Kimchis & Hanboks! (South Korea)

When someone mentions Korea, do you think of either Kimchi, K-pop or K-Dramas? Me too! So, it was only fitting to spend one morning learning how to make this Kimchi and rewarding myself after by pretending to be a character in a Korean period drama!

At the Kimchi School, we learned the basics of Kimchi making and had the opportunity to try out Hanboks (Traditional Korean Wear) And what a way to experience Korea’s culture first hand!

Kimchi Making

Kimchi is Korea’s national dish and every meal has to start with Kimchi. There are different varieties of Kimchi and all with different ingredients. But usually, it’s made of cabbage, radish, scallions and red chili peppers.

For our lesson, our teacher explained the basics about Kimchi; ingredients, history and the different kinds. Who knew there were so many different kinds of Kimchi?

We were all given a set of cabbage leaves to work with.

But hold on. Let’s drink before we begin! Cheers! Or as they say in Korean, “Geon-Bae!”

Now it’s time to work! Our guide says that in Korea, you can’t get married unless you’re able to make proper kimchi! Uh oh, good thing I’m not Korean (and that I only look like one! Haha!)

Our masterpieces! I think I went overboard with the sauce though. Haha! And now that we’ve learned how to make our own Kimchi, it was time to try out some costumes!

Hanbok: Traditional Korean Costume

A Hanbok consists of an upper blouse and a wrap around skirt. So many beautiful patterns and colors! How can you choose?

But of course, I had to pick one that’s pink. Haha! It was surprisingly pretty simple to wear too! For our purposes, we just placed our Hanboks on top of our modern day OOTD’s.

Ta-da! Here’s my princess glamour shot. I feel like a lampshade, and the headdress reminds me of Abu’s cap from Aladdin, but whatever. It’s my first time to become a Korean princess and I’m enjoying every moment!

We all unintentionally chose pink Hanboks. Great minds think alike! (Sort of. Kim who was just forced to choose a pink Hanbok because there were no turquoise ones. Haha, sorry Kim!)

Twirling around in our giant skirts! You can tell we’re having a great time, right?

And this is our best Koreanovela poster impression. Holding back our giggles…

It’s one thing to read about something and a totally different thing to experience it first hand. I really enjoyed our time at The Kimchi School because it was like having a personal encounter with the Korean culture. Something to try next time you visit, right?

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For this trip, I joined a Signature Korea tour which I booked through International Journeys, but is also available through most Philippine travel agents. Read more about my Signature Korea experience here. More articles to follow!

(NOTE: THIS POST IS ABOUT OUR EXPERIENCE LAST OCTOBER 2016.)