I know what you were thinking: Finally. She’s done posting Korea photos. I mean, she’s posting about oatmeal, for Mao’s sake, she must be through with the endless Seoul puns and nearly identical pictures of pickled spicy cabbage.

Well, you were wrong. But at least my puns aren’t this bad:

I spent my last hours on Jeju at the Dongmun market, at Sayeong’s suggestion. Do you want to know why the Dongmun market was a bad idea?

Because it made me very, very sad that:

1. I had no access to a kitchen.

2. Customs (and, you know, logistics) could make it somewhat difficult to bring back anything remotely living or once living.

3. My stomach can only hold so much food.

4. I had eaten breakfast that morning.

I had never seen fish like this—they were literally as shiny as mirrors.

And these spiky things:

If tuna is chicken of the sea, then these are the Nerfs of the ocean.

I hopped a plane back to Seoul early that afternoon and made my way back to Meg’s place, a considerably easier task than it had been the week before. It’s amazing how familiar I became with Seoul in only a few days.

Later Meg and I went out for a little walking around before we met some of her friends for dinner. She, diligent teacher that she is, parked herself in a Dunkin’ Donuts with a coffee and some papers to grade while I went out on the final Korea shoot in the City Hall area. Dusk is a good time to be there.

I was very dismayed to learn that I would miss the Kimchi Love Festival 2009.

If anyone was made for a Kimchi Love Festival, it’s Plate of Wander.

At 7 we went back to Itaewon to meet some of Meg’s friends and try out an Ethiopian restaurant whose sign I had spotted when Meg and I had Mexican there. But when we walked into the establishment labeled with the Ethiopian Restaurant sign, it seemed to be a smoky bar with no indication of any sort of food available for consumption. After we walked around for a few minutes in search of a new place to stuff ourselves, one of Meg’s friends, Eric, mentioned a yummy Indian restaurant nearby. Sold!

So I’m a little ashamed to admit that I only remember Eric’s name. He came with one of his friends, and one of Meg’s friends, a woman, also ate with us, but I can remember neither of their names. I’m sorry! But I remember Eric in part because he is an Indian enthusiast, in part because he was a history major with a concentration in some kind of obscure aspect of New England history (he had a fabulous title for his thesis. Eric, if you’re reading this, please post it in the comments!), and also because he seemed very interested in my blog.

So we talked about Korean history (of which I know very very little) and a bit Chinese history (of which I know slightly more) over fritters

Raita

Tandoori chicken

Vindaloo

And Tikka Masala

And then I got Cold Stone. Traditional Korean dessert.

Meg returned home to do some work while I went back to City Hall with Eric and his friend, who was really quite nice and funny but I just cannot remember his name. 23 years old and already my memory is fading. Great.

We walked down the river for a while and Eric made me promise to not only post about this, but let him know when I did. Express interest in my blog and I won’t forget your name!

The next morning I flew back to Shanghai and let me tell you, I did not want to be back in China, especially Huzhou. Really, I think it’s that I didn’t want my vacation adventure to end, but also, I didn’t want to be lonely and isolated again.

Luckily, things have improved dramatically. Days of Our Laowai Part II just might be forthcoming.