Boy was today tiring! It's a holiday today called Chuseok, kind of like Thanksgiving, minus the turkey, and multiple the family travel traffic by 50. So because of this, a lot of stores were closed this morning. I guess I'll save my grocery shopping for tomorrow.

So I met up with my friend Tim, who I've known since freshman year at university. We went and found a restaurant in Ssangmun, which is about 20 minutes walking distance from my apartment, and it's where a lot of buses and the subway pass through. We had some really good food, I think it was bolgi again. Whatever it was, it was delicious.

After that we decided to catch the bus that Tim had taken to get into Ssangmun, because there was some sort of Buddhist temple at the end of the line. So Tim got me a T-Money card, which is basically a reloadable travel card that you swipe when you get on and off the bus/subway. Mine looks pretty cool! So we hopped on the bus and took it to the end of the line in Dobong, which happened to be at Dobongsan, which is the famous mountain in my area. It's in a place called Bukhansan National Park. It was quite gorgeous. Unfortunately for me, I did not anticipate a hike today, so I wore flip flops. Big mistake. We walked up a few hills, but after a while it started getting really steep and rocky, so we decided to go back down. We shall return at another date, prepared. The other hikers though, wow, they were completely decked out. Apparently Seoulites are known for their hiking gear, they really go balls deep, hiking boots, jackets, head bands, even those little walking cane type things. It was quite funny. They all looked as if they were going up Mount Everest, but passing them were taxis that would take you to the top of the mountain.

Upon returning to the city, we decided to check out Tim's district, Sinchon. It's about an hour and a half bus ride there, and there was a ton of traffic for the holiday, so it really sucked. Luckily we got on at the start of the line so we got seats. I don't know if I could have been able to stand that whole time. So we got to Tim's place finally, his apartment is really nice, and its right in the middle of a big party area, so there were people everywhere. But Tim said that what we saw was actually really low key, since a lot of people were away for the holiday. There definitely wasn't a shortage of bars and restaurants in his area.

Tim was kind enough to make me dinner, rice pudding. You just cook rice to a certain consistency, and add whatever kind of spices, vegetables, and meats that you want. It was pretty tasty, I'm going to have to learn how to make that for myself. I left soon after that, I mean, I was tired when I woke up, so after a day of mountaineering and wandering the streets of Ssangmun, I was pretty much beat. So Tim took me to the bus station, and luckily I got a seat for the way back. I actually fell asleep for a while, but I woke up in time to get off thankfully. How horrible would that have been if I slept through my stop?

Tomorrow's adventure: grocery shopping!