Day 126: 31 December, Tuesday

Temperature: -2/6 degrees
Weather: Fine

Supposed to go Myeongdong with Amanda in the morning today but I had a last minute lunch with a Korean friend whom we knew in Daejeon! He arranged for a lunch date with Adrial, Cheryl, Yvonne and I only cos the others went back already. According to Adrial, the Korean friend, Seunghoon, asked if we can eat sashimi and Adrial asked if it was expensive because we were kind of low on cash. Seunghoon said his dad would be treating us to lunch so no worries so we guessed that we were gonna eat at his father's shop.

Adrial and I took the subway to Seulleung and met Cheryl and Yvonne there! It took us about 40 minutes to reach there and once we met up with Seunghoon he brought us down the streets of Gangnam. We entered an office building and went up to (I forgot which floor) the upper floors of the building. We were brought into a long hallway and we walked right to the end office which said "사장실" or something. (which means manager's office). I was greeted with a top floor view of Gangnam district, and a meeting table at the side of the wide and spacious room, just beside the work desk. We settled down at the table and the secretary served us coffee. Seunghoon's dad passed us his name card and it was printed, "Cha Young Man, Branch President". So we were having coffee with the branch president of this health insurance company!!

The office at the end of the hallway

President Cha's office

Gangnam-gu view

President Cha's work desk

Secretary served coffee

President Cha and Seunghoon~

Cheryl: "The coffee is too good" hahahaha xD

The goodies President Cha gave us!

There was some sort of miscommunication because his dad couldn't speak much English while we couldn't speak much Korean. So Seunghoon was like the translator. President Cha talked to us about Singapore and Korea and we had a pretty nice chat. He then proceeded to take out bags of products from his company and explained to us what was each. He gave each of us one bag of products and he asked to take a photo with us!

He asked one of his staff in to take photo for us and I must say Seunghoon's dad is really cute! He doesn't have the aura that keeps you away from him even though he's the branch president. And the two of them really look alike! Like father, like son. Seunghoon became very soft spoken when he was speaking in front of his dad haha. And indeed they both have the charisma when they talk! So respectable! (we saw Seunghoon in his formal wear before and he did look like a businessman!)

Left to right: Adrial, Seunghoon, President Cha, me, Yvonne and Cheryl

So after we took the photo we proceeded to have lunch! We walked out of the office and while waiting for the lift bumped into a few other colleagues of President Cha and they were "amazed" by us (I guess cos we're foreigners) so they talked to us a little while in the lift down.

The restaurant was of walking distance and it apparently is a very high-class one haha. It was our first meal of the day (we skipped breakfast) so I was kinda anticipating the Japanese sashimi and sushi!!

We were ushered into this private seating room for eight and the staff started serving the food! A whole plate of fresh sashimi was served... And while I was busy feeling excited Seunghoon's dad ordered a bottle of Soju and we were thinking like, "what?!"

Sashimi for three

Sushi for three

Fish Roe hotstone rice

Fish soup

The Soju came and we all filled our glasses (we didn't have a choice) and we all drank in one shot for manners' sake lol. And he was amazed by us. So much for being amazed, my stomach felt like it was burning!! First intake of the day on empty stomach is Soju!!! We were kinda awkwardly smiling at everything his dad is saying because first we don't understand and second, we were so affected by the Soju!

Because Adrial is vegetarian so the dad tried to order food for him and he settled for udon. President Cha asked Seunghoon to ask Adrial how does Adrial look for vegetarian food in Korea? So Adrial said he eats bibimbap and eggs more often. The moment Seunghoon's dad heard "eggs", he pressed the service bell and ordered two omelette for him! And it was a special order that was not on the menu!

Oh! And I forgot to mention about the sashimi! There was salmon and tuna as usual but then there's a lot of this white fish (although we dk what was it) but I swear its f*cking chewy! I took at least 3mins to chew one I swear. It just doesn't gets broken down! So we ended up having a lot of that fish left and we weren't planning to eat it until Seunghoon's dad told us to eat everything (in Korean)! Koreans are very concerned about manners and especially when dining with seniors there are the DOs and DON'Ts so one of it is that if they ask you to finish something you better do. Some others include putting your hands on your lap at all time (meaning you're not supposed to put it on the table/it shouldn't be seen by others), turning away from the senior when drinking (out of respect) and moving your chopsticks only after the senior does so.

So all in all we had a wonderful lunch with his dad and both of them are really nice people! Like I mentioned that lunch was his dad's treat so we're really thankful for it!! So glad to have known Seunghoon in Daejeon and it was nice knowing his dad too!

His dad left after lunch while we hanged out at Gangnam for like 10mins before deciding our next itinerary. I had to go meet Amanda, so they went ahead with their plan of visiting Seoul University while I headed to Myeongdong. While on the train I felt damn sleepy (probably due to the soju intake) so i took a quick nap. When I opened my eyes again although it felt like I slept for 15mins it was only 2 stops! I had 3 more to go so I decided to take another short nap.

The next thing I know when I open my eyes, I was seven stops away from Myeongdong!! I overslept and overshot!! Holy shitz look at what soju has done to me.

Saw this on the subway and thought it was so cute!

Anyway I managed to meet up with Amanda at about 3.30pm so we shopped for about an hour more before heading to Dog Cafe! Its the same one that we went the last time!

He frenched the dog so many times...

I know they love dogs but I can't really take this.

This one bit me when I asked him to come down. :(

Wanny looks so sad...

I'm guessing that's the owner.

But she looks different from last time and the dogs didn't really care about her this time.

*sleepy*

The polar bear look-a-like dog!

His fur grew so much~

Amanda likes dogs but she got serious OCD so she didn't really want to play with the dogs. Zongwei on the other hand, was pretty good with dogs, maybe because he has three at home. All the dogs enjoy being massaged by him till they fall asleep and don't want to leave his lap.

My cousin Chloe called me while I was there too! So I showed her and my aunt the dogs around the cafe.

We left at about 5.30pm, shopped for an hour or so and then proceeded to leave Myeongdong and head back. We bought chocolate-coated strawberries on the way at KRW$1,000 for one and potato tornado at KRW$2,000 for one! Yums~~

So much better than Singapore's.

So at about 7pm we left Myeongdong and took the subway back to Hongdae. We went to collect my heels which I ordered 2 days ago on the way back. I wanted to collect it with someone else because I needed comments from others as I couldn't trust my own taste even if its buying my own stuff.

Its finally mine after much consideration (plus Amanda's opinion)  and although its a little expensive (KRW$36,000 ) like Amanda said, :its a staple in your wardrobe" for someone who love heels like me so yes you're finally mine!!

So we collected our heels, went back to put our stuff and headed out for dinner! Amanda was craving for western food so I suggested T.G.I.Fridays because it was near our guesthouse! There is TGIF in Singapore but ironically none of us tried it in Singapore before.

Why can't I have all??

Pretty outfits but too short for me.

We ordered Seafood Marinara, Texas Mac & Cheese and Spicy Korean Chicken Pasta. It was all a disappointment. The first turned out to be spicy, the second told me they ran out of Penne so they changed it to Spaghetti, while the third one was fairly good. The frozen cappuccino that I ordered was really good though.

Garlic-glazed bread for appetizer

Dinner @ TGIF

Frozen Cappuccino

We went to walk around after that and soon decided to settle down in a cafe. We went into Cafe Bene and they ordered waffles (because Amanda was craving for it) and not long later I received whatsapp to meet the rest at Gaebong for countdown!

I almost didn't make it because I caught the wrong train but managed to get on the last train and arrived at Gaebong at 12mn sharp, Thankfully they came to fetch me and we ended counting down...

We walked to Cheryl and Yvonne's apartment which was a stone throw's distance away and watched Gayo Daejun there! My relatives called me via Facetime and I counted down with them a second time (because Korea was an hour faster) but it was probably the best start to a new year! Talked to a few other friends to and my sis and I can't wait to see them soon!

The four of us talked a little before I fell asleep on the floor till next morning where we caught the first train to go back. So proud to be part of Hannam 8 although so much happened. New Year wish for 2014: May Hannam 8 be together forever <3 and may everything be better. Let them be in my odds please.

I like the message in Korean a lot. Its something difficult to express in English/Chinese.

Check out the first post of 2014 to continue the story. Happy New Year everyone!!! #happynewyear #2014