Thursday - Our pace has increased (if that is possible), as we fit in all the last minute things we all want to do before we leave this city. Bill, Liz, Amelie and our family decided to catch the subway to the Coex complex this morning. Coex is a huge arrangement of both commercial buildings, and a collection of nice shops, a famous aquarium, kimchi musuem and various other things.We all headed to the aquarium first. It is a beautifully laid out complex of lots of different areas - very child friendly (hence lots of school kids visiting!). A lot of the 'aquariums' are built into a range of household appliances - such as microwaves, fridges, vending machines (that still work), telephone boxes and other funny things. The kids love it. There are also big shark pools, a curved glass tunnel, and lots of other things to see and do. They even have a pool of Doctor Fish (tiny piranhua like fish), so you are encouraged to put your hand inside the tank while they eat away all the dead skin... We all tried it - just like getting a gentle manicure - very ticklish.
Next, we visited a nice restaurant in the complex for lunch, and then Bill & Brendan headed off by themselves for an afternoon of exploring the Yongsan electronics market (five floors of it), and Techno Mart at Sindorim (computers, cameras, hobby shops, etc) - no model trains though (despite a phone call to the owner who told him he stocked heaps of them).
Liz and I took the three kids, and spent a couple of hours browsing the shops - lots of very nice shops here - then it we caught the subway home to the Casaville Hotel, and met the boys. Then we all piled into a taxi and headed to Bulgogi Brothers restaurant in Seokyo (near Hongik Uni).
What a night! We had been invited to the party by INKAS (the organisation that had conducted our tour), and we also celebrated Barb's 50th birthday (with a huge cake and presents). We had a fantastic, fun filled night - great food, and Linda, Stephen & Eliel also came along.
Mrs Lee's (our Korean friend from Melbourne) sister came too, and handed out lovely presents to all our children (Lily received a large Hello Kitty stationary set in a zipped folder, and Sam a Pokeman type spinning toy. Very generous of her. INKAS also gave us all presents - the parents a silk embroidered placemat and chopstick set, the kids magnets and a few other things. Also, our ceramic plates (that we had made a couple of days ago) were returned to us. Oh my goodness, how are we going to fit it all in the suitcases?
We also said sad goobyes to our well loved Korean friends and guides. They have carried our children around, entertained us all, looked after us so well, it was hard to say goodbye. Sunny was our main group organiser, so we presented her with a few presents from home.
So, after a huge cake to celebrate Barb's big day, and a short powerpoint presentation on the work of INKAS in Korea and round the world, and food, food, and more food, we decided we were having too much fun to end night.
So, Rachael (our much loved korean guide and friend), organised a nearby Norebang (Karoke) session for us. Nobody does karoke like the koreans. She led us through the Hongik Uni area, along streets buzzing with street markets and activity to an amazing Norebang venue called "Prince Edwards". We were lead up marble steps, under chandeleirs, past pink padded and jewelled rooms, across a rooftop karoke area, to another huge room, booked just for us. My goodness, this one even had our own stage, and musical instruments including a full drum kit, keyboard, tamborines and shakers. We were off! The kids had a ball dancing and singing along to Abba hits, and their other favorites... What a blast.
Oh my goodness, at 11.00pm the kids were all starting to flag, so we walked down to the subway together and caught a train home.
Sleep time do you think? Well, maybe for the kids. We spent the next couple of hours packing all our stuff, and getting ready for tomorrow. Don't want to waste a minute of our last day in Korea!
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