Seoul Fun

I went to Seoul last weekend with Maggie and Laurence. It was a great trip, but very tiring. We left right after school on Friday, but I was a bit late because the HOTET was talking to me after my after-school class ended. I was like, “C’mon lady, I need to catch a bus to get to the bus!” I ended up taking a taxi because I spent about 10 minutes waiting for the bus and I had no time to waste. I got to the bus terminal and thank goodness Maggie & Laurence were still there! We ended getting a bus that was to leave an hour later and had some dinner beforehand. We got to Seoul around 10 or 11pm. We met up with our friend Alex and checked into the hostel. I had to book a hostel on my own that same day because I didn’t decide to go to Seoul until the previous night, so less than 24 hours. My hostel was in the boonies – none of the taxi drivers knew how to get there. It was such a pain to get there. The next night, I got to stay in the hostel with everyone else thankfully. The first night we were there was actually “Club Night”, which occurs the last Friday of every month.
We didn’t go to any clubs though; we ate a VERY late dinner at a Japanese restaurant and had a few beers. We finished our “dinner” at 2am. There were TONS of people! It was definitely a different atmosphere than in Gwangju. People were belligerently drunk and crazy. After walking around, drinking beers, and exercising in the outdoor gyms, we retired to our respective hostels with plans to meet at 1030am the following day. I woke up at 6, 7, 8am and then decided to get up. I showered, had breakfast, talked to the other guests at the hostel. I met a couple people from Hawaii; they didn’t know each other but they lived near each other. Such a small world. I had planned to meet up with my orientation roommate, Shirlen. I left the hostel early in case I were to get lost. Of course, I did. I had also texted Shirlen the night before to tell her to change our meeting time from 10 to 1030am. She never texted back. I got to the subway station and she was there. I asked her if she had gotten my text and she said no. Then I pulled out my paper and asked if the number I had written was hers and she said nope! I realized that I had texted my co-teacher! haha, oh dear. We caught up a bit and then waited for Maggie, Laurence, and Alex. That took forever, but they eventually got there and we met up Canadia at City Hall. Boy, did I miss that fool. He’s so awkward, it’s great! On our way to find a place to eat, we came across a Changing of the Guards Ceremony at some palace. We stayed to watch that, which was really great. The clothing they wear is just beautifully made with silk. They also play some drums during the procession.



After we watched that, we went to eat and then after that, we went to Gyeongbuk Palace, the biggest palace in Seoul, I believe. It’s a gorgeous site but all the palaces/temples but it looks like a temple that I had seen in the Damyang area. It was still a worthy place to visit though.



After we walked through the palace, Alex and Maggie left us to go shopping and meet with other people and the rest of us went to get some coffee/tea/dessert in the Insadong area. We also came across a little marketplace – I love markets. Anyhoo, the coffee/tea/dessert place was decorated so cutely as is every place in Korea. It had an earthy feel to it with plants all over – my kind of place! After that, we went to meet up with the rest of the people at the shopping area. There’s the huge Forever 21 there! Browsed a bit, but didn’t buy anything, everyone else did though!




When we found the rest of the group, we headed to Seoul Tower, where you get a view of the city. It was wonderful. We had dinner up the tower as well. Then we headed back to the hostel to get ready for a night out on the town. We planned to go to a club and when we arrived, they told us we couldn’t go in. I don’t know why, but we headed to a different club afterwards and we got in! It was a hip-hop club. Omigosh, it was the most packed club I have ever been in. You cannot move, not even an inch. How do you dance? You can’t. We headed upstairs which was empty…because it was the VIP area. We weren’t VIP but we ended up being invited to sit with a group there and that’s what we did. We got free beers and space. Then one of the guys was being creepy, so we had to go back down to the dance floor and be squished. However, it wasn’t sweaty like the clubs back in LA. They have some really good fans or air conditioner so I don’t even think I broke a sweat. We stayed for about an hour and left for home. The next day was Sunday – time to head home! Maggie went home early and Laurence, Alex, and I went to Itaewon, which is where all the foreign restaurants and shops are. When we got there, a clown made a balloon animal for Alex. It was kinda surreal; he just came up to us and made the animal. He was a funny clown, not a scary clown, so that was good. We went to a book store and I bought 4 books, mostly classics. We went to some markets carrying foreign foods and I bought 2 bottles of sauce – Thai chili and hoisin sauce. I just had to because I need those sitting in my kitchen just in case I ever need them. After Itaewon, we wanted to eat an early dinner at Loving Hut. Laurence had some directions he found on a blog (i.e., not very good directions…) so it took us a while to find the place. He had to stop in a PC Bang to find some more directions and we were only about a 2 minute walk from the place. The food was masshisoyo! Delicious! Especially the California Roll. So good. Their lemonades were also tasty; there were 3 different flavors: Citron, Lime, and Rose. The night before, Laurence had asked me what time I wanted to go home and I said no later than 5 because the bus takes about 3.5-4 hours to get home. He agreed and said that he wanted to go home at 4. We didn’t end up getting on the bus til 810pm. We left Loving Hut around 630pm and we couldn’t find the bus station, even though we were there. We just had to walk 100 more feet to reach it. But we eventually found it and had to wait an hour for our bus to depart. I got home around midnight and I had to teach the next day. I wasn’t tired that Monday though, so it was good. I also wasn’t feeling blue as I usually do on Mondays. It was a good weekend.