Seoul - Day 1: Shopping! (And a little culture)

What better way to combat jet lag than to get out to the stores, eh? That's the plan at least. Y and H arrived at the Airbnb after their red-eye flights from California and we immediately celebrated with some milk bread. It's basically a pastry with a lightly sweet cream filling. Pretty good but also pretty heavy so glad I had two other people to split it with!

I then visited our local convenience store to pickup some instant noodles and Korean hi-chews and then off we went!

First stop: Starbucks. Yep, so Korean. But actually it was -- little cute Korean themed coffee mugs and trinkets and the seating was raised platforms too. I realized after we left I should have taken a photo...

Second stop: eyeglass store. Apparently prescription glasses and sunglasses can be made VERY quickly and cheaply. Like, within an hour or two quickly. 

But V and Y wanted styles that weren't immediately in stock so they'll have to go back to pick up in another couple days. We went to Davichi but there are a TON everywhere. It was next to the National Post Office.

Third stop: Myeondong shops. For those who recommend Lotte Duty Free -- I have to say even Duty Free, this was too expensive for me. 😆 I found the underground shopping at the little shops more my style. Picked up a bag, some socks, a pair of pants, and some fresh squeezed orange juice (very tasty!). 

By lunchtime, we were ready for some sustenance! Thanks to V for finding us THE place for beef noodle soup and dumplings - Myeongdong Kyoja. 

We had one cold spicy noodle (like a liang ban mian):

The kimchi was spicy but delicious! 

Two tiers of dumplings:

And four chicken broth dumpling and noodle soups -- what they are apparently really known for. 

Really everything (there are only 3 menu items) were delicious. But you have to order before you are even seated so be prepared. 

They are very proud of their Michelin recognition:

After lunch we split up a bit -- Y went off for a K-beauty makeup lesson (from a real life Kpop celebrity makeup artist) -- it was over 2 hours long and cost about $230 but it was VERY detailed. She reports that there were a lot of steps and left with a very long list of products to buy at Olive Young. She asked the makeup artist to do half her face and then she did the other half and the MAU corrected her as she went so very informative! (She reports a learning was how to use blush properly and properly prepare your face for the makeup). There were lots of options online -- though note that finding a lesson in English is generally harder -- Y thought it was a good pamper experience. No photos of the specific makeover but here's a shot of the private makeup room:

If you do want to try it out, it was Jung Saem Mool in the Lotte Mall at Myeongdong. Note that it's in the 10th floor of the AvenueL tower of the Lotte mall -- there are three towers/banks of elevators so make sure you to the right one. 

The rest of us went off to the Myeongdong shopping streets -- SO MANY STORES. It reminded me of the Tokyo Harajuku shopping streets but with much more manageable crowds. 

I purchased a few more items -- also hitting up a Daiso on the way (always hard to leave a Daiso without a bucket of purchases). The process left me winded enough that I totally succumbed to the marketing flyer for a foot massage. It was about $20 and kind of rough but I think good for my tired tired feet. It included a hot wax wrap at the end:

After all the shopping, we decided to get a little culture -- off to the Leeum Art Gallery! 

The museum is run/owned by the Samsung family. The permanent exhibits are free and arranged on four floors around a circular staircase. Kind of a cool concept architecturally:

This was a pretty cool room -- all of the jade saucers and cups inside are from different historic eras. 

Here's a miniature palace/pagoda -- more impressive in person. 

There also was a Tigers and Magpies exhibit - interesting seeing how the Korean ancient painting styles were sort of similar but noticeably not the same as ancient Chinese styles. 

There were also some more modern art exhibits -- I'm calling this the hahaha room: 

Dinner tonight was with our new friend Beomsu, the head of Baker McKenzie's Seoul office. He selected a very cool Italian restaurant in the Hannam area - L'atelier de Orzo.

The food was unexpectedly quite tasty. I have to admit we weren't expecting much at first for the quality of an Italian restaurant in Seoul but as one of my dinnermates said -- Korea tends to "Korean-ize" other cuisines - they add more ingredients or flavors to make it more complex. Every dish was really tasty -- in surprising ways. Here's the only picture we managed to take because every other dish we got too excited and started eating before we remembered to take a picture. 

After stuffing ourselves to the point where we had to let a piece of filet mignon go uneaten, we were yawning at a socially rude frequency...hailed an Uber and off to bed. 

We were all out shortly after 9pm. Very successful first full day in Seoul - tomorrow, spa!