So I was in deep trouble. This particular morning was our anniversary, and with all the crap that had been going on, I’d realised too late that my original gift idea wouldn’t work, due to time constraints. 

Yea, yea, that’s not an an excuse I know… I know…!

I’d gotten the flowers preordered from before, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for in Jangsan… matching hats for my wife and our Littlest Dictator. This morning was basically a do-or-die (possibly literally) situation. 

Got my brother-in-law up to drive me to Shibsegae Shopping Mall, once the world’s largest mall in the world (it was in the Guinness Records, if I’m not mistaken). 

We got there on a cold morning at 10am. 

And… they were still closed!


Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal to me, since they were going to open at 10.30am. Except in my haste, I did not dress for the really cold morning. 

Ah well. Decided to walk around a bit to warm up. 


Didn’t realise that Bexco (a major exhibition and convention centre) was so close by).


We grabbed a quick coffee at the nearby convenience store and headed underground to one of the main entrances. 

Turns out there were others who just couldn’t wait to get their morning shopping in. I wonder if they too had messed up in a big way like I did!


The place is huge. I moved from floor to floor, communicating in a mixture of very basic English and sign language (the latter mostly). 

It reached the point where I’d almost given up and decided to have a bit of stupid fun instead. 

This is a man who has lost all hope:


At long last I found them! 


These, plus the flowers basically meant I could continue to breathe the cool free air 😂.