Of the last 24 hours, two things were certain: the satisfaction level of the first shower after being in transit for 24 hours (always excellent), and all of us waking at precisely 3am .
My superpowers of immediately falling asleep again after awakening always seem to fail me when I need them most, and after tossing, turning, and accidentally triggering the sensors on the automatic light in the entrance to our room with a few leg flops, I gave up and went for a walk along the Han River at 6am.
In pajamas.
With all the grandmas and grandpas out at that time on the river path.
No regrets!!
Ok, we did regret seeing a spider – but it wasn’t just any old spider. It was the size of my palm and probably the most horrific spider I have ever seen.
Since today was our first day in Korea, we decided to ease into things a little bit by doing only Japanese things for the first half of the day.
We headed to Korea’s largest shopping center, I’Park, in Yongsan.
They had a really cool Ghibli exhibit, with a bunch of items (including a shop that wanted all of my money) in from the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.
I’Park also has a Gundam store, full of loads of Gundams and other popular anime figures. The Sailor Moon figures were so pricey my heart broke a bit, but there were a lot of cool things on display.
Thoroughly done with the bokoku for the day, we headed over to the National Museum, home to thousands of artifacts from the Korean Peninsula and the east asian region. I came here expecting to be nickle and dimed for cultural exhibits (happily, might I add), but most cultural things are cheap or free.
The museum was free! Excellent.
As we were entering, a mask dance drama was just getting started – Goseong Ogwangdae. It was an hourlong performance divided into five acts. The story was filled with confucian symbolism and allusions to class struggles. There was also a dropped baby.
We spent a few hours browsing the museum’s ancient relics and modern additions.
To finish out our evening, we headed to the movies. Stuffed my face with as much gourmet popcorn as possible during Maze Runner. Delicious wild berry popcorn…
Tomorrow, hopefully I will wake up later than 3am as it’s now midnight, and maybe I’ll have a voice again. I’m beginning to forget what it’s like to speak without pain.
On the docket is Namsan, some kind of temple (?), cat cafes, and lugging our suitcases halfway across the city. I can’t wait.
