Seoul, DMZ and everything in between ~ coucoukorea

May 28th is Buddha's birthday and therefore a holiday here in Korea. So nine of us decided to make the best of this long weekend (a rare opportunity) and head to Seoul. A good or bad idea, depending on the way you look at it.

The ride was ripe with Energizer Bunny moments interspersed with comatose ones for me. Yay for parties in my head!

We left Ulsan early Saturday morning for a two-hour KTX (fast train) to Seoul where we got acquainted with our hostel and then chilled out in Myeongdong shopping for "hunting" clothes (i.e. party clothes). If you know me then you will know that I loathe shopping. I tend to go all-out once a season (once a year if I can), not really because I hate clothes or fashion but rather because I hate being accosted by salesladies trying to flatter me into buying whatever doesn't even look good on me. I like clothes. I think I have an okay eye for fashion. I just don't like shopping for myself.

I mean look, I picked this outfit in less than an hour.

We were at H&M in Myeongdong for over an hour hunting for clothes for my friend Corey who my other friend Dana proclaimed hopeless in the clothes department. Dark clothing in the summer?! Are you nuts. Now he has a nice, colourful summer wardrobe. Good job to Dana and I.

That night we dressed up in our hunting clothes and headed out to Namsan Tower where... uh... Frankly, don't go there. It's an effing tourist trap. We ended up waiting two hours for the cable car and when we finally got up there we would have had to wait another two hours for the lift up the tower. It's packed, there isn't much to do or see, and yeah, don't go there. The holography show on the tower was pretty neat but apart from that there isn't much to see or do.

We still made the most of it.

We got down from the cable car at around 9pm so... time for food! We headed out to... Hongdae I believe, for chicken. Dana and I had eaten at this chain before in Ilsan so it was familiar ground. Good stuff, bit spicy which isn't my forte, but good stuff regardless.

One of us even fell asleep sitting in the restaurant...

It was an "early" night (for our gang, anyway; we tend to stay up quite early) for us as we decided to go back to our hostel and get a good night's sleep before our DMZ tour the next day.

Yes, mom. I did the DMZ tour. I went that close to North Korea.

Still alive.

Bussin' it north.

The DMZ tour on Sunday is sort of a blur, but I do remember the Freedom Bridge and the North Korean tunnel (of which I have no pictures... all belongings go into lockers) in which I must have bumped my head six times if not more. Thank goodness for protective helmets.

War monument, I think.

Hope ribbons on the path next to the Freedom Bridge. Some South Koreans have family in the North that they have not seen since the war.

End of the South Korean side of the Freedom Bridge. Prisoners of War on each side were allowed to cross to the other side at the end of the war, never to cross back again.

Freedom Bridge behind Dana and I.

South Korean soldiers next to the Dorasan Station. And part of the Alice gang.

Dorasan Station was an attempt from the South under the Liberal party to reunify the two Koreas under the Sunshine Policy.

Dorasan Station: not the last station from the South, but the first station toward the North.

OMG WE'RE HERE!

On a side note, it'll be interesting to see whether this short-lived station will live again in the near future.

After the DMZ tour, we ended up back home at the hostel and chilled for a while before getting ready for a night of "hunting". Some of us took longer than others, and all that. Not me though. I'm a quick fix ;)

Obligatory crazy poses.

We ended up in Itaewon for a bit to grab a bite (mmm pies) and then head to a bar next door and then to a reggae place from which we decamped when a fight between two patrons seemed imminent.

Bar next-door. We have strawberry and lemon soju. Lemon soju sucks.

Reggae bar.

We tried a local nightclub that seemed pretty nifty but a bodyguard told us to run along because of Alex's (other Alex) cast. Some of us think it's because we were the only white people in line but I'm being positive here and thinking that maybe they were only protecting their asses in case Alex got hurt and decided to sue them.

No photos of the S-Club where we ended up staying until nearly 3am :( Too busy dancing on stage. Others too busy to dance to take pictures.

Waiting for the tour bus the next morning to take us around Seoul.

I'll cut short on the city tour photos because they're not that great, but here are some National Folk Museum photos from the next day (not inside because taking photos is not allowed):