Catching a cold in Korea

For foreigners in Korea, getting sick can be difficult there's usually no one around to care for you, plus going to a Korean pharmacy and attempting to get the right medicine can be confusing and testing.

When I developed a nasty cold in Korea I was lucky my best friends were at hand to look after me and advise the right medicines.  My friend took me to a local pharmacy and presented me with an oriental medicine called 쌍화탕 Ssang Hwa Tang.

Ssang Hwa Tang is is used to alleviate the coughing and sneezing. The pharmacy presented it to me warm it had been heated to help you drink it down.

Used to treat mild colds this herbal medicine does taste a bit nasty but I really do swear by it. I would suggest drinking a bottle daily if your suffering from a cold and try heating it up first before drinking it.

Korean Air Masks

People in Korea often wear air masks. You might be a bit taken back if you see it as first as its not something we are used to seeing people wear in public. 

Supposedly sand from desserts in China annually blow down to South Korea and make the air terrible to breath.

Wearing the air mask prevents you from getting sick and breathing in the pollution. 

When it comes to health for example using an anti bacterial gel or soap is common in the UK while in countries like Japan and Korea wearing a mask to help stop the spread of illness is common practice. 

Centum City Skyscrapers

Centum City often called Koreas Manhattan has some of the countries largest skyscrapers.

This area is beautiful around sunset and is great for a stroll along the river.

 If you visit this area you can take a walk to the yacht docks and see where more than 13, 000 yachts are docked. 

It has some amazing views and I highly recommend it.

Shinsegae Centum City

Shinsegae Centum City department store is registered in the Guinness book of records as the largest shopping complex in the world. 

The name of Shinsegae literally means   '' New World '' in korean.

Centum City is not only a place you can enjoy shopping for luxury and foreign brands but there is also almost every entertainment facility you can imagine. 

The floors are all marble and there are crystal chandeliers in the middle of the floor as you go up and down the escalators. 

The seven major luxury mall brands including Chanel and Cartier plus 60 various brands of cosmetics and clothing illustrate the high standards of this department store 

The complex is directly connected to Centum City station and a ten minute drive from Haeundae Beach so you can shopping go sight seeing and relax at the beach all in the same day.

Lunar new year~ Happy Seollal

Traditions of celebrating the Korean Holiday ~ Seollal

Korean new year is the first day of the Lunar Calender and is the most important traditional korean holiday. Many celebrations take place on new years day and last around three days.

The new year is a family celebration so many people will gather at homes of their parents where they are joined by other relatives and perform an ancestral rituals.

Many koreans dress up in colourful traditional clothing called the Hanbok.

The hanbok is the famous dress of korea and is now only worn on national holidays or weddings.

Families will gather together and perform ancestral rites by paying their respect and offering them food because on this day koreans believe that their ancestors will return to enjoy the holiday food prepared for them. This shows deep appreciations and respect for their late ancestors.

After the rites have been preformed everyone shares the holiday foods and enjoy the feast of traditional dishes prepared in front of them.

The most famous dish eaten on this day is Tteokguk which is thinly sliced rice cakes cooked in a beef soup.

After finishing their meal the younger generation will pay their respects to the elders of the family by bowing to them. The elders will then wish them a healthy new year and give them new years money. As a family they will then play traditional games for entertainment.

Seomyeon cat cafe

Its was my first time to visit a cat cafe and I was hugely excited!

Its exactly as it sounds cat cafe ~ a cafe full of cats!..

When you arrive you change in to some slippers in the little anterroom and find a table.

Entrance fee to the cat cafe is 7,000 won, it also includes your first drink and bag full of chicken pieces to feed the cats.

The staff spoke english and were on hand to make sure the cats were safe and happy and that the visitors get some feline attention.

There were rules for visitors that were displayed on the walls asking customers not to wake sleeping cats or pull their tails etc.. even tho the rules were in korean I could fully understand by the funny pictures displayed.

If you have never been to a cat cafe I really recommend this one in Seomyeon I spent more than four hours there and met some nice people while relaxing and playing with the most beautiful kitties.