Been in Korea for 2 days now. The weather hasnt exactly been most ideal with scattered rain showers and cloudy skies but i will make do.
It has been kinda rest and relax and I wasnt gunning all out to do all the touristy stuff. Been to the Gyeong Bok Gung palace and its alright. Not the most spectacular palace i have seen but its nice to see another culture as always. While we were there, it started to rain on and off and so hyun and I were like running from spot to spot seeking shelter under the narrow roof covers since we both forgot our brollies. Kinda pathetic but fun at the same time. He had to ban me from taking shots because each time i whip out my camera, the rain got heavier. When i kept it, the rain would lighten up...talk about super unco-operative weather.
We headed off to Emart which is a supermarket, and it was fun. When we first arrived at the basement, there was this korean woman started shouting something. My korean friend said 'oh this might be fun.' and grabbed me to stand in front of the stall. He started whipping out some 100won coins and ask me to get ready. There was this korean auntie next to me who asked if we have 200wons to spare so i gave it to her. Then the auntie started to explain to me that it was some crazy sale thingie. The sales woman will throw a limited quantity of products at each round, and we are suppose to grab as many as we want because those items will be at discounted rate to as low as 100won. Its stuff like lotion, makeup sun block and stuff.
So there I was, squashed amongst like 20 korean auntie and omg, these aunties meant business. They really shove and grab like it cost their life. I was kinda lost and amused and the korean auntie next to me thought i was losing out and she grabbed some for me. Then seeing i only have a face pack, she grabbed my hand towards the sale lady and 'requested' the sales to give me another pack, which the lady obliged. It was sooo funny and fun!!! So in the end, I walked about with a couple of face mask, 2 lipstick and lotion, all free of charge. I didnt bother to get those at 100won since i am so not use to 'fighting' for bargains things. Too much excitement...but Talk about local experience, this sure was a one in alifetime experience in korea. ha! My guy friend of course was edged out by all the aunties since he had no use for those stuff anyway.
When we were inside the supermarket, it was like from one sampling store to another. I swear I could skip dinner just from eating those chicken, bread, sauage etc... and these were really good too. Just when i was so stuff and commented to Hyun ' If only there is free drinks and it would complete this experience..' presto, a fruit drinks stall was right below me. It was really good too!
Of course we didnt just eat for free. The sweet potato bread was really superb so i grab a bag of 10 which half was gone by the end of our cab ride....
Today was raining pretty bad, so we ended up heading to Nadaemun for shopping at Doota. OMG! I have to say the korean fashion were really nice, some were going for like 7000won only. Dirt cheap. Good thing i have hyun to do the korean talking. Some allowed trying, some dont. However because i was foreigner, some were nice enough to make exception because hyun is korean as well i guess. so its kinda like favor thingie.
After scouring thru the basement, we went another level up. OMG, the things get better and better but the price also got more expensive. Some are about 25000 to 55000won, depending. But the design were pretty unique and nice, so I guess its reasonable. Even at taipei where they sell korean fashion, its different. Those sold here are really nice.
I discovered that I have giant feet in korea. None of the shoes i tried fit. Apparently at size 250, i am uncommon. Most of teh korean girls are only at 200 or 220 at most. The shop owners look at my feet as if i am a freak....imagine, i am a normal size 7 back home, and for once, i felt like i am Big Feet.....first country i find problembuying shoes....
We headed off to eat korean spicy rice cake. it was bloody spicy... but the seafood dumpling was nice. Strangely, the food place did not sell any beverage. Only food. They serve only free ice water. Very strange concept....
I tried the different ice blended choc and hot choc drink in seoul from different cafes and they are really nice. I am alittle surprise. I guess its only singapore where the cafe staff dont know how to make a choc drink which is not overly sweet - starbucks and coffee bean excepted.
Made an observation in Korea. They have 2 different class or rather categories of people. One is the polite and nice korean, the other is the loud, crass and rude korean who yell at people alot and shove them out of the way. Its kinda like those rude mainland people but just the korean version. I had equal share of both people. It works the same at the stall. Some are happy to serve foreigners, some look at you in disdain and my korean friend was abit miffed at the lousy attitude though I honestly dont give a damn.
The incident was biazzare. While finding our way out of the train station exit, hyun was grabbing me from heading the wrong direction and I accidently and LIGHTLY bumped an old korean man who was behind me. I turned around and said sorry but he started ranting in a barrage of korean in me. He was obviously pissed that I kinda bumped him. Mind you, it was more like my bag brushed against him but he just prob thought I was korean and went on and on. My friend apologised in korean but the old man couldnt lighten up. Honestly, if he was gonna be like that, I couldnt care less and started to walk off. Hyun was rather pissed and wanted to yell back at him since i was a toruist but i grabbed him and went off. No point getting into a verbal fight with an unreasonable person. Plus I dont understand him, so he was sprouting rubbish as far as i was concerned and didnt mind at all. My friend was still fuming and i had to calm him down. haaaa
So u see, there are nice but also very strange people who have a chip on their shoulder all over the world.
I rem my friend once told me when he was in korea and took the bus, he sat on a priority seat and this old korean woman started to whack him with her walking cane yelling and scolding him in korean. I think she was scolding himfor taking teh senior citizen seat. My poor friend was horrified!!! Because he had told me the story before, so the cranky old man [ahem* bastard* ahem] today was of no surprise to me.
Well, hopefully the weather holds tomorrow so that i can finish rest of the palace. Still havent got to see namsam yet.
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