A dummy's guide to Memil Guksu @ Gwanghwamun Mijin 광화문 미진

So after a long day at the must-see gyeongbokgong, we decided to grab a bite as it was soon dinner time. We finally stumbled upon this place which had a massive queue outside which seemed to be serving soba.

After the queue subsided later in the evening...

We peered in for a bit, intrigued and hungry as our quest for food without meat for me continued (After a disappointing aperitivo at a beer and chicken place which, surprise surprise, only had beer and chiken). However, all the Korean writing scared us off so we continued our journey into the little mall behind it for food... Until we spotted the English menu...

That's when we jumped straight into the queue and started deciding what we wanted to eat! This restaurant boasts about being open since 1954, and judging by the long queues of locals, we had a feeling it was a good spot, not to mention famous.

I really wanted to try the octopus bimbimbap as I hadn't seen that before, however from what I gathered from the waitress (even though I don't speak Korean), they were out of octopus. My mum wanted to try the kimchi buckwheat pancake, and after seeing that practically every single table in the restaurant had soba.. we decided to get one too. To our surprise, one portion was actually two boxes! Though we were still very confused as to what we were supposed to dip them in.. what were the extra bowls for?

What was in this kettle that they gave us when we sat down?! And what are the scallions, grated radish and seaweed for?! That's when we started awkwardly staring at the Korean family sitting at the table next to us, as we watched them pour the stuff in the kettle into their bowls, top it up with the scallions, radish and seaweed and squirt a dash of wasabi into it, before dipping the cold soba noodles into it and slurping them back up. The result was DELICIOUS. It was different to the Japanese soba I'm used to which is just soba sauce and  scallions, maybe seaweed, 

We also ordered a buckwheat kimchi seafood pancake. I'm guessing the buckwheat is in the flour they used for the pancake? I'm not sure. I guess it isn't the best choice out of all the other unique buckwheat dishes they had on offer here, but my mum wanted it so hey. It was good, but it seemed to be a little more crumbly and less..batter-y i suppose, compared to what i'm normally used to. Delicious nonetheless!

So if you happen to find yourself in this area, be sure to check it out! Otherwise from Gwanghwamun station, it's only a short 5 minute walk on Jong-ro.

xx Vagabond Girl

30 countries ...and counting..!

So I recently reached my 30 countries mark with Croatia, 2 weeks ago, and I've been thinking back about what I've been doing this summer/year, and I feel the need to catch up this blog with all the exciting things I've been up to, as a way to reflect on my trips and to try and provide advice to any other people who are looking to visit some of the places I've been to or know well.

Having just finished not long ago my year abroad in Moscow and Milan, (and seeing the plethora of blogs that my fellow classmates have written, which I completely and utterly admire them for), I feel like the best way to make use of my next, relatively "chill" month in Hong Kong would be to try and write up everything I've done to the best of my ability.

And it's not like I haven't tried - one look at my blogger homepage and you'll see all the drafts I have saved up of half written blogposts. THAT'S EFFORT RIGHT THERE.

So please bear with me, and stay tuned for the exciting things that should becoming onto this blog.

Meanwhile, i'm going to make the most of my last day in Zurich and stick my face into a pot of fondue.

Create your own visited countries map or check out the JavaScript Charts.

Kos & Bodrum

Yes I know, I've disappeared again.

But if it makes it any better, I have managed to cram in quite a bit of travelling into this summer. So as it finally draws to an end, and also marks the beginning of my year abroad I just wanted to give a quick sum up of my summer!

1. Kos, Greece

Where I started my summer adventures! We tried our best to avoid the tacky nightlife (we did try it one night and it was awful), and just spent days getting our tans on at the beach clubs in Kos town or aboard boat tours around nearby islands - while sipping blue cocktails of course! 

There was also a very very interesting experience when we drove around the island in a buggy...

Oh yeah, did I mention that the buggy had no horn, reverse or speedometer? But hey, i'd definitely recommend it if you don't mind accidentally ending up in someone's front yard and having them run out of the house to help you turn the buggy back around. You will be guaranteed a plethora of hilarious stories to tell your friends!

The End of Christmas Break!

Hey everybody, sorry for being away for so long, but I have been incredibly busy with launching my super new project - UCL Campus Style. A facebook page where I post pictures of people I see around campus who are dressed well or inspire me with their dress, and i'm glad to say that it has really kicked off! Feel free to check it out in the link above!

Next up I have just got back to London after a long 4 weeks hopping around the world, to Hong Kong, Bali, (back to Hong Kong) and then Italy before finally coming back to London for a few days to enjoy the city before going back to uni, so I have LOADS to report on (as well as half finished posts to publish from Madrid etc.!) 

I'm happy to say that in 2013 I managed to go to 7 different countries, which i'd say is good but not too amazing. Let's hope that this number will at least double in 2014!!! (Which shouldn't be too hard seeing as I last year I had knee surgery which stopped me from going anywhere for over a month!)

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year and stay tuned for many more posts and many more new countries this year!

xx Vagabond Girl

Food in Madrid

Living in London, I rarely eat seafood anymore as it tends to be quite expensive and not very good, but being half Italian I am constantly craving all the seafood in the world, especially if it's cooked in a Mediterranian style. Well Madrid fulfilled all those cravings!

1€ tapas at the mercado de san Miguel

           
Eating out in Madrid is really really cheap. Ok not as cheap as Hong Kong's $13 congee or noodles, but for Western Europe, it's cheap, especially in comparison to Italy who is essentially Spain's long lost brother. In many of the cafes/restaurants they had lunch deals for 10€ which included an appetizer, main course, dessert and a drink. The food wasn't that great in these places and tended to be quite basic (salads, paella, soup for appetizers. Chicken escalopes, fried fish or steaks for mains and then flan, ice cream or store bought mousses for dessert), but it was still a good meal, and a very good price.

At one of these restaurants.