Day 417: Burning A Hole

We all slept in today and then it was time for Ryan and Christine to pack it up to get ready to go back home to Taiwan. I walked them to the airport bus stop and we said our goodbyes. I had a really great time with those two and was sad to see them go. They're both really cool people, a helluva lot of fun, and the kind of folk that I'd love to spend more time with hanging out. If only they lived in the same country as me! Oh well, I plan on swinging by Kaohsiung during Project Wanderlust and can look forward to seeing my two friends soon enough. 'Bon Voyage!' Ryan and Christine!

After a leisurely breakfast Addie and I headed back to Ilsan to relax and hang out at LaFesta. Plus, I had a burning desire to do some shopping. Today is Arbor Day, which is a national holiday here in Korea, but luckily all the malls and stores still stay open. I have 150,000 worth of Won in gift certificates for Lotte from Dennis' Mom that I still have, and it's high time I spend it! It's a sizable chunk of 'free money' and let me tell you, today it was seriously burning a hole in my pocket. Time to hit up Lotte!

LaFesta was an absolute zoo, no surprise there, but we pushed our way through the crowds to go to the department store. I had in mind a few things to buy - some shoes, a new shirt, a badly-needed pair of sunglasses, and a sports watch for my trip. I ended up only getting the watch. They didn't have any shoes I liked, it was too crowded for me to actually get near any of the clothing racks, and all the sunglasses they carried were 200-300$ plus designer sunglasses (no thanks, I'll lose those in the Mekong River, for sure!) But I got a great sports watch from Timex that was on sale and cost 50,000 Won. Another thing checked off my list of stuff to get for my trip, and still 100,000 won left to play with another day.

We had some coffee at Starbucks, and then took a nice walk to Aroi Aroi for some deelish Thai dinner. Mmm.... We had a quiet night of TV after that and then it was bedtime. Back to work tomorrow!