"Adventures After Adventures" | Exploring through Seoul

Day after day, we checked our bucket lists one-by-one, making the week speed by so fast.

Bad and Boujee: Gangnam Adventures

As an avid Youtube watcher of Joanday, I had to try out Lumio Beauty House hair salon. So, I contacted Captain on KakaoTalk and set an appointment for Wednesday along with my other friends. I went in in order to get my hair dyed and cut while my two other friends just wanted a haircut. The haircuts were 40,000 (guy's hair) and 44,000 (girl's hair). My appointment consisted of two bleaching, one color dying, and a haircut; this came out to be 375,000. However, by mentioning "Joanday" during setting the appointment, I got a 30% off discount, so the total became 299,000. Though it was a bit pricey, I truly love the salon experience with complementary drinks/snacks, gentle hairstylists, and also nice head massages during shampooing.

Afterwards, we headed to Shake Shack for lunch and then went exploring the area. We stumbled upon an IKEA pop-up shop showcasing the item catalog for the upcoming year. We also went to Muji and explored the floors. While passing Lumio, I saw a cafe named "TENN" that was themed BTS, so I knew I had to come back and check it out. It was celebrating the release of "Winter Bear" by V, or Kim Taehyung of BTS. Lastly, we explored the newly built Line Friends Gangnam store to end the day in Gangnam.

Just Keep Swimming: Itaewon, Noryangjin Fish Market, and Yeouido Hangang River Park

The following day, Ryan, Jason, Jonathan, and I decided to explore Itaewon. We walked up and down the streets of Itaewon, going through the alleys and getting better familiarized with the area. However, I still dragged them to the main flagship store of Line Friends there. 😅

At nighttime, we met up with Natasha, Michelle, and Jackie to head into Noryangjin Fish Market and feast on fresh seafood. Since Jackie was pretty fluent in conversational Korean, we had a simple time ordering the food. We decided to go with a king crab, live octopus, clams, sashimi, and oysters. The owner of that section then directed us to the restaurant to have the seafood prepared for us. Overall, the cost was about 35 - 45 thousand won per person which included the ingredients and the restaurant service fee; this is a pretty good cost since you know the seafood is totally fresh! This would have been way more expensive in Hawaii!

We then headed to Yeouido Hangang River Park since we were in the area and we all wanted to try biking next to the Han River. Near the entrance of the park across the street, there is a bike rental area; it only costs 1,000 won to rent the bike for an hour, given that your credit/debit card does not add a foreign transaction fee. You would need to access BikeSeoul and pay there. Keep in mind that one credit card can only be used for one voucher at a time (a.k.a. you can't have your friend rent their bike and your bike at the same time). By the time we arrived there, it was pretty late, so we needed to leave earlier so that we would be able to go home via public transportation. My definite bucket list item is to have a picnic in the Han River Park, so I'll sure to be back very soon!

Hopping Around: Sinchon Foodies & Itaewon Clubs

I met up with Michelle, Natasha, Lisa, and Le An to explore the food places around Sinchon. There was a place that serves tonkatsu for only 3,000 won, so we had to check it out! The tonkatsu was alright for its price, having a very crispy shell! Afterwards, we went around to Artbox and stopped by Tiger Sugar to get brown sugar boba. After resting for a bit in SK Global, we then headed to Kodachaya for dinner. It was kind of like Shirokiya where customers fo up to the individual stations to order food from a certain vendor. Be sure to bring your ID to this place since they do not let you in without it. We ordered two kimchi fried rice, sweet and sour pork, and sweet and sour chicken; it was very tasty and filling.

That night, there was an International Student Festival event in Itaewon with ticket sales that allowed free entrances and drinks to six clubs. We met up with Ryan, Jason, Jonathan, and Jackie from Hawai'i, eventually meeting with Daniel, Timmy, and Lydia from Canada. We travelled to all the different clubs and experienced the nightlife with all the international students in Seoul. Personally, the event itself was just okay; all the clubs were filled with foreigners, and there was no space to dance. However, it was an interesting experience to go club-hopping around Itaewon. To end the night, we headed to the one and only Mickey D's! McDonald's in Korea is so affordable, with a set costing only around 5,000 won.

Becoming an ABB: EDC Korea 2019

If you don't know, ABB means "Asian Baby Boy" and is typically used to describe Asian guys who head to raves. Since I was already in Korea, I decided to attend my first ever rave at the first-ever EDC Korea 2019 with my Hawai'i friends and newly-made Californian friends! The tickets were sold in advance, so we got the Early Bird tickets prior to leaving for Korea. The event lasted for two days and cost about $120 which is pretty reasonable compared to the EDC in Las Vegas. Held at Seoul Land, the lineup had a wide variety of popular EDM (Electronic Dance Music) DJs from San Holo to Alesso. I was kind of disappointed for missing GroovyRoom but had a great time the rest of the days. It was a very fun and interesting experience since this was my first time at such an event.

A big tip for these types of events/festivals is to have a small bag to hold your important valuables close to you since they usually bag-check you in the front. Typically at the event, they only accept credit cards, so be sure to bring your card to buy food and drinks. In addition, they typically have event booths where you can get some free items, so be sure to check those out! Lastly, stay hydrated, stay safe, and have fun!