Indoor Rock Climbing at KU

Steve, who is from Utah is a rock climbing fanatic. Apparently rock climbing is huge in Utah where he's from so he invited all of us in the program to come out and try it out. Conveniently, there's an indoor rock climbing facility in the sports center of our school so here we are getting all the equipments to rock climb!




I learned what rock climbing in Korean was for the first time today. 암벽등반 ambyukdeungban. No one was there so we had the whole place to ourselves. Yay!







Group photo with our equipment on. We look so happy! Thank god for self timer function on the camera.











OK, I'm finally ready to rock climb...

Kelly says: Belay!
Steve says: Belay on!
Kelly says: Climb!
Steve says: Climb on!
















Aigo aigo~
It is harder than it looks. I'm hanging on with all my strength here. You use a lot of your forearm, underarm, shoulder, gluteus and finger muscles. I found out the day after. Ouch~ I really need to exercise and work out regularly.











But I made it to the top! See! My hands are touching the ceiling!

Tom's Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich in Anam (Korea U)

I found a really cheap but good philly cheese steak place near school called Tom's Philly. The owner is from So Cal and he likes to speak English to his customers. Apparently a lot of 외국인들 (foreigners) are regulars here and I'm not surprised.





A close up of the menu. For 3000won ($2.50) you get a choice of your cheese steak sandwich and a drink. That's cheap! For those of you who can't read Korean, they have philly steak, BBQ steak, Hot steak, Hawaiian steak, chicken philly, teriyaki chicken, Cajun chicken, and Hawaiian chicken.




We ordered hot steak, hawaiian steak, and cajun chicken and they were all so very, very tasty! I made my hot steak extra spicy and it was SPICY~

So here's how he made it.
1. Add beef and mix it with onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, and other ingredients










2. Mix and stir fry 'em












3. Separate them into 3 orders and add appropriate sauce for the sandwiches. Here, he's adding the cajun sauce.









4. Add cheese and final sauce on top










5. Scoop it up and put it in the bun. The buns were nicely browned on the side while the meat and vegetable was cooking.
Voila~ The sandwich is complete and he does this right in front of you so it's entertaining for your eyes & taste buds!

This place is definitely a thumbs up! I'm going back next week and trying the Hawaiian steak!

OTSAL- Indian Restaurant in Anam (Korea U.)

The two times that I tried Indian food was in Hawaii and I have to say, it wasn't my best food experience. But I wanted to give it one more try. There have been many dishes in the past that I hated it in my first try like uni, natto, Vietnamese and Thai food but all these food have become my favorite now. I know some food need a little getting used to and I knew Indian was just that kind of food.



Recommended by my teacher at KU, we decided to give Otsal a try. I've heard several others say good things about this restaurant so I thought this place would be perfect for me to try Indian again. I was very impressed with the interior and the service. The decoration was authentic Indian (according to a friend who just returned from India) and it had warm, welcoming atmosphere with nice touch of Indian crafts and art.














I ordered San Miguel, a draft beer from Philippines. Apparently this beer goes well with the Indian food. I wondered why an Indian beer would not be a better match with Indian food but oh well... what do I know about Indian food right? ^^









Our first order was butter nan 2500 won or $2. We ordered two of these. Very very yummy.










The next dish was tandoori chicken with vegetables. It wasn't as spicy as I thought it would be. 8500won ($7.50)














Third course was lamb curry. Very tasty~















Our last dish was mixed biriyani, which is fried rice with tomatoes, coconuts, and other spices and vegetables.







For our dessert we ordered Blackberry and Mango Lassie (yogurt drink). 2500 won ($2)



I can now proudly say, Indian is in my favorite food category! Can't wait to try more Indian food!!!!

사골 만두국- Ox bone soup with Kimchi Mandoo

This is suppose to be a blog about my adventures in Seoul including shopping, sightseeing, and eating but it just turned into Kelly's eating adventure. I seem to only eat and not do anything else... I shop sometimes but I think I definitely do eating more than any other activity. I'm always hungry and it's gotten worse since I got to Korea. It's just that there are endless list of famous restaurants and dishes and for the sake of my blog, I have to try new food and restaurants~ OK, it's my excuse trying to justify all the eating but there are really good Korean food here and CHEAP!

This restaurant that I visited recently near KU is famous for its jajang-udon and Mandoo soup. Most of its dishes are about $3 with all you can eat rice and banchan (side dishes).


See! Jajang udon is only 3000 won or $2.50!
All you can eat banchan! They had kimchi, kaktugi (radish kimchi) and takuan
I had the ox bone soup with kimchi mandoo, or is it kimchi mandoo ox bone soup? I don't know but I think you get the picture, right? The soup was so rich in flavor and I loved the egg & nori flakes on top!