Settling in and chowing down

Friday evening...

It is rainy and foggy weather, and colder than we expected. Joe's Sam-joon ('uncle', mom's older brother) picks us up from the airport and we head to the hotel. The hotel is in an area (strangely) named 'Times Square'. It is very nice, and connected to a very upscale mall (the look but don't buy kind). I think it is a newly developed area, no one seems to be familiar with it, and it looks like there are new shops and buildings next to old ones.

Time for dinner! (When traveling, it's

 always about the next meal.) We head out of the hotel, cross the street and walk down a block or so and I am on my first Korean streets. Food and neon assault my senses. Street carts, cafes, restaurants and bars, all lit up by flashy neon signs. We walk past some delicious smelling food carts (I will be back to see you later!) and enter a restaurant. This is a real, Korean, take your shoes off and sit on the floor place.

Everyone say 'Kimchee'! I don't think everyone did...

Food is ordered as well as mek-ju (beer) and so-ju (clear liquor). They bring the meal, nae-ji bok-kum (squid soup? Close enough) and tae-ji pul-go-gi (korean pork bbq). Thanks to my good Korean friends in America, who exposed me to all foods scary, when the waitress brings the food and begins chopping up the squid in the dish (with her surgical instruments), I sit back, sip my mek-ju, and snap a picture. :)

Yep, I ate it. And it was good!

The food is really good, and the kimchee is very spicy. One of Joe's cousin's shows up and eats with us. The last time Joe saw him he was 5. Now he is in college.

We head out, and walk down the neon flooded street. We end up at another restaurant for round two of eating, I guess. I miss a lot of explanation. :) This place serves grilled chicken and ttok (rice cake—mmm!) with a sort of take on teriyaki sauce and it is called “Hoolala chicken”. Love the name! It is good; we are stuffed though. As we sit in the restaurant my eyes start crossing, it is not even 9 pm but I am so tired I can hardly walk back to the hotel.

However, a good nights sleep has alleviated some of the bags under my eyes, and, well, the makeup can handle the rest. It is still raining and foggy this morning. A full day in Seoul awaits!