What to eat in SEOUL! (Part 1)- Nice food/restaurants we found

BUSAN GALBI- ITAEWON

We had our very first meal in Korea here. Met some friends from Australia who were already in Korea for the past few days and they brought us to Busan Galbi.

The place was big and very spacious, it was rather empty when we went because it was already way past dinner time, about 9ish at night.

My alcoholic friends cannot live without alcohol. They were super excited to drink Korea Soju.

Ox Tongue

Pork, apparently, they said this place is famous for their pork.

Kimchi pancake

Seafood pancake.

These 2 pancakes were awesome!!!

Kimchi soup, perfect for a cold day.

Directions: Out Itaewon Station Exit 2, take the first left up the hill next to the Hamilton Hotel. At the T-intersection, you'll see it on the second floor between 9 Timo and 112 Lounge.

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ONEDANG GAMJATANG MYEONGDONG

We were just blindly walking around looking for a decent place to have dinner when we stumbled upon this cosy and homely authentic restaurant serving Gamjatang which basically means pork boned potato soup. This is quite a popular place and we were quite lucky to have found it.

We ordered their signature dish which was the pork bone with potato soup. A huge pot was placed in front of us with lots of veggies, potatoes, vermicelli, huge chunks of pork bones.

We loved this, the meat is so tender that it falls off the bones. 

Steamed ribs and kimchi soup

I actually came here for dinner few hours after my surgery was completed. Yes, i walked around Myeongdong with my face pasted with stickers/bandages, my nose in a cast and i look like a freak. But hey, thank god i'm in Korea and nobody even cares, I didn't even get any weird stares. It's like totally normal to be looking like this on the streets. If i walked around like that in Orchard Road (Singapore), i think i would be on stomp by now.

Bibimbap, our very first taste of this.

In general, if you want to try authentic and good Korean Gamjatang, you can consider coming to ONEDANG. It's conveniently located in Myeongdong, so you can drop by after some hectic shopping or just to warm up from the cold. If you have not much stomach space available, you can just try their gamjatang and skip the rest of their dishes. It's a little spicy but very comforting :) And the best thing about this restaurant is that it is opened 24 hours!!!

OneDang Gamjatang Myeongdong Store 1 

34-1 Myeong-dong 1-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul100-021, South Korea

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KOREAN FRIED CHICKEN

We were on the lookout for fried chicken in Korea as we heard how delicious it was.

 Taken from wiki: Korean fried chicken or seasoned chicken (Korean: 양념 치킨 yangnyeom chicken) is a fried chicken dish prepared in a Korean style. It is consumed as a meal, fast food at bars, or as an after meal snack in Korea.^[1]

Korean fried chicken differs from typical American fried chicken by being fried twice. This results in the skin being crunchier and less greasy. Furthermore, Korean-style chicken is not characterized by the crags and crusty nubs associated with American fried chicken as described by Julia Moskin of The New York Times as a "thin, crackly and almost transparent". The chickens are usually seasoned with spices, sugar, and salt, prior to and after being fried. Korean fried chicken restaurants commonly use small or medium sized chicken, in other words, younger chickens resulting in more tender meat. Pickled radishes, beer, and soju are often served with Korean fried chicken.

We ordered 3 different types of chicken, the fried ones, the ones seasoned with chilli sauce and the ones seasoned with chilli garlic.

Everything were gone in minutes!!!

And washed them all down with beer! I only took a sip to try.

There are quite a number of restaurants selling fried chicken in Myeongdong, some popular ones i've read about are Two Two fried chicken and Noo Na Hol Dak. We didn't have the chance to try these restaurants though.

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MIDNIGHT KOREA BBQ FEAST!!!

I remembered it was snowing when we found this restaurant. My friends and I were grumpy because it was way too cold but we wanted to eat something. Hence, we decided to walk around our guest house area (Yong San Gu, Seoul Station) to find food.

We walked for about 10 minutes and finally found this restaurant that serves Korean BBQ, something which everyone wanted to eat.

I love how much veggies they serve us and I really liked wrapping the bbq stuff with the crunchy and fresh lettuce.

I cannot forget how awesome this meal was, we were all very satisfied and pleased.

and it's very cheap!!! the menu is all in korean but we managed to find out that most of the items were pork.

I'm sorry i don't have much information about how to get to this place.

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Jeonju Jungang Hoekwan

One of our friends in Singapore recommended this place for it's bibimbap, it reportedly serves one of the best bibimbaps in Myeongdong.

Beef Tatare!!! All of us were looking forward to this. It was so well marinated and busting with flavours.

Our serving of beef, finally we took a break from pork, pork and pork everyday.

Seafood pancake

Ox tongue

Ginseng chicken soup.

Our bill.

and finally, Abalone Bibimbap!!!

Address: 24-11 Chungmuro 1-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul

Directions:

Myeong-dong Station (Seoul Subway Line 4), Exit 6. Look for Uniqlo, Walk into the alley.

Stay tuned for more on the restaurants we visited while in Korea!

4th week post op

4th week post op pics.

i can smile more naturally showing my teeth now, the area around my mouth is not as 'tight' as before.

The History of Plastic Surgery/ Cosmetic Surgery

Today, I would like to talk about the history and development of Plastic Surgery. These information are based on my online research and also visits to various Plastic Surgery clinics in Korea/Seoul.

The Evolution of Plastic Surgery

1. The Ancient Era

The record of 'reconstructive surgery for cut-off nose' in ancient India in 800 B.C (recorded in the scriptures of Brahmanism)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Vedic_religion

2. The 16th-19th Century

During this period, due to frequent wars, plastic surgery also encountered the Renaissance.

- The techonology of dermal tissues grafting was first introduced.

- Around the 15th century, G. Taliacozzi, the founder of plastic surgery, performed a nose surgery using upper arm flap.

- Nose surgery using forehead flap done in India in 1974 is still considered one of the best historical method of reconstructive plastic surgery.

- In the early 19th century, plastic surgery with various reconstructive surgeries began establishing in academical systems.

- in 1809, Von Graele began 'the first blepharoplasty'

- in 1823, Bunger began the surgery of 'autologous dermal tissue draft'

- in 1838, as Zies published his book, the term 'Plastic Surgery' began to be widely used.

- In the late 19th century, full/partial thickness skin grafting by adjusting the thickness began.

3. The early and mid 20th Century

- In 1914 during the WW1, the plastic surgery center (French army) was opened due to many bullet wounded soldiers. Gillies from UK and Blair and Ivy from USA began the innovative reconstructive surgeries.

- In 1931, around 10 surgeons established 'The American Society Plastic Surgeons' (ASPS)

- In 1939,  during WW1, many active researches for syntripsis, burn and nerve damage led plastic surgery into the growth period.

4. The late 20th century

- In 1962, Cronin first performed 'Breast augmentation using a silicon implant'

- In 1967, 'skull and facial bone surgery' was presented

- The field of plastic surgery was extended to not only in the human body but also in the skull and facial bones.

- In 1970, 'micro joining plastic surgery' using a microscope was introduced.

-  The field of organ transplantation was made due to the development of digital replantation, blood vessel inosculation and nerve connecting surgery.

- Murray, a plastic surgeon first succeeded in a 'kidney transplantation'

- In 1980s and 1990s, flap operation and cosmetic surgery for all parts of the body began to be developed.

WHAT IS PLASTIC SURGERY?

Plastic surgery can be explained as one of the surgical fields for recovering birth defects or acquired defects and for appearance improvement.

POST SURGERY PRECAUTIONS

Some guidelines to follow post surgeries.

Post Nose Surgery Precautions

- Make sure to take your medicine given to you by the hospital/clinic. I was given antibiotics and painkillers and I took them twice a day religiously for 2 weeks.

- Do avoid salty, spicy and greasy food for 3 weeks after surgery. Hot liquids and spicy foods will tend to dilate your blood vessels and lead to more bruising and swelling. I was on a liquid diet on the 2nd day post surgery, I had soup and porridge. On the 3rd day, i ate like normal. 

- Please avoid drinking and smoking for 3 weeks after surgery.

- Use an ice pack for the first few days after surgery and it should be placed over your eyes. This will help to reduce swelling and pain. I used this for about 4 times a day, 20 minutes each time, you can use this more if possible.

- During the first few days of surgery, bleeding may occur and makes it difficult to breathe. When bleeding occurs, please avoid wiping the blood from the nostrils but rather, wipe the blood from outside the nose area. Additionally, do not touch the insides of the nose or incision area as this may cause inflammation. Always go back to the clinic to get the nurse to clean it for you before stitches are out.

- Please sleep with elevated pillows, placing the upper body 30 degrees higher instead of lying flat on the bed. Sitting position helps to reduce swelling rather than lying position.

- Excessive swelling will occur during 72 hours after surgery. Major swelling will still last for one month while it will take 4-6 months for the whole swelling to be gone. Bruises may also occur around the nose but they will be gone within 1-2 weeks. Deviated nose or asymmetrical nostrils may be seen but this is due to different degree of swelling on each side. Please also make sure no pressure is applied on nose. If swelling is excessive, please contact your doctor immediately.

- Bandages will be applied on nose bridge in order to fix the nose implant. For simple rhinoplasty, bandage will be removed after 3 days of surgery. For reductive rhinoplasty, bandage will be removed after 10 days of surgery.

- For alar base reduction, stitches will be removed after 10 days of surgery. Stitches on ear incision will be removed after 7 days of surgery.

- Please wash your face on the day after stitch removal. Warm water is recommended to be applied and soap/facial cleanser can be used if it doesn't cause pain around the surgical area. If ear cartilage is taken out for nose tiplasty, please blow dry the incision after shower. Make up can be applied right after bandage removal. However, please avoid pressing the nose too hard.

- There is usually no scar if the incision is made inside the nostril.

- Avoid wearing eye glasses for 1 week as it may move the nose implant.

- Avoid heavy exercise for 3 weeks after surgery. However, light exercises such as walking is recommended to reduce swelling.

- If bleeding, heavy pressure, headache and nausea occur, please contact the doctor immediately. Patients are advised to go back to the clinic on the 1st day post surgery to get a check up and disinfection.

POST EYE SURGERY PRECAUTIONS

- Make sure to take your medicine given to you by the hospital/clinic. I was given antibiotics and painkillers and I took them twice a day religiously for 2 weeks.

- Do avoid salty, spicy and greasy food for 3 weeks after surgery. Hot liquids and spicy foods will tend to dilate your blood vessels and lead to more bruising and swelling.

- Please avoid drinking and smoking for 3 weeks after surgery.

- Avoid taking a nap on the day of surgery and make sure to open eyes naturally. Sitting position helps better to reduce swelling than lying position.

- Excessive swelling will occur 24 hours after surgery. Therefore, the ice pack MUST be used to reduce swelling. The excessive swelling will be gone within 3-5 days after surgery. Major swelling will still last for one month while it will take 4-6 months for the whole swelling to be gone. Asymmetrical eyes could be caused due to different degree of swelling on each eye. After swelling is gone, the symmetrical eyes will be seen in most cases.

- No stitches are removed after non-incisional eyelid surgery. However, stitch removal is incisional double eyelid surgery and canthoplasty 5 days after surgery.

- Please wash your face on the day after stitch removal.

- Non- incision double eyelid surgery won't leave scars as the surgery is performed through small holes. Redness around the surgical area may occur from canthoplasty and incisional double eyelids for 3-6 months. However, it can be easily covered with concealor. After one year, there will be just one fine line without redness. Therefore, the scar will be almost invisible without make up. Post and pre-surgery precautions are very impt to follow as it may cause big scars, asymmetrical eyes, multiple folds etc due to bleeding during surgery.

- Avoid heavy exercise for 3 weeks after surgery. However, light exercises such as walking is recommended to reduce swelling. From the 4th day post surgery, i was walking around Jeju and Seoul every day from morning till night.

- If bleeding, heavy pressure, headache and nausea occur, please contact the doctor immediately. Patients are advised to go back to the clinic on the 1st day post surgery to get a check up and disinfection.

POST FATS GRAFT SURGERY PRECAUTIONS

- Make sure to take your medicine given to you by the hospital/clinic. I was given antibiotics and painkillers and I took them twice a day religiously for 2 weeks.

- Do avoid salty, spicy and greasy food for 3 weeks after surgery. Hot liquids and spicy foods will tend to dilate your blood vessels and lead to more bruising and swelling.

- Please avoid drinking and smoking for 3 weeks after surgery.

- Please sleep with elevated pillows, placing the upper body 30 degrees higher instead of lying flat on the bed. Sitting position helps to reduce swelling rather than lying position. Avoid using heated blanket which could cause skin burn as the surgical area may not be as sensitive due to anesthesia.

- Avoid facial massage as it may reduce survival rate of injected fat cells. Also, please do not press or irritate surgical areas.

- Face wash and make up can be done after 3 days of surgery. During 3-4 days post surgery, surgical area will be disinfected and tapped with bandages.

- Extracted fat area especially on thighs or abdomen willl have redness after stitch removal. However, it will turn into original skin colour as time goes by.

- Avoid heavy exercise for 3 weeks after surgery. However, light exercises such as walking is recommended to reduce swelling. From the 4th day post surgery, i was walking around Jeju and Seoul every day from morning till night.

- If bleeding, heavy pressure, headache and nausea occur, please contact the doctor immediately. Patients are advised to go back to the clinic on the 1st day post surgery to get a check up and disinfection.

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WHY DID I HEAL SO FAST?

The consultant and nurses at the clinics were really amazed by how fast i healed, the major swelling were almost all gone in less than 2 weeks. My friends also mentioned i healed at an incredible speed and they asked me what I did for that.

Well, during the first 2 weeks of recovery, i was particularly cautious when it came to my diet. I made sure I had the right intake of fruits and protein cuz these aid recovery. I ate lots of meat, lots of strawberries and pineapple juice, not to mention, alot of veggies. It was good being in Korea during my recovery as their meals had lots and lots of veggies! Had pumpkin soup but not alot of this though.

One more thing i really need to mention which i strongly believed played a very big part in my fast recovery was PURTIER. My best friend kept asking me to take a bottle of it for one month immediately after surgery because it accelerates the recovery of cells using the stem cell technology, honestly i read about this product and even my mum says it's good. I didn't want to take it initially cuz it was quite costly. 

However, on the 2nd day post surgery, I was very frustrated with the fact that i cannot breathe and was practically choking on my own mucus, i couldn't sleep and couldn't bathe and wash my hair, i felt terrible, i couldn't stand it anymore and wanted this terrible feeling to disappear ASAP so i asked for Purtier (as i didn't have any pills that aided healing or deswelling with me) and my best friend who brought it over to Korea gave me some. I started taking it from then until now.

Check out my swelling especially around my eyes, i just took Purtier for 2 days (i took 2 pills a day) and the swelling subsided so much, I am amazed myself too. However, after taking 2 pills a day for about 5 days, i stopped and cut down to 1 pill a day only. (cuz i can't bear to finish it so fast and i felt that the hardest period was over and the following days were so much easier to deal with)

I did not edit the above picture at all and did not use any filters. These pics are taken with natural lighting.

My latest recovery picture.

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KOREA BEAUTY TRIP- After surgery photo shoot (sneak preview)

These are some pictures taken during my photoshoot.

DAY 14 POST SURGERY

Official pics will be up around next month, can't wait to see them! 

Following are some pics i took after the photo shoot, i love how natural i look with the make up applied on me. I can't apply such natural make up on my own... I should go take up some tutorials and learn more.

KOREA BEAUTY TRIP- Plastic Surgery adventure Part 3 (Day 7-13 post op)

DAY 8 POST SURGERY

Went to Everland with my friends and I managed to put on contact lens without any difficulty, I tried to avoid pulling up my upper eyelids and only pulled down my lower eyelids to get the lens into my eyes. 

Look at my smile when I show my teeth. I look like a toothless woman! My upper lip seem to have vanished when I smile like that. My friends are not used to my new look and said that I am still looking very unnatural. Sobz.

DAY 9-14 POST SURGERY

Things are starting to get better, my eyes are less purplish but left eyelid is higher than my right. 

Went back to the clinic again on day 11 to remove stitches on my ear. It was done and finished in less than 5 minutes. The consultant dropped by and was amazed by how fast I healed! I told her that my chin is too sharp for my liking and she said that it will go down in time to come. She also explained that my nose is deviated and that my left eyelid is higher due to the fact that they are still healing and healing at different speed. One side is healing faster than the other and they will look normal soon, so I gotta wait to see the results.

My face seem to be changing subtly everyday..

DAY 12 POST SURGERY

 I decided to visit Changdeokgung palace and also tried on some eye make up for the very first time after surgery. 

I applied eyeliner and falsies. Wanted to apply mascara but realized that I didn't bring it with me. (Gives me a very good reason to get a new one!!)

My eyelids felt numb when I applied the eyeliner, it wasn't painful but just very weird and I didn't really like that feeling, perhaps I'm just not used to it yet and probably it's not completely healed that's why I felt this way. 

My eyes look pretty much the same as before with make up on. I guess the double eyelids are very obvious when I have no make up on. My nose bridge is still swollen and my chin too sharp. 

Really they hope they subside fast and soon, and I hope to smile like before real soon too! 

DAY 13 POST SURGERY

With the help of make up, i finally look more normal. I tried applying CC cream to my face but because of the dry weather in Seoul, my skin was very dry and I couldn't apply any cream/foundation. So I could only apply moisturizer to my face and eye make up.