A few finals thoughts from South Korea:
1. Rainfall in South Korea is at a 104-year low, when they first starting taking measurements, so who knows how far back this drought beats. The irony is that it began raining last night here in Busan, and continued all day today.
2. First, I feel blessed that I went to Yeosu yesterday (scroll down to the EXPO).
3. Because of the weather, I decided to catch the subway, for just two stops away is Shinsegae Centrum City, the largest shopping complex in the world. It was built in 2009 and is, indeed, worth a stop. There is something special about this mall. All the major Japanese and Korean department stores have a floor or two in the basement featuring food and a market. The one here had more than most, with a tank of King Crab:
and and another for abalone:
Also, some restrooms have an additional child-sized toilet:
In these rooms there is a dispenser to allow you to wipe the seats with a special cleaner.
4. There are two food courts, plus, on the 9th floor, some high class restaurants. Of course, I went there, and got a table at a Korean restaurant that featured barbequed meats. I ordered a Korean soju, and kalbi. Unfortunately, I was told that this can only be had for two or more. So, in a mild huff, I left, and strolled around. Of all the things, Macaroni Grill (no relationship to Romano's), an Italian restaurant, caught my interest. I ordered their lunch special with a beer, an incredible bargain, as you shall see.
I was told to first go to the salad bar, where I fixed myself a generous bowl of vegetables covered with an assortment of nuts. Then, to my surprise, their salad came, which was fabulous. The third course was a pumpkin cream soup. Outstanding! The official soup was saffron shrimp, but I'm allergic to crustaceans. The next was capellini with a red sauce that was unusually good. They left out the shrimp, but what came had onions, broccoli and some pork:
I should mention the bread dish, which had a small baked potato. Nice touch. The final entree was a steak:
The meat was perfect, although there was too much sauce. I turned down the dessert and had coffee to rest for a while. I was supersaturated. There is something exceptional about the taste: of the salad dressing, soup and pasta.
Would you believe all the above cost about the same as that Belgian stew meal yesterday (just scroll down to my Yeosu lunch) and only a tenth of Pierre Gagnaire? How much is that in American dollars? Well, you need to read about those other lunches to calculate this amount. Considering the classiness of the restaurant, quality of the food and excellent service, this might well have been my best value meal, ever.
Later that afternoon I walked two miles on Haeundae Beach. Here is the view from the other end:
I have never walked this far in bare feet in my life. I did worry about glass and sharp shells, which I saw here and there. This beach averages around 100 yards wide. The Westin is the low rise to the extreme left.
5. Maybe I'm gaining a foot fetish, but I noticed on the subway that the high majority of females paint their toenails in Seoul and Pusan. The popular nail polish colors are red/pink, black, white and blue. I haven't seen any yellow. Many of them don't bother to color their fingernails. There is a comment that Korean women only paint their big toe, but I found this to be an exception. Interesting and strange. Also you can hardly find a girl with black hair in Japan and Korea (more and more males, too). Some say this is to escape reality Another indicates that this makes them more sexually confident. If you have black hair and want brown or blonde, you first need to bleach it. Then you dye the color you want, and this can get pretty smelly, sometimes with ammonia. It would not surprise me if it later turns out that Asian females will more and more wear wigs, for their hair follicles won't be able to tolerate all this regular damage. Aha, the next big trend if you want to start a company. There is no medical evidence because what government can justify this kind of research? You will only read of studies made by bleaching and dying companies, and you know they won't hint about going bald.
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