동대문, 東大門
Since this being our last day in Korea, lunch is something special. There
are at least 6 Tony Roma’s in Seoul. We take the one that is in Myeongdong.
This is one of 3 restaurants (one of the others is an Italian resto) located
in the area that are located in a building’s basement. As usual, Irene
called for reservations well ahead in advance. It’s about 1pm, there’s
not much people in the restaurant. Looks like Koreans really just order
lunch, eat fast, scoot fast. Everyone is served the same dish: ribs, barbecued
chicken, rice and a coleslaw sidedish. The coleslaw was delicious. It’s
mixed with parsley making it flavorful.
With that done, we detour to Dongdaemun before going to the airport. Dongdaemun
is well known for bargain clothes. It is also close to Cheonggyecheon stream
and Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium. Everybody disembarks in front of Doota
mall. In the Philippines, closing the mall for even one day is unthinkable,
but in Korea, some department stores close for one day of the week for maintenance.
In this case, Doota closes on Mondays. For comparison, Dongdaemun is
comparable to Divisoria’s Tutuban’s dry goods (clothes) without the wet
market, with many small shops surrounding the big department stores . We
tag along with Irene, Ryneth, Wilson’s family, but they are in a cosmetic
shop and grew tired staying around and decide to explore on our own. The
small shops are all side-by-side with different kinds of businesses. Restaurants,
carpets, hardware, textiles… They remind us so much of Ongpin. Not
all department stores are the same. One department store (whose name escapes
us) is nothing but several floors of bargain clothes. There are also street
foods just like in Myeongdong, but not as varied. We decide to finally
try, but since we still feel full, I try the chicken skewer and James tries
the crab stick. The chicken skewer’s not so bad, very mild spice.
Soon it is 3 pm. And everybody gathers at the drop point. We ride the
tourbus again and are now headed to Incheon…
