i very much played tourist today. carla and i decided to make our way to a temple near our hotel, and on our way, we stopped by the jongno tower. the jongno tower is what we look for when we are lost in our neighborhood. we rode up to the top, had a gander, and rode the elevator back down. onward to the temple! on the way, we passed by the us embassy, and as would be expected, it was surrounded by guards. (but not the cute french kind that i was used to...) we eventually found the entrance to the temple and wandered around that area for a couple hours. it was tourist central. it was funny to see that chinese people really do go everywhere in the world and really do take pictures of everything with everyone's camera. the temple was quite nice, but we eventually became really hungry. we opted to forgo the simmering maggots and dried octopus in favor of, um, spicier korean food. armed with our lonely planet language guide and my notebook filled with korean food words, we tried our hands at a korean-only restaurant. i really am quite proud of our success. i ordered a spicy tofu stew and kimbap (korean sushi) for myself and a bibimbap for carla. it was more or less correct, with the less being that the kimbap had ham in it and the bibimbap was cold rather than hot. but frankly, i am very pleased with our skills, as there were no pictures to point at and absolutely no english writing. just bloody hangul that we have no idea how to read...yet. (i did steal a copy of the menu, though, so now i know exactly how kimbap and bibimbap look in hangul. sweet!)
after we consumed our delicious food, we headed to a bank next to our school. i needed to take out some cash and figured that it would be a good time to withdraw a lot of won, as the dollar is strong and i get a lot more won for the buck. i was rudely surprised when, after putting my card in and entering my pin and saying how much won i wanted, the machine spit out my card (whew) and a receipt that said something in korean. no won, however, was spit out. i stood there confused, waiting for something to happen. luckily there was a clerk working at a desk (on a sunday, weird), so i asked him for help. he tried three more times to get money to come out from my card, but every time, the same thing. as our internet was down most of the day, i opted to grab my computer and book it to starbucks. let me say, i hate starbucks and i hate it even more in korea because a cup of coffee is expensive as fuck. we're talking simple coffee, nothing fancy, is 3000 won. i shouldnt complain cuz the exchange rate is great, but i can get a better cup at ediya coffee for a third less. but anyway, i went there to do some research on this bank issue. apparently korean atms only take korean cards. bloody hell. i talked to my korean lifesaver, oah, and she said to go to a subway station or convenience store to take out cash. and sure enough, we made our way to the 7/11 and i pulled out 300,000 won (only like 200 USD). we wandered about insadong and eventually found our way back to the hotel.
a couple hours passed (as did another bout of bathtub laundry) and carla and i met up with oah and her friend, bora (which sounds more like pourra). we headed to a japanese-esque place for noodles. carla and i wound up with insanely spicy bowls of noodles and seafood. now i like spicy, but this was painful. i felt like i was on the verge of tears at a couple points in time. oh, and when i stood up, i hit my head on the ceiling. this country was not designed by tall people.
after our fire-y hell-in-my-mouth dinner, we made our way to the seoul tower. it is a really beautiful tower, although it did remind me somewhat of ET. im not quite sure why. we were able to see a lovely night view of seoul, all lit up. after we got down from the tower, we wandered to a patio near it in order to get some clear outside pictures. surrounding this patio is a fence that is covered in padlocks. apparently young couples come to the seoul tower, say some romantic words (and write them on a padlock), and then lock the lock and throw away the key, sealing in their love forever. how sweet. i guess they've never heard of bolt cutters. sure they will seal their love in forever...
after the tower, we headed back to lower ground and into a red mango, a delicious frozen yogurt store, which is what pinkberry originated from. there is a red mango near our school and carla and i have decided that we will go there every night. we had frozen yogurt with fruit and almonds and a few froot loops. oh the tastes that will take you back to childhood, even if you are tasting those flavors in korea.
and now i am home, not really wanting to go to sleep, not really needing to go to sleep, as i have this whole next week free. i will buy a winter coat, hopefully, tomorrow. seoul is getting chilly and my measly northface will not much longer suffice. i will go to itaewon, which i hear is like a whole nother world within seoul. it is where a lot of foreigners hang out, and where foreigners are, there are bigger sized clothes and shoes. in the states, i am tall, but not exactly a big person. here, i am a giant. i think i could put oah and bora together and still not have a kendra. and the funny thing is, these girls eat. a lot!
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