Woke up with the balcony door open, cold. at around 5ish but slept until 6 somethin, to the yoga stretches of michelle and cassie. hahaha….
we were supposed to meet up with ashley at 12 and figure something out. so we have a cellphone which is a bit…….. troublesome. i locked it, but didnt know what the passcode was to unlock it – -; ugh.
we left around 830ish and went to find breakfast and wander around. visited numerous small shops and stopped at starbucks for a drink. we found a small bbq place where we had beef rib stew for 5$, yum. and we then continued to wander and explore a small mall and supermarket before meeting up with ashley.
we were -supposed- to call her ahead of time but since we didnt know the passcode we made sure to be there at 12 and they (ashley and her brother) arrived a couple minutes later carrying blankets for us to sleep on.
Ashley had to go visit family later so we figured out the cell phone thing (…passcode 0000) and found the closest uniqlo 😀 for us to visit until she was free again, which turned out to be preeeetty close. as we head off again ashley gives us a call, her family thing is close to a big mall so, let’s go there instead… walked back and we got a ride to the COEX Mall but as we waited for Ashley, we explored the Bongeunsa temple to await a call from her later on.
Buddha’s 2553th birthday just passed and we missed the festival. At the festival, people were given the chance to make their own paper lantern and hang it with wishes up in the temple grounds. There were hundreds. I have no clue about the facts but, it was a really nice place :D……….
There was also a small indoor lantern display which was pretty good. and free. awesome background opportunities ;). and in the middle of that, the cellphone died…. hahaha…
While exploring the small gift shop, i see Ashley and Gunil pass by and catch them before they go in any further. It seems that their cellphone died too… nice 😛 (we need to get a better one….) but shortly after we went off to COEX Mall.
The mall was very busy (apparently it’s Children’s day tomorrow so many people have the day off today. An interesting thing about some of the stores was that they have circular facades. there were several shops just filled with cute useless crap. perfect for souvenirs. hahah… AND! there were interactive touchscreens for the map of the mall! (but the one i saw didnt even work, so i didnt take a picture – -;) There were several advertisements for MOTO V10, X-men origins, and Star Trek. And we can’t forget. Jackie (Chan)’s Kitchen. hahahaha… we didn’t try it, but it was funny to look at :D. we stopped for lunch at a small kimbap place and went to meet Karen at the Express Bus Terminal.
But before that, we need to get our subway passes. The system works the same as in Japan, buy a card, load it up, scan it at the start of your trip and at the end. The only thing you need to worry about it getting to the right station and how much money is left on your card. The boarding level looked as if it was a narrow passageway with shops on the side but it was actually glass boards and doors built-up in order to prevent suicide… …yea… it wasn’t there the last time Ashley was in Korea. Cellphone’s worked underground too! and their advertisements were in video form inside the trains. crazy.
Arriving at the station, wandering around, and waiting for an hour or so, Karen shows up and we’re finally reunited. Go back to the apartment, figure out plans, head out to dinner then head home to rest from our exhausting day. zzz….
Lantern’s at the Bongeunsa Temple
Part of the Lantern festival, shaped as infinity.
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