Dance Bear, Dance!

Part 3 (?) - Christmas in Korea

Sunday, December 21, 2008.

Someone, I’m not sure if it was Trav or Laura, suggested going to the zoo, if there was a zoo to go to. Laura looked it up and with her mad Internet skills, found out there was in fact a big zoo south of the city. Sunday morning, I brought them breakfast again and we headed over to Seoul Grand Park to the Seoul Zoo. The zoo is pretty far south, which meant we had to travel over the river, which is always fun for me. I have only been south of the river a couple of times.

A few stops south of the river, the subway suddenly emptied completely of people, we were uncertain about what to do, but a nice lady told us that this was the last stop for the subway. At first I thought it she meant this was the last stop, as in the subway didn’t run past here and I was super confused, but then I realized that they just change cars, a few minuets later another train arrived and we carried on our way.

In theory, I’m kind of against zoos and how they raise animals in small Spartan cages and live their lives solely as entertainment for foul human’s who throw food at them, hoping they’ll dance. And there are monkeys at the zoo. I hate monkeys. But I usually enjoy zoo visits. This zoo was huge. We saw giraffes up close, hippopotami, and a rhinoceros. The lions were actually moving around and there was a really good view of the elephants. There were crocodiles and alligators. We saw a sloth or two and those red pandas. Also, there was a zoo nursery where we saw some teenage animals hanging out. We visited the botanical garden where a man dressed as Santa was leading around a group of kids and there was a dude with a guitar singing Christmas carols in Korean for the children. It was kind of strange.

At the top of the zoo, there is an option to take a chairlift to the bottom of the zoo, we decided to take the chairlift down, just for the view. The zoo is in a beautiful location, surrounded by small mountains and hills. There is no city in site. I recommend going to the zoo just for the views.

None of the restaurants were open at the zoo and after the long walk, mostly uphill, we were famished. We decided to be adventurous and just get off at a subway stop and find a restaurant near by. We got off at Seoul Station and headed out an exit. We walked for while, discarding the few choices along the way. We ended up on an out of the way street, peering into restaurants to see if they had tables at which we could sit; floor seating is a novelty that wears thin quite quickly.

Suddenly a man jumped out at us and tired to herd us into his restaurant and then his neighbour started yelling at us to eat at his restaurant. These two old men were yelling at us in Korean, both wanted our business. It was an awkward moment of confusion, but we finally walked into the first man’s restaurant; he had first dibs.

As usual, there was only a wall menu and it was only in Korean. Fortunately, the daughter of the owner spoke English really well. She had studied in New Zealand for a year. She showed us something they were making and it looked good so we ordered the same thing. She brought it to our table and cooked it for us. She told us that loved cooking and wanted to go Australia to go to culinary school. The meal was quite delicious, as if any food here isn’t, and very filling.

We left the restaurant and headed back to Insadong. We wondered around the market for while, Laura wanted to look for a few things at the spiral market. I bought a Dalki phone charm that also doubles as a screen cleaner, very cool. We walked around a bit more and then stopped for coffee. We decided to check out a few more places and go to a hof for drinks.

We walked around Jonggak area for while, searching for a hof. There were a few that looked good, but many were on the second floor or higher and we couldn’t figure out how to get to them. Some were on the first floor and we couldn’t figure out how to the get to them either. The way the buildings are set up can make if very confusing to find the right place. We finally managed to get into one place called Blue Moon, it was very blue and romantically lit. The server ushered to a comfortable seat at the bar, walking passed a number of empty tables.

We had a moment of discussion, trying to decide if we wanted to stay here, at the bar, just grab a table, or leave. When the server sat a couple at a table near by, we decided to leave. As much as I hate hate hate leaving a restaurant after I have already been seated, I didn’t really want to stay. As we walked out, I had my head down, fastening my coat and walked right into a server and then tried to walk around and he moved in the same direction and then I bumped into him and fell into the booth beside us. So at least our leaving was graceful and probably went unnoticed.

We finally found a place that had the name of the hof on the stairs. We ascended into the Western Hof. It was awesome, super low ceilings, everything was wood (kind of like Carlos and Murphy’s), and it was busy, but not too busy. The server took us to a table on the second floor, Trav had to duck to get to the table. The menu had no English and no pictures.

We sat and puzzled over the beer for a moment, deciding on a more expensive pitcher because we wanted a slightly better quality beer and then the usual piss. I took out my cell phone used the Korean English dictionary (oh yeah, it can do everything) and tried to find the word for chicken so that we would at least order something edible. We found chicken on the menu and called over the server using the bell. At least I think I ran the bell, but the server came back and showed us how to use the bell, so I don’t think I pressed hard enough. Anyway, I hate the bell system; it feels so rude. However, I think it might actually be a better system because then your sever never has to bother you; you just call them when they are needed.

A few minutes later the server comes back with huge pitcher of beer, like really fucking big. We didn’t realize that we had ordered the big one. I burst out laughing at the size of the pitcher as soon as he put it on the table, thinking about how three of us ordered a pitcher that I have ordered with groups of six or seven. It is a really big beer.

And then came the side dishes. First there were the snacks that look like cross between fruit loops and corn pops and tasted like it too. Then there were ice shavings with beans and jujubes and flavoured syrup. Also, there were corn chip type snacks. Then came the Korean pancake, the dukkbogi, the sweet and sour chicken, the egg dish, and a plate of cherry tomatoes. We ate a bunch of this stuff, thinking that the sweet and sour chicken was what we had ordered. Then the server came back with a huge hot plate of a chicken dish that was delicious, but we hardly touched it because we were so full already.

Now the evening gets interesting. A very drunk couple sitting near us appeared to be talking about us; they looking over and a few gestures are made. The man gets ups, walks over to us and asks us where we are from. We tell him, He thanks us and sits down. Then a few minutes later the woman comes over and asks if they can sit with us because she would like to practice her English. Of course we accommodate. Edward and Ella were there names and they had lot to drink already. Edward continually made rude jokes about Ella and called it Korean Style Comedy. And Ella kissed Laura on a check a bunch of times (I tried to not be jealous). Edward also thought that Trav looked like Jesus. Unfortunately, I had to get on the subway by eleven so that I could make it home. I had to leave just as the party was getting interesting; Edward really wanted to hit up a noraebang. I gave Ella my phone number, but she hasn’t called.