Not Quite Winter Sonata

For someone who has been to Korea 3 times now, I think I've honestly seen precious little of the sights of Seoul, let alone the rest of the country! Instead, I've come to learn odd little really random things about the place. For example, did you know:

1. The surname "Choi" is pronounced "Chue". We were all majorly confused when our lawyers kept referring to "Mr Chue" when there seemed to us to be no such person.



2. If public holidays fall on a Saturday or Sunday in Korea, it's just too bad - they don't make it up to you. The Koreans get 3 days off for CNY (Reunion Dinner night and the 1st 2 days), but since 2 of the days were Sat and Sun, they only got a 1-day break this year, which was pretty sucky.



3. A married woman does not adopt her husband's surname - she just changes her title to "Mrs". I think that's a great idea! :)



4. It seems to be a big part of Korean office culture to brush your teeth after a meal. All the offices I visited provided shelving in the common toilet for staff to keep their toothbrushes. The photo on the right was taken in the Ladies' at our lawyers' office.



5. Koreans get off the plane incredibly fast, and they will mow over anyone who gets in their way!



6. Lotte sells absolutely the cutest swimsuits - they come in 3 or 4 pieces, the extras being the sweetest little skirt to wear over your bikini bottom, and the optional tankini top. I totally LOVED the skirts!

Okay, I'm sure any regular shopper would have known the last one! Sadly I didn't get any cos I couldn't bring myself to spend more than $250 on a swimsuit. :/

At least this time, we did go visit somewhere of note - Sam Cheong Gak. Then again only becuase we finally managed to complete the matter we were working on and our business partners invited us there for a celebratory dinner.

The place looked amazing! Nothing like an authentic-looking old-style buildings to make you feel like you're in Korea, no?

Dinner was at Yi-Gung, a restuarant serving traditional Korean fare where diners are seated at royal court-style tables. Apparently the food served were royal court dishes? That definitely brought images of Dae Jang Geum to mind man...

The dishes were really interesting, and no doubt expensive, being liberally peppered with ginseng, but I think they may have been a little too posh for our plebian tastes. Where was the spicy soup??? My colleague and I both agreed that this was the better meal:

The perfect thing to warm the tummy on a cold day!

And since food was our only outlet, we made frequent trips to our favourite restaurant, Tani! :)

Overall, it was better trip than the previous ones, mostly I think cos we were un-policed since the bosses didn't come up with us. Still it was 4 days of working from morning to night and 0.5 a day of shopping... Hmmm. And I have to say I'm really glad to be home, hanging out with a husband who has been beaming from ear to ear on seeing his wife back home.

No more Korea for a while for me! Please?