Day 50: Merry Christmas from Seoul

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This may go on record of the longest day of my life. We left Kathmandu last night and our first play had a movie station for each seat. Now normally, I am not the movie person but after 2 months of almost no tv, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. I ended up picking an incredibly sad movie (note to self read the summary first ’tear jerker‘ is a hint to pass). This had to be followed up with two documentaries: the truth about exercise and the rise of vertical farming (I recommend this one). All was well and good going into Seoul, found our hotel and was excited to check in a take a nap at 9 AM. The unfortunate part was we couldn’t check in until 3 PM. WHAT TO DO!!!??? Shelby found a nap cafe where you can pay to get coffee and then take a nap in hammocks. After a 45 minute walk, we arrived to the address only to find the cafe had been replaced by a photo studio. Plan C: go back to the waffle shop we saw on the way and get breakfast and coffee. The waffles were a huge disappointment to me. They were small and had the weirdest gelato I have ever had on them. When I asked Shelby about it, she said it was weird because it was CREAM CHEESE not gelato. Everything made sense in that moment, but increased the disappointment. We walked the Bukchon Hanok village where many homes still have the traditional design of the Joseon Dynasty (end of the 1300s to the end of the 1800s). The narrow streets, shops and architecture we fun to explore. We were finally able to check into our hotel after this and got a well deserved nap. That evening we walked the riverway and found all kinds of Christmas lights decorating local parks and hotel areas. Dinner consisted of gas station cup of noodle and Korean cookie/wafers. Not quite a typical Christmas but fun all the same.

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