Even though the forecast called for rain and thunderstorms, I had kept my eye on the weather all morning, and dubbed it safe to go out armed with an umbrella in my purse. Ryan opted for packing the poncho, but seeing how those are highly unfashionable, incredibly hot, and only necessary in a humongous downpour, I packed it for him, but he is now the proud owner of a Korean made travel umbrella. Good thing, sharing my tiny polka dot one looked silly for many reasons.
Anyway, the first thing we did, like all good tourists do, is argue about which way to go. Standing in the boiling hot sauna of the Korean weather, new map in hand, pointing and gesturing and whatevering, all in good time brought us to the Seoul train Station. Good place for many things, including the train tickets to Busan (on which I am riding at the moment). We purchased said tickets, and felt like champions of the world, then, I saw that the train station was attached to not only a shopping center, but a Lotte Mart as well. Score! As I recently read, Korea is the Mecca of consumption and shopping malls and centers abound. First stop was the shopping mall where we we witnessed the goods that prove Korea's love of everything outdoorsy and anything to do with hiking. Oh, and toys. Could I go anywhere with Ryan and not look at toys? The answer is no, my friends. I married a man who really loves toys. I accept this. And it's a good thing, because I found a tiny bunny toy entitled "Smorkin' Labbit" I had to buy it, that's just too good.
Now, the Koreans also love their shopping centers. One of my all time favorites is Lotte Mart- man, that place has EVERYTHING!!! No, really. It's like a Meijer, or Super Walmart/Target, but way, way cooler. Their electronics section resembles a small Best Buy, and their toy section actually is a small Toys R Us. That's just the 3rd floor. On the 2nd floor is any kind of household or health and beauty item you would ever dream of, and the 1st floor is a grocery market that has fresh meats and veggies that will make your mouth water, and a fresh fish section that will make your head spin. It's pretty unnecessary that I mention how much I love grocery stores, but this one just leaves me in awe every time. Ryan was equally impressed! How often do you photograph food in a supermarket? Anyway, praising of Lotte Mart over: if you are ever in Korea you can't miss it!
They even sell glasses, which was our next stop, and actually, we had both planned and saved to purchase new glasses for both of us and sunglasses for me. They were a bit more expensive than I remember, but it's pretty sweet that you can just walk in, they'll check your eyes for free and you can get glasses made on the spot. They told us to come back at 5, and we walked back out into the sauna weather, and high fived because it was only noon and we are the best travelers of all time. So much accomplished!
It still wasn't raining or thunder storming, so I gave up trusting the weather report as we made our way over to Namdaemun Market- a great indoor/outdoor market in the center of Seoul that sells all the bath mitt scrubbies, bags, blankets and bulk bags of candy you will ever want. Ever. The thing goes on for miles. Ryan and I literally just wound our way through different alleys and doorways and basements and up ramps and around and about this market. Ryan bought aforementioned umbrella and we also got a new spoon/chopstick set. We walked down one pretty tightly packed alley that was filled with all kinda of food stalls, men crowded around plastic tables, ladies in aprons storing pots of red stews and soups, and even more ladies trying to entice us to come in to try their bulgogi and bibimbap. We passed, but Ryan mentioned that the whole thing was like something out of Bladerunner. Cool to see!
We Got lunch at a place called Nulboo, which is a yummy Korean soup place. I guess having the American GIs around for so long because on top of noodles and mandu dumplings and beans, they put pepperoni, spam, balogna, and a slice of American cheese in there to make it a little creamy. I used to have a restaurant like it right under my school when I taught in Busan, so it took me back. Yum!
We still had a little steam after lunch and the rain was mostly holding, so we took the tram up Namasan park to Seoul Tower. We got the whole view, even though it was cloudy. My feet were aching, so we took the subway back to Lotte to pick up the glasses and headed back to our room. We both pretty much immediately fell asleep, thinking we'd wake up in an hour to go to dinner, but neither of those things happened. I woke up at 9, and we still weren't really hungry, so we went to check out our hotel pool and spa instead. It felt good to dip my weary feet into the hot tub! We swam till 10 when the pool closed, then went back up and settles in for the night. We were just about as tired as reading all this has made you.
Lucky for us, we got a good rest before we started up again today, so, I guess it's ok if you want to take a nap before reading about today. Go ahead...
So, breakfast buffet happened again cause we were hungry! We replaced our bags and stored them at the front desk. Today we didn't argue about the direction, because we are now map pros, and we easily found our way to Deoksung Palace, where I put my DSLR camera to good use! I love me some temples!! It was still very very ho, but it wasn't so crowded. Beauty within the city. There was a great exhibit by a Korean artist at the Seoul Art Museum which is within the palace walls. The air conditioning was a welcome respite from the drenching humidity, and I did like a lot of the art.
We got sandwiches for lunch and then continued up to another temple area, but opted for the Seoul History museum, which is free, like all museums should be (you got it right Korea!), and a very, very good museum. We looked at a really interesting exhibit about the Japanese occupation of Seoul in the 40s. I love challenging my American perspective. I know it's so limited, so this was fascinating. They did a nice job of really considering how the Japanese occupation changed their way of life for good and bad. Another great part was a 3D lit map of the city that took up the whole bottom of a room that has suspended glass floor above it to interact and investigate the tiny city from above. Very cool!
The walk back to our hotel was not that long, but we our feet were tired, and I think we've done well with the jet lag thing, expect I. The afternoon when all we want to do is pass out.
I'm on the train now down to Busan, Ryan is napping by the window and I'm updating this bloggity blog. Maybe you are ready for another nap too! Me too. Darn you jetlag!
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