Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Scents of Seoul


Spring just transforms the city and people alike.With the heavy coats off, the sun beginning to caress the skin with warmth, and the stark, bare trees beginning to sprout their little green shoots again, there is then the fragrance of enthusiasm and vigor in the city. Cherry blossoms, azaleas and forsythias emanate sweetness in scents and people come from far and near to rejoice in the longer, warmer days.

Cheery cherry blossoms
Cheery cherry blossoms bloom only for a week in spring

cactus budding
cactus budding



pink buds
Summertime, though, is scorching hot and humid, interlaced with thunderstorms which do not bring any respite from the hot temperatures. But the people are so cool about it and beat the heat at public parks along the Han river, sniffing the scent of rain soaked grass, ordering anything from chicken to pizza which is handed to them within the next 20 minutes! The place just revels in laziness along with the whiff of smoke from the diligent delivery guys, the energy of the people coaxing you to try their secret recipe chicken, and sweaty kids frolicking around along with the deep sense of serenity. 

ice cream in korea- big on binggsu
Binggsu- Beans on shaved ice with marshmallows and fruits. Unique combination to cool it off in Korea.
summer fun at Banpo
Summer time fun at Banpo park
Evening at Banpo
Long summer evenings

Fall, in all its color and splendor along with Chuseok~ the most important festival of honoring the ancestors in Korea~ adds in the aroma of family, friendship and camaraderie. This is also when people travel in droves through the length and breadth of the country and savor a totally different essence of the very same places, incensed with the smell of the sweet persimmon fruit.

Fall colors

fall colors in Seoul.

Sweet persimmons
Sweet Persimmons



Cold, dull winter adds yet another dimension to Seoul, transforming it into a white, icy wonderland. It is easy during this time to succumb into the toasty smell of chestnuts baked on beds of coal or the roasted sweet potato in makeshift stalls that seem to appear in every street corner. But the most satisfying smell comes from ice fishing in Seoul and immediately getting your catch on your plate, roasted, grilled or baked in spices in any of the restaurants nearby.

Early winter

Bare trees in winter


And then, there are some smell that just leaves one shell shocked. 

Fermenting soybean in huge pots
Doenjang is made from fermenting soy bean in huge pots and has a bad smell

The Doenjang (된장) or the fermented soya bean paste might have all the anti-carcinogenic properties, flavinoids, vitamins and minerals but it still smells disgusting. 

Drying fish
Drying fish

Dried Fish: Fish smell funny cooked or uncooked. But dried fish which is used as both toppings and side dish and of course, as the main course of a meal, smells really bad.


Kimbap preparation
Kim is the green, papery seaweed, used here for making kimbap. 

The See Weeds: Laver and Kim (김.) The green wonders, packed with nutrition and properties to get rid of cholesterol still smells really peculiar and the taste for it has to be cultivated ...

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Smartphone accessories~ latest from Seoul

Anyone could go to COEX mall, the largest underground shopping mall in Asia, at anytime and still end up doing something fun! Visitors get to shop around in the mall, see the famous Kimchi museum, check out the huge aquarium; whereas Seoulites tend to hang around in the game area where the computer game tournaments are held or go to the movies, take a look at the latest trends in exhibition halls. People might get a bit confused as to what to eat or drink as there are so many variety of cuisines in every price range to cater to the cravings.

Last week, anyway, being gadget geeks, we naturally wanted to check out the Smart gadgets and accessories exhibition at the COEX mall.

Smart gadgets exhibition
Image from https://www.facebook.com/CoexKorea

To bypass the long lines and evade the entrance fee, it is essential to pre-register for these shows by checking out the webpages and filling out the form. Thereby, we were able to get the badges by just telling (read spelling and later writing :) our registered name. I would take a screenshot of the pre-registration form on my cellphone the next time though, to avoid spelling my name and confusion with the email addresses!

The exhibition did not have anything state of the art, but it was a good place to check out the upcoming product ideas and really cute gadgets. There were some pretty weird stuff along with some quirky ones too.

Cute thing to stuff into the ear
We started off at the ear phones booth. Cute little things to stuff into the ear!
Things that  you stuff into your ear!
Yeah, i would probably feel more comfortable knowing what i am stuffing into my ear!
shoe colored earphones
Do you match your earphones with your shoe?
Earphones at exhibition
Earphones~ To match your personality and profession.
Alien ear phones
How about the UFO flavored earphones? It is all in the box!
curvy caterpillar headphones
With earphones done, curvy caterpillar headphones can't be far behind!
Cute emoting characters on the headphone jack
Don't forget to flaunt down to your head phone jack. Cute characters that emote according to your moods
 (when you tap on the emoticon app)
Any way you want cell phone covers
Dream it? you can have it~ cellphone covers!

Lego cellphone covers
Build your own cellphone covers

Cellphone covers were jazzy but I like the variety and designs at Express bus terminal or Gmarket.
cellphone covers with a stand
Cellphone covers that make a stand!
On-the-go cellphone holders
Cellphone holders~ Recording on the go!
cellphone covers for the athlete
Cellphone holders for the athlete. Notice the cover for a sweat free usage and lights that shimmer according to the music!
Underwater cellphone covers
Just in case you want to take the call under water or browse while taking a swim, look no further...


Butterfingers cellphone holder
Holders for the butterfingers
Extra lens for the cellphone
Extra lens for the cellphone. Wide angle, macro etc
self balancing two wheel electric scooter
One thing that i would have loved to take home from the exhibition
two wheeled scooter
Self balancing two wheeled scooter
Charge transferrer
The only thing i got to buy was this cable. It transfers the charge from one cellphone to another...

Textured printer
This printer was able to print pictures with some texture.


black and white laser printer
This laser printer was able to print black and white pictures at extremely high resolution


Fit Bit-like watches that constantly track your health.

blue tooth connected weighing machines
Bluetooth connected weighing machine, as useful  add on to the health monitoring 

More cool stuff...
More cute stuff.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...