Blogging from the Airport

Season's Greetings at Incheon.

My smart phone knew that I would be traveling. As soon as I arrived at the Incheon International Airport, I began receiving a series of text messages from my data provider that provided information about roaming data and the like. I mean, I wasn't really sure what the messages were saying, since they were entirely in Korean, but I did recognize a loanword present in every message: 로밍, which is obviously "roaming".

I wasn't really sure about what kinds of charges my phone would rack up during the two weeks I'm going to spend in California, so I went the safe route and temporarily suspended my data plan. While home, I'll only be able to use my phone with WiFi.

Anyway, that's just a roundabout way of saying that I am currently writing this from the Incheon International Airport, one of the best and biggest airports in the world. It really is a gorgeous airport -- very classy, clean, and quiet. It has also been completely Christmas-ified. It is hard to believe that Christmas is only two days away, but this becomes almost believable when you're surrounded by holiday decorations and listening to holiday songs, waiting to board your plane in less than two hours.

So, what did I do this weekend? On Friday evening, I said my goodbyes to my host family and gave them presents. On Saturday morning, I got up before anyone else, quickly packed, and went to the bus station to catch a ride to Seoul. One thing that struck me was that, while it had rained in Changwon on Friday afternoon, only half an hour north, the ground was blanketed in snow. I thought to myself, "Uh oh, I'm not going to be prepared for Seoul". Five hours later, I was in Hongdae and I was freezing. Fortunately, it wasn't unbearable, just a bit unexpected.

The main things I did were get a haircut (and the hairdresser thought I was Korean-American... big surprise there) and then spend the evening with friends from home who were visiting Seoul for vacation. It was lots of fun wandering around Hongdae with Wilson and Jon. I was looking for Christmas presents, they were looking for good street food, and we all found what we wanted.

Jon was eyeing that 호떡 (hotteok) with eager anticipation.

Because we were in Hongdae, I wanted to find that awesome bulgogi restaurant that I had gone to before: 연탄 불고기. It took me a long time to find it again, and I almost gave up, but when we finally got there, it completely lived up to my expectations. Delicious pork and spicy pork barbecue, plus drinks, for only 11,000₩ each. It was more expensive than the last time I ate there, in part because my friends and I ordered tons of food, and also because, for some reason, the restaurant slapped a foreigner tax on us. (VAT세금? Seriously, what is that?) 헐, it kind of sucked. Whatever, though. It was still a great meal, and, as Wilson said, incredibly good value, especially compared to everything they had eaten in Japan, where they had spent a few days before coming to Korea.

Jon and Wilson at the barbecue place. My lens was foggy because it was so cold outside but so toasty inside.

(For future reference... this barbecue restaurant is located in a narrow road and doesn't show up on map applications. From the Hongik University Station, exit 9, turn left to enter Hongdae, then turn right onto the tree-lined pedestrian street until you hit a crossroad. There should be a Starbucks and a Taco Bell on opposite sides of this street; keep them on your right as you cross the street. There are now two parallel streets that head south. The larger one is on the left; take the smaller one on the right, and walk down it for about five minutes. 연탄 불고기 will be on your right, a two-story red building with big windows.)

Anyway, for the rest of the evening, I chilled with Wilson and Jon, shopping and wandering around Hongdae. It was great to catch up with them, and I must admit that it surprised me how paradoxically normal it felt to be hanging out with friends on the other side the world, simply as if we were back in the Bay Area. I like how small the world can seem sometimes.

Wilson, Jon, and me in Hongdae.

So that was Saturday. Today, Sunday, was spent chilling at my hostel (Hongdae Guesthouse 3.0, "Y3llow Submarine") and taking the train to the airport, where I am now, with only one hour left before boarding! So, signing off now, and when you hear from me again, I'll be back in California! Safe travels and Merry Christmas, everyone!

Night Lights (Weekend pt. 2)

The number of Fulbrighters hanging out in Seoul quickly swelled as the evening wore on. So did my sinuses.

Busy, crowded streets of Hongdae (홍대) at night. I spy a Korean hipster!

The group from the Han River Park made a pit stop by the Fulbright Building in Mapo-gu to pick up things and hang out with Jake and Leslie for a bit before heading to Hongdae (홍대). Hongdae is hoppin', easily the most interesting neighborhood I've seen in Korea so far. It's young, hip, and really lively at night. We checked into our hostel, the Pencil Guesthouse, and then walked to the busier part of the neighborhood, taking in all the sights. Just along the short walk from the Hongik University metro station to the restaurant, we saw: tons of foreigners, tons of hipsters, tiny shops selling everything imaginable, a silent mp3 dance party, street performances, and at least one guy in drag.

A silent mp3 dance party on the streets in Hongdae. Everyone had wireless headphones and was dancing to music, but no one watching could hear anything! And they all had balloons, too. Yay, balloons!

The whole group in front of the restaurant. From left to
right: Amy and David (friends of friends), Kristen,
Stephanie, Cecile, Julia, Ammy, Jessica, Alanna, Ben,
and Taxi. A group of twelve for an unplanned dinner is
 unwieldy, but we had a blast!

Our group was twelve strong at 연탄 불고기 (Yeontan Bulgogi), which was a barbecue place suggested by Jessica. Two different sets of her Korean friends had taken her to eat there, so we figured it'd work for us. And although the menu was simple (nothing but pork barbecue, banchan, or side dishes, and steamed egg), it was delicious. And there was a lot of food. And it was really, really cheap. Like, 5,000-won-(less than $5)-per-person-for-a-full-meal-cheap. I highly recommend this place.

Yayyy, Korean barbecue! (I was worried about Cecile, who doesn't eat pork, because there was essentially nothing else on the menu... But the rest of us ate like kings!)

Unfortunately, by the end of the meal, my nose was running like a leaky faucet. The wonderful afternoon spent outside in Nature had its consequences in the form of severe allergies. I probably looked like crap, but I just had to power through, because we had one more stop before the day was over: Namsan Tower!

Namsan Tower is a big tower smack dab in the middle of the city. It's also called N Seoul Tower, and it's easily visible from most parts of town, helped in part because it's on the top of a hill (Namsan). Our group took the metro and a taxi to get to the bottom of the hiking trail, which was beautifully lit for the evening. Because the cable car line was fairly long, and because we're adventurous Fulbrighters, we decided to hike the whole way up. It took about twenty minutes, not including several pauses along the way to take in the gorgeous views of the city we were being offered at every turn. Also, we played Contact on the way up and it soothed my troubled, word game-deprived soul.

And then we arrived at the tower and bought tickets (9,000 won) to take the elevator to the observation deck. Yes, the view was fantastic. Breathtaking, even. I've seen many cities from the tops of many towers and tall buildings, but Seoul was a new high. This city is beyond huge. It's staggering just how far the lights go in every direction. At the observation deck, which was actually fairly small, I just kept walking around and around, marveling at how impossibly big Seoul is. I took lots of photos...

A breathtaking (and slightly smudgy) view of Seoul's nightscape from the observation deck of Namsan Tower.

It was nearly midnight, and we were all falling asleep at the top, when we decided to call it a night. After some of us got ice cream and checked out the "love padlocks" on the terrace by the foot of the tower, which I personally found kind of boring, we took two taxis (an expensive black one and a cheaper white one) back to Hongdae, which at 1am was still bustling and clogged with pedestrian traffic. We finally arrived at the hostel at 1am, and I conked out almost immediately.

Thousands of couples have locked their love onto the walls of a terrace at Namsan Tower. Stephanie's contemplating 왜 남자 친구가 아직 그녀에게 자물쇠를 안 사다줬어요!

'Twas a good day. Despite the allergies, which made me feel gross and miserable and probably resulted in me being a bossypants (because when your face is on fire and you've been blowing your nose with alcohol sanitizing wipes because so many Korean restaurants don't have napkins, the last thing you want to do is stand around waiting for twelve people to decide where to go and when...), I had a wonderful time. And I was pleasantly surprised at us Fulbrighters' efficacy when it came to splitting the dinner bill, paying for our hostel, meeting up and splitting up, and so on. Everything just went more smoothly than I'd imagined it to be. You see, when you travel, it's not just the great food and the cool sights that count; transportation (must be comfortable), monetary transactions (must be efficient), and all plans going without a hitch can make -- or break -- a vacation.

In the next post: whitewater rafting and bungee jumping in Cherwon!