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| The Seoul Gang |
Last weekend I took my first big trip in Korea. That's right, I hopped on the Seoul train...literally. We rode Korea's high speed train, the KTX, up to Seoul for a long weekend to celebrate Buddhas Birthday and indulge in Korea's finest Mexican cuisine, Taco Bell. I was so excited for my first trip out of Busan and anxious to visit the nation's capitol, but when all was said and done, I was happy to be coming home.
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| So happy to have found IPA's |
In a cab on our first night in the city we were trying to get a little perspective on the size of Seoul. First of all, the population of the city is a little over 10 million people! That's more then triple the amount of people in L.A. and at least 2 million more people then there are in NYC. Actually, now that I'm looking up the numbers, if you combined the populations of NYC and LA then that's a more accurate portrayal of Seoul's population. But the real kicker is when you look at the actual square mileage of the city. Seoul is only about 233 sq. miles. Again, to put this in perspective, that about half the size of NYC, at 468 sq. miles, and less then half the size of L.A., at 500 sq. miles. That's crazy! Needless to say, the city felt a bit overwhelming.
We spent most of our time in a part of the city called Hongdae, probably because it felt the most familiar. We were introduced to a great bar, that was just a hole in the wall and played amazing American oldies and throwbacks. This is where we spent most of Friday and Saturday night dancing the night away. And to Seoul's credit, we found great food and shopping. Along with Taco Bell, we got our forever 21 shopping fix for at least a couple months and found great little shops and boutiques through out the weekend. Sunday we had an amazing western breakfast complete with eggs benedict, ham and brie stuffed and french toast and cappuccino that was actually made the way it should be, not instant. And on Monday for brunch I went big with an Aloha burger; a burger topped with red onion, pineapple and guacamole, yummm. We also made an attempt at getting some culture and went to visit the oldest and biggest palace in the country.
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| Gyeougbok Palace |
On the downside however, we got seriously ripped off by cab drivers. It was clear we didn't know the city and for that we definitely got taken advantage of. Also, because Seoul is so much bigger then Busan, even taking the subway gets time consuming. When we went to forever 21 we saw that it was only 4 subway stops away with 1 transfer to another line...sounds like it should be a quick trip. Wrong. It took us at least 30 minutes because of how big the stations were. We actually spent more time walking in and in between the stations then on the actual subway. But what was really the biggest drawback for Seoul was the lack of general camaraderie we seem to have with other foreigners in Busan. There were so many people there and so many foreigners, it just felt like a little to much. Fun to visit but not sure how I would like living there.
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| Breaking in Sir Chafs A Lot |
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| Haeundae Sand Festival |
This past weekend we were happy to back in good old Busan where we spent most of our time on the beach, shocking I know. We visited Haeundae on Saturday for the Sand Festival and headed to our favorite spot on Gwangalli for a Queen's Jubilee Party yesterday. The day was complete was sun, sand, tons of great food and the newest addition to our beach days, the S.S. Sir Chafs A Lot- An enormous raft with a built in cooler. Great for floating in the water or just using as a couch on the beach!
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| Busan Summer Livin' |
We spent most of our time in a part of the city called Hongdae, probably because it felt the most familiar. We were introduced to a great bar, that was just a hole in the wall and played amazing American oldies and throwbacks. This is where we spent most of Friday and Saturday night dancing the night away. And to Seoul's credit, we found great food and shopping. Along with Taco Bell, we got our forever 21 shopping fix for at least a couple months and found great little shops and boutiques through out the weekend. Sunday we had an amazing western breakfast complete with eggs benedict, ham and brie stuffed and french toast and cappuccino that was actually made the way it should be, not instant. And on Monday for brunch I went big with an Aloha burger; a burger topped with red onion, pineapple and guacamole, yummm. We also made an attempt at getting some culture and went to visit the oldest and biggest palace in the country.
