Forgotten Posts

In Cleaning out my posts that I wrote last year, but never posted, I cam across some interesting ones I wrote last year. This one was called Still Got Seoul- was written June 20 2009.

In my effort to Blog regularly, I'm going to be posting all my old forgotten posts that were written but never made made it up.

I've returned to my beloved city of soul- Seoul, for the weekend.

I've always loved this city- it;s like an asian New York.

Having been living on a subtropical island for the past 10 months I had forgotten all the charms this city has. I only remembered the crowded subways, the shoving and the smog. the horrible horrible smog.

Itaewon by day actually doesn't look so bad...

But like all things, as time passes, the bad things seem to dissipate and you can see things with fresh eyes.

So here I am, staying with my gals for the weekend, seeing things with fresh eyes.
like, last night, for example: I managed to spill 2 full martinis down my legs, so I'm realising I'm not as "smooth" as I'd like to think I am. fresh eyes indeed.


There are alot of things I really miss about the city. There's always something happening. Always some art show to attend, a gallery opening, a live band performing, a costume night at some club, new cafes to try out. There are 2 main "nightlife" areas that well known by the expat community: Hongdae, which is short for Hongik University, a notable art school that has engulfed the entire area around it with it's artsiness. The club scene is a younger crowd with funky little bars playing house music. It;s a pretty good mix of foreigners and koreans alike. For myself, i prefer walking through the area in the daytime, checking out all the little boutiques with handmade items. but people watching at night is always fun too.

Roadside Alcohol to-go! in a ziplock baggie no less!

It also has a pretty good underground Indie and punk scene, which I like to check out sometimes.

...and then there is Itaewon. Itaewon is known as the "foreigners district", and has been for some time. There is a US military base down the road, so the locals took advantage and started selling Big Size items, among other things, at a jacked up price to the military in the area.

It soon became infested with prostitution, and sleazy bars, not to say that prostitution wasnt prevalent in Korea before that, but I'm sure it didnt help matters.

In recent months, I have noticed, and heard that the Seoul officials were really trying to "clean up" the Itaewon area, and on the surface it does look a little swankier, but in actuality, the clean up was just "sweep it under the rug" type deal.
all the same, there are some great bars, lounges, and restaurants, and is really just a great party area, if thats what you're looking for.

There are other areas in Seoul to check out, and I would highly recommend it. Apgujung, and Shinsa are really trendy areas, with fantastic nightlife, but is a little more of an elite crowd, with higher prices on everything.