Tag Archives: Camp Casey

Charlie’s Wok

Typically I brown bag it everyday at work, however a building mate asked me if I’d like to join him for lunch nearby at a friends restaurant. Although my peanut-butter, banana, topped off with local honey on whole wheat sounded very satisfying, lol, I said sure!

So we went to Charlie’s Wok, an American Chinese restaurant, where I was introduced the main man himself, Charlie.

The restaurant is located off the Main Street and tucked away in an alley near the Bosan subway station and US Army installation Camp Casey. When we pulled up to park, I quickly realized why I had never seen the restaurant before, it was because of the discreet location.

Don’t let the unassuming exterior and location fool you, once we stepped inside my nose immediately told my belly that I was in for a treat. I learned that the food is always freshly made after you order, so be prepared for a bit of wait. You do have the option to place a take out order, as well as call ahead to place your order to eat dine in. If Charlie isn’t available, the restaurant does not open, it is a one man wok show. You see the pride Charlie takes in his food quality, the prices are very reasonable and you are served generous portions.

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I ordered a 2 entrée combo meal because I couldn’t decide between the beef with broccoli, and General Tso’s chicken. With the combo you also decide if you’d like fried rice, or chow mien. I ordered chow mien based off of recommendation. The recommendation was spot on!

^Building mate’s garlic chicken and General Tso’s chicken

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Overall, I was pleasantly pleased with my order. The menu offers a small variety of standard Chinese American staple choices and price points. Sure, this isn’t a gourmet 5 star restaurant, but it definitely is a great little neighborhood find!

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Enjoy!

Give Charlie a call! 031-866-8656

Backpackbees

Herb Island isn’t really an Island?

It’s Friday night, Hmmm what to do? What to do? Why not go check out Herb Island? That is exactly what we did! Herb Island located in Pocheon, Gyeonggi-do. South Korea.

Herb Island is only a few miles north of Camp Casey the Army military base in Dongducheon. It’s not actually an “island” so do not be fooled by looking for an actual island. However, there are so many sights, tastes, and aromas to take in when you visit this peaceful place.

Here are basic directions if you are traveling by car like we did- In Uijongbu, take road 3 that leads to Dongduchon. After driving past Dongduchon, keep going until you see road 344. Seeing road 344 that goes to Chosongri, turn right and go straight until you see Samjongri Elementary School. Herb Island is behind the school.

When you make it to Herb Island you will be greeted by a worker at the bottom of the hill where you will have to pay a very small entry free. Then prepare yourself for a short steep uphill drive to get to the parking lot. Woo-Hoo! You have now made it to Herb Island!

When we first arrived we immediately went inside the greenhouses. Here we loved following the long paths through each twist and turn and smelling and taking in all the flower and plants had to offer. This is a great area to take all sorts of pictures.

Next we headed into our first shop. This shop had all sorts of little trinkets and crafts. We started to take a picture but we were quickly told that we were not to do so. Oops. We found this place to be neat because they were selling handmade candles, and furniture pieces to fill a dollhouse.

After checking out the first shop we walked down a hill made of all uneven stepping rocks to where they had a small animal petting farm.

After checking out the animals we headed over to the stage area that is surrounded by a waterway where you can take little swan boats or get inside of a giant plastic bubble and run on top of the water. This looked hilarious. Larry tried to convince me to try it out, but I wasn’t having any of that craziness. All I could picture was a hamster on a wheel like trying to get somewhere fast but not being successful.

We then found ourselves in front of the herb-island museum. This place was pretty neat! We walked around a bit checking out the history and such. We both fell in love with some of the photos that were handmade with herbs grown on the site to form a large picture. The price was a bit steep hah so we stuck to just admiring them for the time being.

After the Herb island museum we followed the path that leads us up to the bakery. Honestly, I could smell this place when we first pulled in the lot with my super nose. I knew we were definitely stopping in this place! We wanted to buy everything because everything they had smelled and tasted so delicious. We ended up with bread that had cranberries and a beautiful topping on it. It’s sinful but you know us…

We were both really ready to eat dinner after the trip inside of the bakery. We grabbed dinner at a sit down restaurant located within Herb Island called the aroma-eating village. Everything featured on the menu is served with herbs. Even the water is refreshing with hints of lemon balm, rosemary, and a teeny bit of sugar.

We both ordered bibimbap, as we explained in previous blog entries as a traditional Korean dish typically with rice and vegetables. This bibimbap is a special blend of seven herbs and has a sauce on the side that is made from 16 others. It’s so neat you just mix it all together adding however much you want of the sauce and rice and eat it. We took a few pictures of the dish so you could see what it looks like. The dish is served with sides of kimchi and a warm broth.

Herb Island also has a library, an aromatherapy room, and another more formal restaurant on site. Oh and I can’t forget about Larry’s favorite – The full body massage chairs. He raved about them the last time he went to Herb Island.

If you are ever in the area or want to get out of the city and take in the mountains and fresh sents of herbs we suggest that you check this place out! Friday night was a perfect time to visit as we are told that weekend days such as Saturday and Sunday are packed.

Please feel free to check out our pictures or the Herb Island Official website: http://www.herbisland.net.

We scanned the below items in from a flyer obtained at Herb Island (Sorry it’s not the best quality).

Herb Island Directions

Herb Island Map

Herb Island flyer part 1

Herb Island Flyer Part 2

Walking Around Dongducheon & New City Area

We have had many request from Mrs. Sylar’s class and friends to show them pictures of various things such as, what local schools look like, Korean houses/ apartment buildings, the local markets on a busy day, Miss Bean, what the area looks like, etc. Enjoy the various snapshots and feel free to request somethings that you might like us to capture.

Ohhhhh and I almost forgot – We found a pretty neat little coffee and tea spot in downtown Dongducheon too! At first I am thinking hmmm coffee and hotdogs(look at the sign)?? However, Koreans really love their hotdogs and we thought we would just try the place out. 

Check out the Cafe. at pictures located in the 04-05-2011 “Walk through Market and Dongducheon”. They have a really nice coffee bean roaster located in the front window of the cafe, seating inside and out, and just a  really neat and inviting  atmosphere! Everything offered on the little menu above the cash register was really reasonably priced. What’s the verdict on the place and most importantly how’s the coffee? Mr. B really liked his coffee and I enjoyed a green tea latte. We Bee’s will be definitely making this one of our regular stops on our walks.