moving on

please visit my new home at desperatelyseekingsuddenlysusan.wordpress.com. don't come empty-handed. i'm expecting some comments or at least a decent bottle of wine.


i won't be updating this blogger site any more because i am no longer suddenlysusaninkorea.

czech, please

the charles bridge, over the vltava river in prague

this was the view from my restaurant table. with such beautiful surroundings and excellent beer for cheap, i don't know why the locals never smile.

postcard from europe

dear readers,

i'm having a wonderful time in europe. spent two weeks in prague, a week in london, 5 days in brussels and two weeks in paris. i'm soaking in the sun in the south of france now. wish you were here.

xoxo,
suddenly susan

so long sofia

what can i say? i really loved sofia. she may seem a little aloof at first but get to know her and she'll reveal her many hidden charms. sofia has a terrific archaeological museum and it boasts the world's best tomatoes and peppers. it's also a great city for lada-sighting. sofia doesn't attract hoards of tourists so there are no big double-decker sightseeing buses or lines of people at the museums. i loved that i didn't see other tourists. go there now before that changes.

see photos here.

so far, sofia

my first impression of sofia: my god, i can't read anything here. all the street signs are in cyrillic. whereas varna caters strictly to tourists, sofia is a real city that can't be bothered. luckily, i came across vagabond, a great english-language magazine that gives you the skinny on expat life in bulgaria. unlike some...ahem...magazines in seoul that just want to glorify korea, vagabond pulls no punches. here are some highlights from the mag:

"no" means "yes" in bulgaria

the low-down on shop assistants

next stop in bulgaria: the capital

here's an excerpt from the welcome package at my apartment in sofia:

bulgaria

golden sands beach in varna, bulgaria - the black sea coast

i'm in bulgaria now. yeah, that's right, i said bulgaria. it's not the most obvious choice as a tourist destination but that's what i was looking for. someplace completely foreign and unknown to me. the only inkling i had about this country is that it recently joined the EU and that it's famous for its weightlifters. other than that, i was clueless.

my first stop: varna or more specifically golden sands beach, a resort on the black sea coast. just gorgeous, actually beyond gorgeous. i don't know why it's called the black sea because the water is the purest azure and there ain't a black person in sight. apparently this is a tourist hot spot for germans. all the signs and menus are in german and every restaurant seems to offer a schnitzel special. and boy, i've never seen folks as pasty white as the deutsch. their kids are practically albino. i can say this smugly now because i am getting bronzer by the day.

i can also say that i've never seen so many out of shape people on the beach; burly men with hairy backs and middle-age beer guts wearing the tiniest speedos (heinous!) and even bigger balkan ajummas with their barrel-sized torsos, some even attempting to sunbathe topless! (eek! blind me now!)

as far as i could tell, there were no other north americans or people from english-speaking nations. everyone looked like they were from a nation where smiling is punishable by death. it really feels like a different world here.

after the miserable breakfast i had from the communist-style canteen of my hotel, i was skeptical about bulgarian food. was it all mystery cold cuts and brown bread? i was too quick to judge. the meals at the restaurants were delicious, all made with fresh local ingredients. cool, crisp salads with the most amazing tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, and olives, topped with crumbly, salty cheese reminiscent of feta. it's just like a greek salad but they call it "shopska salad." there's delicious grilled fish and the bulgarian specialty kavarma which is meat, tomatoes, onions and peppers baked with balkan spices in a clay pot. the waitstaff at these restaurants is super-friendly and they speak excellent english.

shopska salad

my one gripe with bulgarian food is the ketchup. my yummy fries were somewhat ruined by the weird runny tomato juice that came out of the ketchup bottles. i think it's spiced with oregano? when you grow up with heinz ketchup, every other ketchup in the world tastes funny to you. it's like trying to drink generic supermarket cola when you've been weaned on coca-cola. nothing beats a coke and nothing beats a heinz.

however, i am in love with bulgarian beer. every restaurant serves big steins of the freshest draft beer. 500 cc will set you back 3 bulgarian leva (=1.50 euro).

you know how sometimes you walk into a movie theater without having read any reviews and because of that you end up liking the film more than you would have? i'm getting that feeling with bulgaria.

so long budapest

budapest has changed a lot since i was there 12 years ago. mcdonald's and subway sandwiches are everywhere, the price of everything has gone up dramatically and the locals don't look as happy. still, i love this city. it's a romantic place with stunning architecture. i like how you can see the many different influences from different cultures manifest in various ways whether it's the gorgeous mosaic in the turkish baths, austrian-style pastries or lingering traces of austerity from the communist era.

i've always romanticized budapest in my mind as an intellectual's city and the abundance of reading material confirms it. there are about as many bookstores here as there are duane reade drugstores in new york. also, the people love to play chess. any society that embraces board games is all good in my estimation.

i will miss budapest. i'm in a new country now. more on that later. click here to view photos.

have you ever watched M*SH?

my phone call to western union in budapest...

man (or woman with very deep voice): something i couldn't understand in hungarian.

me: hello? do you speak english.

man (OWWVDV): yes.

me: how much is it to send money from korea to hungary?

man (OWWVDV): where are you sending it from?

me: korea

man (OWWVDV): silence

me: south korea

man (OWWVDV): yes, what country?

me: south korea is a country.

man (OWWVDV): i don't see it on my list.

me: maybe it is under "republic of korea?"

man (OWWVDV): no.

me: check under "land of morning calm?"

29-day kimchi deprivation ends today

"seoul house" in budapest

kimchi jjigae with "banchan"

talk about finding your oasis in the desert, i discovered a korean restaurant in budapest! it's on a quiet street a block away from the danube on the buda (west) side. the waitstaff is hungarian, and like most people in budapest, they speak excellent english. the cute young waiter i had today even pronounced "kimchi jjigae" perfectly.

i've been generally impressed with the foreign food i've had in budapest; good mexican, amazing indian (i had the best saag paneer i've tasted in years at shalimar indian restaurant in the jewish quarter). still, i had my reservations that a korean restaurant could be good in hungary. boy, was i wrong. my kimchi jjigae today was kickASS! it was sour, salty and spicy with the kimchi cooked just enough. the jjigae came garnished generously with slices of fatty samgyeupsal throughout and a few cubes of tofu that had sucked up all the pork, spicy broth. i inhaled the contents of my earthenware pot, leaving only a 1/4 teaspoon of soup flecked with red chile flakes. the banchan was meager but tasty as well, using the best of local hungarian ingredients: cabbage, potates and pickling cucumbers.

during lunch a few korean business execs came in for a taste of their homeland and five tables were reserved for a bus load of korean tourists. i asked the waiter who usually eats here and he said the restaurant stays busy with all the honchos from hyundai, LG, kia, samsung - the usual lineup of chaebols that extend their brand overseas.

if you find yourself wandering budapest searching for that kimchi fix, check out 서울의 집 (seoul house). prices are reasonable for budapest. my jjigae cost 2400 hungarian forint (=9.6 euros) - trust me, in europe, that's a bargain.

guess who i saw in budapest today?

i sat down at an outdoor cafe and was seated next to none other than austin scarlett from project runway season 1. a few hours later i ran into him again in another part of town. dang, he be skinny!

living la vida loca

the town of vernazza in cinque terre, italy

if you've been wondering where in the world is suddenly susan, i have left korea. for good. my three years there were trying, filled with both good and bad moments. korea is my birthplace but ultimately, i don't consider it my home. i tried to adapt and make the most of my time there but you can only try squeezing a square into a circle so much before the square loses its corners and ceases to be a square. wait, did i just call myself a square in that analogy? well, you know what i mean.

i'm now on an extended holiday in europe. i've been traipsing around the italian boot for three weeks overdosing on pasta, prosciutto and wine. i never thought i'd be sick of pasta but i had at least one plate everyday for 21 days straight: bucatini in rome, pappardelle with rabbit in florence, ravioli in lucca, chitarra with scampi in cinque terre, trenette with pesto in genoa, spaghetti alla vongole in venice. as delicious as it all was, i need a break from pasta. the highlight of my trip was staying on a vineyard. what the italians call "agriturismo." (yeah, italians have a lot of funny names for things.) i had no tv, phone or internet connection. nothing but grapes, olive trees and a view of the tuscan hills so gorgeous, i know why diane lane bought that villa in that movie. the lowlight was paying 3 euros for 30 minutes of web access at internet cafes across italy. it was 0.15 euro/minute in cinque terre! they say italians and koreans have a lot in common (hot temper, disregard for the law, disorganization) but embracing new technology is not high on the priority list for italians. neither is sticking to generally accepted business hours.

this trip to europe is right on the heels of my three-week jaunt to vietnam where i was blasted by the sun daily despite liberal applications of sun screen. i didn't think it was possible but i actually developed a tan. the vietnamese sun must've triggered the melanin in my skin. anyway, i am now officially golden and my friends back home won't have to call me "powder" any more.

i'm currently in budapest in a furnished apartment with a very fast broadband connection. hallelujah! budapest holds a special place in my heart because i came here 12 years ago on a solo backpacking tour of eastern europe. it's changed. a lot. but the food still sucks. sorry, but there's a reason why you don't see hungarian restaurants all across the world. however, i was thrilled to discover that mexican food is pretty good here. i am avoiding the italian restaurants here like the plague. bad local food notwithstanding, the city is gorgeous, especially right around the banks of the danube which is so not blue, strauss must be rolling over in his grave. (the last time i used that line was 12 years ago and a hungarian man actually thought it was funny.)

it's late at night now. i am craving kimchi jjigae. i haven't had kimchi in 26 days. i think that's a record for me. i am considering changing my blog name because i am no longer "suddenly susan in korea." so what am i, "suddenly susan in europe?" "suddenly susan abroad?" "suddenly susan is homeless?" i am accepting suggestions for a new blog name. the winner gets...nothing really. you can leave your ideas in the comments section or just hack into my e-mail account and save it as a draft.

someone hacked into my e-mail account

"someone" (and i have a very good idea of who this f*ckface is) broke into my e-mail account and sent out messages under my name to people on my contacts list.

if anyone has any information on how i can bust this asshole please let me know.

thank you.

hanoi

i started my trip in hanoi, the capital of vietnam. it's noisy and polluted but charming none the less. not as busy as saigon but still loads of tourists flock here. "same same but different" as the vietnamese say.

seoul's got nothing on the traffic in hanoi. imagine a swarm of motorbikes, scooters and bicycles coming at you at breakneck speed with no intention of stopping - all the while tooting their horns. some intersections didn't even have traffic lights. i held my breath every time i crossed the street.

everyday i'd walk out of my hotel and be greeted by a chorus of "hello! cyclo?" "motobike?" drivers courting their daily fares so they can feed their families. you know they're trying to rip you off yet at the end of the day, it's just chump change for the tourists but that money is so much more important for the locals.

there are tons of expat restaurants and cafes in hanoi. they serve a cleaned up version of vietnamese food for tourists who may be averse to fish sauce and fragrant herbs. they've got jacked up prices and a veritable phone book for the menu however the draw is the menus are in english and they provide much-needed A/C.

yet i knew i could get better food on the streets so i tried to eat like the locals. there are mom and pop operations on every street. they set up plastic tables and chairs on the sidewalk with a small sign to tell you what's on offer. it looked like each place only served one thing which is always promising.

one night i chose the most crowded patch of sidewalk and pulled up a small plastic stool to the low table. (i felt like i was back in kindergarten.) nobody could understand my english or pigeon vietnamese so i'd just point to what the guy next to me was eating: a big plate of rice with stir-fried beef and pickled mustard greens. "beer" together with my index finger was understood because the vietnamese word for beer is "bia." the meal was served with a basket of sliced cucumbers, lettuce and mint leaves along with a bowl of chile sauce. it's like their version of 상추, 깻잎 and 오이 with gochujang. the meal was homey and delicious. total tab: 30,000 dong including the beer. that's less than $2.

i took over 500 photos in vietnam but i've whittled them down to a dozen or so for each place i visited. click here to see shots from hanoi.