Short Trip

This weekend, I ventured to Seoul. Seoul is about 3 hours away by bus (although it only took 2 hours on the way there - fast!). Usually, David and I would go on a Saturday morning, but we decided to head there after work on the Friday. I didn't drive, I didn't see the point. Driving in the capital is a tad crazy. We were in a taxi; stuck in traffic. This black car decided to zig zag through traffic at a ridiculous speed. I'm surprised he didn't cause an accident. 

Our venture to Seoul was only because of the rugby. Korea were playing Japan in the Asia Rugby Championships. I think it was the first game of the championships. The Korean team aren't too great. Japan however are improving, they did pretty well in the Rugby World Cup. I don't know much about rugby though.

One of the worst things in Korea are the hotels; it's a hit or a miss. I usually book on bookings.com, some places are great whilst others (the majority) are awful. They tend to advertise things that they don't have. I've found that hotels which cost less than 50,000W are pretty bad. 

However, I found a hotel in Dongdaemun for 45,000 and it was actually pretty decent. It was modern, clean and simple. The room had a card key, which is a godsend. Mostly because old Korean hotels have big bulky keys, and it's horrible having to carry it around. The room was also nice and cool, compared to other ones we have stayed in which have been way too hot. Most Koreans hate the cold, so like to crank their heat up. 

On game day, we had to travel to the other part of the city. It was FAR. About 1 hour 30 minutes by metro. Luckily, it was only one line. We got a taxi to the Incheon Asiad Stadium. The taxi took 45 minutes to get there due to traffic. For some reason, there are no metro lines near by - only the airport express. Guess what happened? We were at the wrong stadium. Typical. With 15 minutes left until kick off, we had to get another taxi to the Incheon Asiad Rugby Stadium. Yeah, similar names, and I'm pretty sure the website said the first one!

We missed the game by 15 minutes. By the time we got there, the score was already KOR 12 Japan 30+! Anyways, the stadium wasn't packed. There were a fair few fans, but many empty seats. Korea ended up losing to Japan, 29-47.

The usual happened after the game. David and I traveled back into the main part of the city (it took forever!). We did some light shopping and I bought a Go Pro Hero 5. I'm super excited to learn how to use it! It beats having to use my iPhone. I am now extremely skint. Oops, but hey ho, I wanted one, and I now have one.  I just need to learn how to make decent, non-shaky videos! 

We were supposed to head back to Gangneung that evening, but decided to book a cheap hotel and stay the night. The hotel was in Hoehyeon, so pretty central, but it was awful. We stayed in it before, and didn't want to go back but, it was the cheapest at 30,000 and wasn't a hostel. 

Sadly, the beds were dirty, they didn't change the sheets or hoover the floor. Yuk.

That evening, we ate in Itaewon. There were so many restaurants, so we chose an Indian. It was good, especially when we haven't had a curry in such a long time.
I have a love/hate relationship with Itaewon though. On one hand, I love the food and restaurants but on the other hand, I hate the waegooks and the crazy people. Waegooks are foreigners. 

Itaewon has many pubs and clubs. So, drunken folk who are loud and rowdy. This one guy thought he was the king, standing in the middle of the road; giving the finger to all the cars driving by and blocking them. Seriously, why? 

Others were loud and crazy, one guy was bragging about how he had a girl go down on him for 2 hours. Obviously, it was bull. No girl would do it for 2 hours. The guys he was bragging to looked like they didn't believe him either. 

Taxis are also ridiculous in Itaewon. No one will take you! The ones which do take you state a price before the ride. even if the ride is 4,000W they will ask for triple. They also don't switch their meters on either. It's a joke, and I don't know how they get away with it.

The best time to enjoy Itawon is during the day, away from the drunken folk, and with a running metro! 

The Sunday was a quiet one. We ventured around City Hall and decided to go see Deoksugung Palace. We were lucky because the changing of the guard occurred when we got there. After, it was a 3 hour bus ride home, back to Gangneung. 

It was a pretty nice weekend, with a lot of taxis and subways. My next trip back to Seoul will be next month for the Korea, Hong Kong game. 

Kelly