Watching the weather the night before I knew rain was coming. I had planned on taking the train to Jongno-gu National Park just north of Seoul. Instead I sat in the window of my hotel room, drank coffee with donuts (a popular Korean treat not available in Hong Kong), and painted this picture of Jongno-gu and clouds. Overall it was a pleasant day and I spent a number of hours wondering the art district and the tunnel markets. Because the street vendors were run off by the rain, I spent more time in coffee shops. Two stood out: One was below the Korean Institute of Culinary Arts where I had a pumpkin latte and sweet rice cakes. The cakes we so beautiful I didn’t want to eat them. Luckily I soon got over it. What can I say? It was as good as it sounds. And wouldn’t you know it, across the street was the Chocolate Factory where I died and went to heaven drinking an Aztec hot chocolate. There were chunks of chillies at the bottom of my cup. Nothing perks you up in a rain storm quite like a cup of ground serrano peppers and hot chocolate. They also have espresso chocolate among other chocolate drinks that are made fresh while you wait. Both places were across the street from the palace. A must try.
But, got back to Hong Kong last night and will be up and running the daily paintings and drawings tomorrow. Happy Trails.
