Buddha's Day of Birth..means we take Seoul by storm!

Last Monday, we all had off for Buddha's Birthday.. and that meant a 3-day weekend in Seoul! Three days to forget about being a teacher, and live out our 20's. We fit 12 people into Joe and Alex's gorgeous apartment in Itaewon... and made it work. Of course it was a plus that they really do have a magnificent apartment with a huge living room, 2 couches, and 2 bedrooms. On Friday we ventured to a new rooftop bar in downtown Itaewon, right above Sam Ryans. We stayed there for most of the night and then wandered down to Homo Hill. Being in Korea is sometimes like a time warp back to the 50's in terms of racism and closed-minds. So being around so many outwardly gay Koreans was great! It's really one of the few places they have to be open and honest about who they are.

Me and Haelim

Delicious brunch at The Flying Pan

Rooftop bar

Me and Alex (1 of 2 of the most fabulous hosts)

Me and Ariel

On board the Taxi-limo

On Saturday morning we ate at The Flying Pan. It's a small western-style brunch restaurant, tucked away down these stairs. Thanks to Joe and Alex, we  probably would have passed right by it. I got a pesto chicken sandwich with sweet potato soup. Their food was absolutely amazing and we were all talking about it all weekend. The best part- their menu was a legit newspaper. Very creative. Later on we left for World DJ Music Festival in Yangpyeong, Narukke Park. We had bought these tickets a while ago, so the anticipation had been rising for this day. Personally, I'm not into DJ Music or techno at all, but the environment was more of what I wanted to get out of it. We had bought day passes, but our little rooftop bar kept us from it until about 8pm. Our friend, Damien, was able to pull some strings and get us taxi limos instead of taking the subway 2 hours. Now I was expecting actual limos, because that's what comes to mind when I think limo.. haha no way. They were basically just oversized taxi vans. However, they came fully equipped with tv's where we watched K-Pop music videos the entire ride. When we finally arrived, it was quite a scene. Food and drink tents everywhere, silent disco, the main DJ fest stage, and a 3rd concert going on in another tent. Dayna and I bought the wrong kind of chicken and almost went into some kind of heat shock because the spice level was out of CONTROL. I think she agrees it was an experience we never want to repeat. Of course we started our own dance party near the food and drink tents, before going into the actual concert. I think some of those Koreans were quite scared from our moves. bahaha. The concert itself was insane. Those Koreans loveeee their DJ Music. And LOVE to watch all the foreigners crowd surf and to not grasp the importance of catching us. Once most of our eyes were shutting on their own, and we were speaking in circles... we left for the subway. This was around 5:30am. Now, the subways don't re-open until 6:30am, so as we followed the mass of determined concert-goers back to the train, we ended up walking onto a platform with a floor made of people. The sight was just hysterical. SO for about a half an hour, we either stared out into a distance or started our sleep cycle on the platform until we heard the train. Here was where Simon and Marc got to the front and made sure we all got seats, since the mass amount of people were now like a herd of cows waiting to get onto this 2-hour train ride. Kind sirs. I'm pretty sure every car was like ours. Packed in like sardines. Every seat taken, Every corner stood in. Every square foot of the floor had people sitting, sprawled out, one eye-open trying to hold on to the handles. The best part- the ahjussis (elderly Korean men) shoving their way onto the train at around 7:30/8am all ready to start their day.. and their faces quickly turning confused at the sight of this. Let's just say when we finally got back to the apartment, we had a GREAT morning/afternoon sleep.

Me and Dan with our buckets

On Sunday, we had an easy-going day to say the least. Ariel, Marc, Simon, and I went for Thai.. which was AMAZING. I've got to say, Itaewon is known for being dirty and filled with foreigners, but the restaurants are out of this world, and so many options. So it's definitely the place to go when you're craving some good western or international food. We ran into a few EPIK friends that day which was great but not really surprising since Itaewon and Hongdae are where most of us wind up being while in Seoul. We went to Sam Ryans that night where my friend Adam showed up from Canada. He flew in that morning for a 3-week vacation in Korea. I went to New Zealand with him, and hadn't seen him in three years, so that was a great reunion.

Rooftop with Dayna and Dan

New friends.. thanks to Adam

Adam.. 3 years later!!

Its hard not to make friends with Koreans at clubs when they have the coolest moves IN the place

Ran into Warren, Kate, and Glen

Lazy Sunday

On Monday, Dayna and I had a lovely lunch at Buddha's Belly, a popular Thai/Indian restaurant in Itaewon and finally, in increments, the nine of us went our separate ways home, back to reality.

One thing about this weekend: I finally can say I feel very comfortable traveling around Seoul. The first time we went, as I wrote in a past post, we arrived late at night, it was raining, and the subway was completely different than NYC's so it was stressful to say the least. But now, I see the ease in it, and know my way around Itaewon pretty well, so that's very helpful since that's where we end up most nights. However I'm excited to explore Insadong again with my mom and Dennis. That will be a whole new experience in itself. I was only there once, and it was for a very short time.

I think we all needed this weekend in some way or another. Thank you Buddha for this wonderful opportunity to celebrate being young and forget about my cares for three days.