8月16日--8月17日
Seoul, Day 6.
Wanting to make sure I got things done during my last full day in Seoul, I only slept around 4.5 hours. I woke up wanting to visit dongdaemun (동대문) (a district known for its shopping) , a puppy café, and a jjimjilbang (찜질방) (Korean day spa) but with my limited time I began to accept defeat and knew that I wouldn’t be able to do all three things that day.
Especially since upon waking, my new Parisian friends asked me if I wanted to go biking along the Han river, and I couldn’t say no. They asked me about my plans and said I wanted to visit a puppy café and that they would tag along but that I needed to hurry!
I was in a bit of a daze, to be honest, but once we got the puppy café, I was pretty happy.
If you don’t know, puppy cafes are just cafes but with puppies that you can pet, play with, etc. They also have kitty cafes and I even heard of one with sheep.
Seoul, Day 6.
Wanting to make sure I got things done during my last full day in Seoul, I only slept around 4.5 hours. I woke up wanting to visit dongdaemun (동대문) (a district known for its shopping) , a puppy café, and a jjimjilbang (찜질방) (Korean day spa) but with my limited time I began to accept defeat and knew that I wouldn’t be able to do all three things that day.
Especially since upon waking, my new Parisian friends asked me if I wanted to go biking along the Han river, and I couldn’t say no. They asked me about my plans and said I wanted to visit a puppy café and that they would tag along but that I needed to hurry!
I was in a bit of a daze, to be honest, but once we got the puppy café, I was pretty happy.
If you don’t know, puppy cafes are just cafes but with puppies that you can pet, play with, etc. They also have kitty cafes and I even heard of one with sheep.
Unfortunately, it was a Saturday afternoon and the café was packed. All the seats were taken and upwards of 15 to 20 people were sitting on the floor. With only a limited number of puppies at this café, it was not the ideal situation. I ordered my drink (at this puppy café, there is no entrance fee but you must purchase a beverage, which are pretty expensive. I had an iced coffee for 6000 KRW, or about $6 USD, but you aren’t paying for the drinks really so much as the opportunity to visit a puppy café. The only time I got to pet a puppy for an extended period was when this small Pomeranian was waiting along with all of his puppy friends to get a treat from the puppy café owner. Other than that, there was minimal puppy interaction.
I’m still mad about it.
But we left and headed over to the subway station to meet up with a friend we had made at the club the other night (not the night before, but the night before that where there was no one at the club—these friends were French as well, so I was the only American in this group of foreigners ehhehe). Once we did, we took the subway to Yeouido (여의도) Park where we were gonna rent bikes. Instead of biking along the Han river, we just biked within the park. It was still fun and really beautiful. I think all of us really appreciated riding bikes since, for a lot of us at least, the last time we had ridden bikes was in our childhood. We took pictures along ponds within the park and stopped at a convenience store for ice creams.
But we left and headed over to the subway station to meet up with a friend we had made at the club the other night (not the night before, but the night before that where there was no one at the club—these friends were French as well, so I was the only American in this group of foreigners ehhehe). Once we did, we took the subway to Yeouido (여의도) Park where we were gonna rent bikes. Instead of biking along the Han river, we just biked within the park. It was still fun and really beautiful. I think all of us really appreciated riding bikes since, for a lot of us at least, the last time we had ridden bikes was in our childhood. We took pictures along ponds within the park and stopped at a convenience store for ice creams.
By this time it was close to 7:00pm and we were to head back to meet up with our friends from the night before for a last hurrah (since it was my last evening in Seoul). We (the Parisians and I) had met up with our English friend and a couple of our Korean friends for more 치맥. I think this was the third time I had 치맥 during my stay in Seoul, but I’m not complaining. We had regular fried chicken and a chicken with a sauce similar to that of tteokbokki, a slightly spicy sweet sauce.
They asked me what I wanted to do after, since it was my last day, but seeing as my flight was at 8:30 in the morning, I didn’t want to go clubbing and risk missing my flight. Instead, we just purchased drinks at a convenience store and headed to our English friend’s guesthouse, where there was a rooftop where we could drink and be loud and all that ridiculous young people stuff.
We had Soju, Makgeolli, and Chilsung Cider and made drinks with that. Our English friend named a drink after herself that mixes all three.
Korean homeboy was there and he made one of those jjimjilbang sheep towel wrap things you see in dramas called yangmeori (양머리) which literally translates to "sheep head".
We had Soju, Makgeolli, and Chilsung Cider and made drinks with that. Our English friend named a drink after herself that mixes all three.
Korean homeboy was there and he made one of those jjimjilbang sheep towel wrap things you see in dramas called yangmeori (양머리) which literally translates to "sheep head".
Later on that night, our English friend was having another Korean friend over, whose birthday ironically enough was today (like, starting at midnight) so when he came in we played the korean birthday song from YouTube and like, did a #turnup version. A couple of my Parisian friends and I were drumming on the table. These last couple of evenings were probably the most fun I had while in Seoul, and of course I realized this only a few hours before I left. I looked at the Hongdae skyline around me and realized that I was really going to miss these people and this city.
I didn’t even get a chance to explore much beyond Hongdae (and a little bit of the City Hall and Yeouido areas), never went to dongdaemun or go to a jjimjilbang, so I promised my new friends that I was going to come back to Korea. We exchanged Kakao IDs and friended each other on Facebook.
I think that’s what’s most beautiful about doing these trips and meeting new people is that you begin to realize just how similar everyone is by meeting people you initially thought were quite different from you. I made some new Parisian friends who enjoyed hip hop as much as I did, a Korean friend who probably enjoyed dancing more than I did (which I was surprised by), among others. I can only hope the rest of my time here in Asia is as fun.
But, as the sun rises I have a flight to Osaka to catch, so I'll be back soon!
I think that’s what’s most beautiful about doing these trips and meeting new people is that you begin to realize just how similar everyone is by meeting people you initially thought were quite different from you. I made some new Parisian friends who enjoyed hip hop as much as I did, a Korean friend who probably enjoyed dancing more than I did (which I was surprised by), among others. I can only hope the rest of my time here in Asia is as fun.
But, as the sun rises I have a flight to Osaka to catch, so I'll be back soon!