Korea wedding trip day 4: missed it, again

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We missed the wedding.

Yes, THAT wedding. The one we flew into Korea for. The one we planned this trip around. The whole point of this trip. We missed the ceremony.

We didn't realize traffic would be so bad on Saturday afternoon, and it took us an hour to get from lunch in Gangnam back to our hotel. After quickly changing into something more formal, we called a taxi to take us to the wedding venue. That's when the downpour started, and it really was coming down hard. It took the driver 50 minutes to get to our hotel to pick us up. We got into the car just around the time that the ceremonies began in the rain.

We were more than a half hour late in arriving at King Sejong Memorial Hall (세종대왕기념관), and the ceremony had just finished minutes earlier. The bride and groom were starting to take group photos with the guests, and I guess at least we made it for that! This was pretty much what happened to another wedding in 2001... when I flew across the Pacific Ocean, met up with the bride and groom before the wedding, only to arrive in time for pictures post-ceremony. Oh well.

Korea wedding trip day 4: back in the Garden

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We decided to sleep in this morning. After a few stressful days of working from my hotel room while on vacation, we finally got to relax a little last night... and needed to catch up on a little sleep. So... we arrived at Starfield Coex Mall about an hour later than I had originally planned. And also too late for Foursheets to sit down for a cup of decent coffee, wherever that may be.

The first order of business, though, was for Foursheets to see Starfield Library. More than 90% of people passing through here at any given time are tourists just looking to snap some photos and videos, and that is also true for us. While strolling around the library, we ran into an elderly couple who traveled from Taiwan with their bichon frisé. Pretty amazing that they brought their dog on their travels with them, and we couldn't help but think of how much we miss our asshole Kuma while playing with the doggo...

Korea wedding trip day 3: spicy pork

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It's the night before the wedding, and Mikacina has very kindly invited those of us flying in to dinner. Sancheong Charcoal Garden (산청숯불가든) is a small chain of restaurants specializing in black pork grilled over charcoal, and it's not too far away from our hotel. I looked forward to catching up with friends - and of course the bride-to-be - before tomorrow's festivities.

The first thing one notices is the central pits where the charcoal would be. Every once in a while there would be someone carrying a try of hot charcoal passing by...

Korea wedding trip day 3: a day with jang

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Thanks to a combination of need more sleep and working in my hotel room this morning, we didn't get out for breakfast until fairly late. For someone who doesn't care much for eggs, I was surprised that Foursheets wanted to see what the Korean breakfast sandwiches are all about. Well, there's an Isaac Toast near our hotel, so we grabbed a couple of them and headed back to our room.

Foursheets had the grilled bulgogi (그릴드 불갈비), but couldn't escape eggs in her sandwich.

Korea wedding trip day 2: not quite heaven

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For those of us who don't frequent Korea, Dan Kim first came on my radar screen when Toc Toc was named "One to Watch" by Asia's 50 Best Restaurants. Mikacina's been singing his praises for a few years, so when it came time to look at places to try out on this trip, I decided 7th Door would be one of them, especially when we thought we would be staying in Gangnam. When we later decided to book our hotel on the north side of the river, I knew I needed to budget enough time to get to the restaurant. Well, we ended up being a few minutes late, which wasn't too bad.

We were the last to be seated, at the far end of the U-shaped counter. Before we had time to settle down, though, waitstaff came over and rushed to start service immediately. We were shown a collection of jars to highlight the chef's work on fermentation.