I’m under no illusions that keeping my daily travel journal online is an exercise in vanity, but its a habit I’ve practiced for almost all of my travels in the past twelve years. It’s hard to keep up and the last few days of any given trip are usually blank pages just listing expenses. Given that no one (myself included) would ever read those journals, I was free to write honestly about my experiences both good and bad. Although this site will likely have as many readers as my doctoral dissertation, it is nevertheless public and I find myself worried about giving the impression of a dissolute lifestyle. Between studying, exercising, and writing, I don’t have much time to get into any trouble, but there is eventually going to be moments that I have to choose whether I want to tactfully elide them or elevate them into a thesis on the human condition.
I was like a zombie for most of the day, and repeated attempts to take cat naps were all unsuccessful. Caffeine didn’t help much either. Nonetheless I was onboard to go a dance club that night with a few people from the hostel. Hongdae apparently has a reputation for a good and cheap nightlife (per a US service member whose eyes drifted off into the horizon as he reverentially repeated “I love Hongdae” when it came up in conversation), and I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to see how clubs work in Korea.
This particular club (at least) lets Koreans in for free and charges a 10,000 W cover for foreigners (passports required). However, we do get two coupons worth 6,000 W each — the price of a standard drink at the bar. It was smoky and dark, but I didn’t go deaf. The music was a nice mix of American and Korean hip-hop, and being a Monday night and relatively early, there was plenty of space on the dance floor. However, it was quite crowded by the time I left.
| Americano | 3500 |
| Soju + Energy drink | 2350 |
| Cover | 10000 |
| Coat check | 3000 |
| Drinks | 19000 |
| Total: | 37850 (229 RMB) (USD 33.8) |
Running Total: 5662 RMB
(USD 836.27)
Daily Average: 257 RMB
(USD 38.01)
By the way, I did have breakfast, lunch, and dinner; just at the hostel with stuff I had purchased the other day.