Day 9: Back to Seoul (Sinchon)

Lots and lots of travelling today! I booked my flight last minute again (the morning of) because I have found that the tickets become less expensive closer to the actual date of the flight. It took an hour to get back to the airport, 45 minutes to fly back to Seoul, an hour to get to my old hostel to grab my luggage, and another 40 minutes to get to my new hostel. The plane trip was just the perfect amount of time for me to write a draft on my phone of all the blog posts that I had been procrastinating up until today.

Passing over the Han River on the way from Gimpo International Airport to Yongsan.

Travelling took a long time and it was a pain in the butt to drag my stuff everywhere! Once I got to my old hostel I ran into Tony and we ended up going out for dinner before I went to my new hostel. We went to a BBQ restaurant (my first time going to one since I had come to Korea). It was so yummy and I ate a ridiculous amount of food! They brought out meat for us along with lots of different side dishes.

According to Tony, who cooks the meat varies based on the restaurant. The two waiters that were there seemed to be cooking the meat for us so we didn't bother to do anything with it. They walked away for a couple minutes and suddenly the meat was smoking. Both Tony and I were sitting at the table just looking at each other wondering if we were allowed to move the meat or not and we had no idea what to do. Someone from a table over ended up noticing and called a waiter over to help us. He saved the meat but it was pretty burnt, fortunately we both like our beef well done... After that we took the hint that we were supposed to mostly cook it ourselves, although they did come over to cut it for us every time. It was super embarrassing but we had a good laugh about it afterwards.

I keep forgetting to take pictures until after I have started eating but here is the BBQ. You can see the meat on the grill as well as rice cakes (the white things) that are very yummy. The side dishes included fish cakes, eggs, radish, kimchi, red salt, lettuce, and a leaf (called sam) that tastes interesting.

After dinner I got my ridiculously heavy suit case and walked to the subway, scanned my T Money card and then realized I couldn't fit my suitcase with me through the gates. I then proceeded to stand there for a good 5 minutes trying to figure out what the heck to do. Fortunately a really nice guy stopped to help and he ended up carrying my suitcase over the gate and down the stairs for me. He also had to call the security office and ask them to open the gates for me because I had scanned my card already and couldn't scan it again to go through the gates. He was very nice and we continued to chat on the subway because we were going to the same stop. He was just starting his third year at Hongik University and studying math to become an accountant so we bonded over the math part.

When I got to the next subway stop I realized that there are actually different 'gates' that have a larger door for people with luggage (or wheelchairs). Good thing to know for next time, but it didn't make me feel like the smartest person after I stood around for 5 minutes at the last stop haha. I made it to my new hostel, called OK House, and checked in without any problems. There was a security code for the main entrance and I had to go to a specific floor to check in. My key was in a cute little mail box that I was given the passcode for so I could check in without someone needing to be there (great for an introvert like me who doesn't love the whole human interaction thing). The room is very tiny and squishy, but it has everything I need. They supply every room with a tray full of common Korean snacks like ramen and this brown cake thing that I don't remember the name of. Of course I, with my amazing self-control, ate all the snacks the first night except for one ramen cup.

My bed is above a desk and shelving unit so I need to climb up a ladder to get to it. It was either my mom or dad (I think it was my dad) that told me it was a bad idea for me to book a room with a ladder to my bed due to my severe lack of co-ordination on land. I figured it would be fun and totally ignored the advice. He was definitely right though. The steps were steep and small and it was pretty scary to climb up and down them, especially when I had sore legs and feet from hiking for hours the day before. Every time I needed to charge my phone or grab something I had a debate with myself whether it was worth risking my life by going down the ladder. Aside from the room being small and the ladder being terrifying, the hostel was nice. The lobby area was super cute with all sorts of little decorations. They even had a basket full of free k-pop albums that people could take. It was free to use the laundry, although they didn't have a dryer, and they provided toast with peanut butter and jam every morning as well as free tea and coffee. I did all my laundry from the past week and then went straight to bed since I was so tired from all the travelling.

Hope everyone is doing well,

Emily

(October 4, 2018)