The day it rained

Today in Seoul it poured. We were assured that it wasn't a typhoon but the heavens opened and it rained relentlessly for well over 7 hours with thunder and lightning to match. Very dramatic. We got drenched to the unmentionables and our shoes became boats. We  bought an umbrella and paddled our way through the day hopping from one underground exit to another. Being a "red" (holiday) day there wasn't a lot open but we did find ...

... a food market of some note! People doing their last minute shopping for Chusok just like we do at Christmas.

And plenty of opportunity to eat! Well, you get hungry when you're wet through and there's not a lot else to do. Mind you we didn't fancy everything. 

This woman is preparing bulgogi - to those who haven't tasted it - spiced beef.

A fellow grinding soya beans into a paste

Crabs and things

Many kinds of kimchi

and the makings for fish stew

Now this we did eat - pindaeddok - a kind of vegetable pancake which was delicious washed down by a little of the local brew - a fizzy, milky substance which was good to try once. The elderly man next to us was not satisfied with the colour of his pancake and twice sent it back . The third time the pancake maker effectively said "On your bike, mate." Well, that's a loose translation - she would have said it in a sort of honorific way because he was older than her and a man to boot. He left to find another venue.

Making pindaeddok

Shoes - a variation on food

Asleep on the job and who can blame him as the rain thundered down and nobody was buying much. I wish I had the courage to photograph the big pharmacies where men sat in  rows behind the counters looking more bored than you can imagine, waiting to sell their potions. Incidentally, things have changed - you now need a prescription to buy most things a doctor might want you to take.

Sleeping on the job

Standing in a subway entrance Tim spotted a smoking car driven by a woman who didn't take kindly to being a spectacle. She is not in the picture as you can see.

Smoking car

Drenched for the very last time we rode the metro to one final shopping venue. We were looking for things for people who wanted things and not finding the things the people said they wanted - Chusok you know! Whilst there Dr Kim rang to say she was now flooded in and couldn't get out to the Chusok party. But we went. Home of the Kims - well the Lees actually - or is it the Hans? Complicated here because there are so few surnames anyway and women keep their own names when they get married which are their fathers' names rather than their mothers. So Mi Hae and Byong Min are Lees but because their mother is a Kim we call them all Kims, but they are really Lees.

Byong Min and Tim remembering when they were two little boys

Mi Hae was 15 when we first knew the family. She wanted to be a doctor. Towards the end of her high school days working for university entrance to Seoul National University - the most prestigious - she rarely slept for more than two hours a night. She came to live with us during this time, hence the mother/daughter thingy. She made it to SNU but only got enough points to be a dentist. And that she is. More of that later because we have an appointment on Friday!

Korean "daughter" Mi Hae, and English "mother" Gay

Mi Hae with husband Hoon (ENT specialist) and daughter Ta-un

The Lees and the Pyes

And so ended another Seoul day as Mi Hae and Hoon drove us home in their very nice car. We are very impressed with people's cars, even the taxis - leather clad seats and state of the art sat nav. The driving in Seoul is nothing like as crazy as it used to be - another sign of the sophistication of this land. Have I mentioned the toilets? They are almost at the top of the list of impressive changes in Korea - beautiful, tasteful places, spotlessly clean, flowers and loo paper, soap on a pole and hot water. There are loos - not just one - on every subway station, and everywhere else too, so nobody need be caught severely short. Hardly any spitting, and smoking banned almost everywhere. Such a clean city. you could sit down and eat a picnic on any subway or train floor, and also the floors of the underground garages at every new apartment block are literally and audibly squeaky clean. No graffiti and no litter whatsoever! "What?" I hear you cry! 'Tis true.