For the first time I went to Hyehwa to attend a mass and shop at the informal Filipino Market. I have been asking my husband to drop by in Hyehwa every time we have something to do in Seoul but he always says that if I want I can go there alone. So last week when my friend told me that she went to Hyehwa to met someone I asked her if I can tag along with her the next time she go to the place,  and right then she asked me if I want to attend the mass the next Sunday.

We attended the mass for about one hour and right after we went to the nearby Filipino market to shop together with her old friends that we met outside the church. I bought vegetables and other Filipino foods I want to eat, it was been a long time since I had these foods.

Other stuff I bought aside from the vegetables are rice cakes (kakanin), spring rolls (lumpia), barbecue and bopis. The rice cake is ₩3,000 each but you can get it for ₩5,000 if you buy two pieces while lumpia and barbecue is ₩1,000 per piece/stick, the bopis is ₩5,000 per order. I bought all the vegetables for ₩10,000 it consists of 2 (tali) spring beans, 2 pieces ampalaya, 1 (tali) okra and with free kangkong.

Aside from native foods, vegetable and cooked food some sellers are selling beauty products, chips and other local items that a Filipino cannot find in a local Korean supermarket.

The weather today is very hot so I decided to put sunblock  before going out. I have to go to the bank to pay our internet, electricty and gas bill. I also need to go to downtown Icheon to buy cans of kidney beans and frozen chicken breast in the supermarket at the back of Lotte Super.

There’s kidney beans at the Lotte Super in Shinha-ri but it wasn’t good like the one in the red cans, and their frozen chicken too are bit expensive than what we usually buy when we are still living in Changjeon-dong.  I took bus #8 going to downtown and went out in the bus stop near the terminal. I walked a little and it is already the supermarket, I went in and went out.  I saw group of women talking out loud at the next street I am sure they are not local, anyway I just walked to the street where I came from I could get to the bus stop near the World Food Mart.

[한국유통]

We are now shopping at this mart because it less expensive than Lotte Super, I think we already shop to all the supermarket around Icheon downtown of course except for Happy Mart which is way too far.

While waiting to cross the street to the bus stop the group of women came, I am not sure if they are my countrymen or not so I just take a quick look to them I think nobody even notice me except for one of them, I am about to cross the street when I heard them talking in our local langauge.  They are Filipina indeed, was bit too late because I already run to safety, I mean to the next street because cars and delivery trucks are already coming.

Less than a minute the bus came and that’s how my short trip to Icheon downtown ended,  before going home I stopped at Paris Baguette to buy garlic baguette.

[ Tagged In ] Icheon, Korea Distribution, Korean Supermarket, Supermarket in Korea, 한국유통

When I report my new passport in Suwon Immigration I also went to postal office in Icheon downtown to mail our travel documents to the travel agency in Busan. After mailing our documents I go home and passed by in the shopping street and decided to went inside the Naughty Cat shop to buy some key chains, I am planning to included them when I  mail post cards to my friends.

Aside from buying key chains I also bought few earrings so I have new accessories to blog.  When I went out the shop I look for the couple that I saw outside selling strawberries and persimmons I thought they were gone when I can’t find them to where I saw them but actually they just moved. So I went near them and buy strawberries, I handed 5,000 won and took one container but the man gave me another container he is saying two for ocheon won. As I already forgot how much is 5, 000 won in Hangul I just said I only want one believing ocheon won is 10, 000 won.

The strawberries are sweet that I don’t need to keep them in fridge with water and sugar but as I cannot eat them all at once though I’d like too I keep them in the fridge, what is left is almost one container.

I just can’t get enough of Filipino foods so when my husband and I went to downtown to look for knee support that he could use while doing squats in the gym I asked him to visit the Asian store while waiting for the bus home.

When we went in there are lot of Asian customers probably because it was weekend and it is off day.  Unfortunately there’s no other Filipino around other than me, in my few years of existence here in Icheon I seldom see Filipino and I am just going to notice it after they started speaking in Tagalog.

Anyway I bought two pack of coconut milk powder, longganisa, tocino and a can of Bicol Express and Sizzling Sisig.

My title is misleading but the store actually does not sell only Filipino Foods but also other Asian Food like those from Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesian, Cambodia and Vietnam. The store was just newly open this year, the other day I finally went inside to look around, see what Filipino foods they sell and buy a few.

World Food have plenty of Filipino foods and other Asian foods compare to Lotte World Mart at the back the Icheon Bus station, their store is spacious too compare to the first one. This store is beside the bus stop #8 going to Shinha-ri, it is also few meters away from the bus station (back) this is where normally the buses going to Seoul and other city passed by and across World Food is Vitamin House.

As there no bus yet I decided to finally went inside the store, there’s Korean man standing in front of the glass door,  I was in hesitation to come in because I thought  the entrance was in the next one (white decking) but it turns it was where he is standing, when I came in I am expecting that the owner is Thai or somehow not a Korean but it turns out the store is owned by a Korean Family, a friendly family. The mother and her daughter is busy preparing food for cooking when I came in I greeted them and I went directly to aisle where Filipino food was displayed and before carrying them with me in the counter I look for the expiration date first because the first and last time I bought noodles in Asian store they are two months before expiration and I just saw them at home.

I bought few items and I was amazed to see “tuyo” dried fish so I also bought them without thinking that my husband doesn’t like the smell of fish inside our apartment. When I pay in the counter I saw the pamphlets so I asked for one but the owner didn’t give me just pamphlet but a biscuits too, the Sunflower Cracker above was given to me by free.

[Address and Location of World Mart in Icheon]

I also asked permission to take photo from the outside so I can blog it, anyway the man outside who show me the way is probably her husband or part of the family.  The store owners are kind and entertaining, their supplies too are all new and fresh. I am going to buy supplies soon I return to downtown.

I went to Icheon downtown yesterday to update my husband passbook and buy a bag of chicken. Luckily may T-money card has still load on it so I am able to use it when I took number 8 bus, I descend at Gwango-dong and then walk to KB star. After updating his passbook I walked at the shopping center to see what’s new, Tiny Winnie store was already closed and few men are reconstructing it, the last time we passed by the store the owners are boxing their items.

I went to Lotte Super before going to the bus stop near the World Mart, I bought bags of chicken, beans as well as vegetables like carrot and zucchini I have no more food to eat because I didn’t buy a lot when we shopped.  After shopping I went to the bus stop and while crossing the street number 8 bus came and I run as fast as I can, I was bit late because the bus door was already closed when I arrived gladly the bus driver saw me and he opened the door, I was still grasping for air while looking for my T-money card on my wallet.

It was a short but fun day in Icheon downtown.

This is part of shopping centre here in Icheon during normal days it has a lot of shoppers, bystanders and students who are just having fun talking to each other. And this how it looks like when it is rainy days it is empty with people, you can only see few people walking with their umbrella.

Naughty Cat – this is where I shopped accessories like earrings, key chains and etc., they have cheap accessories no matter what is your style and fashion.

Tae Geuk Dang is our favorite local bakery in Icheon, they baked good cakes and breads. Their muffin is very good it is either chocolate, squash or walnut. Since we had their muffins this bakery became our favorite place to shop bake goods during our cheat day (cheating on a diet), this is just beside Paris Baguette located in the main street across the shopping centre.

As what I know this bakeshop has been established since 1971, more than 40 years of baking good cakes and breads. The owners are kind and warm too, I just don’t know these past few weeks I am seeing different woman or people already, I am wondering if the previous owner already sold this bakery, they are related or I just don’t know.

Originally posted on ficklemindedthoughts.com on 2012-08-22 14:44:42

Got a headache today. I might have too much salt intake and dehydrated again, we are back to the gym after one day rest. My headache was gone my husband is right after all that working out will help me to feel better. After the gym session I went to Kim’s Mart which is now Emart Everyday to buy some supplies. Anyway my husband and I was just surprised a month ago when we found out the name change. It’s been a long time since the last time we went to that Supermarket, we are already shopping in Lotte Super despite the long distance from our apartment.

I have found out online that Kim’s Club Mart was bought by E-Mart Co Ltd. It seems since last year Kim’s Club Mart market share was already in the market for bidding, and some of the bidders are GS, Home Plus, Lotte and others. According to what I have read Kim’s Club Mart is set to be bought by Home Plus but Homeplus was only willing to pay KRW 240 billion and this low offer terminated the deal.

Originally posted on ficklemindedthoughts.com on 2012-02-02 12:53:37

We walked around the town according to our schedule and when we passed by the Emart  Everyday we went inside to buy chicken breast and other food supplies that we need. We are not supposed to buy large carton of milk but when we saw Seoul Milk, two for a price of one and the expiration is going to be month from now my husband told me to get it. So I did, since I wasted milk (not drinking before the expiration) I only buy the small carton which is two glasses.