SEOULFUL Trip, Day 2: 4th Destination, Myeongdong Shopping District

We were so famished from walking the entire stretch of the Gyeongbukgong and the Changdeokgung Palaces that Ahne and I didn’t have the willpower left to start looking for the restaurant where we were supposed to eat our lunch.

Come to think of it, even the locals whom we asked from didn’t have the slightest idea about its location (Or probably,  blame it to my poor-but-oh-so-trying-hard-Korean-accent). So what was the chances of finding the place, most especially to two hungry-ready-to-snarl ladies?

K-drama fans FYI: Myeongdong is the set for various Korean drama scenes including the famous kiss in the middle of the street in Princess Hours.

So, we had to resort to plan B. We limply slumped ourselves inside the taxi that we stopped and asked the driver to bring us to Myeongdong. I didn’t bother to look at the map anymore because I felt that one more look at it would lead me to vomit instantly right inside the taxi, swear! But despite my exhaustion and hunger, I kept on glancing at the taxi meter, roughly estimating the conversion of our fare every time it ticked 200 won higher. Even food deprivation couldn’t stop a budget officer from worrying about and sticking to the budget. Ahaha!

Myeongdong is a shopping district filled with stores and shops of high-end products.  It’s like a big mall on the streets. All the stores that are lining up in the area have their own distinct character----making the whole place look like Wonderland for big-time shoppers and even just to window-shoppers (like us). And since I mentioned that most of the stores sell high-end products, naturally, hanggang tingin lang kami ni Ahne! We even tried to look for the cheapest flats that we could find since Ahne was complaining about the pain on her heels due to the friction with her boots (From too much walking!).  But she ended up buying a pair of socks instead! If she bought a pair of flats, baka naglakad na lang kami papunta ng airport kinabukasan!

We looked for restaurants where we can eat our lunch but much to our dismay, all that we saw offers only hotpot. Now, that was a big problem---we were too hungry for hotpots and the two of us don’t have much skills and patience for it. After much deliberation from what was left from our food-deprived brain cells, we decided to just enter one of the Korean restaurants and leave the rest to luck and our charm! Naks!

After a looooooooong walk, I found my oasis! Ahahaha!

We begged, not asked, but begged the attendant if they can just cook the food for us. There goes the proof for our charm because she agreed. Ahahaha! Since we observed that the common feature of almost all restaurants that we passed by are octopuses, we decided to order some. Then, we happily sat on one of the low tables, typical of Korean restaurants and waited for our food.

We were so mentally prepared for this---the metal spoon, the flattened metal chopsticks, and kimchi, lots and lots of kimchi! Ahne even had her pre-Korean meal in Bangkok as part of her preparation!!!

When our food was served, imagine our amusement/horror when everything was served cooked except for the wriggling octopuses! We can even see the tentacles squeezing in and out as if still struggling for its dear life. Thinking that there was some mistake, we called the attention of the attendant, explaining to her that we wanted everything cooked, even the just-fresh-out-of-water octopuses. She said something in Korean, which of course we didn’t understand, even though part of my hearing problem is because of the full blast Korean audio every time I watch Korean dramas.  The owner of the shop probably witnessed the conversation so he went to us and explained in English that we must try eating the octopus alive because that’s part of the typical Korean cuisine.

If this was Hogwarts photo, you would see those chopped octopus actually wriggling while squeezing in and out the suckers in their tentacles. In the rightmost photo, that’s the octopus which was dipped in bulgogi soup.

Ahne, I, and the octopuses had a staring contest for several minutes. We couldn’t just leave the poor wriggling octopuses untouched because out of the foods that we ordered, it was the most expensive! Coupled with an imaginary “ting!” sound, Ahne and I exhibited our pinoy resourcefulness when we one by one soaked the sliced, wriggling octopuses in our hot bulgogi and beef soup. And voila! After several minutes, the wriggling octopuses became half-boiled octopuses----very much ready for lunch.