An Epic Avalonian Adventure: Best Weekend in Korea

This past weekend, by far, was my favorite weekend in Korea to date. I had a fantastic time with some great people and made some great memories. The highlight happened pretty early in the weekend as Spenser and I headed to Yeongsan in order to find me a camera. He also wanted to check out prices for a camera for himself. Anyway, we got off at one station and were looking for the transfer to Yeongsan. We were standing there, looking up at the signs and I must have mentioned Yeongsan because next thing I know, this little old Korean woman whacks me with a bag she's carrying and nods her head as if to tell me Yeongsan, this way. However, it took a moment for it to register and during my delay, she whacked me again. I got the message that time and we found the correct platform with her help.

Not a whole lot happening in Yeongsan. If you go camera shopping be prepared to bargain. There was a difference of about $50 for the same camera in the different shops. One guy got pissed at Spenser after he told him the same camera was cheaper at another shop. He told him to go to that shop. I went over to ask about a different camera and he pointed me in the same direction saying, "Cheaper," and pointing. Obviously, he wasn't too happy about something. After that, we went to an underground gaming market - nothing special. Then it was off to the main area, I-Park Mall. We shopped around a bit for cameras and to get some prices. Spenser found the best deal for the camera that he was looking for. I was going to buy one but thanks to Spenser's smart phone, I found out it didn't have image stabilization (those of you who know me know how much I shake), so that camera was out.

We walked outside - snowboarding competition. We stayed for a while and watched a snowboarding competition, in Seoul, in the middle of Fall, in a mall complex. It was a good time. Next we headed to Namdaemun to check out some more camera prices for Spenser.

I grabbed a Makali (Korean rice wine) and we hit the streets. I saw a lady selling shirts and we asked how much. She replied 8,000 won in Korean. I need some new shirts. I stopped and picked out two. Then I tried to bargain with her and asked her if I got three, how much? I said 20,000 she said, "No, 24,000." I said, "22,000?" She said, "No, 24,000." I said, "23,000?" She said, "Ok. 23,000." So I bought three shirts, one was paid for by Spenser since he ruined a yellow one I had. (That is my loose translation of the event)

We continued to walk around after making our purchase and for some reason, a foreigner with Makali in his hand is a rarity. Several people looked at my puzzled, and asked, "Makali?" to which I replied in Korean, "Yes. Delicious." They seemed to love that even more. There were about five people that stopped us because I had Makali in my hand. I stared to watch people walking by, the would look at my face, look at the bottle in my hand, and then take another look at my face again just to make sure a foreigner was holding a bottle of Makali.

Spenser got hungry and this is where the fun began. We headed down one street we hadn't been down yet and he was just telling me about how he likes the vendors who want him to be there, the ones who shout at him. We walked down a bit and were about to turn around when I heard this old lady shout out. I was like, "There you go Spenser!" So we had a seat and ended up meeting two thirty something Korean guys and an older woman (who Spenser had quite the conversation with). One of the guys worked in Japan so I was speaking Japanese to him and then he was translating. Spenser was speaking Korean to this older woman. We were there for a few hours and had a blast. The gave us some pig's feet, river snake (eel), taught us how to drink Makali, and I was thoroughly intoxicated by the end of the evening.

However, the evening wasn't quite over. After that we met up with some other friends who were in Seoul. I'm not quite sure how but we found our way. One of the guys was sober so Spenser and I headed with him back to Sadang in order to catch the bus back to Suwon. We walked out of the exit and there was a huge line. Spenser proceeded to head to the back of the line while Justin (the other guy) and I stood there for a minute. I pretty much said the heck with this and headed towards the bus. People stopped getting on the bus but it still wasn't full so we hopped on, but not before Justin made one last effort to get Spenser, with no avail.

We are on the bus and Justin wants to go to Suwon Station and to another bar. I tried to explain that this bus went right by our apartment and before I knew, as is common to solve all problems in Korea, we were playing rock, scissor, paper to see if we were going to go to the bar. I'm not sure what happened and I believe I lost but next thing I knew, we were in a cab headed towards Suwon Station.

We went to meet a co-worker, played some darts, drank some more, and had a good time. We got into a bit of shenanigans (something to do with a math teacher, some girl who was 'solo,' according to her friends, licking salt that wasn't really salt off of some girl's hand, and talking to some girl who was going to break up with her boyfriend). Pay attention to the we in the previous sentence. In the end, nothing happened, thank goodness. I was able to see hooker ally, nothing happened there either and nothing was going to happen there. I think I ended up back in my apartment around 5:00 am. Justin left his phone at the bar and had to go back and get it. Overall, it was a fantastic evening.

Sunday, I relaxed, and went for a bike ride, which was amazing. The leaves are changing colors and it's not that cold yet so I had a fantastic ride.