Korea bound...this weekend

OK, I know there are a couple of guys over there who need some supplies brought over...where are you?

I am leaving for Seoul this Sat (2 days after Turkey Day) and will arrive at Inchon around 4:30 PM on Sunday.

I am being picked up at that time and being taken to Tongduchon. I'll be there for 2 weeks.

I can call/go to the HBS this Friday for the supplies. I'll need your order and estimate how I'm going to pack my suitcases, etc.

I know one guy mentioned a bottle washer/sprayer/sanitizer...anything else?

Let me know@ [email protected]

Oh man, enjoy the trip. My last trip there wasnt bad but the flights are hell.

I know. I've been there twice already.
Last time was 2 years ago this time...Christmas shopping again!!

Where are you from in Jersey?

I'm a Jersey boy also...Camden (but way back in 1954)...

Quite cool of you to offer this, I hope someone takes you up on the offer!

Now could you me a favor and find someone who's emigrating to the states and ask them to come to Wilmington, NC and open a good Korean restaurant? If there's one thing I miss from HI it's Korean BBQ plate lunch. OK there's a couple other things, but Korean food is top of the list.

Matt

ma2brew said:

Quite cool of you to offer this, I hope someone takes you up on the offer!

Now could you me a favor and find someone who's emigrating to the states and ask them to come to Wilmington, NC and open a good Korean restaurant? If there's one thing I miss from HI it's Korean BBQ plate lunch. OK there's a couple other things, but Korean food is top of the list.

Matt

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You mean a PX card momma?

I go to a great Korean restaurant at Ft Campbell that is set up just like the ones in Korea except for they have the "American" tables, but still cook at them. I really like putting the ingredients in the lettuce leaves, etc. Strange the first few times, but it grows on you.

I'll definitely have some bulgogi/rice, kimchee and dongdongju. Great flavors all around.

Anything in particular you want me to order for you?

homebrewer_99 said:

You mean a PX card momma?

I go to a great Korean restaurant at Ft Campbell that is set up just like the ones in Korea except for they have the "American" tables, but still cook at them. I really like putting the ingredients in the lettuce leaves, etc. Strange the first few times, but it grows on you.

I'll definitely have some bulgogi/rice, kimchee and dongdongju. Great flavors all around.

Anything in particular you want me to order for you?

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I can't even get a decent kal bi out here, let alone anything like bulgogi. Kimchee can be had, from a jar found at a decent local Asian foods market. I would love a place to sit down and cook at the BBQ in the middle of the table, I always had a blast at those places. I think there was a decent one in Pearl City, Oahu, but it's been a while.

Whenever I deployed to Okinawa the squadron would do day trips to Osan, but I always opted for the Hong Kong trips, or Singapore, cause that's where the real good shopping was.

homebrewer_99 said:

Where are you from in Jersey?

I'm a Jersey boy also...Camden (but way back in 1954)...

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Well I am now residing in monmouth county by the shore.

I love me some korean barbeque as well.

Dude.....are you military? I can't imagine who else would go to TDC of their own free will!

I spent 2+ yrs in Korea (thanks, stoploss!), about a year of which at Casey.

I would think those guys would just like some real beer. Oriental Brewery (OB) and Crown Super Dry Light isn't quite the same. And the "kim-chee Budweiser"....don't get me started. (I do keep a label of it in my wallet, my first beer after my first pass after my first patrol in the Z.)

Hey, visit a "kettle shop." You'll see why you don;t always need beer in Korea.

Cheers

ma2brew said:

I can't even get a decent kal bi out here, let alone anything like bulgogi. Kimchee can be had, from a jar found at a decent local Asian foods market. I would love a place to sit down and cook at the BBQ in the middle of the table, I always had a blast at those places. I think there was a decent one in Pearl City, Oahu, but it's been a while.

Whenever I deployed to Okinawa the squadron would do day trips to Osan, but I always opted for the Hong Kong trips, or Singapore, cause that's where the real good shopping was.

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I visited Osan AFB my first time in Korea (back in '94).

If plans don't change I'm headed to HI in Jan...I'll try to hunt down that place if I remember.

jzal8 said:

Well I am now residing in monmouth county by the shore.

I love me some korean barbeque as well.

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I know it.

I used to live in Ocean, just south of the mall on 35. I had friends in Neptune and AsPark.

I used to work at CECOM back in '87. I worked at Ft Dix from '81-'86.

I grew up as a teenager in Atlantic City back in '69-'72.

faber said:

Dude.....are you military? I can't imagine who else would go to TDC of their own free will!

I spent 2+ yrs in Korea (thanks, stoploss!), about a year of which at Casey.

I would think those guys would just like some real beer. Oriental Brewery (OB) and Crown Super Dry Light isn't quite the same. And the "kim-chee Budweiser"....don't get me started. (I do keep a label of it in my wallet, my first beer after my first pass after my first patrol in the Z.)

Hey, visit a "kettle shop." You'll see why you don;t always need beer in Korea.

Cheers

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Not quite. I'm a DA Civilian (GS-12). I was at Casey and Hovey 2 years ago modifying the 120mm Mortars there and at Taegu.

I'm going back to Casey to teach some LARs and soldiers on the M109A6 Paladin. I'm the Equipement Specialist for the Paladin. At least for another 20 months. I'll retire with almost 36 years service in '09.

So, do you want me to throw back a couple Oriental Budweisers, Hite or Cass' for you? You know I will. How about a Combat Bottle of Soju? I'll be there 2 weeks I know I can do it...:rockin:

I've never heard of a kettle shop, but my curiosity is up...talk to me brother...have I been missing something right under my nose???

Hey, do you have any recommendation for sightseeing around TDC? I really like history. I spent hours at the palaces in downtown Seoul last time. Lots of nice pics.

Eat lots of kegogi.

Wow, It's been awhile, I was stationed at Casey in 75-77, B Co. 44th Eng. The beer of choice back then was called Isenbeck. I would spend alot of time between paydays in the Mokolie house drinking Kaoling corn liquor washed down with fresh fermented rice water, munching on pickled diakon.
TDC was just a bunch of clubs in one little alley with about a million b girls occupiing their interiors. It was terrible I tell ya, downright terrible.
I imagine things have changed a bit since then.
AP

It's still that way.

They put a light at the gate and across the street before the alley is an elevated train station.

My hat's off there hb99...

Tis an unselfish act you do in the name of your country, and for your fellow homebrewers serving their country.

Cheers... and be careful.

Yea, my old barracks was just inside the second (north) gate, right across from the ally known as the "crack". We had the parade field directly out front. The hospital 1 block up. I looked at some satellite pics recently and it looks real different, looks like they knocked down the old two story concrete barracks and put in a motor pool/track park.
Do they still have Isenbeck beer in Korea or is it just OB now? I never did like OB.
AP

how would you get the grain threw customs? im military and when we flew from sicily back to FL they hemmed us up in Vriginia because a pilot had some pisctachio shells in his flight bag! i could only imagine trying to get by with 20lbs of grain LOL

homebrewer_99 said:

Not quite. I'm a DA Civilian (GS-12). I was at Casey and Hovey 2 years ago modifying the 120mm Mortars there and at Taegu.

I'm going back to Casey to teach some LARs and soldiers on the M109A6 Paladin. I'm the Equipement Specialist for the Paladin. At least for another 20 months. I'll retire with almost 36 years service in '09.

So, do you want me to throw back a couple Oriental Budweisers, Hite or Cass' for you? You know I will. How about a Combat Bottle of Soju? I'll be there 2 weeks I know I can do it...:rockin:

I've never heard of a kettle shop, but my curiosity is up...talk to me brother...have I been missing something right under my nose???

Hey, do you have any recommendation for sightseeing around TDC? I really like history. I spent hours at the palaces in downtown Seoul last time. Lots of nice pics.

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I was sentenced to mechanized infantry when at Casey, during Gulf I. Great unit!!!! (5/20 INF) but being airborne, I just couldn't deal with living in tracks. So, I know those 120s well. (and ITVs, 113s, Bradleys, etc)

Yeah, dude! Do the combat bottle! The "soju" they sell in the states is NOT the same. When I went to the ropes course at Cheju-Do, I saw 5L combat bottles of Jinro's finest. Dayum!

Not sure if they still have it, but me and my bud used to get bottles of "Oscar" (Korean peach-flavored champagne) and do whole-bottle nose-shots (shake it up, plug one nostril....you get the idea). Crazy stuff, but when you....get to dance with the peace-loving brothers in the North up in the Z....you find ways to intensify your time on pass.

A kettle shop is a little shop where you go to drink "kettles": soju mixed with a liter of fruit juice, served with a bucket of ice. Yum! Tasty. They are brightly lit (to keep you awake) and full of candy (munchies). You don't even know what hit you till you try to walk out. Doh! You can always tell who was at the kettle shops in next morning's PT run. Phew!

I can't think of anything sightseeing-worthy around TDC. There is an area called Second Market that is good for *real* Korean shopping. Head out the main gate of Casey and turn left--walk for about a click. There is a short bus ride to Soyo-san, which is a national park and semi-holy mountain. The ROKS and Katusas loved it. I did, too. Neat place, especially after the motor pool zoo of Casey. ONe of the few places where I feel like I got to see Korea, as opposed to GI-Korea, if you know what I mean.

Otherwise, take a bus to Munsan and get the official tour over the river. There is also a tour, I think, to JSA (ask at MWR at Casey or Yongsan). Joint Security Area (JSA) is where you'll see the truce talks table with the actual border going across it. I did some time at JSA. Freaky place. You stand there for three hours in your Bs staring at some NKPA dude who smells.

The real institutions downrange in TDC: the Rock-n-Roll Together Club ( the "T Club"), the Silver Star, the Dragon Club, and the New House. They are probably gone, but at the T Club, we saw guys' initials and dates carved into the tables from the 50s.

Or...go out Hovey side and try Toko-Ri. Woof! Those agashis are ruthless. We used to take turtles there to welcome them in-country. Do the clubs there even have names?

Otherwise, we snuck out to Yongsan/Itaewon.

Man, I'd love to see some pics of Casey/TDC when you get back. PM me! Have a great trip and kam-sa-hap-ni-da for your service, brother.

Cheers

I've done the Korea thing. Too much. Casey, Osan, and Kunsan. Traveled everywhere from the DMZ to Pusan. I'm not a big fan of the country, but I've definitely seen most of it, and I have to admit that I've had some pretty good times there.

HB - kettles are usually filled with a crazy soju concoction. There's a place called Xanadu in Songtan that fills theirs with a mixture of soju, Chilsung (7-Up), and Bacchus D (think flat Red Bull). The Bacchus makes it glow bright yellow-green under a black light. You pour the glowing mixture into shot glasses and pound them until the kettle is empty. I don't find the stuff particularly potent, but I've seen lesser drunks go nearly catatonic on the stuff. The kettle shops near Seoul forego the shot glasses and just stick a straw into a 1 liter pop bottle with the top cut off.

BierMuncher said:

My hat's off there hb99...

Tis an unselfish act you do in the name of your country, and for your fellow homebrewers serving their country.

Cheers... and be careful.

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Well, thanks for the compliments BM, but I really like to just blow shiit up!!

My first time in Korea I went to the MPRC (near the border). Back then I worked on the Mine Clearing Line Charge...man, it's got a 5.2" rocket about 6' long that pulls a sausage link looking chain of 1840 lbs of C4 explosive...we blew 2 of them that day. :rockin:

Bacchus! How could I forget the Bacchus!

And there was also that cold coffee in a can with added caffeine. Yikes! We used to get it at the K-Bars. Awesome stuff before those 36-hour patrols.

APendejo: I don't recall ever seeing Isenbeck, but now that you mention it, I could have because I commented on the play on words for Beck's beer. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks.

blefferd: I don't know, I wasn't planning on hauling grain... I know one guy asked for a bottle washer...to sanitize his bottles. I figured that would be safe.

faber: You just gave me so much info I'll have to digest it later. Thanks for the tips. I'll check out Oscar for sure, but at 53yo I'm afraid I'll have to pass on the nose shots. Fortunately, I gave up on PT a long time ago. I may look into the Second Market, but the Holy Mt sounds interesting for sure, and I'll look into the MWR thing. I'll take a lot of pics for later. I'll try to get bar lights, etc...I'll try to get them to come out blurry so you'll recognize them, OK? Been to Itaewon so many times...I think that's out this trip.

Yuri: I realize what a kettle shop is now. Yes, I've been to them. I really liked the raspberry soju. Very nice. Thanks for the tips.