On Friday night after work (8:30) we headed into Seoul to go to a (late) 4th of July party at Embers. A and I were REALLY excited about the food - bbq chicken, smoked sausage, baby back ribs, mac and cheese, potato salad, and baked beans. The kind of stuff we took for granted before. The plan was to get to Itaewon at about 10pm, have dinner and drinks at Embers, then head over to Midnight Lounge for the after party. We were going to stay at a Korean spa called a jjimjilbang overnight. The next day, we planned on On the Border for lunch, then A was going to a speech contest for a couple of her students and J and I were going to go to a library in Gangnam.
That was the plan. Here's what happened (hehe, dramatic music). We did head into Seoul after work and we got to Embers at about 10:30. We walk in, and there's a pub crawl happening... and A happens to know the dude running it! So he spends some time trying to convince us to join the pub crawl and then one of his associates comes up trying to convince us to join the pub crawl as well. We said we'd think about it and ordered our drinks and food. I started the evening with a shot of Jameson and a Duvel beer. It was AWESOME! While waiting to order, I met a nice man named Anthony who told me that I was very beautiful, that he liked my hair and my tats, and that I was very beautiful (again). Needless to say, I was somewhat taken aback.
The Belgians really do make the best beers. Anyway, he was participating in the pub crawl as well. They moved on, we stayed and ate. We had decided to split the platter for 2 between the 3 of us. So it comes and there was coleslaw, mac and cheese, baked beans, bread, ribs, smoked sausages, chicken, and mashed potatoes. J had never had ribs before!! We had to teach her how to eat them! They were fall-off-the-bone tender, too. We DEVOURED that platter. Once the pub crawl people left, they turned off Independence day (boo) and turned on a lot of hip-hop (yay). Now J and A know that I love TLC. LOL.
Then we waited for the people from Chungdahm to come. So there's 2 programs in the Chungdahm company, there's April which is the younger students and then there's CDI, which we usually just call Chungdahm, which is the middle schoolers. The Chungdahm people work from 2-10, so they were obviously going to be coming in later. We met up with them at a kebab place, then went to Midnight Lounge. Well it turns out that at least 2 of our troop were not interested in going to an actual club, so we never set foot in Midnight Lounge! Just as well because the guy who arranged the 4th party at Embers was the owner of the Midnight Lounge, which is a hip-hop club and he had 3 Korean rappers performing there. Not the kind of place to take people who don't like clubs. Instead we went to some other bar that had no cover charge. There we had some drinks, danced a bit, and laughed at the Korean guys who were trying really hard to dance with M. A very nice man bought my first drink (shot of Jameson and a Heinicken Dark, nothing too big), and then another ended up buying me a shot of tequila. So I guess I'm hot in Korea! LOL. Then we went to another bar which was fairly new, so the guy outside gave us free drink cards, which we used. We had a beer there and hung out outside, then went on to another.
I have no real pictures of the bars because... well... they're bars. We did go to another place that was quite nice and chill and there I had this beauty - a Manhattan. Not sure what A is doing in the background, you can see a bit of M, who was my twin (black tank tops and jeans FTW!).
Shortly after this, J and I went back to the kebab place and each had one. While we were there, the guy from the first bar showed up! We sat and talked for a bit and ended up telling him that we were going to stay the night at a jjimjilbang. He walked with us and ended up staying there as well (though we didn't run into him again). It was a nice evening, all in all. I enjoyed talking with Anthony (he likes metal and craft beers, too), though I was slightly amazed at his age (26). Never really gone for a younger guy before... no numbers were exchanged, so while it was a pleasant encounter, it will likely not be repeated.
So let me tell you about the jjimjilbang. It's a Korean spa. You walk in, pay 10000 won, and they give you a locker to put your shoes in. The key to the locker is attached to a thingy that goes on your wrist, so you have your key with you at all times. They also give you a t-shirt, shorts, and 2 towels. You walk into the men's or women's side and you are in a locker room. The key you have opens another locker and that's where you can put your stuff - including your clothes. The jjimjilbang has a shower and a pool area which is basically a bathhouse. No clothing allowed. At this one, there were 2 pools - one 42C and one 35C. There were also 2 saunas - one was 72C and one was less than that (I don't remember). Also one was dry and one was wet... I know I sweated a lot.
After the pools (you have to shower before, and I did after, too) you put on the t-shirt and shorts they give you and then you can go upstairs. Upstairs there were a couple food places that were closed (it was late) and sleeping mats that you could get, lay out, and sleep on. There was one floor that was unisex for sleeping (I found it funny that the guys got blue shorts and we ladies had pink), and the top floor was separate. We stayed on the top floor in little sleeping pod-like rooms. You could get a blanket if you wanted, but it was just the mat, a hard little square pillow (think like yoga block), and that's where we slept. It was hot enough that no blanket was needed. I don't think anyone slept particularly well, but I can see why people who are traveling on a budget love the jjimjilbangs. I also know that if I ever need a place to stay, that's not a bad option.
The next morning, we got up, went downstairs and got ready for the day. We went to On The Border for lunch. Yes, I know, why would I go for an American restaurant when I'm in Korea?! Well, A used to hang out there a lot in college and was super excited about having a watermelon margarita. I also wanted unlimited chips and salsa - chips with SALT!
The watermelon margarita was yummy... but I think I'll stick with my classics.
The chips were just like I remember and I had the pineapple quesadilla. Other than the fact that it was sticky (BBQ sauce, I think, or the sugar from the rim of the 'rita), it was really good. After lunch we went for coffee (cuz Mandi needs her coffee) and then headed to Gangnam. A went to her speech contest, and H and I went in search of Starfield Library.
O.M.G. So here's a tip, when you go to a jjimjilbang, take your charger and phone with you to the sleeping area. H and I took off in Gangnam to find the Starfield library... which was in the Starfield Codex mall. Instead of doing my normal checking, directions, and maps, I'd looked this up a few weeks ago and thought I knew where to find it. Well, we walked Gangnam to find wifi (I had about 20% battery), then we took the subway to a stop, found the Korean National Library, looked lost outside a coffee shop, had a guy come out of said coffee shop who helped us, then took the subway again to the right stop, got out of the subway, tried to find it with the addy, walked a bit, walked back a bit, and realized it was in front of us. Thankfully, H is also a bit of a nerd, so there were comments regarding LOTR, the Hobbit, adventures, etc. It was a good time, and frankly it was nice to be on an adventure with someone who saw it as an adventure as opposed to being a pain in the bum. Not that I've been lost with someone of the 2nd type in a while, but I gotta tell you attitude is everything. One of the nicest things about the walk is how nice Seoul keeps their public spaces. Look at the flowers!!!
I love the blooms!
Maybe a future in horticulture would be good for me. LOL.
Look at how pretty the flowers are!!
We liked this one a lot.
Just soo darn nice.
So when we found the Starfield Codex, this was out front.
The IR nerd in me absolutely LOVED this G20 thing. Apparently Seoul hosted the G20 in 2010.
Then as we were walking around, I thought these were interesting.
It looks like its melting!!! Or someone used way too much frosting between the layers of a cake. So then we realized that the entrance of the mall was downstairs. We went downstairs and walked around the mall for a while, following signs that said 'Starfield.' And then we found the library!
It was just as pretty as we thought it would be. After the initial 'wow,' however, our bibliophile souls were disheartened by the following realizations: there was no way to take any of the books out of the 'library,'
There was also no way to get to the books at the top - no ladders, the book covers were faded... they are there just for decoration. Those poor books are not getting the love they deserve.
There were a lot of people, besides the Instagrammers, there were quite a few who looked like they were doing research, reading books, hanging out, etc. While it does seem to be a bit of a tourist attraction (which we kind of already new), it is also being used as a good public reading place.
It was really pretty, but the only books getting loved are the ones you can REACH!
Now this is a picture for my dear friend, Ana. In the library was a Billy Angel Cake Company. So I had to take a picture of the cakes. Ana - it's a place that you would also love - books and CAKE! If it were dog-friendly you could move in!!
The obligatory selfie. Why is the first pic always the worst, then you take pic #2 and it's better!
So after this, H and I decided to head home. It had been a long day, after a long night. We were both pretty exhausted by this point - forgetting words and such. We found the bus back to Dongtan in Gangnam and jumped on. On the way back, the bus got into a bit of a fender bender with a van. So we sat on the bus for... God only knows how long, until they could send two buses to pick us all up. Turns out the bus that took us back was the same one that A was on. So H and I had another good laugh about 'well, we thought the adventure was over, but much like Samwise, we're realizing that we still have some adventuring to do.' Thank God for fellow Tolkien nerds. Anyway, we spend the remaining 30 min bus ride standing in the aisle. So once we got to Dongtan, we got off at the first stop and walked the rest of the way.
H and I parted company at my place, and I was really excited to get into my apt, turn on the A/C, and lay in bed at bit. The shower I had later was even better - turns out that S Korea is both hot and humid and OMG the SWEAT! It's going to be a long, hot, sticky summer. This is going to be interesting - a summer where I can't escape into air conditioning!!! LOL - it builds character, right?!
So H and I have plans (once we get paid) to go to the foreign bookstores in Itaewon. Since she's a fellow book lover, I figure that could be fun for us. Yay for making new friends! So Sunday has been a lazy day so far - I did laundry, cleaned out my shower drain (eww), and painted my nails. The coming weekend we're (T, P, E, and I) going hiking and to the beach. In the meantime, I've been watching the Big Bang Theory, being frugal, and looking forward to pay day. Trying to make sure that my food doesn't go bad means that I'm also trying to plan my shopping well. Siiiigh... adulting. LOL.
Much love to all of you, hope you're having a good time as well. :)
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