Korea Diary | Thursday Thrills (Day 33)
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Class field trip no. 2 brought us to Changdeokgung 창덕궁. Prior to visiting Seoul, I had no idea there were multiple palaces in the city. Imagine my surprise when I learned that there were 5 in total? Each one has something a little different to them so it wouldn't be extremely redundant to want to visit multiple ones. Changdeokgung in particular is known for it's Secret Garden. We didn't get to visit the garden space at the time since I think it required either a separate admission fee and/or reservations.
For lunch we ate at a place in Edae called Sodam Mandoo 소담만두. With dumplings in it's name, how could I not order something mandoo related? Plus you know me and my love for rice cakes! Mandoogook 만두국 was the perfect dish which combined both.
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Bestie C had a comedy/musical show called NANTA on her To-Do list. The story was suppose to revolve around a food theme while incorporating various sing-song and viewer participation elements.
After some of our friends came back with rave reviews, we had to book our own tickets as well. The show actually does a number of shows in various parts of Seoul: Hongdae, Myeongdong, and Chungjeongro 충정로.
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Despite already having already completed our night time activity, there was more planned for the night. I did say we were well settled into our routines didn't I?
To make the most of our time, we chose to eat nearby the theater before heading back to the dorms. I believe the place we grabbed dinner at was called Noodles Tree. It was conveniently located in (or was it near?) the NANTA Theater building. Bestie had the Hamburg Omurice 함박오므라이스 and I the Wang Donkatsu 왕돈까스. It was very hard to resist fried foods.
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Onward with the late late night plans! Drum roll, my first clubbing experience. It was actually the first time for a majority of the group of friends that I tagged along with.
Seoul is known for its nightlife, drinking, and clubbing culture. So why the heck not? If it was just Bestie and I, clubbing wouldn't even have come out of my mouth. Both of us are just not into it.
One of our friends found that Octagon in Gangnam was supposed to be the place to go. Getting there was an ease via taxi. Just tell the driver you're headed to New Hilltop Hotel or Hilltop Hotel. None of us were looking to get drunk at the club so we arrived on the early side to pre-game at the nearby convenience stores. Our pre-gaming consisted of "weak sauce" alcohols, which I think was beer and/or makgeolli & cider mix.
Our group arrived to the club way early and nothing was really happening inside yet. The crowds hadn't really filled the place until sometime past midnight. Even then I don't have any interesting club stories to share. Most people tended to keep to themselves or their crowd of friends. To me it felt kind of like a prom or school dance but with much better music. What an experience, heh?
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