Sunday, June 9, 2013

I left a piece of my soul in Seoul (Part 2)

We went a little crazy picking hotels / backpackers for our 10 nights, and ended up staying at 5 different places altogether. Madness it was, packing and unpacking, dragging our heavyweight luggage through snow. But twas fun getting to stay / check out different rooms each night! 

Entrance of Banana Backpackers. The receptionists were mainly university students, and they are so hospitable! That's the 'tourists' wall right there above the brochures. They'll keep one of the polaroid and let their guests keep one for memories. I have mine slot between the pages in my moleskin. :p 

On our last night, we stayed in Studio 41st Hostel. It's located walking distance from Hongdae (filled with young adults / uni students). The room has an inbuilt kitchen and washing machine. How cool is that. 

The common area! We had our complimentary breakfast here.

The guys at Studio 41st recommended us to this cozy barbeque shop, manned by a middle age Korean dude. Very popular with the locals but definitely not catered for tourists. The only menu in sight is the ones stuck on the wall with Korean writings. Haha, we had trouble ordering what we wanted, so we nodded at whatever the shop owner said, and hoped for the best. 

TADAA! Glorious barbequed meat!! He gave us a hearty portion, and taught us how to barbeque the kimchi together with the meat (my first time seeing people barbecuing kimchi). We were also served side condiments and a delicious tasting soup. 

Noryangjin fish market is not heated, and visiting it on a winter night is not a bright idea although it opens 24 hours a day. Our main mission -- to gulp down some live octopus.

Bought a baby octopus from a random shop we passed, had it chopped at a dodgy eatery behind the market, and tried our fresh octopus sashimi (a.k.a. Sannakji)! 

Omg it was still squirming when we place it in our mouth. As disgusting as it may sound, it tasted very very awesome, like how fresh sashimi should taste! Won't do it again though, too cruel an act. 

Hongdae on a weekday night. Pretty quiet, at midnight. We wanted to try Charlie Brown cafe or Bau House Cafe (where dogs are allowed), but woke up too late on our last day in Seoul. Meh.

Freshly steamed red bean poppers on Insadong street!

Korean inspired boyfriend. :p

Wined and dined to usher in the New Years. Had Western for a change, wine instead of Soju. (:

So Koreans don't celebrate countdowns the conventional way. From what we interpreted from the locals, Koreans usually go outstation for countdown, like Jeju. Man, so there were no fancy fireworks to be found, only a crowd at Bosingak Bell, with some performances on stage.

Half tipsy, we stumbled into Yogane Dakgalbi, which in my opinion, has the best Dak-galbi ever!

AH LOOK CRAVING FOR SOME RIGHT NOW.
omnomnom.

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