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My birthday
Since today was my birthday, I pretty much took the day off to do whatever I wanted. I started off my day going to the Weta Workshop exhibition which is here in Seoul until Sunday. It was really awesome to see all the figurines even the ones for projects other than Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit;) I have a picture of me about to be stepped on by a troll. The display had a lot of really cool sculptures of fantasy world creatures.
I then headed across the city to Hongdae which is a popular food and shopping district. I stopped at a tiny, twee little bakery called Chocolate Yum which fresh bakes strawberry shortcakes and cookies every day. I bought a piece of cake and a pistachio macaron. That cake was so delicious. I ate it after I had some pad thai (which looked nothing like pad thai and only barely tasted like pad thai but was tasty nonetheless). I then walked to the nearest jjimjilbang called Happy Day which is the Korean equivalent of a hot spring or onsen. In the cities, they're usually a couple of floors, one with baths of varying temperature and filled with massage jets or fragrant herbs, and one or two with gyms, restaurants, and saunas. This one is three floors. It's a holiday today but I guess people went to bigger jjimjilbangs to celebrate because this place was not crowded. I spent a lot of time soaking before going to explore the saunas and lounge about reading. Once finished, I was already at the correct station to head to Seoul Station to visit the large Lottemart there (kinda like a department store/supermarket/mall). I was on a quest to find a few things like olive oil mayonnaise and a mattress pad on the cheap which I found and triumphantly carried back to my apartment after a successful hunt.
I then headed out to have some bibimbap for dinner (a mix of veggies, eggs, rice, and spicy red pepper paste) but it was rather bland sadly. Very healthy though so I have consoled myself with a nectarine bought at Costco yesterday (fruit is insanely expensive in East Asia though Korea is slightly cheaper than Japan at least so buying fruit at Costco is really a steal), and I'm about to bite into the pistachio macaron (delicious though perhaps more chewy than macarons are meant to be). All in all, a quite successful celebration of my birthday:)
I then headed across the city to Hongdae which is a popular food and shopping district. I stopped at a tiny, twee little bakery called Chocolate Yum which fresh bakes strawberry shortcakes and cookies every day. I bought a piece of cake and a pistachio macaron. That cake was so delicious. I ate it after I had some pad thai (which looked nothing like pad thai and only barely tasted like pad thai but was tasty nonetheless). I then walked to the nearest jjimjilbang called Happy Day which is the Korean equivalent of a hot spring or onsen. In the cities, they're usually a couple of floors, one with baths of varying temperature and filled with massage jets or fragrant herbs, and one or two with gyms, restaurants, and saunas. This one is three floors. It's a holiday today but I guess people went to bigger jjimjilbangs to celebrate because this place was not crowded. I spent a lot of time soaking before going to explore the saunas and lounge about reading. Once finished, I was already at the correct station to head to Seoul Station to visit the large Lottemart there (kinda like a department store/supermarket/mall). I was on a quest to find a few things like olive oil mayonnaise and a mattress pad on the cheap which I found and triumphantly carried back to my apartment after a successful hunt.
I then headed out to have some bibimbap for dinner (a mix of veggies, eggs, rice, and spicy red pepper paste) but it was rather bland sadly. Very healthy though so I have consoled myself with a nectarine bought at Costco yesterday (fruit is insanely expensive in East Asia though Korea is slightly cheaper than Japan at least so buying fruit at Costco is really a steal), and I'm about to bite into the pistachio macaron (delicious though perhaps more chewy than macarons are meant to be). All in all, a quite successful celebration of my birthday:)