DID: Sun was out so tried to make the most of it. Saw the “traditional” changing of the guard ceremony (since 1996!) at Toksugung Palace. The boys ran amok around the palace grounds after being cooped up for the last few days. Explored the offerings at the Noryangin Fish Market and the surrounding neighborhood. Fish are kept in tanks rather than on ice and the market is ENORMOUS. Wonder how they get the fish from the boat to the market live – seems like that would require a lot of space. Got lost in the Ichon neighborhood looking for the [stupid] “riverside park” and the “famous” turtle boats. We did eventually find the park (aka the mosquito infested mudhole with a bike path along the river) and a geocache to boot but no boats (much to Gavin’s disappointment). Fortunately the Ichon neighborhood consists of blocks of gated communities which all have nice playgrounds for the kids. Need to find out what the situation was with the housing because it all looked like subsidized/council type housing but the people seemed to all be working professionals. My theory is that it is housing provided by companies for their staff (logos such as Hyundai were painted on the sides of the buildings). Sidewalks were paved with that spongey material they use in playgrounds/jogging tracks – pretty cool! Lots of people jogging/riding bikes in the evening, all the moms at the park were very well dressed. Swings at the park were low to the ground and all the kids were standing on them rather than sitting. One girl seriously nearly did a 360 around the swing frame, Jason had a heart attack. Also lots of exercise equipment for adults incorporated within the playground. Evening spent wandering around the Nam Dae Mun market until it started raining again and we ran for cover.
[Side note: anyone relying on website called
travelwithyourkids.com - save yourself the trouble and ignore their itineraries. Much has changed since the early 00's when most of the articles were written.]
ATE: Breakfast – pastries from Amadine bakery near the hotel (delivered to the room by Jason). Lunch at the Fish Market – what an experience this was! There is a row of restaurants on the level above the market - you can opt to buy the fish in the market and then have them cook it for you. We just went in to one place that was recommended by a blogger and ordered what the waitress suggested (a set meal for 2). I don’t know how on earth two people are supposed to eat all the food that came, there were 3 courses (1st course was several Korean style small plates, 2nd was a platter of sashimi, 3rd a very hot soup) plus tempura shrimp, a grilled fish and corn for the boys. GnR still had room for dessert – ice cream near the train station. We decided to walk around the neighborhood in search of a grocery store (this neighborhood seemed more ‘normal’ than the other parts of the city we’d been in). Ended up winding through tiny streets filled with restaurant after restaurant, street vendors and generally amazing smells – wish it wasn’t so far from our hotel because we’d eat here every night. Couldn’t resist the pull of a plate of dumplings (about $1 for 6!). Later in Ichon we needed a break and stopped in a Japanese coffee shop for very bizarre ice cream dumplings. Gavin wouldn’t take a second bite but Rhys and I loved them. Dinner at Nam Dae Mun Market, we had a few more dumplings, a fried seafood stick thing (Jason said it was coated in msg and hence was very addictive to all 3 boys), chicken skewers, a potato pancake and fruit skewers. Dessert back at Paris Croissant at the subway station.
SLEPT: Rotten. This time I folded the mattress in thirds and rotated it 90 degrees so that it was 3-ply but only went down to my lower back unless I really curled up. Put my pillow on the floor next to the top edge of the mattress to buy myself some more room but surprisingly the pillow was too low and it caused further neck strain. Even worse, because of a few residual crumbs on the floor from breakfast the previous two days, we had ants crawling all over us as we slept. Ugh.
No comments:
Post a Comment