Korean Job Discussion Forums

[deeluvskitties]

I thought maybe you guys had some advice for what you'd do for a friend. see, i want to plan a faboo birthday surprise for my friend who just moved to anyang (i'm in seoul). she's been in korea (busan) before, but i was wondering if anyone has any ideas of *cheap things to do in this neck of the woods....

example:

beauty stuff - yeah, there's the bath houses and saunas - but does anyone know of places in seoul that aren't too pricey where you can get extra treatment? (not sexual, i mean, extra pampering)... i.e. she might like a facial, or mud, or something...

healthy stuff - any cool spots to hike that we can go for a day trip?

food stuff - what are the best restaurants in seoul that are extra-special? nothing too pricey - but with great food, atmosphere, etc..

etc. - anything different, that she might not have experienced..

my budget is about 100 000 (or less) for the both of us to do something fun, unusual and thoughtful.

any ideas?

edited by the mod team

[sistersarah]

hey dee,

well, i don't have any super ultra wicked fantastic ideas, but the greek restaurant in itaewon where we held the last ladies luncheon was really nice. it was delicious and a nice cozy atmosphere.

as for healthy stuff, i like hiking at bukansan (sp?)....maybe someone can give you specific directions....
also, you could walk around the suwon fortress
or, you could go to lake park, in ilsan (that's my neck of the woods!)

if i think of anything else, i'll let you know.

[Swiss James]

I'm getting Deja-vu here.

There's a really nice italian restaurant in Hongdae, my favourite main there is just 9,000 won (chicken parmigiana or something- I can't spell it)- add on a bottle of wine and desert, you'll still be comfortably under 50,000.
It's called Tampo Tampo, on the same street as Gold Bar- just holler if you don't know where that is.

[sistersarah]

speaking of italian food, a good, cheap place is "pasta 12" in shinchon.

[helly]

Your budget limits the beauty pampering options.

One of my best afternoons (frequently enjoyed) was up in Samcheong-dong area of Seoul, next to Kyungbuk Palace. On the street along the east wall, there is a string of small art galleries. Usually some interesting stuff, I tried to hit as many as possible. The easy option for food is to head over to the Artsonje Center for Indian food at Dal. Great place, cool vibe.

Evern better than that (assuming Korean food is OK), is to keep walking north in Samcheong-dong to a great little street with good restaurants. At the Book Cafe fork in the road, veer right and keep walking straight. You are on a small tree lined street with a nice mix of old and new. At the end of the road, right before it turns right, there is a good Korean restaurant called Darak Chon (no English, I don't believe.) Order the Kimchi Manju Jeongol and a Nok du jeon. My favorite Korean restaurant ever. Afterwards, there are small tea/coffee houses around, a jazz club up around the corner and SamJeong Park up the street for a walk.

[Swiss James]

actually I think the name of the place I was talking about in "Tanto Tanto".

I agree "Dal" is great, but it's pretty pricey for Korea and I'm not sure she'd have much cash left for anything else.

[kimchikowboy]

I'm embarrassed to write this, and it's probably not appropriate to your situation, but two of my favorite cheap dates with the missus include Costco and shopping for real estate.
If you go to Costco in the afternoon you can indulge in all the freebies in the food department, and also chase it with some wine samples. There's enough to fill most of the way up, and if still hungry, there's always the hotdog set at the restaurant. After that, go to a real estate office and tell them you want to buy a house or land in the country. They'll drive you out of the city (at least in Daegu) and show you various places. Pack some kimbap! It's a nice way to spend an afternoon out in the country enjoying the scenery with a chauffer! With the leaves changing, it's an excellent way to spend a Saturday.
I'm not that cheap, we really were looking for houses when I discovered this . But if you don't have a car and want to get out and about, it works wonderfully.

[Mashimaro]

[Mashimaro]

[Swiss James]

The trouble with providing directions for Hongdae is that you don't know where people already know. I could spend three paragraphs describing how to get from Hong-Il subway station to the restaurant, or just say:

Turn left out of US66 (sometimes called Route 66), take the first left again on the corner where the big Von Dutch store is, walk down that street and keep an eye out on your left hand side- maybe halfway down that street.

Actually on the same road you've got
"Gold Bar" which is cheap with a cool kind of a wooden basement atmosphere- almost always full, but it's open LATE,
"Gold II"- same place but upstairs so for some reason not as good,
"Issey"- also cheap, always full of fit girls, good luck getting a table!,
a Nangmyeon/seouluntang place that's supposed to be great,
and a beauty parlour with a tanning bed.

If you don't know where US66 is- welcome to Korea, I hope you enjoy your stay.

[poddubny]

[Swiss James]

Actually I'm just thinking back to when I first got here and feel mean not giving the rest of the directions.

So you come out of Hong-Ik (green line, #2) station at exit 6, walk in the same directoin as you were facing when you came up the stairs. When you get to Pizza Hut, turn left. Walk up that hill on the right hand side of the road past Mr Pizza, up to the top where McDonalds is and you want to turn right there.

Now at this stage you can take a kind of uphill right, which would take you to past a little waffle stand, some shop selling sweet potato cakes that stink of butter, and onto the street where the park is (Thai and Greek restauarants on this street).
Or you can go a little further forward (look straight ahead and you'll see the gates of Hong-Ik uni) and take the right which goes down the slope a bit.
Walking along this street you'll see the new hip-hop club "Harlem" on your left, as well as Stompers *shudder*. On your right (the side you should be walking on) you'll go past NB, and a very interesting jazz+various record shop. Keep going and you'll see the pedestrian crossing with the Von Dutch shop. For US66 go straight over, for Tanto Tanto turn right.

[sistersarah]

"pasta 12" directions. all i know is you go out exit 3 (shinchon station) and keep going straight for about 5 minutes. it's on your right. it's not hard to find....anyone have any better directions?

[Derrek]

[casey's moon]

[quote="Swiss James"]Actually I'm just thinking back to when I first got here and feel mean not giving the rest of the directions.[quote]

That's so cute. Some people can't help but be nice even when they don't want to.