Hamyang Daebong Mountain Valley Monorail

Chan’s Uncle bought us all tickets to visit Hamyang Daebong Mountain Valley Monorail. I knew nothing about this and came into it blind, apparently it’s a fairly new recreation spot with the longest monorail in Korea. If you know me at all, I cannot handle any kind of rides. I get air sick and sea sick…motion sick in general but I popped my bonine and was ready.

Apparently you can zipline here too. Ha I say. Because I can’t.

Monorail

Here’s the monorail. It’s very small and VERY VERY SLOW. I have never wanted a ride to go faster in my life. It felt like you’re slowly clicking-clacking up the rails. It felt so long lol. I didn’t get sick. The ride down was worse because you’re basically squished into the seats in front of you.

Also! They weigh you before loading you into the monorail. Don’t worry, they basically weigh your group of passengers, not just one person at a time. Well, we got placed in a monorail with our own group which was completely fine with me. On the return trip, the guy doesn’t use a scale and said he uses his eyes and added two people to our rail. It’s okay, I came back alive.

Hamyang Family Breakfast #1

Breakfast #1 Spread

It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that my favorite meals during the trip was cooked by Chan’s Aunt, particularly this Aunt. She invited us to breakfast twice and both times were immaculate. You can tell the dishes were all made with such love, so much variety and so much fresh options. I wish I could eat like this all the time.

I wish I had the names of all the dishes but I don’t, sorry! This was like stirfried sliced meat dish. There was acorn jelly on the table which I wouldn’t surprised if she made that herself from scratch. My favorite on the table was absolutely the sliced octopus. She serves it up with perilla oil and salt basically. This trip is what made me fall in love with perilla oil. Good perilla oil that is.

Yes, I know, it’s just a bowl of rice. Well not just. It of course has some good beans in it, so good. Everything was so good. Insert crying emoji here because I miss this food so much!

Then she served up sliced pears on the little forks. I really felt like I was in a Korean drama. My only complaint? The heat in the apartment! I guess older folks like it warm so not only is their heater on, the floor is heated and the couch was a heated stone. OMG, us “youngins” were dying of heat. I couldn’t stand it and just wanted to walk around outside to enjoy the actual cold weather!

Mixed Plate Friday

Korean Corn

When we first arrived in Hamyang, it was in the early afternoon so it wasn’t time for lunch or dinner yet. As any Asian does, they start bringing all kine foods to the guest to eat. This was one of them! Simple steamed corn. I have never seen corn like this before but I have to eat it once offered! It was interesting. Waxy and chewy, I was a little confused at first but started to enjoy it afterwards.

Paris Baguette

Hamyang was a small town but they have a lot of the big franchises still. There was a Paris Baguette right by the hotel so we grabbed a quick lunch one day from there. Look at these cute mini hamburgers! The veggies look nice and fresh too. Chan and I enjoyed it! How come our Paris Baguette here doesn’t have this kine!

Before you ask, no I didn’t try it. Sorry, I know I try all kine stuff for you folks on this blog but I had to draw the line. Haha nah, it’s only cause I had access to so much good homecooked food in Hamyang that I didn’t want to waste my stomach space eating this. Curious about the combo, but not enough to eat it. Sorry.

Train to Busan | Korean Rest Stop!

Everytime we said we had to take a train to busan, Chan would laugh. I think he is imagining me getting eaten by zombies but we’ll talk about that at another time. We took a train out to busan which then became the train to Jinju which is the closest stop to Chan’s family’s hometown of Hamyang.

I got a cute little kimbap/cone sushi pack from the train station for the ride. Was good! Nothing to write home about. I was surprised by the lack of bentos at the huge train station. They have eateries and convenience stores but even the convenience stores don’t have much of a bento selection (if any at all).

Jinju!!

From Jinju, we had to drive out to Hamyang. I forgot the exact distance. Maybe an hour and a half? So yes, Chan had to get his international license and drove in Korea! Rented this big van for all of us to fit in. Very comfortable and nice van. Chan did a great job driving through the countryside. There were a LOT of tight roads in the country side but he navigated through them with ease!

Before we reached Hamyang, we stopped at a Korean rest stop. I was so excited lol.

I love me some Engrish signs. I can assure you, if you bite me I will not love you. Hahaha! I didn’t try their buns so I can’t testify this statement.

The main eatery in the rest stop operates through a ticket ordering system. Order your meal from the machine and wait for your number to be called. Easy peasy!

Bibimbap

Chan and his family got noodles and I went for the rice. No regerts, I love the different vegetables they use! It was delicious.

Mixed Plate Friday

If you watch social media, you’d know that plenty tourists love going to the convenience stores to grab a cup of ice and make their own drinks. I decided to give it a try! They make it so easy. The drink pouches are labeled by size that corresponds with the ice cup sizes! I heard that milk in Korea and Japan is doable with Asian stomaches so I had to try.

Yum! Tasted great and yeah, I didn’t get a tummy ache! Chan drank iced coffee every morning. Even mixed one with banana milk once (another trend). Wish we had this here!

Muscat Grapes

Chan’s parents bought a box of these muscat grapes from the Korea Costco. Don’t they look so pretty? Like perfection and packaged so nicely. But man oh man, we washed it up to try it and what a bummer. They were not good. A bit mushy and not at all sweet. Did we get a bad bunch???

DJ&A Potato Wedges

Found this at Costco and decided to buy a bag to try. I love potato wedges so I wanted to see how it would be as chips. It’s good! Interesting. Definitely look like potato wedges but tastes freeze dried? But also super hard to bite down on. Chan enjoyed it and I bought home the leftovers which the bros enjoyed too. Would buy it again! I wonder if we can find it here in the States…

Costco – Seoul, Korea

Costco Korea is cool as heck and I would go back again if I could. We actually went twice during this trip lol. They have everything our costco doesn’t have and it’s much less crazy. They do not check membership cards going in (so yeah, definitely no scanner either). I was able to use my Costco credit card as membership and payment card perfectly! The dollar to won rate is amazing right now so anytime we made purchases, we selected the Korean won option when asked. Look at their Executive Membership price, that’s like $70 bucks? Geez!

Found these Nike belt bags which is all the rage with my brothers so I got two for a good price! Why don’t our Costco’s have good brands like this? Korea is really into UCLA branded clothing and…National Geographic is a huge brand here. Yes, that National Geographic. I have no idea why.

Man if I lived in Korea, I would be buying their fresh foods all the time!

Everything looked so good…!

Look! They even have ready to cook soups/stews. How perfect!!!

I don’t know why I took this picture. Probably just another thing we don’t have here in the States. Wish I took pictures of their fresh sushi platters, looked restaurant quality. I didn’t even get to try their food court…they sell tteokbokki and a pork bulgogi bake (opposed to chicken bake) but I just wanted to get their hot dog. I wanted to make sure they use all beef hot dogs and not the asian sausages. I guess I’ll have to return to try next time. Have a wonderful thanksgiving everyone!

And We’re Off…

I apologize that I didn’t blog again for a bit. Like I mentioned, this is the busiest time of year for me. And honestly, I’m just running on empty at this point.

I am excited to share that I am off to Korea! So no posts for a few weeks, please follow me on instagram (maybeitsjenny) if you are interested in daily updates! If not, I’ll see you in a few weeks!

Mixed Plate Friday

Buldak Fried Rice | $7.99 (on sale)

My brother loves buldak noodles so when I saw this in the Longs ad last week, I had to get em! At first I was disappointed because I kept looking around the oriental aisle thinking this was just like a powder seasoning I add to my own rice to make the fried rice.

Just by chance, I went to the freezer section and it’s actually the whole dish there! You just gotta heat it up on the stovetop or microwave. It comes with two individual packets inside.

Sorry, but I think the portion is kind of small. This is actually both packs heated up. It was enjoyed, also wasn’t that spicy but that’s according to my brother.

Homemade Bossam

Odeng!

I love Sundays with Chan. Sometimes we plan meals on a whim and on this Sunday, I told him I felt like odeng but odeng with the fish cakes on the skewers (just like you see in the Korean dramas). So we made our run to Hmart and got the kit and also picked up some fixings to make bossam! Bossam looks nice and seasoned yeah? It’s all thanks to Chef Chan’s skills. What a delicious dinner! Have a great weekend folks!

Mixed Plate Friday

7eleven Kibun Sesame Tofu Noodle | $4.19
new, ready-to-eat tofu noodles with delicious sauce packet included. the noodles, made from tofu, are very simliar to somen noodles but lower in carbs and 0 cholesterol. healthy with only 110 calories and 7g of protein. can be eaten cold or warm by heating in the microwave for 1 minute.

I saw this at 7eleven last weekend and just had to try it. I was so curious how the noodles would taste. I almost didn’t get it because let’s be real, $4.19 for this little packet didn’t seem worth it. But something told me just go for it.

I opened the cellophane and drained out the water. I ate it cold with the sauce packet. Doesn’t look like much in this picture but bugga was GOOD. It really does taste like regular noodles. How do they do that! It was so good, but dang, I wish they would sell this in bulk at Costco or Sam’s so I can get a better deal. I would absolutely get this again.

When I sent a picture of this to Chan, he mentioned he had it in Japan before and really enjoyed it! They finally brought it over to us! Give it a try!

Sushi Robot Breakfast Bento | $5.00

I’ve talked about Sushi Robot before, they are located in the food court of Kaheka Don Quijote (the indoor one not the outdoor one). They used to be outdoors. Well, they are the only ones who open super early which helps me since I do my shopping early. They open at 6 but when they have some foods ready, they just open at 5 something.

I was actually staring from outside to see if they had food out but didn’t have…was about to leave when the lady waved me in. I reluctantly went in and she said she can make whatever I want. I said I wanted the portuguese sausage omelette bento. I didn’t know the real name but they knew exactly what I was talking about and put this together fresh for me! They already had all the different components cooked and ready to go. And yes, $5.00 total…this is with tax. Where else can you find prices like this???

Mixed Plate Friday

7-Eleven Lemon Butter Chicken Pasta | $6.49

Newish offering from 7-Eleven! How was it? Pretty good. Not like mind blowing but I’m glad I tried it!

FRENCH BUTTER

If you know me, you know I’ve been on the search for some freaking French butter. I heard so much good stuff about it and I’ve been desperate. Chan found out that Foodland Farms carries one and omg I AM SO HAPPY. Gotta get the salted one, not the unsalted because part of the appeal are the sea salt crystals in the butter. Toast some bread up and spread this bad boy on…I get the hype. I GET IT. So you go get it! Okay, only if you want bougie butter.