Vacation Day #1

It is 4:00 on a lazy Saturday afternoon, and we are lounging around the apartment resting after a long and exciting adventure to Seoul and Busan. We had the week off from teaching for a brief summer vacation. Originally we had hoped to explore South-East Asia; unfortunately the flights were either full or too pricey because of the busy travel season. Instead we used our week off as an opportunity to explore Korea.

Our plan was to go up to Seoul, spend a few days in the city and then travel out east to some of the beautiful mountains of Seoraksan National Park. A few days before our departure Seoul was hit with heavy rain and flooding causing much damage and destruction. The heavy rain looked like it was dying down, so we decided to continue with our adventure to Seoul. However, a week in the mountains with pouring rain did not seem like our ideal vacation, so we decided to spend our second half of our vacation on the beaches of Busan instead, located at the southern tip of the peninsula.

So on Saturday afternoon we jumped north on the bus and we were headed to Seoul.

4 hours later we arrived at the Seoul Express Bus Station. Our plan was to catch the LG Twins baseball game and we had 40 minutes till the opening pitch. After looking at a few subway maps and asking for some assistance we found ourselves standing outside the ballpark. The game had just started and was sold out (with the exception of some standing room only tickets) so we paid a little too much for some scalped tickets and hurried into the ballpark.

A Korean baseball game is quite the experience. We got to our seats and were overwhelmed by the chanting and cheering. All the fans had their noisemakers out and were chanting songs and cheers, which were being lead by the two main cheerleaders on the stage in the crowd. Yes a stage in the crowd for the two men leading the cheers. The best cheer by far was for one of the Twins players whose name was sung to the tune of “Dancing Queen”. A few innings into the game we got ourselves some noise makers and joined in with the chants and cheering. With the intensity of the cheering and everyone on their feet, it felt as though we were at an international soccer match, it was a much different feel to a Minnesota Twins game at home.

After a Twins victory against the first place Samsung Lions (Daegu’s Baseball team) we left the ballpark with all of our bags and looked for a place where we could spend the night. It seemed as though all the hostels were completely booked and that it would have been a smart idea to book a place a little more in advance, but after many calls, we were on our way to the North-West side of Seoul in Hongdae where we found a reasonably priced hostel for the next two nights.

Hongik University is located in the area of Seoul known as Hongdae, Hongik University is a private school known for their fine arts. Local University Students flooded the streets, bars and restaurants each night at all hours of the night. Hongdae is known for having the best music scene in Seoul or in Korea for that matter, local bands frequently make appearances at the bars in Hongdae.

But after a long day of traveling and an exciting baseball game we were not ready to go out and experience the nightlife instead we were ready for some food and sleep. So we grabbed a bite to eat and some Makgeolli (rice wine) to drink and called it a night at the Grape Garden Guest House, while the rest of Hongdae was out in the many clubs till the early hours of the morning.

-Kyle