Ice Gallery, Seoul

​After a late night of Norae-Bang, (Karaoke), I dragged myself out of bed and went to the Ice Gallery. I’ve read that it’s the first indoor ice sculpture gallery in the world.

I don’t know whether it was the tiredness or the cold but I was a bit underwhelmed by the place. We paid W7000 in each and the place was about twice the size of a Korean apartment.

A lot of the sculptures were just random objects encased in ice and some of the installations didn’t seem to serve any particular purpose. However, there was an impressive ice Buddha and Korean palace that were worth a look up close.

For an extra W5000 there is the option to sculpt your own ice glass and have a drink out of it. However, in the exhibition I had sat down at an ice piano on an ice piano stool and surprise surprise ended up with a cold wet arse so I was keen to leave at that point.

If you want to do something quirky for under a tenner and you have half an hour to spare, then it’s worth popping into.  It’s also very close to Insadong which is full of life with plenty of street food and stalls you could easily spend an afternoon wandering throughout.

Getting There: 

Take the Subway to Anguk Station.

Take exit 1 and turn right. Take the second right down a pedestrianised street and walk about 5-7 minutes to the end until you get to a main street.

Turn right and its right there opposite a tourist information booth.

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DakGalbi Street, Chuncheon

So apparently the delicious Dakgalbi (Korean bbq’d chicken) originated from a city to the north east of Guri called Chuncheon. We took the ITX up from Yongsan on Saturday to go to the well known DakGalbi Street itself that is a small minor street just off the main shopping thoroughfare and it’s just galbi restaurant after galbi restaurant. We didn’t have a particular one in mind so popped into one right opposite the above photo.

It was incredibly tasty but not sure whether we’d venture up there a second time just for galbi as it took an hour an a half on the ITX train and all the shops there are the same as everywhere else.

It is fun to do an afternoon trip up there though and the views from the train were great. Don’t let the touristy picture above put you off either! We were the only waygooks  (foreigners) around that we could see.

Getting there: From Seoul: Get the ITX from Yongsan to Chuncheon,(W6900). It’s the last stop and takes about 90 minutes. It’s walking distance (about ten minutes from the station). If you can’t find it, ask somebody for “DakGalbi Street”.

Seoraksan National Park

With a couple of extra days off for Chinese new year, we decided to head to Seoraksan Park for the weekend near Socho, far east of Seoul.

For convenience we decided to stay in Seoraksan Tourist Hotel which is just inside the entrance of the park. The view alone from the room was worth it…

We stayed in a double room which was simple but incredibly comfortable with the standard underfloor heating.

I’ll admit I’m not the most active person when it comes to the great outdoors, and coupled with the icy footpaths we only went for a short walk into the park. If we had another day I’d definitely liked to have explored more. There are several trails on a map the hotel manager gave us. There’s an excellent coffee shop just past the hotel and large Buddha statue. It was definitely the best coffee I’ve had since arriving in Korea.

We took the cable car (right opposite the hotel) (W9000 for adults) up to one of the peaks.

Not surprisingly there are gift shops, coffee shops and street food at the top. From there we walked for another 5-10 minutes up an icy stretch which had a man made footpath for easier access up to the very top of the peak. The view was incredible even if somewhat spoiled by the hoards of tourists around. This may have been the fact it was new years day though!

If anyone is thinking of going, I recommend bringing some snacks for breakfast/lunch. There are a couple of restaurants just inside the entrance of the park, but they have very limited menus (the American breakfast in the hotel restaurant was awful) and they close at 6pm.

There are busses into Sokcho that run every 10 minutes up to 10.30pm and taxis are cheap enough to get there too. Sokcho itself is a really pleasant city, on the coast and surrounded by mountains it reminded me a little bit of Dublin. We grabbed a pizza and coffee there for dinner on our second night and got the bus (7/7-1) back afterwards.

Getting there:

It’s incredibly easy to get a bus from Dong Seoul bus station. It costs W16,100 (adult) each way and takes about 2-3 hours. It stops once at a lay by with bathrooms and street food. During busy times it’s recommended you book online and you can also select your seats. We couldn’t work out how to book return tickets so we reserved one way online with some help from our Korean co-teacher and Naver.com. We then purchased our return journey as soon as we arrived at Sokcho Bus Station.

Once you get to Sokcho, exit the station and just to your right there’s a bus stop. Take the 7 or 7-1 to the last stop (Fare W1,100 – have cash ready). It takes about half an hour. If you’re travelling after dark, look out for the “Rainbow Road” you’ll pass when you’re near enough to the park!

Mr Toilet’s House

Also known as Hae-Woo-Jae, Mr Toilet’s House was the original home of Sim Jae Duck who was at one point the mayor of Suwon city, south of Seoul. He supposedly donated his home to the public and made into a toilet museum. The man himself was supposedly born in his grandmothers toilet and he grew up to improve toilet facilities all over South Korea.

Anyway, the day we got there, we didn’t realize just how long it would take from Guri to get there so it was closed when we arrived. Luckily, it wasn’t a total wasted journey as there was an open outdoor part we had a wander around. The building itself is shaped like a toilet and there’s a gift shop inside to buy crap souvenirs.

Directions: Take the subway to Suwon Station, and take Exit 2. Turn around and you’ll see bus platforms. Take the 92 or 310 to Dongwon High School (동원고교). Turn right at the crossroads towards the school. It’s only 500m up the quiet road.

Opening hours: 10am-5pm (10am-6pm March-October) – closed Mondays
Admission: Free
Website: http://www.haewoojae.com    Tel: 031-271-9777

Tim Burton Exhibition

Something I have to share before it’s too late is the Tim Burton Exhibition currently showing in Seoul Museum of Modern Art.

If anyone is interested, it’s running until 14th April. Tickets are W12,000 for adults. It’s well worth a look. Unfortunately photography is prohibited inside the exhibition which is all the more reason to go if you’re a fan of his work. This is the last leg of the exhibition so it’s your last chance to go.

Getting there: Take the subway to City hall, Exit 2. Walk straight to the corner (1 min)  where you will see Dunkin Donuts and turn right. It’s at the end of that laneway (about 3 minutes).

Oreo & Lime Cheesecake

On Saturday we were invited to a friends’ apartment for dinner. As this was our first invitation for dinner in Korea, I wanted to make something for dessert as opposed to grabbing something on the way. I did a lot of baking at home and with no oven here, I’ve missed it a lot. 

I had to find something I could make that required no baking or cooking. I was originally planning to make Banoffee Cheesecake but I couldn’t find a can of caramel anywhere in my town, so I settled for Oreo Lime Cheesecake. I hadn’t made it before. I had to go to about 6 stores locate the ingredients. Until I find a suitable cream cheese here, I had to use pricey imported Philadelphia. I also couldn’t find the limes… but luckily, our friend had a few at her place we added after! 

The Ingredients: 

• 2 x 200g Philadelphia
• 3 x Packs of Korean Oreos (way cheaper here) 
• 3/4 cup of sugar (tasting as you add it) 
• 2 oz butter approx
• 5 tablespoons of Maple Syrup
• 1/2 pint of cream (again to taste) 
• A couple of generous squirts of honey. 
• 1-2 limes (to taste) 

Serves: 4-6

Method: 

1. Set 2 Oreos aside and put the rest into a bowl and bash them up so they’re well broken down but not to dust. Take out a tablespoon of the broken biscuit and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a pan and add the Oreos once melted, turning off the heat at that point.

3. Add a few squirts of honey (again to taste)

4. I divided the mixture up into containers for transport and made them generous portions (this should really serve 6 people but I divided it into 4). Using (clean) hands, press the mixture firmly into the bases of the containers, trying to keep it as level as possible. Put them in the freezer for the next few steps.

5. Whisk up the cream, and the Philadelphia separately. Stir the sugar into the cream, then fold the cream into the Philadelphia.(You can always add more sugar after if you don’t find it sweet enough).

6. Add your maple syrup to taste. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime or 2 depending how much you like it. Stir in the remaining broken biscuit you set aside earlier to give it some texture.

7. Gently tip the mixture over the broken biscuits which should be nicely chilled by now.

8. Try and use all the mixture and fill up the container(s) generously.

9. Cut the two remaining Oreos in half and place them on top of your cheesecakes. You can also use slices of lime either. You can experiment depending on the dish or dishes you’re using.

10. Chill in the fridge, preferably overnight or for at least a few hours if possible.

The recipe went down really well at dinner. It’s easier as there is no baking or eggs involved. 

If anyone decides to make this I’d love to hear how you get on! 🙂