Sunday, August 29, 2010

Coex Mall, Inception

My quest to get my medical exam yesterday was unsuccessful. When I got to the Seoul Medical Center, the lights above the information desk area were dark and it appeared as though it was closed. In the area, however, was the Coex Mall, a huge underground shopping area. It was there that I finally saw more than a few foreigners. It may sound like a bad thing, but it was a very welcome sight. I found a bookstore, and upon investigation, I found that it actually carried English language books and foreign magazines. I even found the science fiction section. Jackpot! I hung around the area for awhile, eventually going to a PC room to kill some time. After that, I went to the "Megabox Theatre" and watched Inception. It was a real treat eating theatre-style popcorn and watching a flick on the big screen. The experience was a little different from what I am used to; the seating in the theatre is assigned, and of course the pre-movie advertisements are all in Korean. I wish I could understand them, as some of them seemed quite amusing.

The movie started at 9:20pm, which meant that, by the time the movie had let out, the subway had shut down for the night. This enabled me to take a Seoul taxi for the first time. Getting a cab is fairly easy; there are designated taxi stops near the Coex Mall. The driver understood my request to be taken to "Nowon Station," the nearest subway station to my officetel. The taxi was also quite affordable. It wound up being around 20,000 won to get home (less than $20 CAN). It had been a very long day, and it was nice to get back to my room.

Today, I slept in somewhat; I didn't get out of bed until around noon. My goal for today is to check out Itaewon, a neighborhood in central Seoul known as a popular hangout for ex-pats.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Dan! Glad things are going well so far. It sounds like intersting experiences abound. Apart from the pleasure of experiencing Seoul through your insights, I can't help a tingle of sheer delight when reading your blog that you write so well! No grammatical errors or misspellings here! A rare and welcome occurence. I look forward to more.

Unknown said...

Keep the journal writings up! It's fascinating!

Anonymous said...

Hey Dan. Is Seoul subway REALLY bigger than LRT? lol
mark.harvey@cbc.ca

Dan Gunther said...

Ha ha, little bit!

The Edmonton LRT had been my only extensive subway-type experience, so the the Seoul Subway system was a little overwhelming at first! 9 different lines, and 291 stations!

GreenFlora47 said...

I'm with Anonymous - great writing! I look forward to every post. Thank you.