We rented bikes today and it was the perfect way to see the city. In the morning we rode out to Namsan, a local holy mountain covered in Buddhas, pagodas, temples, etc. The rules for bikes seem to be that a bike can go anywhere a walker can go, so we started by biking through some beautiful gardens. We then moved out to the countryside and rode through small farms and rice fields to the mountain. It was actually sunny today but still humid. We turned around at 11 because it got too hot and returned to the inn.
At the bakery we bought the Korean version of pizza which was interesting. At 3 we went out again and came across a tradition wedding reenactment. Very cool.
We then rode out into the countryside again and stopped to watch women working in the fields. We visited a fortress and a temple.
On the way back we stopped in this wonderful field of lotus flowers--acres and acres of flowers. The plants grow in shallow water like waterlilies but they are two feet tall. They were absolutely breathtaking.
Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant where we had Chap Chae Pap (a kind of fried rice). I practically lived on this stuff when I was here before, and it was just as good as I remembered. The ajamoni (lady) of the restaurant was scolding me, I think. She seem to be commenting on our tans/sunburns. She wanted to know why I wasn't feeding John meat; she thought John's hair was strange; and she tried to clean the bicycle grease off his legs. Some things never change.
We splurged and had dessert at Basking Robbins, and the day was over. Tomorrow we return to the hustle and bustle of Seoul.
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