Before I tell you about Day 3, I just wanted to say that I didn't really do Insadong justice in my previous entry. The place I bought my earrings is in plaza full of amazing works by a number of artists. Visitors write on the walls, artists do caricatures, there are many displays of different art expressions. It really is an experience!
DAY 3: SUN APR 12/09
The Camera Dilemma
Last night I had every intention of finishing the day's travel journal, but was exhausted from the long day. I realized this morning that the adapter I had brought was actually the wrong one!! alsdjfkalsdfja So I thought to myself what would be easier..finding an adapter...or buying a new camera altogether? dot dot dot...what do you think I did?
I got in touch with Helena, a friend introduced to me by Keonmi, and we made plans and she suggested the Yongsan Electorics market. So I headed there and on the way I stopped by a grocery store. A boy of around 8 years of age saw me waiting for help and then rang in my purchase. I didn't really know what to think of it. He's so cute, but that's like child labour, though it is a family owned supermarket.
Got to Yongsan electronics and was helped as soon as I got through the door. Did you guess whether I bought a new camera or adapter? They are also having a clothing sale, but I refrained...I don't want to blow toooo much cash-os.
The Path to Cherry Blossoms is filled with Obstacles
Nick and I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival by Yeiounaru subway station. It was a quick reminder that Seoul has a ridiculous amount of people....O_O It was like a human wave...really not a place for agoraphobics (sp?). The mob started from the second we stepped off the subway. There are so many steps in this one station...so everyone must really want to see it. People either brave the bazillion (and I really mean bazillion) or wait forever for the escalator which is exploding with ppl. That station is really really underground...we had to go up over three levels to get to the exit.
Once we escaped that we were stuck behind the masses headed to the entrance of the festival which was like 15-20 mins away. ACK! We had to do it all over again on the way back. Luckily we came and left when we did as it just got more and more crazy!!
Cherry Blossoms: The Prettiest Trees Ever
The cherry blossoms were beautiful and so graceful. I really think people should experience it at least once - seeing cherry blossoms fall from trees. They are very soft and have this calming affect.
On the way to the main area, which was blocked, we grabbed some foodage. Neither of us had eaten yet, so we had some deep fried potatoes, octopus and other veggies. Then we also bought two orders of pork and of kimchi mandoo (dumplings) and frozen water.
We did some people watching too. Here's a list of the interesting stuff we saw. I have a few pics to prove it (for the most part)
- dude with diarrhea coloured hair
- two young guys linked together with what looks like deflated balloons and a bag of snacks?!
- a family with three kids, all dressed in the same print in different outfits
- a girl using a rolling cooler like a stroller - her dad (i think) was pulling it
- some interesting flower displays
- couples wearing matching clothes...seriously...a lot of them!
- some cute dogs
- people climbing cherry trees for their pictures
- some dude standing on the wall with a guitar performing and perhaps doing comedy as well
- misspelled and bad grammar shirts...but some are charming in their own way...case and point is one of the pics Nick spotted first...and then I also took a pic of it
Nickster pointed something out about how much money people have spent on cameras and how much worth of cameras were at the festival. I never thought of it, but yeah, there was a HECKUVALOT of cameras with HUGE lenses. We took some really pretty pics with our planish cameras, which i'll post at some point. I tried several times to take pictures catching the cherry blossoms flying. It is quite difficult, but I did get a bit of video. People were cheering and wahhhhing... We walked to the end and then rested for a bit to people watch. Nick had to meet up with a friend, who was going to let him hitch a ride to Pohang (sp?) I headed to Apgujueong to do some shopping.
Apgujeong - Rodeo St.
Apgujeong is a shopping district which is extremely trendy and fashion forward. The music store that was there before...i could not locate. Oh well...I shopped and bought a few things and also had an ice cream dessert from the Haagen Daaz cafe. Yummy! I window shopped and left a few things on the racks so that if I had money left over, I could come back on another day and get them. This shopping area was around 20mins from the subway. I didn't go to the Galleria dept store even though it was closeby.
I was so dead tired after all this activity, so I headed home. I wanted to go back to see the cherry blossoms being lit by different coloured lights, but it was too much work... I've been walking a lot here and trying to make the most of my days without overdoing it, but sometimes I forget that my body needs rest keke
Tomorrow I'm going to go to Suwon to check out the Korean Folk Village and Hwaseong Fortress.
Pls excuse the misspellings and bad camera (grammar)...ok I'm falling asleep typing this...
I'm still down today's journal...I'll aim for two tomorrow.
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