안경 [glasses]

Today I walked a lot...as in maybe 10+ miles? This is what happens when you come to Seoul. Let's see. Met up with Isaac at ~1pm (actually more like 2 bc someone, finally not me, was a bit late lol) and we proceeded to go ... everywhere. haha. Places visited today: Myungdong, Hongdae, Sinchon.

Myungdong; streets are fillled with people and saw a lot of foreigners here.

Rip off Victoria's Secret?

 Selling on the streets for 1,000 won (~$1). It's a candy made since a long time ago, very nostalgic. My sister told me stories of how there was a store filled with these near the place my fam lived when they were in Korea and if you can successfully eat around the edges of the shape, then you get another free. Sweet deal. :) (Although I'm not sure if they did that on the streets of Myungdong, probably not...idk I broke mine anyway.)

 damn. and I was doing so well too. 

Myungdong had some awesome deals if you're a girl. There's 10,000won bags that are pretty cute, but the quality suffers of course. I made myself not buy them along with some other cute items I found. I'll come back with Ling later. We then proceeded to go to the Myungdong Underground Shopping Center. Glasses galore!!! Wow. I bought two pairs and Isaac bought one. They're huge cartoon like contraptions. *Note to Sheena, Jesse - I need your prescription. Actually since your eyes are not that good, I think the procedure is sorta weird... and the lens are hella more expensive too. Like 5x the cost of mine. Not spending $100+ each on yall. -.- Soooo sucks to be you lol Maybe frames if I'm feeling nice :p

Myungdong Underground Shopping Center. From here walked to City Hall subway station to head on over to Hongdae.

Searching for Coffee Prince, but it's too hard. I forgot where it was when Host Unni took me there before. But passed this strange leg spider. There are so many cafes and boutiques here.

 Isaac - "If I was an American I'd sit here" ... well, yes. You are an American so I guess you should sit there. :p Also modeling the funky glasses we got! Inside Waffle Bant in Hongdae to rest a bit and indulge in some waffle goodness.

Froyo and Waffle - 4,700 won

 ...sigh.."Have you still do NOT eat!?"

 Walked around some more, then wanted to actually eat so stopped at a kbbq place in Hongdae. I think it's the same one I went to 2 years ago when I was @ Hongdae with Gabby, Jiwoong, Jiwoong's Aussie friend, and Elwin!

 Borl Sarl (sp?) - 10,000won for 200g. Got two. Really good. and I need to download Korean on my computer. 

 After walking aimlessly around Hongdae, we decided on walking to SINCHON! :D Wow... what a long walk though. Took maybe 20 minutes? Or perhaps even 30? Anyway, being in Sinchon brought back so many amazing memories from NSLIY 2010 trip <3 I couldn't stop smiling in some areas!

 Motel Touch...sounds sketch. with hearts also.

 Vines errywhere.

 earrings! haha hamburger and fries studs. I think they're 2,000 or 3,000 won? 

 Cute light emitting keychain / phone accessories. 1 for 4,000 won or 3 for 10,000

I think it's the arcade that my Host Unni's friend, Bong, took me to! But I remember it being bigger... so not sure what happened. Maybe I found the wrong arcade. 

 Streetfighter

 

 Isaac is a tetris beast even though the controls were different from what he's used to. I totally understand... that's how I felt when I first got on DDR in Korea lol

Barista show @ With Espresso in Sinchon

 Funny store name - "Drink Fun Fun"

 Icecream in a pouch ! :)

귀여워 [cute]

Went out with cousin today! Namdaemoon Market - basically sells everything, but only went to Alpha, a stationary and arts supply store. They have so many neat things here! I bought a bunch of pens, padfolio filler paper, some sort of hard clear folder that I intend to write (and erase) for orgo, push pins, a notebook, and decorative things for my dorm room. Getting here is so hectic though! Cousin and I had to go down 6 levels to find a parking spot in the parking lot connected to the Shinsegae department store.

 I think they are hand towels wrapped very adorably! @alpha

 After leaving Namdaemoon, we went to park at my Aunt's other apt around Gwanghwamoon, and then proceed to go on foot to other places. Walked past this strange piece of artwork next to the Sejong Performing Arts Center. Plants (vines?) made to resemble a face, idk who's face though.

 The main KT building in Gwanghwamoon. Phone now works in Korea!!! I brought my sister's spare phone that runs on AT&T's GSM network. People looking into how to use an US phone in Korea, this is how. I saw that the frequency of the my specific phone matched that of KT's. The phone I used was the Samsung Infuse. I got the unlock code (I just googled a method of finding out on your own) and took my passport.  I bought a KT SIM card for about 5,500 won and chose a prepaid plan (you can add however much you want). They basically handled it from there. Done. :)

 The inside of the KT building - very nicely designed.

 Then proceeded to go visit Samcheongdo - it has so many galleries, boutiques, cafes, and restaurants. Also past niece's high school. It's like....right next to Insadong and Samcheongdo. So many opportunities to eat yummy food. I bought a few accessories here. Also, really professional looking "graffiti" here.

 "Is it really Korea?"

 Stopped to grab lunch in Samcheongdo. So goood! I keep forgetting what it's called, but cousin said the place is really yummy and known?

 Side street of Samcheongdo. 

hehe so cute! Took some weird pictures here, but not planning on putting them up. Make use of imagination. :)

 more stores

 keep going down, and you see schools! I saw plenty of students in their uniforms lol

 Bakery that starts with an A...maybe Atlier? nearby the corner where you turn to walk into Samcheongdo.

 nomz

 macaroons

 Love this walkway, so fusion; between apts @ gwanghwamoon

Then decided to go back. Cousin's apt hehe floors covered with these squishy, cartoon mats for the baby! 

 I forgot what it was called, but it smells like caramel on the outside, and the inside is softer. Cousin said that Korea usually didn't carry them (French goodie), but some bakeries have it. We picked up a couple from the bakery that starts with an A earlier. She said it's really good with coffee / tea. 

Few of the goods from today. Rubber ducky pushpins (~3000won I think? from Namdaemoon's Alpha), earings and two rings (5000won each @ a boutique in Samcheongdo), hard clear folder for orgo (maybe 2000won? hopefully I didn't pay more).

카레 [curry]

First full day in Korea! Started off the day with breakfast (Korean styled curry that was actually much better than in the U.S.), then went on a walk to Hangang Park. Aunt was wheeling around my baby niece. Lucky.

 outside Incheon airport - I forgot to post this, along with a few other pics actually, in the other post

 Hangang Park!

 apts are right next to it

 bikes. you can rent them at the park. I'll try looking into that before I leave.

 heh fun exercise equipment. Aunt just about never comes out here though, either because she just moved here or because it may be subject to more pollution due to all the cars surrounding the area (well duh, it's probably both because she said so).

Then had samgyupsal (pork) for lunch, and cousin proceeded to take me to get a haircut. Hair is now super short...if it was even just an inch longer, I'd be happy. But after taking a shower, I guess it's growing on me.

 Then went to COEX to meet up cp friend, Young :D We wanted to check out the aquarium, but it was closed...except this tank in the front. Also bought some cute stationary stuff from AniLand in COEX.

 Young's failed attempt. tsk,tsk lol

 Coming out of COEX

 To go get Indian curry! It's right off of Gangnam Station, exit 8 I believe, in the Samsung building. Not sure what Young got; it was some sort of really spicy dish (on the right), and I got chicken tiki masala (left). lol.. Not really authentic, but still good. Served with sticky white rice hahaha if you're Indian, you'll probably understand my surprise.

 haha. @ young and @ the cucumber pickle like thing that would only be found in Korea being served with the curry. :p

 So 10pm is my curfew while staying at Aunt's house. She says if I'm going to be late to call, but who am I kidding. Basically I have to be in by 10pm. Went on the subway for the first time since I last came and, boy, was it packed! I'm not quite sure if I've ever seen it this packed or if the train had some sort of irregular schedule for the day. Blobs of people trying to get in, and being very, very squished inside for one stop in particular. (From Seoul Uni to Gosuk Terminal I believe.) I sorta felt like I was being rubbed up on by a guy...sorta cute so its whatevs. NOT....but really.

비행기 [airplane]

Wow. Just got to Seoul today. June 13th... when I was supposed to get here yesterday. Hm. Can't believe that not only my flight from Baltimore to San Fran got cancelled, but my other flight from Tokyo to Seoul (that they put me on to replace the first cancelled flight) also got cancelled!

So this is what happened. Went to BWI to go to SFO. Checked bags, went through security, boarded, buckled into seat. Just needed to take off, right? Well flight kept being pushed back, back, back, until they finally cancelled the flight altogether. Boo. A lot of people on the flight were really mad, and understandably so! Many of them were going to be missing business meetings, conferences, and other time sensitive events. So I fast walked out of that plane to get back in line so they could reschedule me, and boy, what a line of angry people, mostly on their phones trying to reschedule asap through other means.

Next fastest way for me to go to Seoul was to go to Dulles in D.C. So United proceeded to super shuttle a lot of us to Dulles. Then went to Tokyo from there. After that, I was supposed to make a connecting flight from Tokyo to Seoul. Nope, cancelled. I don't even know the reason why??? The first was due to mechanical problems, but the second may have been due to the rainy weather or may have also suffered from mechanical problems. Worst thing about this was probably the sheer difficulty in contacting people so that my aunt from Korea wasn't waiting at the airport for nothing! I couldn't even use my cell phone or the one my sister lent to me. Only way was to buy a calling card for a ridiculously absorbatant price. Realized, thanks to a friend, that I could skype for intl calls. Also, thankfully, I made a few friends during this ordeal. Stayed the night in Tokyo.

Yea... so, I would have missed the flight the next day also had my friend that I made at the airport not called me to wake me up. Apparently they slid the info under our door not even 3 hours before our flight! I swear, I left my room around 6am and didn't see anything under the door, returned around 6 50am and found it there. Flight leaves @ 9. The fuck. What if I slept in??? Hm, maybe I could have explored Tokyo. Darn. Should've slept in. lol I think complaining to United is in order though.

 Room in Narita Excel Hotel

Closet covered by a curtain like contraption

 

breakfast buffet

went back for some watermelon

 hm scenic view I suppose. complete with koi fish

the lobby

 no bombs @ narita airport lol

 no tanks of gasoline either

 art in narita airport

 sweeet! mochi @ tourist shop right across from boarding area (they were boarding when we got there) bought one to give to gomo

was tempted to get one with cats on it; maybe when I get back

Besides that, I'm in Seoul now! drama at the airport. Esp since I wasn't able to tell my aunt that I was coming until I was already in Incheon aka Korea. (Had to bust my ass to get to Tokyo's airport on time, and even then, I had to rush to get boarded since they let us know so late). Since I don't have a phone, it was pretty hard for my aunt to find me. We were supposed to meet on the 3rd level of Incheon where E is, but the whole time I thought she was going to drive by and pick me up. So I waited in the area right outside from that area. Apparently aunt was waiting inside... uhoh. She circled 3x and even made an announcement throughout the airport. lol...dang. I thought she would call the friend that I was with earlier bc I told him to let her know if she called where I would be (outside).  k anyhow. Ate some really good duck for linner and found out that my aunt actually switched apts with her daughter for the next few years haha