The first time I arrived in Seoul Sept during Chuseuk week it was in the middle of a torrential downpour. All the streets were flooded, I couldnt walk, and had to wade over ankle high to a taxi as the only means of transport. This time I kept checking the forecast for my arrival on Saturday and it kept saying heavy rain again, anywhere from 12mm to 20mm. I had the same string of bad luck whenever I went to Ottawa in the middle of an all day downpour.

I decided to plan an itinerary hiding indoors in shopping malls . As the train headed towards Seoul the sky got darker and darker. As I arrived in Seoul the first thing you notice is a temperature drop as its 4 hrs drive north of daegu or two hours on high speed train. The sky was very dark but rain was holding. Made my way to the hostel. Its nice in a university area so lots of activity. I wanted to stay in a traditional hanok home but they were all booked and for some reason I could only get a hostel this weekend. 
 
Around the hostel I saw a subway sandwich so had that for lunch as I havent had it since Canada. Ordering was the same, I'd done a lesson on how to order a subway sandwich so wanted to try it in korea to see if I was right. When I got to the vegetables I just had to say 'igot' to each one which means this one. Around the university area it was also very european in terms of the atmosphere and a lot of the stores there.

Then I walked down to Dongdaemun gate. Seoul has two gates from the old city walls, Namdaemon near seoul station, and Dongdaemun in the east . The one near seoul station was burnt down by someone a couple of years ago so I hadnt seen the seoul gates yet. It was similar to one I had seen at the suwon fortress and great wall of china style architecture.  
 
After that took the metro down to the express bus terminal station (thats its name). This was my first time south of the river and I wanted to try some other areas from my last visit. Near here is Sorae Maeul which is supposed to be the french quarter centered around a french school. All I saw were a few bakeries and wine shops, not the bistros, and french consulate that the guide book claims. Two european kids ran by talking in french so I guess there is some authenticity to it.

Then at 2.30pm the rain hit. Closeby was Central City, a large shopping mall so I went in there.  
This is actually a bus station, department store, movie theatre all combined. I was half thinking of going to watch a movie but I had already made plans with other friends to watch Thor . After walking around the rain was not letting up, so decided to take the subway further to Coex.  
 
Coex is again a giant shopping mall. Hyundai actually has a dept store there as well. They dont just make cars here, they are quite involved in everything, they have gas stations, and my tv/cable bill is made out to them as well. This was really huge and if someone loves shopping they could spend days here. I hate shopping and was just hiding from the rain so it was doing my head in. They had another megabox cinema, as well as an aquarium. Didnt go into the aquarium as ticket was about $18 and I'd been to ones in busan, daegu, and singapore before. 
 
What I liked about coex is they had a casino. You need to be ID'd to get in but it was very classy, not like the bond movies or casino niagara. They wont let you take any pics inside but I would definately recommend people go just for a walk thru. Some of the games were different from western casinos but they also had imported slot machines completely in english so hopefully koreans understand all the buttons!

By now the rain was not letting up and my head was ready to explode in this mall, too many shops, and too many people . They also had a kimchi museum which I thought would be lame but was actually quite interesting about the different types of kimchi and how it has been made over the years. Unfortunately it had closed for the day. 

I took the metro a few stops down to lotte world. Again, another indoor mall but with a difference. They have an indoor amusement park, skating rink, bowling alley, shooting range, and pool hall, as well as the department store and movie theatre. This was more interesting if you dont want to deal with mall crowds. The amusement park is three levels, the skating rink is ground level, second level is restaurants in the oval overlooking the rink, third level is an indoor amusement park in the upper oval looking down.

They had hot air balloons that follow a track around the dome, and a monorail. There were other amusements rides I could see from below. Ticket prices was $15 after 7pm and there are three price ranges which increase the earlier in the day you go . I dont think it was worth paying for but might be fun with smaller children. There are outdoor activities such as caribbean bay which has a wave machine so not sure if that is included in the ticket price. There is also a world folk museum, which had also closed for the day, so quite a bit to do at lotte world as well as shopping.
 
There were more interesting things to do outdoors nearby, like the olympic park and stadium, royal burial tombs, prehistoric village, and upscale designer shopping district used by korean movie stars, but the rain was relentless so that will have to be another trip to seoul. I had wanted to goto itaewon to have some middle eastern food and buy baklava for some teachers who liked it last time but the rain killed all those plans.

Took the subway back to the hostel to get something to eat, as it was cheaper than the other places I was finding. There are lots of restaurant chains from back home in seoul like quiznos, subway, and others that slipped my mind, which we dont have in daegu, so no food problems in seoul. In korean they get the letters 'f,v,p,b' mixed up. I saw a 'crap meat pizza' and when I figured out what it was it meant 'crab meat pizza'!!
 
I went to a place near the hostel and had this seafood rice for $4. First she brings the side dishes. one was honey corn flakes on tartar sauce?? The main dish was rice, seafood, seaweed, lettuce all placed on a table stove, and she heats and mixes it all together with a sauce on the spot. Again, I've never seen this in daegu, and sort of like an instant paella. Crashed back at the hostel and hoped the rain will clear by tomorrow as its an all day outdoor event for the jongmyo royal ancestral ceremony. Hopefully batteries will behave too!