jejudo deul

observation 2: there's no tipping in korea. as the story goes, an American had a meal at korea and left the standard tip. as he was leaving, the owner of the restaurant came running out, telling him that he accidentally left some money on the table. you would think that no tip would mean crappy service, but it's the exact opposite. i found the people to be very polite and accommodating (for the most part). if anything, the service is too quick here, most likely because koreans are impatient.

/rantabouttippinginAmerica (feel free to skip).

it's utter bullshit. now hold on a second before you start stoning me. this is not an attack on the food industry workers(there are a few other jobs that include tips, but this is the big mama imo) nor am i a stingy bastard...i put in the min 15% or more if i'm happy w/ the service. anyone who's been in the customer service industry can attest to the majority of idiots they have to deal with(and i put myself in this category as well). and if you have had any experience, you tend to empathize with the other people you see swimmin in the same shee it as you. then again, you can also choose to be an a hole and let out all your frustrations from your job to the next guy, thus continuing the vicious cycle of hate. let the circle be unbroken sucka. my qualm is with the system. there are a lot of other jobs, where people are on their feet all day, take crap from both customers and the higherups, and hustle so hard that by the end of their shift, their ass looks like something Michangelo himself sculpted. and they're receiving minimum wage (or less) just like servers but get no tip. how is that fair? why do only certain professions get tipped while others don't? who gets to arbitrarily decide that? the tipping system should be abolished. but since i know that's not going to happen, i'm going to make a tip jar and put it on the front desk at work tomorrow. and you best give me my 15% or i'm gona go Oprah on your ass (god i hate her so much, but that post will be for another day my friends). /endrant

the hotel we stayed at was the lotte jeju, and it was a fine hotel indeed. a lot of the hotels we stayed in had casinos to cater to visitors, but only foreigners were allowed. i think there's only one casino in korea in which natives are allowed to play in. another short note: tipping does happen in korea although i believe it to be rare. at a casino, i drunkenly asked the dealer if i was supposed to tip and he told me yes. but perhaps this was the case since only foreigners were allowed? even a lot of taxi drivers don't expect tip.

if the name sounds familiar, you may have seen the brand on a piece of korean candy or gum. lotte is a huge corp that also makes cookies, has their own chain of fast food restaurants called Lotteria as well as owning the baseball team the lotte giants.

there was a trail in the back of the hotel which led down to the beach where you found

peace

if you've gotten this far reading, i commend you for your perserverance. you're probably muttering to yourself right now, "this guy needs to get off his soap box and start showin the food porn or i'm out." so here was the breakfast buffet, which had both western and korean items.

the setup

there were a bunch of baked goods like bagels, croissants, and chewy tapioca bread.

and some fresh selections of fruit. fruit was really good here.

standard omelette and egg station along with waffles

different yogurts, bread w/ cheeses, fruit salad

fruit juices

a noodle soup station

salads, meats, and you gotta have that kimchi

there were a bunch of different hot dishes too, but i didn't take pictures of those (refer to observ. 1) but i got a slice of french toast and a waffle. the "sand" in the syrup is cinnamon sugar.

along with bacon, potatoes and jeonbok jook, which is abalone porridge.

your choice of coffee or tea. i ended up drinking a lot of coffee when i was here. many restaurants have coffee vending machines where for usually around 100 won (~ 10 cents), you could get a small cup of coffee. and by small i don't mean american small (which somewhere down the has turned into medium), but those small water cups people use to take shots with at parties.

i love breakfast and i love buffets. but the good life is over. as it was in the beginning, and now and ever shall be, world without end. it's back to my cereal w/ fruit.

oops, i forgot to write it on my last post, but let's go korea tomorrow!~