Whirlwind pt.6

(or the beginning of the eternal search for merrell shoes, mexican food, and english books)

Since we were out so late on saturday we slept in on sunday until around noon. i was excited because we would be going to the gangnam area to look for my merrells (one of the only things i really wanted to do in seoul). let me give you a little background. i have a pair of merrell hiking shoes. i love them. i bought them for my trip to greece many moons ago, about three years. they still look great, but they're falling apart now and i desperately need some new ones. so, about a month ago i went searching online to see if i could get them here. their website listed only one store in korea, and it was in seoul. i knew that i'd be going up there, so i kept the address and phone number and waited. well, sunday was the day we were going to find them... i was so excited.

gangnam... on the other side of the river...

we had to go to the Gangnam area on the other side of the Hangan River. luckily it didn't take too long because our subway station was on the same line. we met kim there too as she was going to take us to a mexican restaurant and then an english book store.

this is from the subway window as were crossing the river.

Gangnam is the most affluent area on the south side of the river. since we were meeting kim, we went for coffee at starbucks to wait.

i took this shot of the street vendors on our way to lunch.
this was a huge intersection and i stopped in the middle to snap a few.
a couple of blocks down the street we came to 'Dos Tacos'.

it wasn't really what i was expecting when i think 'mexican' (i always think of three amigos in montreal) but it was mexican food! the walls were painted bright white and had posters from the US hanging on them. the tables were white plastic and the chairs were multicoloured - not really the kind of ambiance that screams mexican... maybe it was a fusion restaurant before... regardless, we sat down and ordered: two plates of nachos to share (one with meat, one without) kim and cyndi got a burrito to share, i got a chicken fajita, and the other kim got a taco. i was so excited that i forgot to take pictures... sorry!

one side of the menu

the fajita was tasty, but strange as it had mushrooms (which i hate) and it wasn't wrapped up like a fajita, but was in the shape of a waffle cone. i make awesome fajitas at home, and you know when you make something really well, i just never tastes as good in a restaurant... but it was still great.

kim eating the last nacho

after lunch it was on to the bookstore! i was so excited. we have a bookstore in gimhae called "english" but their selection is smaller than what i used to have in my bedroom at home... and they're mostly classics like war and peace... there is another one in busan, but the selection is also quite small and they don't really have any new releases... really what i wanted was a copy of vanity fair which i have been craving since i arrived in september but have been unable to find anywhere.

we got to the store and i have to admit i was a little disappointed since it was Kyobo... the same store we have in busan.

kyobo tower in seoul

but as soon as i walked in and saw the size i knew it would be different... this was, after all, seoul. we headed to the "foreign" section and they had about three or four times more english books than busan. i picked up a copy of "i know this much is true" by Wally Lamb, and "the curious incident of the dog in the night" by mark haddon. i was meant to read it last summer, but never got my hands on a copy, so i'm excited to finish what i'm reading now to get started on it.... anyway, the search for vanity fair was on!

the magazine section was on the other side of the store, so i found my way and started looking. it was amazing how many foreign magazines they had! but oh-so-expensive! Time was 6,000 W which is almost $8 cdn - a total rip off... i couldn't find the VF so i found a guy to help me, but it was kim who ended up seeing it on the rack... it came wrapped up with a copy of seventeen - which is totally weird, but i got them anyway, for 13,000W - around $15... twice the price of what it's supposed to be, but it's worth it!

next we were supposed to go looking for my shoes... and we did, but never found the place... i gave my paper with phone number and address to kim so she could call and figure it out - since she speaks korean - and there was no answer when we tried during the afternoon... she promised to go online to a korean site and figure it out for me and then email the results to cyndi before monday morning... the shoes would have to wait.

stay tuned for more! up next: dongdaemun market and sinchon for drinks