Monday 14 March 2011

I've Got A Crush on Seoul

This Saturday I met up with Roxy's friend Leah (who is teaching English in Anyang) for a night out in Seoul. We had never met before but had been messaging each other on FB and she was kind enough to answer all my dumb questions such as, "Do you need to have noodles for breakfast in Korea??"

I was worried on the bus ride up about finding my way on the subway, and all I knew was that I had to meet her at Sinchon on line 2 but Seoul has the third biggest subway in the world so that's pretty intimidating. Luckily, the girl sitting next to me on the bus was going to the exact place I was so she helped me out. She was so great and friendly, similar to most Koreans I have met so far!

Leah and I went out for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant called the Loving Hut and I was so excited to have delicious veggie food! Everything on the menu was under 5000 won and 1000 won is a little less than $1. I took some tourist pictures along the way of course!


We went to meet up with some friends of hers at a bar called the Canteen in a neighbourhood next to Itaewon. Itaewon is a super Western area. Leah opened and slammed this basement type door thinking we had barged in on a veterans meeting. The sign on the door said something about Veterans of America. We finally got the courage to go in and the place had such a strange vibe and was filled with such a random collection of people that I didn't particularly want to meet. They seemed to be procrastinating life by living in Korea. The analogy I suggested to Leah was that when you ask someone what type of music they like and they say "Everything", this is that, in the form of people in a bar.

The inside

Leah, Ellie (a Korean teacher from Leah's school) and I decided to go to the next bar and took a cab to Hongdae, a fun part of Seoul. We were heading to Motown night at a bar when we passed through a park filled with people drinking, hanging out, dancing, and just generally loving life by being out on a Saturday night in a great city!

Leah and Ellie are in the left hand corner
On our way there we walked by this amazing hole in the wall Melbourne type bar, with fun LA sounding electro. SO GOOD! It made me so happy to know that not every bar in Seoul plays Top 40 and K-Pop. The standard price for beer in Korea seems to be 3000 won which is awesome! So we danced there for a while and I high fived the DJ a few times because I was so happy with the music and everything about the bar.


We eventually made it to Motown night and I don't remember the name of the bar but it was super crowded and sweaty and filled with Westerners and also a lot of fun. It's weird being surrounded by so many Westerners, but not in a bad way (because I do realize I am one of them) but in a sort of I feel less special way. Anyway we danced and danced then called it a night and I found my way home to Suji in the morning.

I'm not the only one whose face goes super red from drinking!


Ah, as cheesy as it sounds I really do have a huge crush on Seoul. I think about it all the time and can't wait to go back and get to know it better!!!

2 comments:

  1. Aw this sounds so lovely! I'm looking forward to see more pictures and hear more about Seoul!
    I hope your next week of teaching goes well :)

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  2. great pictures!!!
    glad you didn't stay with the veterans! hahaha

    xxx

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