The Many Flavours of Poutine

Yeah so I wrote an article a few weeks ago about how to integrate into a foreign society. While I make some great recommendations on how to set some roots down in another country, there’s nothing wrong with indulging in a little nostalgia of your motherland. Be it watching a taped hockey game at a bar, reading my hometown’s news, or indulging in some dishes from back home, there’s nothing wrong with that. While travelling my curiosity is always aroused when I see poutine on the menu. From personal experience, any poutine made outside of the general French Canadian area of Canada is garbage. Lets take a look at some of the poutines made outside this area:

Vancouver Poutine

This was my first ever experience having poutine outside of the safe zone. After an evening of watching the HSBC Festival of Light and walking back to realize that there was a bazillion people waiting at Granville Skytrain station, me and my friends made our way down the street and saw that the Roxy was quiet and still serving food. Low and behold “Genuine Montreal Poutine” was on the menu, how can you screw that up? Well folks what I got was not poutine, more like fries swimming in gravy with a token piece of cheese here and there. The amount of gravy I ingested made me sick. Hence a precedent was set, poutine outside of French Canada sucks. Took me years to be brave enough to try it again outside the poutine safe-zone. Strike 1.

Seoul Poutine

My Korean poutine

Heh yeah you read that right, I had poutine in Seoul! I thought I’d save this story when I wrote Seoul Food. I found a Canadian bar in the Itaewon district. Itaewon is the foreigner district, better known for it’s seedier elements such as hooker hill and American GI’s starting trouble. This is also where you’ll find bars/clubs/restaurants that cater specifically to foreigners. Over here I found the Rocky Mountain Tavern, a bar catering specifically to Canadians. There was hockey on TV, Canadian beer, and poutine on the menu. Made my order of a Moosehead and poutine. I got this weird metal pot with a concoction that looked NOTHING like poutine. There were chives, chicken (yellow) gravy, and the cheese just wasn’t right. I couldn’t finish this abomination, I seriously thought I was gonna puke. Also throw in the fact that in Seoul in wintertime, Koreans love their heat, so it was like being in front of a hair dryer as well. Strike 2!

Melbourne Poutine

Doesn't look right, but does it taste right?

So the precedent had been set, poutine sucks outside of French Canada and had been pretty much wiped from my mind after the Korean experience. Once day at work, my manager brought up the topic of poutine and mentioned that there is a place that will do it out here. Well obviously there’s a story in it for me so I just HAD to go and try it. I made my way over to Lord of the Fries after work and ordered myself some fries with “French Canadian” topping aka poutine. What I got looked almost like the real thing! It had the right gravy, the cheese was ok, but shredded not in curds. Despite that, it was definitely a hit which surprised me. For $4.95 for a medium it was quite a deal (at least by Australian standards) for a meal. So if you’re around and wanna have a taste of home go check ‘em out!

In the end, I learned that I was wrong. Sometimes poutine can be done right outside of French Canada. Had it of not of been for the hit here in Melbourne, the world would have struck out when it comes to my opinion of their poutine making. It’s also nice to indulge a little in a taste from back home every now and then. Just be sure to try some local grub as well!

Travel Apps

Hands down my smartphone is probably the one most useful tool that I’ve brought with me travelling. The phone’s done everything from keep me into contact with friends, provide me with countless hours of wifi and skype, as well as guide me to destinations. For example tonight the closest grocery store was closed by the time I got home from work (late aka after 6pm shopping is only on Fridays here in Oz). Thankfully I whipped my phone out and found the next closest Coles. One of the great uses was using my phone to guide me using public transport, and there are plenty of apps to help! Here are three apps available on the Android market that have helped me get around certain cities.

Seoul Subway

Seoul’s subway is renown worldwide for its ease of use and tourist friendliness. Despite these titles and awards, once you’re on the ground it can be confusing...very confusing. Seoul’s subway system looks like someone dropped spaghetti on a piece of paper. Lines criss-cross all over the place and there are so many of them. The other source of possible frustration is that at some stations they’ve installed the turnstiles at the actual entrance to the subway platform and not in a more general area. This means that if you go through the wrong turnstiles you’re either taking that subway to a station with a middle platform, or use hand signs and bad Korean to get the station manager to let you through to the other side. Seoul Subway will help you map your journey, telling you which station to transfer at and more importantly which direction your new train is going. This app was so helpful getting me to the tourist sites all over Seoul as it’s a MASSIVE city! Also one of the greatest tools would be to learn a little hanggul. Also from firsthand experience I highly recommend you AVOID the last train of the night!

Tram Hunter (Melbourne)

Melbourne has an extensive tram (streetcars for you Torontonians) network that can get you all over the city. While they can be a little slow and extremely cramped during rush hour, they’ve gotten me to many of the tourist spots throughout the city. There’s even a free tourist city-circle tram which can be extremely useful for a newbie to get a feel for the CBD. Tram Hunter is an app that will let you know which trams come to your stop and how long till they pass. An extremely useful feature is the GPS functionality which will allow the app to locate the nearest stop. This app has ensured that I’m always at work on time as I always know when the next tram is passing, with pretty darn good accuracy!

Train Trapper (Melbourne)

More recently I’ve been using Melbourne’s train network as I’m staying a little further out of the city. The thing about trains during weekdays is that there are express trains that don’t necessarily stop at all stations. While the express trains have been a blessing for me since I go from one extremity of the line to another, for those that are going to a not so busy station at rush hour could be in for a surprise. Train Trapper will help you find out what time the next train is passing at your nearest station (thanks to GPS). The app will also go into detail as to which stops the train will make and how much travel time you’ll endure. This app has been quite useful over the last few days, I highly recommend it!

As you can see, these apps can make your life much easier. Especially as a tourist and being new to the city and its public transit system. Having a pocket guide can be a priceless tool. if you can, be sure to pack your unlocked smartphone when you leave the country. That way you can pick up a local SIM and use these apps to their full potential. If you don’t want to unlock your phone, you can still use the wi-fi functionality but just keep in mind that free wi-fi is not necessarily as prevalent as back home!

Alone for the holidays... maybe not!

This is the first time I’ve ever been away from home for the holidays. Love ‘em or hate ‘em you do want to be around your family during the holidays. My trip began as Christmas season was in full swing which made it very weird saying goodbye. Most of my family gave me my gifts before I left and threw many goodbye dinners. It really was weird saying goodbye, but I did. Reminders were everywhere!

Christmas tree at Seoul City Hall

Funny enough reminders of Christmas were everywhere in Seoul. There were plenty of Christmas trees, some of which were quite spectacular. As well there were the traditional Christmas tunes playing in the shopping malls. The one that I really found cute was the k-pop version of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, made me chuckle but a little sad at the same time as it reminded me that I’m on my own. I was also in town for Santacon, which is a global gathering of people dressed up as santa. As I was coming home, Hongik University station was overrun with people dressed up as santa singing carols. What was great was that it was all foreigners and they invaded the bar area. It was quite the night lol! I managed to survive the holiday season in Seoul, but that was just the beginning, as they hadn’t even happened yet.

SataCon @ Hongik Univ. Station - Seoul                                 

One day surfing on facebook I somehow glanced at the people you may know... portion of the newsfeed and saw a name that I knew well many years ago. Funny enough... he was living in Sydney. Got in touch and found out he was going to be on his own for the holidays as well, so what better way to spend the holidays than together? Rob was nice enough to let me crash on his couch for both Christmas and NYE and every day in between, and a bit after. I got to have my first ever Filipino meal when a coworker of his graciously invited us both to spend Christmas Eve with their family. Christmas day I spent visiting the Opera House which gave me an amazing photo op as nobody was around, as well as stuffed my face with yakiniku, the Japanese BBQ. It was a lot of fun and definitely helped relieve some of those holiday blues being on the other side of the world. It was really odd Skyping with the family as I’m pretty much a day ahead, and the Christmas moment was done and it was Boxing day by the time we spoke.

Christmas with my mates in Sydney.

It’s definitely weird being surrounded by beaches and palm trees when you’re so used to snow and pine trees. I was a little shocked as well as the Christmas decorations weren’t as prevalent as they were in Seoul. In the end it just didn’t feel the same... but don’t get me wrong, it was still great to be on a beach on Boxing Day rather than freezing my butt off! I was very fortunate to be taken in by Rob and his friends at Christmas time. I had originally resigned myself to spending the day on Skype and watching Die Hard movies (truly a guy oriented Christmas movie series!) Sounds like fun doesn’t it... thankfully it didn’t come to that...

Seoul - Reminders of War

Seoul was absolutely amazing, probably the best city I've ever visited so far. Crime is very low, public transit is dirt cheap and impeccable, everything tourism related is in 4 languages (Korean, English, Japanese and Mandarin), great food, and the nightlife kicks ass. I also mentioned in a post some of the weird quirky things that I had noticed while travelling. There was however one thing I noticed in particular, even more so after visiting the DMZ, that the city is ready for any attack!

I'm not gonna give you a full historical background on the Korean War as that's what textbooks and teachers are for, but to quickly sum it up, the two sides are technically at war. The North and South never actually signed a peace agreement, only an armistice. The DMZ border area is probably one of the most armed areas in the world. Interestingly enough, the long time North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il died which has sent the peninsula into a sort of red-alert status. I was quite privileged to have visited the DMZ when I did as for now visits are probably heavily restricted if not cancelled due to the heightened tensions.

Had the guide not said anything I'd never have noticed...

On the way to the DMZ was my first point of realization of how "ready" the city is. Our tour bus coming along the freeway was passing under this massive underpass which had a huge billboard on it. The underpass was under this massive block of cement (say 30ft high, 30 feet deep, and long enough to cover 4 freeway lanes). Our tour guide explained that this was no ordinary billboard/underpass but a tank trap to help delay the North's army from reaching Seoul. Our guide went on to explain (in a surprisingly non-chalant way) that there were 10 of these traps and that each trap would slow the North down by 9 minutes, giving them a 90min head start to evacuate the city. 

Sign pointing to shelter.

Another interesting reminder of Seoul's readiness for an attack lies in its subways and underground networks which also double as bomb shelters. The symbol above denotes that whatever building/station you're entering is an actual bomb shelter. There are quite a few of these as the city is still within range of a Northern mortar attack. Eight months out of the year, on the 15th of the month they hold drills where the air raid sirens go off and everyone needs to go to the nearest shelter. Thankfully a) I knew this before going and b) this didn't happen while I was there as I would have crapped myself!

Gas mask anyone?

Finally, the last and personally most disturbing reminder of the state of affairs on the peninsula, is the fact that there are boxes like the above in all subway stations. It’s a little disturbing looking over and seeing a gas mask dispenser while waiting for the subway. These are there in case of a similar attack as in the nerve gas attack in Tokyo, or a fire. These could be perpetrated by Northern infiltrators/spies. Even worse is you have videos while on the subway instructing you on how to wear the gas mask and escape. Not the sort of thing I want to think about while on my way sightseeing!

Seoul is an amazing place, fantastically fun, but sadly next to the most schizophrenic nation on the planet. You can’t help but sympathize with them for going to such lengths to ensure the security of their people. As an outsider looking in I can’t help but be made a little uneasy when seeng all this, but for the Koreans, this is everyday life. Seriously folks, don’t let this put you off, this city is an absolute treasure with so much to offer. I’d maybe just wait a bit until things cool off before going back!

Seoul Food

If I were to have to choose just one of the many great aspects of Seoul, I would have to say that it's the food. The food here has simply been terrific and there's definitely something for everyone's taste. I thought I'd share with you a few of the dishes I've had while here in Seoul, both local and foreign.

One of the few dishes that made me throw in the towel.

This first dish is dakgalbi a chicken dish, but we took the extra spicy version. Now everyone who knows me well, know that I have a tongue of steel and can handle spicy food like it's child's play. Well folks, this dish got me! The dish is made of marinated chicken, jalapenos, bok choi (or some asian lettuce). The dish is cooked in a big pan that's on your table. Like most Korean food this was very inexpensive as we were able to get this for 8000 won per person ($8/person).

Now why would you cut a burger in half?

Next stop was Kraze Burger in the Dongdaemun district of Seoul, where I picked myself up a spicy mexican burger for lunch. Western food in Seoul is EXPENSIVE. This tends to give you more incentive to get out there and try some of the local stuff. The burger itself was nothing special. The only thing notable about it was that it was cut in half! Oh and that it cost me about 13-14k won! ($13-14).

Korean fast food @ Lotteria

Now if you really want your fast-food, going local is the way to go. Here are two options that I was able to sample. First one is Lotteria, owned by the Lotte group which is one of the biggest companies in Korea. This is basically the Korean version of McDonalds (which is surprisingly absent from the landscape as I only saw 2 and one of those was just a McCafe at the airport!), and funny enough their menus look quite similar. The food itself is your standard fast food fare, but much cheaper than the western outlets such as BK or KFC.

Tteokbokki, a fish skewer and some fishy water

Pork and kimchi dumplings

  

Secondly there's the street meat which is surprisingly very good. Along busy streets in Seoul you're going to find plenty of stalls selling various different foods. I had the chance to sample the food at one of the stalls. Here I was served a cup with some sort of fishy water which was being used to cook some other stuff. I was also served some Tteokbokki which is a sort of pasta-ish (the stuff that looks like penne) kinda texture food and is very very good, next up got some dumplings, 4 pork and 4 kimchi dumplings. All of this food was incredibly cheap costing only 5500 won (or $5.50) and that served two of us!

Galbi, oh so delicious!

Lastly, one night a guest at the hostel invited me to join him for some galbi. This is a Korean delicacy which is marinated pork ribs which you cook on a grill at your table. You then place the meat on a leaf of lettuce and stuff it pretty much like a fajita. There's plenty of sauces and veggies you can stick in there with the pork. We had a table full of food and a bottle of soju and our bill was 14000 won per person ($14). This was probably one of my best meals in the country!

As you can see, there's definitely something for everyone when it comes to food. Just keep in mind that I've barely scratched the surface when it comes to the amazing food culture over here. The main lesson learned here is go local, it tastes great and goes very easy on the wallet.

Seoul - Quirky Things

Seoul is an amazing city with plenty to offer. Also, being my first time here in Asia there is a little bit of culture shock/weird things to get used to. For the most part these are little things, nothing like stray dogs. But here’s a few things that caught my eye while here:

Hear hear for beer!

People here (men for the most part) love to get rip roarin’ smashed, any night of the week! It’s quite normal on the subway to see a guy in a suit passed out. But what really got me was when I had the pleasure of taking the last train of the night. It was completely stainless steel inside, no upholstery and with good reason! The stench of booze was incredibly strong... Thankfully nobody got sick on the train, but there were a few puddles on the steps coming out of the subway, gross!

Also when it comes to nightlife, there are some really good deals to get YOU rip-roarin’ smashed. One of my nights I went clubbing, walking around I was bombarded by touts trying to get me into their club. The one who was successful was advertising 15,000won cover, admission to 3 clubs, free drinks from 11-12am. It was a fun night :)

This can't be good...

Foreigners tend to stick together

One of the interesting things I’ve experienced here while in Seoul is that it seems when walking down the street and seeing another white guy, there will almost always be a smile/nod/wave. While I’d say the culture shock rating for this country is pretty low, the one thing you’ll realize shortly after getting off your flight is that you’re the minority. If you feel homesick, you can always head over to Itaewon which is the foreigner district. While on the subway approaching Itaewon, you’ll notice more and more foreigners boarding the train. The best way to sum up the feeling of walking around the main street of Itaewon (the side streets are scuzzy, notably hooker hill and its gay counterpart) is that you’ll feel like you’re in a Chinatown in North America. You’re still outnumbered, but not as much as before.

Bad...bad...drivers

Yeah I said it... But to be perfectly honest it’s true. While here I’ve seem many close calls, luckily none of them involved me. It seems as though there are no rules against using your mobile device while driving and I’ve seen countless drivers yaking on their phone. The best example is while in Myeong-dong, a very busy shopping district, you have a street which is pretty much a pedestrian walkway as there are thousands of people walking on the street and there are drivers making their way through them...while talking on their damn phone! No wonder this country has a ridiculous traffic mortality rate... Always remember to look both ways before you cross the road! For some of the bigger roads in busy areas, look for underpasses as there are plenty of them as the main big roads have gates separating traffic.

A busy street in Myeong-dong.

Subway Merchants

One of the weirdest things that I noticed is that there seems to be no rules here in Seoul regarding soliciting passengers on the trains. At any point some guy might come on the train and start yelling about his products. He’ll then start walking around and showing off his trinkets to other passengers. I’ve never seen anything like this and am sure that they’d be kicked off if we were in North America.

A subway merchant doing his thing.

As I said earlier, the culture shock rating for this country is low. Everyone speaks a basic form of English, and most info is available to you in English as well. Most stuff that we have in the west is available here. There’s gonna be plenty of things you’ll notice that are different, but for the most part nothing major. Have you been here? I’d love to hear your observations.

Prepping for a trip to Korea

A few years back while travelling Greece, I learned that travelling while ill-equipped/prepared is a really stupid thing to do. I had travelled to the northern part of the country with no map, grasp of the language, and while I knew which sites I wanted to see...I had no idea where they were... smart eh? I have no idea what I was thinking as barely anyone spoke English, I got lost frequently, and got the worst bout of homesickness.

First stop!

The first leg of my journey is South Korea, but more specifically Seoul. While this wasn’t necessarily the first place on my list due to the winter weather, Bangkok got flooded. As I didn’t want a repeat of Greece, here are a few recommendations in terms of prep and packing:

Cellphone (in this case, a smartphone):

First things first, your foreign cellphone will be useless here. Korea uses CDMA networks and so it’s not as simple as popping in a SIM card. Depending on how long you’re staying, you can actually rent a phone (even a smartphone) at Incheon International Airport. For a short stay there’s no point. Your smartphone will still come in handy though. If you have either an Android or Iphone you can pick up a great app called Jibigo. It’s a translation app that is fantastic compared to Google Translate, and the best thing is that it requires no internet connection! As of now the Korean language pack is going for 4.95 on the Android Market which is an amazing deal.

Learning Hangul Writing:

Hangul is the Korean alphabet. It’s surprisingly simple to learn. Learning this alphabet will help you immensely when trying to orient yourself as well as finding stores or services. Now you don’t need to actually understand the language, but being able to decipher Hangul will help you read street names, or recognize different meats on a menu. Give yourself maybe a week to digest it and you’ll become an expert! I found the following site to have a good breakdown of the alphabet. Keep in mind you just need the basics, you don’t need to learn grammar or what the words mean (for the most part).

Volunteer Tour Guides:

Surprisingly enough, through the Korea Tourism Organization, they have a service where you can sign up for your very own personal FREE tour guide. There’s no catch, but obviously you’re expected to pay their transportation, admission, food etc. This is a pretty cool service which is easy to sign up for: Just visit www.visitkorea.or.kr and sign up for an account. You can then submit your application for a guide from 10-30 days in advance of your trip. The volunteer guides come from all walks of life: students, housewives, businessmen, retirees.

Sadly my request for a volunteer tour guide was rejected. Key thing here is don’t expect to get one even if you book way in advance. Nevertheless it’s still a fantastic service. Apart from that there’s always couchsurfing!

Mapping/scheduling which sites you want to see:

While I’m no fan of micromanaging my days down to the minute, I’ve learned that playing it by ear is really never a good idea. Build a basic structure for your days by looking at a map and grouping different sites you want to see by day. This will add basic structure to your day. For example, I know that for Panmunjeom (DMZ) I’ll need a good portion of the day, also the tours start very early in the morning so I know not to schedule it after a big night out.

These 4 tips for preparation/packing are things I came up with to help avoid my trip to Korea a disaster like Greece was. If you follow this you’ll have a wonderful pocket translator, be able to orient yourself, have a free tour guide, and not waste your days trying to figure out what you’re gonna do. By following these tips you’ll definitely be travelling smart.