5 Korean Foods for Adventurous Eaters
Restaurant search apps tend to favor quantity over quality. Most mine the web to produce general results vouched for by random strangers who think Kimbap Heaven actually lives up to its name. The MangoPlate team set out to create a better restaurant app that’s not just a directory, but a useful tool that makes restaurant...
Rural Korea: Exploring Waymook Beach
On the west coast of Korea, hidden by the countryside rice paddies, lies a local beach called Waymook. Famous for its gorgeous sunsets, the small town boasts fresh seafood restaurants and beachside walkways, overlooking a few small islands. While young couples and families tromp around in the sand, shells and sticks, the local residents earn...
Boriam Temple at Namhae Island
I hate planning events or organising my folders at my work desk. Planning my birthday is no exception, hence text messages flooding in on the eve of my 23rd, nagging me as to what the plan was or to remind me that I am one inch closer to being officially an ajushi. I was lucky to...
The Drunken Poets Lying Around Itaewon
Seoul-based creative Andy Knowlton’s current project ‘The Drunken Poets’ is a quirky take on poetry and art. The American multi-media artist searches for materials on the street – trash, basically – and turns the items into unusual-looking dolls which he then attaches a small bottle to. Within that bottle he places a poem and leaves...
Exploring Ansan
I’m always excited to visit the area around Ansan station because it teems with multicultural diversity. It’s a melting pot of Korea’s migrant working class, and represents various points on the map including India, Russia, Malaysia, and Thailand, just to name a few. Visiting this area feels like I’m stepping outside of Korea, as my senses...
10 Things to do with Your Spam Gift Set
It’s the run up to Lunar New Year. Gift sets are piled high in the supermarkets. Many of them include Spam and it’s likely that you’ll end up with some. You are just one person. What are you going to do with all that mystery meat? Here are a few suggestions. LEARN TO COOK SOME...
Street Art and Steel Factories in Mullae, Seoul’s Art Village
To many, Seoul is a city that is stark and clean. Cloned, white high-rise apartment buildings are replacing old, demolished houses, and graffiti and street art is rare. Some neighborhoods have yet to be redeveloped, such as my neighborhood in northeast Seoul, comprised of 1970s style houses with kimchi pots and gardens on rooftops. Others are slowly being converted,...
Photoessay: Seoul’s Moving Metal Staircases
Anyone who has ever played Super Mario Brothers knows that taking any one of the many secret ‘pipelines’ is usually a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you find yourself in a brand new subterranean eco-system, filled with potential riches and the promise of advancing a great distance toward your ultimate goal of completing the...
