This morning again started out the same. I got up at 7AM (thanks to my roommate who's alarm was going off for at least 15 minutes and she definitely wasn't waking up to it), and sat in bed for a little bit until breakfast was available at 8. I got up and ate some toast and then went to get ready for the day. Unfortunately I noticed that somehow my watched wasn't charged, ugh, so I there it on the charger and watch YouTube videos for a bit to pass the time. I finally left the hostel a bit before 10:30 (admittedly I got a bit distracted by the videos).
I didn't know where I wanted to go, so I hopped on the subway going in the general direction of most things. Luckily there is only one line at the closest stop, which makes that decision easier. On the subway the cutest, frailest old man stood up with a huge smile and told me to please take his seat. I obviously didn't because he was in an area designated for the pregnant, elderly, and disabled, but he was just so cute. He then thanked me for coming to Korea with a huge smile and told me to have a good day. He definitely made the first part of it good! Always feels nice to have pleasant encounters like that when traveling.
I eventually decided to go to the Korean War Memorial. It was a pretty interesting site, and I learned a lot about the Korean War from the museum there. I wandered for a while in the museum, pondering how close the north was to successfully taking over the south, and also how close the south was to uniting the entire peninsula in freedom. Alas, we were left exactly how it began, and we know the end (or confining) result of that.
After the memorial/museum I hopped back on the subway to Gangnam (wop em Gangnam style!) to go to Samsung D-light. When I got out of the train station I decided to grab a street corn dog, well, because they're everywhere here and I had to give in eventually. When she was giving it to me she asked if I wanted sugar on it. WTF, who eats corn dogs with SUGAR!? I'm sure it doesn't taste bad, but definitely different than I'm used to. I said no thank you and went on my way. I eventually found Samsung D'light and explore it. They had some really cool technology, and definitely made me wish I got another chance to pick out a fridge, because the one they had there was the coolest thing I've ever seen! I also got to try the virtual reality head seat, and totally flinched. The had another one set up with a moving seat to simulate a roller coaster, and I really felt like I was on the ride! It was so cool! They definitely made me want the Galaxy S8. That is a REALLY cool phone. If it weren't such a total pain in the ass to switch from Apple I would be buying that phone in a heart beat.
After Samsung I went back to Lotte World Tower to explore the mall and also went to the aquarium in the mall. It was pretty cool; there were some fish I'd never seen before, which is always neat. They also had a bunch of paiche, harbor seals, and theoretically California sea lions and belugas, but I didn't see either of those. I explored for a bit and then went back out to the mall. I wasn't in too much of a shopping mood, so just window shopped mostly, but that place is very large. It's also only been open about two weeks, which is awesome to get to see it so early. They also had a store dedicated to Ebichu merchandise. Ebichu basically looks like a slightly shady Hamtaro. I got excited initially thinking it was Hamtaro, but alas, it was not. No Hamtaro time this time.
After shopping around I took the subway up to find the traditional market, where I had read there was street food galore. I didn't find it at first, but some trusty wandering and I found the traditional mung bean pancake I had been searching for, and it was super yummy!! After eating I walked back to the hostel, discovering along the way that the area near my hostel was actually quite cool, I just hadn't explored it much. Maybe I'll do that some tomorrow before I leave. When I got back I chatted with a British couple and their five year old son for a while. They have been traveling since December and will go back to the U.K. in August. Their trip sounds amazing! Time for bed now. The journey home starts tomorrow.
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