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| bridge at Namsan Park |
The "food floor" was my favorite because of all of the different samples we got to try. If we hadn't already eaten lunch on the 11th floor food court, we could have easily made lunch out of the food samples on this floor. I did buy some Korean varieties of tea to take home.
We spent the afternoon wandering around Namsan Park, at the foot of Namsan Mountain. It was peaceful and almost empty (most of the people left Seoul for the Seollal holiday weekend). We stopped for tea at the tea house located at the end of the park, which was quite nice.
In the tea house we met Devin, from Delaware. He had only been in Seoul for a few months, coming here to teach English. We invited him to join our table and enjoyed sharing stories and sights we've seen. I invited him to join us later, for dinner.
Not only did Devin join us for dinner, he brought his friend Carl (another American). An online friend of mine, Patrick B. also joined us. It was yet another good meal with lots of conversation. Definitely one to remember.
Then, the night really got started. Mike convinced a few of us (Mel, her husband Jared, Mike's wife Marley, Marly's friend Cindy, and I) to join him at a jjimjilbang (Korean bath house). Tim and Mike had discovered it the night before and were adamant that we needed to do this.
The bath house separated genders, one floor being for women the other for men. Once you pay the entry fee (12,000 won) you are free to enjoy,. They gave us wristbands with bar codes and a locker key (for our clothes). From there, we stripped down (completely) and enjoyed a deep cleanse shower, 6 different kinds of spa/pools, saunas, the "ice room", and more. I indulged myself in a 60 minute massage which, turns out, was much needed.
It was 2:30 AM before we returned, via taxi, to our hotel. I cannot put into words the bliss and level of relaxation the jjimjilbang gave us.