Oompa! Eating Athens

16 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Athens, Europe, Food & Drinks, Greece

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This is post four of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

Having recently eaten our way through Taipei, Mrs. Selfish and I were finally getting tired of Asian food, a rare feat in the Selfish Household. Fortunately, we were now in Greece and I was hungering for some Greek food.

Pitas! Gyros! Lamb! Feta! Baklava! Actually, that’s about all the Greek food I knew going in.

Apparently our offerings of Greek food Stateside are very weak and consists almost entirely of gyros, which is like going to a sushi restaurant and declaring you know Japanese food. We just don’t get the breadth of Greek food in the good ol’ USA.

Fortunately, Athens has a wide variety of Greek food types, so we set out to expand our palettes.

Munching down at Manh Manh

Athens Eats 001

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Starting at the Top: The Acropolis

15 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by in Athens, Europe, Greece

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This is post three of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

For our first day in Athens Mrs. Selfish and I headed to the Acropolis. The largest tourist attraction in Athens (and possibly in Greece), the Acropolis is a collection of four ancient buildings that sit on top of a flat rock a few hundred feet above the rest of the city.

Constructed in the 5th century, BC, the Acropolis is most noted for the Parthenon, which dominates the skyline. Since Athens was conquered several times over the last 2000+ years, the Acropolis has been burned and reconstructed many, many times.

Since 1975, however, the Greeks have made a serious effort to restore the Acropolis, which was ravaged by pollution, war, and poor restoration. Most notably, the Venetians (the jerks of the Adriatic, as we would later learn in Dubrovnik) damaged it with artillery fire back in late 1600’s and it never fully recovered.

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Acropolis for Breakfast: Staying at the Hilton Athens

14 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by in Accommodations, Athens, Europe, Greece, Hilton

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This is post two of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

After a busy night in Taipei, and a trip to the best shaved ice place ever, Ice Monster, Mrs. Selfish and I woke up at 4 in the morning and hopped in a cab to the Taipei airport.

A little groggy, we were awakened by our cab driver’s erratic style – namely using the gas and the brake pedals simultaneously. That takes talent.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Selfish’s was starting to experience morning sickness, so we were more than happy to exit the cab 30 minutes later to start the next leg of our journey: Taipei to Athens by way of Seoul and Frankfurt.

map

Admittedly, I was pretty excited since we were going to get to try out Asiana first class from Seoul to Frankfurt, a 11+ hour flight.

While the seats were a little dated, the service and food was outstanding! I especially enjoyed eating bibimbap at 30,000 feet – though technically this was probably more like fried rice since the bowl was not a sizzling hotpot, so the rice couldn’t achieve the proper level of crispiness.

21+ hours of travel later, we arrived at our next stop: Athens.

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Greece Lightning: Heading to Greece

13 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by in Europe, Greece

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This is post one of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:

Man, what a year it’s been! I reported back on the first half of our trip to Taiwan and Greece back in September, and then skipped ahead to our trip to Korea.

Why? Chalk it up to preparing for Baby Selfish, too much traveling, or downright laziness, but the fact of the matter is that I broke up Taiwan and Greece because they felt like two separate trips. I mean, check out this map:triplethejetlagfor120000miles

Finally! A legit round-the-world trip.

So that brings me back to Greece. Mrs. Selfish and I visited Italy back in 2010, and Turkey earlier this year, but Greece had always been high up on our list.

Greece 001

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14 Hours in Hong Kong: Protests, Dim Sum & Giant Buddhas

12 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by in Asia, China, Hong Kong

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This is post twelve of twelve on our autumn trip to South Korea. Check out the other posts in this series here:

Mrs. Selfish and I left Busan on a flight bound for Hong Kong at 8 in the morning. While there is typically an afternoon flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco, it was completely booked, so we found ourselves with just a little over 14 hours in Hong Kong.

I love Hong Kong, but the city was on high alert over the ongoing battle between democratic protesters and the local government, who had tear-gassed and beaten demonstrators on several occasions. Not a good place to visit with a 6-month pregnant wife.

With that in mind, we decided to check out some of Hong Kong’s other sites, specifically the Tian Tan Buddha, which we had missed seeing on our last 3 trips to Hong Kong.

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Busan BBQ: A Mixed Bag

11 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by in Asia, Busan, Food & Drinks, South Korea

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This is post eleven of twelve on our autumn trip to South Korea. Check out the other posts in this series here:

When it comes to personal cuisine preferences, I’d rate Korean food somewhere behind Japanese food. Korean food is excellent, but I find it lacks the breadth of flavors as some other cultures, and I can’t eat it back-to-back-to-back-to-back like I can other foods.

That being said, there are a few types of Korean food I cannot get enough of, like Korean fried chicken (So crispy! So tender!), or bibimbap (So spicy! So tasty!), or Korean BBQ.

While we already had an amazing Korean BBQ meal in Seoul, I was looking forward to repeating the experience in Busan.

Grabbing some Galbi from Mapchanduel Wang Sogeumgui

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Tricked out Again: The Busan Trick Eye Museum

10 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Asia, Busan, South Korea

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This is post ten of twelve on our autumn trip to South Korea. Check out the other posts in this series here:

Back during our Selfish Year, Mrs. Selfish and I had a blast at Seoul’s Trick Eye Museum. If you’ve never heard of them, the Trick Eye Museums are a private, for-profit series of galleries found in South Korea, China, and Singapore.

They’re not really museums, so much as they are galleries brimming with opportunities for stupid pictures.

I’m normally pretty shy about ridiculous photos in public, but Trick Eye is a completely different beast altogether. This is a no-holds-bar-bring-your-A-game kind of event.

Especially if you want to keep up with Mrs. Selfish who excels at this kind of stuff.

I mean, who can compete with THIS?

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Temple Time in Busan

09 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Asia, Busan, South Korea

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This is post nine of twelve on our autumn trip to South Korea. Check out the other posts in this series here:

After a restful sleep at the Park Hyatt Busan, Mrs. Selfish and I decided to hit the road and visit some of Busan’s major attractions. Since we weren’t (yet) templed out, we decided to visit two of Busan’s major Buddhist temples: the Yonggungsa Temple, and the Beomeosa Temple

The Yonggungsa Temple

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4 Nights is Not Enough at the Park Hyatt Busan

08 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Busan, Hyatt, South Korea

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This is post eight of twelve on our autumn trip to South Korea. Check out the other posts in this series here:

Mrs. Selfish and I have stayed at a lot of Park Hyatt hotels since we discovered the world of miles and points. The Park Hyatts Zurich, Istanbul, Tokyo (twice), Sydney, and most recently Seoul, come to mind.

And while this is by no means an exhaustive list of Park Hyatt’s (there are currently 35, according to my count on Hyatt’s webpage), I can easily say that our stay at the Park Hyatt Busan was the best stay I’ve ever had at a Park Hyatt hotel.

Good view? Check. Good breakfast? Check. Good service? Check. Good room? Double-check! We basically had the perfect stay here, but it took a lot of coordination on the hotel’s side.

tl;dr: stay here if you’re in Busan. It’s #$(*&#$ awesome!

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Visiting the Silla Kingdom: 1 Day in Gyeongju

07 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by in Asia, Gyeongju, South Korea

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This is post seven of twelve on our autumn trip to South Korea. Check out the other posts in this series here:

Gyeongju is one of the oldest cities in South Korea, dating back 57 BCE. It was also the capital of the Shilla Kingdom, the dominant group that ruled Korea for three centuries starting in the 7th century. Which meant one thing to me: ruins!

I love ruins, temples, and anything ancient. Mrs. Selfish and I spent an amazing 23 days in Kyoto during our Selfish Year, partially because I am obsessed with shrines and temples and that city has literally hundreds of them. So I was kind of expecting it to be something like that.

Unfortunately, while Geyongju has some truly beautiful sites, it’s also home to some of the most insidious tourist traps I’ve ever seen and is populated with crappy theme parks, golf courses, hot air balloon rides and super-kitsch attractions like the “Teddy Bear Museum.”

Teddy Bear Museum

Actually, I kind of regret not going here now. Look at all ‘dem bears!

Normally I’m all over that kind of stuff, but we were looking for bona fide, authentic slices of history here.

Gyeongju may be overrun by kitschy tourist attractions, giant coffee chains, and massive hotel complexes, but there is still something very beautiful about it – you just have to know where to look.

Not a bear in sight!

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Staying at the Hilton Gyeongju

06 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Gyeongju, Hilton, South Korea

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This is post six of twelve on our autumn trip to South Korea. Check out the other posts in this series here:

Mrs. Selfish and I initially planned to stay in a hanok, a traditional Korean hotel, during our one night stay in Gyeongju. Unfortunately, the more pregnant Mrs. Selfish became, the less comfortable we thought she’d be. Especially since sleeping in a hanok means sleeping on a pad on the floor and using an external bathroom, something which no pregnant woman would be excited to try.

Fortunately, Gyeongju is a major Korean tourist destination and is an odd mix of history, theme parks, and kitschy attractions which means they have a ton of chain hotels (though oddly, no Hard Rock cafe). Since Mrs. Selfish had a fair number of HHonors points on hand, we decided to book a night at the Hilton Gyeongju.

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Seoul’s Other Palaces

05 Friday Dec 2014

Posted by in Asia, Seoul, South Korea

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This is post five of twelve on our autumn trip to South Korea. Check out the other posts in this series here:

The first time we visited Seoul, we managed to hit Seoul’s top 2 palaces, the Changdeokgung Palace and the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Both palaces were very beautiful and I highly recommend visiting each one if you’re visiting Seoul for the first time.

gyeongbokgung-palace

Since this was our second time visiting Seoul, however, Mrs. Selfish and I decided to hit up the two palaces we had missed during our Selfish Year trip – the Deoksugung Palace and the Changgyeonggung Palace.

Yeah, they have a White House-looking building. Weird, huh?

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Eating Our Way Through Seoul

04 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by in Asia, Food & Drinks, Seoul, South Korea

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This is post four of twelve on our autumn trip to South Korea. Check out the other posts in this series here:

Having eaten our way through the northern side of Seoul during our Selfish Year (and because Mrs. Selfish was less mobile this time around), we decided to try some of the eats on the Gangnam side of Seoul.

Seoul has tons of good restaurants, and is a fairly cosmopolitan city. That being said, I am admittedly and whole-heartedly a cheap eats kind of guy. $10 – $15 per person is my idea of a good meal, so Michelin restaurants were simply not in the cards.

Below are some of the delicious (and affordable) eats we found. Be warned, they are largely Korean chains, but that doesn’t preclude them from being mouth-wateringly delicious.

Fried Rice and Galbi at Yoogane

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Checking Out Seoul’s Spirits

03 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Asia, Seoul, South Korea

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This is post three of twelve on our autumn trip to South Korea. Check out the other posts in this series here:

After a good night’s rest, Mrs. Selfish and I woke up at the Park Hyatt Seoul refreshed and ready to take on the day. The thing I enjoy the most about visiting different countries is probably the food a strong sense of place.

Now I know what you’re thinking. How can a city have a strong sense of place? I’m not sure how to explain it, but there are just some cities that do. New York, Tokyo, Paris, San Francisco… these are all cities with unique characteristics – so much so that if you were blindfolded and dumped in the middle of downtown you could instantly tell where you were.

Seoul has a bit of that. From the thousands of coffee shops that dot the landscape, to the overly sculpted beautiful Seoulites roaming the streets, to the bizzarro integration of ancient and beautiful temples amidst modern skyscrapers.

The beautiful Bongeunsa Temple fits that perfectly, an ancient(ish) temple nestled in the middle of Gangnam.

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4 Nights at the Stylish Park Hyatt Seoul

02 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by in Accommodations, Asia, Hyatt, Seoul, South Korea

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This is post two of twelve on our autumn trip to South Korea. Check out the other posts in this series here:

For our first stop in South Korea, Mrs. Selfish and I decided to head back to Seoul. Seoul is an easy city to get to from the States and is the hub for Korean Air, which has direct flights from several cities including San Francisco.

Seoul was also an ideal place to recover from our 16 hours of jetlag, since we already had an idea of where to go, what to do, and what to eat. To make things even less stressful, I booked us for 4 nights in the stylish Park Hyatt Seoul, set in the heart of Gangnam.

Yep, Gangnam style reference – except! – you can actually see the top of the Park Hyatt Seoul in the bottom right corner of this shot. It’s that close. Unfortunately, no Psy sightings this time around.

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