the (really) last day

this is me writing to you from the floor of my friend Annie's apartment in Seoul on my official last night in Korea. you can't imagine the range of emotions in this emotional girl at the moment. the past three days have been, as per usual, a whirlwind of insanity and beauty in this fabulous city of Seoul. i don't have much time for details at the moment--much more will be written in the coming weeks and months about all that has transpired this year, this month and this week, but for now, i'll give you the highlights of the Last Great Weekend in Korea:

• Showing up in Insadong on the eve of the Lotus Lantern Festival and being quite surprised to find out it was being held this weekend not next weekend and not having a hotel reservation to speak of.
  
• Being helped by a very lovely Korean man who walked us to the only place that had a room in the area -- a love motel, of course -- where we drank blue juice, ate ice cream and relaxed in their "romantic coffee" shop.
  
• Returning to our original hotel and being "gifted" the last room in the house (though we still had to pay) and later realizing that it was probably not rentable at all due to the extreme wood eating mold in the bathroom and the broken chair.
  
• Eating a delicious real Italian meal of steamed mussels, crab lasagna, salmon linguine and foccacia while relaxing on the patio of a very lovely restaurant in Insadong.
  
• Finding out that the jacuzzi tub actually has to be full before you turn on the jets or everything gets really really wet.
  
• Saying goodbye to Jim as I got into a cab to head to my friend Annie's house and he got onto a bus to go to the airport to go to the states.
  
• Wandering the streets of Insadong and discovering the most gorgeous temple with the most incredible lanterns covering the space in a thick canopy.
  
• Finding Korean b-boys rockin' it on stage at the street fair.
• Buying an awesome glowy lotus lantern.
  
• Witnessing the most insanely Korean parade ever -- thousands of people walking the streets of downtown Seoul with gorgeous lanterns and lantern floats of Buddha, elephants, pagodas and dragons -- as it changed course no fewer than three times in 45 minutes. We had a perfec (seriously perfect) spot which we had to run to and fro from as the parade changed course. Ridiculous.
• Walking around Insadong in the rain with good friends and eating grilled Korean chicken one last time.
  
• Waking up this morning and heading to Hongdae for a fabulous meal of artichoke and sun dried tomato sandwiches, finding a funny cafe that actually looks like a cathedral in Prague, and discovering a troupe of Korean swing dancers in the park.
  
• Eating Indian food and spending my last night in Korea reading in an awesome underground cafe that we had been searching for all day.
  

enjoy the pics. there will be more soon. for now, anyeonghasaeyo from Korea. stay tuned for tales from thailand.