The next day Ayako and I went to a nearby palace (Gyeong-buk palace). Then I showed her a good plac to have samgyetang (chicken soup). Actually, I whole trip comprised of trying as many foods as we could as well as meeting up with friends of mine there. So here's the first photo of food from our trip:
In the afternoon, we went to see a show called "Nanta". It's a funny show about chef's cooking and with lots of actions and no words. We both enjoyed it. That night, I met my friend, Edward. We went and ate kalbi:
After dinner, we walked around Gangnam area which has lots of street vendors. Ayako wanted to try some of the food from here so we had dokpokki:
Later that night, we met up with a previous co-worker, Fiona. She had just quit her job that night, so she was in high spirits.^^ 
We went to a traditional looking bar and drank makkolli (milky rice wine) and ate kimchi pancakes:
The next day, we started out by going to a street with lots of traditional stores and restaurants and tea shops called Insadong. We went to a tea shop and tried a couple types of tea:
We continued looking down the tradional street as well as going to a new shopping building that is quite artistic since it gradually winds it way up the 5th floor past lots of shops and modern art work:
including one artwork comprising of toilet seats:
That night we went out and had one of my favourite meals, takgalbi (hot chicken stir fry):
After dinner, we met some of my co-workers and one student from English Channel and went out for drinks:
The next day was New Year's Eve. We went shopping in a couple of the market areas in Seoul and bought a few things. At night we ate kalbi (barbequed pork) and ate cold noodles for dessert: 
We then walked along the new stream in Seoul where lots of people were setting off fireworks that you could buy on the street. So we joined in the fun: 
We then watched big fireworks at twelve o'clock that went off a tall building downtown:
On New Year's Day, we got a bus down to Cheongju (150km south of Seoul), where I used to teach. We visited my old bosses, Benedita and Sam, at their new apartment. We went shopping with them and then went for dinner and ate beef and mushroom shabu shabu:
That night, Ayako and I went out for a drink with Sam:
and then went and sang karaoke:
The next day we met some of my students, Rebecca and Ryan, from last year's TESL course that I taught. They were teaching at a school just down the road from where I used to teach 4 years ago. We went out for lunch and had green noodles with seafood (mmmm, yummy^^):
(sorry, their photo didn't turn out so well).
We went to stay with my friend, Young-min, and his wife, Jin-hee. They had just renovated their apartment and since she loves Hello Kitty, it's basically a pink Hello Kitty apartment...wow. We had a great meal of samgyopsal with them:
That night, we went out for a drive to get a look over Cheongju at night:
The next day, we got the bus back to Seoul, and visted some other students, Jessica and Brandon, from my TESL course last year. They are teaching in downtown Seoul and had just got back from a trip to China for the New Year. We went out to lunch with them (but unfortunately their photo didn't turn out well...sorry):
That night, we went out for dinner and had hanjongshik, which is where they give you lots of side dishes although with a main dish:
After dinner, we wandered around the area, which has a good night life. We had dessert at a Haagen Daz cafe:
That was our last day in Seoul together. The next morning, I got up early to catch a plane back to Japan and Ayako got to do a bit of shopping before coming back. Overall, it was a fun and delicious trip back to Korea.
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