Wednesday I Do Care About You
A visit to Green Pig galbi with the Hot Dog Princess followed by American beer and hitting a few bucket of baseballs out of the park.
Some Wednesday are perfect.
Recent Blog Posts
Destination: Dongseong-ro (Daegu)
Considered one of the better shopping districts in Daegu, Dongseong-ro is much like Myeongdong in Seoul, except smaller. Start with the usual selection of chain clothing stores; once you're past those, a number of side streets begin to open up:
As you might guess, street clothes are a good bit cheaper.
While not the only lights worth seeing, these are permanently built into the 'wood' and visible year-round. Go ahead - try to follow the lights...
While the shopping street starts near Daegu (subway) Station and goes past Jungangno station, don't forget about the underground shopping area connected to Jungangno station.
Quite a few photo studios call the underground shopping center home - all of which seem to show the beautiful / plastic surgery / Photoshopped people of Daegu.
We met up with a few foreigners during dinner, who led us to a foreigner-friendly-bar:
That's Billabowl - a mash-up of pool and bowling, gone arcade style.
If you're planning a trip to Daegu, it's worth a walk down during your free time. It's not worth a trip by itself - combine it with an excursion to Pagyesa or any number of other places around Daegu.
Ratings (out of 5 taeguks):
Ease to arrive:
Foreigner-friendly:
Convenience facilities:
Worth the visit:
Ease to arrive:
Foreigner-friendly:
Convenience facilities:
Worth the visit:
© Chris Backe - 2010This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.
RSS FeedGrand Kitchen and a Little Snow
My Dad in Australia reads this blog quite often, and part of the reason I started it in the first place was to keep him and everyone back home updated on life in Korea. One of the things he said to me when he was over here was "It's a good blog, but there's so much food."
And that would be due to my fixation with all things edible. Our professor recently took us to the Grand Kitchen again, which is located on the basement floor of the Intercontinental Hotel at Samseong Station.
The buffet is around US$60 per head, which is overpriced in my view. But the chefs are good here and I never mind when I don't have to pay. $60 will buy me 30 lunches in the university cafeteria, but this food isn't 30 times better.
Probably about 5 times better.
Here's Dr Jin-Woo Kim after eating his fill. He's a pretty nice guy and seems to be enjoying his life. Which reminds me that there is a light at the end of the PhD tunnel.
In the mirror on the left you can see Se-Kyung taking the photo with my camera.
Heather and I saw Avatar recently, which I didn't think much of. The graphics were nice, but the storyline was a bit linear and could have taken more twists. After the movie though, we saw these two ladies playing Brave Firefighters in the arcade.
Which was about three times more exciting than Avatar.
This year it snowed heavily in Seoul. At one point I think we had more than 25 centimetres in a day. But the photo above shows Heather enjoying the cheot-nun, or the first snow of the season. With her umbrella she looks like a smaller, Korean version of Mary Poppins.
I like the snow more than the rain, because it brushes off easily and transforms the landscape. When Hong from Australia came up to Seoul and saw the first snow in the fields, he thought it was salt. Funnily enough, that was my intial reaction when I first saw it while riding on the train. In South Australia, white patches in the fields are deposits of dried salt, left behind after the water table subsides.
But the first time I ever saw snow was in the hills of Adelaide. It came sprinkling down from the sky in miniscule amounts, and at that time I thought it was ash from a distant bushfire. That was, until I looked at it closely and realised that it was composed of ice crystals.
When I was younger, I always imagined that if I ever found myself in fields of snow, I would spend the whole day eating it. Now that I have the opportunity though, it doesn't seem so tempting.
I like the way that the snow slows down all the traffic. Everyone is forced to chill out for a while. And also, it's nice how it puts a kind of post-apocalyptic tone on everything.
These days though, the snow is starting to melt. I heard that this was the coldest winter in a long time, and we're also due for one of the hottest summers this year. That will make the field work interesting.
See you soon!
And that would be due to my fixation with all things edible. Our professor recently took us to the Grand Kitchen again, which is located on the basement floor of the Intercontinental Hotel at Samseong Station.
The buffet is around US$60 per head, which is overpriced in my view. But the chefs are good here and I never mind when I don't have to pay. $60 will buy me 30 lunches in the university cafeteria, but this food isn't 30 times better.
Probably about 5 times better.
Here's Dr Jin-Woo Kim after eating his fill. He's a pretty nice guy and seems to be enjoying his life. Which reminds me that there is a light at the end of the PhD tunnel.
In the mirror on the left you can see Se-Kyung taking the photo with my camera.
Heather and I saw Avatar recently, which I didn't think much of. The graphics were nice, but the storyline was a bit linear and could have taken more twists. After the movie though, we saw these two ladies playing Brave Firefighters in the arcade.
Which was about three times more exciting than Avatar.
This year it snowed heavily in Seoul. At one point I think we had more than 25 centimetres in a day. But the photo above shows Heather enjoying the cheot-nun, or the first snow of the season. With her umbrella she looks like a smaller, Korean version of Mary Poppins.
I like the snow more than the rain, because it brushes off easily and transforms the landscape. When Hong from Australia came up to Seoul and saw the first snow in the fields, he thought it was salt. Funnily enough, that was my intial reaction when I first saw it while riding on the train. In South Australia, white patches in the fields are deposits of dried salt, left behind after the water table subsides.
But the first time I ever saw snow was in the hills of Adelaide. It came sprinkling down from the sky in miniscule amounts, and at that time I thought it was ash from a distant bushfire. That was, until I looked at it closely and realised that it was composed of ice crystals.
When I was younger, I always imagined that if I ever found myself in fields of snow, I would spend the whole day eating it. Now that I have the opportunity though, it doesn't seem so tempting.
I like the way that the snow slows down all the traffic. Everyone is forced to chill out for a while. And also, it's nice how it puts a kind of post-apocalyptic tone on everything.
These days though, the snow is starting to melt. I heard that this was the coldest winter in a long time, and we're also due for one of the hottest summers this year. That will make the field work interesting.
See you soon!
On Konglish, Ankles, and a Night on the Town
Last night, not only were my ears not tortured, I actually enjoyed myself. Granted, some of the music was not fabulous but The Basement was packed and I had a blast dancing with my friends. Yes...dancing. I know the doctor keeps telling me to rest but the fact of the matter is that yesterday I managed to slip on 2 separate sets of stairs, fall off of 2 curbs and knocked over my own garbage pail (
The Weather in Korea/ All at Once
As Central New Jersey goes, so goes southern South Korea.
South Korea, and specifically all points south, are experiencing a pleasant warming trend. For much of the winter, Seoul has been gripped in a bone-chilling tundra, with temperatures sometimes barely rising beyond 10 degrees F., and night temperatures settling in below zero. Busan, along the southeast shore, has fared better by about 20 degrees, but 25 degree days are not necessarily beach weather.
Since the weekend, this trend seems to have snapped, and the little weather display on my desktop read 52 degrees F. for Busan, with Seoul enjoying balmy temps in the 30s. Today, in Hamilton Square, New Jersey, everyone has made for Veteran's Park, including myself, to enjoy temperatures that also are peaking at 52. At least when it comes to weather, I'll have some idea of what I am getting myself into.
I went for a jog for the first time in I am not quite sure how long. It might have been when I had pledged to jog for health several years ago, and Abel, a good friend and former roommate, as well as an avid jogger, took me out for a run. I barely made it through the townhome development adjacent to the house we shared in Princeton. He with his lanky, long legs attempted to shorten his great strides while I, with a saddlebag of flesh around my waist, sucked wind.
No, that was not it. It was with Chris, who took over Abel's room when he moved out. That must have been the last time I went jogging. I was still living in the house, so it had to have been since before June of 2008. Yikes, it's been a while.
Busan by foot and by bike sounds like a much better idea than Busan by car. Not that I plan on getting a car when I am there, but wouldn't it be nice to actually be able to jog great swaths of the city, take it all in from the eyes of someone exerting energy through exercise as opposed to someone trying to keep them open after another bender at the waygookin bar on Haeundae Beach? If I had an inclination, I would find a way to get one of my bikes to South Korea. But, then that would mean I would need to find a way to get it back. And if I learned one thing from my last adventure there, it is to travel light. Trying to navigate three suitcases down a flight of stairs to the subway in a city you have never been to on maybe a few hours sleep -- sporadically stolen between pictures taken of the cloud cover outside your airplane and movie marathons featuring Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and The Transporter 2 -- is not fun.
It gets easier. It has to. Bike riding gets easier. I remember in 2002 when Dan and I rode everywhere that summer between my junior and senior years. I was lucky to get to Huber Woods Park without getting off to walk it at first. Four years later I was riding 100 miles around Lake Tahoe. Today, I wanted to curl up in a muddy puddle next to the toe path after jogging 50 yards. But, I didn't, I just slowed down, spit up whatever was forming in my throat, walked a bit then got back on the horse. A little further, a little further. You don't have to do it all at once.
You don't have to do it all at once.
South Korea, and specifically all points south, are experiencing a pleasant warming trend. For much of the winter, Seoul has been gripped in a bone-chilling tundra, with temperatures sometimes barely rising beyond 10 degrees F., and night temperatures settling in below zero. Busan, along the southeast shore, has fared better by about 20 degrees, but 25 degree days are not necessarily beach weather.
Since the weekend, this trend seems to have snapped, and the little weather display on my desktop read 52 degrees F. for Busan, with Seoul enjoying balmy temps in the 30s. Today, in Hamilton Square, New Jersey, everyone has made for Veteran's Park, including myself, to enjoy temperatures that also are peaking at 52. At least when it comes to weather, I'll have some idea of what I am getting myself into.
I went for a jog for the first time in I am not quite sure how long. It might have been when I had pledged to jog for health several years ago, and Abel, a good friend and former roommate, as well as an avid jogger, took me out for a run. I barely made it through the townhome development adjacent to the house we shared in Princeton. He with his lanky, long legs attempted to shorten his great strides while I, with a saddlebag of flesh around my waist, sucked wind.
No, that was not it. It was with Chris, who took over Abel's room when he moved out. That must have been the last time I went jogging. I was still living in the house, so it had to have been since before June of 2008. Yikes, it's been a while.
Busan by foot and by bike sounds like a much better idea than Busan by car. Not that I plan on getting a car when I am there, but wouldn't it be nice to actually be able to jog great swaths of the city, take it all in from the eyes of someone exerting energy through exercise as opposed to someone trying to keep them open after another bender at the waygookin bar on Haeundae Beach? If I had an inclination, I would find a way to get one of my bikes to South Korea. But, then that would mean I would need to find a way to get it back. And if I learned one thing from my last adventure there, it is to travel light. Trying to navigate three suitcases down a flight of stairs to the subway in a city you have never been to on maybe a few hours sleep -- sporadically stolen between pictures taken of the cloud cover outside your airplane and movie marathons featuring Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and The Transporter 2 -- is not fun.
It gets easier. It has to. Bike riding gets easier. I remember in 2002 when Dan and I rode everywhere that summer between my junior and senior years. I was lucky to get to Huber Woods Park without getting off to walk it at first. Four years later I was riding 100 miles around Lake Tahoe. Today, I wanted to curl up in a muddy puddle next to the toe path after jogging 50 yards. But, I didn't, I just slowed down, spit up whatever was forming in my throat, walked a bit then got back on the horse. A little further, a little further. You don't have to do it all at once.
You don't have to do it all at once.
—
—John Dunphy
Destination: Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival (2010)
Considered to be one of Korea's best winter festivals, the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival (화천산천어축제) offers more than enough to see and do. Whether your interests are in fishing for the sancheoneo, a type of mountain trout, or enjoying the frozen-over river, you'll need a full day to see it all.
Lest my dear readers think every trip goes smoothly, this is one that did not. Thanks to congestion and a couple accidents along the way, our bus didn't arrive until 5pm. By the time we found the river (within walking distance of the bus terminal), the sun was heading down and the people off the ice.
One nice consequence of being fashionably late.
One not-so-nice consequence of arriving late. In case you can't read Korean, the sign essentially means 'sold out' or 'no more rooms available'. We'll catch a bus to nearby Chuncheon for the night - for now, it's time to see the lights of the ice festival:
Welcome to the World Winter City Plaza - 3,000 won gets you through the gate and earns you a 3,000 won gift certificate. Foreigners get the same discount as the old, the disabled, and 'man of national merit' - read into that how you will.
Name that character - made of carved ice, this is 15 meters wide and perhaps 4 meters tall.
An intriguing water wheel - note the icicles at an angle to gravity.
Venus looks cold.
An indoor section didn't offer any warmth, but the light show was worth seeing all the same.
The ceiling of light pointed a beeline from the bus terminal to the river - we'll see that tomorrow.
Through the magic of blogging, it's the next day! After getting some excellent pizza near the bus terminal and bundling up, we walked down to the river:
While the crowd of thousands looks overwhelming, people quickly began to choose what their interests were.
Best caption wins a cookie. The already-carved ice holes served as an opportunity to try and catch the sancheoneo. The river was supposedly stocked, and the number of people allowed to fish is limited - at up to 12,000 won per person I wonder how many fish you'd have to catch to be worth it. Not pictured are places to grill the fish you caught; other meats were available from a freezer unit if you weren't fishing.
It goes without saying that all your fishing supplies can be conveniently purchased just a few short meters from the ice.
For those not interested in fishing, sledding and walking across the ice is lots of fun across a large portion of the frozen river. Renting a 나무썰매 (wooden sled) cost 5,000 won; sitting cross-legged or Indian style ensured better balance. Use the sticks (nails poke out the bottom) to propel yourself across the ice, and use body language to assist with turning. Not pictured are some larger family-type sleds designed to hold two to four people comfortably.
One highlight: taking an ATV for a spin across a circular track. 10,000 won and a signed release form got you 20 minutes racing around the ice. While spin-outs were common, crashes were pretty rare; the tires on the front protected the ATV's from too much damage. Not pictured nearby were go-karts on a separate track.
Ice soccer, anyone? It actually looked more like foot hockey; whatever you want to call it, the games were interesting to watch. Because you had to rent the equipment, games tended to be more organized than simply having passers-by play.
One of the free season-related events available for all ages - sledding down the hill between the river and the road.
The much longer tube sledding option propelled some almost the whole way across the river.
Another highlight was bare-hand fishing - stock some shallow ponds with the sancheoneo and let the humans try to catch them. Two pools (the one above was smaller for the kids) were filled with cold water to try and even the odds.
They're swimming now - but suppertime is coming soon... At the sound of the gong, the couple dozen kids jumped in:
People were told to stuff any caught fish down their shirts to hang onto them - not pictured are a few people who thought beating their fish on the ice would soften them up a bit.
Bare-hand fishing fee: 12,000 won
Look on the kids face: priceless.
Before long, it was the adults turn - about three dozen gathered around the rim of a somewhat larger pond.
A few guys thought putting the fish in your mouth as you walked victoriously to the stairs would make them look manly... Um, no...
In case you've ever wanted to see irrigation tubes work their magic underneath a bridge, here's your chance.
A curious game of shaking an oversized soju bottle hooked up to some kind of counter. Yes, they're on the ice.
The entire town gets into the festival - each of the murals encompass an entire wall of each house.
Our last stop is a trip to the Asia Ice Lights Square - an indoor freezer featuring a number of ice sculptures:
A miniature of the World Peace Bell - at 9,999 gwan, the real thing will have one more piece added when the two Koreas are unified.
Betman's car - apparently the flying superhero turned into a gambler in his old age.
Disneyland's Castle, lit up in brilliant rainbow style.
Slide down Disneyland's Castle back to the ground, but grab a mat from the bottom of the slide first!
Although it takes a full day and most of a night to see it all, it's a trip worth taking. Bundle up, and be ready for some slippery surfaces - the ice seemed less slick than some of the walkways. You still have time to catch this event - it doesn't end until January 31st.
Ratings (out of 5 taeguks):
Ease to arrive:
Foreigner-friendly:
Convenience facilities:
Worth the visit:
Directions to Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival: Take an express bus to Hwacheon from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal (Gangbyeon station, line 2) among other bus terminals around the country. You may find it easier to get a bus to the Chuncheon Bus Terminal, although there are extra buses running to the area thanks to the festival. Getting in is free, but expect to pay for almost anything worth doing or seeing.
© Chris Backe - 2010This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.
Zelig
"Everyone must take part in the beatings."
I'd been out with Korean friends and eight of us wended our way back to one of their apartments. A Japanese Nintendo Wii sat next to the television, but it had been borrowed so nobody knew how to use it. My wife showed them and before long games of Wii Sports Tennis and Baseball were generating considerable competition within the group. There would be a party a week later here, and perhaps aware that ultimately, this was not a truly interactive experience for everyone, attention turned towards discussions of what activities could be organised for the day of the event.
Korean games - and it was decided we should engage in a trial run. So that's how I learned how to play 'Silent 007'. No, really. A person starts off by pointing their finger - as a gun - at one of the other people assembled in a circle. This is the first zero in '007'. Then the selected person points, as the second zero. The designated '7' in this sequence fires the fourth shot - which hits the person pointed to and then - for reasons which aren't clear - the two people on either side of them throw up their hands in shock, or collateral damage perhaps.
Now, if you don't throw up your hands, or if you shouldn't and you do, or if you just make a noise of any kind, you have to place yourself in the centre of the circle to be 'beaten' on the back. And then the game continues at such a rapid pace that mistakes are bound to be made. What the reader makes of this I do not know, but it seems more juvenile written down than it seemed at the time, when it seemed rather juvenile. And this is what groups of Korean thirty-somethings might be getting up to in their spare time. We had a nine-year old girl with us, but I don't think we were playing for her benefit. There was another game, which merely involved number sequences rather than spies, but that involved beatings too.
So I was beaten and I watched the beatings, for which I was eventually admonished. "Everyone must take part in the beatings!" I was warned seriously. And yes, it is a serious business in Korea - conforming. I was a diplomatic incident away from saying something about Korea's former military government or Kristallnacht, but my language skills failed me. I will not be popular here when I learn to speak Korean fluently. It's a major issue. Bad things are going to happen. My wife insists they are not really beatings so much as 'gentle poundings'. Really, she should have entered politics.
Well, in the name of social compliance I tentatively hit people on the back, but still passed on hitting the young girl, so it wasn't long before my non-conformity was highlighted again. "You must hit the girl! You must hit the girl!" Sometimes it takes the company of large groups to remind you just how alone you are.
Sometimes I see foreigners here - especially in the media - who appear to be playing the unwinnable game of trying to be as Korean as the Koreans, and wonder whether they really have drunk the Kool-Aid or more intriguingly, whether they are just human chameleons instinctively blending in for the sake of diplomacy and the avoidance of being on the receiving end of some beatings of their own. I don't want to take part in the beatings, but Korea demands it, so I wonder if I'm really cut out for this.
I'd been out with Korean friends and eight of us wended our way back to one of their apartments. A Japanese Nintendo Wii sat next to the television, but it had been borrowed so nobody knew how to use it. My wife showed them and before long games of Wii Sports Tennis and Baseball were generating considerable competition within the group. There would be a party a week later here, and perhaps aware that ultimately, this was not a truly interactive experience for everyone, attention turned towards discussions of what activities could be organised for the day of the event.
Korean games - and it was decided we should engage in a trial run. So that's how I learned how to play 'Silent 007'. No, really. A person starts off by pointing their finger - as a gun - at one of the other people assembled in a circle. This is the first zero in '007'. Then the selected person points, as the second zero. The designated '7' in this sequence fires the fourth shot - which hits the person pointed to and then - for reasons which aren't clear - the two people on either side of them throw up their hands in shock, or collateral damage perhaps.
Now, if you don't throw up your hands, or if you shouldn't and you do, or if you just make a noise of any kind, you have to place yourself in the centre of the circle to be 'beaten' on the back. And then the game continues at such a rapid pace that mistakes are bound to be made. What the reader makes of this I do not know, but it seems more juvenile written down than it seemed at the time, when it seemed rather juvenile. And this is what groups of Korean thirty-somethings might be getting up to in their spare time. We had a nine-year old girl with us, but I don't think we were playing for her benefit. There was another game, which merely involved number sequences rather than spies, but that involved beatings too.
So I was beaten and I watched the beatings, for which I was eventually admonished. "Everyone must take part in the beatings!" I was warned seriously. And yes, it is a serious business in Korea - conforming. I was a diplomatic incident away from saying something about Korea's former military government or Kristallnacht, but my language skills failed me. I will not be popular here when I learn to speak Korean fluently. It's a major issue. Bad things are going to happen. My wife insists they are not really beatings so much as 'gentle poundings'. Really, she should have entered politics.
Well, in the name of social compliance I tentatively hit people on the back, but still passed on hitting the young girl, so it wasn't long before my non-conformity was highlighted again. "You must hit the girl! You must hit the girl!" Sometimes it takes the company of large groups to remind you just how alone you are.
Sometimes I see foreigners here - especially in the media - who appear to be playing the unwinnable game of trying to be as Korean as the Koreans, and wonder whether they really have drunk the Kool-Aid or more intriguingly, whether they are just human chameleons instinctively blending in for the sake of diplomacy and the avoidance of being on the receiving end of some beatings of their own. I don't want to take part in the beatings, but Korea demands it, so I wonder if I'm really cut out for this.
--
Source: Busan Mike
—
Busanmike.blogspot.com
Twitter: @BusanMike
YouTube: /BusanMikeVideo
Flickr: /busanmike
Korean Women Angry at Being Promoted Less Than Men
( Source: J David Allen )
A snapshot of some of the different forms of sexual discrimination experienced at Korean workplaces, from the January 15 edition of Metro Busan:
Women Workers’ “Promotion Grief” is Big
71% Say “Compared to Men, Promotions Come Late and with Limits”…54% Say “We Feel Inhibited From Asking for Maternity Leave”
A survey of women workers has revealed that when it comes to promotion, they still feel that they suffer from sexual discrimination.
The results of a survey of 1623 women workers by job portal site JobKorea, released on the 14th, showed that 71.4% believed that the promotion systems at their companies placed women at a disadvantage.
Asked for more information about this discrimination, 40.4% [of the 1623 women] said that “compared to men that enter the company at the same time, women have to wait longer to get promoted,” and 38.3% added that “women are excluded from some higher positions.”
In addition, 35.9% mentioned that “if we take maternity leave or time off before and after giving birth, we get lower scores on our evaluations by the personnel department,” 29% that “even if we have the same ability and practical know-how as men, we get lower scores,” and 21.8% that women simply are excluded from certain kinds of jobs.
Also, 54.7% replied that they found it very difficult to ask their superiors or coworkers for time off for childbirth, 15.8% said that they felt pressure to quit their jobs after having a baby, and finally 8.6% were aware of cases where recent mothers were indeed forced to quit. (end)
With no information given about the methodology used, then all those results should be taken with a grain of salt unfortunately.
In particular, considering that it is still common practice to fire women upon marriage, then that last figure sounds rather low to me. Lest that sound like exaggeration on my part though, I’ll make sure to provide evidence in a follow-up post soon.
But in the meantime, the results speak for themselves. With apologies to long-term readers to whom this is familiar, consider that before the current economic crisis, not only did Korea already have one of the lowest women’s workforce participation rates (and the highest wage gap) in the OECD, but that those few that did work formed a disproportionate number of irregular workers. This ensured that they would be laid-off en masse last year (see #15 here also), and they are unlikely to return to work soon given Korea’s jobless recovery.
(In stark contrast, the decline in the construction industry in the US, for instance, means that for the first time in history actually more women work than men there now)
Meanwhile, the effects of all the above on Korea’s low birthrate have also been somewhat predictable, now the world’s lowest for the third year running. But never fear, for the Korean Broadcasting Advertising Corporation (KOBACO) is on the case:
In KOBACO’s defense, the first women featured does actually have a job. Is it churlish of me to point out that she still goes home early to cook while her husband burns the midnight oil…?
Update 1: Lest the commercial not succeed though, then the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs (보건복지가족부), in charge of raising the country’s birthrate, is insisting that its employees go home at 7:30 pm on the third Wednesday of each month, all the better to have sex with their partners and have more babies.
No, unfortunately I’m not making that up.
Update 2: This satire of that is so good, it’s difficult not to believe that it’s the real thing!
—
Ton Mong Tonkatsu, Nampo Dong
Ton Mong is a Japanese tourist-orientated restaurant in Nampo-dong. The prices and and food are fine. This is much better than the tonkatsu you will pick up at your local kimbap joint, without challenging the tonkatsu at any of the million other tonkatsu restaurants in Busan. In fact, the main attraction of Ton Mong is the opportunity to dine in a creepy cat-filled environment (See right). So there's something here for the cat lady in all of us.
Service was pretty quick and tourist friendly. Our nervous waitress showed up again halfway through the meal with a forks, obviously in shock at the unnatural sight of foreigners using chopsticks.
The prices are quite reasonable as well, and with English and Japanese menus, staff accustomed to clueless tourists and plastic food, you certainly won't be hitting the language barrier here.
So all-in-all, if you're looking for a cheap, easy and cat lady-friendly meal in Nampo-dong, you could certainly do worse than to go to ton Mong..
Phone: 245-1147
Location: On the corner near DaeYoung Cinema in Nampo-dong. You can easily spot it by the long cabinet of plastic food outside.
English Menu: Yes. Staff speak some English as well.
Seating: Tables and chairs .
Vegetarian Option: None.
Price 5,000-10,000 per person.
Drinks: Beer 3,000. Cider 1,000
Drinks: Beer 3,000. Cider 1,000
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