Taiwanese Food in Sinchon and Moonlit Stroll at Ansan

If you never leave the house without knowing what restaurant you are going to eat at, I highly recommend trying it. This has become a staple of my time in Korea, we often plan activities and then decide where to eat based on what is nearby when we finish. This has led to some interesting discoveries of restaurants, both good and bad, but always leads us to try something new. Tonight, I took a shopping trip with my roommate to U-Plex, a large department store in Sinchon, which is the neighborhood bordering Yonsei. Sinchon is filled with college students and a generally younger crowd, which can get lively on weekends with street performances. We have seen k-pop groups, magic shows, and even a whole grand piano appear.

Sinchon is also host to a large number of restaurants of all sorts, which was, as you may have guessed, the primary reason of tonight's trip. As we had not planned in advance by searching on MangoPlate (a Korean version of Yelp), we took to wandering down a random street to find a place to eat. This is how we came across a Taiwanese restaurant that my roommate has been to once before. If you search on Naver Map you can find it under the name of Taiwan Beef Ya, but if you look on MangoPlate is it called Taiwan Soya. The menu is only in Chinese and Korean, so if you cannot read either, I highly recommend going with someone who can. We ordered a fried shrimp dish, which came in a sweet and tangy sauce with some vegetables; the fried dumplings, that contain the same filling as most of the Korean dumplings that do not contain kimchi; the fried squid, which is possibly the best pieces of squid I have eaten in a calamari like dish (not too chewy or tough); and pig ears, which comes as a cold sort of salad with cabbage and a sesame type dressing. The pig ears dish was fantastic, especially from someone who normally hates meat with a chewy texture and had yet to try pig ears, the texture went well with the cabbage and the sauce. 

Following dinner, I took a night hike with some friends to Ansan, the mountain that occupies the back of Yonsei's campus and the entire designated park area behind it. It has just started to get chilly in Seoul, reaching a cool 50 or high 40's during the night. Being on the mountain was a nice break from the city, with its fast pace and 21st century consumer aesthetic. You could easily see the city lights peaking through the trees and forming a picturesque view of Seoul's skyline. While this gives a very natural touch to the skyline, if you are interested in a clear view or taking pictures, going to Namsan Tower at night is the best option. 

Additionally, Ansan is littered with many trails, some unmarked, so it is best if you stay on lit trails at night or go during the day. Daytime is perfect to see the changing leaves and exercise at many of the badminton courts or exercise areas. An easy path of access is from the back of Bongwonsa Temple, a Buddhist temple that was relocated from the current site of Yonsei to the mountain in 1748.