Korean Life Explained

At a tteokbokki restaurant, you may see a menu photo showing a large pot packed with rice cakes. There are two of you, and one pot already looks like plenty. But when it is time to order, you may hesitate for a second. "Can we just order one of these, or do we need to order more because there are two of us?" If the menu says 2인분 (2 servings), the answer is simple: that one menu item already counts as two servings. The 2 does not mean you need to order two separate dishes. It tells you that the dish itself is sold as two servings. So if that large pot is listed as 2인분 , you do not need to feel awkward about ordering that one dish for two people. What matters is what the menu actually says: how many servings the dish is sold as, whether there is a minimum order, and whether the restaurant has any separate ordering rules. Start with the Word 인분 On Korean menus, 인분 (inbun) is used to show how many servings a dish is sold as. 1인분 means 1 serving, and 2인분 me...

As you walk through Insadong, you may notice traditional Korean wooden masks carved to resemble human faces. Some look like they are smiling. Others seem to be frowning. You might first think of them as souvenirs to hang on a wall. But if you enjoy Halloween, a different question comes to mind. What if I took one home and wore it next Halloween? A Hahoe mask is not the kind of Korean souvenir most people think of first. If you picked one out in Insadong and wore it for Halloween back home, it would be a very different choice from a typical Halloween mask. Hahoe masks were originally worn in Hahoe Byeolsingut Talnori (Mask Dance Drama of Hahoe). The surviving traditional masks were made of wood and represent different characters, such as the yangban and the gaksi. But just because something in an Insadong shop looks like a Hahoe mask does not mean it was made to be worn. If you are thinking about wearing one next Halloween, that is the first thing to check. Not Everything Th...

When you look at hanbok rentals near Gyeongbokgung, you'll usually see several rental options to choose from. You might be able to rent one for just a couple of hours, choose a longer option, or keep it for the whole day. If it's your first time, it's easy to plan your day around the number of hours shown on the booking page. But a two-hour rental does not necessarily give you two hours inside Gyeongbokgung. It depends on whether the time you spend choosing and changing into your hanbok counts toward your rental time, and how long it takes to walk from the rental shop to the palace. Before deciding how long to rent one, first work out how much of that time you'll actually have inside the palace. First, Check When Your Rental Time Starts Arriving at the hanbok rental shop does not mean you can head straight to Gyeongbokgung. You first need to choose a color and design you like, check the size, and change into your hanbok. If you decide to have your hair s...

Step into a hanbok rental shop near Gyeongbokgung and you'll see that hanbok doesn't come in just one style. You'll see the familiar combination of a long skirt and a short top, ornate outfits that look like a king's or queen's robes, and simpler, more modern versions too. The labels differ from shop to shop as well. Some shops sort them into categories such as "Traditional," "Fusion," "Premium," or "Themed." "Wear hanbok and it's free" sounds simple enough. But once you're standing in front of a rack of different hanbok, it gets a little less clear. Does the one I picked count for free admission? If it says "Fusion," does that mean it doesn't count? What about a modern version? What if only my top or only my bottom is hanbok? Gyeongbokgung has its own rules for what counts as hanbok for free admission, and those rules don't depend on the product name a rental shop gives the outf...