Saturday, March 29, 2008

Big Rock Brewery in Gangnam (Seoul)

Canadian Beer in Korea! A few months ago while reading one of the English magazines for information on Seoul, we came across on advertisement for Big Rock Brewery in Gangnam (Seoul). What a great find!! Finally we were able to get a good taste of Canadian beer again. They serve 7 different draught beers: Jack Rabbit, Grasshopper, Pale Ale, Warthog, Honey Brown, McNally's, Traditional Ale and Black Amber Ale. All their beer is imported from Calgary, Canada where it is brewed.

Six types can be tried at once as a sampler for 8,000w, each small mug containing 150 mL. A regular mug of big Rock costs 4,000w for 355 mL, and 7,000w for 600 mL. It's quite the price compared to local beer but if it's a variety of beer with great taste it is definately a treat.

After trying many of the Korean beers, we were so excited to have found this place. We won't get in to a debate over the different beers in Korea, however; we will say that to us they taste very watery. We prefer a stronger tasting beer such as Big Rock Honey Brown.

Directions: Green line 2 to Gangnam. Take exit 7 - make a right at Coffee Bean - left at T and right at GS25 - 40meters up the hill on the left side.






They even have a free foosball table near the entrance!



New flatscreen TVs and hockey apparrel can be seen all over the pub. You can also watch the hockey games Sunday morning (b/c of the time difference) on the projection screen on CBC.




Another big plus to this place is the Sunday Brunch Buffet from 11am - 230pm for only 9,900w. They serve a variety of breads, scrambled eggs, french toast, hashbrowns, a clam chowder hot dish, fruit, sliced meats, cheese, sausage and bacon. Also included is all the OJ and coffee you can drink.







Honey Brown for Jon and Grasshopper for Krista.


You can see the sample platter for beer on display.


The inside of the women's washroom - yes, Krista was the one that took this picture.


If you like good beer and a friendly atmosphere we definately recommend you check this place out!

We've noticed a lot of people from all over the world have found this blog post via Google Search - we'd love it if you left a comment on the post!






Street Food at its Best

Street food. It's everywhere. No matter the area or the back street you take, there it is... calling your name. Street food is an accentuated drive-thru, or walk-thru rather, with the ambiance of a home cooked meal.

Buying food from a street vendor is one of the best and most convenient places to get a quick snack or the midnight munchies after a night out. The foods they serve are usually good to eat while standing or wrapped to go (finger foods / food on a stick, or even in a cup). Some vendors have cheap chairs or benches to sit on while eating. Most of the vendors have carts on wheels and some of the better ones even have tarps up so that you can eat without standing in the rain. Some of the carts have natural gas tanks for the grills as well as generators for lights and other utilities.

One evening while in Gangnam (Subway Line 2) we stopped for a quick bite - meat on a stick. Be sure to check out the video below to see exactly how this vendor put together one of the best street snacks we've had yet.

The meat here has been glazed and is ready for grilling.








Delicious! As long as you have at least w500 in your pockets, you won't go hungry (for a little while anyway) on the streets in Korea. There are so many other varieties of food you can get.. more posts on this to come!

Street food video (if you are viewing by email, click here to view)





Sunday, March 23, 2008

Oak Valley Ski Trip

On January 26th we went skiing at Oak Valley in Gangwon-do, Korea. Oak Valley opened its ski resort in 2006, and is the closest resort complex to Seoul with a total of 9 slopes: 2 slopes for the advanced skiers, 5 slopes for the intermediate skiers and 2 slopes for the beginner skiers. The lift to the peak has been designed to carry a maximum of 9,200 people in 1 hour. The longest slope from Samtaebong Peak is 1,600m, with a section equipped with half pipes for snowboarders. Hansol Oak Valley’s facilities include a condo, a hotel, a golf course, a sauna, a swimming pool, and more.

The trip was organized by Adam (a Korean friend of ours). There were about 15 of us skiing that day, Adam managed to get a total package for 60,000w (This used to be about $60 until the exchanged rate went down the toilet for us over the last two weeks.. meaning we get less money when we send it home now). The total package included round trip shuttle bus from Sanbon to the resort, day lift pass, skis, pants, jacket and goggles - it was an amazing deal!

We left around 6am and were dressed and on the slopes around 11am. It turned out to be a wonderful afternoon; the weather was nice and even though I hadn't been skiing in over 4 years (and only once!) I was able to ski without any problems! However, Krista was a pro (her school days of cross country skiing paid off)!


For those of you wondering some of the pick up stops are for the bus, click here.


Krista the pro skier.











Trail map.





Oak Valley Resort




The lift line for the beginner hill, we skied this hill twice and moved on to the intermediate & advanced tails.




A view from the lift, you can see Karen (co worker) on the left, and Krista.












Look! It's Brett Farve!



One of the intermediate/advanced trails.



None of the trails were terrifying, the only scary part was trying not to ski in to anyone else!



We had a great afternoon, if we are around next year we will definitely be going on another ski trip.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Random Pictures in Beijing - Part II

Random pictures in Beijing - Part II





If you click on the picture and look closily, at the top of the hotel sign it reads 'wash the bath'.







"Reckon by time having a rest."



A public toilet sign!! If only there were more in Korea.. and one would have been useful New Year's Eve in Bangkok! Who ever heard of a Starbucks without a restroom?




This statue was outside of the major post office in Beijing, if you look people are dressed differently, in their native dress, all around the world!




More achitecture in Beijing, everything is so new and shiny!




We loved the guards!



This guy was mad that we took his picture second!



A gigantic TV and.. McDonalds! We haven't had McD's or BK since Canada/US.



WangFuijing.



Entrance into the Night Market where you can get anything from lamb kabobs to dried starfish, seahorse or scorpions on a stick! You can also get lots of "authentic" souvenirs.

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Yeah for the Year of the Rat!



A house made of Pepsi Cans!







The Pepsi House wins out over the banner hands down.



A wish tree for the Spring Festival.




Looking at the Forbidden City at night, our taxi driver was awesome once he realized (with the help of some nice Beijingers) that we didn't want him to drive us to the banner nearby advertising swimming, but to the Water Cube. After this he gave us a mini scenic tour of Beijing complete with picture stops!







Bar District, time to get your drink on!




Who would have guessed that Bob Marley was popular in China? It was awesome, and so were the strong drinks and amazing jiazozi!






If you were wondering what the bathrooms were like after all of those drinks, enjoy! But please heed the sign!




It was a unisex bathroom.....






Hope you enjoy our pictures of Beijing as much as we enjoyed being there!
Xiexie, Zaijian!