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Published: July 24th 2009
Seoul.
I met up with some Russian friends for a few days. I got a water park fix for the summer (Caribbean Bay) as well as an amusement park visit (Everland). I walked Dongdaemun, Itaewon, Hongik University, Yongsam, Euljiro, Myeong-Dong, and Gangnam.
Four Encounters Of Niceness: 1. On my first night I stood on a sidewalk near a metro station and asked the passersby if they knew ny english. I wanted help with directions. After a few attempts I got a kid who spoke pretty well, he was a college freshman. Not only did he call the hotel for me but he walked me for about 20 minutes right to it. Not just to the the entrance either but all the way to the room. 2. I got off the metro and started looking at a map. It was raining outside so I waned to be precise with my walking. After about 10 seconds a woman asked if I needed help. She was Korean, but living in China (and she could speak Korean, Chinese, English, and Japanese). Since she couldn't find the building on the map, she called them for me. She too walked me to the building and
right up to he office I was seeking, but not until after attending her invitation to a traditional Korean meal with her and two friends. She also shared her umbrella. 3. Again looking at a map, this time maybe for 2 seconds, a guy asked if I needed help. I told him where I was planning on going on the metro, and he informed me that I would be too late to make the connecting train as it would be ending its service in a few minutes. He called a friend and gave me times when the metro would be back in service, plus the times of some buses I could take instead. He also told me where a late night movie theater was, and walked me to a taxi and told the guy where to go for me. Going where the taxi took me worked out, although seeing a movie did not - I was actually going to watching a subtitleless Korean movie but I was too low on cash and they didn't take my credit card. The movies by the way had start times until at least 2am on a Tuesday night. 4. On the metro going to
the airport, a gentleman/dude strikes up a conversation with me. He didn't look the type to know so much english, let own be a big talker, but they we were. Amidst our conversation he told me a better way to make my connections to get to the airport, and he didn't know it, but he actually corrected for me the station I was headed towards (not that I wouldn't have caught it on time on my own...).
COEX Mall is pretty cool. The shops aren't open all night, but you can walk through the mall all night (this is where that movie theater is, only a McD's and a 7-11 are 24hrs). Technically, I slept here on my last night.
Technomart and Yongsan Electronics Mall - so many electronics, I couldn't find some of the low price deals I had heard about, but for sure if it's made in Korea it's cheaper.
Dongdaemun is open all night. In fact some places don't even open their doors until 11pm. Mainly trendy shops i guess. Foods. There was a small Russian section where the Russkis and I stayed a few nights. I almost bought some awesome jeans but I
backed out while thinking about Taiwan's heat.
Korean food is pretty good and can be reasonably priced. I had "ShaBraLung" which is kind of like one of those dishes that are a mix of things in a soup, if more people order it it becomes a 'hot pot' placed in the middle of the table and shared. Bulgogi meat is popular, it's like a barbequed marinated beef; I saw it served with whole garlic cloves and chopped green peppers. A few restaurants didn't have kitchens per se, but rather there was a little grill embedded in the middle of your table; your server would stand there and cook it in front of you, or you could shoo her away and do it yourself. I also ate at a Lotteria - Korea's version of fast food. There's a few different things, but I just had the big burger set - it was on lunch special at a metro station for less than 3 USD. I had something i forget the name of, but I remember it was advertised as "Michael Jackson's favorite Korean food," a mix of noodles, an egg, various vegetables.... There were also some good sushi and dumplings
along the way. And lest I forget, the most important part of Korean dining: Kimchi. Kimchi was served with every meal I purchased (minus the Lotteria). Kimchi is reddish... maybe it's a vegetable.... maybe it's pickled... for sure it's slightly spicy but also has a cold texture. I ate at least a little bit each time it was offered. It's one of those things that it's easy to get accustomed to and just keep eating. Also a lot of times meals were served with a slice of something yellow that i was told is a pickled radish. There's a few beers; Cass is better than Hite. There's a special drink called Soju that you find everywhere with beer. It's the same price as beer, but its 20% alcohol. It kinda tases like straight vodka. I mixed mine with a Coke.
Weather was more than half good. It could be a little hot in the summer afternoon. At night it was a nice temperature where you could feel comfortable in shorts or jeans. Two day out of 7 were rainy (but still walked in it).
I'll also mention sleeping at Silloam. I stayed here 2 nights. This type of
place is called a jjimjilboam. For about 10 USD, you get access to showers, all kinds of hot tubs with various health minerals, various temperature saunas, various mineral rooms ranging from cool to warm, and you can sleep in these mineral rooms. Or you can just go to a standard men's/women's sleeping room, or if you're curteous enough you can go into the snorer's room. The one I went to also had a gym and a PC room (500 won for 15 minutes). It was the perfect place for me to stay as a budget traveller. The disadvantage would be that once I leave, my bags are on my back to carry around all day.
Seoul is Good.
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Michael Coughlin
The one good thing about the "small world" ride is that... you're going through.. you see a couple of countries... spain... italy... korea... usa... then suddenly you turn a corner and you're in Outer Space.