Gangnam Style

We went to a market first thing this morning; I bought some socks as I've discovered five pairs isn't enough. I also purchased a nice apple and kiwi fresh juice because I'm afraid my fruit and veg intake has been quite appalling. It was yum. Next to the market was a gate, like a gate to the city. It is one of Korea's national treasures and did look rather grand, stood a bit like the arc de triomphe in the middle of a road.

We then attempted to see North Seoul  tower which we kind of saw. It involved a lot of hills and after a while we got far too tired and sweaty to continue climbing up. It's apparently the 10th tallest tower in the world but it's not that exciting. 

We ate bibimbap for lunch which is a famous Korean rice dish with vegetables and beef and egg. It wasn't very flavoursome therefore I was quite disappointed but you could decide on the spice yourself, thank goodness. 

After lunch we visited an interesting building (Dongdaemun design plaza) with art and cool architecture. Some of the automatic doors were set on a slant which made me feel like I was leaning over. On an upper floor there was an exhibition based on cars. An art guy showed us a memory room which is meant to make you feel like you're driving in a car. It did in a way. There were screens on three sides of you and they displayed fast moving lights to represent a car moving. 

From the plaza we walked through some markets, one with just clothes, the other with the largest amount of fabric in the world. We didn't roam around them for too long as the narrow pathways were quite busy with people. 

We headed to the gangnam area, famous for shops, especially designer ones (obviously where the song comes from) but walked past the shops to tombs of royalty. You can stroll between the tombs but have to assure that you don't walk on the raised level of the path as that is for spirits only. The Koreans are big into their spirits. 

After a spot of noodles (cold noodles with some beef, apparently Koreans like cold noodles but I'm not sure what to make of them) there was a light show and fountain from a bridge, the longest bridge fountain in the world. We weren't massively impressed as we'd seen pictures that displayed the water as something like a rainbow but it was still quite cool, and the music they played along with it was very effective (even played somebody to love). Hundreds of people were sat beside the river, some having picnics, others just enjoying the show.