I was pretty wrecked on Friday morning, and passed most of the morning in a haze. After packing up my stuff in advance of checkout, I wandered over to a fancy brunch place a friend had recommended to me. Afterwards, I just hung out on the couch for a few hours vegging out to Matt Groening’s latest animated show. I had two nights at a guesthouse in Itaewon booked for the weekend before I head out of Seoul for the last time (this trip). As checkin isn’t until 3, I was in no rush to move and it wasn’t a problem for me to hang around.
Actually, that reminds me of a funny story from the previous day. A guest had overstayed his booking, refusing to get out of bed or checkout, instead arguing that the hostel staff were wrong about what day he checked in and what day it was. He argued a long time, despite constantly saying “I don’t want to argue.” The hostel staff merely pointed at the computer records: you checked in on this day and paid for X number of days, you need to check out. His retort simply “you are wrong,” with no provision of documentary evidence other than repeated assertions. They really should have called the police, especially as he always wore a baseball cap and face mask, making it impossible to see his face. But, the owner came by and sorted out some solution where he agreed to pay another night without admitting he was wrong.
Anyways, the guesthouse in Itaewon was way better than the previous one I stayed in. After dropping my stuff off and paying a key (!) deposit (!), I had a Starbucks, which failed to do me any good, and a big bowl of pho, which helped a little. I was inclined to take a power nap in the room, but my roommate came in and chatted with me a bit. Unable to secure any plans for the night, I eventually decided to head over to a gastropub owned by a friend of a friend. Planning to study a little Korean over a beer, that didn’t quite happen as when I plopped down at the bar, a guy working on his laptop turned to me and was like “oh, it’s you.” We chatted for a bit, talking mostly about board games, for some reason, and I made a point to leave early to catch up on sleep.
| Brunch | 18500 |
| SP Guesthouse (@ 2 nights) | 166 RMB |
| Starbucks | 4300 |
| Tet-tet Pho | 12000 |
| 2 craft beers @ California Kitchen | 19000 |
| Total: | 491.5 RMB (USD 73.2) |
With Saturday my last full day in Seoul, there was no way I wasn’t going to finally go hike some mountains. I didn’t get on the road until about 10am, and thought I had looked up a HomePlus supermarket right at the subway transfer point, but hadn’t looked close enough. It was an “express” version, which doesn’t sell the packaged salads (I have half a bottle of dressing, might as well eat healthy). Fortunately, there was one about 700 meters away, and the route took me through some very “traditional” markets selling used clothes and army surplus items. The next subway station over, where I got back on the road marked the area as a famous flea market in Seoul. It took so long to get to the mountain because every train I got on ended its run after a few stations and I had to wait for the next one.
Also, mid-morning, my prepaid data ran out. By my estimate, I had used maybe 800 megabytes, far less than the 1.5GB I had paid for. I guess I had gotten cheated. On the other hand, it was still a good deal (I paid less than 20 dollars for the equivalent of 120 dollars worth of data). I just wish I could figure out how to charge a bit more to last me this final week.
By the time I got to Dobongsan, the sky was gray and rain began drizzling down. It was sunny when I left, and I was so certain it would be warm, I only had a t-shirt on under my windbreaker. The weather didn’t seem to deter the swarms of hikers, so I carried on. After passing a hundred stalls selling all sorts of hiking gear, alcohol, and Korean snacks, I finally found the trail head and saw that it had stopped raining. However, within ten minutes of beginning the hike, it began snowing. As I climbed up, the snow got thicker and thicker, to the point where the main peak (a pitiful 726m) looked like I was in the Alps or Himalayas.
As soon as I started down the other side of the mountain, the sun broke through the clouds, but the wind picked up. I was certain I would get lost in the mountains because 95% of hikers return by the same route up, and the fresh snowfall made it hard to follow trail, which is also not very well marked with signs. There was a point where I caught up to a pair of Korean hikers, and kind of followed them for a while because they seemed to know the way. On the top of the third mountain over, I ran into a party of foreign college students posing for pictures. From there on, the trail was easy to follow, but it didn’t matter because they came down with me. We talked a bunch, and they stopped for photos a lot. It was annoying, and amplified by my lack of data coverage, because I was incommunicado and was supposed to meet someone for dinner.
I dozed on the train back into town and missed my stop because I needed to bid a farewell to the exchange students. I rushed, rushed, rushed back to the hostel, to shower, change, and charge, but it wasn’t necessary. That friend didn’t even reply to me until 7pm, suggesting a dinner at 8pm. I was so freaky hangry, but endured. With the sun down, it was as cold as on the mountain top. I walked the 20 minutes to the appointed restaurant, and spent close to 20 minutes waiting out in the cold. Needless to say, it was a strained dinner, but we cleared the air over coffee afterwards.
Back in the hostel, I was hydrating and thinking about skipping the Saturday night party scene, but got called out to meet another friend. Its so weird how crowded that one bar street gets, but the weirdest bit is the military police patrolling it. With an Army base a stone’s throw away and the propensity of trouble to follow alcohol, I get it. Nonetheless, it makes me uncomfortable. I guess it’s lucky I don’t look like a soldier. One of the guys I met on the hike had spent a couple hours in a (Korean) police station the previous night.
I went to a club — no cover charge, my driver’s license was accepted without question, and the hand stamp washed away easily — to rendezvous with my friend. So much for taking a night off of alcohol.
| Salad and snack (eMart) | 5180 |
| Tmoney top up | 11000 |
| Coffee for 2 | 10,000 |
| Long Island Ice Tea | 10,000 |
| Beers and Fries | 27,000 |
| Total: | 63180 (382.2 RMB) (USD 56.93) |
Running Total: 14355.3 RMB (USD 2138.25)
Daily Average: 261 RMB (USD 38.88)