Say Yes to Trev: November 2012

Monday, November 26, 2012

Kal-guk-su (noodle dish)

Kalguksu (literally "knife noodles")

Kalguksu was Trev's favorite noodle dish in Korea during his visit.
Basically, you can get this dish in any town/city in Korea. but each city has its own original recipe. The average price for this dish is CAD$5.00-8.00 depending on the ingrediendts. This is like Pho (vietnamese noodle soup) for Koreans, but the noodles are handmade in traditional restaurants.

He highly recommends "dan-gam-nong-won-Hal-Mae-Kalguksu" in Gyeongju.

단감농원 할매 손칼국수
054-745-4761 경북 경주시 배동 739-2

If you are planning to travel to Gyeongju, we highly recommend to visit this particular restaurant, but it may be hard to find without a GPS. This place is nearby "poseukjung" in Gyengju where you can discover Koreans' old drinking culture! During banquets in the last days of the Silla kingdom, the king's official and noble guests would sit along the watercourse, chatting and reciting poetry, engaged in drinking games.

Recommended restaurants for Kal-guk-su.

1. Myung-dong Gyo-ja (Myung-dong, Seoul)

Chicken broth + soft noodle

Established 1966, this is the restaurant my parents also used to go when they are dating in Myung-dong downtown. Their Kimchi is super Garlicy, you won't want to kiss to your gf or bf for a while after.
Hwa-young recommends the guk-su and dumpling!

http://www.mdkj.co.kr/en/
(Website is in English! Surpirse!!!!)

2. Get-ma-eul-mil-baht-jip (In-sa-dong, Seoul)
Seafood broth+soft noodle

3. Sa-rang-bang Kal-guk-su. (In-sa-dong, Seoul)

Paht-Kal-guk-su (Redbean noodle).
This is not her favorite, but her mom loves this noodle.

It is in the red-bean soup!

4. Veteran Kal-guk-su (Her favorite!!!!!) ( Hanok village, Jeon-Ju)

This small snack place is a hidden jem in Jeon-ju. We will explain Jeon-Ju later for details
For now, http://tour-eng.jeonju.go.kr/index.sko
You can visit above website for JeonJu!

Actually, there are tons and tons of Kal-Guk-su restaurants in Seoul. You can find at least one on any distrcit in Seoul! (or any other cities)

Homemade Kal-guk-su

Make a batter and use knife to cut it! That's why this noodle is called Kal-guk-su.
Kal: Knife in Korean.

We made chicken broth Kal-guk-su, all are homemade, and it took...almost 2 hours for us.
It was delicious, but we decided not to do it again!
Try it in Korea for less than CAD$10 !

Of course, with beer! Soju may be better for this noodle dish though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalguksu

More information about Visiting Korea: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr

Questions& comments

sayyestotrev@gmail.com

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

From Toronto to Seoul

See below.

There are many travel agencies in Toronto for Korean tickets.

Here, we are suggesting two major agencies.

1.Polaris Travel (Toronto)

1-800-680-3849
1-905-747-0909
http://www.polaristravel.ca/

2. Skyline

http://www.skylinetours.co.kr/

1-877-779-0601

1-905-764-5553

Korean Airline

Toronto-Seoul(Korea)

$1400-1600

AirCanada

$900-1600

Toronto-Narita(Japan)-Seoul(Korea)

Toronto-Vancouver-Seoul(Korea)

Asiana airlines

$1000-1600

Toronto-Chicago-Seoul

United Airline

$850-1600

Toronto-San Francisco-Seoul

Price ranges are dependent on the flight schedules and departure dates.

Detailed prices will be available thru travel agency. I highly recommend to give a call and check the price.

Any questions to Trevor & Hwa-young: sayyestotrev@gmail.com

From Montreal/Ottawa (Canada)

See below.

Maude Byun
Asia Express Travel
2000 Peel st. suite 735
Montreal, QC H3A 2W5
(514)288-4997/ 1-800-667-3951 ext 231
Fax: 514-288-4676

maude.byun@voyagesasiexpress.com

Delta Airline: Montreal-Detroit-Korea(Seoul)

Ottawa-Montreal-Detroit-Korea

$900-$1400

Air Canada: Montreal - Toronto- Korea (Seoul)

Ottawa- Toronto- Korea (Seoul)

Montreal-Vancouver-Korea

Ottawa-Vancouver-Korea

$1200-$1800

United Airline (not recommended)

Montreal-Chicago (or any other US city)- Tokyo, Japan- Korea

$1000-$1400

Price ranges are dependent on the flight schedules and departure dates.

Please discuss with Maude Byun for details. (514-288-4997) maude.byun@voyagesasiexpress.com

Any questions to Trevor or Hwa-young: sayyestotrev@gmail.com

Trev's (really short) testimony about Gyeongju.

Trev's ("really short") testimony about Gyeongju.

Gyeongju - It is 370 km (230 mi) southeast of Seoul. Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BC – 935 AD) which ruled about two-thirds of the Korean Peninsula between the 7th and 9th centuries. It is rich in history and was one of the many places I found fascinating during my visit. This city is the one that stands out for me as the one that makes someone from Canada realize how little history we have compared to other parts of the world. It has 1000 year old structures and burial sites of royalty from the Silla period. A few highlights for me were:

Food (that will be a highlight for everywhere I went) - 1) special handmade noodle dish "Kal-guk-soo" and 2) red bean pastry called "Gyeongju Bread" or "Hwangnam bread". I also know there is a good hangover soup there!!
The varied sized "mounds" covered only with grass that appear around the area. These mounds are actually tombs where various members of royalty are buried. The larger mounds mean more important royalty, smaller ones are often those that died young.
Yang-dong village - the village area where it is people of one family/clan with buildings that are like a 1000 years old.
There are temples here (and throughout all of Korea) that are simply breathtaking as is Anap Pond.

Some pictures of younger HY and TMac

Front of Chum-Sung-Dae.

people believe this little pagoda(or tower) was for astronomical observatory, more than a thousand years ago.. But,,,who knows.. I also learned this one as astronomical observatory in high school, no matter the real function of this tower, the cool thing about this is that this one kept pretty well over 1000 years.

At Anap Pond.

We have been there during the day, but you should definitely try its night scenery!

If you buy a ticket to enter, you can use multiple times per day! So take advantage of it!!!

At Yang-dong village

Yang-dong village

Random mounds in Gyeng-ju

There are too many mounds, so actully goverments cannot investigate all of them yet. Those mounds reflect long prosperity of Shilla. You can have these distinctive views in the city.