Currently in Bangkok shopping at the night market with his colleagues now, Simba is living a idyllic life filled with euphoria without me breathing down his neck. He deserves to let his hair down after a year of no vacation and all the time being envious of me going to Korea without him. He even went for an exquisite manicure to adorn his nails with cartoons of Minions!
His colleague elegantly places his left hand over his right.
Simba tried also but his big fingers gave him away.
I appeared nonchalant about him not accompanying me for the weekend, and told him while he was away, I had tons of things to do in my alone time. Lol. It turned out that after my tuition class ended at 3.30pm today, I finished up a read I bought yesterday (aiya I always have that intense urge to finish a book as soon as I bought it since it's so addictive) and watched half an episode of Running Man, I had nothing to do except lazing around and thinking that if Simba were here in Singapore, he would take me to some movies and window shopping. So much for acting totally cool about no dinner and no shopping.
Anyway, he promised to get me rompers, dresses, bags and pumps! Can't wait!
The book I was reading was bought with Simba's Kino voucher which was given to him by his company (haha cheapo max. What are the odds of me actually going to buy a book right?). The book (3,096 days) was an autobiography of Natascha Kampusch, a girl who was abducted and held captive in a cellar at the age of ten for eight years and while in captivity she underwent brutal mental and physical torture from her malicious abductor. Gaunt and battered, she went into acquiescence and conformity, followed by depression and feeling sucidal and then the gnawing desire to escape from her martyrdom. I'm kind of into survival literature after being intrigued by a book I came across, a book about a man who was blinded by a violent attack and how he recovered from it, as I have been curious about the phases in the emotions of people who can brave through such extreme circumstances and eventually overcome it. The movie made about her is released currently and rated M18, I can so much foresee violent and overpowering images that will get me on the edge of my seat. Hence a book about it seems like a better and less offensive way to get to know about her, but now that I read through it, I felt deeply saddened by how a person can humiliate and torment another person so much and coerced him/her to do it their way, and I could conjure up images of the torture he put her through.
Finally got down to my 3rd day in Seoul. And we went to ....
Yes, it's Cheonggyecheon!
We were on our way to the Cheongyecheon Stream, the stream where Running Man went to for the finale of one episode. Lol. Call me crazy if you want, but what the heck, Gelly^^.
I was stopped by Bro when he stopped by a booth that was actively promoting a campaign to protest against (buying from) Cort, a guitar manufacturer that mistreats its staff.
The description in Korean which we understood none of, so one of the protestors explained in a chunk of English words and we understood a little bit. I was not at all surprised when Bro bought a T-shirt at about $30 from them to show his utmost support!
NO CORT!
And the stream where Gelly came to! Bro began flooding me with the history of Cort as we strolled through the walkway alongside the stream.
Lol. At the waterfalls with the 2 unglam shopping bags. I left them 3 steps down hoping that they don't get into the picture but Bro just captured a shot of me accompanying them.
A wishing well in the middle of the stream. Throw a coin in and make a wish, and it will be fulfilled!
The stream is popular among the kids, where they soaked their exhausted legs into the therapeutic water.
Giant statue of the Hammering Man as we walked to the Seoul Museum of History.
Hammering Man is a series of monumental kinetic sculptures designed by Jonathan Borofsky which have been installed in various cities around the world (from Wiki). The largest one is in Seoul!
We found our way to the museum without getting lost!
I always have a liking for inanimate sheep. Lol.
A showcase of parts of the palace embellished with such delicate details outside the museum.
Good news for people who is gonna pay this place a visit - the admission is free! The museum staff was nice and gave us introductory brochures to get our way around the place.
Here are few pictures to briefly walk you through the history of Seoul.
Model ship.
Drinking session of the royalties on a mat in a section of the palace.
Ancient typical Korean study room.
Vintage Korean accessories! :D
A small town welcoming the arrival of the king.
Hat making in a traditional way.
Chilli drying on top of the houses.
Some nice mansion I saw.
Adorable Korean dolls in traditional clothing.
Old styled Korean coffee house.
The kitchen cramped in the small corner of the shop.
Menu hung on the wall - the tradition they kept till today, but of course graffiti on those walls were abolished.
Placement of mirror at the side of the table, dangerous sia.
Then to satiate our need for coffee to stay awake, we scurried for the first cafe in sight. Bene's outlets are everywhere in Seoul, in fact, cafes are very popular there. But again, the Seoul coffee is not so much of my preference! Waffles again. Bro loves them, I think I gain 1kg in Seoul eating them everyday. Lol.
My waist was hurting so much after walking for quite a while and I had to rest every now and them. The limping is doing me no good; I better start walking right.
Bro wanna take a pic of the church as a memoir, but my pic somehow emphasised on the Gyeongbokgung Palace.
A shopaholic like me, Bro would never forget to put shopping into the itinerary so during night fall we were there at the Dongdaemun fashion area hoping to get some good buys!
The clothing market was a disappointment as the things sold there although inexpensive had nothing that both of us like. Bro bought a cap for his friend while I ended up with nothing.
It was around 10pm when we finished shopping and all restaurants were closed. A street stall was just opened for the night but eating street food isn't his favourite thing to do since he has a weak stomach, so he combed the area searching for alternatives but to no avail. Unwillingly, he sat down with me at the stall and prayed for no diarrhoea.
A soup was served before anything else. We pointed at the can of Chilsing Cider from the next table to place an order for it, and to our disappointment, it tasted exactly like Sprite! Lol!
Kimchi pancake. Nice but gets you tired of its taste after some bites.
Kimchi chicken.
Squid. My favourite seafood!
Finally after some exploration, we found a mall worthy to patronise and we were right; the apparels in this mall is more trendy and suited for adults in their mid 20s.
