Monday, April 6, 2015

Asia Vacation: Day 13 & 14 / A to Z Challenge

E is for 'enough.'

After traveling for awhile, you get to the point where you've had enough and home sounds so good. Alas, this is my last post for my Asia vacation.

Day 13 marked our last full day in Seoul. I couldn't decide if I really liked Seoul or if I hadn't been exposed enough to it all. It just seemed lacking compared to Da Nang, but that could probably be attributed to the weather.

My sister, loves Korean culture. She love K-dramas and the food, so she really wanted to cross of everything on her to-do list. Unfortunately some things weren't open since it wasn't tourist season, but one thing we did do was the Korean bathhouses.

Let's just say it was an interesting experience.



When you enter, you get a change of clothes and strip down naked to go to the communal showers and hot baths. I don't know why, but it vaguely reminded me of what a prison shower would be like (not that I would know what one does look like). After that you can do an optional body scrub. For that, you're basically lying on a rubber mat while an Korean woman in her bra and underwear scrubs all the dirt off you. I was pretty stunned by all the excess skin that came off me, but it kind of hurt, so not sure if I'd do it again.

After that, we changed into our uniforms and went to the communal dining area for lunch then the fomentation rooms.






After this ordeal, I started to feel ill. I suspected I was coming down with a cold, but it started to hit me at full force. Our next stop was the N Seoul Tower, but I didn't want to miss it, which resulted in me being miserable the whole time. In hindsight, I should have stayed and rested at the hotel.

The tower was kind of a disappointment. It's placed on a hill, not that tall, and not a good looking tower either. The view was nice, but the skyline unfamiliar that I couldn't properly enjoy it. Sadly, it was letdown for me and the freezing temperature didn't make things any better. Nontheless, we did our love locks, took photos, then left.







We had planned to go to Insa-dong after, but I wanted to be closer to the hotel in case I needed to rest, so back to Myeong-dong it was for dinner. Again, we had Korean BBQ. As you can see, my family loves this stuff! We ended the night with karaoke, and then our last full day was over.





On day 14, Michael and I said good-bye to my sisters (they were on an earlier flight) and had lunch at Bulgogi Brothers. With a little time to spare we went to Cat Café before heading to the airport. The cat cafe was an interesting experience. About forty cats lived in the cafe, and I won't lie, it smelled pretty funny. We only stayed about fifteen minutes before our allergies went out of control. Oh yeah, and a cat jumping from a shelf and landing on my shoulder probably added to our haste. Again, interesting, but I prefer my Blaire Bear at home.




9 comments:

  1. Seoul was a mixed bag for us, as well. N. Seoul Tower was made up for the cultural show we caught as we hit the top, but the spa we went to was a bit scary, actually. The food was excellent, though. We probably should have just stayed in Myeongdong in hindsight. Also, while we were there, the air pollution was REALLY bad and the whole city stunk of sewage, no matter where we went, so those were negatives. :/

    Alex Hurst, A Fantasy Author in Kyoto
    A-Z Blogging in April Participant

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    1. oh dear. Glad I didn't have to deal with sewage smells. That would probably stop me from going anywhere!

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  2. Wow - what an exciting day. I have to say, because I do have a cat phobia, I wouldn't or couldn't have made the last stop. But thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks! And yes, even as a cat lover, I found the last stop uncomfortable!

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  3. Oh, cat cafe!!! ^_^ My favorite one is that first one! So fluffy! I get allergies pretty bad around long-haired cats, but it's so worth it! ^_^

    I toured a bath house once in England, but the water hasn't been touched in a couple of thousand years so we weren't allowed to touch it because it's toxic. All the moss and crap growing in it was so beautiful though.

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    1. How neat! Where was the bath house? I loved learning about them in English Lit!

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    2. The town is literally called Bath, England. Lol!

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