George is finally here!! I was glad that he had arrived safely and at the same time, relieved that his incessant texting was finally over. I had told George to simply text me when he landed at Incheon Airport but he had to text me every step of the way on his journey from the US to Korea. My phone was pinging with the gazillion text messages he was sending me. Yes, he pays for internet access on the plane so even when he's flying, he's texting me!! Love the guy but so not necessary to know his every move!
His taxi driver also got a bit lost because the GPS systems show a different entrance to the building. Over the phone, I directed to the correct location and although I had told him to just come up to the apartment, he was waiting for me in the lobby so I went downstairs and met him there.
George took a few minutes to settle in to the apartment - I gave him a quick tour of the place. It had been a long flight for him and I expected to be a bit tired but he was in good shape - far better than I was doing. He was hungry so we headed out to a nearby street where I had spotted several local restaurants. We just picked up and sat at a table outside. Although it had been a warm and humid day, the weather at night was very pleasant. It was nice to enjoy a bit of cool temperature without the air conditioner.
A woman, whom I presumed was the owner, greeted us with menus. Of course, they were all in Korean. I wasn't hungry at all as I was still full from my ginormous lunch at Sanchon so I let George do the choosing. He was in the mood for some seafood and so with some sign language - pointing to a picture that we thought looked like octopus, we ordered his meal. Thankfully, the woman did understand the word, "Beer". :-)
It was our first *real* Korean meal. A dish of marinated bean sprouts and turnips, aka the banchan, were delivered to the table first. We munched on those as we chatted about our days to come. We have zero itinerary planned so we have to figure out how we are going to spend the next 8 days!
All the photos below were taken by George as I had nothing to take photos with.
Next came bowls of seaweed soup.
Then the main dish came. From what I could tell, it was cuttle fish sauteed in a spicy sauce topped with shavings of nori. Oh yeah. Our adventures with spicy Korean food now begin!
George was hungry!! I had a bite of the cuttle fish just so I could taste it but otherwise, George devoured all the food on the table and washed it all down with his first Korean beer.
After our quick dinner, we headed back to the apartment where we just relaxed the rest of the night away. Tomorrow is our first full day in Seoul together and I've already suggested to George that we go back to Gyeongbokgung Palace so he can experience the Changing of the Royal Guard ceremony and then we can visit the actual palace together as I've not been.
I'm really tired right now but I can't quite sleep either. I hate jet lag.
Goodnight from Seoul!
