Live Firing Range

Gyeongju - Mr Kim asked whether we wanted to shoot live rounds and so off we went to a firing range. 

entrance to the firing range

The Firing range

Behind the thick glass are 4 lanes of firing range.  Since today, we have 2 coaches so only 2 at a time will enter the firing range.  We choose our pistols - I chose Glock because I read about this company and heard of it's power.  Mr Kim and Young Jin chose the same while Mr Lim chose a heavy revolver.    Both Mr Kim and me went in first, one of the coach was able to speak English so he became my coach.  We were told of the basic of holding the Glock and how to aim.   For a 1st timer, my score was a poor 66.

The best was Young Jin that score an almost perfect score of 99.  9 shots out of 10 were bull's eye.  He was not boasting when he told me that he was a sharp shooter during his army days.

Young Jin at the firing range

City of Gyeongju

Seoul - Daegu - Gyeongju - Woke up at 8am with 1 hour to freshen up and get ready to check out of Mariott Courtyard TimeSquare Hotel.  Young Jin will arrive at 9am and we leave for KTX station bound for Daeju city to meet our customer.   I left my big luggage at the Hotel and took toiletries, T-shirt and shorts for this trip.  Both Young Jin and I are not sure what is in store for us as our customer insist on booking the rooms.

We had breakfast at the KTX station later board the high-speed train on platform 8 bound for Daegu. I had cold dry noodles - my first time.

Dry Naengmyeon

Daegu city is being host to one of the most popular sporting event in the World - 13th World Championships in Athletics - 27 Aug to 4 Sept 2011.  

Advertisement at Daegu KTX station

We were met at the station and was immediately driven to Gyeongju city about 1 1/2 hr drive away for our lunch.   The restaurant is very traditional Hankook (Traditional Korean house).

Our restaurant

menu on a fan

bean apetitiser

Poster of an Anime at the restaurant

Kalbijim

Kalbijim is the 2nd most popular Korean beef dish after Bulgogi.  Meaty short ribs are marinated in traditional seasonings, then cooked long and slow until the meat gelatins form a deep, rich glaze. By the time it is done, the tender beef is practically falling from the bones, and the sauce is thick with flavor.

Next comes our liquor and it comes in a clay bottle.

Our liquor

And there was froth on top of the liquor

and more and more food.....

Rice with chestnuts wrapped in lotus leaf

Fish cooked in spicy chilli sauce

Rice with Gingko nut, red dates and mushrooms

Many side dishes of Kimchi and preserved tofu

Rice wrapped in Lotus leaf

Refreshing fruity drink

BBQ beef inards

Seoul - Views from Couryard @ Mariott Times Square Hotel.

Young Jin arrived at about 1:30pm and we had lunch together.

In the evening, we wanted to eat Eel but we could not catch a taxi as it was raining heavily.  We had dinner with Kevin Chae instead at a Korean BBQ restaurant specializing in beef inards - stomach and intestines.   BBQ of both are first time food for me - so I was unsure what to expect.  But the BBQ beef stomach was really delicious but the intestines were full of fat.  So, not really my liking. 

Beef stomach and intestines

This is a typical Korea BBQ area with the over hanging exhaust pipe.  The waitress will patiently cut up the beef stomach and intestines into bite sizes and ready to be eaten.  I could not take a good picture without the shadow.  Tried twice and both pictures still show the dark patch of shadow.

Bite sizes beef stomach and intestines. 

Egg cooked in a hot clay bowl

As we are still hungry we ordered beef ribs.  Unfortunately, the beef ribs was bad - it was either an old stock of beef ribs or just bad.  The taste was rancid and all of us just stopped eating it.  We called the owner but was told some 'BS' story which I don't believe at all.

Korea Independence Day

Seoul - Today's is South Korea's Independence day and it's a public holiday.  I arrived late into Seoul @ 10:30pm.   Because we were having heavy rainfall in Singapore, the flight was bumpy.  Inspite of this, I still manage to catch 2 movies.

Upon arrival, it was my first time to experience massive chaos at the immigration queue. It was so crowded that I never experienced before. The airport authorities closed one wing of the immigration and directed all arriving passengers to the other wing. There were long queues for each counter. As I cleared immigration and took my luggage, there were already a long queue forming up at the 'Nothing to declare' area. I handed over the customer declaration form and exited the area. I quickly approached the KAL airport limousine counter but had a rude shock that the limousine bus services ended. So, I asked for taxi and she said why don't you take the subway. That is out of the question, when I have a big suitcase. Finally, one of the limousine counter staff told me to go to Mapo and take the taxi to TimesSquare @ Yeoungdongpo.


I arrived at around 12 midnight - checked in and was hurry.  The reception staff directed me to a 24hr beef bulgogi shop across the street, next to the fire station.

It was an experience...

Japanese Pizza

Jakarta -  I wanted to visit the Luxurious shopping Mall - Grand Indonesia which is next to Grand Hyatt Hotel to check out some of the shops.  I bough a pair of running shoes for my son and it was much cheaper as compared to Singapore.

Both Lesley and I went hunting for dinner and came across this diner which is a Japanese casual dinning restaurant called Pasta De Waraku.  This chain of restaurant originated from Singapore under the waraku group.   It was brightly lit and had numerous plates of what was served on their menu displayed on the glass cabinet.

Beautiful lined menu on showcase

Another angle

Unagi Pizza

 The servings of the Pizza are small only 4 pieces but taste delicious.

Seafood Pizza with prawns and scallops

My choice of spaghetti - Vogole Cabonara

Lesley choice - Spinich spaghetti

As we walked around we came across a cafe named after an Ice Cream and it was crowded.

Here I am at the games arcade.

Delicious satay

Jakarta - We had dinner at this Indonesian Satay chain - Sate Khas Senayan restaurant,  The food is good.

Ginger + peanut drink

Background is a noodle dish
Foreground is Tahu Goreng

My dish Ox Tail soup & rice

Yummy delicious satay Chicken and Beef

Jakarta Massive traffic jam

Jakarta - I booked Lesley 'air-ticket to arrive the same time as me and I saw him queuing up at immigration counter and approach him.    The queue was long and there were many foreigners who had forgotten to purchased their 'on-arrival VISA' and thus had to start their queue from the back - quite unfortunate.   There is no VISA required for ASEAN member countries visitors.

Along the way to the hotel, I was hankering for a nice 'seafood' meal.   We went to Pondok Laguna restuarant.  The last time I was here was 3 years ago - the restaurant was crowded as ususal.  I ordered the food as I was familiar with their menu - not much changes, even the waiter uniform remains the same.

Deep Fried Gurame (Fish)

Udang Pancet (BBQ Prawns)

TaoFu with stuffed prawn fillings

BBQ Squid