Seoul, S. Korea

OK I've left this blog far too long so I don't think I'm going to do this post any justice as I have a memory of a fish. So my blog may not be in chronological order. I'm basically going to do what I call a memory shit. But I'd just like to say from the outset that I had an amazing time in Seoul mainly because I was hanging out with some amazing people. So I will do my best to bring this out in the blog.

During my time in Seoul I stayed at the Come Inn guesthouse which was run by a guy called Bobby who was an absolute legend. As I didn't have google in China I struggled to book my tour of the DMZ but Bobby sorted me right out even before I got to Seoul so already he was worthy of the high rating on the hostel websites. I never worked out why but Bobby always had a look of surprise on his face whenever you spoke to him.

Anyway 1st day I went for dinner with 2 guys I met in the hostel, Cesar and Oldrich. We decided to go for a Korean BBQ which is an indoor BBQ where you pick some random meat and cook it yourself. Luckily I had these 2 guys with me that showed me what to do otherwise I would have been stumped which was to be the theme of the rest of my time in Seoul. So it turns out the Korean's are a fan of the metal chopsticks. I have enough of a hard time using wooden chopsticks and the metal ones are near on impossible to grasp especially when your hands get greasy. On the plus side you get unlimited kimchi (pickled veg) in all restaurants which is great if you can pick them up with your chopsticks. I got to know the 2 guys better over dinner and they were really knowledgeable about S. Korea which was great for me because I had no idea about this place. Oldrich especially seemed very interested and attached to this place.

Anyway after the meat sweats we headed back to the hostel where we met a couple, Cece & Jeroen. Jeroen was up for a beer and was happy to take us out as he had spent a week here already. He suggested that we buy some liquor from the convenience store and drink in the park. I did that sort of thing when I was 16 and I was kind of hoping to head to a bar that night but I went a long with the guys. Jeroen assured me that this place was fun when he last came here but I had very low expectations for the evening.

So I bought a bottle of Soju (a kind of vodka made out of rice) and a can of beer. You're supposed to mix the 2 to make your beer stronger but I was happy enough to drink the Soju neat it was that nice (I know many disagree). We got approached by a uni student doing a survey for his tourism course which we were more than happy to help with. Then Jeroen left us as he was suffering from the night before like Cece. So still a tame evening at this point.

After he left we heard some people playing some music behind us so being typical tourists we decided to watch them. It was one girl who sang and 3 guys, one playing guitar, the other a drum box and the other sang. They were singing in Korean but it didn't matter because the girl had an amazing voice and it was so enjoyable to listen to. She told us the next song was about death which is a bit morbid but they even made that song sound great and upbeat.

They knew we didn't understand what they were singing so they asked if we knew Radiohead, I'm not a fan but I was more than happy to listen. So they started playing creep and like all songs I know I only knew a couple lines so I tried to join when I could. We were joined by some hobo's who knew the song and started singling along too. One of the hobo's was telling me he was a huge Oasis fan and started singing Wonderwall to me. Then along come two guys who started singing along too. What the hell! It seemed everyone in S. Korea was a Radiohead fan. Not at all what I expected. We shared a few of our beers with the band and the two guys that just came along started playing creep on guitar again. At this point the girl in the band said I was handsome and wanted a picture with me. I instantly fell in love with this girl, I should have asked her to marry me there and then. Anyway she had to leave with the other singer but they invited us to watch them play the next day at some coffee venue.

After the love of my life left we got chatting to the guys left and the 2 that turned up asked for requests. I asked for Fall Out Boy unknowingly these 2 guys were in the biggest Fall Out Boy cover band in Seoul (so they say). The 2 guys were absolutely stoked that we knew Fall Out Boy. So they started playing Sugar We're Going Down. We were singing and dancing along and the atmosphere was just buzzing (probably facilitated by the Soju). I remember the guitarist spinning around so much he nearly fell over.

It turned out that Cesar was a dab hand with the guitar and started playing Green Day's time of your life.

Unfortunately it was getting late and the guys with the instruments had to shoot but it was such a fun, random night. Jeroen was right, the park is the place to be.Read more