The Arrival...Time for heart and SOUL! (Seoul)

Haha....do you like my pun in the title?! Very creative...I know....well anyway, we arrived in Seoul yesterday at a little after noon after having departed on our trek from Chiba station at 6:30am. It was my first time riding JAL and it was a good experience I'd say. The highlight of the flight was the bento that was served! It was literally....THE BEST airplane meal I've ever had! It was a really nice bento and tasted delicious.

We landed in Seoul and soon realized...we actually don't speak Korean, can't read it, and can't understand it! But that didn't stop us from venturing out into this new world and see what lay ahead. We walked around the airport to try and look for a few transportation options, but then were told about a bus that could get us close to what we were hoping would be our hotel. So we trusted one of the people at the information desk about getting a bus ticket to a place where we didn't really know where we were going...except having heard the name Gangnam which we knew was within +-10-40 minutes from our hotel...we really had no idea! So we hopped on and rode for about an hour and approached what we knew was Seoul.

After having gotten dropped off from the bus, we were literally in the middle of a busy busy street with our luggage trying to figure out which way to go. We were able to finally get a taxi...only to be yelled at in Korean and have an extremely awkward first interaction! The taxi driver was not too keen on us at first! I don't know what ticked him off...the fact that we couldn't understand him or if he was just having a bad day. We got in the car and he started yelling at us but no one could respond because the best we know is "anyung ha seyo" or "kamsahamnida" which mean "hello" and "thank you," respectively. So we explained where we wanted to go and eventually made it there...after this event:

• We get in the taxi. Taxi driver is yelling at us in Korean....????



• We are showing him the hotel address and phone number...but he keeps demanding for a "telephone!!!! telephone!!!" so I hand him mine with the hotel's number in it



• He proceeds to continue in what seems to be an angry conversation with the person at the hotel....again, we had NO clue what he was saying!



• We are ripping through the streets of Seoul on the way to what we hope would be our hotel. Meanwhile...the taxi driver was apparently mad at us because we were "shoving" our luggage into the trunk? He made no effort to help us anyway...so I don't know why he was so mad. We didn't really shake it that much...I didn't think?



• We finally make it toward the hotel and the taxi driver apparently seems to have cooled down. He seemed nicer. He may have realized after a few minutes in the drive that we actually only speak either English or Japanese....and no Korean!



• We finally get to our hotel and for a 10-15 minute ride....it cost only 3 or 4 bucks! So cheap!

So in the end...it wasn't so bad. It was a cheap ride, we were able to find our hotel, and we made it all in one piece! Not a bad start for 3 guys who speak no Korean.

Later this day, we headed out to check out the nearest place which was Gangnam. We decided to walk around our area first and found some nice stores. We also had to try and find a place with internet connection and possibly some people who could speak some English...we needed some help with directions and what not. While walking around, we found an English school called "Pagoda"....hmmm...this could be promising! So we stepped right in and looked around. Just as luck would have it, we found some computers on which we could use the internet. This was a great first start to help us out. We didn't find many people who spoke in English there...I just don't think we were talking to the right people. There was someone who could speak Japanese, so that helped! They let us use their phone and allowed us to call our friend who would be able to meet up with us later this week and show us around! That was great!

This is a picture of the Samsung Headquarters. Check it out!

After some time, we also noticed that there was a cafe on the top floor so we decided to check it out. Just as more luck would have it, it was called International Cafe "Huh?!" Haha....it was nice BECAUSE there was one rule before entering the cafe....no speaking Korean! Which meant that most of the people in there spoke good English. And it was nice! They had free pool, internet, and lots of space. It was a nice chill area and this would become our safehaven for a part of the trip. Inside, we were also able to talk to many people who could give us good insight on what to do around the city. They are the locals and know best.

So after hanging out in there for a bit and shooting some pool, we headed toward a restaurant called "Punga" which some new friends of ours had recommended. We got directions to go there, but we somehow got lost...and were trying to search for this place for nearly an hour! It was supposedly a 5-10 minute walk away...but obviously this wasn't going to happen that quickly for us! Well, after searching and talking to strangers to try and get directions, we finally used body language and very vague map pointing to find our way and make it to the restaurant!!!!! It was definitely worth it! The food there was delicious and it was some of the best meat that I'd had in a long time....if not ever! Haha!!! After dinner, we went to a bar and hung out there. It was a good time and we also ate more food there...SPICY food! But I think I will get used to the spiciness of the food...hopefully! It's spicy and nothing comes with anything less than a spicy level! Well we hung out til pretty late and then finally made our way back to the hotel. We are relatively close to the heart of the city and taxis are really cheap here, so it's no problem to stay out late and we don't have to worry about last trains! Yay!!!