April 4: Seoul

So after some indecision about whether to take a bus or taxi, we eventually landed in a taxi for the one hour ride to Incheon to get our COVID 19 PCR test.  It was one of the roughest tests I’ve experienced— gagging during the mouth swab and eye watering during nose swab.  

From the hospital, we got picked up by Ashley’s childhood friend and her boyfriend and it was off to lunch.  The food was amazing as I stuffed my face with Korean Garbi and a ton of side dishes including some wicked tasty salad. 

With a one hour lunch under our belt, it was off to a picturesque park with acres of beautiful purple flowering bushes.  It seems that several Korean cities have their own festivals based upon these flowering plants — think the Cherry Blossom Festival.  During the walk that included a steep ascent, we took a ton of pictures as the ladies had fun being models. 

After spending a little over an hour at this nice spot, it was back into the car and off to a new location close to our hotel.  Incredibly, after dropping off our bags at the hotel, we were heading back out to eat?!?!?!  This time it was a feast of weird food and fresh seafood— everything from snails, fried shrimp, raw seafood, and maggots (worms). We also picked up the drinking with soju and beer. Surprisingly, I ate a bunch of maggots — Ashley showed off her championship eater skills again.

For our last stop, we headed to a karaoke bar for an hour of singing, dancing and fun.  Everyone sang several songs — we couldn’t get Ashley to stop as she sang the last four songs.