What I did for Chuseok, Part 1
Wow, this is going to be one large post, but I will try and include all the details I can remember. As soon as I can figure out how to hook my new digital camera up to the computer, there will be new pictures for all to view! Here it goes:
Saturday:
I left my apartment at around 10:15am and met Liz at Suwon Station. I ran into one of my co-teachers at the Osan train station. She too was headed to Suwon. I met Liz in the atrium of the subway at noon. We were both hungry, so she had some hotdog wraps from a food cart, and I had Burger King! I love Burger King! Then we jumped on the Subway and headed to Hongik University Station (about an hour on the subway, 1 transfer). We were meeting Beth, Alicia, Nikki, and Sheila there at 2pm (this will be much better when I have the pictures to go along with it). We sat at the subway station for a while, waiting for everyone to get there.
From the subway station, we decided we were going to look for a place to eat. Having 2 vegetarians in the group, this made for an interesting ordeal. Not speaking any Korean, it was hard to find a Korean restaurant that we new had dishes without meat. So, we resorted to eating at Pizza Hut. The pizza was okay. They have different options than the Pizza Huts in America. One can order a pizza with sweet potatoes baked into the crust... interesting I know.
From pizza hut we determined we were going to check into our hotel. We were supposed to stay at a hotel withint 15 minutes walking of the Hongik University Subway stop. We found were the hotel was on the map and proceeded to try and find it. Well... streets in Korea don't really like to be names, and the Lonely Planet map we were using wasn't exactly the greatest. After about 30 minutes of wandering around, we decided to try and find a cab that would take us to the motel. Well, Seoul does have over 5,000 hotels, so no cab driver knew how to get us there. Eventually we gave up trying to find that hotel and just had the cab driver take us to Sinchon Subway Station, where there were apparently a ton of hotels (well...at least according to the Lonely Planet). We took a $2.50 cab ride to get to Sinchon Station. Looking at the map, 2 other foreigners came up to us and asked us if we need help. We told them we needed to find a hotel. They suggested we go to a different street near the subway stop that had quite a few hotels to choose from. Taking there suggestion, we found the street with the hotels. Not wanting to spend too much money, we looked in a few hotels to find prices and room sizes before we settled on the Prince Hotel at 50,000 Won for Saturday night and 40,000 Won for the rest of the week (1USD ~ 1120 Won). And that is the totals, we still had people to divide that among!
Finally having checked into a hotel, we rested for a while and tried to determine what we were going to do that night (which involves all of us looking through our guide books). I found an add for a Cruise down the Han River with live music. It left Yeouido Island (an island in Seoul) at 8:40pm and lasted for 1 1/2 hours... for only 10,000 won a person. We decided to check this out. Only 6 subway stops away from our hotel (Youinaru stop), we soon found ourselves on the shores of the Han River. It was magnificent. We bought our boat tickets and a couple of beers for the boat ride and were soon on the boat. The ride down the Han River was fantastic, especially with the sky lit up at night. After the boat ride, we decided to sit near the river and split a bottle of wine.
After the wine, we decided to head back to our hotel area (it was already 11pm, and the subway stops at 11:30pm). Feeling a little hungry, Beth, Alicia, Nikki, Liz, and myself decided to try and find food. We wandered around our hotel area and found a restaurant that was open until 5am, and had vegetarian choices. We ate puchimgae (Korean pizza...though not at all like American pizza), fried chicken (for us non-vegetarians) and a fruit plate. Plus 2 containers of "cocktail soju" (Korean vodka mixed with fruit punch). It was very good. Being exhausted from the day, we then went back to the hotel and crashed for the evening. I had the privilege of spending my first night sleeping on the floor, but it wasn't bad at all.
Well... that's all for tonight, it's late and I'm tired. I'll try to finish the rest tomorrow!
Saturday:
I left my apartment at around 10:15am and met Liz at Suwon Station. I ran into one of my co-teachers at the Osan train station. She too was headed to Suwon. I met Liz in the atrium of the subway at noon. We were both hungry, so she had some hotdog wraps from a food cart, and I had Burger King! I love Burger King! Then we jumped on the Subway and headed to Hongik University Station (about an hour on the subway, 1 transfer). We were meeting Beth, Alicia, Nikki, and Sheila there at 2pm (this will be much better when I have the pictures to go along with it). We sat at the subway station for a while, waiting for everyone to get there.
From the subway station, we decided we were going to look for a place to eat. Having 2 vegetarians in the group, this made for an interesting ordeal. Not speaking any Korean, it was hard to find a Korean restaurant that we new had dishes without meat. So, we resorted to eating at Pizza Hut. The pizza was okay. They have different options than the Pizza Huts in America. One can order a pizza with sweet potatoes baked into the crust... interesting I know.
From pizza hut we determined we were going to check into our hotel. We were supposed to stay at a hotel withint 15 minutes walking of the Hongik University Subway stop. We found were the hotel was on the map and proceeded to try and find it. Well... streets in Korea don't really like to be names, and the Lonely Planet map we were using wasn't exactly the greatest. After about 30 minutes of wandering around, we decided to try and find a cab that would take us to the motel. Well, Seoul does have over 5,000 hotels, so no cab driver knew how to get us there. Eventually we gave up trying to find that hotel and just had the cab driver take us to Sinchon Subway Station, where there were apparently a ton of hotels (well...at least according to the Lonely Planet). We took a $2.50 cab ride to get to Sinchon Station. Looking at the map, 2 other foreigners came up to us and asked us if we need help. We told them we needed to find a hotel. They suggested we go to a different street near the subway stop that had quite a few hotels to choose from. Taking there suggestion, we found the street with the hotels. Not wanting to spend too much money, we looked in a few hotels to find prices and room sizes before we settled on the Prince Hotel at 50,000 Won for Saturday night and 40,000 Won for the rest of the week (1USD ~ 1120 Won). And that is the totals, we still had people to divide that among!
Finally having checked into a hotel, we rested for a while and tried to determine what we were going to do that night (which involves all of us looking through our guide books). I found an add for a Cruise down the Han River with live music. It left Yeouido Island (an island in Seoul) at 8:40pm and lasted for 1 1/2 hours... for only 10,000 won a person. We decided to check this out. Only 6 subway stops away from our hotel (Youinaru stop), we soon found ourselves on the shores of the Han River. It was magnificent. We bought our boat tickets and a couple of beers for the boat ride and were soon on the boat. The ride down the Han River was fantastic, especially with the sky lit up at night. After the boat ride, we decided to sit near the river and split a bottle of wine.
After the wine, we decided to head back to our hotel area (it was already 11pm, and the subway stops at 11:30pm). Feeling a little hungry, Beth, Alicia, Nikki, Liz, and myself decided to try and find food. We wandered around our hotel area and found a restaurant that was open until 5am, and had vegetarian choices. We ate puchimgae (Korean pizza...though not at all like American pizza), fried chicken (for us non-vegetarians) and a fruit plate. Plus 2 containers of "cocktail soju" (Korean vodka mixed with fruit punch). It was very good. Being exhausted from the day, we then went back to the hotel and crashed for the evening. I had the privilege of spending my first night sleeping on the floor, but it wasn't bad at all.
Well... that's all for tonight, it's late and I'm tired. I'll try to finish the rest tomorrow!
posted by Elissa @ 10:47 PM
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