Korea has some interesting holidays, but by far the best excuse to get a random Wednesday off work is Children's Day, "The day on which to esteem the personalities of children and plan for their happiness." And since Chloe and I are teachers, we got the day off too. We took the opportunity to sleep in past seven o'clock, and then head to Asia's largest underground shopping mall. What we didn't realize until we got there, was that everybody in Seoul had the same idea. It was the busiest mall I've ever seen, busy enough that you literally had to let the flow of people dictate where you went. Needless to say, once we found the line for the aquarium, the line was hours long and we had to pass on it. We also had to miss out on the kimchi museum (what?). Instead we waited until we were drifted toward the food court, and made a break for it. One thing about Korea, no matter how busy a food court is, there's never a line at Sbarro. After two deliciously normal slices of pizza, we picked up a jig-saw puzzle and made our escape.
Much more relaxing than the mall, was the Buddhist temple complex across the street from the mall. There was something profoundly peaceful about standing in a 1200-year-old temple in the middle of a 10-million-person metropolis. It was relaxing to say the least after that mall experience. After that, it was back on the subway for the long trip home. At home, we started our jigsaw puzzle (how could we not play with toys on children's day?) and drank piña coladas to celebrate a well-deserved Wednesday off.
No comments:
Post a Comment