Coffee Anyone?

I know - It's been forever since I posted...well...a month and a bit.  Here it is, October already.  My excuse is that I've been busy.  I have some pictures to catch up with.

We have noticed that there are a lot of coffee shops in Seoul.  Koreans seem to like coffee...a lot.  One Sunday we decided to take pictures of all the coffee shops we saw between Yeoksam station (where we get off to walk the two blocks to church) and Seolleung station (the next station along - we walk to this station after church).

Sometimes coffee places are also bakeries.  If this is the case, then the name is French.  So far all bakeries (except the little ones in the market) have French names.

This is the coffee shop right by the church.  We are not sure if "Etiopia" is "Ethiopia" spelled without the "h" or if it has another meaning altogether.  This is the only one we've seen by this name.

This is a very big coffee chain in Seoul. This one is a block from the church.

This one is across the street from the one above.  A block from the church.  We've only seen Cafe Nescafe by the church.

 This is kind of a "cheater" entry as it is a sandwich shop as well.

There's that "non-English" and yet not French spelling of cafe...somewhere between coffee and cafe.

Dunkin Donuts is very big in Korea...they have surprisingly good, and relatively inexpensive coffee too.  As well as all the other requisite frothy and smoothie beverages.

An office building is incomplete without a coffee shop - oh and bakery.  Hmm...this one looks like it might be an actual "cafe" as opposed to a Coffee shop...(it might not actually fit in this coffee shop album).

One on every corner...just like home :)

This is a common coffee shop in Seoul.

As is this one - just under construction here - but one of the most popular in Seoul, according to guidebooks.

Note - the French name - a "Green" coffee shop - serving only organic coffee.

An action shot outside the Paris Baguette - mostly a bakery, but also serves coffee...of course.

Not sure what 7 gram has to do with coffee...or cafe for that matter.

I'd like to meet Gloria Jean...this is the only coffee shop by this name we've seen in Seoul.  But there is a lot of city that we still haven't seen of course.

Another big coffee chain in Seoul.

And just to prove that what I said is true.  This is the second Starbucks we see between one metro station and the next.

Kimchi Dog!!!

It seems that everyone has heard of Kimchi - that Korean staple mostly made of cabbage and hot spicy peppers.  We've eaten quite a bit of kimchi since coming to Seoul...but never like this.

At the base of the N. Seoul tower we walked by a restaurant offering....Kimchi Dog...

Bob could not resist!

Anticipation....

The first bite....

Bob reports that the Kimchi dog tastes like a hot dog with sauerkraut on it...which I will accept...

A day with Semi (세미)

For those of you who don't know, Semi Song is a Korean student who studied at Immaculata in Kelowna for her Grade 10-12 years.  She was a student of Bob's, as well as a classmate of David and Richard.  She has maintained her friendship with David since moving back to Korea after graduation.  We met up with Semi yesterday at her University - Dongguk University-and had a visit and went on a little adventure.

Dongguk University is a Buddhist University, so there is a temple on the campus (well maybe more than one, we saw only one).

According to Semi, the university is over 100 years old on this site.  The elephant is considered good luck. (These look very real, but are not...)

There are outdoor basketball courts, complete with stadium seating and lights.

After a coffee, Semi offered to take us up to N. Seoul park and tower since it was so close...we happily went along with this plan!

When the bus dropped us off, we still had a long climb to the top of the hill.  The electric bus refueled before making the return trip.

After a hike up the steep road we came to the viewpoint.  Here we found the geographical centre of Seoul.  

 This is the area where Semi lives...

 This is the area where we live.
There were lots of people there, and lots to see.

The View was spectacular.

At the base of the tower is a special place where lovers can "lock" their love. Couples buy a lock and lock it to the fence or one of the "trees" at the base of the tower.  They throw away the key and their love will never fail.  There are thousands and thousands of locks there! 

 We just had our picture taken.

We decided to go up the tower.  Really reasonable at 9000W (a bit under $9).

We took a LOT of pictures of Seoul.  Semi said she had never been up the N. Seoul tower before!  So we had a great view of the city and a great day together!

See the photos of Seoul by following the link:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrslkmack/sets/72157631230258186/

Street Views

I've compiled a series of pictures of "Street Views" that we've taken on our travels.  They are available for viewing at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrslkmack/sets/

Enjoy!

Seoul Sights

In the 10 days we have been in Seoul we have seen so many different things.  It is such a very different city to any of the big cities we have visited before.  Here are a few things which we have found interesting...

Gas stations with attendants.  Every gas station has several attendants.  In fact, it is very easy to get service in every store of every size that we've been in so far.

Driving ranges.  We've seen a few of these.  Golf is apparently very popular in Korea, so it makes sense that there would be driving ranges.  They are positioned above the surrounding buildings.  One we saw, the golfers were positioned on the second or third floor of a building.

Water dispensing systems.  There are many of these in large stores and food courts.  In the food courts, there are metal cups in a sterilizer.  People help themselves to cups and water, then deposit the used cups.  They are washed and put back in the sterilizer.  At all the "fast food" places we've seen which serve Korean food, it is served on actual dishes, and not in throw-away containers.  Also in one food court, there was a sink for people to wash up after they had finished eating.  And did I mention - everything is VERY clean.  (There are staff cleaning up constantly...and people clean up after themselves as well).

Recycling.  In our neighbourhood (and in others that we've visited) there are people who come and get the recycling and take it to local depots.  This means that we separate out our recyclables, and leave them outside our apartment.  These people are, for the most part, elderly, but they work tirelessly to keep the recycling picked up and taken to depots.  Some, like this man, have a cart.  We've seen these used for cardboard and styrofoam, but the "recyclers" also pick up plastic and tins.  None of the beverage containers here have a deposit paid on them, so they are put out with other recycling.

Parking solutions.  There are many cars in Seoul, but not lots of space.  This is the parking solution in our own apartment building - a car elevator.  This takes the vehicle down to the basement parking area.  People also park on the area we would consider sidewalk.

This is another unique solution - 8 cars can park in the space of 2 cars.  We've seen 2 of these, but imagine that they must be reasonably common.

Now, we don't know about this building, but it does say P on it and it is very narrow.  We wonder if this is a giant car parking elevator...something to research for another day.

Small trucks.  And these are REALLY small.  Amazingly, there are not as many small cars as we thought there would be...but there are no BIG trucks.  At least not as personal vehicles.  (We have seen dump trucks, and other big trucks with freight - but very few of these - at least where we've been).  All trucks appear to be some kind of commercial vehicle.  These trucks are small enough to fit up on sidewalks...just one of the many advantages of a truck this size.

Overhead wires. Everywhere.  We find this interesting because we had no overhead wires in our subdivision back home.  There are so many buildings receiving power...

Narrow streets and LOTS of shops.  I think this is the part of our adventure so far that we both enjoy.  This street is actually wide compared to some of the little narrow alleyways we've been down.  And everywhere there are the signs telling of the businesses.  I'm hoping to soon be reading enough Korean to get some idea of what's for sale!

The Subway

We are not unfamiliar with subways, having lived in Montreal for a year, but the Seoul subway is really something else.  It is HUGE - but oh so easy to use.  That's because all the station names are written in their Korean name, and their "English" name (that is, the Korean name written using English letters).

We live close to the end of the "pink" line #8.  So far we have travelled on Line #2 (green), Line # 6 (brown), Line #5 (purple) and Line #4 (dark blue).  I wonder what they will do when they run out of colours!

We have purchase a Transit pass, called "T" money.  We refill it at the subway (or 7-11 or some other convenience stores) and then swipe it on our way in, and out of the subway.  

Once in the subway system it is possible to transfer from one line to the next.  Sometimes it is a bit of a walk!

Here we are travelling from the green line to the pink line through an underground tunnel.  Sometimes there are several flights of stairs involved as well.  It is easy to find the right direction.

The platforms are HUGE and the trains are very long.  Amazingly we have not yet counted the number of cars on a train (shock).  It is not possible (as in Montreal, or Vancouver) for a person to "fall" onto the tracks.  There are glass walls with doors which match up with the train.

Once inside, the cars are very spacious, and VERY clean.  There are videos playing in the cars showing how the cars are steam cleaned and the upholstery cleaned, and we believe it!

The doors between cars open and it is possible to walk from one end of the train to the other.  Of course, this is Seoul, home to many millions of people, many of whom would be taking the subway on any given day...so the stations and the trains can be crowded.

The basic cost of an adult fare is 1050 Won - which is around $1.00 (actually, $0.93).  If the trip is extra long (like when we come out of the metro after having been downtown, and have used at least 2 metro lines), there is a charge of 100 Won, or 200 Won added to the cost.  In all it is a pretty cheap way to get around!!!