21 April 2023
Early everything
Dinner in Insadong
First I have an update on my smoking rant earlier. On TV just now on the old movie channel is a James Bond movie, and when the bad guy smokes, they blur it out. So that ridiculous initiative seems to be making kids want to smoke more than ever.
Today I got up early, got back to the hotel after lunch early, left for dinner early, had dinner early, and now I am back in my hotel early. Can I be asleep at 8:30pm? Is that normal behaviour for people on holidays?
For tonight's adventure I went past the new outdoor library, past the main palace and then through Insadong. It was not particularly busy and some food places were closed, including the place I was specifically trying to find. That was ok though, because I then found a place I have failed to find on a previous trip, by accident.
The outdoor library initiative has sprung up everywhere around this area of Seoul. My phone has been giving me news articles about it so I think it is new.
A lot of the outdoor library appears to be big screens and loud music. But also bean bags. Have they been checked for bed bugs? OMG!!!
Here is the main palace. Last time I was here there was a lot of construction going on at the main gate, now it is all finished.
Now for a walk down the souvenir shopping street of Insadong. It was quiet, but there were a lot of foreigners around. Me included.
These little market popups are still popular, I have photographed them in many places before. It seems the trestle cart design is ubiquitous across all of Korea.
Some more of the main street.
This building with the spiral ramp is very popular for foreign tourists to buy gifts, it has been here forever. Now it has the coloured lanterns that seem to be everywhere.
Lots of lights, even though it is not dark yet, but not many people. Also as mentioned, some places closed on Sunday. It is a bit difficult to figure that out as I saw a burger king that was closed on Sunday. Maybe it depends on the religion of the owners?
I was looking for a pasta place that was closed on Sunday, but not worry, I found Coco curry and had excellent omurice. It is a bit hard to see the omelette because I covered it various spicy things. I had tried to find this Coco curry before, it is actually on basement 3 of an office building, there were a few nice places to eat down there. From the street you would have no idea it is there, and walking through the revolving door of an office building with a dark lobby seems weird. I only went in because it seemed to be a way into the subway and I was trying to get under the road.
Tomorrow is a hiking day. It will not be as long as yesterday's hike. It also will not be raining!