We wake up late today. It was a luxurious sleep. The Holiday Inn isn't fancy - but it does have comfy beds with lovely duvets. We begin the packing process, but we have all day here as our flight doesn't leave until super late. We have a late checkout from our room, so we can finish up the packing later.
We gather those that are awake and head out to our fave place...yes...the Big Apple for coffees and breakfast. It doesn't disappoint. The people that work there are great. If you are in Almaty, this place is a must stop.
We hang out here for quite awhile, enjoying the space and a second coffee. Brian and Emily eventually join us and we here about the rest of their birthday festivities last night. Sounds like they had fun! Robert eventually joins us too and once everyone is fed, we go in search of art.
On every trip, my mom and I really like to find something to take home. Something permanent that can sit in our houses to remind us of the trip. I love looking around my living room at all the sculptures and paintings that we have gathered over the years.
I had found a clay making studio and so we head in that direction. Emily and Brian head off on their own for a day of sightseeing. They weren't with us at the beginning of the trip, so this is their one day to see the city.
The clay making studio is lovely - and I fall instantly in love with a very abstract bull sculpture that is in my colours! The artist is in the studio teaching, and we meet him and grab a photo. Mom buys this for me as an early birthday present. He is going to look fabulous in our dining room!
Mom doesn't find anything, and the girls have had enough, so Dave takes our bull and the girls back to the hotel while Erik, Robert, mom and I go in search of a small art gallery that I've found online. We wander through back streets and alleys in search of this place and finally stumble upon it. It's a small gallery, featuring a local artist. His technique is thick oil paintings - with texture and lots of colour. I love his work and mom seems to as well as she buys a small painting showing a park scene in Almaty. Fitting - as the parks in this city are fantastic. The colours are reds, oranges and browns and will look fabulous in her house.
We wander away from here and decide we've worked pretty hard on this shopping stuff so should go get a drink and snack. You'll never guess where we went - we are clearly creatures of habit. We head to our Fresco Cafe. The thing is, when you find a good place on a trip, with good food, good drinks, a beautiful patio with lovely interior design, and which has kept you safe so far, I don't see the harm and going back! Sure, maybe not as adventurous as we could be, but we've had a lot of adventure on this trip, so I think we can be cut some slack.
We have a few appies and some drinks and then Erik, mom and I head back to the hotel. Rob decides to linger a little longer at order a hookah. Actually, we all take a quick puff before leaving him behind. It's a big thing here, I figured I'd better try it at least once!
We manage to get a ride to the hotel, and when we get there, everyone has moved into our room as its past checkout time. It's a little cramped, but I get a nap in, and we all hang out for a bit until dinner time. We will have one last supper before coming back to the hotel and getting taxis to the airport.
Our last meal is at a nice Japanese place, I have no idea what its called, but the decor is pretty awesome. I took a picture of the walkway to the bathroom which was like being in an outdoor garden.
Once at the airport we negotiate through check-in, passport control and security and then sit and wait for our flight. The airport here isn't big or fancy, it doesn't have much to offer, and you all just sit in one big room and wait for the boarding to be called on the screen - they don't make announcements, so you'd better be paying attention.
We board the plane after a brief altercation with a pushy person. Dave and I must both be tired as we both turned and snapped at this guy as he tried to literally jam his way past us onto the plane. Jeez buddy, we're all going to the same place! I have no patience for that kind of rudeness.
We are flying with Air Astana and we seem to be in the premium economy section and so we all get these really cool felt bags filled with a neck pillow, eye mask, ear plugs, headphones etc. Very fun, we all gear up and look pretty hilarious with 11 of us decked out.
Once we land in Seoul, we say goodbye to Wendy and Bruce, they have seen Seoul so aren't joining us, and we head for passport control. It's a very interesting system, they make everyone come up one at a time and I can tell they don't really want me coming up with all three girls, but I do anyways, it seems weird to send a child through passport control on their own. We explain we are only here for a few hours and they let us through.
Robert is staying in Seoul a few extra days, and the rest of us will just tag along with him into the City, look around a little then head back.
The airport is at least an hour away from downtown Seoul. It's a Sunday, which we are grateful for, as the traffic is very light. We hire a large van with driver at the aiport to take us all into the city, and he agrees to come back and pick us up and hour and a half later to take us back to the airport. We only have a short time, so we need to be very efficient.
The drive takes us an hour, and we get dropped off at the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Unfortunately its raining off an on, but the temperature is warm. We are all basically zombies anyways. We will take what we an from this experience.
Emily had some reading and we chose the neighbourhood near the Palace as one that would interesting to explore. We walked around the little side streets and I was really pleasantly surprised. The architecture is really interesting here. A real mix off old and new. There isn't much open and the rain is starting to come down harder, so after walking around for awhile, we duck into a noodle place for some yummy noodles in broth and some dumplings. The owners are so nice and its delicious and so comforting on a rainy day.
Before we know it, its time to go meet our driver. We had said our goodbyes to Robert before the noodle place, so its just the 8 of us now. We are quiet the drive back. The three girls fall asleep in the back of the van. I wasn't sure I would want to come back to Seoul, but after seeing it, it might need to be given another opportunity down the road.
Back at the airport we head through security again and head up too the lounge. I have a shower again, devine! I'm really hoping I can get some good sleep on this next flight.
We head to the gate and there is some issue with our bags. They had checked them through to Vancouver for us in Almaty, but apparently I was supposed to know that I was on the flight to Vancouver or else they would pull them off. Weird! We get that straightened away and they put our bags back on.
We board the plane, get settled into our seats, and before we know it, we are up up and away. Home is just a few hours away now.
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