green caviar, seaweed tempura, and squid ink soba.

Green caviar

Vonfong was getting closer. We checked the status of our flight to Seoul (we were flying the next day) but it had been canceled. We were re-booked for the following day. We managed to get our hotel room for one extra night. All hotel doors were secured and only the parking lot door was left open. We never left the hotel, the rain and the wind were simply too strong.

The airport was open the next day and the first ANA flights started arriving. We were stranded an extra day (time to go and try Ushikima Garden) and finally managed to come home 48 hours later than expected. Still, would we do it again? For this, a thousand times over!

"Autumn leaves" and nostalgic eats

Autumn has made a hard landing here in Seoul, knocking out our sweet Indian summer. We took a walk up to Namsan mountain last weekend and pictured some amazing colours:

We have also discovered in the meantime that it's possible to buy Portuguese egg tarts (pastéis de nata) in Seoul. In fact there are several locations where they sell them. Although we do not crave the tarts that much, the discovery made us happy for some underlying nostalgic reason.

Portuguese egg tarts in Anguk-dong

Pastel de nata (egg tart)

We tried the shop in Anguk-dong. They not only have the classic egg tart, but also a few non-Portuguese variations: chocolate, walnut, apple cinnamon, lemon, pumpkin and sweet potato tarts. Price per tart is 3,500 KRW. Classic is 2,200 KRW.

To get there: from exit 1 in Anguk station, turn right and immediately right again. The shop will be on your left roughly 200 meters up the street.

This combined with the Manoel de Oliveira Retrospective being shown at the moment in Seoul Cinematheque makes 10,000 kilometers seem a hop, skip and a jump.

The cherry on top of the tart was finding out almost simultaneously that we will soon be able to eat  "açaí na tigela" just next door from us (Itaewon-ro 54-gil).

Açaí bowls: opening soon in Itaewon

Ok, we will not go wild on the açaí because we don't want to contribute to the Amazonian deforestation, but at least, Autumn just got a tad more interesting!

Trip to Busan: The Chuseok experience

Our first Chuseok, aka Korean Thanksgiving, was like a box of songpyeon... we didn't know what we were going to get!

We had a couple of friends visiting from Europe and we wanted to go south with them for the long weekend. However buying train tickets (even if a month in advance) proved to be a serious endeavour cause everyone else wanted to go somewhere as well:

Seoul Station at 9am on the day train tickets became available

As a celebration of the good harvest, Koreans visit their hometowns during Chuseok and share traditional food and drinks. Everyone was going to be on the move and we were joining the flow. We finally managed to book the tickets online but only from Monday to Wednesday. Busan was the destination! At least we knew there would be shops and restaurants open for business.

I started the preparation for Chuseok by attending a songpyeon (small rice cakes with sweet fillings) making class. I was told to eat this traditional Chuseok treat within 24 hours otherwise I would have to freeze and re-steam them. No need to say that the steamer never left the kitchen cabinet.

Songpyeon

Seoul was not as empty as I thought during the weekend of Chuseok, so I hoped that the same would apply to Busan for the rest of the holiday. We boarded the train early on Monday and, to my surprise it was not full. We checked in the hotel in Haeundae and went to the beach. The water was cold but bearable after a few minutes of prep work, limb by limb.

We had dinner in the fish market on the eastern side of Haeundae beach. Tasty but no frills. There's a huge construction site near the market and to embellish the area they put up some photo backgrounds on the fences. We couldn't resist this one:

The BIFF red carpet (*cough*)

He had planned a hike in Geumjeongsan for the following day and according to the information in our guidebook, the level of difficulty was quite acceptable so I took my plimsolls thinking it would be like a walk in the park. We stock up our backpacks with red bean buns from a bakery close to the hotel and off we went…

Lesson learned for life: I will never ever climb a hill in Korea without trekking shoes.

The hike took us at least four hours and included going up to the wrong peak (me asking a Korean couple where was the “mountain” instead of the “peak” didn't help – lousy guidebook!), steep and rocky stretches and constantly being taken over by Koreans, who by the gear they were wearing, seamed they were ready to climb the Himalayas... very expensively!

We still had lovely views from the mountain:

Geumjeongsan

And managed to get to the right peak thanks to a group of Korean hikers, who we followed gladly for a while, after coming down from the wrong mountain.

Godang-bong peak

We were tired therefore we deserved a reward dinner to lift our spirits. We ended up in the Millak Hoe Centre (raw fish market) in Gwangalli Beach.

Raw fish restaurant (Millak Hoe Centre)

We went to the beach the next day, just before the checkout. It wasn't as crowded as on the main Chuseok day and we were glad for that. After checking out we headed to the city centre and had lunch close to the Jagalchi fish market. Our friends left to Namhae and we went to Gwangbok (Independence) Street and the Yongdusan Park before taking the KTX back to Seoul. We still had time to go and try the famous pajeon (green onion pancake) in Dongnae before leaving.

Mushroom pajeon and banchan

Masitkke deuseyo!

Donghae: Weekend at the East Sun

Summer weekend at the beach! Or at least we thought until we saw the weather forecast a few days before leaving to Donghae. Even after hearing about the typhoon alert we left with hope that it would somehow improve over the hours.

We took the express bus from Seoul’s Gangnam Terminal, but soon discovered that the bus was not express at all. It took us 5 hours to get to the coast. The driver left the highway a couple of times to escape the traffic jams and ventured in the hilly countryside, through roads where I thought impossible to maneuver with a bus.

An overcast sky welcomed us to Donghae. We took a taxi to the hotel, which was located in Mukho. I was planning to get a lot of information from the hotel’s front desk but soon realised that I was not going to speak any English there. As our Korean is limited to say the least, we resigned to communicate via Google translate… or not at all.

The Donghae Beach Hotel is misleading in many ways: it’s not located in Donghae but Mukho; it’s at the seaside but not at the beach, and resembles more a typical Korean motel than a hotel. It was in desperate need of renovation. I’m almost tempted to forget the writing for the web guidelines and write “desperate” in red, capital letters and underlined.

There were two pieces of cloth and a plastic basin in the bathroom which puzzled me (!) and the hotel’s towels were charmingly drying in the hallway, in front of the lift. However the highlight of this hotel was actually cute in a very twisted way: the “punk little creature” that was guarding the entrance.

Funky Yorkshire terrier at the reception

We grabbed our flip-flops and left to the beach. We kept on walking along the coast until Mangsang, one of the most popular beaches in Korea. On the way we learned about the beach habits of Korean families and what they need.

1. Tents – either the family tent to spend the day or the store tents, to buy all the forgotten items:

"Living area"

"Shopping area"

2. Life-jacket – in case one forgot, they were also being sold a few meters away, in the main street:

Life-jackets for sale!

3. Food – very important and we should actually thank the kindness of the lady who shared with us a steamed corncob. The friendliness of Koreans doesn't cease to amaze us!

Barbecue time!

4. Floating tubes and various water sports, including surf:

Tubes away!

Surf class

Koreans protect themselves from the sun and many of them go to the water fully dressed. We were probably the only cowards who didn't wet more than the feet because we thought the water was freezing (it was! I come from Porto, remember?).

What should be written in many websites about visiting Donghae is that a big stretch of Mangsang beach is a military area and cannot be accessed. Signs are only in Korean and if it wasn't for the surf instructor warning us, we would have caused a big hassle among the young Korean military playing water polo!

Our dinner was in a fish restaurant. Our hotel was located in the so-called “sashimi town” and we just entered one randomly until we realised that nobody spoke a word of English. Fortunately there was a customer in the restaurant who spoke some English and helped us with the order. We had: fried mackerel, seaweed soap, banchan, sashimi plate and fish soup at the end.

Masit-sseoyo!

Our plan was to go to Mureung valley the next day but as soon as we woke up we saw the rain pouring down non-stop. We decided to change our tickets and take the bus back to Seoul earlier than planned. We thought that we would avoid the traffic by leaving early in the afternoon.

Our learning curve in Korea is quickly accelerating: it took us 7 hours to reach Gangnam. We have definitely parted ways with express buses in Korea. Annyonghi heseyo!

Stopover in China: the land of lands

China has changed. Almost 10 years have passed since I've laid eyes for the first time on this country and the differences are evident: fewer bicycles, bigger and better cars, more pollution, more skyscrapers – especially built in the middle of nowhere –, higher prices (uau!), funky reality shows and A LOT of Korean drama on tv.

At the same time, a lot has remained the same: the smell of food rooted everywhere and in everyone, the eternal rush under and above ground, the pushing to get through, the lack of English skills, the high tech in numerous services, and my favourite: the bamboo scaffolding skyrocketing over dozens of floors – still impressive!

The first feeling we got after landing in Beijing and arriving in the hotel: totally handicapped. We rely on Google to return the URL of every single website we use, but Google doesn't work in China. After a complete mind shift we finally started using Bing as startpage. OK, first obstacle overcome. Next?

Beihai Park

Getting around. The subway is extremely cheap when compared to other services. Even though some lines are pretty crowded, it's the easiest way to get around, since traffic is hell. The best way to get to town from the airport is by Express Train (25 yuan) to Dongzhimen and then by metro to any other part of town (single ride is 2 yuan).

As soon as we arrived, we organised the trip to the Great Wall – Mutianyu section . In the meantime we visited Tiananmen Square and Beihai Park, which looked beautiful after the pouring rain of late afternoon.

Dinner was in the Houhai area, close to the three lakes. The same place where we ate 5 different vegetarian delicacies  (cucumber with soybean paste, green onion pancakes, spicy tofu, sweet and sour radish, mashed eggplant with garlic) also served snake, frog and baby turtle. This is China after all!

Great Wall - Mutianyu

The visit to the Great Wall was well worth the bus ride. The sky was clear, there were only a few tourists and we had almost the whole place for ourselves. The ride up was by cable car but we got down by this odd, snail-paced toboggan – thanks Hugo, great idea!

Tobbogan from Tower 6

In the evening, we discovered a nice little restaurant close to our hotel, which was really a gem. Mainly frequented by locals, it specializes in seafood but with many other options. We had the golden flower trio, pea sprouts, tofu with mint and crayfish (apparently this is THE THING to eat here!). Communication was a challenge , as anywhere else in China, but as long as the menu is in English, we get through it.

Next day, after visiting the Forbidden City we headed for Xi’An. The airport is new but far away from town. The shuttle bus to the centre (Drum Tower) takes more than an hour and costs 50 yuan.

To get to the Terracotta warriors and Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum, there are buses departing from the East Square of Xi’An Railway Station. Tourist bus no. 5 is the fastest, because it doesn't stop every 5 minutes like all the others. The ride is 8 yuan per person, no matter which bus you take.

Terracotta warriors - Pit 1

The sight of the warriors is amazing mostly because of the size of the pits where excavations are still going on. It’s thought that the emperor's mausoleum, which is located 1 km away from the warriors, is also full with hidden treasures but excavations here are just starting. Until now, more than 8000 figures (warriors, horses, and carriages) have been revealed. The emperor started this enterprise when he was 13, as soon as he took the throne, which makes me think that they only lived to die, but in style!

Our time in Xi’An was coming to an end, but we still managed to see the Small Wild Goose Pagoda – worth a visit if one wants to avoid the crowds at the big Wild Goose Pagoda.

On our way back to Beijing we took the high-speed train, which links the two cities in about 4 hours with one stop in the middle (Zhengzhou, really?). Not only was the train full of people – even though the ride costs more than 500 yuan – but also packed with all types of goods. OK, mostly fruit and vegetables but smelly nonetheless. Seeing them like that in a millions-worth train was far from being uninteresting.

Back in Beijing, time was scarce. We bought the last souvenirs (never got that bloody soybean paste but ok) and left to the airport to catch our plane to Chengdu, which proved to be quite a challenge. It was delayed 2 and a half hours due to bad weather, plus we faced a traffic jam in the line-up for the runaway – one hour burning fuel and half of the passengers either eating, standing in the aisle, screaming at the crew or opening the overhead compartments. Chinese FAA equivalent, where are you?

Our plans got twisted and we only managed to go to the Panda Breeding and Research Centre in Chengdu. Only? Well, it was the highlight of our journey and the best way to end this stopover. Why? .... Look right!

It’s amazing to see such contrasts in this huge country, which has over 50 nationalities. They say they are shy and to be able to express certain feelings, including love for someone, they sing it instead – hmm…

Even though patriotism is built in them from early age, one sees the intricate tensions very clearly, and not only in the "spiritual" blue roofs seen from the airplane. Security is tight in all relevant public places: historic sites, museums, monuments, subway and train stations, airports. But they go easier on foreigners than on their own citizens.

From Chengdu -> Amsterdam: hello Europe!