Jeju to Seoul

The hotel restaurant didn't serve us breakfast at 8:55, half an hour before their closing time, so we went next door, dodged heavy construction equipment in the street, and had puffer fish karaage instead, in the restaurant below the shabu shabu place. It was good, yet we are a little bit tired of having non breakfast foods for breakfast.

We took a bus to the airport. The airport is in Jeju city and is only a short bus ride away from the hotel. At the airport Guy had Eggdrop, which was disappointingly oily and soft, and I had coffee. I threw a fit on finding out my backpack was 2kg heavier than Guy's, and was a whiny baby the rest of the trip until we reached our hotel.

The flight to Seoul Gimpo airport was short and uneventful thankfully. Guy watched TV on the tablet and I listened to my stories. We took a subway train - no need for the airport line - from the domestic airport directly to our hotel, which is conveniently located by a large food market, off Anchovy Alley.

Our room is disappointing: it's like a mini studio apartment but everything is slightly dumber than it should be, as we know from comparison to the smaller yet much better organized room we had in Busan. Here the wobbly table blocks the washing machine and kitchen, the closet won't open because it hits the ineffective window blinds, the weak shower floods the bathroom, there are no mirrors, the TV doesn't turn on, there aren’t even tissues! Guy argued with the hotel over Whatsapp about us lacking any large towels. They eventually went out and bought a couple to leave in our room.

Being pretty hungry and upset, we walked down a few blocks to eat some galbi-jjim, braised short ribs with vegetables and clear noodles, at a nice restaurant that served creative banchan sides with it and gave us free good ice cream for dessert.

After proceeding to the Myeongdong shopping district by bus, Guy ate street desserts while I shopped for skincare products. Then we both bought some clothes at a local store. Guy bought a couple pairs of pants and Leia a corduroy puffer coat, as is the trend now in Korea. At the big 12-story tall vertical Daiso we shopped for a few gifts and things for the house. We haven't yet found a nice set of thin Korean chopsticks.

Before heading back we ate some dumplings and noodle soup at a Michelin bib gourmand restaurant. The restaurant was packed, yet inexpensive. We had to order and pay in advance before being seated at a small table next to another couple. They run the restaurant like an efficient factory.

Laden with shopping bags we took a bus back from the Daiso to our street, and switched to another bus for a single block to get closer to our hotel. Finally, we got to shower!