The Road to 40 Day 337/365: Last Day in Korea

After over a week staying in Seoul and Jeju, we are on our final day in South Korea.

Just as the cherry blossoms bloomed from our first day here, we started to see the trees lose their colors towards the end of our trip.

JP asked me how I liked this trip. I could only say that it felt different and normal. We’ve been here quite a few times already, so we weren’t overly excited to hit particular spots. It kind of felt spontaneous in a lot of ways, as we just went where we felt like on a daily basis.

It felt like we were in a different home.

For this day, we had a couple of things planned out, so I started early to get my own thing done first. I had to exercise already as I missed my workouts for two consecutive days because of the Jeju fiasco. When I peeked out the window, I said it might be too cold as it was cloudy and foggy.

I headed off to the gym, where I planned on using the machines. However, it was pretty small for a hotel, and it was fully packed already with about seven ladies. I then decided to just get a jacket and run outside.

It was 9 degrees out, which was colder than Jeju. At times, it felt like I was in a fridge while I was running. I ran along the Hangang Park and just followed the path. I planned on running for about 5 kilometers in total. Simple math says after 2.5 kilometers, I should go back already. However, it felt like I was close to the end of the running path, so I just ran and ran.

Later, I realized the path was not ending anytime soon. I turned back around the 3.5 kilometer mark, which made my run a lot longer than it had to be. I kept checking my pace and heart rate to make sure that I’m not overworking myself.

I’m proud to be able to last seven kilometers and almost a full hour of running. It’s been a couple of months, and I remember barely being able to run for five full minutes. Running at my own pace really helped unlock an endurance I didn’t know I had.

I went back to prepare for our long day ahead. We planned on visiting Haebangchon Market in Itaewon first. It was a place we weren’t able to visit the last time we were here. Unfortunately, the places were either packed or closed, so we decided to go elsewhere.

Che was set to meet a friend, while Vino wanted to eat steak. We walked along the road to where Che was headed and found several interesting places. There were no steaks, though, except for one Italian restaurant. We parted ways near the end of the road and went back to the Italian place, because it was the only one with steaks at that time.

Unfortunately, it was full, so we had to look for options. I found one through Google called Chome, which was a short walk from where we were.

We ordered a set menu and a bottle of wine and just talked about stuff. The steak was beautifully cooked with a nice, smoky char. Their carbonara was made with local ingredients, which was a nice twist. We had fried lasagna, which was a nice surprise. We saw a version of it in Culinary Class Wars season 2, and I personally found it interesting.

Their version was a traditional lasagna covered in breadcrumbs, then sliced and served sideways in such a way that the breadcrumbs were all visible on the sides. It was topped with some pesto and a bolognese sauce and some shaved parmesan.

For dessert, the set came with homemade raspberry ice cream with honey and caramel. It was a fun combination for me, because I didn’t really like the sourness of raspberry.

After a long lunch, we headed off to the National Museum. It was apparently one of the most visited museums in the world. Vino actually loves going to museums. It’s not because he’s artsy or anything, but he just enjoys playing with his imagination when we visit one.

He wouldn’t stop to read the information sheets, but if there are interesting facts, I’d ask him to stop and listen as I read it.

Che came by after our museum walk, and she was set to watch the BTS concert in Goyang. We didn’t get a ticket for me, so she was flying solo for this concert.

We were supposed to split up from there, but we thought we’d just go with her to Goyang and just wait until she’s done with the concert. We didn’t finish the Seventeen concert so that we would avoid the rush of people, so she thought she would do the same this time around.

When she went inside, we thought about drinking soju in a park somewhere, but it was too damn cold to do that. I said we should just get some chicken and beer and wait for her there.

That turned out to be a wise decision because Che wasn’t able to leave her spot in the concert because she had to go through a lot of people in order to get out. She ended up finishing the concert, while the rest of us had tons of stories to tell while we were eating.

We got some chicken for Che because she might be hungry when she gets out of that mess and we would need to wait a bit for the crowd to disperse before finding a ride back.

It was a pretty expensive ride heading back, but at least we were comfortable, and it was quick. We still had time to pack our bags to get ready to leave tomorrow.

The day was fully packed from morning to midnight for all of us, but at least we could say we really maximized our last day in Korea.