My Sunday in Seoul

It was so nice to get out of the apartment on Sunday. The weather wasn't bad, and I didn't feel bad leaving pups behind since I'd had her out on Saturday. Grabbed a bus into the city, turned out to be the wrong one so I sardined subwayed myself to Insadong without much further ado.

One of the bestest yummiest snacks was waiting for me, delli-manjoo goodness... when they're fresh and hot they're a.ma.zing... a dab of hot vanilla pudding in the centre, yum-yum-yum!

I ate them all before I climbed my way out of the depths of the station. When I did reach the top I (of course) took the wrong exit and popped out in a street of stalls. 

There was a man making a traditional snack called Ddeok (sound kinda like doc), which is basically just smashed rice with a bit of salt rolled in soybean powder. I just wanted to take a couple pictures, but after a demonstration, several different samples and a 10-minute English explanation later (supervised by 3 grandpas over my shoulder) I bought a tray for a whole 2 dolla so they'd lemme go!

On the way to Insadong I passed Tapgol Park so I popped in to take a couple of pictures. There are (or will be!) more on my flickr page if you wanna see 'em!

From there I finally got to Insadong where I had been headed all along, and had a great time looking around and taking photos. There were people everywhere of course, and a couple of demonstrations. Same old things for sale, which is really what I love about the place. A few shops were changed (this is Korea after all) and Andy Warhol exhibit has finally hit the road :( , but overall the same vibe, it was really great. A couple of teens from a nearby church begged to take photos together, so of course I happily agreed while declining the invitation to church. Only minutes later a strange single Korean man what country you from?'d me, which lead to... I am single... I am lonely... I love children... I love you too... and I'll let you color in the rest of the blanks! I ducked into a shop shortly after the last part with a 'okay now, you have a good day there...' and didn't see him again. Yep, same old Korea!

When it got a bit chillier I wandered around Jongak area, checked out Bandi and Luni's bookstore in Samsung, and searched for my old favorite, angel kisses (candy-coated strawberries, OMG are they incredible!), I couldn't fine 'em though so I kept on walkin'.

A strange-but-true fact about me that you may not have known? Grandpas love me. I don't know what it is, but no matter where I go in any country I've ever visited, they just love chattin' me up. That's right, I'm a grandpa magnet!! I wandered by the Jongmyo area and stumbled into a whole lotta grandpas playing badduk in the park and discussing serious matters amongst the pigeons. One friendly grandpa (who I would've actually thought might have been in his early 60s) wandered over as I was taking pictures of the calligraphy. He asked why I was taking pictures, and why didn't I have a nice Korean boyfriend to show me around. He told me there are many beautiful men in Korea, and said, "oh, but not me, I'm a nice Korean guy but I'm 79 years old now, too old for you!" it was very cute. He said that he spent some time in Canada waaaay back when the Olympics were in Montreal, and of course ticked off the names of all the Canadian cities he could remember (Toront, Vancouver, Montreal). His friends were amazed with his English, and the longer we chatted the larger the group of grandpas around us grew. 

Alas, the time came to say our goodbyes, and since I was in the park, I ambled through the grounds of the Jongmyo Shrine. It was really quite peaceful inside, not a lot of people were visiting at the end of the day. I also stumbled on a group of grandpas playing various instruments just tucked into a side alley. 2 of them in particular (and another who was standing by) were quite charmed to be the centre of attention since I had hunkered down to take some pictures of them. I was the only foreigner who had snuck into the alley. They played and danced a bit; I love happening upon things like that, it was loud, but very fun.

Finally, when I walked by the Picadilly Thetre I noticed Alice was playing. I was gonna grab a ticket but decided to make my way back to my end of the world to see if it was showing there. About 75 minutes on the bus later (note: the 9000 bus is NOT the most efficient way home!) I snuck into Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief with a little popcorn just as the opening credits rolled. Really enjoyed the movie, it was the perfect end to a fabulous day!