Day 5: COEX-travaganza

DID: Swept/cleaned the whole room (myself – no cleaning services provided at the hotel although they did do our laundry which was nice!) to try to get rid of the ants. It was raining again so we decided to go to an indoor mall (COEX) which also has an aquarium. On the way there we found out there was a Kimchi museum at the mall too – bonus! The mall itself was immense and connected a series of hotels, departments stores, a casino, and a convention centre. We were borderline lost all day. We tested new 3D tv’s, played the latest Nintendo games, looked (again in vain) for rain jackets (incidentally there was a woman selling cheapie ones on the subway on the way there, I should have just bought two of them!) and I had a nice browse around several stationary/sticker/toy shops. The aquarium was FABULOUS (and huge!) Totally unexpected. Tanks were composed from an artists eye rather than a scientist/marine biologist type – and most were aimed at young children. There was a Hello Kitty tank, a Thomas the tank engine tank, a fire engine tank, etc. All the displays were low at kid-eye-level (to the extent that Rhys was getting annoyed that he was not allowed to jump into the tanks to swim!) Lots of cylindrical tanks. They had another display of normal objects turned into fish tanks (ie a refrigerator, a phone booth, a bed headboard, a bathroom sink, etc). They had a tank you could put your hand in and the fish would nibble your fingers (Rhys loved it, Gavin wouldn’t put his hand in). If we lived near this aquarium, I would buy an annual pass – it was that good. Our only disappointment was that the camera had been left behind in the hotel room so we have no photos of the experience! Jason did the Kimchi museum while we were at the aquarium. After a bit more wandering around the mall looking for a fried Korean chicken place for dinner, we happened upon the Hyundai department store. WOW. Amazing food hall with loads of free samples. And bananas at ‘normal’ prices (unlike the $14/kg we’re paying in Sydney). After stuffing ourselves silly, made our way back to the hotel (still pouring rain) to pack the suitcases.

ATE: Breakfast @ paris croissant. No take away due to ant issues. Lunch @ Bulgogi Brothers. Loved it, in particular it came with a beef salad concoction that was really really good. Gavin went crazy for the bulgogi, he actually ate most of it. He also ate two hard boiled quail eggs WITH the shell. Dinner at Hyundai Dept store. First we sampled all the free tastes in the food hall (unfortunately for Jason we stood out too much so he couldn’t go back for seconds as much as he would have liked!) Then bibimbap, dumplings and buns from the food stalls within the store.

SLEPT: Terrible. Put the koala suitcase under my pillow to attempt to solve the pillow height issue. Body is so sore from a combination of trying to curl up onto such a small mat, walking/pushing the stroller all day and carrying Rhys more than I normally do at home.