A Seoul-ful New Year: part 4

It snowed! I saw the flakes falling on the previous night, and moved by you're-likely-only-in-Korea-once guilt, I got out of bed before dawn (!) and took some photos of Seoul with a dusting of snow.

I've noticed that in Asia snow gets swept instead of plowed or shoveled.

park near Breda's apt.

After the sun rose, I realized that my toes felt like little frozen sausages, so I went back to my room and napped a lil. Nothing enhances appreciation for a warm bed like being chilled to the bone.

Breda has a friend whose family sews hanboks, so we stopped by their shop later that day.

Traditional wedding hanboks. The bride wears a pink skirt and green top.
A more modern take is on the right.

During my time in Korea, it became very apparent that many South Koreans embrace modern societies and globalization while maintaining strong ties to the past. In fact, Breda's friend mentioned that many Koreans will have three parts to their wedding ceremony: traditional (such as the pink skirt/green blouse), modern (the white dress with the purple sash), and then reception party.

hanboks for toddlers!

hanbok shoes

It was refreshing to be in a market where locals shop rather than tourist trap markets. Shop owners had food delivered to them by a woman who balanced several meals on her head.

Afterwards we got some nomz (+kimchi!)

man, my legs still hurt from sitting on the ground so much.

My church has a temple in Seoul. In fact, it was one of the first temples in Asia, built in 1981. After Breda and I shopped around other some other markets (buttons, ribbons, and zippers!) and I got some chrysanthemum seeds for King's Mums future collection, we stopped by the temple for a few night photos.

And then, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've been waiting for.... our visit to a CAT CAFE!

Aside: when I opened Lightroom to pull together the photos for this post, I saw that the number of photos taken on this day was greater than 250! "what the heck??" I thought to myself, "What could I possibly have taken that many pictures of??!" Then I remembered that we visited the cat cafe. But do not be alarmed; I've only included a few cat shots for this post. 

Ok, so I didn't actually know before my visit that Koreans had this wonderful and totally reasonable obsession with cats/cat cafes, but I soon learned about it! I'm not sure why the people don't just own cats, thus negating the need for a cat cafe... but then I suppose that being able to get your feline fill at a nearby cafe also makes it so that your home doesn't smell like kitty litter and you don't wake up to the smell of cat food breath emanating from a cat perched over your sleeping head. at any rate, we found three cafes within a three block radius, so we had our pick.

First, a panorama. how many cats can you count?

a cat cafe in all of its glory.

I spy with my little eye THIRTY-FOUR cats. And yes, that is a cat walk hanging from the ceiling.

Now some macro shots.

maybe I can sell this to Cat Fancy?

Breda has a bit of a cat allergy, but she was miraculously cured during our visit! Either that or she patiently held her breath while I rolled around on the floor with the kittehs.

The cats could smell my fondness for felines and they curled up on my jacket! I guess the feeling of euphoria I experienced was what some people look for when they swim with dolphins.