Seoul Seoul Def

I'm back from Seoul and man I have to say that it was one for the books. I will give a small synopsis. Since my camera is still not working I will have to later attach pictures from my friends websites.


Friday:

• Raining Cats and Dogs
• No place to stay
• Random "Love Hotel" fit for a mistress
  
  

Okay so looks a bit crazy right? Well Jackie and I didn't have a place to stay because as it turns out there was a "mix-up" about what days we were coming and that left us out on the street. Relying on the kindness of strangers we stayed in a motel that is call a "Love Hotel"

This is the bed if you look closely you can see the curtains that are to be drawn around the bed

This is the view of the TV and computers on either side. Free Internet! In the middle is the fridge and place they store the robes.










This is the bathroom that I was very excited about until I realized that there was no door. That made showering very interesting.

Saturday:

• Hot
  
• Stored our bags at a friends dorm room
  
• Ate any food that wasn't Korean food
  

Saturday had such a better start. The sun was shining there was no rain and Jackie and I listened to American music on Youtube the whole morning. We took a cab to the Camera District were I bought a charger for my camera that in the long run ended up not working. *Always check there in the store before you buy it. Afterwards we walked around the nearby market place and bought the best Korean pastry ever. It is fried dough with cinnamon and brown sugar in the middle.

We later met up with our friends and ate a Nepalese restaurant called Everest. It was really good and the food came pretty quickly. So if you find yourself in Seoul I recommend it. I don't remember the food we had but here are the pictures.

We got Nans which are like big pieces of bread but they are really thin and then different dips/spreads to put on them. That is what the plates are for.

With our bellies full we decide to have another cultural experience and went one of the palaces in Seoul that also houses the Korean Folk Museum. Since I didn't have a camera I bought a coffee table book of both. (All pictures provided were taken by my phone) So here is a long shot of the palace walls. But inside was so gorgeous! All reds and gold and the statues of dragons were amazing. There was no guide or anything so I don't have any interesting history facts.

Afterwards we went to the shopping district where they had a Cold Stone! Oh yeah so got some of that! And it was right next to the Starbucks, where I bought a limited edition coffee mug with Korean Script on it.

One of my friends wanted to buy a new shirt because hers was too hot and we went to the massive 5 story mall, where on all levels my butt is too big for the skinny jeans. That made me a bit frustrated, but hey I can still fit skirts. Still I bought nothing. This is also where we met the dear friend that blew us off and left us without a place to stay on Friday. There was obvious tension but we needed a place to stay on Saturday so we let it all go and on to dinner we went.

This time we chose a Japanese restaurant and I got Crazy Roll sushi. I don't remember the name of it and in Korea they don't have street signs so if I ever find it again it will be out of sheer luck. At this point it is about 8 of us and we catch two cabs to the night life district. We end up at a place called Ho Bar. It played western music and there were a lot of US soldiers there. It was nice to be in a place that had the familiar. In Korea I don't drink (I like to be in total control in unfamiliar places), so I danced. There was a Korean waitress that knew some American dances and it was great.

Our friends that live in a dorm have an early curfew and once they left another member of the group decided to play Christopher Columbus and go discover Seoul with the rest of us dragging along. You see the way Koreans do night life they go from bar to bar and then maybe out dancing. So that's how he wanted to do it. Well he got us lost and we made the biggest 20minute circle ever. I lost my cool and totally went off on him saying we needed to either go to club or go home but not this walking and if he didn't know where we were just say so. (He later admitted to Jackie that in fact didn't know where he was going) We went to an empty bar where I fell asleep and then proceeded to take a taxi ride back to our friends place.

Sunday:

• Warm and Sunny (night rain)
• Food, Movies, Subway, and Train
• Boyfriend shorts

Because we left our bags at our friends dorm we didn't have any clothes. So we wore boy clothes and I had the best Calvin shorts. I have to get some for myself if I ever find them. Anyway let's just say that Jackie and I were not the Super Models of Seoul. One of the things I learned the hard way is that Korean don't have "breakfast food" I think I said that with the TempleStay entry, so once again I was eating food that I don't want. I had these things called mondu and I couldn't stand it. But to kill my attitude my friend took me to Krispy Kreme for doughnuts and that made me smile for a while. (I later found out I was called "grumpy" the whole weekend, which is not true, just Sat night and Sunday) I'm still dealing with culture shock so you know it's hard.

Anyway after "breakfast" we went to see "My Father" a Korean movie about a man who was adopted by a white family in the USA and joins the army to go to Korea and find his birth family. Koreans love tragedies so there was a lot of crying. After the movie we went to pick up our bags and catch the train home. And thus the end of our Seoul Crazy Weekend.