adventure to Korea! march 11-12-13 2003

At the airport I made friends with these two Japanese guys. Turns out that they are in the country for the exact same time as me, in fact they have the same flight out! So we decided to spend the first bit exploring together because none of us knew what was going on. and none of us knew any Korean! hahaha... but I was able to speak to them in my broken Japanese and them to me with their broken English. hehe... the usual case when I make friends these days.

First stop was Namdeamun Market in the heart of downtown Seoul. This market is open 24hrs. In fact it gets really busy late at night. Special wholesale deals are on from 2am to 5am. so people who own shops will often come here to buy a mass amount of stuff and bring it back to sell. But what do they sell you ask? well you know all that stuff you buy that says "made in Korea"? Well here it is!! Wholesale prices direct from the manufacturer! so really good for stuff like sports clothes and the like. I didn't buy much because well, this is my budget trip just to leave the country. so I didn't go all out crazy like I did in Indonesia. Plus I didn't want to carry a whole bunch of bags around the city while I explore. if it doesn't fit in my backpack (or attached to my pack), I didn't buy it.

At the airport I made friends with these two Japanese guys. Turns out that they are in the country for the exact same time as me, in fact they have the same flight out! So we decided to spend the first bit exploring together because none of us knew what was going on. and none of us knew any Korean! hahaha... but I was able to speak to them in my broken Japanese and them to me with their broken English. hehe... the usual case when I make friends these days. First stop was Namdeamun Market in the heart of downtown Seoul. This market is open 24hrs. In fact it gets really busy late at night. Special wholesale deals are on from 2am to 5am. so people who own shops will often come here to buy a mass amount of stuff and bring it back to sell. But what do they sell you ask? well you know all that stuff you buy that says "made in Korea"? Well here it is!! Wholesale prices direct from the manufacturer! so really good for stuff like sports clothes and the like. I didn't buy much because well, this is my budget trip just to leave the country. so I didn't go all out crazy like I did in Indonesia. Plus I didn't want to carry a whole bunch of bags around the city while I explore. if it doesn't fit in my backpack (or attached to my pack), I didn't buy it.

To my request we went to eat at a Yakiniku restaurant. I've had it in Japan but its Korean food. in Japan it's REALLY REALLY good!!!! but in Korea it's ULTRA GOOD!!! Basically what it is that you have a bbq thing in your table, you just cook up the meat right there in front of you and add toppings. The thing with Korean food is that they serve Kim chi with everything! Spicy red sauce with cabbage, veggies and more hot stuff. really tasty but hot! An interesting thing to note on this trip is that my worries about not knowing Korean were kinda washed away when I realized that almost everyone downtown speaks either fluent Japanese or broken English. so I wasn't completely hopeless. and there’s ALOT of Japanese people in Seoul. Also, Korea reminds me alot of Indonesia with Japanese influence. so I didn't have a complete culture shock either. I knew what to expect in alot of ways (hehe.. especially store owners that would run up to you and BEG you to come into their store because it's the "best". one even made my friend pinky swear he'd come back). After the market we went to our hotel in Myeong-Dong. which was a small little tiny place in the back of an alley. pretty funny, but we took it because it was CHEAP! 40,000Wons a night for the three of us. (what's a Won?!? you ask? Korean currency, 1Yen = 10Wons and 1$CAN = 1200Wons). so yeah, about 15bucks or something for the night. pretty good! there’s no way you'll find that cheap of a price in Japan! Ok sure the place wasn't luxury or anything and it was really basic. but I just need a place to sleep so I'm not picky at all. We each had a futon on the floor to sleep on and it was just fine.

The Next day I wanted to go to the Electronic Market to see if I could pick up a cheap GameBoy Advanced. turns out they're more expensive. oops, oh well. But on the way we did a little sightseeing. The Yongsan Electronic Market was also equally as crazy as its clothing neighbor. Mostly computer parts and things related to it. So you can pick up flat panel monitors or components for really cheap. Computer games were ultra cheap too. Like in Namdeamon, we also go lost in this market to trying to find our way out. really tough! Either in a huge building or in the small streets. Spent alot of time just trying to find the exit.

After the Yongsan I left my friends and headed off to the Olympic Stadiums! woohoo! they didn't want to go that far out of downtown so I was pretty much solo from now on. I'd meet up with them later on that evening for dinner. So I took the subway all the way down. subway only costs like 70cents CAN (yeah cheap! Japan it's like 2-15bucks depending where you are going). The Stadiums were really cool, I did alot of rollerblading around the grounds and did some heavy exploring. I was blessed with great weather and got to see all 4-5 stadiums. After that continued to blade to Jasmil Station and then took the subway back downtown. .. Next Page >> back to Adventures Home