You get what you pay for

So, first off let me just say that it has been really muggy both days we've been here so far. Today while traveling into Seoul and walking around for a bit we got quite hot and so decided to check into our room for the night in order to rest and cool off. The place we had booked was a cheap airbnb room with private bathroom near Myeongdong. We get in and check it out; it's small and a bit musty smelling but that's ok, at least it has a/c. It reminds me of the first place in Hong Kong that my brother and I stayed at because the bathroom is like an "all-in-one" deal (see first picture). You could probably use the toilet, shower, and sink at the same time. Except that the sink and the shower come from the same spout, with just a little knob to select which one (see second picture).

I start to wash my shirt in the sink because I had basically sweated all through the back plus the area in the front where my backpack straps touched my shoulders. I then noticed that there was water touching my feet and wondered where it came from. Upon further inspection I realized that not only does the sink also power the shower but in fact shares the same drain on the floor with the shower (see third picture)! The sink water all just flows out into the floor and down the drain for the shower! How weird is that?!?! And kind of gross because say you were brushing your teeth and spit out the toothpaste. That toothpaste-y water is then going to touch your feet as it goes down the shower drain. I guess you might as well just brush your teeth while you shower!

But maybe I am being a bit harsh on this guesthouse in particular, perhaps it's that the building was built this way a long time ago and it would cost too much to add a new drain for the sink. I offer this new theory because while we were eating dinner at a restaurant in a nearby neighborhood that seemed to also be in an old building I noticed that the sink in that bathroom ALSO just drained it's water onto the floor and going out a drain in the floor, narrowly missing where your feet would be. So maybe that's a thing.

Alas, guess the "you get what you pay for" cliche is appropriate here. I think we will book some real hotels for when we stay in Seoul again. Tomorrow night we will be returning to the Gimpo area since we will be spending chuseok (kind of like Korean Thanksgiving; takes place the beginning of next week for a few days) with her family.

Just a normal day (in Korea)

Yesterday we walked to a nearby (smallish) city. We are sort of far away from Seoul, so there's not much out where we are staying. But there is a lot of complexes with groups of huge apartment buildings; probably about a hundred apartments in each building.

We exchanged some money at the bank and then went to a glasses store. It was pretty cheap to get some glasses, so we bought a few pairs, and it included the exam and only took like 10 minutes total.

After walking back we had lunch that her aunt made (rice cakes with ramen - very tasty!) and spent time with her aunt/cousin/grandparents. For dinner we walked over to a nearby restaurant and had nengmyun (cold soba noodle soup) and loach stew. On the way I saw a sign and pictures for "bap burger", a burger where the bun is like two patties of rice and seasoning. I didn't get a picture but hopefully we can try one later and report back!

Today we rode the bus and subway for about 1.5 hours to get to Seoul where we took a traditional cooking class and wore hanboks (traditional Korean dress). More on that later.

A conversation from yesterday walking back from town:
Wife: I haven't seen any white people since we left the airport.
Me: what about me?
Wife: I see you every day!
Me: I just saw a white person in that ad on the sign over there!

Saw some foreigners once we got to Seoul today!

Korea!

The first two are pictures of the two airplane meals that we ate. The last picture is the welcome meal we received when we went to my wife's grandparents apartment.

We didn't see much of the airport since we got in around dinner time and we were pretty tired so we went straight through immigration and customs and out to her relatives' waiting car.

Driving to the apartment was a pretty odd experience. The roads and drivers seemed about the same (guess there are bad drivers everywhere, huh?) but all of the signs were in both English and Korean and the countryside looked unfamiliar.

San Francisco Day 3

Today was a more relaxing day. We mostly stayed inside and planned our Korea trip. We walked down Clement Street, which had too many good food options, resulting in a rather large lunch: spam musubi, chicken katsu musubi, Hawaiian BBQ pork sandwich, roasted pork bun, and some takeout dim sum.

For dinner our hosts made some great fried chicken with various sides.

San Francisco Day 2

After a lovely breakfast provided by our wonderful host, we went to a local church where we saw many old friends. Lunch was at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant.

We headed down to Sunnyvale area afterwards for more time with (different) old friends. A bubble tea, shaved ice, and lots of Hong Kong Bistro dishes later, we headed back to our temporary home on the last Caltrain (with a bunch of loud people on the train! We switched train cars twice).

San Francisco!

Arrived in San Francisco yesterday and had a nice time relaxing at our friend's place. She took us to Japantown for dinner and dessert.

Had some delicious ramen and ice cream filled crepe. I'd say the ramen was on par with the one we had in Portland, ME (which was quite good). Definitely better than the Sapporo in Hmart.

Coming soon!

Epic adventures in Korea! Stay tuned ...