Suj and I drifted out on our own for a few nights in Seoul. Here’s some highlights!

Wednesday

On a quest to find the Dr Fish Cafe, we wondered the streets of Hongik University (yep! went back to the same hostel I stayed at for the first few nights cause I loved it so much!) lost and confused, only to realize that the place had closed about a year ago.

Fortunately for us, we stumbled into this restaurant:

I discovered my new favorite kind of Korean food: “dook-pae-ki bul-go-ki” as well as our new favorite Korean friends: Kai (who was the owner) and later, his friend Cloud. More on that in a bit.

Kai pointed us in another direction to find dr fish which led us to Times Square. This was a huge, really nice, shopping center. We also encountered some Morman missionaries who gave us directions. Directions on both geographically and ugh…emitonally, religiously, and spiritually. True story.

Then we discovered the video game arcade. On the left, we realized why those photobooths that all those Japanese people rave about, are so fun. On the right was a really hilarious video game where you throw balls at the screen to knock out guys in trench coats on the subway:

 

Then, on our way home, we stopped at a local 7-11 to pick up a sampling of beers to enjoy back at the hostel. I’d also like to add, that most 7-11’s here have some tables set up outside for people to enjoy said beer. Take that! expensive Chicago patios! Here’s what we came up with:

My thoughts? They like the word “fresh”. If you want good beer, don’t go to Korea. They were all very plain pilsner types. Except for the soju. Stick to the soju!

Thursday!

Lotte World! It’s like Disneyland but with these squirrel things instead of mice!

Part indoor theme park:

It’s part department store, part ice rink, part food court, part theme park, part tourist trap with no visible exit. (It took us an hour to get out of the place!).

Outside: more rides, sweet castle!

(Note the Gyro Drop in the background. They drop Greek pita sandwiches on your head.)

 

Left: This is a pic of my cheese sticks and ketchup in this handy cup that slipped right over my strawberry smoothie, complete w/ convenient straw hole! Right: Me messing w/ Korean people on tv!

This is our hostel crew. ALL the girls here were wearing these funny ears. So we tried some on in the gift shop, took some pics, then put them back. Done and done.

Suj and I decided to head home a bit early to take a nap and then stop off for some classy American-style dinner:

The pizza we had came with a ring of sweet potato paste around the outside and was surrounded by the most buttery-delicious-awesome cheese crust. It was almost one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had. Almost. Also, the salad bar here was weird.

This brings us to one of the most fun parts of our trip so far. Hanging out w/ some real Koreans (who just so happened to speak English) and having them show us what it’s really like to party like they do.

Meet, from L->R Kai, Carol (that’s me…), Suj, and Cloud.

Sorry about the blurry pic. There wasn’t much light, and no Cloud isn’t that bald lookin! Kai was the owner of the restaurant above. While we were there, we had asked him for some help with directions and got to talking with him. He asked if we had any Korean friends, and of course we didn’t, so he gave us his info and offered to take us out! First we went to this really trendy design cafe for beer and dessert. Next a Turkish place for some hookah and bottle service w/ some Korean food. After that a chill, sit-on-the-floor type bar for Mud Shakes (like a mud slide) and some Cass…and more food. Then we went to Ska Bar to dance the night away to “Western Rock” and that was completely full of English teachers. (Note: almost everyone here assumes we’re English teachers as well. Cause most young people, expecially the western-lookin’ ones, are. If you’re Korean and visiting, they assume you’re adopted and looking for your birth parents. Also common.)

We ended the night w/ a round of Tarot Cards with Kai and Cloud translating. My future does not look good, but they insisted everything will be ok! Then by the time we wandered home at around 5am, you can still see the masses of people still out!

 

Our new friends are great, and I think you American boys could learn a thing or two from them! They took us out, insisted on paying for EVERYTHING, made hilarious jokes all night, and even walked us home in the wee hours of the morning, expecting nothing more than to gain some new friends from the experience. Thanks new Korean friends!!

Ok readers: are you ready?

Friday:

We finally found Dr Fish! It was at this place called RestTree. You go in and buy a $5ish drink and for an extra 2,000 won (less than $2) you get 20 min in the tank. It was mostly Koreans here and as soon as we walked in, they knew we wanted to do the doctor fish tanks. Suj was a bit squeemish at first, but managed to dip her fit in about 2 min before our time was up. For me, it felt weird at first. VERY ticklish, but once I got over that it was fine. It felt like small fingers scratching at your feet. It was cool!

 

I wish this place sold sushi too. So that while you’re eating raw fish, they’re eating raw you!

 

Suj and I having a good time!

So after a long day of taking it easy, we did what we came to Korea to do: NORAEBANG!

 

This place was super fancy and although they served us non-alcoholic beer (EW GROSS!) and we were a small group, we still had a blast!!

Saturday:

Gyeongbokgung Palace! This palace was so beautiful. It blew all of the palaces we saw in China out of the water. It was surrounded by mountains and had these beautiful lakes around some of the buildings. Chingu Portrait!Then we high-tailed it back to Osan to have dinner w/ one of Suj’s Oma’s (that means “mom”) friends. AND. Right on schedule. I got a ferocious sore throat, so we’re taking it easy today. Hence the blogging. We might even try to catch up on some Lost.At least we’re re-united with THIS again!:Note: His eyes are starting to open! Aaawwwww.