Today I’m traveling to my new home, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. So there will be no blog, however here is an episode Three Sheets from South Korea. Three Sheets, is an international travelogue/pub-crawl which is a humorous trip through different drinks and drinking cultures around the world. The series features comedian Zane Lamprey who travels worldwide and engages in local alcohol-related customs. In each episode, Lamprey eats the local food, which is followed by learning about the customs and libations of that area and then experiences the local hangover cure.
Since I have been spending most of my days working and visiting national monuments, its only right that I/We have a little play time as well. Tonight Drew and his friends took me out for an actual birthday party. The night started when we met up with about 11 others at magical place called Carne Station. Imagine a restaurant with one entrance fee and unlimited food and drink! For W23,000. This is the place you go to line your stomach with food, then fill it with alcohol. The drinks are generally cheap brands, but soft drinks, beer, wine, and spirits are all available as are the inevitable bottles of Soju. Given that the rest of Hongdae charges upwards of W5,000 for a drink, it’s not hard to drink your money’s worth. Here, each table features your standard Korean BBQ. Most people create a healthy selection of meats from those available, but there is also an extensive selection of side dishes, salads and sushi. Being ‘eat-as-much as you like’, the emphasis here is definitely on quantity, but the quality is equal to that of the regular Korean restaurants.
From here the night continued on to Hongdae, and the OI Cave Bar. Walking into to this place is almost like slipping into a drug-induced, ethereal dream. Upon entry, shoes must be removed and placed into a clear plastic duffel bag. Once inside the main room, it’s what you would imagine a rave inside of a giant igloo to be like. There are black lights, wavy white walls and heated floors of molded cement emulating the cave atmosphere. After an hour of lounging and smoking houka it was time to carry on.
The night soon ended with a few drinks, a few games of darts and learning a few new moves on the dance floor at a place called Jane’s Groove. All in all it was another great birthday. Thanks again to all that made it out here in Korea and to all of you that reached out to me from the States, much love.
And as always, enjoy the video and photos from last night… Oh yeah, we “suited up” for the occasion.
South Korean have many games and rituals that include the entire table, considering all of the drinking they do, it makes sense. Here is one such “Straight Bombing” drinking game. Soju + Beer.
Today’s Seoul visit was to the 2002 FIFA World Cup Stadium which held the 17th staging of the World Cup from 31 May to 30 June. This was the first tournament in its history to be hosted by two countries and was also the first World Cup held in Asia. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0 in the final. Overall the stadium was pretty impressive, although I would of liked more of a village or monuments depicting the games. Check the pics below… Oh and don’t worry Operation: World Cup is being designed right now, the boys and I will be there in South Africa next year…
Dinner was great. Just a few drinks last night as everyone had to work in the morning. Here is the celebration beer video. I’m assuming pics will be coming soon.
So today has arrived. According to some people I’m an old man now… and in my late 20’s… Gross. (Written at 11am on the 29th)
The day actually went pretty well. Finally was able to sleep in and not really worry about anything. Ms. Smith was the first to ring in and wish me a happy birthday with a call at 12:01 Seoul time, in which Drew’s hears the call and yells, shit… Happy B-Day man, thinking he would of been the first. However, the calls, sms, emails and facebook msgs have been rolling in all day… I’m loving this two days worth of a Birthday. But seriously thank you to everyone that sent messages, it was nice to hear from all of you…well not Matt, he needs to work on his singing voice.
I actually spent the day taking a trip to the center of Seoul to see the entire city from above at the N Seoul Tower. Drew’s friend Tabi graciously said she would take me on this trip as she finishes school at 3pm and hadn’t been yet either. N Seoul Tower is a communication tower built in 1969 and it measures 777 ft tall. Week took the Namsan cable car up the mountain, and then walk to the tower. The view from the top was pretty amazing as you really get the sense of how big Seoul really is. Another very interesting part of the experience of the tower is at the base. The surrounding fences are adorned with locks. Visitors (in relationships) will bring these locks with inscriptions written on them to lock their love down to highest point in Seoul to strengthen their bond.
After the tower visit we just happen to be right in the heart of the shopping district of Seoul… I think this was planned as I quickly found out that Tabi is quite the shopper… Let’s just say we found a few high end shops (Named TATE) that I couldn’t afford, but then we found the H&M of Korea (UNIQLO), so all was good. Found a few more unique Korean stores as well and got a few fun things there… Soon enough it was time to head to dinner… Enjoy the photos, more b-day antics to come…
After a day of rest it was time to actually get out and see Seoul in the day light. Drew and I actually got up around 7am to get ready and head out on our hour long journey to the 1988 Summer Olympic Village. But like most days, its a about the journey. The subways here always create the opportunity for a story and with the nifty iphone camera you can sneak great photos to help illustrate what I’m seeing daily. Like the guy in the first photo below. Just hops on the train to sell his CD’s and wont leave until someone buys one, and every time someone does… I’m not sure people are buying them because they enjoy what they are hearing, or they are just trying to get him to move trains and save the rest of us from suffering.
Our first stop first stop today was at Seoul’s largest Mall the COEX. But with Drew needing to be at school by 2 our stop was quick, but we did find a very interesting store… So now I have found two stores named after my siblings Tate and Rory… When will I have a place named after me… Also, why in the hell did I have to travel all the way around the world to see a Bennigans again…
The Olympic Village here in Seoul was actually pretty well put together for being 20 years old. Sure the rainbow color scheme was big back then, so I’m not going to hold it against them. Today they still use the baseball and basketball venues as I found both of their baseball teams team buses and this is where we will be seeing the Korean Basketball All-Star game this upcoming weekend. The outside of the main stadium contains a very interesting set of monuments to commemorate Olympic games pasted and how their Korean athletes fare, check Drew reenacting some poses below. As for my reasoning of wanting to visit this location, I’m not really sure why I’m so fascinated by the Olympic stadiums and villages (This makes my forth visit: Athens, Munich, Salt Lake & Seoul) but if I’m in a city where the Olympic games have been held I usually end up there. Maybe it’s the thought of all the great athletes that walked the same hallow grounds or the fact that this event brings the world together every four years and its some very special. Hope you enjoy the pics… More to come. PS I turn old tomorrow.
Well last night was a success. We had about 20 people over to help bring in the Chinese New Year. Everyone brought gifts for the event as well, as part of Korean culture to bring certain desserts and drinks to parties and this was no exception. Drew and I had the great honor of teaching the classic game of Beer Pong to our new friends. Fun was had. Tomorrow we go back to real life. More stories to follow.
But: The Dodgers??