Weekend in Seoul

Friday night I decided to hit up the Yeongtong nightlife, and by that I mean the foreigner/expat bar called "Now Bar." Earlier that evening I went searching online for Suwon blogs and found a few and emailed them. One girl wrote me back and said that she was actually going to the Now Bar too and I should look for her around 11pm. I was hopeful and excited.

Do good nights happen when there are beautiful sunsets? I'm not sure, but it never hurts .

After poor directions to the bar and successfully getting lost and gaining blisters I found the bar after probably 45-minutes instead of the 15 it should have taken. I got there at around 10:45pm and sat myself down at the bar. Where else does a single person going to a bar go, right?

I ended up sitting down next to this guy here (Bret) who is from the Madison, WI area. He's 35 and has lived in Korea for years, though I couldn't exactly figure out his story.

I ended up getting snubbed hardcore by the two girls I had emailed (one literally gave me the "oh you" with an attitude when I said that I had written her earlier that evening. At one point I saw another girl point and say "that girl" in my direction to her friend, though I'm not sure if she was the girl I had emailed or not). But I was thankful to have met these two nice people who didn't need to give me an hard time for just trying to make a friend in a place where I know no one at all.

But onwards and upwards!

On Saturday I took the bus into Seoul to spend the weekend with Mali, who is Chris's step-sister. I had met Mali just once back around New Year's 2008-9 when she came to visit Chris in Portland. She and I clicked and hit it off then and I was excited to see her again.

I got into Seoul just after noon and she showed me her officetel which reminded me an awful lot like a college dorm room for one person. Once we dropped off my bags we went shopping in Coex mall and I got a really cute maroon dress that I am excited to wear soon with some leggings and my brown boots.

After the mall we went and saw a Buddhist temple just outside of the mall. The temple had many small buildings and was absolutely stunning if nothing more than because of its central city location. Here are some shots from the temple:

Then I posed with the biggest Buddhist statue in Korea.

After shopping and time and the temples it was time to take a break. We went back to Mali's officetel and killed some time by watching the movie Adventureland.

Then it was time for Salsa dancing! Yes, you heard me right. We went salsa dancing in South Korea. The bar was called Caliente and it was in the foreigner district, Iteawon. The people at that club were, for the most part, really really good. And I was really really bad. (Apparently salsa is not like the merengue I was taught to dance in Costa Rica.) But for w6,000 including a small drink we had a good time and I danced with people from all over the word: a guy from Peru, a Korean, two New Yorkers, and so on.

Finally, we made a pit stop at The Hill which is the gay district. Everyone there was just hanging out in the street (read: alleyway) drinking, chatting, and having a good time. We didn't stay long but I'd go back there too just because everyone seemed so chill there.

On Sunday we slept in and then I made my way back to Suwon. The bus ride home took me about 45 minutes which is really not all that bad.

Good weekend and I am looking forward to Seoul-trippin' again.

Stay tuned for the next entry: 1st day of school!