50,000 WON

turns out we did have the money left over to buy those trendy clothes in Hongdae. And when we found a cash machine, we took out, for the first and last time, and quite unexpectedly, a 50,000 WON note. I didn't even know they existed before.

DECISIONS...DECISIONS

Two confusing excerpts from the travel diary, written a few days apart, about a week before the exhibition:

"So, erm... maybe we're going to Japan. A ferry from Busan to Fukuoka, a train from Fukuoka to Kagoshima, another ferry to Yakushima and then a bus around the island to the beach. A volcano on the horizon and flying fish skimming across the water to get there. An Enka singer and a Samurai on an adventure together. An argument? No I wouldn't call it an argument: Hey! I thought you said this was the way! To that place over there! Where? On the horizon! Yeah! We're gonna get there! I guess it has been leading up to this, a Samurai sword fight to the death, an enka singer in a sushi restaurant, a day on the beach. The video with her strange facial expressions. Forming a band and making up a song that has words we don't sing. A Karaoke backing track? It finally seems to fit very nicely together. Going up in a balloon was a diversion, maybe getting back to the beach just seemed impossible at the time... But it is possible! Although will it be a strange experience? So much effort to get to the place where I had one really good day."

"So yeah... I don't think we are going to Japan now. A train to Mokpo and then ferries amongst all the islands. "Hey! I thought you said this was the way!" ...it seems to make sense after all, getting lost amongst all the islands, searching for that beach in Yakushima.

The roof of the Love Hotel

It's our last day in Seoul. We leave here at 11:55 tonight. We woke up this morning to find the power cut in our room at Hotel Isabel. Sometime during the night a huge storm had cut the power in a lot of the city. We slept through the whole thing and only really realised after seeing branches and leaves being swept from the street. One of the horses was dangling from the roof of the hotel. A large banner had been torn from the side of Lotte Mart and the pavements were filled with squashed plums. Hopefully the horse won't fall from the roof and squash a person. And hopefully our flight won't be delayed.

A page out of my travel diary No.1

I'm sitting on the subway, yes, sitting. We won't be standing up all the way to Lotte World. I won't be as tired as I was yesterday as we arrived at COEX mall, the largest underground shopping mall in the world. We bought cute items for friends and family and had pizza next to a strange fountain. Then we went to Gyeongbokgung, which was closed for some building work, although we did manage to see a few guards practising ... erm ... whatever it is they actually do, parading with flags, banging drums and wearing colourful robes. I guess this proves it isn't all just a show for the tourists, but maybe they knew we could see over the wall?