The Best Hamburger in South Korea -- The Smokey Saloon in Itaewon

This past weekend Julianne and I headed to Seoul . . .

I'll add text to all the pics and videos tomorrow . . . but I wanted to put up the pics and videos tonight. I LOVE the video I made of Julianne trying her first hamburger at the Smokey Saloon . . . .

More to follow . . .
J

Julianne and I took a trip to Seoul last Saturday.

Julianne asked me to take a pic of this couple. It's a fairly common sight in Korea to see two friends, or a couple, helping each other carry a heavy bag.

I liked this guy's outfit. His high tech arctic backpack with a hard shell is a matching yellow to his sweater . . . amazing how gender and sexuality codes can be so regional, temporal, and socio-culturally determined . . . makes ya think, don't it?

Another of the totally awesome fall and winter blue skies in Korea . . .

Here's a video of me making a complete ass of myself on the train. I was in a goofy mood because all week I'd been feeling a bit stressed and tired out by end of the semester stuff. So I kind of cut loose on the train . . . I'm sure the Koreans walking by behind me were like, "Yep, the foreigners are really weird!"

The best part though is that I totally mixed up the words to "Let it be" by the Beatles. The whole reason I made the video is because it was the first time Julianne and I heard music on the train, and then announcements in Korean and English about destinations, etc. I'm sure this guy I worked with last year who used the Let it be song a bizillion times at the training center I worked at would LOVE the fact that I mangled the words--hehehe.

Random shots of the early part of the Korean winterscape on the way from Chuncheon to Seoul.

I like this shot a la the Millenium Falcon
.

I'm always fascinated to see these guys in Seoul and other parts of Korea. The jury-rigged designs of their bikes with welded on racks and bars make me shake my head thinking of what could happen to them and others if they have an accident.

In front of Seoul City Hall there is quite the setup of Xmas lights, a giant tree, and even the Salvation Army is on the scene.

Saturday night in Itaewon there was a mini-snowboarding ramp set up next to the Hamilton Hotel. It was fun to watch for a few minutes, but anyone who has watched snowboarding on TV, or who actually does the sport, would have been bored after a few minutes I think. The size of the ramp was just too small.

But it was fun to kill a few minutes of time watching--here are some video clips.

After watching the snowboarding we walked over to the Smokey Saloon. Julianne has never eaten there and they have

THE BEST HAMBURGERS IN KOREA!

This burger is called the "Cowboy." Let the joking and comments begin . . . but damn if it isn't awesome!!!

"Sloppy Fries"--yum.

Julianne's first Smokey Saloon hamburger . . . I had a lot of fun working with Windows Movie Maker program to make a one minute video with soundtrack of Julianne's first time eating a burger at the Smokey Saloon.

The only bugger is that the place is SMALL. I think it can hold about 20 people MAXIMUM. If you go during regular meal times be prepared to wait at least 5 minutes if not longer. I'd try to go in between regular meal times, or at least a little later or earlier than usual. Apparently there are four locations now. One of the other locations is in Apujeong, but I haven't been there yet.

Julianne liked the Christmas lights near City Hall in downtown Seoul. If you like taking pics I'd recommend wandering around a five block area of City Hall and Joggno Tower (where the subway station is with Bandi & Lunis bookstore, and Yong Poon Bookstore).

It snowed pretty hard Sunday morning . . .

Breakfast at McDonalds is like an obligatory ritual when we go to Seoul.

The Coca-Cola polar bear . . . cool.

Monk walking down the street with a cell phone. I kept wondering about how tough this guy must be to be walking around with a shaved head and no hat--it was COLD!

Train ride back to Chuncheon. Everything was frozen and had a bit of snow still on top.

I wonder if it's ever been cold enough in Korea for the rivers to freeze solid enough for it to be safe for people to skate and walk on it . . . anybody know?

The visibility was very high and the mountains looked really nice.

Some random shots to kill time while on the train . . .

I've seen this 747 several times now and I always wonder what the heck it's doing there . . .

Random . . . shots . . . to . . . pass . . . the . . . time.

This hotel kills me every time. It has an 'Eiffel Tower' on top . . . lol.

River, bridge, mountain . . . ice.

This particular part of the river was almost like glass. I really wished I could have taken pics with a tripod and some time to play with the settings on my camera . . .

Walking home from the train station. Amazing how different the landscape looks from season to season--I suspect that might be what is behind the cultural myth here that Korea is the 'only place in the world with four distinct seasons' . . .

Even when there's a massive wind chill you'll people speed walking and exercising outside--wow.

And now that I just spent 10 minutes finally adding the text to this post I have to get back to marking final exams . . . oh goody.

J