Seollal in Seoul

So, with my newest “partner in crime”, the fabulous Krista, I went to spend Lunar New Year in Seoul.  Mostly because it’s a family holiday so most people leave the city and go to their hometowns.  This means Seoul is A LOT less crowded...to the point where you can get a seat on the subway.  Ok, yeah, a few things were closed, but it was a fair trade-off.

Anyway.

We met up a Seoul Station.  I took the usual city bus in, but Krista lives far enough away that she has to take the train in to make it in a reasonable about of time.  From there we headed to Hongdae, near Hongik University, where we had a hostel room booked.  Walking through Hongdae at 3 in the afternoon is not making our little trip look promising...the area seems all but deserted.  But we are going to persist.

We kill time until time to check in and we can “take a rest”, as the Koreans say.  Eventually, we head out into the area, which has come alive by then.  Hongdae is definitely a “night life” area.  We ended up at Club FF, a great little bar for the K-indie scene.  Saw a great Korean band, a mediocre band with a white guy fronting, and then an great French band.  Yup, French.  We also picked up the French band’s cd...because you should support independent artists.

Day two, actual Seollal, we headed to the Seoul Museum of History.  We wandered around Gyeonghuigung Palace for a bit, and met a nice Chinese family, who took their picture with us, and an elderly Korean man who told us that there would be special events at the museum that day.  We wandered through the 700+ years of Korean history at the museum before taking a break and watching some Korean dance and musical performances, both traditional and contemporary.  We headed back into the exhibits and finished up the last 4 decades or so before heading back to our hostel.

The next stop(s) for us, were the Ice Museum and the Trick Eye Museum.  So, we hadn’t planned on the Ice Museum, but it was included in the admission to the Trick Eye Museum so why not?  Not bad, the ice sculptures were nice, but nothing just “oh, my god” fantastic.  The Trick Eye Museum was a completely different story...shameless fun!  Simultaneously so cool and so cheesy.  There are all these great works that look weird on the surface, but once you pose and take your picture look 3D and super cool.  From there we grabbed a couple of “bagged drinks” at this little booth...and I mean alcoholic drinks, not Capri Suns.

We rounded out our day by going to Cocoon night club.  I wouldn’t consider myself a “club” kinda a girl, but then again, I realize that the club scene where I am from falls a bit short.  Anyway, a couple a shots of tequila and I was ready to dance in the smoke and strobe lights to some techno.  So, maybe not my permanent scene, but a lot of fun and I would most definitely go again.

The next day was rainy, so it kinda ruined our outdoor plans of seeing palaces and neighborhoods, but it was nice to relax and chill for a bit.  Headed back to Club FF that night to have one last night out and listen to a couple more really good bands before heading home to our quiet little country towns.