The Underground Mall Part 2

Okay, I went back and this time, after wandering around in a daze for about an hour, I basically figured out my way around. I'll probably go back now and then. They have nice clothing stores and a fun food court. There's spicy bulgogi and kimchi next to a Sbarro. Kinda surreal.


So I also wandered around other areas of the town. I found this beautiful-looking park with trails and trees and stuff, but...

It was behind a chain-link fence. I walked and walked, but only found more chain-link fence. It was a nice walk, but after about half an hour I was starting to get a little frustrated. Finally I found the entrance and read on the sign that it was a garden surrounding the tombs of ancient emperors, and it costs a dollar to get in. It's also closed on Mondays. Crap.

Oh, well. I'll come back tomorrow.

Oh, yeah. And here's what it looks like:

Blue arrow is where I started. Red arrow is the only entrance. Black arrow is the direction I went. Sigh.

So, my jeans were in the wash today. Because my only other jeans are in Suwon, I wore leggings, shin-high black leather boots, and a tie-dye dress I got at the street market yesterday. I got a lot of stares. First of all, I get stared at anyway for being 5'10'' with a butch haircut. But today not only was I (I think) the girl with the shortest hair in Seoul, but I was also the only person wearing tie-dye in all of Seoul. And I'm pretty sure I'm the only girl who even owns shin-high black leather boots in Seoul. Seriously, all these Korean girls are so sleek and stylish and soft and feminine. I don't think they'd know what to do with biker-chick boots.

I'm sorry I don't have a picture of my head-turning outfit, but with Mom gone there's no one to take pictures of me. I tried to get the kid, Eun-hyuk, to take my picture.

That didn't work so well. He spent a lot of time taking pictures of his feet and playing with the flash settings. Then when I got on my laptop he started banging on the keyboard. He's really adorable, but he'll wear you out.

After I got my camera away from him, we had a snack. This included jam on toast, because apparently that's an American thing and they want me to feel at home. Seriously, they went out and bought a toaster in anticipation of my arrival. I don't even eat toast all that much.

We also had what I assumed were hard-boiled eggs. Until I cracked mine open.

That is one weird-ass egg. The white is like brown gelatin, and the yolk is like brown chalk. I ate the thing, but really, what is it with Koreans and chewy food? Are normal eggs not good enough? Do you have to find a way to cook them so they have the same texture as fish cakes? Actually, I have no idea how you cook an egg to make it look like that. Eun-hyuk's grandma (who also doesn't speak English, but who is very nice and who I'm supposed to call Harmuni) assured me via pantomime that it was actually a chicken egg. Does anyone know what the heck she did to it to make it look like a rubber bouncy ball?