눈이 안 오는데

It may be winter but traces of autumn have not fully retired

After one week in Seoul, snow is still nowhere in sight. Today as I was walking to Jongno, a few maple trees in a garden, along the way, caught my attention. Apparently, these trees still have their maple leaves nicely intact. Have they forgotten that it is winter now? In any case, I like the autumn hue that I saw.

Since today is Saturday, I tend to be a bit lazy. Instead of taking subway to some distant places in Seoul, I decided to watch a movie at Piccadilly Plus multiplex which is located at Jongno 3-ga. From where I stay, it took me just 20 mins walk to reach the place. The movie I wanted to watch was "식객" (食客) or Le Grand Chef but when I told the ticketing staff, she was confused. Perhaps I pronounced "식객" as "식게" and she thought that I wanted to watch "새,계" (色,戒). I felt like a loser when I found out that I could not even pronounce "식객" correctly. Anyway, I could still tell that she got my movie wrong when she tried to confirm if I wanted to watch "새,계". Of course I said no or I would end up paying 8,000won or S$13 for a movie which I can watch for S$8.50 in Singapore.

I watched Le Grand Chef at Piccadilly Plus multiplex off Jongno 3-ga

The movie storyline was quite expected. The good guy is a better chef and the evil guy uses all sort of despicable means to try to beat him in a cooking contest. This movie reminds me of Disney's Ratatouille and Stephen Chow's "God of Cookery". Strangely, what I find touching about this movie is the relationship between the good guy and his cow. They both survived a flood together. It was funny to see both of them looking out for one another at the roof during the flooding scene. But it turned sad when the guy has to sacrifice the cow which he has taken good care of in order to compete with his competitor to present the best beef at the contest. Of course, the good guy did not let his cow died in vain, he won the contest at the end.

After the movie, I spent the rest of the evening walking up and down of Jongno. One important aspect of Korean food culture is theirs "포장마차" (布帳馬車) or pushcart. One of the highlight of Jongno is that it has many pushcarts lining along its long pedestrain walkway. Except Jongno, I have yet to come across so many pushcarts co-located at one area.

Jongno comes alive with all these pushcarts lining its long walkway

Last but not least, I shall bring you the Christmas spirit at Jongno. The mood is definitely better in cold weather. I wonder if the snow will come afterall. If it does come, that will put the icing on the cake. ^^

Christmas mood at Jongno.