Seoul Leisure Tourist

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What a great day!
That night, blessed without the rain, we visited the N Seoul Tower. After a short cheap taxi ride from our hotel to the bottom of Mt. Namsan, we took the cable car up to the tower. It was my first experience on cable car ride so I was pretty excited. The tower is a symbol of Seoul, measuring 236.7m high and the top is 479.7m above sea level. The tower had 4 observation deck, the top ...

... and she was amused with our effort to speak Korean to her.

We underestimated the time to get to Michael's after he got off of class and didn't meet him in time to have dinner because he left without us. A mobile phone would have come in handy.

Maritza and I ended up walking around the downtown city center area where they both live and ate there. We were craving meat and saw a Korean grilling station restaurant so we decided to give it a try. Apparently, we can ...

Apologies for the title, but really, I just couldn't resist!

So yesterday, I went and observed one of Erica's classes, the Pineapple class, in the morning. The kids are Korean age 7, which translates to North American age 5 or 6. In Korea, when you are born you are automatically one years old, and then (and this is the part I'm slightly confused with) at the lunar new year, you gain another year. So for me, I'm 22 right now (23 next week!!!) but in Korean age I ...

... ever had potato pizza? You should! Great stuff! And they have a salad bar with a potato salad concoction, something similar to jello, and pumpkin salad. Good stuff! They also let you buy one and share it. Saves money.

Afterwards, we went to Red Mango. It was a popular yougurt shop when I lived in Korea. Famous for its toppings. But since I left, I'm told, it is no longer popular ...

... a movie theater. You go and select a movie, pay $5 each, and then you are shown to a private viewing room were you are free to bring your own snacks, food, and drinks (or in our case.....two bottles of wine!). It is so cool! However, it needs to be said...DVD bangs are extremely popular with young couples. Traditional Koreans live with their parents until they are married, so young couples often use the private viewing rooms at the DVD bangs for......romantic stuff. Ha!

... water had to be pumped in daily. The stream was opened to the public in September 2005 and lauded as a major success in urban renewal and beautification. A long park runs on both sides of the stream which is very well decorated and lit in the evenings. There are many people who mainly visit Cheonggyecheon for a lovely walk along the stream. There are great mural paintings, comfortable chairs and a convenient stone bridge which helps in getting the feel of the flow of ...

... experience. The lantern festival has begun with the streets lined with vibrant colored lanterns shadowing an enlightening and upbeat mood on the city. The subway is easily accessible and is gratefully in English, so the excitement of hopping on and off the subway and exploring this vast city never ends. Another emotional aspect of South Korea is the lovely couples who sport ...

Gina's birthday was this week so we all went out for dinner to celebrate. We actually went to an amazingly delicious Indian food restaurant ("Nameste") right outside Dongdaemun station. Seriously....so delicious! I ordered some kind of bread ("nan") filled with potatoes and hot spices and it was served with a vinegary cilantro sauce. Oh yeah! And the walls of the restaurant were covered in the most beautiful tapestries I ...

... I guess I shouldn't think about it too much because I really haven't slept well. There was a baby on the plane that basically cried the full five hours and a little old Korean lady that kept climbing across my lap while I tried to sleep (instead of politely tapping my shoulder) because she had an overactive bladder. She smiled a lot though, so I guess that wins her a few brownie points. The last couple days in Surin were wonderful. Two nights ...

... to go and went and bought my ticket for me. Funnily enough I recognised her as a girl whose shoes I had been eyeing off enviously on the subway on the way to the bus station! Very nice shoes, extremely nice person.

Anyway, I got off the bus and was pretty much abducted by an old lady who dragged me off to a car driven by her husband who drove at break-neck speed to their hotel. I was most disturbed since I was a) absolutely busting to go to the toilet and b) didn't think I was ...