Holiday Inn Seoul

... i saw that they didn't press a floor button. i quickly realized that they looked familiar because they were the evangelists who made it all the way into our house last week! i totally panicked and grabbed d's sleeve. he looked at me like "what's wrong" and i tried frantically to mouth to him "don't get off" as the elevator kept approaching our floor...it stopped at 5 and i mouthed it again and froze, keeping a firm grasp on his sleeve ...

... things that makes Korea charming. After tea we walked around and got some things my mom wanted and some gifts for Justin's friends and family too. We got stamps made too, hand carved with our names in Korean. The stamps are made of stone and they use a red clay as ink. In Korea I can actually use mine to sign things, like when I'm at the bank, but it will always be a great reminder of Korea for me. That night two of my co-workers ...

... back master-map-maker-Tara. Actually, at every point from leaving the airport to get the bus/ to getting off at the right stop / to finding in the underground/ to getting off at the right stop there were always helpful friendly Korean poeple approaching me to assist, despit our lack of common laguage skills or their actually knowing the way themselves! - it's amazing what you can do with a bit of ...

... There are tons of traditional Tea cafes which serve a variety of tea such as green tea, rosemary tea, cinnamon tea, Chinese quince tea, jujube tea, chrysanthemum tea. The ambiences of these cafés are very exquisite, complimenting the cup of tea. Traditional antiques from different parts of Korea as well as international antiques brought by foreign tourists are displayed throughout Insa-dong, allowing visitors to view many traditional items in one glance. To see ...

... always sells the tiny fish things. I never knew what they were, but I saw them everywhere and I was interested. So I decided to give them a bit of business. As it turns out, they are actually fish-shaped cakes filled with sweet red bean paste. Okay, I know it sounds really weird, but I think they were actually quite tasty! Three of those little fish cakes cost only 1,000 won! I have no idea why they are shaped like fish. Maybe its just an ...

... moved tables as I was concious of not making an **** of myself infront of him! He's got quite a powerful aura about him, but he speaks virtually no English whatsoever, so it's impossible to make small talk. All in all it wasn't my favourite night out of all time, but these social events are very important over here, so it's essential to attend, even if it is a little uncomfortable... I had a much more enjoyable Sunday, as I met up with Joana, the Korean girl I'd met on New Year's ...

Please forgive me for the plaigarised title of this blog entry but it is very fitting. It has been really cold here for the last few days, in fact the temperature hasn't broken positive figures. Friday night was easily the coldest I have ever felt in my life, in fact on the walk home I was very worried that my eyeballs were going to freeze solid. I thought a ten minute walk from the bus to the hotel wouldn't be too bad and I would be ok to walk the short distance ...

... great drunken sots that they are, would have worked out a good morning-after breakfast.


That day I caught the subway to the south gate. It's on the top of a mountain and has part of Seoul's old city walls. Fortifications. Yay! The views were great and the hike was nice. I totally fell in love with the subway system. Subways are great places for people-watching and the best thing about Seoul was that everybody was so busy making sure not to stare at ...