Inner Journey

  The Thai restaurant “Have a Jeed “was our favorite place during our stay. Both me and Leo enjoyed the same dish, minced hot stir-fried pork rice. Of course we have Korean style stir-fried pork rice back in Korea, but it is very different. Although both pork based dishes are spicy, the former has more strong scent with many spice and aromatic ingredients. In my opinion Thai cuisines are more popular in the West than Korean food. So far, Thailand is the most preferred Asian destination for foreigners, and the Thai government is promoting Thai cuisine to Westerners (including opening a cooking class and linking Thai cuisine tourism programs), so the image of Thai cuisine in the West is very good. In fact, Thai cuisine is often discussed as a benchmark and reference target example in the context of Korean food globalization. It also suits the taste of Koreans who like spicy food including me. As I mentioned, Thai food's spicy taste is different from that of Korea. It has a unique c...

  This was the first overseas trip in four years since the COVID19 had been preventing us from visiting foreign destinations. On the last day in Thailand, we visited the temple of golden buddha via BTS, which has nothing to do with the band BTS but is subway system in Bangkok. The Sukhothai Traimit Golden buddha was made of pure gold. The sculpture measures 12 feet 5 inches in diameter and has a height of 15 feet 9 inches from the base to the crown. It weights approximately 5.5 tons. Monks at the temple said that the statue has a price value exceed 28 million pounds and 700 years old till this year. This statue was originally placed in the different temple, but in 1931, was moved to the current place. Like many visitors alike did, Leo also prayed for health and good luck. During our stay, we also visited Wat Pho temple complex, which was oldest temple in Bangkok (16 C). It is the most famous place in W. The reclining Buddha statue is the largest in Thailand and boasts a length of 4...

  Krush is the Lotte Chilsung Beverage’s new beer product "KRUSH" and was introduced three years after the launch of the "Cloud Live Draft" in 2020. Krush is a pale lager beer that comes in two forms: a 500-ml bottle and a 20-liter draft beer. Lotte Chilsung Beverage's launch of a new winter beer is a decision that considers the demand for gatherings such as year-end parties and company dinners. But only recently I tasted this beer at the local seafood restaurant. I am not sure if this is better than Kelley or Hanmaek. For domestic beer market, Hite Jinro and OB have been doing mush better and introduction of KRUSH didn’t seem to change this yet. The recent fierce competition in the beer market prompted companies to develop and release new beers, such as Hite Jinro's new beer product "Kelly" in April 2023, and OB Beer's "Hanmaek" marketing. According to the food industry statistics, Cloud, the predecessor of Krush, held less tha...

  While amberjack is the legitimate English name of this winter’s delicacy, most people online prefer to use yellowtail or kingfish for bangeo thus I use yellowtail referring to this fish here. Yellowtail is a migratory fish species that ranges from the East Sea, West Sea, South Sea, Jeju Island, Japan, and Taiwan to Hawaii. The body is about 1-2 m long with a conical snout. The body colors of the adult fish and the fries are different, and the fries have yellow vertical stripes, but they disappear as they mature. The body color of the adult fish is blue with a metallic luster on the back and silver white on the belly. There is a pale-yellow vertical band between the tip of the snout and the tail. Like tuna, it is a pelagic fish that travels a long distance, and its flesh is red. Unlike other blue-backed fish, which are unable to breathe if they do not swim continuously and die just by climbing out of the water due to their sensitivity to the environment, they swim slowly and...

  2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Bucheon's promotion to the city. Looking back on the last 12 months, I realized that there were many events celebrating it, but I had never been to. The overall population of Bucheon is declining, and it is understandable because major manufacturing sectors moved out of this city for some other places. Other than the anniversary, nothing much had happen to the city. Hospitality industries went to through tough time even after COVID19 year and we do not know yet if this is the end of the ordeal of service sectors. I however think this place has potential of being more attractive for both people at home foreign tourists. As I mentioned in the very first post, while Bucheon has not so many places for sightseeing, here We do not have tourist traps thus you expect to find out things available in Seoul at cheaper price in this city. This is the charm of Bucheon with its convenient location of being between main entry point to Korea, Incheon, and...

  For Saturday night outing, we tried gin highballs and the most exotic Korean food (but it is not an exotic for us because hagfish dishes are not rare in Korea at all!) hagfish restaurant. Certainly, highballs remind us of whiskey and izakaya. But recently, many also recognize gin-based highballs too. This is because gin highballs, which seems to be fresher than whiskey highballs, have appeared and started to gain popularity in Korea. In the late 1800s, as carbonated water was invented in the United States, Scotch whisky and cocktails mixed with carbonated water began to be called Scotch highballs, and later in Japan, whiskey highballs were introduced when Western culture was imported in the early 1900s. As I mentioned in the past post, it became very popular in Japan, resonating with Japanese consumers who hate the strong taste of whiskey and later the influence of the depression, people tried to seek something cheaper than pure whisky. In Japan today, highball is a combi...

  Here, the popularity of highball is still soaring up with no sign of abating. Due to the high ball boom, the import of mid- to low-priced whiskey has increased, and whiskey's status is growing day by day. According to the Korea Customs Service's trade statistics, imports of whiskey such as Scotch, bourbon and so on from January to October this year were 26,937 tons (ton), up 26.8% from the same period last year. The increase in whisky imports is due to the steady popularity of highball, which is combination of sparkling water or tonic water and whisky. It is said that major consumers are the MZ generation (born in the 1980s and 2000s), but my observation is that the trend spills over to the whole generations of Koreans. Of course, I am also drinking these beverages more often than ever. Above all, the number of whiskies imported has increased significantly compared to the past. Whisky, which used to be "expensive alcohol," is gradually changing into popular al...