My fourth week here turned out to be fun, thanks to Saturday…
The weekdays were getting really boring, with our first assigned work completed, and us getting a little bored and impatient… Friday turned out to be especially bad. We had surprisingly bad luck that day. It all started with a lousy taxi driver. He already had a passenger in the front when we hailed it in the morning. We were stuffed in the back seat, and he came by a different route because of the other passenger sitting in front. He negotiated a high price to which we reluctantly agreed, but the worst part was that the asshole tried to increase the price half way through. He was also trying to make small talk in Korean which pissed us off even more… A day which starts like this only gets worse. Work in the office was really frustrating, more to my colleagues than me. They had to fight the whole day trying to install something, chat with our Indian colleagues to understand and help them with their issue, and it all ended up in a big confusion. A lot of effort was wasted. Finally, at around 8, we packed up for the day and came down to hail a taxi. The first taxi we wanted to get into had the driver talking on the phone. We got impatient and went to another one, by which time the first taxi guy was done talking. So we got into the second taxi and told him the directions. But this guy said he wouldn’t take us there. We were so damn frustrated. Now we had to get back to the first taxi again, and I’m pretty sure that the driver had a smug smile on his face when we got in…
Anyway, I knew that I was going to be really bored if I stayed at home for the weekend. So I’d made up my mind that I was going to Seoul on Saturday, alone. I woke before anyone else(10 a.m), got ready, recharged my batteries and left for Seoul.
COEX Mall:
The first place I went to was COEX mall, which is supposed to be the largest underground shopping mall in Asia! It was really big, and underground. It was quite crowded. But there’s nothing much a guy can do in a big shopping mall especially when he doesn’t want to shop… So, I thought I could go into the aquarium, which is supposed to be good. And I thought if the Koreans have some spared some fish and think they would rather see it on display than eat it, well, there’s gotta be something about those fishes, u know what I mean… But the price was a little steep and I thought, I won’t look back at my trip to Korea and regret not going to a friggin’ aquarium, will I?? So I ditched that plan and thought I would rather watch a movie. There is a huge underground multiplex in the mall, which was showing a few english movie out of which “I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry” was the only one that seemed famous. I had heard it was quite a good comedy and decided to watch it. I really hated the movie. Though it was a little funny, it was too gay for my taste, it seemed like the movie is a pro-gay rights campaign which is trying to get people to accept gays and gay marriage. It was too contrived. Watching Ving Rhames turn gay almost made me puke! I used to like him. And Adam Sandler sucked, more than the usual amount. Jessica Biel looked hot and made the movie bearable.
Anyway, right after the movie(around 6.30), I was headed for the Cheong gye stream which , I knew was going to be a place worth visiting.
Cheonggyecheon:
After having got down at a station which, I guessed, was close to the stream(yes, its that simple), I just had to walk a couple of minutes in an arbit direction(guided by my gut feeling, of course) to find the stream. I got down to it and started walking in the direction opposite to the flow of water coz i wanted to find the ’source’! The path for walking was very pretty, and there were little stones on the river at regular places where one can cross over to the other side. The places under the bridge were especially beautiful and there was even enough space for an art exhibition under one! The place is obviously considered romantic, which is why I mostly saw couples holding hands most of the way. The source of the stream has a beautiful lit up fountain and is a nice place for children to play. Considering that the project cost 900 million$, I started wondering if it was worth the money.(it totally was) Hmmm…
Hongik University:
I found a brochure from the travel desk near the stream which had information about places to visit in Seoul. The surroundings of Hongik University campus was supposed to be famous for the night life. So I decided to go there. I asked a couple of strangers for directions on how to get to that place. They said that I would have to take a train there and that they were on their way to the station themselves. As we were walking together, I found out that they were professional photographers, on their way to work. While we were talking, one of them took pictures of us, and I still find it hard to believe this, He actually opened his bag, got a small looking printer out, and got a print-out of the pic he had just clicked and gave it to me!!!! I even remember thinking if I was being screwed over by them while the CMYK colours were getting printed slowly on the miniature printer!!! These guys were really helpful, I found out One of them was a network Engineer for Cisco! And when I told them what I did, they were totally in awe!!! I mean, they started praising my company as if it was their religion. One of them even proudly showed me his cellphone, which was obviously made by them. They were really nice people, they guided me very well about where exactly I had to get down and all that. I finally arrived at Hongik univ. station. (And they didn’t ask me for money or anything for the pic. Phew! )
The tourist brochure had a detailed map of the places to visit near the Hongik University.
So I thought i would just follow it, and find all the good places. But looking back, the map was so screwed up, I wasted two hours to find out that the map was no good! But the place had a good nightlife, and the university was HUGE. I roamed around for a long time, looking for a good place to eat/party. I guess I know that neighbourhood pretty well now. I spent an hour again searching for the illusive McD which was supposed to be there according to my map. It wasn’t. I went to Starbucks(expensive!!) to have a coffee and a tasty chocolate mousse. I spent the whole night there, and returned home at 6 the next morning. The friendly strangers who let me call my roommates and the incident at the bar will remain ‘etched in memory’!
Thought for the day:
Being an advanced/developed country obviously doesn’t mean that Koreans are any happier than we are. So I keep wondering if it matters at all. I’m getting philosophical here. It doesn’t matter if we have good roads or not. Korea has great roads but has traffic jams too! and they have pathetic personal lives, what with their video games and alcohol binges… I guess its not such a bad thing after all that India ain’t so advanced. Or am I just giving a pathetic excuse?
