Apologies for the delay in getting this posted, I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed with the sheer volume of how much I intend to accomplish, and the daily updates, especially when life is often monotonous, seem a bit much. I’ll be trying a schedule of every other day from now on.
Monday morning, I woke up early as usual and had a coffee in the hostel lobby while doing a bit of studying. However, after about an hour, I just couldn’t put up with the environment anymore, and tracked down a bakery chain (Paris Baguette) for a more comfortable seat to do a bit of studying and work. Towards midday, I swung by the hostel to change up my backpack contents then hopped on the subway to go to Inwangsan, a small mountain in the city that looked really cool from the Namsan view the other day. I was pretty starving when I got off the subway, and though I was expecting a variety of restaurants, I could only find a gimbap place, which was fine, just not what I was in the mood for.
As I was eating, I recalled that there was a worthwhile museum across the street (Seoul Prison Museum), and delighted in the serendipity of my half-baked planning until I remembered it was Monday, the day museums are closed. Oh well. I headed up a 20% grade to reach the Inwangsan temple, which didn’t have anything worth commenting on, and continued up on a path to try to reach the top of the mountain. There were some spectacular views, marred only by the pollution (I actually busted out my face mask today). At one particularly scenic spot, I bumped into a South African who asked if I could help him take a picture. 200 photos later, I was able to snap my own selfie and continue on.
The path to the top of the mountain follows an ancient (but restored) city wall. However, apparently, the mountain is also closed on Mondays, so I couldn’t go all the way up. I followed the wall down until I hit street level, at which point I was only a couple of blocks from Seoul’s train station. I swung by to pick up a train ticket (which will be accounted for on Wednesday). There was a long line for the ticket window, so I tried a machine. Although there was only one person at each of the cash accepting machines, I still had to wait about 10 minutes, because none of them could figure out how to work it. The user interface, available in Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and English was extremely intuitive. I didn’t get it. I misread the price of the train tickets and ended up getting a handful of coins as change.
I hopped a bus back to Itaewon and hung out at a coffee shop for about hour charging my phone, while doing a bit of studying on Lingodeer. I wanted to go back to that bar (Magpies) to try the other craft beers, only to find they close on the last Monday of every month. This was starting to get ridiculous.
I stopped into a Mexican restaurant I had been regularly passing to give it a try, ordering enchiladas. Oh god, it was so bad. Exactly like the “Mexican” food you’d get at a student bar in China, only four times the price. Its what you’d expect from someone recreating Mexican cuisine by only seeing a picture online never trying the real food. I still wanted a beer and was planning to meet someone at 9, so I had tons of time to kill. I decided to go to my backup plan, a Brewdog brewery, which was also closed for some reason. Checking other bars online, I went to one (Craft Hans) that looked like it had reasonable prices, only to discover that is because they serve their beer in tiny glasses. I nursed that beer for a long time, but eventually wanted to change locations.
I popped into a place called “Fat Alberts” which was full of old expats, and pulled up a seat at the bar. I went for a dark beer, which apparently comes served with a cinnamon sugar frosted rim (okay….). I got to talking to a couple of old guys next to me at the bar, and timed my beer for when I needed to go to the subway station.
Meeting up Soo, her favorite and second favorite cafes were both closed. We eventually found one, but were kicked out after about half an hour because they were also closing. So that was it for the night.
There was a small break in the pollution in the morning, so after a cup of coffee I went for a longish run around Dragon Hill and along the river. Back in the hostel, cleaned up, rested and did some research on good places to eat. I trekked all the way back to Ikseondong to try a little hole in the wall recommended by the online expat mag. It took a little while to find, but was totally worth, even the boss’s repeated attempts to get me to go away. It was definitely the best price/quality ratio of anything I have eaten in Korea so far.
I went over to Insadong, a touristy arts/culture street, to find a little cafe to while away the afternoon. Despite having visited as a tourist on each of my previous trips to Seoul, I explored the area more than I had ever done before, but didn’t find anything other than a Starbucks. I whipped out my phone to look up cafes, and found a popular one just outside Insadong. I was about to order an americano as usual, but Cafe Themselves offers a daily drip coffee (from their self-roasted selections). I spent the afternoon studying and writing, and even laying my head down for a cat nap.
Just before rush hour, I walked back to the bus stop. While waiting at a crosswalk, some rando tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was interested in a cultural exchange. Nope, don’t have time. I was determined to get back to Itaewon and have some freaking craft beer.
On the bus ride, I was texting the person who bailed on the date from Saturday. I casually mentioned that I was leaving Seoul the next day and going to have some beers tonight. She asked if she could join, so I sent her the address. The bar was open and empty, which makes sense for 6pm on a Tuesday night. The IPA and Porter were both amazing, and when I ordered a Kolsch, I also got a grilled cheese sandwich (the only food available at the bar, as opposed to the basement location next door) because I was getting a bit tipsy. I had watched a guy making one earlier, and it smelled amazing, though when I ordered one it was far less impressive.
Though the bar was starting to get interesting, I didn’t want to get completely wasted, so I took off to get some more food in me. I popped into the convenience store near the guesthouse, hoping for a salad or something, but settled on a “mac and cheese” ramen and a small package of kimchi. I went up to the guesthouse to eat and hang out. I texted the person asking “where are you?” “At home eating a steak” “You’re having a steak and didn’t invite me?” No answer until the next day. C’est la vie.
| Coffee and pastry | 5800 |
| Gimbap (x2) | 6000 |
| Coffee | 4000 |
| “Enchilada” | 10000 |
| Weizen (half pint) | 3800 |
| Dark beer | 6000 |
| Coffee | 9500 |
| Subtotal: | 45100 W |
| Kimchi stew | 4000 |
| Drip coffee | 3800 |
| Beers (x3) & Grilled Cheese | 24000 |
| Ramen & kimchi (GS25) | 2500* |
| Subtotal: | 34300 W |
| Total: | 79400 W (480 RMB) (USD 71.75) |
Running Total: 7638 RMB (USD 1140)
Daily Average: 254.6 RMB (USD 38)
*That’s an estimate, no receipt or notes to jog my memory