The KTX dropped us off in the middle of the bustling megacity of Seoul. We caught the subway for just a couple stops to the Itaewon district.
We stayed at the IS@K (I-Stay-Korea) Guesthouse a 5-10 minute walk from the subway in Itaewon. Amy and I had a private room, as well as Steve. I would recommend anyone to stay at this hostel if you travel to Seoul. It's on hostels.com. It is brand new and very clean. The host, Duk-ho is extremely nice and helpful. Everyone was friendly and lacked any hint of creepy.
If you get a private room, I will warn you that I could touch both walls at the same time.
After a stroll around the neighborhood, we found a great lunch place called Between. Their sandwiches (which are few and far 'between' in Korea) hit the spot and we were ready for some touristin'!
Duk-ho recommended that we go to a Korean folk festival at a park in the center of the city. The subway took us right their in fifteen minutes.
**When in Seoul, USE THE SUBWAY. It is cheap and extremely easy to find your way around in. Taxis are nice if you know exactly where you are going, but the subway is a sure-fire way to not get lost.
The New Years Folk Festival was in a park adjacent to Namsan park. There were quite a few different types of traditional Korean games and activities put out for anyone to use.
One game involves four sticks that each have a rounded and a flat side, like a cricket bat. You bundle up the sticks and throw them on a mat. Depending on what sides are up and down dictates how many points you score, which you then move on a board.
Another game involves throwing arrows in a tall cylinder. A large crowd surrounded a stage area where a Korean host brought competitors from the crowd to compete for prizes.
There were some live painted historical representations of traditional Koreans. I was impressed with their ability to remain still and remain calm for thousands of annoying picture takers. Small children and old men played with Korean topsnslicks....they use a stick with a rope to spin a top on the ground. After it is spinning, they wiped the top to keep it spinning. There were also these metal hoops that people pushed with a metal pole, which reminded me of America in the 1910s for some reason.
Before we left, each of us made a wish for the New Year and tied it to the wish tree.
Next we went to Insadong, a shopping/touristy district. There were countless numbers of venders selling every kind of souvenir imaginable. If you want a souvenir, any souvenir, go to Insadong. Near the end of the street, Amy spotted this photo-booth shop that she just had to go to...with me. It's a booth where you get costumes and take a bunch of pictures against a green screen and can then edit the pictures. It turned out to be much more fun than anticipated. ;)
At the end of the strip at Insadong, there was an art gallery that had a showing of testimonials from North Korean prisoner camp escapees. I've heard of Americans that were caught in North Korea. Usually, Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter goes over to save them from 7 years 'hard labor.' Calling it hard labor is more than a travesty. These people live in worse conditions than animals and are murdered like the Jews in the Holocaust. It is impossible to imagine the horror that occurs a hundred miles north while I look at photos and debate what to eat for dinner.
Wednesday night, we met up with our friend Maddie from Texas, her fiance Matt, his friend Ben, and their other friend Amy. We called her Amy2. They took us to a delicious Thai restaurant in Itaewon. It was so great to finally get to visit with Maddie and meet her new man! I got a great first impression of Matt and hope nothing but the best for those two! Matt and Ben are some of the amazing service men stationed here in Korea who are the reason this country is great and fruitful. They fly helicopters! Seriously. What a gnarly job!
We headed for some hookah in the basement of BrickX afterward. Don't let the name fool you. They had good beers and tasty hookah. Our good buddy Brett, also from Texas, met us their for a great lil reunion of Longhorns.
The evening slipped into late-night as we made our final stop for some much needed groovin' at The Loft.
LEG-KICKS LEG-KICKS HIGHER HIGHER LEG-KICKS!!!
The warm up....
TOUCHDOWN!!
New Years Day, we grabbed DunkinDonuts for breakfast, which you can do on almost any corner in Seoul. It's crazy. There are more in Seoul than America.
We then went to Gyungbokgung Palace for more New Years celebrations. It was originally built in the 1300s. It is the birthplace of written Korean. The palace also turns out to be a popular place to spend New Years.
We arrived just in time for the ceremonial changing of the guards....Killer boots man!
Amy and I had the pleasure of experiencing the palace a month ago, but we made sure that Steve got the digital audio tour. It has a GPS chip in it that activates certain audio files based on your position inside the palace. Thank you technology!
The place is massive. Amy and I didn't go to half of it the first time. We headed around the back to a little pond that was frozen over where parents pulled children on little sleds on the ice. We figured we should give it a try.
Before we left, we stumbled upon a massive drum circle. Historical re-enactors played Korean instruments. The drummers all had ribbons tied to their hats that they twirled in unison to the beat. I don't know how they didn't fall over from dizziness. The beats and dancing was cool, but the high-pitched off-beat horn this dude was playing drove us off after a couple minutes.
As dusk approached, we trekked over to Meyung Dong, a popular neon-covered shopping district that houses the likes of H&M and Forever21...a must see for any trip with Amy. Steve and I grabbed some brews while Amy hit the dressing rooms.
Thursday night, we dressed to impress and hopped over to HongDae, one of the hot spots for movin' your feet. I'm not sure how, but we stumbled upon one of the best Korean BBQ I've had. The pork was smothered in this hearty sauce/marinade which really set it above the rest.
Three full stomachs later, we met Amy2 and her friend Nicole at HoBar XII. HoBar is a chain of bars in HongDae that serve wicked cheap drinks...$2 tequila shots?!? There are literally 20 different HoBars in HongDae. Some of them are located next to, or on top of, each other.
From HoBar, we went to a wonderland of bass at Cocoon, a multilevel club. Speakers line the walls and neon lights litter the floor and everywhere. One thing I love about Koreans is that when they start dancing, they don't stop. Everyone in that place was treating the floor like it might melt their shoes....
All this bustlin' called for some much needed relaxation time on Friday afternoon. Duk-ho recommended a famous spa, or JimJi-Bang, called Dragon Hill. I'm not sure if Steve was exactly ready for the experience, but he was a trooper for the most part.
Korean Spas are amazing. However, the concepts and notions regarding nakedness are much different in America than they are in Korea.
JimJi-Bangs have two main parts: coed and gender specific.
The coed areas have dozens of different saunas, cold rooms, drinks/food places, message rooms/chairs and much more..
The gender specific areas revolve around a locker room with hundreds of showers, mirrors, and hot tubs. Its about as naked as naked can get in there. For anyone who has been on sports team and experienced locker rooms before, this is no biggie. The most unsettling aspect is definitely that there are children, very curious children who have not yet learned that it isn't polite to stare.
After this much needed R&R, we caught a taxi for Seoul Tower in Namsan park. When we arrived there was a line wrapping around the street to get into the building for the gondola ride. It looked like a solid 3 hour wait, and then sun was already going down, so we took a walk and went back to our hostel.
Before dinner, we sat down to a delightful appetizer prepared by Duk-ho and his mother. They prepared homemade kimchi, potato noodles, Duk-Gu, and Man-Du.
The food was amazing, but unfortunately, we already had plans for dinner. Thanks again Duk-Ho for the wonderful start to our night.
A fellow traveller from our hostel, Jackie from Australia, joined us for dinner at Santorini. Brett met us there for some gyros and tzitziki.
From there, we hopped on the subway or another night in HongDae. Round 1 was at HoBar III where some $2 tequila called. Brett's friends, Alfonso and Emily, came out and we headed for Round 2 at was a small basement club across from Cocoon. Their DJ took the mood up a couple notches to constant-dancing. Round 3 was at the S Club, where we got down n dirty ghetto. One of the only Hip Hop clubs I've been to, it was a blast. Round 4 was at another Ho bar....#4?
I think we did a pretty great job of maxing out our time in Seoul.
After lunch the next morning, we caught a 2pm train back for one more night in Busan before Steve's Asian departure.
We took Steve to another great traditional Korean restaurant of Shabu Shabu. It's a lot like the BBQ setup, but there is a massive bowl of broth and veggies in the center of the table over a fire. You are served a plate of thin-sliced beef that you cook in the boiling broth and eat with sauces or mushrooms. At the end of the meal, one of the women made us fried rice with the remaining flavor from the bowl. It's pretty spicy, but a must have if you find yourself in Korea.
The next stop was Seomyeon for some darts and beer. After that we made our way for some dancing in Kyungsung where I even did a little more djing that night.
Amy threw 3 bulls-eyes in a row.....I've never seen it.
I couldn't have imagined a better week for Steve to visit. Thanks again for coming to share this experience with us buddy!!
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