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I last left last year with Day 7 of my late 2013 Korea/Japan trip. We are up to day 8! Huzzah!
My friend is an English teacher in Korea so we were both up early. He had to go to work and I had to catch a bus back to Seoul.
First things first, catching the bus to the bus terminal.
I actually had to stand because it was quite full of students on their way to school.
Entry to the bus terminal. You have to go to a ticket counter to buy the ticket. I wanted to catch a later bus to Seoul so I had time to grab a coffee (it turned out to be terrible coffee and perhaps not worth the extra few minutes). This was difficult to convey with my limited Korean and the lady ended up showing me the screen and I pointed to which bus I wanted to take.
The aforementioned coffee and my bus ticket. Buses like these, as compared to the normal, local buses, have assigned seating. I was seated next to a middle-aged Korean man who kept trying to talk to me, which I didn't want because I wanted to sleep. At the time I found it creepy (he put his email address into my phone) but I suppose he wanted to practise his English? Either way, when we alighted from the bus in Seoul I made sure to walk a different path to the exit than him at the bus terminal.
By the time I got to Seoul it was nearing lunch time. One of the things I had planned to do while in Korea was to try out a restaurant that a friend had recommended.
The restaurant was in Apgujeong which is a particular rich area of Seoul and also home to lots of K-Pop entertainment agencies.
For lunch, on my lonesome, I ate at Hanilkwan. A pretty fancy Korean restaurant.
As you walk in the lobby walls are full of autographs of famous Korean people. I don't know who a lot of them are. The middle, bottom one is SNSD's Jessica. (Or rather, I guess, Jessica formerly of SNSD?)
First things first, side dishes. They couldn't all fit into the shot and I was the only tourist it seemed because no one else was taking photos.
And these were my favourite. Some sort of pancake.
And the main was my favourite of all the Korean meats, galbi.
And this was my attempt at having it all.
And this modest dessert to finish it off. I'm not sure what it was exactly.
After a coffee break, getting my nails done and general wandering around I headed back to my friend's place.
Passed by Tous Les Jours for a coffee and to just look at some pretty nice bread.
In almost freezing weather (it got down to actual 0 degrees Celsius and I was not wearing enough clothes) I headed to Dongdaemun which is famous for its markets and its gate.
The fried and battered chips on a stick was excellent and inventive. We need those.
I met up with a couple of friends and we headed to Hongdae. A popular and trendy district in Seoul which we arrived at too late. Everyone was headed back down the tunnel to catch the last trains home. My friends and I had booked a room to stay overnight in neighbouring Myeongdong so we wouldn't have this problem.
At the time (in 2013) the Egg Bread street food was pretty popular. Kept seeing it pop up on blogs and instagram and twitter. Fluffy and warm which was perfect for a cold night out.
We ended up, for some reason, at an Irish pub. The staff were really lovely. We kept holding our phones to ceiling to Shazam songs and the staff would either turn it up louder or write the song on a piece of paper and hand it to us.
Long island iced tea and something else. One my friends vomited and the last few hours of the night are a bit sketchy to me.
We also ordered popcorn to soak it all up. Futile attempt.
We then caught a taxi back to our hotel and we just knocked out.
And this should be for Day 9 but I feel it's relevant. Cup ramen and coffee. Food of hangover champions.
To Be Continued!
(Hopefully sooner rather than later!)
