Seoul is HUGE and with a population of 26 million, it houses half of Korea's population. There are many neighborhoods and we stayed in Hongdae, a hip, ridiculously cute area on the northwest side.
My friends, Lou and Katie, and I really had limited expectations for the weekend but knew we wanted a few things: shopping and proper coffee.
Korea does a lot of things right. It seems to balance pleasure and tradition, it makes excellent cell phones and it's population is very well dressed. But from what I've gathered from my fellow expats combined with what I've experienced, it is seriously lacking in the coffee department. Coffee is expensive, weak, and tastes bad. However, in Seoul, you can get a proper coffee.
Friday night we arrived late to find nobody at the hostel. As we later found out, we accidentally stated that we were going to arrive at 1pm instead of 1am and the owner was out for the evening. After he and some friends kindly came to let us in, they invited us to out for drinks and food which organically unfolded into an entertaining evening. (By the way, please let me know of a time in the where you have completely inconvenienced someone and then they invited you out for drinks. Korean people are NICE.) In the midst of eating tofo kimchi, one of the owners of the restaurant ABRUPTLY reached accross our table and shoved a lettuce wrap in my face and shouted, "MERRY CHRISTMAS! MERRY CHRISTMAS!" I nearly fell off my chair.
They are also FUNNY.
It seems like I should have at least one bit of touristy information, but my focus this weekend was on shopping. Korean fashion, dude. It's WONDERFUL.
Seoul, I'll be back for more.
Min is the owner. Lara is the manager. Welcoming, accommodating, kind. When in Seoul, stay at the grape garden house.
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