South Korea: Venturing Out And Night Life

For Sunday, October 9, 2011

Seoul

At the start of my first full day in Seoul, I got some lunch at a restaurant down the street with another hostel guest, Charles. I ordered a very tasty kimchi and pork meal. Afterward, we split up, and I looked for a world ATM in the neighborhood and withdrew some more cash, since I had had to pay for my entire stay at the hostel up front in cash. Then I took the metro to the City Hall as a way to get familiar with the metro system. I ended up going the wrong way, so I got off and repaid for the same trip, and then got going in the right direction. I think I had missed the arrows that indicate the direction the metro goes. When I exited the City Hall metro station, I realized that my map was grossly inadequate to pinpoint my location or orient myself, because there was nothing within sight to indicate which direction I should take. It could have been two blocks in any direction, and it was hazy, so I couldn’t see the sun, and of course I had forgotten my compass back at the hostel. But then I noticed a map on the sidewalk and figured out the way to go. In the City Hall area, there’s a large grassy area with a stage in front of a very large structure that looked like an arena or concert hall. To the north of it is an old palace called Deoksugung that I visited. There’s an even bigger palace called Gyeongbokgung that I really want to see as well. At about 5:30 PM I decided to head back to the hostel to meet Mia, her friend Zara, Charles, and another guest, Arthur, for dinner. We walked a few blocks away to a Korean BBQ restaurant. I’d never eaten Korean BBQ before, and I loved it. It was delicious! It’s my new favorite food. I really enjoyed our conversations during dinner. Mia and Zara speak very good English, and Charles and Arthur are native English speakers, so conversation was easy. I was introduced to soju, a drink like Japanese sake. We had several bottles. Afterward, Mia, Arthur, and I went to a hof (a bar where drinks are cheap but you have to order expensive food), where they introduced me to rice wine, a cold, white, cloudy drink. Then we went to a dance club called Cocoon that had a small bar and a dance floor where they played electronica and had fog, lasers, and confetti. We all bought drinks, and Arthur bought us all shots, since it was his last night in South Korea. We danced for a couple hours and then went to a karaoke place and rented our own room and sang pop songs for who knows how long. When we finally stumbled home it was 5 AM and I was ready to pass out from jet lag and liquor. I was barely able to give Arthur my email address before falling asleep on my bed in my clothes. Mia and I woke up nine hours later at 2 PM. It was totally worth it.