Dora: "Where Are We Going?? *Clap-Clap-Clap* KOREATOWN!!!!"

- July 18, 2009, Saturday

- After weeeeeks of planning, organizing (sort of), and preparing for the trip, not to mention postponing it, we finally made it to Makati's Koreatown!! (there are other Koreatowns aside from this one....hehe)

- I felt great about this trip because it didn't rain, except for the time when we were about to head home.

- The three of us met around 9:30am at Doroteo Jose Station. We rode until EDSA, transferred to the MRT line. We got off at Guadalupe and rode a jeep to Rockwell.

- Upon arriving at Rockwell, I put out my "Ins and Outs of Manila" map book, since I was not familiar with the little streets of Makati.

- I'm normally good with maps, but the tiny streets and alleys that didn't appear on the map confused me more. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to ask around, so we did. **We asked 3 Rockwell guards, a street sweeper, a policeman, friendly guards and personnel from the Ateneo Graduate School, and random guards from random buildings**

- We all felt like characters from a *live action* Dora show. We had a map *since we didn't know which way to go*, Marga as Dora because she was in pink, my shirt almost resembling the color of Boots the Monkey's fur, and Clarisse as um....we weren't able to think of a yellow colored character, so we told her to be Swiper the Fox. Then again, Clarisse could be the Grumpy Old Troll (who lives under the briddgeeee), since he was yellow. Only if I thought of that earlier. Haha.

- After around 30 minutes of getting lost in Makati, we finally arrived at MA SAN GARDEN, located at 29 Polaris Street, Makati. The restaurant is a bit hidden, but hey, we were able to find it. Hehe.

- The facade of the restaurant looked like a traditional Korean house. The interior however, gave that Korean vibe we wanted. The restaurant was decorated with Korean items, such as dolls that happily greet the customers upon entering.

- Since we came early, we were the only ones in the restaurant, aside from two other people in another part of the restaurant. Haha. We immediately sat down, browsed the menu, and decided to order extra servings of kimchi, aside from the complimentary appetizers, bibimbap (with chili paste on the side)and Dolsot Bulgogi (raw beef stips to be grilled) served with lettuce, another type of leaf (I dunno what it's called), peanut sauce and raw garlic.

- While we were eating, I asked the waiter about Ms. Lee, the owner of a restaurant, to confirm if what I read from articles and food/travelblogs were true. I read that Ms. Lee was a very nice lady who wore a hanbok everyday to the restaurant. Kuya said it was true. Yey for us!!

- Later, Ms. Lee came out from the counter, but she wasn't in her hanbok. I asked why, and kuya said that she doesn't wear her hanbok during weekends. Poor us.

- While happily digging in our food, Marga and Clarisse told me that the owner looked at us while talking to kuya. Kuya later came and told us that she asked Ms. Lee to wear her hanbok for us. That's something we don't see everyday. Haha.

- Moments later, Ms. Lee came out from her unknown-Narnia-closet-whereabouts-dressing-room in a hanbok. Haha. That really made my day!! That also signaled me to put out the "Let's Speak Korean" book I brought along. The three of us looked for phrases that we might be able to use aside from the typical phrases.

- Ms. Lee later came and asked us about the food. She can barely speak Filipino or English, but her sincerity in welcoming and talking to her customers was strongly felt. Sadly, the only thing that we could tell her at the moment were "annyonghaseyo", "good good", and head nods.

- Marga and I scanned for the perfect phrase to use when we could to to her before leaving.

- Soon, Clarisse' kimchi taste buds were asking for more kimchi. We ordered one more serving, but the kuya gave us two....the other one was free :) :) :) :) (thanks kuya!!)

- After stuffing ourselves up, we asked for the bill. Surprisingly, kuya did not want to give us our bill. He informed us that our gyoza was still cooking. Puzzled, we told the kuya that we didn't order gyoza. Kuya continued and said "galing ka ma'am [Ms. Lee] yan. Pinaluto niya, bibigay raw sa inyo" Wow!! The gyoza was around 280php....so we got more, without spending more.

- Later, another server, now a waitress, gave us our complimentary dessert - a freshly cut pineapple. We thought that the fruit was another "gift" from the owner, only to find out from ate that just like the appetizers, the pineapple was served to all customers. Hahahaha.

- Soon, we paid our bill that surprisingly cost around 700+ (or somewhere around 250 per person). Not bad, not bad.

- Before leaving, we luckily had the chance to talk to the owner and take a picture with her. The picture looked like a family picture. Aww. Haha. Now, the moment has arrived: my newly-learned Korean phrase. Haha. I told Ms. Lee "Chal mokossumnita", whic roughly meant "I had a good meal". She smiled. Hahahaha.

- Three three of us walked out of the restaurant with heavy bellies and dragged ourselves to the nearby Wang Mart. Wang Mart is a big Korean Grocery that I guess I could compare to our 7-11, except that Wang Mart also sells fresh veggies usually used in the Korean cuisine.

- I bought some Korean sweets that can be compared to our kakanin, but far less sweet. I also bought a tiny tetra pack of Korean chocolate milk. It was nothing special. Haha. Due to Marga's recommendation, since she went to Korea before, I also tried the Melonia Melon Flavored Popsicle. It was heaven in popsicle form :D:D:D:D Aside from that, I also bought myself a tiny box of Korean playing cards (this is the cheapest Korean souvenir I could find....it costs around 80+ php). Until now, I still don't understand how the cards work. Hahahaha.

- Random Scene: In front of Wang Mart, my melon popsicle was in my mouth, since I was figuring out how to get my umbrella from my bag (it drizzled just a little bit) since my hands were a bit full. For some unknown reason, I had the urge to laugh, and sprinkled some of that melted melon popsicle to Marga. Haha. I later tripped on a random cardboard on the road. Marga, not holding her melon popsicle at all, laughed at me. Her popsicle then flung out from her mouth to the sidewalk. Haha. *SORRY SORRY MARGAAAAA* Oh yeah. A guy from the other side of the street laughed at us. Thanks mister-whoever-you-are. Hahahaha.

- Next on the agenda was....well....a leisure walk through Koreatown. I guess I could say that Koreatown was around 10 times larger than Little India, but the stores and restaurants are not as compact as Chinatown or Quiapo.

- Went through some more groceries (I bought another ice cream and Marga bought another Melonia melon popsicle, making sure it was well-held and that it wouldn't fall to the ground), and also stumbled upon a cool store called OK Book Cafe. The store has a book rental/reading area, and a "store" area that sold mostly books, some CD's, VCD's, DVD's and a ton of Korean souvenirs. It was heaven for a souvenir lover like me, and a kpop fan like Marga. Problem is, everything was expensive :( :( :( :( I would love to buy things if they were a bit cheaper....or if I had more money. Haha.

- Soon, we got tired, and figured out that we had no more to see (though I think some of those stores are still hidden and yet to be discovered by me, bwahahahaha), so we stopped by at a nearby 7-11to look at the map, ask for directions to Rockwell (just so we're sure we're headed the right way), and have a bit of my Korean sweets. Haha. We went to Rockwell shortly.

- Figuring that time was quickly ticking, and Clarisse needed to get home early for her fun run tomorrow (....or today rather, since it's already 12mn while I'm writing this), we went home (home = CLARISSE' HOUSE....haha).

- Part two of the day started when we arrived at that familiar big green gate that led to Clarisse' house.

- We played Rockband, and other Wii Games with Clarisse and Kevin (Clarisse' "the next Yao Ming" younger brother) until around 6:30pm. Haha. HAD A LOT OF FUN :D:D:D:D


- Overall, this super duper tiring day was really worth it. It was a new experience for me, and another mini-country to go back to. Ma San will definitely be on my list, of course. :D:D:D:D Oh yeah. Aside from the cardboard tripping incident in front of Wang Mart, I also tripped a lot more times today (in the LRT station, while boarding the LRT, on random streets, on another random cardboard....just to name a few). Tralalalalalaaaaaa....




Quote of the day: "The sun is bright and SHINee. :D:D:D:D" (Marga was afraid that today would be as wet as all the other days....but it miraculously wasn't. SHINee on the other hand, is the name of an award-winning Korean male singing group)