Checking out of Chungju City
After I check out of Chungju City, having zipped over to represent Singapore Discussing Emergency Medical Services In Korea, I head directly to the Seoul Incheon International Airport complex. I make plans to meet my friends there since my flight out of Seoul is pretty early the next morning.
Seoul Food
Sean & Haerin kindly drive over to meet me at the hotel and we dash to La Scala for a late dinner. Haerin asks if I mind not eating traditional Korean food. Having spent the previous day Enjoying Korean Cuisine In Chungju City I don’t mind at all.
La Scala is an inviting yet chic Milanese restaurant. We share the freshly-baked bread with lashings of butter, a delicious salad and a truffle mushroom pizza that is out of this world. I order my own plate of spaghetti artigianali con abalone e ricci di mare. As I adore sea urchin and shellfish, I finish these up rather quickly. I ask the waiter for some chili flakes and he obliges, warning me to sprinkle it in with caution. Thinking he doesn’t understand this Singaporean’s tolerance for spice, I throw the whole potful of spice in. After a few forksful, I realise my mouth is on fire. There is nothing to do but finish the plate up, lest I risk the waiter’s mirth, and so I do. You can imagine how stuffed I was.
Paradise City Art Gallery
Lingering Over Yayoi Kusama
While Haerin and I admire the Yayoi Kusama pumpkin by the casino from every angle, Sean urges us to hurry for there’s much more to see. As we comb through the corridors filled with art, I understand what he means. What an amazing opportunity to appreciate so many contemporary art pieces in one space.
Art Feeds My Seoul
It is difficult not to be struck by the breathtaking Damien Hirst by the entrance. Called The Legend, it’s a huge rendering of Pegasus, gilded on one side and stripped to rippling muscle on the other.
Another impressive piece is the outlandishly huge Mendini Proust armchair, blown up in typical Gulliver Syndrome fashion.
Not everything is outsized. I walk past several colorful Koen van den Broeks and peer into Ivan Navarro’s neon windows of endless light..
Korean Contemporary Art
Accordingly, Korean artists are well-represented and I spend a long time admiring Kim Tschang Yeul’s Water Drops. Haerin and I goof around under some pop art depicting Korean artistes until Sean politely refuses to take anymore photos for us.
Seoul Long For Now
Although we have just a couple of hours before calling it a night, it is such an awesome time. It’s rare to have friends with whom you can have soulful conversations. Even rarer when they’ll gamely turn around to take silly bathroom photos in a heartbeat. Thank you Sean & Haerin for always taking care of me in Seoul. Kamsamida and so long for now!
