An Evening in Gangnam

I walked out of the guesthouse at around quarter to six and found a beef soup place on route to the hub of everything in the area. The soup was scrumptious and for the first time I stated, "I have eaten well" in Korean after rehearsing several times before leaving my table.

I continued walking carefully over the snow and slush that was slowly turning into ice. I found the COEX center and walked in. There's a Kimchi Museum there but it was closed. Other than that it's just a huge conference center. Bust.

Spur of the moment I decided to cross over Bongeunsa. The temple area was completely deserted at night, all I could hear was the crunching of the snow under my feet. The experience was eerie but at the same time so beautiful with the snow. I plan on seeing more temples this way if the opportunity presents itself.

 

 

Next I hauled my snowy boots into the Hyundai Department Store for a browse. It was, to no surprise, exactly like every other department store in terms of layout. There were some differences; this store had GQ staples like Brooks Brothers, D&G, and Diesel as opposed to those bizarre Konglish ones at the one in Haeundae. Along with those name brands came the seven-digit price (sometimes eight) due to their universal appeal and quality patterns and design. Koreans are very fashionable and that comes as a blessing and a curse. Some Korean fashionistas are prone to embellish and add too much stuff to everything and pass it off as cool when really it an make you carsick. Example: shoes with leather cap and vamp with a Fair Isle patterned quarter? Bleeeeh.  

The department store was too expensive for my blood, thus, I didn't buy anything. I walked back a different way, map in hand, to see if I could see the Joseon Tombs. Once again closed since its 8:30 and very dark. The grounds did look very nice from the outside. I thought about checking it out the following day but I didn't want to pass up the idea of seeing old French people handle themselves in Korea.