Friday, August 31, 2012

CNNGo.com

CNNGo.com

Myungwolgwan restaurant: Home of the fanciest (and most expensive) Korean barbecue

Posted: 30 Aug 2012 08:37 PM PDT

by Frances Cha

Myongwolgwan, the Korean barbecue restaurant at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Seoul, is an unusual establishment for a number of reasons.

First, it is the only Korean barbecue house run by a luxury hotel in Seoul.

In general, Korean luxury hotels rarely house Korean restaurants, and while this has been criticized often in the local press, the Korean hotel dining scene continues to cater more toward locals (and international guests) who prefer Western, Chinese or Japanese cuisine when it comes to finer dining.

korean barbecue Myongwolgwan has a garden with a spectacular view of the Han River, a main hall and a second hall, with a total seating of 700.
It is also ridiculously large (total seating 700) and almost too beautiful for a barbecue restaurant, housed as it is in a painted hanok -- traditional wood-frame Korean architecture.

The menu too, gets quite creative for a barbecue joint, which may have been one of the reasons why the place was voted No. 1 in the Korean cuisine category in the 2010 Zagat Guide to Seoul restaurants. 

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Most unusual, over-the-top hotel amenities

Posted: 30 Aug 2012 11:40 AM PDT

by Pam Grout

Private pools, flatscreen TVs, mega liquor bottles. Been there, seen it, drunk that.

Hotel amenities these days are as much a ploy to get you to gush about them to your friends back home as they are to make your stay comfortable.

This list of over-the-top hotel amenities is worth bringing up because each is a rare one-off, not available in all sizes.


1. Choice of 20 Fender guitars

Strings attached.
Who needs an in-room iPod, when you can make your own music on one of 20 Fender guitars available for free at Chicago's Hard Rock Hotel?

Although you do have to put down a credit card (in case you start to channel Pete Townshend's guitar smashing antics), you can keep your chosen axe beside your bed until such time as you either take your band on the road or check out, whichever comes first.

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Huge, huger, hugest: Shanghai skyscrapers walking tour

Posted: 30 Aug 2012 09:10 AM PDT

by Casey Hall

Some travelers love a walk in the woods; others prefer to stroll among a gleaming forest of skyscrapers.

For the latter, Shanghai is likely the best destination in the world.

The city's Lujiazui district is a wonder of urban development, with scores of impressive towers arranged like a phalanx of steel-and-glass sentinels.

Taking a few hours to wander around and up Shanghai's most impressive skyscrapers is one of the city's most irresistible adventures.

Our guide to the Shanghai skyscraper walking tour is Wang Fei (王飞), principal architect with Atelier Ten and an urban image theorist. Wang, 32, also teaches at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou and University of Hong Kong Shanghai Study Center.

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at 9:04 AM