Catching Up

Today I felt much better than the last few days. I got enough sleep and woke up with good energy. This room is already starting to feel like home.

I spent the morning working on the blog. I fixed some issues I noticed, corrected spelling mistakes in earlier posts, and updated the foods and blog sections. I also got the tech working to display images inside daily posts—like this! Working on a laptop is so much easier than doing all of this on a tablet.

I also explored more of the building. I found the communal kitchens, laundry rooms, amenities rooms (where you can get clean towels and toilet paper), and the workspaces. The top floor even has a balcony with a view of Seoul. But all of these spaces were empty. I only saw people in the elevator—maybe I was there at the wrong time of day?

Working Out

I finally got to work out again. There’s a gym in the second basement (two floors down from the first floor). As I expected, it’s just a single room with some equipment. Enough for a basic workout, but not much else. There’s a squat rack, some benches, and free weights. The treadmill skips when running, and the weights aren’t heavy enough for me, so I might have to look elsewhere.

Apparently, there’s a full gym on the first basement floor (one floor down from the first floor), but that’s operated by another company. With a monthly fee of ₩30,000 (less than €20), it might be worth checking out.

Grocery Shopping

After washing up and doing some laundry, I went grocery shopping. Convenience stores are literally everywhere—I think there are six within 200 meters of where I’m staying. But those mostly sell snacks, drinks, and essentials like nail clippers, deodorant, and charging cables. For real produce, you need a proper grocery store. Luckily, there’s a giant one less than a kilometer from my hotel.

On the way, I crossed Cheonggyecheon, a large stream running through the city, surrounded by plants and trees. It’s part of an urban renewal project to reclaim a piece of the concrete jungle for the people living in it. Lots of people were running along the water, so I might try that too.

The grocery store was massive. Inside there’s a cafeteria serving fresh food, endless aisles of Korean ingredients that are hard to find in the Netherlands, and even a hardware section.

I picked up some essentials: mayonnaise, fresh fruit, muesli bars, clothing hangers (they only gave me three!), trash bags, and detergent. All of it barely fit in the bag I brought.

Food Market

When I came out of the supermarket, it was already dinner time. I walked a bit further to the nearby Gwangjang Market (광장시장) to get some food. This market has been featured in several Netflix food shows, and the stalls proudly display that fact.

I tried my best to speak only Korean, and it actually went pretty well. One kind lady even replied in Korean instead of switching back to English, which was really nice.

Tomorrow will be my first “real” touristy day in Korea. I plan on visiting the National Museum, and finishing the day near the Han River.