Soul searching in Seoul

not at all, but it's catchy right?


Well as unfortunate as it seems I find myself yet again at my hostel with no other guest to entertain myself with. So why not update this blog again in the form of another short story.

The last update was just before I set out to meet someone who had agreed to show me around the nightlife of Seoul but as it turned out the day had taken it's toll on her and she bailed on me. That was not going to stop me however. I found myself once again at Hongdae and this time I would not leave it sober.

Streetfood was the first order of business because getting inebriated is one thing but getting out of control wasted because of lack of stomach lining is just silly (in a new city I have to add, on familiar grounds it's perfectly fine). After seeing it a number of times I sampled the rice pie in spicy sauce and I was not only not impressed I am not a fan. The chicken skewer on the other hand was just what the doctor ordered.

Whilst enjoying this fine cuisine I struck up a conversation with my neighbouring party and got invited to join them for a farewell party.
I met a genuine archaeologist, thoughts of Indiana Jones immediately sprung up and were as immediately surprised as to not sound like an idiot. She was pretty f'ing cool though, her last job was in Belize where she was excavating a site under water, I don't know about you guys but that's pretty rad in my book. There was also a student and someone else and then the ensemble just kept on growing throughout the night to a size that was way beyond the 2 people I can generally remember.

Woke up the next day pretty content in finally having experienced the nightlife as I should have but also with the minor side effects of it. Thanks to a friend and ex-Seoul-expat, I knew my next course of action. I should get myself to a jjimjilbang. A what?! You say, it's pretty much a spa. There's various hot baths and saunas varying from hot to scolding, where by the way I was the start attraction as only white person there and only person to manscape certain bits (I'll leave the details to your imagination). There were also a lot of different rooms of different temperatures and other healing functions. I napped in most of them and got delusional in the rest of them because they were just too hot.
On a side not I was massively disappointed by the strictly no unisex pools, I don't ever want to be in the company of so many naked men and little boys again, there's only a certain amount of time you can stare at the ceiling or other safe places without getting bored....

Having been fully rejuvenated I set out the next day to cover some serious ground. Made my way to Namdaemun market to figure out what I already knew, I don't like markets. I always go there as a good tourist but I waste my time there because it's not my thing, but missing out on things isn't my thing either so I'm shit out of luck.
Next, completely on the whim I might add, I headed for Namsan mountain to see if I could get an idea of the scale of this city from a higher vantage point. Took the cable car up and was rewarded with so-so views of the city because the weather was just bleak. Spent some time taking in the views but because of the lack of clear skies decided not to dish out an extra 15k for the ride to the top of the N Seoul Tower.

Hoofed it back to Seoul central station where I took the mrt to Noryangjin station, because I am stubborn. No one really told me to go there, even in the lonely planet it's listed as an option to kill time, but I like fishmarkets. This one was shit, I should not have gone, did see a gigantic lobster but that was it. As a fan of sashimi wanted to eat some there but was stunned to learn the prices (cheapest were something like $75 or €50), I'll wait until I get back to Taipei.

After declining a pricy dish it only seemed logical to head down to the most posh area of Seoul, immortalized by that idiot Psy the song Gangnam style. It was a nice area though, I have to admit. Saw some nice shops and some better looking people, which made me realize that plastic surgery is a big thing here. So I went to Apgujeong to be amazed by all the plastic surgery clinics there. At this point my rejuvenation from yesterday was a distant memory and my feet were killing me. An operation to have my feet replaced with wheels proved to expensive so I headed home for some delightful bulgogi.