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Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Forbidden Items: Yakin Lu?



Gue nemuin sign ini di toilet Universitas Sejong. Awalnya ga ada yang salah, sampe akhirnya... Forbidden items? Oke kalo dia tulis garbage, gue paham.

Tapi siapa juga yang mau ngeflush HP atau kartu kredit ke toilet? Seriusan?

Percayalah. Bukan kali ini aja sign di Korea suka aneh-aneh.

Monday, May 29, 2017

The Wonders of Mangwon Market 망원시장

I am not a fan of a traditional market but I am always dying to go back to *several* market in Korea, one of them is Mangwon Market. It is located in Mapo, near the Mangwon Station (line 6), Seoul. It was very near to Ewha, where I lived for a year. But now that I live in Anam, I have to think multiple times before going there.

What is so special about this market?


Well, nothing huge, nothing fancy. But I loooove the food. I am not talking about a specialized food, it is just simply my favorite: the 2500won Kalguksu. I can't even get a proper lunch box with 2500 around my school so this is a real deal.


The canteen is a modest 고향집 with seating for about 30 people inside. They also expanded the area a bit in the outside. Their customers are mostly elderly and everyone seems to be a returning customer.

Gohyangjib Menu
You gotta order and pay in front up cash. Yes, it is very rare for a Korean store not to accept card but it does not decrease the charm of this place. The most expensive menu is only 5000won.


A huge hot bowl of this wonderful noodle would definitely satisfy your craving. I also love how they provide spicy sauce and fresh kimchi, along with pepper and salt. This is not the norm in Korea.

I also tried their Sujebi or handmade-dough that looks like ravioli. Not bad but I prefer the original Kalguksu better. You can add 1000won for more noodle or upgrade to perilla kalguksu too. Their other menu is bibimbap, the mixed veggie rice, and cold noodle.

Although I guarantee that you will be full after a bowl of this wonderful Kalguksu, you must not miss the multi flavor chicken! They have the normal sweet and spicy, 깐풍 (hot pepper), cheese, white cream and the most mindblowing taste: fruit. Yes, chicken with fruit sauce.



I am actually quite used to orange chicken. But they put it as 'fruit' taste. I am not sure which fruit do they mean. Apple chicken? Banana chicken? What?

small cup or maybe, two chicken?
The chicken is served in many different sizes, ranging from ultra slim cup for 3000 won till two-ekor-chickens for less than 20000. The 4000won cup is ideal for one and even the one-chicken-size is not that big for two. Well, buy according to your need. My best piece of advice is: make sure you get the right taste.

I tried the spicy, white cream and fruit chicken. Maybe I am not that adventurous with taste as the spicy one was clearly the best. The white cream taste gets old and weird after a few bites and the fruit chicken just does not do well. I am not that sensitive with fruits, I bet this must be some kind of berry.

Chicken Ass
I am no longer surprised with what comes next: the ass. Chicken ass. I've seen it in Suwon and I am not gonna try it. In case you missed it, here is the ass(es) that was served on my plate last year.

So if you find yourself around Mapo and feel like eating something good for extremely cheap price, head to Mangwon Market! Highly recommended!

Friday, May 19, 2017

Hong Kong: Cukup Sekali

Beberapa bulan lalu, gue dapet tiket murah ke Hong Kong dari salah satu maskapai budgetnya. Well, technically Seoul-HK emang gak kerasa jauh, tapi ternyata jaraknya ya Jakarta-Bangkok juga. Penerbangan hampir 4 jam. Gue gatau kenapa gue beli tiket itu. Mainly cuma karena murah (150ribu won atau 1.8 juta rupiah PP) dan gue belom pernah. Kebetulan, temen gue juga ada yang lagi exchange kesana so sekalian aja kan.

Menjelang keberangkatan, gue bingung dan pusing sendiri jadi berangkat atau gak... Setelah galau berhari-hari, akhirnya gue bilang nyokap dihari H. Nyokap udah ga bisa kaget, karena gue keseringan jalan-jalan. Nanyanya cuma, "Emang libur?"
"Ngga, tapi kan jumat emang gak ada kelas"
"Ga ngurangin kuota diluar Korea tuh?"
"Iya sih tapi kan cuma 3 hari"
"3 hari juga bisa pulang" *yak nyokap gue emang orangnya gini*
"Emang bingung mau berangkat apa gak. Gak usah aja apa?"
"Ya terserah aja deh."

Akhirnya tetep berangkat. Gue impressed dengan airlinesnya dan bisa berdamai dengan Bahasa Kantonnya. Tapi gue gak bisa santai sama orangnya. Semua galak.

Gue sampe HK jam 1 pagi. Gue udah master tidur di airport sambil nunggu kereta atau bis pertama. Tapi di HK Airport gak ada tempat tidur yang menyenangkan seperti di Taoyuan, Taipei dan orang HK galaknya bukan main. Gue duduk di McD sambil nunduk aja didatengin tante-tantenya dan dimarahin. Well, fair enough mungkin karena spacenya limited dan itu tempat makan bukan tempat tidur.

Tapi mereka hell strict dengan definisi 'tempat makan'. To the point gue diusir saat minum pelan-pelan setelah makanan gue habis di salah satu kedai lokal ngetop, Lan Fong Yuen. Padahal saat itu keadaannya kosong dan ga ada antrian. Sialan. 

Kedai Galak

Ga sampe disitu, orang-orang pun generally ga friendly dan ga pengen membantu. Hostel mahal dan gue baru pertama kali ngerasain triple bunk bed alias tempat tidur tumpuk tiga... Gila. Yang paling bawah mepet lantai, yang paling atas mepet langit-langit. Yang tengah kesandwich dan duduk pun gak bisa. Kalo kata temen gue, tinggal di HK itu semacem tinggal di kotak sepatu aka shoebox. Hidup lo sepengap dan seterkotak itu. 

Anehnya lagi, gue ke HK disaat musim konstruksi. Dimana-mana lagi dibangun sampe-sampe susah kemana-mana. Avenue of Stars tutup, Old Central harus muter dsb.

Akhirnya gue ke museum aja. Tidak mengecewakan, apalagi Museum of History. Tapi gak sebagus museum-museum yang di Taipei. Museum of Heritage juga keren, apalagi kafenya cozy banget. Masuknya gratis, so lumayan nih ditengah HK yang serba kecil dan komersial.



Selain museum, yang paling ok dari HK mungkin lanskapnya dan mengamati betapa susahnya berbagi space. Lo pasti notice lah begitu sampe HK, semua gedung tinggi dan apartemen tua-tua. Mereka hidup berebut space. Buat gue sih, HK itu versi lebih besarnya Singapore. Nothing more. 

Ga ada yang memorable dari HK selain... Night Viewnya! Nah kalo ini beneran bagus.

Victoria Peak night view
Seperti yang semua orang tahu, Victoria Peak adalah tempat terbaik liat night view. Gue sempet gamau karena gue males banyak orang. Tapi ternyata worth juga ngantri lama ke atas dan menikmati suasana malam sambil berdempet-dempetan dengan ratusan orang lainnya.

View dari Tamar Park
Gue diajak ke Tamar Park sama temen-temen gue yang tinggal di HK dan ini seru banget. Soalnya sama sekali ga ada orang dan di daerah bisnis. Jatohnya jadi kaya Yeouido atau SCBD tapi tanpa manusia.

Bianglalanya HK
Menuju ke Tamar Park, kita ngelewatin bianglala raksasa. Sepi banget. Bisa foto-foto tapi sayang skill foto gue jelek dan cuma bermodal HP. Untung ada temen yang lumayan talented yay.

Setelah itu... Udah. Gue ditunjukkin sisi shopping HK tapi gue gak terlalu berminat. Ya karena gak punya uang sih jadi gak bisa beli juga :p

Memantau Bandara
Sebelum balik, gue sempet nunggu di private residence yang sebelahan sama Ngo Ping Cable Car dengan view bandara. Ini baru cantik. Tapi lagi-lagi, kereta gantungnya lagi diperbaiki sampe bulan Juni. Sebenernya gue salah apa, kenapa semua lagi konstruksi?

Anyway, gue gak menyesali pergi ke HK 3 hari. Gue definitely belajar dan mendapatkan sesuatu, tapi cukup sekali.

Sattbar: Vegan Friendly in Apgujeong

I wasn't quite sure when my friends asked me to go to a "salad bar" in Apgujeong. I am a vegetarian-food-obsessed girl who does not eat green, if that makes sense. I appreciate potato, hummus and love my mushroom-based deli but not green. Not leaf.

But I came anyway and I was surprised. This Sattbar looks like Vege Creek in Taipei with the huge sharing table. The vegan vibe strikes right away.


Forgive me, I was too lazy to stand up and take pictures from the other side. We were the last customer of the night and the guy literally stayed and reminded us that we must leave. Quite weird, given the written hours was 21.30 and we came there before 20.30. He seemed to close the shop an hour earlier that day.

Sattbar Menu


They have quite an extensive menu. We had a hard time choosing and ended up asking the most recommended items. They have English version of everything and the guy speaks excellent English. Price-wise, I have nothing to complain about. Vegan is never cheap.

I almost think that this place is 100% vegan, given the menu wording but I checked Seoul Veggie Club and some says although they do not use dairy, they still use honey in their hummus. Make sense as the hummus was significantly sweeter than the usual hummus dishes that we have in Indonesia.


Overall, I would still name this place as my new vegan heaven. I like their concept of no caffeine and obvioulsy, no meat.

The first dish that we ordered was the burger!



Promising visual, I love the simplicity. It tasted good, but the patty was dry, compared to the other veg burgers that I have tried. Like the other normal burger, this is not a light meal.

I am trying to recall my senses but nothing special from the smell or textures.

The next dish is the red hummus. Wow I am impressed by the visual. It looked very fresh and appetizing.


Like I said, the hummus was sweeter than the other hummus that I tried and it was better that way. There were toooo many greens around the hummus but everything is served fresh so I have nothing to complain about.


There are also few meatball-like balls on the plate and I LOVED it! Everything seemed to complement each other. Mind you, this green bowl is way heavier than my burger. We struggled to finish it.

I am very happy with Sattbar and I would definitely come back again.