I swear I’m not going to make this a thing. Updating you on the things I cross off my list as I cross them off? Even I wouldn’t read that. (devotees will recall my list of “Things I Have Left to Do” in Korea) But it just so happens that I had an incredibly productive weekend with respect to the list, and it was completely unintentional. And, as it turns out, the things on my list are tons of fun, especially when done with the right people.
Before I get to this weekend, though, let’s talk zombies. Zombies and Brad Pitt. One of the items on my list was to see a movie in a movie theater, and I bit through that sucker last Sunday when my friend Goun and I went to see World War Z. She had two free tickets to the Lotte Cinema in Gangnam, so we shot up there on the subway, had a delicious meal of Mexican food, and sat down to watch a feast of a completely different nature. World War Z was pretty good, and I can watch Brad Pitt all day any day, but when you were introduced to zombies on Shaun of the Dead and The Walking Dead, it takes a lot to impress. It was definitely entertaining, and we had a great time.
Now, onto the last 48 hours. After work on Friday I immediately headed into Seoul to meet my friend Shervin. I hadn’t seen him in a while, and I was jonesing for a night out in Seoul (as I usually am at the end of the week) so I headed to his neck of the woods: Seoul National University station. It was pouring rain when I arrived, as it has been for a few weeks now (it’s the rainy season), so under umbrellas we made for the nearest galbi restaurant. This one had three things on the menu: dwejigalbi (pork rib meat), pork cheek (I don’t know the Korean word), and soju (Korean rice liquor). The place was tiny and we were the only foreigners. Perfect. We ordered the dwejigalbi and a minute later it was sizzling on the grill at our table.
The table, also known as the grill.
The Meat
The Kitchen
Ready to Eat
Happy Shervin
The meat was amazing. It needed nothing on it or with it, but there was rice, delicious dipping sauce, fresh garlic and onions, and lettuce to make nice little lettuce wraps. I only did that a few times. We sat, we ate, we conversed as men do, about sitting and eating (and other topics not suitable for discussion here).
After the food we headed to a bar for a beer and more manly conversing. We went to one of Shervin’s haunts, a place called WA (waaahhh) Bar. Something Korea has that America doesn’t is the chain bar. Similar to Starbucks or McDonalds, there are WA Bars everywhere (except Jeongja, of course). They have a pretty extensive collection of beers. We ordered the house beer on tap and drank as men do.
The Selection
It was still coming down hard when we left, but on nights like this I enjoy the rain. We walked to the nearest subway station and I caught the last train back to Gangnam around 12:45am. I recently discovered that buses here run later than subways, and there is a bus that runs from Gangnam to Jeongja until 1:30am. I caught the bus and sat down for the nice 45 minute ride home. This bus dropped me off about a ten minute walk from home. On nights like this I enjoy the rain.
Crossing the bridge on the walk home, I saw that the Tancheon was nearly flooding its banks. I was on a high of good food, good company, and fresh water, so I decided to go down for a closer look.
The Tancheon, barely flooding.
There I met an ajjushi (Korean man) who for some reason thought I spoke Korean. What he was doing there at 2am, I couldn’t say. I’m sure he thought the same of me. But he proceeded to describe (in Korean) what I could only surmise was a time in his life, a few years ago, when the Tancheon flooded above where our heads were, someone grabbed him and threw him into the river, and he swam back to shore. I said pangapsmnida (nice to meet you) and took my leave. Definitely one of my more interesting 2am ajjushi encounters.
Home. Parks and Recreation. Tea. Bed.
On Saturday I arranged to meet another friend of mine, Serina, for dinner in one of my favorite places: Jongro. Jongro is north of the Han river, and is essentially “downtown” Seoul. It’s incredibly diverse, from glass-laiden skyscrapers to shanties to traditional Korean homes, and there is so much to do. It’s where I saw Buddha’s birthday parade, it’s where I bought my guitar, it’s surrounded by palaces, and Cheonggyecheon stream runs right through it. So I was more than happy when Serina suggested we meet there.
As soon as we met it started to rain. But no need for umbrellas, our destination was just a short jog away. She took us to a microbrewery beneath one of Jongro’s entertainment streets. We sat down for a beer, a cajun chicken salad, and, oddly enough, a game of Connect 4. We ate, we drank, we conversed, and we completely forgot about the Connect 4 game that we had spent 10 minutes trying to find the pieces for.
The Meal and the Microbrew
By the time we decided to make for the next location it had stopped raining. We walked around for a while and ducked into two places that we didn’t like (one that was too expensive, another that was lame) before we finally found a wonderful maegkolli joint (Korean rice wine). This place was amazing. I love maegkolli, but I was even more delighted to find pajan on the menu. Pajan are huge, thin, partly fried, partly doughy pancakes made with various types of ingredients, from kimchi to seafood. We chose buchu ojinga jan or pajan made with leek and squid. It was spectacularly delicious. When the bottle of maegkolli was empty we ordered a liquor that I can’t remember the name of, but is made from bamboo and tastes like apple juice.
The Leek and Squid Pajan
The Bamboo Apple Juice Pitcher
Upon finishing the pajan and apple juice, we made a spontaneous trip to noraebang or a “singing room”. Korean karaoke, as it’s known the world over, is different from other types of karaoke. Instead of singing in front of a room full of strangers, you rent a small, private room, drink, and sing with your friends. It’s much more fun. We sang our way through such classics as Build Me Up Buttercup and L.O.V.E. and I laid down the fresh beats of Eminem and Dr. Dre in my noraebang favorite, Forgot About Dre. So much fun.
It turns out the same bus that took me from Gangnam to Jeongja the night before also runs through Jongro. Serina and I parted ways, and I hopped on to enjoy another night ride home.
And there you have it. See a movie in a movie theater? Check. Eat out in Seoul more? Four times in one week = check. Have a beer in a microbrewery? Check. Have a maegkolli and pajan night? Check. Noraebang? Check. Five list items, crossed off.
Lists are great. Crossing things off of lists is even better. This particular list happens to be full of awesome, new things to see and do, and I am going to love doing every one of them. But this list wouldn’t mean anything without good people to share it with.
Korea: Take Two 