Food in Korea- Instant Rice Cake Soup (Tteokguk)

Not long ago, I went grocery shopping with my suite mates. We saw these bowls of instant meals and we really wanted to try it. Each costed just a little over W1,000. I had no lunch plans today so I decided to try it out and if it is good, I'll probably buy more and stock them up in the dorm room. This is how the cover looks like. It is around the size of a medium sized cup noodle bowl.

**Fact:  Tteokguk literally translates into Rice Cake Soup. It is traditionally eaten by Koreans on New Year's Day.**

Tteokguk pic 1

When I opened up the box, I was pleasantly surprised to find packets of different things individually wrapped. I was expecting the tteok (rice cakes) at the bottom of the bowl like how the instant noodles are already at the bottom of cup noodle packets. I was also surprised to see a spoon included! That wasn't something I was expecting either but I was glad to have it.

Tteokguk pic 2

Next, I added the tteok and around half a packet of the seasoning (yellow packet) into the bowl and added hot water. (I accidentally added some of the garnishing as well.) On the cover, it said you have to add boiling water to the mixture and let it sit for 3 minutes. I did not have a kettle so I added hot water but it worked fine too! After adding the garnishing, the soup looked delicious!!

Tteokguk pic 3

After doing a taste test, I found out that my soup was TOO BLAND!! Apparently, I added too much water to my soup. I emptied the seasoning packet into the soup and it tasted much better.

**Note to self: Add water only to cover the rice cakes! Or you'll have to add lots of seasoning and not be able to finish the soup!**

Tteokguk pic 4

The texture of the rice cakes were not as good as fresh ones, and the soup did not have the sweet taste that normal rice cake soups will have, but for an instant meal, this was quite enjoyable. I especially loved the garnish that you add in the end.

As a meal, I'd probably rate this rice cake soup a 3.5/5. The meal only consisted of the rice cakes, the soup with seasoning, and the garnishing. From a nutritional point of view, this meal is high in calories (400+ kcal) considering it was lacking in both protein and fiber, and it is probably high in sodium as well. For a more nutritious meal with this instant tteokguk, you'll probably have to add vegetables and an egg into it. On the other hand, this bowl of rice cakes is extremely filling. I wasn't able to finish the whole bowl even though I was quite hungry because of the huge portion of rice cake they gave. It was very easy, and quick to prepare as well. So although it isn't a suitable for daily meals, it is definitely something that makes a good meal when you are in a rush!

An accidental adventure- Lotte Fitin at Dongdaemun History & Cultural Park Station

It has already been 3 weeks since I reached Korea! I'm sorry I didn't have time to update this blog because I was busy adapting to Korea, school and shopping. This blog is going to from the first week of my trip. On the 1st of July, I made a dinner appointment with my aunt and cousin at Dongdaemun. I was supposed to meet them at 7pm but I reached at 6 pm at Dongdaemun History & Cultural Park Station. Feeling adventurous, I took out my phone to take pictures, and began exploring the place.

It felt like a carnival at the entrance to this building. There were very interesting exhibits/ models/ standees carrying umbrellas when I walked passes this building.

Exhibit outside of Lotte Fittin

I dismissed the thought of shopping at a shopping mall and chose to walk down to the underground shopping area instead of into the building.

Escalator down to the Underground Shopping Area

When I went down 2 flights of escalator, this was the sight that greeted me. There was also an entrance to the mall from underground. The picture below shows the walkway facing away from the mall. The stalls there mostly sold office wear.

Underground Shopping Area

When I walked further down, I realized that this underground shopping area was actually very big. The main items they sold, however were these:

Sport attire clothes

Before going to this underground shopping mall, I was exploring the shop houses on the ground floor. I the shops there all sold sports equipments and attires. I should have known then that this area was designated to sell sports things but since the underground shopping areas that I have been to previously sold cosmetics, shoes and clothes, I was not expecting an entire sports attire underground shopping area! I walked past the entire stretch of stalls and back but I did not see anything that interested me.

It still wasn't time for me to meet my aunt therefore I succumbed to the lure of the new building Lotte Fitin. I went in through the basement entrance.

The main signboard of the building

 There was an electronic area in the basement with Suzy posing with a camera.

Suzy standee

I felt that the lights on the escalator were very pretty so I took a picture of it too!

Escalator- Lotte Fitin

The customer service personnel had such cute uniform! I wanted to walk closer to take a picture but I was afraid it would be rude for me to do that. She had a cute hat, scarf and dress combination! (Click on the picture for a clearer view!)

Information desk

 I felt that the concept of the interior of the building was rather unique. the shops had round areas instead of the square ones we usually wee.

Interior View 1 

Interior View 2

I managed to spot a Charles & Keith store inside!

Charles & Keith Store

This is a picture of the interior design of the washroom. I love how they have more space with mirror than sinks for us to touch up on our make up.

Female washroom

This is supposedly the flush for the toilet. But being me, I did not know which buttons to press. (There was no button where the arrow is pointing at at the top of this device.) I tried pressing different combinations of the buttons on it but nothing happened.

Toilet device

So, the caveman in me finally resorted to the traditional method of flushing…

Toilet- Lotte fitin

Flush!

The toilets are very conveniently located at one corner of the mall. They had water fountains on the way to the washrooms too!

Washroom walkway

 This is how the water fountain looks like. The slot on the top right is a disposable cup dispenser. You can fill up the disposable cup with water from the dispenser, and throw it away into the flap below the cup slot.

Water fountain- Lotte Fission

This is the most expensive item I saw on display. This dress alone is W348,000! I came to a conclusion that this brand Bustier is probably a designer boutique.

Bustier Dress

 Remember how I said that the entrance to this building felt like a carnival? It was because it was the opening of the building. They hired balloon scepters, hosts, and street performers to attract people into the building.

Balloon Sculptor

Balloon Sculptor 2

Gift Station and Balloon Sculptor

 There was also this lucky wheel/ prize wheel beside the prize booth. The host invited me to spin on it.

Prize Wheel

 I won this can of coffee from the spin!

Canned coffee

Stilt Walker

I forgot how I walked to this building from the exit I was at by the time I came out of the shopping mall. Luckily, there are always these maps around train stations to help pedestrians find their way!

Local Map

Walking away from Lotte Fitin, I took one final shot of the building.

Hong Kong Travel package: Flight and Hotel Part III

United Airlines

Continuing from the first and the second post about the package bought from zuji.com, in this post, I'll be writing about the flight to and from Hong Kong on United Airlines.

When my mum and I reached the place to check in for the flight, I was slightly taken aback to see that that were around 8 security guards sorting us into queues and asking us questions. I found out after that that security was tight because firstly United Airlines was a US carrier, and secondly the flight was going to the US after stopping over at Hong Kong. I didn't feel like I should be taking pictures of the security guards there so I didn't. Its too bad that I didn't though 'cos it isn't something that we would see everyday. I wanted to take pictures during our journey back but there were no security guards when we were at the Hong Kong airport.

The plane was big. But maybe that is just in comparison to my expectations. I've been taking budget planes and small airlines so much that I didn't think that I would be taking such a big plane. If I had to estimate, the size of the plane I took is the size of a normal Singapore Airlines plane. Here are some pictures of my plane.

United Airlines Plane view 1

United Airlines Plane view 2

The stability of the plane was really good (because the plane was large). This was probably also because I haven't flown in full fledged carriers in a really long time. I used to have very bad ear pains when I fly during the accenting and descending parts of the journey because of the pressure, but both flights with United were really nice, smooth and comfortable. There was a little bit of turbulence on our flight back but it felt very controlled and was a little like a mini roller coaster. Even during the turbulence, the flight was very comfortable.

The only thing that was not as impressive from the flight was the food from Singapore to Hong Kong. In their defense, the food provided when we were on our way back from Hong Kong to Singapore was not bad. The flight attendants brought out big plastic bags and encouraged passengers to recycle their rubbish near the end of the flight. I was impressed by this because the attendants got the passengers involved in recycling. However, this move felt slightly fake because it only happened once on my return trip. Nonetheless, it is quite a good marketing strategy if they are just doing it merely for that purpose.

Boarding Pass

Another thing I should mention is the friendliness of the counter staff of the Hong Kong Check-in area. She could tell that we were not fluent in Cantonese therefore she wrote down what she wanted to convey for us to better understand her.

My verdict:
If I got a chance to, I would definitely want to go on United Airlines again! I know I have already said this a few times but I really had a very comfortable 4 hour flight from Singapore to Hong Kong. The service was wonderful, the seats were comfortable and the entertainment was quite up to date. I managed to watch Les Miserables during my trip on 12th May! As a whole, i was satisfied by the package provided by zuji.com and I am also definitely going to use it again when I am traveling!

Hong Kong Travel package: Flight and Hotel Part II

This post is continued from this previous post. For this post, I'm going to be talking more about the interior of Eaton Hotel. As with what we would expect of all hotels, everything is clean and neat! This is the view that we were greeted with when we stepped into the hotel room! The room is of a decent comfortable size. The first thing I noticed when I went into the room was: There were no curtains!! So we asked the staff there about it. We were embarrassed to find out that the things that we thought were special walls decorating the other end of the room were actually wooden panels that could be opened and closed!

Eaton Hotel room view

Eaton Hotel room TV

The bathroom was also of a comfortable size with the basics in place. The is also where you can find the recycling bin that I talked about in this post! The bathroom is also clean and nice. Eaton hotel also practices the policy of not changing the sheets if the pamphlet is placed on them and not changing towels unless they have been thrown to the ground in the toilet!

Eaton hotel bathroom view

Eaton Hotel bathroom view 2

All these so far I had expected but what I had not expected was what we saw in the next picture… The blinds beside the dresser could open to see into the bathroom!!! I'm sure this is one of the cheaper hotel rooms because we got it at a discounted price (see the previous post), but we did not expect this type of surprise! This is definitely not suitable for a group of mixed gender friends going out on a trip together! It would be embarrassing if you were in the shower when your friend of the opposite gender chanced upon what laid behind the blind! I'm pretty sure Eaton hotel has other rooms without this feature but this is just to warn future travelers to take note of these situations that could occur when you are overseas!

Eaton Hotel bathroom view 3

Because the hotel room isn't very big, I appreciated the effort of them trying to prevent making the room seem smaller with bulky furniture lying around. In fact, other than the bed, they only have a transparent chair and a transparent stool tucked at /under the dresser! Pardon my jacket that I hung on the chair. Because they were transparent, the chairs didn't look like they took up any space at all, making the room look that much more spacious!

Chairs in the hotel room

Special amenities of the Eaton Hotel: 

The hotel had a swimming pool which neither me nor my mum used. When we got our room keys, we were also issued with a new set of WiFi password (as compared to the temporary ones given to us at the lobby when we left our baggage). I think that Eaton Hotel provides free WiFi for all its guests! My mum and I used the internet to Skype and WhatsApp our family members at home. The WiFi was quite strong and very stable! I was very satisfied with it!

Just opposite of Eaton Hotel was a chain Cha Can Ting (literally translated as Tea Restaurant) that served really yummy food. The food was really good and the price was very affordable! Here is the brochure that I took from the place! Apparently they do delivery too! It was not necessary for us since the restaurant was just across the road from the hotel. Do keep a lookout for the set meals that have for different periods of time! Those sets usually have quite a large portion at just a small price!

Brochure View 1

Brochure View 2

Brochure View 3

The nearest MTR Station from Eaton Hotel is Jorden Station. This is quite a central station and many attractions /shopping districts like Tsim Sa Tsui are only a few stops away. This Queen Elizabeth Hospital exit is the one you take when you are returning to the hotel.

Exit from Jorden Station to Eatan Hotel

Even if you don't travel to other stations, there are plenty of shops along Nathan Street that you could shop at! The shopping malls have many shops that sell very fashionable clothes. Some HK shops follow Japanese fashion, some follow Korean fashion, but mostly the shops follow their own HK fashion. If you are on a budget, forget about shopping at the departmental store unless you are looking for something that is of certain brands. During the last night of our trip, my mum and I chanced upon a night market that was walking distance from Eaton Hotel while randomly walking along the streets.

In the next part, I'll be talking more about the Airlines part of the package! Stay tuned!

Hong Kong Travel package: Flight and Hotel Part I

I don't know if we were just lucky but I felt that my mum and I got a really good deal for my Hong Kong Trip. I was really impressed with the price of the package and the flight included in the package. For this trip, my mum used the website zuji.com.sg to book the package of the hotel and flight. Altogether, we only paid less than $650 per person for the 3D2N trip's hotel and the flight! Here's a picture of the booking details.

Zuji

The impressive thing is that our hotels and flights weren't just any budget hotel and airline but Eaton Hotel and United Airlines! For that amount of price, if it were up to me, I'd have only have gotten either the flight or the hotel not both! Kuduos to my mum for the awesome sourcing! In the rest of this post, I'll be reviewing my experiences for both the hotel and the airport!

Eaton Hotel
This is the first time I am visiting Eaton Hotel. A friend recommended my mum to try out this hotel because she had a good experience there when she was in HK. Eaton hotel is a four star hotel that is located along Nathan Road. If you are familiar with HK, this hotel is just next to Nathan Hotel! My mum and I travelled to the hotel via bus A21 which took around 45 mins. I talked more about the trip to the hotel in this previous post.

First impressions:
Thanks to the display on the bus and our awesome observation skills, we managed to get off at the correct stop. However, we could not find the Hotel! As you can probably see from the picture of the street view on Nathan Road, unless you know what you are looking for, you probably wouldn't know where the hotel is. The entrance to the hotel is located somewhere near the bright signboard. Perhaps it is because I am very used to having the hotels' having big names on signboards that occupies a smaller area, or perhaps it was because we were on the other side of the road where the picture was taken so we couldn't see the signboard with the hotel's name, we did not expect that the building was the hotel we were going to be staying at! I would have expected such a signboard to be an advertisement instead of the name of the hotel!

Traffic View of Eaton Hotel from Nathan Road

This is a closer view of the signboard of the hotel. If they only had a small entrance to the hotel like Park Hotel that my family stayed at during our previous trip, I would have understood the spacial constraints that they face displaying a prominent signboard, but they had the entire corner exposed to the main road!! I felt like it was really a waste of the location the hotel was in. They could have marketed the hotel in a much classier way, using the traditional letters and spotlight method, and saving electricity along the way. (By the way, you can read more about Park Hotel written by Xiaxue here since I'm not going to write much about it.)

Eaton Hotel corner view

So if you are curious about how we found our way, in the end, we ended up asking a shop attendant for the location to the hotel. But believe it or not, we actually almost walked past the hotel to another street. This picture was taken right below the signboard of Eaton Hotel. We were about to walk away from the hotel towards where the photo was taken. Luckily my mum (who saved us again) felt that crossing the road was not right so we walked back where Eaton Hotel was.

Eaton Hotel from the side

If you are going to Eaton hotel, I am hereby going to attempt to explain how to get to the place. First, If you see the scenes in the pictures above, you have walked too far. Walk back towards the direction of the bus stop where you came from. Look for the Starbucks that turns into this street in the picture below with this sign to get into the hotel! The place where the cars turn in is the carpark /concierge. Walk past that. Lastly, when you see a glass door with Eaton Hotel's logo, you have arrived at your destination! Once again, the front door hotel's could have been better marketed. What a pity!

Front door or Eaton Hotel

After we finally managed to find the reception of the hotel, we were still early for our check in. The receptionist was nice enough to hold onto our luggages while we went out to look for lunch and walk around. (When we arrived it was still in the morning!) On top of safe keeping our luggages, the receptionist also gave us a temporary WiFi password for use in the lobby which was really nice of him! The service at the reception is really awesome!

To be continued in part 2…

Hong Kong's care for the elderly and physically disadvantaged

As I have mentioned in previous posts, even though Hong Kong is such a developed and fast paced country, it still has its warm and gentle parts that make it a nice country to live in. As a society, it is quite obvious as a visitor that HK takes measures to help the elderly and the physically disadvantaged. In this post, I'll be writing about the some things I've observed in HK that are geared towards helping this group of people and drawing similarities with what we have in Singapore.

In Hong Kong there is a yellow device attached to most of the pedestrian crossing traffic lights. There are one on each side and there is this circular sign on it. I've no idea what it is but I am guessing it is a device for the physically disadvantaged to use to cross the road. I'd say that because I've seen something similar in Singapore. Some pedestrian crossing traffic lights in Singapore have these devices for the elderly to tap their concession ez-link cards with so that the green man will last longer for them to be able to cross the road in time.

Singapore's tap for longer crossing time machine (Source)

On top of the device, in HK there is also these beeping/ticking sound at these pedestrian crossing to assist the blind crossing the road. When the red man is shown, the beeping sound is not very fast, around 3 beeps every 2 seconds. When the green man is on, the beeping speed increases to around 8 beeps per second. When the green man is flashing, the beeping slows down to 4 beeps per second.

Also, if you can see in the background of the photo below, there are these orangey- yellow zebra crossing. They are slightly elevated to, I assume, help the blind feel and cross the road. These would also be useful for people who are walking sideways from veering off the pedestrian crossing while talking to their friends but I guess that is only an additional benefit to the stripes. (I don't think the government would spend so much money just for that purpose!) These stripes are almost like the speed strips that regulate motorcycle speeds on the roads in Singapore. Below is a picture of the device I talked about earlier the I saw in HK. I'm really curios about what the orange device attached to the traffic light is. If you know what this is please let me know!!

Traffic light beeper

Similar to Singapore's MRT, the seats on the MTR also have priority seats. Of course, they also work in the same way as in Singapore. While Singapore's signs are focused on being subtle and classy, Hong Kong's are very obvious and have vibrant colors. Both styles are nice in their own way, but when I was at Hong Kong, I felt that it was a refreshing change to the ones I see everyday. What I liked about Hong Kong's priority seatings is the bright colors that they used. The smiley face is also really cute!

Singapore's MRT's reserved seats (Source)

Hong Kong's priority seats on the MTR

Similar to the MTR, the buses follow similar style of priority seating as the MTR/ MRT. For Singapore's bus priority seat, the seat is also known by a small sign as seen in the first picture below. On the other hand, Hong Kong's priority seats on public buses take on a bright red color, similar to the MTR's priority seats. While Singapore's priority seat is of the same color as the other seats on the bus, HK's priority seat is the only set of seats in red so its also very obvious to visitors and people who are unfamiliar to the culture in HK that the seats are different from the usual seats. I don't have a preference between the two types of promoting consideration for those who need the seats more. Seeing the vibrant red in the MTR in HK is a refreshing change from the signs in SG but if I live in HK and visited SG, I might like the signs in SG better because of their subtlety.

Singapore's reserved seat on the bus (Source)

Hong Kong's priority seats on the bus

These are the main observations I made about the elderly and disadvantaged care in HK! Overall, i think that the bright red colors used to represent the priority seating might work very effective in guilt-tripping commuters to give up these seats to those who need it more, or even not sit on them entirely. These priority seating arrangement seemed as if it was newly enforced since the stickers in the MTR and the printing and seating on the buses look very new. Perhaps the bright red was used as an initial kickoff for this project because is is a new initiative, or maybe the previous project for priority seating did not work as well therefore this new project was launched, the important thing is that the effort pays off and the target group is able to reap the benefits from the project! So here is the end of my two cents on Hong Kong's care for the elderly or disadvantaged. Hope you have found it insightful.

Anyway if you have noticed, I've added a logo watermark at the bottom of the photos that I took with my Sony Xperia Z phone. I'm super happy with it! It was done by a graphic designer Elliot Chua. Let me know what you think of this new addition!