After a long night I eventually tumbled out of bed and decided to go visit the ‘Garden of Morning Calm’, with a name like that I was expecting this place to be beautiful. It’s a laborious 2 hour journey to get there from Hongdae, we get off at the wrong stop and it’s so cold (minus 9 degrees) that I think my organs are slowing down. Despite all of this I was not disappointed by their creative display of lights.  At this time of the year, winter, the garden is transformed into a fairy light wonderland. Lights take the shape of mushrooms, horses and even a sea. It felt very magical and looking at the brochure I can’t help but feel the garden would be just as beautiful in every season. However, I was freezing and when we eventually got back in a taxi I feel a tinge of relief. In the taxi our driver enthusiastically showed us his photography collection while flippantly keeping his eyes on the road. He also had an extreme love of the song, ‘You Raise Me Up’ and felt the need to show us YouTube clips of it being covered, which resulted in the four of us collectively singing it.

When we arrived back into civilisation, Itaewon, we ate at ‘Halal Brothers’, which was delicious and through the window we could see a blizzard of snow. I felt thankful we missed it. I’ve only spent 2 days in the cold and already I’m tired of slipping and sliding, trying to get to the nearest 7/11. This was also my first impression of Itaewon, which is often referenced by the people around me as the ‘international’ area. Like Hongdae, it is very busy but here the cuisine is defiantly more varied. Having seen; Italian, Indian and Turkish food in the main street. I can only assume this means there are more foreign workers in this area, especially American, as there is a military base close by.  Arran assures me there is a great bar nearby that he refers to as ‘the prostitute bar’, it doesn’t sound appealing but I’m sure one night we will end up there.

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted and decide to jump into a taxi and head to bed. Luckily for us we found one fairly quickly despite the freshly, settled snow and spent the rest of the night watching, ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’. Goodnight Seoul.