Purse shopping

Yesterday was quite a long and interesting day. My friend Jennifer and I boarded a bus at 5 am bound for Osan, South Korea. I brought a backpack of things to keep me entertained for the 3 hour drive and made sure to take a Dramamine just in case. About 20 minutes into the bus ride we all start complaining to the driver to please turn the heat down. The driver responds by pretending he does not speak any English. Thank goodness for the freezing temperatures outside because all the windows were frozen. I spent the entire drive with my face on the glass trying to cool off. By the time we reached our destination I had shed every last extra layer of clothing that I could. It was so wonderful to finally escape that bus and have some fresh air. Our first order business was to spend a couple hours in the PX (the Osan PX is soooooooo much bigger and better than the one in Daegu. It is like comparing a dollar store and a Super Target.) Once 11 am rolled around we headed out to The Ville to get what we really came for........PURSES!!!! Some friends had given us directions to the places with the really good stuff. The first time I read over the directions I had to laugh out loud because it read like one of those cheat books for a video game (you know like jump on the purple mushroom.....go under the fourth black rock....). The directions told us to go down this alley and look for a soup shop and a blanket shop (let me explain something about Korea......there is a soup shop and a blanket shop on every corner!). Then we were to proceed til we came to the end, stop, and pretend to look for something or someone. The lady would find us and take us to the secret room with the good stuff. Holy crap!!! That is exactly how it works. Some of the stores have secret rooms hidden behind walls. Others you have to go up or down some narrow stairs or even through a little tunnel. It was so clandestine and I loved it!!! I feel totally safe here in Korea, but you would never catch me doing the same thing back home. After a couple hours of shopping and a nice lunch we boarded the miserable bus back to Daegu. Six hours in an oven on wheels.....pure hell, but ending up with two Prada bags and a Jimmy Choo with a wallet for $95......priceless!