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Published: June 23rd 2010
[youtube=EUKVfwGPD5g]
Apologies for my mysterious disappearance. Honestly, I hadn't had much going on until this past weekend other than my KAPS volunteer work (I'll get into that in a few minutes).
With warm weather and a steady income, I also have somehow stumbled onto some sort of regular social life. Go figure! 😉
Anyway, this weekend, I holed up with Kate in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. I was in desperate need to get out of Daegu (not that I didn't just get out last month, I know). I booked a late-night KTX on Friday night and got into Seoul around 12:30.
We spent Friday night in Gangnam, hitting up the Rainbow room, and just hanging out. Then, we decided to go to bed early for our adventure the following day: Yongsan Market.
Yongsan Market is a majestic place. Just off of Subway Line 1 at (shockingly enough) the Yongsan stop, it is a
massive 8-story megamall that literally only sells electronics. As a self-proclaimed techie-whore, it was pretty much like stepping into a dream. The entire 1st (3rd?) floor is comprised of cameras, camera lenses, camera tripods, and other camera goodies (and who doesn't know how much I <3 cameras?).
The next floor is computers (and furniture? wtf?). The next, musical instruments, DJ equipment, computer goodies... you get the picture. Anyway, we hit up Yongsan so that Kate could locate some DJ equipment (speakers, groove glide, and slip mats, if I can recall correctly), and so that I could drool over everything.
Also, randomly on the 7th floor is a wedding reception hall and mini chapel, right next to the computer gaming section. Don't ask me, because I'm as confused as you are.
Regardless, the point is that I'll be hitting up Yongsan again in the future.
After Yongsan, we stayed in Gangnam for lunch, hit up Myeongdong for some shopping, and decided to go to Hongdae for hookah later. Unfortunately, we got to Hongdae, but Kate couldn't orient herself (we blame it on the fact that we weren't drunk, and therefore, unable to navigate like she did previously lol). We ended up just heading back to Rainbow as the South African? cup game ended. What greeted us were totally trashed hipsters starting a drum circle.
We were amused at the drum circle antics at the beginning , but
when one shmuck started banging on the metal loft, the metallic twang pretty much drilled into my eardrums (as I was facing said loft) and eventually gave us both headaches. We left in favor of street food once our hookah was done.
God, I miss Seoul street food. Daegu street food is similar, but it's just not the same. In Seoul, the ddeokbokki is not as spicy, and they will re-fry the food for you. In Daegu, they generally don't re-fry, I've noticed, and the ddeokbokki is more spicy. I don't mind the spiciness, but re-frying it serves to reheat the food, and as a Westerner, I generally prefer my hot food to be hot and not lukewarm.
ANYWAY.
Sunday morning (cough-afternoon-cough) we hit up Butterfingers for lunch, and then went to Dr. Fish. Dr. Fish in Gangnam is located on the second floor of a building a little further from Shinnonhyeon Junction than Lush, for those of you who were wondering. 😊
The fish at THIS Dr. Fish were ENORMOUS. Like, we're talking about 6 to 7 inches long, people. The ones in Daegu might be about 2 inches. Regardless, they did a nice job
on my feet, so even though I squealed like a little girl at first, I got used to it pretty quickly.
Then, we realized (after messing around Kyobo, buying street DVDs, and BSing in general) that it was getting late. I initially wanted to try for a cheaper, longer train home, but sadly, the next one available wasn't until 10:30 (and while I wouldn't mind waiting, it just would get me into Daegu too late IMHO). SO I took the next KTX home.
Instead of only having pictures in this entry, I've uploaded a video that splices a bunch of shots from last weekend (and a few from earlier) together. Enjoy the video and pictures!
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Kate in Africa
Kate Henschel
I'm glad to see Puddinghead is still making the rounds. Hopefully he'll come to Japan soon! Return to his homeland for a bit! :)