Back to America!

Traveling on a cross-continent flight makes the day super long. What was a one day flight is in reality more than 24 hours of travel. It seems like two days ago that I left Korea... which is probably true, given that I was on the plane for 12 hours.....

That was it for our 2.5 weeks of travel. It seemed like a dream now that I am back in LA, looking at the same scenery that I see 2.5 weeks ago. Nothing changed. Did this trip really happen? I suppose the blog (and all the stuff I bought) is the only evidence I have of this trip.

Walking at night in LA is quite different from Seoul. It's really quiet.... so much so that you are given too much space to think. In Seoul, there are tons of people everywhere. Even if you do decide to walk in your neighborhood (not sure why you would want to do that since it's SO HOT and so hilly), there are still people walking around, smoking, and just eager to get somewhere - out of the neighborhood. But in LA, it's so quiet that you're basically the only person walking outside at 10pm. The quietness makes you think a lot.

Alright, enough philosophical views and etc. Back to our last day in Korea.

We cleaned up our luggage in the morning around 9am, got out of the Airbnb at 10:30am. Fortunately, we met our landlord, John, on the way out, and he gave us a ride to the subway station! Score! It was super hot by that time and it was very nice of him to not let us walk in that hotness!

He had been very helpful in our trip.... whenever we accidentally meet him outside our room, he would always give us some tips for our travel. Super nice guy!

We got to the airport at 12pm, and we had to meet a friend's friend there to pick up her dog. This was a first for us - bringing a dog with us on the flight! Well, not exactly. The dog was gonna go inside the cargo ride.... he looked totally scared.

His name is Mongsi, and he got SO MUCH attention in the airport! Everyone was much nicer to us because of him :) Joyce and I kept thinking about Mongsi during the plane ride.... is he ok? Is he scared? Did he poop? Fortunately, he was a stellar dog! I didn't hear him bark at all to anyone in the airport in Incheon, and also in LAX! We finally got Mongsi back to his owner!

It was very interesting how I got Mongsi in LAX. So I asked the Asiana person where I can pick up the dog, and they took me to the oversized luggage section, opened an elevator, and there he is! I took Mongsi across the customs declaration, and all they did was take the electronic receipt I did at the customs beforehand, and that's it! They didn't even ask to see the rabies certificate. What the?! I feel like American security is just not consistent in what they consider strict and not strict. They would tell you that you need this and this, and make it sound super serious, and then not care once you got it. And then they'll be super strict on the non-essential items. Bleh.

Ok, back to the plane ride. Pretty uneventful beside all the turbulences we experienced. I think turbulences are what make me super scared of plane rides. And I'm gonna guess that it happens more in the summer... sigh. Fortunately, this time, I get to sit with Joyce the whole ride! This made the ride feel so much shorter......

I watched a fantasy Korean movie (Be With You) on the plane (the only one I can actually understand due to English subtitle. Because the earphone wasn't that great, I couldn't hear any other movies that didn't have subtitles/captions).

It was quite sad.... so I cried a lot in the movie :( But I do recommend it!

And then I tried to set record in Tetris again..... successfully beating the other people on record!

And then there are the meals.

First meal - ssam bap. Basically, they gave us this variety of leaves to wrap bulgogi and rice in. It was pretty good!

And this miso soup came in as a miso cube that they poured hot water in. It then dissolved into miso soup.

Second meal - snack. It was a chicken burrito. Not bad, can't complain.

Last meal - porridge. I don't think it was very good...

And then my first meal back. Some tacos (I was famished. As I am now..)

Oh and when we were waiting for our luggage (which took a long time), it was this decal that I put on my luggage that helped Joyce notice it!

I love this guy! He's so cute! I guess his name is Boss because in another sticker, he said "My name is Boss!"

Ah right, my new acquired favorite character on this trip - Pororo.

Got this from Paris Baguette right after we got our tax refund from Incheon Airport. I was famished. I think that is the theme today.

And then got these cookies as well.

And lastly, people reunited at the airport!

That's it friends! Thus ending our 2.5 weeks of vacation, which really just felt like a dream. Now back to reality, and figuring how to escape the heat while keeping up the walking routine in America....

Ah, lastly, I want to thank my best travel partner - Joyce! I'm so glad that we get to take 2.5 weeks to travel together - no better travel partner! I think our travel style are, for the most part, similar enough that we can do the same thing together. And when our interests are different, we are ok to just do separate things for a while. The most important thing about traveling together is finding someone to travel with who has similar traveling style... whether that's the places you want to visit, things you want to eat, living habits, pickiness, etc. When it's too different, it's really hard to live together for an extended amount of time..... Glad we share the same humor, same living habits, same laidbackness (of course, Joyce is way more laid back than I am), same food interest, and entertaining me on my obscure interest at times. Thank you Joyce!!

2nd to last day in Korea

This is the second to the last day in Korea..... after much much food, we have come to the point where we feel that we can't eat anymore. But we still must eat.

Got up around 12pm and went out to get some food. We found this place next to our hostel that lets you order Japanese food through a kiosk (and pay too) so they can reduce labor cost. The place is actually really nicely decorated even though they don't have a large staff.

And this is Joyce waiting for food...

Our food was actually quite delicious! I couldn't really stuff all of it in my stomach though.... big eating the previous days..

Joyce's bulgogi rice.

My tonkatsu.

After lunch, I went to meet this person I met through the Korean app that helps me learn Korean with other Korean. I was a bit nervous since I've never met this person before. However, she turned out to be pretty cool, and we talked for four hours just about culture, life, and etc.

We randomly found this cafe in Hongdae (seriously, there are TONS of cafe in Hongdae), and it was quite awesome. It's upstairs, and it has these balcony seating that's still enclosed with air condition, so you can people watch.

All the cafes in Seoul have their own style and I really really like them. There is definitely no lack of cafe in Seoul.... but their prices often can be steep. I wish there would be more cafes like these in LA so I can frequent them!

This is the cheesecake that we got.

Not bad. I would say the drink in this cafe is not bad, but would not be the reason for me to consider coming back again.

By the time we finished talking, it was already 6:30pm and since Joyce is reading at a cafe, I thought I would just take my last stroll around Hongdae. It was still SOOOO hot..... seriously, every Korean we met says this is the hottest and abnormal summer ever. And everyone who walks into every store has this "oh goodness, I'm now alive" expression on their face as the A/C blows on their face. It really is too hot.

There were a lot of buskers today (hope they survive the hotness) and this one in particular had soooooooooo many people setting up real cameras to film her! I was like.... what's the big deal? So I waited until she started singing. Not bad, but why such a following?

Is it just because she's cute? Or is she actually famous? I have no idea..... and just walked away.

I thought that I would shop one last time in Korea so I walked around the clothing stores in Hongdae... and to my dismay, I saw this girl from China doing a live broadcasting, in Chinese, to a lot of follower with her phone. So apparently, she was trying to buy clothes for these random people on live broadcasting. She could pull her phone really close to the cloth, describe the clothes, and call it "this is #1, this is #2", and take orders like that. She was sooooo loud. I don't know... I really don't like people who kind of takes advantage of what other country offers for their own benefit. I left with distaste in my expression and went to the other stores. Except that I met her again! Ugh. Bleh.

After an unsuccessful shopping for about an hour, I met up with Joyce at her cafe and went to eat dinner. Last dinner in Korea. This place sells more traditional snack food... and we also ordered it through a kiosk!

The tteokbokki was soooo spicy though. Cannot eat it without sweating. The spicy kimbap is really good..... It looks like I've expanded my tolerance for spicy food!

Came back, watched an hour of "Are you human too?" drama, and decided that we'll just pack tomorrow. Time to go back. Kind of bittersweet, but mostly glad to go back to my normal life. If I were to come back again, I would want to come back because of a specific purpose and have that be a regular part of my daily routine, like attending a Korean class for passing an exam, working at a job, or something like that. I don't really want to vacation with no plans... because I don't think I would be able to have enough energy to make myself get up everyday, to walk outside everyday (especially when it's hot) for that long. It makes me not enjoy my vacation as much (I suppose I'm a bit workaholic...).

Alright, flight is checked in, and ready to go back to America tomorrow with my friend's dog!

More food....

Ok, it's been really really hot lately, but that was expected at this time in Korea. Except the Koreans all told us that this is abnormal. They said that it's never this hot in Korea... and they're all melting when they go outside. Everyone is trying to stay inside as long as possible.... eek! It's been so hot that we pretty much don't want to do anything, but sit in an A/C room all the time.

So we met up with two people today... which means, more food! The trend has been: 1) meet the person, 2) eat dinner/lunch/meal together, 3) drink some drink together. Meet the next person and repeat. Too much food!! Super full all the time now!!

We first met up with my friend's friend, Soo Mi. She looks super trendy! She is also very bubbly too, so it helps with getting to know her a bit better. She doesn't really speak English, but she can speak Japanese very well! So she kept switching between Korean and Japanese to talk to both Joyce and me.... I was like..... aren't you tired switching between the two and basically just repeated what you said in Korean in Japanese?! But she was nice enough to do that for both of us.... and she's patient enough to listen to my Korean and urge me on when I'm trying really hard to express myself.

She took us to a chicken kalbi place.... I didn't know what it was until we got there! It's like a super chicken bbq place... and it was sooooo delicious!

(haha, he probably thought it was so weird that I was taking a picture of him. But the employees are supposed to mix it for you. And that big round thing around it is to prevent it from splattering onto our clothes)

It was SUPER good!!!! I'm gonna miss it when I go back to the states......

And it has this kind of tteok..... ones with sweet potato inside!

Koreans DO NOT let any good sauce go to waste. Always add a few bowls of rice and continue eating! Except this one has CHEESE!

It was AMAZING! Except I was sooooo full. Soo Mi told us that we have to eat the crispy rice that's on the bottom of the pan because that's also the "main course". Haha... they're all so funny. Anyways, yes, it was also amazing.

She was too nice to treat us to lunch.... (they've all been buying us all the food.....) so we treated her to Starbucks and talked some more in Korean/Japanese. She said she was trying to learn salsa, but gave up because they had to dance too close to the other person, and I showed her Joyce's wedding salsa dance video and she was impressed (I would too). We talked a bit more and went on to meet the next person!

We met up with Bomi around Gyeongbokgung and she did Korean language study with me for 90 minutes! I really appreciated her spending so much time helping me when I didn't even meet her before! She was nice enough to speak in easier words and urged me on to express myself in Korean when I got stuck. I realized later that both Soo Mi and Bo,i spoke really really fast (Soo Mi also said that she spoke really fast), but I think it was good training for me... because now I can listen to faster Korean. But seriously.... I'm still a ways off from being able to talk more naturally. However, I always appreciate the opportunity to speak to Koreans in Korean!

While we were doing Korean language exchange, Joyce was studying Korean on her own! She learned the Hangeul in 90 minutes! Good job Joyce!

She then took us around the National Museum of Palace and explained pretty much the entire first floor exhibit to us because she knows so much about the history. Seriously, she should have just worked for the museum! Oh yeah, her English is really really good! And she has never studied outside of Korea! Amazing!

After that tour (notice how we pretty much just stayed inside the entire day), we went to eat gamjatang (potato soup with pork), which she treated. They're all too nice!

Seriously, too much food!! I ate as much as I can.... but I was pretty much at the full extent of my stomach.

Bomi studied journalism in college and she had been very interested in meeting foreigners because she can learn more about other cultures through conversation with them. We had a lot of discussion about politics, education, racism, culture differences, and etc. It was a very interesting intellectual exchange with her.... and I'm glad to meet someone as smart as her!

It was still sooooo hot outside, so we walked around the Seochun (West Village) area until we decided to just stop at a cafe. Here are the scenery and drinks we ordered.

This is the oldest existing bookstore in Seoul (or Korea).

I, again, got an ade.

We spent the next two hours or so just really exchanging thoughts about culture and all. It was really really awesome!

I think meeting people like Bomi (which there are many on this trip) was that there are a lot of people out there who have ideas about their life that they are seeking to accomplish through their decisions. Sometimes meeting these people made me wonder why I didn't think about traveling and meeting different people earlier? I think I lived a life where I was kind of taught to just be content with where you are at the moment instead of even entertaining the idea of maybe living outside of where I was, or doing something that I may like doing better.... I just thought that staying put would be the best decision for my life. I'm really glad that we kind of branched out and actively met people on this trip.

A lot of people always ask me why I learn Korean (a lot of Koreans I meet on this trip also ask me that question). To be honest, I don't know. I started because I watched a lot of Korean dramas and wanted to sing the songs, and then it became a challenge to see if I can learn another language. Then it became my hobby to see how far I can get in a new language. But really, I don't know why I'm learning a language.... but meeting people on this trip who have mastered another language or is practicing a language, I realize that.... you sometimes don't really need an "end goal" (like you want to marry someone from that language, or to travel somewhere, or to ...whatever), it's just a hobby. Many people learn Japanese because they were interested in the culture. Will they ever live there? Maybe not. Will they marry someone who's Japanese? Maybe not. But hey, learning a new language doesn't mean that it has to have a practical reason, right? Why do polyglots learn all those languages? I think they just thrive on being able to understand more things in that language... and just the thrill of being able to learn yet another language. So yeah.... the path for me to master this language is still quite far, but I appreciate every opportunity to learn and to get a bit better!

Meeting with new friends~

We've been getting to sleep later and later... which means we got up later and later :(

Finally got up around 11am this morning. Joyce took a shower, and we headed to Gangnam to meet some new friends. The first one we met was named Jeff, which is my Korean friend in America's friend from work. It turned out that my Korean friend, Jeff, and the person we met yesterday for BBQ, all work at this company called Solvay..... which is the company that bought my former company, Cytec! What a small world! When he told me that he is an engineer at a company, I told him that I was an engineer for 9 years too. He asked me what field I worked in, I figured that no one would really know what it is, so I just said it was a company that made material for aerospace company. He asked if it were parts, I said no, it's the material that goes into making parts. And then he said, "so you worked for Cytec?" I was like.... what the? How did you know?! He said he works for Solvay, and I knew from my old co-workers that this is the company who bought Cytec a year after I left. Wow.... small world. Well, if you get into that niche market, there are really only a few dominant players... but who knew that we would have all been working in the same industry!

We met at Coffee Smith again.... and all I have to say is, it is not my favorite place to drink coffee. Their coffee shop is huge and it's a nice place to meet people, but their drinks (I've only tried the non-coffee ones) are not great. And it's super expensive. Their watermelon juice is 6,000 won. Seriously. I can probably buy half a watermelon for that price. Joyce got this personal sized bingsu, but I think the place we ate the other day was much better.

It was really hot today.... probably close to 100F in Seoul. So after meeting Jeff and his friend, we decided to chill at the nearby Kyobo tower in Gangnam until we meet our other friend for dinner at 5pm. Before we got to Kyobo tower, I saw this place!!

What the heck? Are you serious?! Magnum?! I thought they only sold ice cream to grocery stores! Why do they have an actual ice cream shop in Seoul?! And this place is so bling that we felt like it is the Las Vegas of ice cream....

You can customize your ice cream, from the topping, bar, coating, to the drip. For the topping, you can choose three out of all the selections they have. It's quite amazing...

The customized ice cream bar is only 5,500 won. I know it's a bit pricey, but all things considered, I think it's still worth the price. For the experience.

This place is seriously so bling that they even have a light box for you to take pictures of your ice cream creation!

Serious amount of photoshoot for my ice cream. So much so that by the time I started eating it, the ice cream was a bit melted inside. Bleh.

For my ice cream, I got three toppings: roasted almond, cocoa nibs, and some dark chocolate shavings. It was vanilla ice cream (real vanilla, mind you, with vanilla seeds. And we all know how much vanilla cost these days....), with dark chocolate coating (it's gotta be dark chocolate), and milk chocolate drizzle (because you gotta have some contrast). It was quite good. Mostly for the experience.

They also have some super fancy ready-made ice cream bars. And they even sell a set of it. I wonder who's gonna buy it in such hot weather. Aren't they gonna melt?!

We're satisfied with our ice cream bars.

After the ice cream excursion, we finally made it to Kyobo to buy some Korean language books. Joyce got two books to start learning Korean.... for the next four days -_-.

We then met up with our newly acquired friend, Brianna, who we met through the language cafe we worked at for 5 days. Haha. We did meet some nice people over there! (she's the nice Korean girl sitting behind me). Please ignore that bandaid on her head. She had a scar from something she doesn't know and just wanted to cover it up.

She took us to this good Italian restaurant called Bobired (I really don't know how to read the name). It's good, but I think it could do with some more cheese. She brought her friend along as well... her name is Miana, from Finland! I've never known anyone from Finland! Her boyfriend is Korean, which is why she had been living in Korea for a while.

After our dinner, we went to a cafe called "Get some coffee downstairs" (it's literally in the basement) to try their "ugly apple crumble affogato" that she saw on Instagram. Brianna is quite a foodie. She finds all these 맛집 (delicious restaurants) using Instagram, and makes an effort to try all of them!

"Hey, you wanna.... get some coffee downstairs?"

The ambience is really nice, and the affogato is actually pretty good!

My one last picture with Brianna!

And then we took Joyce to get a haircut. I think she looked pretty good with the haircut.... but I think it could have had a more stunning result if we had went with some more different style, but I couldn't tell the stylist to do more, because it's kind of rude to make that much suggestion to the stylist....

That's it for our adventure today! We're gonna go back in three days or so..... I think our vacation is long enough that we really should get on home to attend to our duties!