To start out the day, I woke up still drunk and not knowing where I was. I quickly put 2 and 2 together, got ready, washed up and headed on my journey to the capital. At the bus station I saw another foreigner with 2 huge suitcases and remembered vaguely that someone at the bar last night said they were going to Seoul and would be there in the morning. I remember being like "you are not gonna travel to Seoul at 8am" thinking they were gonna be too hungover to actually do anything. Turns out, Travis (is his name), was there and was not drunk the night before because his contract was over and he was taking the bus to Seoul, then to the airport to catch his flight back home! haha standard Cassandra.
So we got on the bus and chatted the whole way about life and Korea etc...then in no time we were at the Express Bus Terminal. It turns out it is quicker (1h10mins) to get to Seoul than it was to get to Chungju, I guess because the bus never stopped on the way. I was to meet my friend Melanie, who I met at the Korean Consulate in Toronto, downstairs by a fountain. I asked Travis how to get downstairs, said peace out and was on a mission to find the fountain.
Well, there was no fountain! Not downstairs, not upstairs, nowhere. Grrreeaaatttt! I then decided I would scour the station, I was bound to find my fellow foreigner right? WRONG. I walked up and down and around in circles and never found her. I then decided that I would go to a PC bong (internet room) and see if she had emailed or FBd me and if not facebook msg her to meet me at a certain location in the terminal. Once on facebook, I received a msg from my other friend Brittany saying that there was no fountain in that terminal and that I should meet her at the Korean McDonalds, Lotteria. I was also meeting Brittany and Brock that day at the same terminal but at a later time. Grreaaattt, still can't find my friend, I already know that there is no fountain, so I decided to msg Melanie to meet me at the Lotteria at 10am and hope that she does the same (goes to a PC bong), sees my msg and meets me. At 10am I proceed to the Lotteria to wait. I only waited about a half hour and HURRAY! Melanie finds me and shows me that there may not be a fountain in the terminal, but there is one across the street at the mall, that she has been waiting at all morning! FUNNY STUFF!
Why didn't you call her you ask? Well, first of all she doesn't have a phone yet, and 2ndly, I didn't have one either...rewind...
Friday after I got my phone, I was supposed to activate it an hour later, wellll it didn't work. I was so confused, even got some Korean friends at dinner to take a look to see what the deal was...it was just saying I had to visit the place I got it from. Grrreeaaatttt! I was supposed to call Mr. J when it was activated so I had to use Natasha's phone to call him. I told him what happened and he said he would go back with me next week, then he put his son on the phone, ha. He was so good at English, I was so proud of Mr. Jung for teaching him so well! His son is 7, he proceeded to ask me to their house for dinner. CUTE! So I didn't have a phone.
As planned we would go for breakfast while we wait for Brock and Brittany to get to Seoul around noon. Melanie is super organized like me and likes to research things so she already had a few breaky places ready to find. We decided to go to Itaewon, an area of Seoul that is highly populated by foreigners, and foreigner food and shops etc... I was excited because this meant we had to take the subway, which I heard was huge compared to other cities.
To take the metro you need a card...T-Money card, it is called. I got one ($3) and then we had to put money onto it. You then hover your card over the sensor when you enter the metro and when you get off. It always starts at 900KRW or 90 cents. We traveled to Itaewon which was 2 separate lines so we had to change trains at one point, like you do at say Bloor station in Toronto. When you leave the metro and swipe your card, it either says 0 or it adds to the 90 cents you have already paid, depending on how far you go...if you don't go far you only pay the 90 cents...so amazing! I think we traveled once for 40 mins and it was no more than $2. I heart the Seoul Metro system!!
T-Money comes in it's own little box!
crazy, yet simple system
We arrive at the restaurant and it was a cute little brunch spot. I ordered eggs benny (yes please!) and Melanie had the eggs benny but with Salmon (she's a vegetarian). It came pretty quick and it was absolutely delicious!! It was on a piece of french baguette that was so fresh and came with grilled tomato, spinach and potato salad :) So good and I am so curious as to why I didn't take a pic (I take pictures of everything)!! I did take a pic of the outside though.
cute patio - only for smoking, not eating
The Flying Pan
Oh man, it was such a beautiful day! It must have been at least 25 degrees and full sunshine, it was awesome. So we started walking around, then I remembered my phone and thought I should go into a shop to see if they could activate it, and since we were in Itaewon, maybe they would speak English. She spoke a little and tried to make it work but no luck. She said I had to go the the store I got it from, bummer. So we started walking around and stopped for coffee on a patio above the street. We then decided we would go to the Coex mall, it is supposed to be the biggest mall in Korea I think. So back to the subway we went.
When we arrived I was really excited, big mall, with an aquarium no less! We got there, and it was just like any other mall, but with stores I had never seen before (and some familiar ones). It was still cool though to be in my first Korean mall, other than the department store in Suwon, but that is not the same. We put our stuff in lockers and wandered the mall. I was really hungover so it was really painful being so active and walking around and stuff. But I kept on truckin', I was in Seoul, South Korea for heaven's sake!
Melanie
look familiar?!
Book signing!
Korean HMV
darn we missed the entertainment
outdoor area
preparing for yet another G20
Oh, after breakfast I called Brittany and Brock and the bus they wanted to take was full so they had to wait for the next one. They would now arrive around 2:30 so I was to call them then. The payphones in Korea are kinda wack. you put a 100 coin (10 cents) and it gives you a certain amount of time, so you should really put a couple in for a good amount of call time. 2:30pm rolled around when we were at the mall so it was time to call. First of all, it was hard to even find a payphone (well who really uses them these days, right?) I called Brock and we were gonna check out a tomb one metro station away from the mall. I lost him once since i hadn't put enough change in, so frustrating!!
We met and Melanie had never met B & B so I introduced them. We walked to the outdoor "museum" I guess you would call it and admission was only one dollar! Awesome! We walked around and looked at everything and when we came across the first tomb, there was a little Korean man with a sun hat on giving information to English speakers for free (he made that clear at the beginning, thank goodness, that coulda been awkward) He explained the tomb and the process and his English was pretty decent. He did although say to Brock "take the shadow" as in go in the shade out of the sun Brock since it was super hot and he was going on forever. But he was so cute. Nice man and I obviously took an inconspicuous picture. The grounds were really beautiful, well worth the dollar!
Tomb of this King and Queen
where they had the sacrificial supper
Tomb
cool view of the surrounding city
knows a lot about tombs
cool trees
It was now time to find our accommodations for the night and head to dinner so we headed to a part of town called Hongdae which is located around the art university. There were so many people, it was crazy. It was like Union station at rush hour times 3!! But it was a really cool part of town. We had decided that we were gonna stay in a JimJil bang (if Mr. Jung spelled it correctly) which is a spa, but at night, you can stay at one on a mat for cheap, like under $10 dollars. Spa being a place with hot tubs, saunas etc...not a place for mani/pedis. I was down to try it out, it was a cheap option and who cares, it is only a night. We found the one we wanted to stay at but you cannot go and leave your bags, you have to stay if you pay. So we decided at dinner we would leave our bags in a locker at the metro station and just carry our toiletries with us.
subway doors, all enclosed so no jumpers
busy metro
busy Hongdae
streets of Hongdae with a parade up ahead
Dinner was amazing! Brittany and I decided the previous weekend that she would take me to this Indian restaurant she and Brock had been to that plays Bollywood movies on a huge screen while you eat. It was great, we got 2 combos for 2 which included: a glass of wine each, 2 samosas, half a tandoori chicken (4 pieces), 2 jumbo prawns, green salad, rice and a curry to share. All for $17 dollars each...ya, what a steal right? It was so good :)
I heart Indian
Then it was time to head to the fireworks. I was so excited, I LOVE fireworks! Back on the subway we went and when we arrived there were people everywhere. We didn't go to the stop directly where they were to avoid the crowd, but there were crowds everywhere. We walked toward a bridge (the fireworks were over the Han river) and the sidewalks were packed. As we walked over the bridge we walked on the side of the street with traffic, following those in front of us who were avoiding the crowded sidewalks. It was crazy, cars were pulled over and people left their cars to check out the fireworks, in the middle of the street, on this bridge. We then joined the crowd and walked into traffic onto the left hand side near the guard rail. I can't even describe it, here are the pics. The nervous Nelly I am didn't feel very comfortable. Needless to say the fireworks were beautiful. :)
we were on the other side of the bridge
you see what I mean...
cars could have hit us!
sooo many people
our exit strategy
To avoid the most crowded subway I would have probably ever seen, we decided to have a beer outside a convenience store. Oh ya, you can drink almost anywhere in Korea. This was a great idea, they subway wasn't packed on our way back to Hongdae. Upon our arrival, Brock and Brittany brought us to a place called Vinyl, where you can order mixed drinks in a IV looking sack. It was really cool...
little window you can order from
cheap too! My vodka OJ was $4 :)
Then we went to a bar called Ting Tings. It was happy hour so the mixed drinks were $3 until midnight. This was definitely why we were so drunk! We kept (or at least I did) getting 2 drinks at once to stock up for midnight. It wasn't much more after midnight ($4 or $5) but $3 was cheaper so why not! We played pool and darts and danced and it was a great time. I even got my first BULLSEYE!
Ting Tings
Bullseye for pot belly Patty
Next was Jane's Groove, where we paid $5 cover but you got a free drink voucher, so that was cool. They were playing some fun tunes and this one Korean guy was dancing solo, it was pretty entertaining. Melanie lead the way and we danced with this lone guy on the dancefloor and started the movement. Everyone started dancing, it was great. Then Poker Face by Lady GaGa came on and Korean dude had a full on choreographed dance to it. This is when we realized we were in a gay bar! There were some straight folks too but it was definitely a gay bar. It was awesome! This guy was hilarious, him and Brock were dancing together and Brock was doing the same moves. The only buzz kill with both bars is that they repeat songs. Then all of a sudden we all kinda got really hammered, and to make things just a little more sloppy, Brittany decided to order a "Jane's Bucket" for $20 which is a mixture of a bunch of liquids including a cup (like bar drink cup) and a half of vodka and tons of red bull etc...not quite sure but it was delicious. But also the devil. We left that bar completely smashed. Melanie doesn't drink often so she was ruined! We got food, sharma YAY, and tons of water to sober up (and not be hungover)! When we got to the place we were gonna stay, it was full. We didn't make other arrangements so we got in a cab, asked him to bring us to another JimJil Bang and hoped for the best. We were successful!
shots, shots, shots shots shots,shots!
Brock dancing with Sir Gaga
pppppoker face
haha both of them!
cute little innocent devil hamster
the devils brew
I heart dancing!! Def need to go back here :)
I need to wrap this up...ok so you walk into the JimJil Bang and you pay the cashier (it was $9 bucks each). You receive a key on a bungee bracelet and it opens a small locker for your shoes. Then you enter an area where there are people sleeping on mats, kinda like you had in gym class as a kid or a thick yoga sized mat, or watching TV. There are change rooms for girls and boys. You enter the change room and it looks like just that with lockers, same number as your shoes for your clothes and purse etc... there is a glass door that leads to the showers, a hot tub and a sauna (if I am not mistaken) = the spa part. You are given 2 towels and a top and shorts that you can sleep in. My legs were hairy and I didn't wanna freeze since there are no blankets so I wore my shorts over my pants and put on the shirt. I was really drunk too so I thought it was funny. You then leave the change room and head to the sleeping area. Oh my goodness. It is literally small cubby holes from the ground to 4 above it (there are ladders for the top ones) like bunk beds but all stuck together. You have a plank of wood about the length of both your hands side by side between you and your neighbour. Ya. I didn't care, I was drunk but I was really sad I didn't have a mat in my cubby hole. I wasn't about to try and explain to them I didn't have one so I took my pillow block (kinda like the blocks you use in yoga) and went to sleep.
Inmate number 26
hot.
Let's just say I didn't really sleep well. Everyone snored, everyone's cellphones went off here and there, and I had a horrible dream that I was on a school bus with my kids and it was stopped and stormed by men with guns, thank goodness a cellphone woke me up before anything worse happened! And I was laying on concrete so I was super uncomfortable. I probably slept 2 hours max in total. The next morning, all I wanted was a shower but as I entered the change room there were a bunch of Korean women prancing around naked. Changing, sitting, chatting in front of the mirror to each other naked. I was not about to strip, no matter how much I know I will never see these people again, it was not happening, I can wait until I get home! Now I know why Asian ladies have no shame changing at the gym, it is their culture to be naked at the spa!
When we left the spa, we all just wanted to get the F outta Seoul immediately, haha. We went to Dunkin' Donuts, got some breakfast bagels and traveled back to our respective cities/farm for me!
Seoul was fantastic but I need to steer clear from there for a bit, that is for sure...
If you made it through this ridiculously long post here is a treat:
Talk soon friends!
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