B1's quest for Live Squid

One thing that B1 was very adamant while we were on the trip. He must try live squid, which he heard would stick to his tongue in an altogether disgusting and scary way I thought. We were staying at Myeondong which is one of the hip cool places that South Korean youth like to hang out. It has a lot of shopping malls, shops, street food (which came out at night, helping to shape a vibrant nightscape with the neon lights from the buildings) and restaurants.

Check out the item circled red... It is the LIVE squid (well, it used to be live)

However it was with some difficulty that we finally managed to find a restaurant with live squid in the area. We He (I just sat there and made faces) had it with beef bulgogi, lots of interesting kimchi (including marinated raw soft shell crabs, which both of us boycotted).

My most favorite food in South Korea

I was totally nuts about this street food, hotteok, which were grilled pancakes filled with cinnamon. Yes, I know they come fried too, but fried ones have nothing on the grilled ones, IMHO.

I bought them whenever I saw them as I wandered around Seoul by myself. That was one of the best trips I ever went on, totally worth skipping one week of uni and missing a test (I still got an A for the exam so :P)

B1 was mad that I got to eat all these fun foods while he was stuck at the boring conference. But he didn't like this, especially after I told him I bought it off the street. South Korea is a pretty clean country, so I am not sure why he was so hung up about eating street food. We didn't get to eat any street food while we were there, which was a pity, since every Korean tv serial always have some characters sitting at some random street setup eating away at spicy rice cakes or BBQ while downing soju.

Old Men practising Calligraphy at a park

I realized I brought Mr B overseas to a few places, but I only uploaded the Vietnam and Taiwanese fotos. While hunting for the Japan fotos, I hit paydirt and found my South Korea fotos. Will be uploading them slowly in lieu of lack of content (I lead a busy but boring life).

South Korea is one of the few countries that give the elderly their due respect (due to the Confucian school of thought) and the old live healthy and enriching lives even after retirement. While at Seoul zoo, which has a few hiking paths leading outwards, I saw groups of elderly friends walking together, or sitting down at one of those huge table-like benches enjoying one another's company.