Chuseok in Seoul

Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok, was early this year so after two weeks of work, all the English teachers already had a five-day weekend. Since all of the Koreans tend to flee the city to go to their hometowns (resulting in HUGE traffic jams) I decided to stay in the city. Nothing too exciting happened, but I did go to a potluck dinner with some new friends.

 

 

BH and Katrina

The best part of the weekend, however, was a boat cruise down the Han River. Back in August, I signed up for a sweepstakes to promote tourism in Korea through the Seoul Convention Bureau. Free lunch for four followed by an hour cruise. Lunch was fantastic. First, we had sliced raw tuna for an appetizer and it was followed by a Japanese style steak mixed rice. Delicious. Dessert was a vanilla pudding with mango foam. I ate the dessert so fast I didn't even manage a picture. Normally, this lunch would cost 25,000 won, but we got to enjoy it for free!

 

 

 

Delicious... but I think BH could reproduce it easily in the kitchen

 After lunch, we boarded the boat. The whole package was a gift from the Seoul Marina. I think it would normally cost 120,000 won for 8 people, which really isn't that expensive. Our driver, for some unknown reason, really wanted to throw us from the ship. We all managed to stay on, but at one point I was pretty sure BH was going to slide into the water. The cruise was quite relaxing, and a good way to see the city from another angle.

Dangerous...

Half of our trips were mouth wide open.

Yeoido in the background

Of course, a day in Korea is never complete without more food. We headed to Sindang for the best ddeokbokki (Korean spicy rice cake) in town. The food in Sindang is not only cheap but delicious; before I had tried their ddeokbokki, I had never been a fan. Now, I crave it. Plus, aprons make people look so cute.

Too cute