So I went to Seoul! Sounds easy enough. It was a fabulous weekend, but very, very tiring. I took a 6:10 am train into the city, and, being the kind of person that doesn't sleep on transportation vehicles, did not sleep any more. Nothing too exciting happened.
We got into Seoul, but unfortunately were not entirely sure on where we had to go. So after getting on the wrong track and more or less guessing where we had to go, we were on our way. Mind you, we were carrying not only our own stuff, but other things for the person we were meeting up with. It wasn't bad at first, but combined with the tiredness, the extra weight, and getting a bit frustrated with not knowing where to go, it felt a lot worse. However many subway stops and transfers later, we made it to to Hongik University stop. We then were (almost) instructed on how to get to the hostel, but, again, our directions weren't necessarily the best. At least it wasn't raining!! We finally made it there and set all of our stuff down. The hostel was...interesting. I think the main point that bothered me was that when we entered, we had no idea who was even running the place. I mean, there were a few Korean guys in the living room, but there was no "Hi, are you Rhea's friends?" or "Hey, how's it going?" They were just kind of chillin' there with some other foreigners. They didn't seem like bad guys, but a little courtesy is all I'm asking for!
Anway, we went to Friday's for lunch. I think my favorite part was that the servers all had to wear some kind of accessory on their head. Yes, even the guys. For the girls working, it usually consisted of a hairpin, or, a headband with cat ears on top. That's right. Cat ears. There was also another girl that had an overly large, red, sparkly bow that pretty much took up about a third of her head. But wait. It gets better. Some of the guys wore fedoras, which is just awesome in general. There were 2 guys, however, that wore some kind of ruffly, red flower hairpiece that was just too good not to chuckle at. Moving on, the other highlight of lunch consisted of me mistaking one of the servers in that I thought he was asking to take my plate (I was done eating), when in reality, he was asking if I wanted a refill. Too bad I had already handed him my plate. He got confused and then I realized that I had totally made myself look like a fool. I got so embarrassed! I was covering my face and everything. And then, I kept saying "Ne (yes), aniyo (no)" in a flustered manner. It's unfortunate that I don't have a video of this, because it really was a sight to see. That guy probably went to his friends and said "Hey, so this foreigner is definitely weird, listen to this..." It was hilariously bad.
Later, we headed to Insadong, a shopping area in Seoul. Hello, people. Holy shnikies, there were bajillions of people. It was so overwhelming with all of the shops and people and tripping over a badly designed street multiple times.We did find this neat area of stores that were basically in a square, but were connected by ramps; kind of like a spiral. Hard to describe. Check Facebook.
Then it started to rain quite heavily, but luckily we found an underground shopping area. Except that they didn't have any cameras. I found a Red Mango! Thanks to Kathy for this one. She told me about Red Mango back in June. It's a frozen yogurt place where you can add on a bunch of fruit toppings (amongst others). So we stopped by. mmm. Delish. By that point we decided to go see the North Seoul Tower. Not only is it located on a mountain, but (and here's my inner Korean nerd coming out in me) it is also a place where the drama "Boys Over Flowers" shot a few scenes. Considering that Lee Min Ho is my Korean celebrity crush and that the scenes shot at that tower were so cheesily fantastic, I had to go.
BUT FIRST, we stopped at Shinsegae (the Korean Macy's, except wayyyyy bigger) so that I could find a camera! I also found a Coach store, so, naturally, I had to check it out. I saw some uber cute bags that were also uber expensive. Anyway, we made our way to the camera area (on the...9th floor. Of many) and I checked out some cameras. After I found which one I wanted, I paid the guy (which was in itself a slightly prolonged experience), and while we waited, 2 of the employees working behind the counter were attempting to talk to us. One man asked me "Where..from?" After I replied Chicago, he said "Oh...uh...Bulls! You..know..Michael Jordan?" To which I answered "Yep." He then remarked on his -short- professional golf career, and that whole conversation ended abruptly. Well, then he asked if I knew any Korean celebrities, to which I answered Lee Min Ho and Lee Seung Ki (both actors). The second Korean guy (who was quite shy) mentioned Gumiho, which is a drama entitled "My Girlfriend is a Gumiho" that is on right now (I'm currently on episode 2. Gumiho literally means "nine-tailed fox). It's Lisa's favorite, so she said that, to which the shy Korean said "Me too." It was kind of adorable. We left shortly afterwards with...my new camera!!!! It cost 300,000 won, which equates to around $250. Not bad.
So THEN we headed to the N Seoul Tower. We had to take a cable car up to the tower since it was on a mountain, but it only took us to the base of the tower, where you then had to buy another ticket to go to the top. Lame. It was foggy and rainy and nighttime, so the view wasn't the best, but it was nice to see regardless. There was an area with the "Locks of Love," a wall that is comprised of hundreds of locks, usually with some kind of love note that couples lock on the fence. It was pretty neat. We headed back down, and made our way back to Hongik University. We found a Mexican restaurant, which was actually far better than I thought it was going to be. It was probably as close to being authentic as Korean-Mexican cooking can get. We headed back to the hostel and pretty much crashed. Our legs and feet were sore, it was late, we were tired from all of the traveling, and exhausted.
Sunday we met up with Korean friends Sera and Jeanie in Itaewon for lunch. We went to a pub called the Wolfhound, which was quite good. We made it over to the National History Museum of Korea. This area was huge. For cereal. They had steps outside the museum so that when you're looking at them from a distance, it makes a picture of an ancient Greek temple. Go Korea for making things look cool. We could also see the N Seoul Tower from the top of the stairs!
So. Museum. It was free! Stellar. We made it through half of the first floor in around 1.5 hours. There were 3 floors. That's lots of history. I didn't have time to even keep going! Lisa and I had a 7:00 bus to get to. That's ok, though. I'd love to go back to Seoul sometime in the future to experience more, because there's a lot.
So, 7:00 bus. We didn't make it. We really didn't make it. By the time we got to the bus terminal, it was 8:30. Luckily, there were buses leaving fairly frequently, so we just exchanged our tickets for a later time. Well, the next bus wasn't until 9:40. We were pretty much thinking that we wouldn't get back to Mokpo until around 3 am. Our bus driver must have been flying because we got back at 1:30am, a lot better than what we had hoped. I got back to my apartment and went to bed. My legs and feet were so exhausted from all of the walking!
Seoul is a great city, but I'm kind of glad that I'm in Mokpo. As nice as Seoul is, it doesn't seem like "real" Korea. There were lots of foreigners (not that that's bad) and western food places. It kind of seemed like the city had to cater to dealing with them. I'd much rather stay in a smaller city where not everything is in English and be totally immersed in the Korean culture and lifestyle. What I can tell you is that I'm pretty good at the subway system now. I can't even begin to tell you how much I was on the subway this weekend.
So that was my weekend in Seoul! Next week I'm traveling to Busan (a city on the SE part of the peninsula) during one of our breaks. Exciting!
