Fun In The Sun + Korea's Most Glamorous Toilet

I'm quite sure that I can count the number of April 16ths that I've spent sunning myself by a river on one hand. If you didn't know any better you'd have thought that summer came to Seoul this weekend. On Saturday we spent the sunny afternoon relaxing by the Han River. I had some paperwork to prepare for University, so I brought my new netbook (thank you, PSA, for the gift certificates!) to the river to do some typing in the warmth.

In the late afternoon, we went to Gasum Lounge, a cafe opposite the Comme De Garcons building near Hangangjin Station. Hannah had promised that the cafe had Seoul's nicest toilet, and we were not disappointed.

At the moment, Seoul is literally saturated with cafes. Major chains are everywhere, and the independent shops are doing everything they can to stand out: there are English-only cafes, lamb cafes, bed cafes, cafes where tanks of fish will give you a pedicure, and then there's Gasum Lounge.

We knew we were in the right place because there was a stuffed goat and a 6 foot tall balloon in the front window. We took a seat on chairs that had been upholstered with someone's old teddy bears, and under a TV that was playing a looped video of a woman popping a balloon. So hip!

We wasted no time in going straight to the toilet for a look-see. We hadn't even ordered drinks yet. If you need to go to the bathroom, even your queuing experience is fabulous at Gasum Lounge- look at this amazing floral chair waiting outside the washroom.

The bathroom is quite a surprise, given that the door is made of unfinished wood and the doorknob itself is just a screw. Check it out in the picture above- every surface is mirrored, and hundreds of colorful beads hang down from every inch of ceiling. It looks like Mardi Gras exploded in there. It was fantastic.

After we left the cafe, Mel and I went to eat at Santorini, which I'm pretty sure is Korea's one and only Greek restaurant. The restaurant was under construction, so only the 3rd floor was open for business, but it was full. The waitress apologized and told us that there was a new Santorini just up the road if we'd like to go there instead. She reserved a table there for us and even gave us coupons for two free glasses of wine. A strenuous (joking!) 5 minute walk later and we were in free wine and fresh Greek food heaven.

Next, we took the train to Myeongdong because Mel has been craving her some Forever 21 for a few weeks now. After a bit of shopping, we headed home for the night, happy with such a full and warm day.

When we woke up Sunday morning to weather just as nice as we'd enjoyed the day before, we went straight back to Hangang park! This time, we rented bikes and cycled from the Hannam Bridge to just past Dongjak and back. All together, we'd cycled 10KM and, even though we were being passed by adjoshis left, right and center, we were proud of ourselves for doing something slightly fit for once!

It was a really nice ride. Seoul should be really proud of Hangang Park- the cycling routes are fantastic, and the cityscape looks beautiful along the water. Everywhere, families were picnicking, playing basketball or soccer, and just generally enjoying the day. It's cherry blossom season, so the trees were looking really nice along the trail, as well. We're really lucky to live so close to this area.

After resting our legs by passing out in the park for a while we went across the bridge to the UN Village area. We got a light lunch of nachos and soup at the curiously named "O' Tacos", and then walked through all the international embassies to get to Haddon House, a supermarket that specializes in foreign foods.

I really like Haddon House, because it's the only foreign food market that I've ever been to in Korea that appears to care about it's customers' shopping experience. It's clean. It's organized. It looks like a real supermarket. They have turkey, root beer and stracciatella Lindors. What more could you want?

We took a bus back to Gangnam, did some quick shopping at Kyobo and then went for supper at a Taiwanese restaurant called Din Tai Fung. Mel and I loved the food in Taiwan. Our neighbors were keen to educate us on the local food, so we tried a lot of good stuff (a lot of weird stuff too) and we have very fond memories of Taiwanese cooking.

I have a new favorite restaurant!!!!!! This place was amazing. Everything we had was delicious. We ordered pork and leek mandu in soy sauce, lemon chicken and...

...beef noodle soup! We used to eat this soup several times a week... it's probably Taiwan's most famous dish. It would always be cheap too, like $2-3 a bowl and I was always very poor in Taiwan so it was a lifesaver to me there. If you want to check out the restaurant, the address is here, but it's best found by taking the first left after Gangnam Butterfingers. It's in like the second building on your left, up the stairs.

We're getting closer and closer to our "leaving Korea" date, and we have a lot to be excited about when we go home. But, weekends like this remind us that having one last summer in Korea is exciting too, and there's still a lot of good memories to come here, as well.