Seoul Mates: Day 1 of 5

01 February 2012 - Wednesday

Less than 24 hours before Michele and I reunited in Seoul: We Skyped the night before to review where we would meet at Gimpo International Airport. Plan A was to meet at a point on the map labeled "Meeting Point," which we later discovered was the arrival gate. Plan B was to meet at Dunkin' Donuts.

I woke up at the buttcrack of dawn and caught the 8:20am bus to Seoul. I misprinted the subway directions to Gimpo International Airport, the first of several hiccups. After re-routing my journey, transferring onto a different line (in the wrong direction), and re-routing again, I finally made it to Gimpo. I planted myself at the arrival gate next to several people holding signs. Maybe I should have made one? Nah. Just when I put all of my stuff down --I definitely overpacked-- Michele was already rolling her luggage through the doors. Perfect timing! First stop? Dunkin' Donuts.

Dunkin' Donuts Connoisseur

Together at last!

Dual Filled Heart Donuts with Creme & Strawberry Jelly

I can't stress how well we stayed on schedule. Everything was timed perfectly. Soon we departed for Hongdae, where we stayed at the Grape Garden House Guesthouse. The accommodation was nestled in a neighborhood just a few blocks from the main restaurant area and the subway exits.

It snowed heaps the days before we arrived in Seoul. The roads were covered in ice and extremely slippery. There were countless times that we almost face-planted in the streets.

Just in case tourists couldn't read the sign the first (or second time) ...

3:30pm - 4:00pm  : We checked into the Grape Garden House. Min, the guesthouse owner, led us to our twin private room. The room came with two twin beds, a small table, a chair, and a rack to hang our clothing. It was cozy and quaint. We rested for a bit and looked for free Wi-Fi on our phones. We probably could have done that all day, but the next activity on our itinerary was fast-approaching: Sunset over Seoul at N Seoul Tower.

We took the subway to Myeongdong and navigated our way to the cable car platform.

Riding the cable car up to N Seoul Tower

Catching the Sunset over Seoul

Hangang River on the horizon

We grabbed a bite to eat, while waiting for the sun to completely set. Then we caught a glimpse of the Seoulscape at night.

Soon we backtracked down the cable car and searched for dinner outside of subway exit 8. Weaving in and out of restaurants, we searched for an affordable place to eat authentic, Korean galbi (갈비). The temperature was already at an intolerable low and the streets were very icy. We quickly read through some menus and walked upstairs to this restaurant.

갈비 wrapped in lettuce with kimchi, onion, fresh garlic, and soybean paste

All together, dinner was great. Michele claims that she ate the spiciest garlic of her life, which I don't doubt because she was red in the face and on the verge of passing out. Afterwards, we took the subway back to Hongdae, grabbed some street food, and called it a night. Tomorrow would be the Korean traditional and cultural leg of our Seoul adventure~ ^^