summer holidays in Seoul! (Day 3)

Day 3 in Seoul was all about rain.

It rained since morning and seemed like it would not stop.
Nothing like cats and dogs rain, more like the Zeus and Hades were really fighting up there.

But people in Seoul are used to it, and rain doesn't really stop them from doing their daily routines. They use umbrellas religiously.

*Gangnam on a rainy day. Taken from my hotel room*

Dad went to visit the factory and the rest stayed in the room, watching Korean dramas with no subtitles.
'City Hunter' was on TV on encore so watching Lee Minho almost all day long wasn't that bad.
Seriously, the rain did not stop. So when it drizzled me and mom quickly jumped out of the room for a sightseeing around Gangnam. We tried to borrow umbrellas from the concierge but there's no umbrella left.

We strolled along the streets and I noticed quite a number of coffee houses in just one block. There are Paris Baguette, Seven Monkeys Coffee, Republic of Coffee and Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf of course, just to name a few. I also noticed that most men wore full suit to work while ladies seemed more casual but they never not wearing high heels. I truly admire that, being a heels lover myself.
=)

My mom and I bought drinks at a coffee shop/bakery called Paris Baguette which looked like a really nice café. The cashier didn’t really speak English but with menu in hands, ordering wasn’t that difficult. We only bought a strawberry milk carton and a super cute mineral water as we weren’t sure if the breads are 'halal' to eat. The mineral water bottle looks like a giant roll deodorant! I just had to keep that bottle and bring it back home to Malaysia! A very impromptu souvenir..haha..

*Gangnam road signage*

*super cute water bottle!*

After quick refreshments, we went back to the hotel and my dear friend, Ruhil said to be on her way to Gangnam. She studied English Linguistics at Hankuk University and probably the main reason me and the rest followed my dad to Seoul. My dad’s troop was scheduled to fly home tomorrow but dad extended our (family) stay a bit longer so that we could spend more time in Seoul especially with Ruhil’s generous help. She had booked us a rented room/homestay which is always way cheaper than staying in hotels. She arrived at around 6pm and not long after that, dad also came back and had already taken his dinner with his colleagues. So the rest of us including Ruhil went out for dinner and along the way, she shared about her experience studying in Korea and she seemed to be very happy there. She now even looks like a Korean, especially with her fair skin!

Ruhil shoved us into a Japanese restaurant but owned by a Korean family and we all stared at her in awe when she made orders to the ‘ahjusshi’ or uncle. She can read and speak Korean really well. Me and my sisters were jealous, mainly because we all love Korean dramas, ever since ‘Winter Sonata’ were showed on TV3. We fell in love with Jun Sang instantly, followed by Won Bin through ‘Autumn in My Heart’. Hehehe.. Anyway we had Japanese Soba for dinner which is a type of noodle and also a shared rice with vegetables. Basically, according to Ruhil, Koreans cook their meals with sesame oil or vegetables oil and never with animal-based oil. Thus, as long as the food does not contain animal-based product, Muslim can consume it without any worry. The same goes with breads sold in bakeries but try not to buy those with sausage or meatloaf as it may not be ‘halal’. Well, if you’re not sure about your food or you ever feel ‘was was’, just don’t eat it, as simple as that.

We stopped by at Paris Baguette (a different one than earlier, there’s Paris Baguette everywhere!) to buy some breads for breakfast tomorrow as the rations that we bought from Malaysia (ehem, we Malaysians are very used to bring food from home) had already zero-ed out. We ordered a dessert that looked a lot like Malaysia ABC (air batu campur) but with fruits topping. A nice cool dessert to end the rainy day.

*me&Ruhil*

*Paris Baguette*

*our yummy dessert*

And I had begun to love Seoul.

=)