Chapter 348 - BTA (2/2)
”Tell her to drop by the lab first. I need to run a few small tests. It won't take up much of her time,” Dr. Li requested.
Captain Tang agreed and quickly recalled the message to Halia. In the end, Halia and Jackson booked a flight back to Guiyang City with a 24-hour stopover in Beijing.
But, before they returned, they still had the rest of their honeymoon to enjoy. So, after sorting out all their important affairs, Halia and Jackson met up with Sean and Natalie and they headed out to explore Seoul.
Although Seoul was a busy, modern city with highrises, fast transport, and advanced technology, there were still historical areas where old palaces and traditional villages remained.
The most famous, largest, and arguably most beautiful palace was Gyeongbokgung; the main royal palace of the Joseon Dynasty.
The two couples caught the metro to the closest stop and hopped off to have some breakfast first. Due to its location near the palace, they visited a famous restaurant that served Samgyetang, a.k.a. Chicken Ginseng Soup. The traditional-looking restaurant had a long queue, but because they were early, it didn't take long before they were seated at a table inside.
Although it was summer in Korea, hot soups like this were very popular. In fact, it was a tradition to eat Samgyetang on the hottest days of summer. The Koreans had a saying for this: 'yi yul chi yul', which literally meant 'fight fire with fire'. So, the four friends wanted to partake in this tradition.
As a steaming hot stone bowl of soup arrived in front of each of them, they looked at each other and questioned whether they had made the right decision. Just looking at the steam made them sweat. But, as soon as they started digging into the soup, the heat slowly became bearable and it felt oddly refreshing.
After breakfast, the four friends spotted a group of young girls dressed in traditional Korean hanboks. At first, they thought they were entertainers or performers, but when they spotted some foreigners stepping out of a shop also dressed in traditional clothing, they asked in curiosity, ”Excuse me, why are you dressed in traditional clothing?”
A young German man replied in English, ”Many of the shops along this street have hanboks for hire. If you wear a hanbok, you get free entry into the palace, and sometimes you get a professional photographer to accompany you for the day. It is a very common activity. My friends recommended it to me.”
Halia and Natalie immediately jumped in excitement. ”I want to wear a hanbok and look like a princess!” Natalie squealed.
The two men smiled at each other. Although it didn't really excite them, they were willing to do anything to make their wives happy, so they followed them into a rental shop.
”I guess we're wearing hanboks today...” Sean whispered to Jackson.
”I guess so...” Jackson replied.