Day 2 of Seoul!!

Hi everyone! Here's what we did Sunday, Day 2 of our trip in Seoul. Of course, the day began with peanut butter and jelly toast with coffee! and a subway ride...

63 City

We started at a place called 63 City. It is one of the tallest buildings in Seoul with lots to do inside and an observation level at the top. We had a nice walk from the subway and when we finally walked inside, the entryway had the feeling of a luxurious hotel. Since they did not have a map in English, we asked someone at the help desk where the food court was. He personally escorted us to part of the building, where another man escorted us to another part, and finally we entered an escalator. They took us to the extremely expensive French restaurant! We politely looked at the menu for maybe 30 seconds and turned around haha. (On a side note, everyone is always willing to help/direct/guide us to wherever we need to go. What happened at 63 City with the escorts is not unusual.) We ended up finding the food court on our own as well as the entrance to get to the observation level. After buying tickets, we took an amazingly fast glass elevator ride to the top. The views were incredible! The skyline of Seoul is unbelievable. Even though it was not a completely clear day, we got some good pictures and flip video. Oh, and the walls were covered with art. Not my taste exactly, but they were interesting. We saw a worker with a polariod camera so we figured she was there to take pictures with the Seoul skyline in the background. We awkwardly found out that was not the case. We now have a picture of us (actually pretty good), with a big picture of a baby crying in the background! It's pretty funny. We spent a good amount of time on this level before we returned to the food court and left 63 City for the next part of our adventure!

We found this when we were trying to find the food court.

View from the observation level in 63 City!

One of our favorite art pieces!

Original that we used as inspiration in our pose :)

 Han River

We walked by the Han River on our way back to the subway. We discovered a large park area with a small festival! We relaxed while looking out on the water, people watched (of course), and decided what to do next.

The Han River

 Myeongdong and Dongdaemun

 Back to Myeongdong we went! We walked around the large shopping area, bought Fluke a belt in Daiso, and decided we wanted to buy new wallets. We didn't buy any...yet! Then we made our way to Dongdaemun, the other main shopping area. We found Fluke an awesome pair of brown shoes to wear to work when the weather gets hot. (I think they are called boat shoes??) and don't worry--I did my shopping on Monday!

Namsan Seoul Tower

 At this point, we decided to take the bus to Namsan Seoul Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world! We saw views of Seoul during the day at 63 City, and now we wanted night views. Plus, Namsan Seoul Tower is super famous and one of those tourist-y things we had to do. We bought our tickets and ate dinner. We had a couple of options, but of course, we went to the burger place! We ordered burgers and chili cheese fries...they were soooo good!!! We wandered around the base of the tower and noticed all the Love Locks. We went to the gift shop to buy a lock so we could have one too! We carefully chose our lock location--it has a beautiful view of the city while still facing the tower. Next, we got churros! They were amazing and the perfect dessert since it was too cold for Cold Stone ice cream (the other option). When the sun went down, we went up to the top level of the tower. The views were amazing, but our cameras did not take amazing photos. Good thing they had professional photographers to take our picture! (Like they did at the Stratosphere in Vegas where you take the photo, look at it later, choose the background and buy it). We bought the pictures, spent a little more time at the top, then waited in a long line to go back down. When we got to the bus stop, we noticed a couple that looked like Adam and Ashley (Ashley was my roommate at orientation and Adam graduated from UCI). When we called out their names, the couple turned around!! We did not plan to meet up with them, but it was nice chatting for a bit. The bus came and we said goodbye, but we hope to see them when we go to Busan in a couple weeks.

View from the bottom.

Our lock!

Dinner!

Us with our lock!

View from Namsan Tower!

Back to Hongdae

By now we were exhausted, so we went back to Hongdae. Before heading to the room, we stopped at taco bell so Fluke could have his late-second dinner! When we went to sleep, we knew our plans for Monday, Day 3! Hope you enjoy our day-by-day entries and photos!

First Day in Seoul!!!

Hey all!

Jenn and I had a four day weekend last week, so we decided to go up and visit Seoul! We did so many things there, that we are going to have to split up the posts, just like Jinhae! So without further ado, here is what we did during our first day in Seoul.

A little background first, last Tuesday (May 10th) was Buddha's Birthday. Our schools also gave us the Monday off. So Jenn and I booked our train tickets, and left Friday night. We got to Seoul from Daegu in about an hour and forty minutes. After checking into our room, we decided to walk around the area. We were in a really good location. We were near a University I think, so there were a bunch of restaurants, clubs, and college students walking around and having a good time. After about 5 minutes or so of just soaking in the city, we found a...Taco Bell. So of course we went in and got some food! First Taco Bell in Korea, and I gotta say, it was good! It was just nice being able to get a burrito! After that, we walked around for a little longer, then decided to call it a night. Anyways, Saturday, the real trip began!

We woke up in the morning around 930, and got our free breakfast. Toast with peanut butter and jelly! And real Folgers coffee! Koreans really like instant coffee, like that kind where you pour a mix into a cup and fill it with hot water. I am slowly getting used to it, and by that I mean, I don't hate it nearly as much as I used to. So...getting real coffee was great! And why haven't we bought a coffee maker? We're thinking about it, but we're also thinking about when we leave, and how much of a hassle it would be to bring back home. Coffee makers aren't cheap here. Anyways, then our day began. We got out our subway guide, and basically decided to do anything and everything we could in one day. First on our list was Gyeongbokgung Royal Palace. We took the subway there and it was amazing. For 3 bucks, we were able to walk all around the area, and it was huge! What I really liked about it was how there was this amazing palace, filled with a lot of Korea's history, culture and tradition, right in the middle of the city. We wandered the grounds for an hour or so, and even got free admission into the Seoul Folk Museum (which was right next to the palace). Then we left the palace and boom, right in front of us was this long plaza. And there was a statue of a man sitting in a chair. I think he was one of Korea's first kings. Anyways, we were really excited, because we saw this statue all the time in commercials of Korea, and Seoul tourism videos. And we had found it! On accident! So we walked over there and took some pictures. All of this, and it wasn't even 12 yet!

Gyeungbokgung Palace!

The King guy!

The guy with the sword in front of the king. If you look closely, you can see the palace behind the king!

The next place we went to (side note: thanks to Seouls amazing subway system, the whole city was literally at our fingertips) was famous Itaewon! It is a pretty famous area known for its foreigner friendly stores, souvenir shops, and most importantly of all, restaurants. Yes, Jenn and I were on a quest. We were going to find a Mexican restaurant, and Itaewon seemed like our best bet. So after some random exploring, we found a taco shop! We were so happy, and we ordered a ton of food, and it was AMAZING. Best Mexican yet, and closest thing we've had to real Mexican food. It had pico de gallo, avocado, and cilantro on all of their dishes. After Itaewon, we decided to visit some famous shopping areas of Seoul. So back to the subway we went!

Our first shopping area was Myeong-Dong. Which is basically like a huge outdoor mall? I don't know how to describe it, because there isn't anything in the US like it! Let's just say that there were hundreds of stores to choose from, along with your outdoor stalls selling wallets, cell phone cases, shoes, and more. It was a really cool place, and of course, jam-packed with people. We didn't buy anything...yet. We then decided to go and look at another shopping area. Dongdaemun. At this point, we had probably ridden the subway at least 8 or 9 times. And spent less than 10 bucks doing so. Traveling around Seoul is cheap! Dongdaemun was just as big, but more spread out. It consisted of maybe 5-6 huge buildings, with up to 15 floors of shopping, movie theatres, restaurants, and more. We thought it was cool, but it also seemed a bit more pricey than Myeong-Dong. We still didn't buy anything though. Not yet at least...Anyways, it was a long day, but we weren't finished yet. I mean, it was only about 4 pm! We seriously felt like we had traveled all over the city at this point, and we were ready to sit down and relax. The Lotus Lantern parade was going to start at 7 pm, and we wanted to get good seats for that. So we took the subway to a stop nearby, and found some good seats around 6 pm. The street we were going to watch the parade on was like a main street of Seoul. The staff had set up chairs on both sides of the street for everyone and we found some good seats near them. The parade began, and it was just...wow. It was so awesome! There were lanterns of dragons, elephants, helicopters, the list goes on and on. There were drummers with lanterns, children with lanterns, men and women with lanterns, monks with lanterns, and more. The parade lasted for 2 hours. We lost track of all the lanterns that went by us, and even ran out of memory on our camera because we were taking so many pictures! After the parade finally ended, we headed back to our room.

Myeong-Dong Shopping Area!

One of the huge buildings in Dongdaemun

On the way back, we stopped at a Pho place to eat dinner. It was our first Pho in Korea! It was delicious, but I do have to say that I was disappointed because they had no Sriracha sauce! It was still a spicy sauce, but it felt like they mixed it with ketchup or something. Anyways, didn't like the sauce, but the soup and the noodles were spot on! After that, we went back to our room, and got ready to go out with some of our friends! We met up with them and went clubbing! The club we went to was packed, but the music was good, and we had a really good time. Anyways, after the club we went back to our room. We were completely exhausted. We seriously left our room at 10 am, came back around 10 pm to get changed, and then didn't get back until 2 or 3 in the morning. Phew! Needless to say, we were asleep as soon as we hit the pillow. I can't believe we did all that in one day! 

Jenn at the end of the parade, we rushed the street!

All that light behind us are the last of the lanterns!

4 day Weekend to Seoul Update!

Well...you know how they say everything is bigger in Texas??? Everything is BIGGER in Seoul. Crazy. Jenn and I are going to write all about our trip, but we're going to unpack now, and get ready for our 3 day week! Until then, check out this vid of quite possibly one of the best ideas ever thought of...if you're a dog lover. :)

This is the most awesome idea ever. Korea has a ton of coffee shops, and a huge "cafe" culture. There are literally coffee shops everywhere. Our friend Christa took us to a Dog cafe. And that is literally what it is. You have to order a drink, and then you can just hang out in the cafe and pet the dogs, etc. This video shows some of the many dogs there. It was really great if you love dogs. We had some guests on our table, and there was a dog sleeping in between Jenn and Christa the whole time. One of the highlights of our trips for SURE!

I want that husky!!!

Service!!

The one word that every foreigner in Korea should love to hear. To be more specific, when a Korean says to you, "service," what he or she really means is that they are about to give you something. For free. And surprisingly (or maybe not), we get a lot of "service!"

Let's make a list of the free things that me or Jenn have received so far...
1. After buying my bike, the guy kept saying service...and I ended up with a new bike, and  a brand new bike lock.
2. After buying tangerines from the very friendly fruit stand man (who we go to all the time), he gave us a big smile, said service, and added some extra tangerines to our bag.
3. Bought me and Jenn our usual order of donuts, and the nice lady insisted on giving me one more. With a friendly service thrown in there.
4. Every time we eat out: Service drinks (non-alcoholic...), service bread, service salad, service dessert, service coffee, FREE FREE FREE :)
5. Every time we go to Hi-Mart (an electronics store), we get free popcorn. I'm not sure if its service, but its free. So I'm going to count it.
6. Daegu Immigration Office, free coffee. Cell phone store. Free coffee. Any place where you're trying to buy something...usually has free coffee.


Ummm, well, I'd add more if I could think of some. But I can't. All I know is that when I hear the word "service," I know that I'm about to get something free. And did I mention no tipping? I LOVE SERVICE!!! (and now some completely unrelated pictures of me and Jenn with statues!!)