I went to Seoul this past weekend with Matt and Nate. We actually went two weeks ago to meet up with Katie and Jen, but we got there later in the evening, so we didn't get a chance to really see the city. This time we planned to see the city.

Nate and I waited for Matt for about an hour at Myeon-dong exit. When you exit the subway, you can take a left or a right. We took a right, and apparently Matt took a left. So, we were on opposite ends of the exits waiting.

There was some "Save the Earth" event happening on our exit. Some Korean celebrities showed up. All the Korean teenage girls were going crazy. The band wasn't very good, but it's not like I expected anything spectacular. Once Matt showed up, we wandered a bit and then grabbed some barbecue.

In Korea they have these excellent self-barbecue restaurants. You order the meat, they bring out some coals and a rack for you to barbecue on, and then you get a shitload of side-dishes. Rice normally doesn't come with the meal, which really surprises me, judging I'm in Aisa, but it's not expensive. If you come to Korea, you'll become a kimchi aficionado - believe me, you will. It's really good, though.

After eating, we checked out the shopping district. There was a swarm of youth/college-aged people shopping and walking about. We stopped at this MLB store. Everyone was going crazy about MLB hats. I've never seen so many people try on baseball caps. I thought about buying one, but decided it be better to wait until payday.

We attempted to track to Seoul tower, but ended up stopping for a taxi because of the long walk. You can choose to climb steps to the tower or take a trolley. If you're thinking about entering in the future Olympics, I'd suggest the steps, otherwise, the trolley will do.

Once you're at the top, there's a bunch of areas to look out over Seoul, or you can actually go into the tower. There's a small fee to use the elevators inside, but it's worth it. Once inside, you get an amazing panoramic view of Seoul. The view during the day or nighttime is wonderful. The walls in the viewing section have names of different cities, with their respective distances beside them, written all over.

After spending an hour or two in the tower, we walked down to Seoul and took a taxi to Hongdae. Hongdae is one of the meccas in Seoul for being social. We ended up drinking at the Ho Bar, which has no negative connotations in Korean. It was a little expensive, but ended up being fun. We ended up drinking beer and taking shots of Jack, which led to me walking up to random girls and attempting to make conversation, which paid off. We met a couple groups of Korean girls, but one group ended up passing out at the table, so we ended up talking to these two girls that work for Korean Air. They actually spoke decent English, so the conversation went well. But, I actually enjoy the language gap when I'm drunk, or sober even.

Matt got one of the girls' business cards and then we headed off. We almost took a taxi back to Matt's, but decided last minute to find a motel. Our taxi driver found one pretty quick. The motel was ok, about $10 a person, but we all slept on a queen sized bed, and I didn't have a pillow - which was ridiculous. Nate kicked me a couple times in the morning because I was snoring.

In the morning we watched some Korean tv. Channel 2 had soft porn, which was interesting. We didn't really watch anything else, because the TV shows were kind of goofy. Though, they do show CSI like 24/7 here, but I don't particularly like CSI, and I don't have a TV in my apartment, so it doesn't matter.

After that we grabbed lunch and headed home.

It's late, so I'll post some photos tomorrow.