Tonggyo-dong

Cece and Jeroen met some English dudes that were due to arrive today who they met the previous week. Their names were Chay, Henry & Merkel (formally known as Michael). So we planned to have a big night out. We wanted some food but we were waiting for ages as Merkel booked himself far away from his friends in Gangnam. I guess he didn't really like them. While we were chilling the guys were telling me about the amazing Korean Sprite advert. I want everyone to YouTube this now. It's amazing! I have to try this out in a club and see if the girls will take their clothes off (now if you didn't YouTube this advert when I asked you to I bet you have now). Merkel turned up and so we headed out for dinner. Cesar and Oldrich found an even better BBQ joint than the first night. This place was awesome! There was so much meat and we got to wear bibs. You know it's good when they give you a bib. During my time in Seoul I noticed that Korean food is all about eating in large groups and sharing food. It was so hard to find stuff to eat when you are on your own in Korea. I'll definitely be looking out for Korean BBQ'S in England when I get back. Whose in?

Anyway our stomachs were lined and we decided to head to the park which was rammed and in full flow except for Cesar who decided to spend his last night in Gangnam. There was so much going on in the park, there's another rap battle going on in one corner, jazz in another. An American girl, Sarah, who was a friend of Bobby's joined us for a night out and did an amazing job teaching me some basic Korean phrases. So at least now I can say hello and thank you and not feel like a numpty.

We found a bit of space on the ground and started playing Ring of Fire. It's amazing that this game is played all across the world. A truly international drinking game. After the game had ended everyone was a bit merry so we headed to the bar. I got chatting to some random people and as the night progressed there was less and less of us until it was just me and Chay. I got to know Chay a lot better and he was a really sound guy. I did a really shit job of being his wing man but he looked perfectly capable on his own and was chatting to some chick. Now was a perfect time for me to leave via some food. So I go to the stall outside our guesthouse that serves triple cooked corn dogs. These things are amazing after a few drinks. While I'm wolfing down these tasty treats Cesar spots me. He had just comeback from Gangnam and made the wise decision to stay up for his early morning flight. We ended up killing time in Taco Bell. Cesar was a cool dude who was spending the year in Japan teaching English. He was so helpful planning my time in Japan suggesting places I've never heard of.

After a very long day/night before I had a lazy day in front of the telly chilling with the gang. OK I know that seems a waste and I'm supposed to spend every single minute of everyday sightseeing but it was nice just to chill and have some good banter with a cool bunch of people. The guys from Norwich, Cece & Jeroen tried their best to teach me about the league of legends as we were watching it on the telly. And I got the gist of it, I think. The guys went to the final and there was over 50,000 people in the stadium. That's just a crazy amount of people watching some guys play a video game. I'm no longer a big gamer now that I'm an old fart but I would have thought I heard about something that popular.

Later we flicked through the channels and started watching some Korean dramas. I've never seen more tears in my life. It just seems everyone cries constantly in these dramas. I was trying to download some apps to translate words you capture on camera as I knew hardly anyone spoke English in Japan. Me and Shay tried some apps out desperately looking for things written in Korean. For some reason everything I tried to translate kept coming back about uranium which is worrying. Then Shay pointed out I was trying to translate Chinese words so the app had a (nuclear) meltdown. See what I did there? I'm so witty. So it turns out Google translate is awesome if you pick the correct language.

I started to feel guilty about lounging around the house so I decided to cycle along the beach. One thing you will notice when you come to Seoul is everyone is kitted out for the occasion. They love hiking. On the metro most people are wearing the brightest North Face jacket and the nicest hiking boots. And on the cycle highway everyone is clad in tightest lycra regardless of the bike they're on and I saw an array of bikes. I even saw a unicycle! It was a Sunday and the riverbank was rammed with people. It seemed quite common for people to pitch tents so it felt like a festival. There were different acts going on, there was singing, a brass band and a one man circus act. It was a really nice way to get over a hangover.Read more