double take

Seoul was rather grey. The head-turningly handsome men at every corner made up for it, somewhat. The comforting ginseng chicken soup helped too.


With only four days and pockets of time in between work, I didn't get take in much culture, though I consumed kimchi daily, if that counts. I did manage to buy four dresses, two pairs of footwear, two T-shirts, one pair of socks and a whole bunch of Korean beauty products in that short time though.


For the most part, the weather was bearably chilly, but was perfect on the night we had cocktails on the grounds of a 500-year-old palace on which an alien mothership had landed. Strawberries -- not any old strawberries, but plump and sweet ones from Korea -- dipped in chocolate are divine with champagne. Why did it take me so long to discover this?


I had been telling everyone before the trip that I would, finally, get to see cherry blossoms, but it was clearly not meant to be. The season was over and all I saw were these flowers which I suspected -- and Googled to confirm -- were azaleas. Pretty, but not quite the same.