Went on quite a journey to reach a sushi buffet in Sinchon that ended up being closed. :(
So then I just searched for sushi buffet near Sinchon and a I found a blog that brought us to a Sushi-O in Hondgae.
I hadn't eaten anything all day in preparation for this so at 8pm I inhaled sushi. It was a beautiful time.
For the next hour afterwards however it was rather painful as my intestines strained in protest at my lack of self control.
But this experience made me realize that I really should make a blog post just about good places to go and eat around Seoul with screenshots of map locations.
So stay tuned! As soon as I get some free time I'll try to make a list of some of my favorite ones.
**Regret: If I could go back in time and start over I would have placed a 'star' next to every location I ate at with Google Maps.
 |
| I ate about a million of these rolls YUM YUM |
This was really cool and surprisingly hilarious. It's a show where people dance and make awesome musical beats with cooking tools.
I never knew cooking could be so much fun. Really tempted to do some insane cabbage chopping after it.
KUISC (the program I'm in Korea with) paid for the tickets which average about $50USD. The show is definitely worth $50 though, something truly novel and unique but thoroughly entertaining. I had tears welling up in the corners of my eyes from laughing so much.
 |
| Top of Seoraksan |
Sat on a 2.5 hour bus ride that was really 5 hours -__- to get to Seoraksan, which is a stunning mountain/temple hike.
We went to the town of Sochko, arriving far later than initially anticipated. Ended up starting our summit around 3pm and finishing around 7pm.
We hoped to get 2-3 hikes in that day, so it was unfortunate we only did one, but that one was worth the journey there.
Unable to find even remotely affordable housing we opted to spend the night in a jimjinbang (Korean bathhouse) and while I'm not sure if I would choose to do it again (it was way too crowded and very difficult to fall asleep) I'm really glad we did do it! Truly a cultural experience and an awesome view into the differences between collectivist cultures like Korea and individualistic ones like the US.
The whole concept of the jimjinbang is something that just wouldn't fly in the States.
It's a bunch of people (separated by gender) washing themselves and in steam rooms and saunas, totally naked. I saw women massaging each other (in a completely non-sexual way) and overall embracing the mutualism and cohesiveness of female communities.
Later everyone gathers at night and sleeps in a shared room where men and women can be together (clothed of course - they provide everyone with a t-shirt and shorts).
You can buy food and drinks and just spend time chilling there with friends and family.
 |
| Most delicious bimbimbop I've had in Korea! And very ironically it was in a Food Court at E-Mart |
 |
| Holy moly...this guy is carrying that massive pack all the way up the mountain. Seriously insane. |
 |
| Jimjinbang hat |
I feel like a lot of people who did this are locals and so they probably have homes to sleep in, but they choose this experience and choose to sleep in this massive collective room just for the experience of being with lots of people they care about at the same time.
This also makes sense since most Korean homes, especially in the cities, are really small so having sleepovers with friends or even inviting another family over for a day is just physically not possible. In general I feel like Koreans don't do a lot of things at other people's homes and instead they go out and visit a noribang (karaoke) or dvd-bang (like karaoke, but you just watch DVD's with friends).
 |
| Kings of the North, East, South and West that guard the temples |
After last night's jimjinbang we didn't really feel like going to the hot springs, so we just head home early to study and prepare for final exams.
 |
| RAIINNNN |
 |
| Casual Christmas Tree in the shared room |
No comments:
Post a Comment