I also went to E-Mart again and took my time checking out the entire store. The appliances in Korea are quite different. I wanted to take some pictures but the sales staff have a tendancy to follow right behind you so I wasn't comfortable taking pictures. But I did find a picture of one the refrigerators that seem to be so common there so I'm posting it here.
Outside the subway station was quite different from the atmosphere on Friday night. I guess lots of street vendors come out at night and probably even moreso on the weekends. It was somewhat difficult to find lunch. It's very hard to order Korean food and have any idea what you might be getting and I'm not that adventureous. I ended up getting something at a bakery that ended up being closer to dessert than lunch. I didn't expect it to have a sweet filling inside but it did. Oh well.
I also got the privilege of using one of the squat toilets. Jen hasn't even done this yet. Sorry... I know not everyone wants to hear the private details of life, but I get fascinated with the difference in lifestyles. I think I find that most interesting part of travel. Anyway I had heard of squat toilets but thought they were more like outhouses than actual plumbing.
Jen decided we would go for Korean pizza for dinner. We went to Mr. Pizza.
I guess women do love Mr. Pizza because even though the place was packed there were only two men dining there. Korean pizza is quite different as far as toppings are concerned. They offered lots of seafood toppings and even one pizza had stuffed crust kind of like Pizza Hut but with a different twist.
It was stuffed with shrimp. The dough and sauce were very similar though. We ordered potato pizza which had large slices of baked or roasted potato and corn on top. It was very good. They served it with a side of garlic sauce (of course) and sweet pickles. Apparently pickles are very popular because this was the second time I'd had pickles. They were very similar to our bread and butter pickles. The pizza is not economical in Korea. Even though ours was small it cost somewhere between $18-20 I think. That was without drinks. Speaking of drinks I'm not sure I told you but when Koreans do order soft drinks, it's not at all uncommon for 2 or 3 people to share one drink. In fact on Saturday when I ordered a drink I was given two straws. I guess they assumed I was planning to share it with Jennifer.
Then we were off to Seoul Tower. Jennifer had told me it was quite a hike uphill to get to the cable car so you don't have to walk "up" to Seoul Tower. She wasn't kidding. We took the subway to Myeongdong and started walking up this hill. I asked her if this was the hill she had been talking about and her reply was not yet. I was pretty tired on that one. When we got to "the hill," she said, "It's easier if you just run." Yeah right. As her friend Robin can attest, she found it quite amusing to run, turn around, and take pictures of us in our suffering.
At the top of the hill there were some really pretty restaurants that would have been interesting to visit. We just took pictures instead.
Finally, we were at the Namsan Cable Car. I'm not sure Seoul Tower (actually N. Seoul Tower) is quite worth the cost but I guess it's something most tourists do. I thought the ride in the cable car would be scenic but they cram as many people as possible inside so unless you're first and get a spot near the window (to stand) you really don't see much. Then you still have to pay to go up in the tower. It was still interesting for sure.
It was another late night though. I could not keep my eyes open on the subway home so I joined most of the Koreans and slept. I'm sorry that neither of us are getting as much sleep as we need.
No comments:
Post a Comment