Where the old meets the new: Ssamji Gil, Insadong, Seoul
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Ssamji Gil in Insadong, Seoul
This is my fourth time visiting Insadong since the first time I went with Mom and Emi when my brother got married about 9 years ago. Somehow Insadong always brings me some sort of nostalgia that actually I really don’t know about that well… But I secretly love that vague and warm nostalgia about my own fantasy of what old Seoul would have been. I was born in early 70’s so I wasn’t there to live the middle of all but I would have loved it and I don’t know why, but I think I am right about guessing Insadong today somehow carries that old charm of 70’s Seoul. I just feel it. I really like the fact that good portion of Insadong does not allow any cars around. It’s laid back luxury you can have in the middle of busy Seoul. Or in any metropolitan city. It’s relaxing… Insadong then (1392-1910) was dominated by Art school, ” Dowhawon”, is still adorned by many writers, artists and craftsmen. It’s bit bohemian and very traditional despite how commercial it could be yet I am Sssooo thankful that Seoul really is doing a great job to reserve such an area like this till today keeping much character and authenticity. How do you know the new is good if you don’t know the old. I believe. Then a few years ago, Ssamji Gil has opened up in Isandong. Ssmjigil is somewhat a mall with 70 shops of small businesses. Hand made soaps, paper shop, a little boutiques sell their one of kind things… And I believe this small mall became a catalyst for the revitalization of Insadong. Unlike other common malls, Ssamjigil sets back allowing the complex to blend into the street-scape. It was quite a generous and considerate decision from the investor and developer point of view. You know how it can easily become. High-rises of million shops selling whatever that is. More money and higher density. But Ssamji Gil is bit different. It’s a quite low rise structure made out of concrete, metal, glass and wood definitely feeling modern yet warm and approachable by having this open layout using ramp style passage ways (think Guggenheim Museum in NYC but done in rectangular shape rather circular line being able to to house shops easily on the linear lines). The overall style of Ssamji Gil is easy and airy with naive looking signage, kind of business and an open court yard. It’s a relatively new mall in this old area yet again it’s modern enough to feel relevant to today’s society. Ssamji Gil has set a perfect sort of new direction for good old Insadong.
Ssamji Gil Court Yard.
A few of actual stair cases in the mall. A stair way to get to underground level where there are small Korean restaurants and cafes.
Visitors’ scribbles on the washed concrete wall. It looks quite interesting. Below, cute mural of an elevator area.
A miniature artist shop. These low sitting tables full of yummy traditional Korean food and snack with Soju are 2/3 of size of your palm. Cute, ha?
Then, cousin Yoonhee and I stopped by at this traditional Korean Accessory shop, Gabe. Cute window captures our eyes. Below, 2 little hats and a pair of baby shoes.
I ended up getting one of “Norigae”, a tasseled pendant sort of women’s accessories for traditional Korean dresses. They are all hand made and depends on ow elaborate the design is and materials are, the prices starts from $30.00 up to couple grands. Norigae ws widely used for women in royal family and “Ghi Seng”, the geisha of Korea. Norigae was attached to “Gorum”, a long tie for the traditional Korean outfit, “HanBok”’s shirt.
Hanbok’s shirt, “jugori” and Noriae.
Colorful paper boxes for ” Norigae”. I picked out the top one. Hot pink with black trim.
The shop, Gabe carries all sort of little accessories as these thimbles as well as small pillows for needles, hairpins, textiles and more…
Another thing that really caught my eyes were this hair accessories. You know Emiliano does hair, so whenever I see interesting thing that related to hair styling or tools, I like to take a look at them. ( and it was a little for Emi ). The hairpiece is called ” Tzchokmuri” a braided hair and the main big hair pin that is used to secure the braid to the head is called ” Binnye”.
A fabulous Binnye, the hairpin. It comes all different sizes, designs, materials and all ( Gold, silver, white gold….)
More Binnye and other hair accessories.
A simple hair do here. Just one Binnye and Tzchomuri. It’s quite beautiful.
After quite a time we spent at Gabe, Yoonhee and I headed up to the top floor where there is a lovely passage way with a wooden deck: a garden meets pedestrian board walk like vibe. It’s really really lovely here. I can’t imagine how it would be during Spring and Summer with bloomed flowers and lush green leaves.. and of course more cafes to visit there…
Leaving Ssamji Gil… No that’s not me standing there…!
I just can’t get enough of Korean street food even though most of time i pass it. This is Hottuck, a sort of cryspy pancake that is fried on a hot griddle with sweet syrup inside. Sweet, hot and crispy! yoonhee and I did not pass it this time. It was delicious!
Crispy Sweet Hottuck!
A herb shop in Insadong.
Insadong is also the best bet to taste varieties of Korean Teas. There are many small and big scaled beautiful traditional tea houses with galleries and beautiful court yards. Kyungin Gallery. is one of many well known Tea Houses where also has a galley And It is my favorite tea house in Insadong. The Insadong street stretches about 700m offering fun and rich opportunities to taste traditional culture and art of Korea. And it is my little nostalgia of old Seoul. Go visit and enjoy the laid back old fun and also the new fun of Ssamji gil!
A small cultural melting pot of Seoul: Hong Ik University Town.
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Entrance to down and cool complex fun Hong Ik University town (Hong Dae), Seoul
Get on the subway line 2 and literally get off at ”Hong Ik University” station in Shin Chon area. It’s very easy to get around in Seoul by Subways. Just like NY. It’s just more pleasant with fancy double sliding glass doors and velvet covered heated seats. Oh and great phone reception on entire subway line! Clean and Fast. Maybe the best way to get around the town for sure. I took Andrew and Jessica with me to stroll Hong Dae ( Dae means “University” in Korean) and hope to find a perfect little bar restaurant to sip some good sake and munching on little dishes!
If you were ever been in Tokyo, you would notice it right away. Hong Dae town greatly reminds you of Shibuya and Shimo Kitajawa in Tokyo yet less commercial. Bit grunge, bit bohemian, tiny tiny shops and groups of stream of cute and young people. Especially on the weekend nights, it gets much lively. Little cafes and restaurants and bars are everywhere with cute signs and charming attitude. They look interesting. A huge underground music scenes and weekend artist market called ” Free Market (not Flea Market) is also supposed to be quite cool and hip. There supposed to be many young artists from Hong Ik university and outside selling their art and artsy objects while they are creating them in the market. A few indie bands also joins the weekend art fair. It all sounds quite interesting. Hong Dae town is sort of a small meting pot of Young culture of Seoul.
Below, one of many small shops. It says ” Avenue, Hong Dae”
To top off great reputation to have the best Fine Art major in Korea at Hong Dae University, the vibe at this university town is Artsy and Carefree. It’s still commercial yet got lots of character and attitude. You will also find good amount of vintage shops selling accessories and vintage clothing that are from 70’s and on.
One of vintage shops in the town, Cat’s. Their website. www.lunabagel.com
Andrew trying on a vintage fur vest with leather trim! You know fur is super “In” in Korea and the rest of world. You know!
The ultimate Street food, Thukbokki house. Spicy chili sauce rice cake with fish cake, garlic, sugar and more. This is The national street food of Korea.
Ttuckbokki man stirring Ttuckbokki and next to it, Oden (Japanese fish cake ) on sticks simmering inside Dashi (dried fish based clean broth). Dashi is well known to be the base broth for Udon noodle soup.
It’s typical to see many commercial places located on the second floor in Korea. Or let’s say in Asia in general. Especially in Korea though. A small country and crowded city makes the real estate market impressively expensive. I am not kidding the Seoul real estate market is way way more expensive than Manhattan!
Karaoke building, ZillerOzone. Karaoke, Norebang in Korean, gets quite fancy here in Seoul. Individual rooms with drinks and food you can order in. Private service for private parties and free recording of your entire singing session during the stay. You can walk away with a CD with your own recording.
After a few days of hearty delicious Korean food, We are up for some yummy sake and Japanese bites! We find this small yet wonderful place, ” To-Ra”, a Japanese sake Bar with many tasty dishes! Traditional looking wooden facade and Japanese sign attracted us right away!
The first floor of the sake bar. A tiny place. We almost walked out thinking not enough space for 3 of us but friendly owner stopped us to try the second floor. Actually the third floor. Their entrance is on the semi second floor. The restaurant is located on a smooth hill. You can actually see well lined up sake bottles from the outside. The entrance floor may be able to serve only 10 people in total.
The third floor and To-Ra’s actual second floor. Many more tables and bigger space up here. Low ceiling, mixed and matched chairs and tables are cozily covered by dim and warm orange lighting. It’s perfect for us to tuck ourselves in and do what we wanted to do for this freezing cold night. Order some sake and delicious food and chat the night away…
Little nibbles to start. Bean sprouts. It’s on the house. Delicious!
Hot Oden pot on the table cooker. Various shapes and kinds of Oden. Mushrooms, scallions and Dashi broth. Let it all boil and just dig in!
Fried Squid bites with black squid ink. So crispy and fresh. Squeeze of lemon and Yum Yum Yum! Below Jessica and Andrew…
Quick fried soft tofu sitting in a soy based broth… This was one of my favorite. So tender and so much flavor. I loved it!
Seared tuna with ponzu sauce and side of grilled wild mushroom. It was bit too cold at the center but still yummy. Or we may have been quite full by the time this dish arrived. Regardless, isn’t it pretty!?
Me and Jessica cheering to the night. The last night of great week at the Korea office together.
A view of Hong Dae through a cozy window of “To-Ra” Sake bar.
After a long lovely dinner with Andrew and Jessica, we headed out for a little strolling for the town a bit. ( also needed to walk after that big dinner!) You will find quite many Taro Card readings in the town. About $4.00 a session.
Another Bar, ” Po Cha”. An old traditional signage for a bar: a wooden box lamp. These small details add lots of little charms to Hong Dae town.
Expect to see millions and billions of coffee shops in Seoul. The least interesting thins is the Star Bucks chain in Seoul. There are so many big and small independent coffee shops that make kick ass authentic coffee! I was told most of coffee shop owners will go for a year or two of intense training to Italy to learn roasting coffee beans to making a heart on your cappuccino. No place has disappointed my Italian native trained tongue for a good cup of coffee yet in Seoul.
Good interior and exterior design adds more fun to your cup of coffee.
A cute Sashimi and Japanese cuisine house, ” Wha Dong”. Wha means Flower in Korean.
Bit dirty and cute at the same time. A small street…
People are lined up to get into a club, Cocoon. So Hong Dae town apparently has much appetite for all sort of music like Hip Hop, Jazz, House, Rock, Trans, drum and base and more… The last Friday of each month is a “Club Day”. You can do a club hopping with one single ticket you have purchased. Also it’s a great area to try many small indie bands and other live concerts in Seoul.
Tented Food Carts= Pojang Macha= The best way to taste the most common street food in Korea.
I would say visiting Hong Dae Town is may be the best way to taste the heart of Young culture in Seoul. With much tiring and suppressing education system in Korea, getting accepted into a college is the biggest deal of your life. And that is ‘ THE TICKET’ to start your true life as an adult. And they will truly enjoy that freedom to live, argue, read and think. And Hong Dae is a really good short cut to glance that Young culture of Korea.
Cheap and Cheerful! : Namdaemun Market, Seoul
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Entering the Namdaemun Market!
“Cheap and Cheerful” is the best way to describe this well adorned open market, Namdaemun by both locals and foreign visitors from the all around the world. Whole sale and Retail on everything you can imagine! All sort of snacks and Korean Street food , leggings, jeans, nuts, plates, socks, furs, bags… You name it. They are all affordable and fun. You will sure find something and everything! Namdaemun Market is located right next to Shinsegye Department store in Myung Dong. I met up with my dear cousin Yoonhee and we went for a little stroll around!
“Gamegol” King Dumpling House, expect the gigantic dumplings and longest line!
Yum Yum Yum! Below, Hand cut noodle soup place. It’s freezing cold out but it does not stop making good hearty noodle. It’s typical scene here to find people wokring and cooking outside of store front. It’s a true open market.
Fried fish cakes with veggie bits. It’s a great snack for the cold days. Strangers standing next you sharing the moment of munching hot fried fish cakes worms up the cold air.
Order one and the second order is on the house. Short strip of indoor food vendors. Noodles, hot soups , bibimbap… friendly smiles greet you the second you walk into.
Deep fried veggie Ho-Ttuck : crispy sticky rice and corn flower dough filled with veggie and glass noodle filling… and Korean sausages and fish cakes on the grill. Ho-Ttuck is usually filled with sweet syrup. So this is a bit hybrid.
All different kind of miso paste and chilly paste. Seasoned in and made in various ways. Pickled sesame lives and other pickles. These are the best side dish for simple hot steamy rice!
Serious prep for night visitors. All ready to be grilled here. They include beef, pork, seafood, shrimp, pig’s feet… and what else? Noodles to be stir fried, ramen to be boiled, Spicy sticky rice: Ttuk bok gi.. ” Pojang Macha” : tented night cart , That ’s how I would translate. It’s nightly event you can taste all sort thing on stick in Korea usually in the open market or even any streets throughout the city. The lady is literally putting plastic tent over her cart with seatings and all.
One of a street vendor selling pile of winter jackets. First comes first served, You pick it and you pay it! Haha, You must stop to see him!
Fur Fur and more Fur! I know it’s a Global trend right now but here you will see hundreds of vendors selling all sort of fur items.
More dumplings! You will see temporary plastic tents over the entrance to fight the cold everywhere. It has been only 10 degrees F in Seoul.
Rustic traditional style plates and bowls. I loooovvvveee them! Stone bowls for Steaming rice or making hot pots and Bibimbap… Yum!
So beautiful! Metal pots. They come in all different size. The bigger the better I would say!
If you are in Seoul, check out this Hustle Bustle everyday Open Market ” Namdaemun”!
Get cheap fun clothing and accessories and groceries and taste hearty and affordable all sort of street food!
La Vida Yucateca, Mexico
Filed Under Architecture, Culture, Fashion, Food, Merida, Mexico, Shops, Street, Travel | 1 Comment
We don’t know why we are so drawn into Mexico but we are drawn into Mexico and Mexico has been really the one country ( beside our home Italy) we keep exploring through repeated visits and researches. I guess it has something to do with unique culture that we are attracted to rather just beautiful beaches and cool drinks to go with… Anyway, our Christmas and New year’s trip has begun on 21st of December with landing on Cancun to get to our beloved home at our heart, Tulum! Relaxing two days first there… Hanging on the beach, visiting local friends to say hi, nice lunch at El Tabano and other usual little things we love to do and always couple new adventures we stumble into at Tulum. Low key and just magical… but then our journey really kicked off by taking off to Merida to explore the city and it’s color and culture and a few amazing historical haciendas to spend our Christmas. Then we did little hops of chenotes and other spots on a way back to Tulum on the road to Coba. Cenote Il-Kil near Chichen Itza to Valladolid to Tulum to Akumal to Tulum again discovering new favorite spots and unbelievable mother nature and maybe couple paradises so called if it is really ever exists… It feels like we have done tons of things yet we know we have so much more we can explore here in Yucatan along the Mexican Gulf or other towns as Celestun, Uxumal, Progreso and many more. Many towns and villages have similarities yet also each has it’s own character and architectural setting along it’s own history. So each visit is always somewhat unique. So far all the people we met have been so kind and friendly to us. We feel welcomed here. Now we have tasted the top of the iceberg of Mexican culture through the last few years, now I feel we definitely had opened up a can of worm to finish it all up . The rest of the iceberg. Traveling allows us to dream, explore, taste, open up our brain, heart and soul. It makes us un-judge or teach not to judge yet also it makes us to get savvier and savvier to navigate and get to new right exciting things in much creative way. We are passionate about it. It’s inspiring and fun to discover and learn. And it definitely helps us to wear our own distinctive color and style.
We had come across many great moments during our trip and here I like to share the essence of Yucateca culture of all!
Christmas eve at Square, Parque de Santa Lucia, Merida: Dancers getting ready to perform traditional Yucatan dance. Elaborate hair pieces, make up and dressing is all quite beautiful. It’s a small and intimate lovely park. And It totally got me all excite! This was the exact kind of situation I wanted to stumble into! The tradition.
No they are not your typical Mariachi. The traditional songs they sang were quite classy and sort of ” Classic” like.
Christmas Mesa at Cathedral, Merida : I didn’t understand 80% of the mesa, but it didn’t matter to me. We are not even all that religious but it was beautiful to be in the Cathedral of Merida with all the locals to spend the night of Christmas. The quire was humble yet gorgeously beautiful. It nurtured our souls. We prayed for everyone we know and we love. Yes including you. Our life and lives of our family, friends, my people at work, Emiliano’s clients. Everyone. It was fulfilling.
Plaza Grande: stroll after the Mesa on Christmas night. The main square where the Cathedral is. All the buildings were dolled with Christmas lights. Below lovely streets by night in Merida.
Beloved book shop by locals and visitors: Amate Books. A great book shop! Merida.
An amazing Antique shop! I’ll say this shop is quite compatible to the “Olde good thing” in NY. Amazing antique pieces and especially the religious statues and objects are excellent. Circa 1913 statue below. Naive and humble expression is what I learnt about most of folk art and religious figures of Yucatan or it could be through out the Mexico. I also like to blog about Ex Voto: the religious folk art, panel painting with a short story to go with mostly thanking for small everyday life event as we came across through books and visiting antique shops during this trip. They are quite fascinating.
Ahhh, what a beautiful face she has! So wanted to wrap her up to bring with us back home then this shop only accepts cash only. We were middle of nowhere to get close to any bank machine. A good excuse to search more sort of things. And honestly, we felt we needed to learn more about these religious figures before we make any silly purchase.
Selvaged old tiles from colonial homes and haciendas. Quite pretty they are… Below, me standing on the elaborate flooring of the colonial home where we stayed at.
Typical street signs. Street is called “Calle” and the most of street does go by the numbers such as : My home is on Calle 66 between Calle 45 and 47.
Gael in front of our colonial home base on Calle 66. Merida. It gets chilly by night and hot during the day.
The main market in Merida. It was quite intense experience for us to go through this market. First of all, it’s monstrously big. And it was the Christmas eve or what..! The market was absolutely packed. And the way everything is laid out, presented, accepted and lived by the people in Merida. It’s cruelly raw and in your face. We were bit shocked. But then we talked to ourselves… You know what? That’s how human live.
Can you just smell what we are smelling here? Live turkeys walk around next to the taco station. It’s crazy and amazing. Moving on to Fish market. Honestly we have skipped the meat area. We have seen them all at Valladolid market. It gets quite intense. Chunk of half of the cow and everything else hanging by the hooks and blood dripping and all… But we were happy to find the fish section here which Valladolid market didn’t have one. Actually seafood were quite fresh. We got half a dozen blue crab and some shrimps to make Christmas dinner before we attended the Mesa at the Cathedral.
I didn’t write a separate blog about our experience at “Hacienda Ochil“;. But here I like to share a few photos of traditional Yucateca food we had at the hacienda. It was hearty and delicious at very reasonable price. Here the chopped fresh garnish for any Yucateca dishes: cilantro, white onion, red onion and radish. Below, Salsa tomate ( no it’s not spicy) and sauteed red onions ( really yummy and sweet)
Lunch at Hacienda Ochil. A casual buffet style here yet the quality is 4 star restaurant with friendly service. And it’s traditional cuisine you want to experience in one of the most beautiful setting.
Hard boiled turkey egg with turkey meatball in a black sauce. ( actually the texture of the eat ball was bit grainy and powdery like. I did not care for it but I tried at least), pork, osso bucco, chicken, rice, sauteed onion all other usual. But really hearty and authentic. Not your double fried beans you know!
Fried tortilla dough with pork meat inside.
The best tortilla that we ever had tasted. EVER! Hand made with Yucateca love! Warm, fresh aroma of corn and just perfect subtle bite to it. Not papery or chewy at all. The perfection. I usually don’t care for any tortilla, so this experience made me pretty much stop eating any other kinds. Snub!
OK, I got it all. Espresso, a shot of Tequila and Sangrita ( A perfect Tequila chaser. a shot of tomato juice and chili, It’s delicious. It tastes sort of like Bloody Mary but san alcohol). The Sangrita goes after the tequila. And the desert plate ranging Dried papaya with queso ( typical and traditional), Pan dulce ( kind of sugared french toast) and of course, flan. Take a better look at Sangrita!
Main Entrance to Hacienda Ochil: about 1o mt car ride from Hacienda Yaxcopoil
Not all Haciendas are this rustic. But we thought it was one good way to dream about how it would have been in it’s shining era. There are many beautiful haciendas available to rent out by the room or even the entire property renovated in fanciest way. They are drop dead gorgeous yet who knows how it had changed from the original condition and details.
The Ceiba tree of Mayan: The largest tree of the Central America beloved by Bats and Harpie eagles. They are gorgeous!
It’s so great to know where things come from. When we stopped by at the local bakery shop after the visit to Ochil and saw those bread, it all made sense. The Ceiba bread!! and below the turtle…
Yes , they are Churros!!!. Hot, Crispy and Swweeeet!! You can really taste the potato. The Churro man told me he uses red potato flower.
An awesome vintage photo we found at the small flea market at Parque de Santa Lucia on Sunday, Merida. This must have been carneballe back in the days somewhere in Mexico. Fantastic costumes and make ups!
I had bit of hard time ot pick out a few photos here out of millions of pictures from millions of moments at Yucatan.
The last picture above will be an anecdote of our new interest in "Ex Voto", especially in religious small paintings done by everyday people. They are fun, naive, shocking and amazing.
Hope you got to taste little bit of it. If you have any question and need more info about specific thing, drop me an email, I can help you.
Go explore!!
Streets of Merida: Facades of Colonial Homes!
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Typical Colonial residential and commercial homes of Merida, Mexico
It’s day 3 now since we have arrived in Merida, the 470 years old cultural Capital of Yucatan Peninsula ( 35Km from the Mexican gulf and 350Km from Tulum, Riviera Maya) to spend our Christmas, and we have taken million pics already and have so much to talk about. Colorful colonial homes despite once the city was nick named as ” the white city”, absolutely amazing grand scheme Haciendas in and out of Merida we had visited today and quite intense experience at super lively open markets, stumbling into traditional Yucateca singing and dancing in beautiful costumes at the piazza, our proper attending a Mesa at the Cathedral on Christmas eve… And, I thought of starting our stories with quick sketch of beautiful, much broken yet carrying elaborate metal work and washed in both bright and faded colors Colonial homes where people of Merida live. The weather has been perfect around 75 degree F, not too hot or not too cold, so it has been really great for us to stroll poking our heads around this city of 1million people ranked at 12th of the most populous Mexican Metropolitan areas. I have not been in Havana in Cuba, but I would imagine both cities may share some sort of similar vibe as far as that run down beauty in this rustic yet vibrant colors. And also the old mobiles… ( The beetle is the far #1 car people ride here in Merida)
Here come and stroll with us to enjoy many facades of colonial homes of Merida!
The city offers plenty of inspirations in colors and patterns everywhere, especially when you get inside of any colonial homes. There is also great deal of Mexican culture you can’t taste in areas as Cancun. It’s very busy yet also tranquil at the same time. People are nice in Merida. You will see a huge high and low of the rich and the poor. The shocking rawness and the reality of people’s lives at the open markets vividly contrasts with any sort of technology here in the city. This city makes you think about everything we have and don’t have. It’s one interesting place where real people live.
It’s Merida!
Booooooooooo!
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Booooooooooooooo, Clinton Hill!
Strolling Book Chon Han-Ok Village, Seoul
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Book Chon Han-Ok ( Traditional Korean Homes with pagoda roofs with open living room and typically a court yard in the center) Village is just next to Sam Chung Dong where houses traditional Korean homes since the early 30’s. Especially the area falls in the postal code ” 30″ is where you want to check out. Walking around area ” 30″ completely reminded me of my home back in Brooklyn, Clinton Hill and our own home, a brown stone house of 150 years old. Regardless the cultural back ground, people’s mind to preserve and protect things are about the same. Cynthia and I had spotted a couple Han Ok been getting taken care of while we strolled the beautiful hilly Book Chon Village.
Watch this video to see how Han Ok is built and it’s typical interior and exterior details. And if you are interested in staying at Han Ok style guest house in this area in Seoul, please check out this site I had found. It looks quite lovely. www.seoul110.com
The real charm of Book Chon Village to me is actually the mix of old and new. I am loving the juxtapose of almost 100 years old traditional homes real people living in and many small galleries showing mostly contemporary fine arts through out the area tucked in between small boutiques and restaurants. This nice contrast makes this homes real and relevant to today’s modern life I believe.
Subodh Gupta Exhibition at Arario Gallery in So Ghuk Dong ( a little area that connects with Sam Chung dong and Book Chon Han-Ok village) . I totally remember seeing Gupta’s work and his published book at Venice Art Bienalle last summer! I only have couple pictures here but Gupta had done a series of larger than life scaled sculpture work out of white marbles for his debut at Seoul for the first time. Below shows the roar of the ocean covered in oil.
A beautiful installation by artist Kim So Yyun. I find them quite beautiful yet also bit sad. I can’t pin point it out. Is it a little one trying to fish something from the small hole out of stack of construction bricks…? Is the artist trying to say kids living in this modern day society lacking real thing..? For more details, Check out the website, www.suncontemporary.com
And to finish up, the under passage way near this area below. Quite modern, isn’t it?
Sam Chung Dong, Book Chon village and So Ghuck Dong all together is a great small area you want to check out if you are ever in Seoul. It’s a short cut to find out where Korea is from and heading to in such a diverse way. Taste hearty and delicious traditional Korean food to most amazing authentic coffee shops that make Italians shy then tasty nostalgic old street snacks in the most humble manners to lavish historical emperor’s cuisine then experience the Korea’s contemporary art scene today.
Drop me an e-mail if you need any more info, I’m glad to provide! Visit Seoul, It’s a fascinating city!
Apgujung-dong & Chungdam-dong: Seoul
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Galleria Department Store, Apgujung-Dong, Seoul : Filled with Korean designers and also international designers as Louis Vuitton and all. The Facade covered with giant metal disks are impressive.
Paris to Tokyo to Seoul. It’s getting into week 2 now and this is our last stop for this trip and we are excite to learn about the city. Personally I only started exploring Seoul since the late last year, and it has been pleasant surprise and eye opening for me to re discover my home city where I was born, and I must say it has been hell out of good time and much inspiration I get every time I’m in Seoul, so I am only thankful that I get to do this quite often.
Apgujung-dong was already trendy and popular area then ( south side of Han River since the mid 80’s) to all the hipsters, teen agers and beautiful good looking people chasing the newest trend in fashion and food culture. I still hear the Apgujung-dong is quite popular. Is it the most inspiring? I’ll say ” No” to that but if you ever visit Seoul, You want to check it out. There is a trendy street called ‘ Rodeo’ after the famous fashion street in L.A and there are ton of cafes and bars for entertaining.
Korean peeps looove coffee. And every place me and Cynthia dropped by were delicious. There’s a big chain” Coffee Bean” from L.A and also “Star Bucks” as well but also there are million places of independent coffee shops with all the charm and great ideas.
Then we had stopped for a lunch at ” Gaeh Wa Ok” in this area. Concierge at Park Hyatt in Seoul had suggested for their clean and hearty traditional Korean food. I’m already liking the store front. A traditional Pine on the side and simple wood and iron decor is quite chick and beautiful. ( It’s located right off the Rodeo Street)
White cloth covered chairs become the focal point of this restaurant. Simple and serene wall almost feels like a gallery space.
The menu.
While waiting for the food, a bottle of water and a brass bowl containing a humble steamed corn, sweet potato and garlic is served. The table looks like props arranged for a painter to start his still. And typical hot towels for the customers to refresh before their meal.
Clear Dikon ( radish) kimchi . Not spicy at all. Got clean and refreshing taste. Miso paste to dip fresh cucumber sticks and loose cabbage wraps. Miso paste also works as touch of garnish for any kind of wraps.
Restaurants in Korea love to slice things on the table. It’s typical to see waiters using kitchen scissors to do so. This applies to cut noodles, BBQ meat or any other things on the table.
Now our ” Bossam” is ready. Bossam was a treat for the family and a good excuse for Dads to go through a bottle of Soju when moms prepare for ” Kim Jang” : a tradition of big quantity Kim Chi making for long and cold Korean winter. Kim Jang was a good source to take fresh vegetable to survive cold winter especially back in the days where there wasn’t much of winter farming. Clockwise from the left top corner:Filling for Kim Chi with chilli, garlic, salt and other spices before it gets fermented. Pretty much left over from Kim Jang. A stack of salt pickled Korean cabbage ( all cabbages prepared this way before the filling is filled to make Kim Chi), Regular Kimchi with Sesame oil, a bowl of salt cured baby shrimp ( a garnish to add on to Bossam) and finally, the main guy, steamed Pork Belly. How do you eat it? Take a piece of Salt picked cabbage, then a pice of meat, then bit of everything else all stacked up and a big bite out of it. It’s delicious! I believe Momofuku in NY is famous for this and also many restaurants in Korean Town serves this.
This is Soon Dae: kind of Korean sausage with clear noodles in. Steam and sliced and dip it in the simple rock salt with chili flakes or this restaurant also served it with Soy dip with bits of Scallion. Yum!
This restaurant is clean and simple with delicious hearty food! We had very much enjoyed the meal. Here for more info, www.gaewhaok.com
After a delicious lunch, Cythia And I headed out to Chungdam -Dong which is located right next to Apgujung-dong. Chungdam- dong is a quite fancy and rich area of Seoul with expensive residential homes and both international and Korean high end boutiques.
A leather bags and accessories with silver jeweleries. A cool building.
I find this last shop, “Boon The Shop” as an ultimate high end and most beautiful store in Seoul. Apart from architectural beauty, We saw may be the most complete and well edited selection of Marni, Jason Wu, Balenciaga and everything else out of all 3 cities we had visited ( Paris, Tokyo and Seoul). By the way, I really liked the Jason Wu for TSE line…!
It’s exciting to see how Seoul is changing and developing. Seoul is moving forward yet keeping beautiful traditions with modern day twist. A good and tasteful twist. I like it. People go back and see where we had come from and are making the best out of it. Especially if you are an architect, you should really check out Seoul. A lot of interesting things are happening here in Seoul now!
Boon the Shop Address: Gang nam Gu 89-3 tel 542-8006, www.boontheshop.com
Tokyo Now : From Harajuku to Shimo Kitajawa
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From the Top: “Midtown” in Ropponghi, Wig haired dogs at Opening Ceremony in Shibuya, Covered grand piano store fixtures at Martin Margiela at Harajuku, Sho Bun Japanese Restaurant at Grand Hyatt, Ropponghi, Lunch box at Sho Bun below.
Polka dot Tees at Harajuku, Lovely Organic clothing shop “kurai” at Harajuku, Fusion organic Restaurant “House” at Ropponghi with Jane and Cynthia, Multi Bike Seat chair at ” Beams’ Boys”, Shibuya, below.
Train to Shimo Kitajawa and Stroll around the town. Shimo Kitajawa is a kind of Williamsburg of Brooklyn. Maybe just safer. Ton of vintage shops and hipster and hippie stores. North side is bit quieter than the south side with less bars and restaurants but more clothing stores. Low rises and residential.
The last pic is the infamous intersection of Shibuya station.
Where the Modern and old Barcelona coexists: El Raval, the “It” Barcelona
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The main lobby of Centre de Cultra Contemporania de Barcelona, El Raval www.cccb.org
Once you are on the Las Ramblas, You are very close to El Raval already. We definitely heard mixed thoughts about El Raval from the locals but Emi and I believe this is the “It” area. Raval has gone through and going through bit of face lift and slow development stage like NY’s Lower East side during the late 90’s. Coming off from the infamous city’s red light district up to the late 80’s, El Raval is going through a re-birth. Thanks to Government’s urban regeneration project and investment of a lot of money to clean up the area to be more modern and safer. We hear that it is still unsafe at night but also you can see the huge potential of this area becoming one of the hippest diverse cultural area in Barcelona.
Currently CCCB is hosting a movies under the star during the month of July and August at their court yard. Super cool… Just missed one the night before…! Check out the website to get their film list. They all sound very interesting, here, couple examples for you: Toby Dammit by Federico Felini (1968) and Banditi a Orgoloso by Vittorio de Seta (1961).
Right down the street from the CCCB, there is also a Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona built by Richard Meier ( you can totally tell ) and also the Museum of Miro’ right next to it on this simple and open square called Placa dels Angels.
Beautiful narrow streets of El Raval.
3 dudes.
Carrer de La Riera Baixa, the it street for all the small vintage boutiques in El Raval. There are about 15 one-off kind vintage boutiques and record shops on this single block. It totally reminded me of good old Lower East side of NY like Orchard street…
Maybe this was my favorite one of all. Simply, more selected and better quality.
An awesome larger than life size photo greets you at REBALS! A perfect example of mix of then and now shop. Books, Magazines, Vintages and bit of furniture.
Cool changing room
A flash back from Berlin!!!!
The Goth shops, sneaker store, kick ass modern art museums, cool boutique hotels, cafe’s and small tucked in restaurants.
Go check out El Raval, You will love it!