Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Korea!

We only got to spend a few days in South Korea (which was one more than we would have liked, but we unfortunately missed our flight and had to live in Incheon airport for a day). Other than our little camp-out, it was a great experience. We saw as much as we could in the time we had!

We asked the concierge at our hotel (co-op?) if there were any good vegetarian places. He only knew of one, but we got directions and made our way there.

It was a gorgeous little Buddhist temple, hidden around a few corners and down an alley, etc.
The menu was set, several courses including dessert. Not knowing what to expect, we ordered two servings, one for each of us.


We ended up with tempura, rice, curry and dozens of little bowls to season our plates with - as is Korean tradition. There were so many little dishes, and all vegan - kimchi, boiled spinach salad, spicy veggies, several kinds of seaweed. The curry was too spicy for me, sadly. Mochi with cinnamon syrup came for dessert, along with a traditional Korean dance/drum show. Pat even got called up with some other audience participants to play in the drum circle! Apologies for the poor quality of the photo, but it was dark and we took them with Pat's iPod.

Pat's friend Francis took us to one of the many palaces in Seoul, Gyeongbokgung Palace. It was a beautiful day for it. Pat had just gotten me my early birthday present - a new camera - so I was quite excited and took lots of pictures.


















There was a dress-up-like-a-traditional-Korean booth, but we got there just as it closed. We had to make do with putting our faces through the cutouts. The locals found us quite amusing.



There were plenty of museums we missed out on, but I'm sure there'll be more to see for the next time we stop through! Not the most vegan-friendly place in Asia, but still super cool! Lots of great shopping (oo, the night markets and malls!), nice helpful people and plenty of them. Check out Pat's post for lots more pictures: http://patswalkabout.blogspot.com/2011/04/seoul.html