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My account of the concert and things not covered in this write up is over here http://soshified.com...p-kpop-concert/
We flew into Incheon International Airport after a 12.5 hour flight from San Francisco. A lot of us were pretty tired but once we got through immigration we were greeted by fans holding banners welcoming us to Korea along with a bunch of press. It had been reported weeks in advance that we were coming to see SNSD so the press was eager to interview us once we got there. Korea is very interested in their culture being spread around the world, so a bunch of foreigners coming all the way to Korea to experience that culture was very exciting.
After about an hour bus ride into Seoul we arrived at our hotel to check in. We stayed at the Riverside Hotel and it was pretty nice. They had a ridiculous breakfast spread for us every morning in the banquet hall. Here is the front of the hotel, the view from my room, and the street where the hotel was.
After we checked in it was pretty late so we went to dinner at a nearby restaurant and had Shabu Shabu. The first food we had in Korea was extremely delicious. Everyone was having a great time getting to know each other more and meeting people we had talked with online.
After dinner we went back to the hotel and crashed since it was late and everyone was tired. The next day we woke up early and had an awesome breakfast at the hotel and left for our first real destination on the trip. We went to the Korea Tourism Organization in downtown Seoul as part of a press event for our trip. We went inside the KTO and were followed by reporters asking for interviews. Inside there was a lot of different areas that showcased dramas, music, and other aspects of Korean culture. Naturally we gravitated toward the Kpop area where there were TV's playing SNSD videos. There were lifesize cutouts of various stars like 2NE1 and SNSD members in addition to pictures on the wall and bronzed handprints of other idols. Lots of people were taking pictures with the cutouts. It was pretty crowded in there because it was a fairly small area for over a hundred people to be walking around with including press cameras.
After we checked out the inside we went back outside to have the press event. The president of the KTO, Charm Lee, gave a speech about Korean culture and how KTO wants everyone to know how special it is, and how Kpop specifically is a very important part of expanding awareness of Korea. He was a very nice guy and very passionate about Korea. After his speech the press interviewed a few people and had us all do SNSD's cheer for the cameras. They made a few people dance while we all sang SNSD songs too. Those Korean reporters, they love seeing foreigners dance Kpop songs so much.
Since we were already downtown, the next stop was literally just walking across the street to Cheonggye Stream. This is a man made stream in the heart of Seoul. As we were all walking around, press was still following us and got some of us to do some interviews. The stream itself was actually pretty cool, and they even had a crew scrubbing it to keep it clean. That also reminds me, Seoul is the cleanest city I've ever been in. There's no trash, anywhere. Seriously you could eat off the sidewalk it's so clean. Near the stream there is this sculpture of what can only be described as some kind of ice cream cone thing and then the Seoul mascot, Haechi.
Right down the main street of Seoul is Gyeongbok Palace, the biggest palace in Seoul, and was originally the center of the city many many hundreds of years ago. It was absolutely surreal to see this huge sprawling palace with all these old buildings right in the middle of this massive metropolis. We witnessed a changing of the guard when we arrived. They had a guy banging on this huge drum while guards walked in from the side and replaced the guards inside the first courtyard while they were playing these old horns. After that we continued inward toward the center of the palace. There were three huge gates before you got to the main throne building, but the palace itself continued on forever behind it. There were so many buildings that were used for living quarters of the King and the Queen(who slept in a separate building!) and the King's concubines. Our awesome tour guide Angela explained that the main job of the King was to produce a son and thus required a bunch of concubines who actually held significant power. Very interesting. There was a large field and a pond that had a resting area in the middle of it. There was also a huge building that served as a museum but we did not go in there. I was blown away by the sheer scale of the palace. Once you thought you reached the end it just kept on going.
We visited the ancient political center of Seoul, so naturally we had to visit the current political center. We went to see the Blue House, the Korean equivalent to our White House. You aren't allowed anywhere near it so we had to grab pictures from a designated picture taking spot that had a lot of guards around it. Next to the Blue House is a reception center for gatherings. This is the building without the blue roof. Also near the Blue House was a fountain memorial for separated families. Separation of families due to the separation of North and South Korea is actually a serious issue in the country, with many families never getting the chance to see each other since the split.
We had some free time after visiting the Blue House to get lunch and shop around. We were in the neighborhood of Insadong, and as we were all walking down the street we saw an Innisfree store. That is a big cosmetic brand in Korea and one of the members of SNSD, Yoona, endorses it. It was absolutely hilarious seeing everyone go into this store and clean them out of every single Yoona item they had. A lot of people got photocards, posters, and random cosmetic stuff. Innisfree was certainly smart to get Yoona to endorse their brand. Sones will buy anything that has SNSD on it, especially foreign sones who rarely have access to this stuff. Speaking of that, every single 7-11 we saw we went in to buy Vita500 because guess what, SNSD endorses it. This vitamin drink must have had a huge increase in sales for the week we were there. Everyone was trying to collect all the bottles because they had each individual member on them. The plus side, that drink is actually really good and I want some right now... Insadong was a cool shopping area with lots of different stores and restaurants. A group of us had lunch at this place called Rice Story and had delicious kimchi fried rice. After lunch we were walking back to our meetup spot(7-11 where everyone was buying Vita500) we got some fried red bean paste balls(I forget what they were actually called). They were the size of a donut hole and had a faint chocolate flavor, sooooo yummy.
The next stop was one of the most touristy things we did on the entire trip. No, it was definitely the most touristy. Went went to a place to learn how to make kimchi and try on traditional Korean costumes called hanbok. We had some ginseng milk while making the kimchi which was really good. Since I like to cook Korean food, making the kimchi was fun for me, but trying the hanbok on was just a bit too awkward for a tall white guy. The kimchi we made we donated to orphans instead of taking it with us. Having kimchi is like a right in Korea, so they needed it more than we did. There are even special kimchi refrigerators. It's served at every single meal. Certainly kimchi is something that Korea is famous for.
After that we went to Sinchon-dong which is an area where a lot of university students hang out. Ewha Women's University is in the area, and it was a very lively shopping area. There was an Innisfree so naturally it got cleaned out of the Yoona goods. This huge department store was in the area with a large courtyard in front of it. As we were walking back to Sinchon station to meetup for dinner we went by an Italian restaurant where part of a tv show called Running Man was filmed. We just completely stumbled upon it and some people in our group recognized it.
Our dinner was at a restaurant that is known for its samgyetang, which is ginseng chicken soup. It was really really good. It was very hot outside, and this soup was actually really refreshing due to the light flavor, even though the soup itself was served boiling hot.
Halfway through dinner our trip leader pulled three of us out to do an interview we had agreed earlier to do. The three of us went down the street to a cafe where we met with a few reporters from Chosun news, a respected news agency in Korea. We spent about 40 minutes there answering various questions on how we found out about Kpop and SNSD, how our life has changed because of SNSD, what we like about Korea, how we paid for the trip, what it's like actually being in Korea, things like that. I represented e-sports by telling the reporter that I found out about SNSD through watching Starcraft, and one of the reporters got all excited because she was a fan of the GSL.
After the Q&A session we went outside and the photographer had us sing and dance some SNSD songs(see I told you they love that stuff). It was pretty fun talking with the reporters after the Q&A. I was happy because one of them complimented me on my Korean pronunciation. In the press conference for the concert, SNSD member Yuri specifically stated that she read this particular news article and was very happy after seeing how they have touched foreign fans' lives and that we were now interested in Korean culture. This made me extremely happy to hear that she read about me and saw my picture. I cannot really describe that kind of feeling, knowing for a fact that Yuri actually read about me and saw my picture. As a fan, I don't think it could get much better than that outside of sitting down with them personally and talking to them.
The interview ended and we got in a taxi to quickly make it to our next schedule. Everyone else had already gotten to the venue and the three of us were very close to missing the show because of the interview. We went to see the Jump show. It's a kind of martial arts comedy play without much dialogue. It was actually hysterical. The story was of a family meeting a young man who was courting the daughter, but when you removed the guy's glasses he turned from this shy guy into a total badass who would fight anyone. Their was a pair of thieves who came into the house and fought with everyone. The uncle had a drunken boxing fighting style which was awesome to see in person, and he was so funny acting it out. The whole show was really entertaining with the fighting choreography and the comedy was seriously funny.
This incredibly busy day was officially over at this point as we got back to the hotel around 11pm. However a bunch of us decided to head out to Dongdaemun night market to check out some of the nightlife. We took a taxi there around 11:30pm and walked around for a bit in the market and also went into one of the department stores. These stores are huge, unlike any store I've been in, like 10 stories of clothes and stuff. You go in and haggle with the vendors over the price of stuff. It was SO much fun haggling with this guy as I bought a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I was conversing in my basic Korean and he in his basic English. It was pretty funny but we were both able to understand each other and the guy was super nice and friendly. I ended up knocking the price down by 40,000 won(~40 bucks). I caught back up with everyone outside and we got some street food. I got a fish cake, which is like this fish breadlike type thing on a stick smothered in sauce. Very yummy as a late night snack walking around the market. It started to rain pretty hard and it was impossible to find a taxi at 1am because so many people were hailing them down. We went inside one of the other department stores and our awesome trip leader treated us all to patbingsoo and a waffle covered in ice cream. Holy crap these desserts were good. The waffle was crispy on the outside and soooo soft on the inside, and the patbingsoo(shaved ice with red bean paste, fruit and ice cream) was delicious. We caught a cab back to the hotel after this around 2am. Dongdaemun night market was a highlight of the trip for me. So much fun hanging out with everyone late at night talking over dessert and street food.
That first full day in Seoul was so packed we were dead tired by the time we got back to the hotel. We woke up early again the next morning and headed out to Namsan Hanok Village, which has traditional Korean residences and buildings. It was really interesting to see all the old style architecture and how the buildings were laid out. Also interesting was learning why everyone sits on the floor over there. Back in the day the heating system was done by heating the floor, so people sat on the ground to stay warm. From the village you can see Namsan Tower as well.
Close to the village was Namsan Park. This was a nice park up on the mountain a bit pretty much right below Namsan Tower. You could see a lot of the city even though it was still hazy. If you watch any Korean dramas you'll notice the staircase here. It's been on a lot of them, and variety shows, too. It's pretty cool to see these places in person after you've seen them on TV.
After Namsan Park we went back down the mountain into the city to Namdaemun Market. This traditional market was so packed with people and vendors it was incredible. It was like a maze in there and you could easily get lost if you weren't paying attention. Just walking around was an experience. You would walk by some vendors and hear Kpop coming out of the stores. The smell of the street food was everywhere and made you want to stop all the time and eat everything you saw. As we were walking back to our meeting place a Korean ahjussi(older man) grabbed my arm and pointed at me saying "migook migook!" which means "America". It was hysterical. He had this big grin on his face. I told him that I was from America in Korean and he almost fell over and asked if I could speak Korean so I told him a little bit but I needed to go. He waved goodbye as I left. That ahjussi was awesome. It was kind of surreal being such an extreme minority there. White people are exotic in Korea. White people who can speak Korean are even more exotic apparently, considering how surprised every single Korean I met was when I spoke their language to them.
Next stop was Music Core at MBC studios in Islan about 30 minutes outside of Seoul. This was an awesome experience. I wrote all about it in the first blog linked up top, check it out if you haven't seen it yet.
After Music Core we headed back into Seoul to eat dinner. We went to this restaurant in Insadong and had a full course meal with side dishes. The main dish was haemultang which is spicy seafood soup. It was so delicious. There was crab clusters, mussels, clams, shrimp, everything in there. I accidentally bit into one of the peppers though, holy god in heaven was that thing hot. Some of the side dishes were bulgogi(delicious meat) and japchae(the clear brown noodles, SO good). After dinner we walked around and shopped for a little bit, hit up Innisfree for more Yoona goodies.
Having just stuffed ourselves on amazing Korean food and looking for something to do, we went to Myeongdong, one of the biggest shopping spots in Seoul. For our group, this was because of two stores, SPAO and Everysing, which conveniently are in the same building. We walked right there and spent our entire time in Myeongdong in that building. Luckily we got to see a lot of Myeongdong anyway because it was kind of halfway down the main street. I write all about these stores in the first Korea trip blog up top, read it! For now here are some pictures of Myeongdong. The Shinsegae department store is owned by Samsung. Samsung owns a LOT of stuff in Korea. It was so busy and crowded, but that is what makes the experience awesome. It was so lively seeing everyone shopping around at all the cool stores. Shopping at night in Seoul is one hell of a good time with all the people and street food.
We all went back to the hotel after Myeongdong. We had to rest up because the next day we would be going to the SNSD concert. We woke up early and in the morning we went to breakfast at this place near the Korean War museum. There were so many tanks and planes used in the war, it was incredible to see this stuff up close. My great aunt served in the Korean war so it was remarkable to see all this stuff in person. I can't even think of the stuff she must have seen.
After breakfast we went to the concert venue. Please read all about the concert in the first blog linked up top. I went into extreme detail. I almost want to write about it again just to relive it because it was so amazing.
Everyone was completely blown away by seeing SNSD live in concert. It was a magical experience that nobody will ever forget. We went to dinner right after the concert to this awesome Korean BBQ restaurant and had Korean style grilled duck. Oh my God this stuff was so good. I don't know how the Koreans do it, but their food is freaking amazing. You put the duck on the grill which is on every table and then when it's cooked you put it in a lettuce leaf with a bit of garlic and this red pepper sauce. It's spicy but delicious. I got our table a bottle of soju to celebrate the concert. We got Jinro soju(gotta represent e-sports, LiquidJinro fighting!). This stuff is cheaper than water, literally. 3,000 won for a bottle(~3 bucks) and it's maybe the equivalent of a bottle of wine in alcohol. It was really good. You pour it in a shot glass and sip it, or you can one shot it. The flavor of the soju meshed so well with the bbq. Coupled with the other tables drinking their soju and makgeolli and cooking the bbq, everyone was in such a great mood and having a fantastic time together drinking and eating as one big sone family after the concert.
The party continued back at the hotel where are our amazing trip leader(seriously, she was a complete and total boss) got us all a bunch of cakes to celebrate. She got a lot and after everyone had finished and gone to their rooms there were still a few of us in the lobby hanging out raving about the concert and she practically force fed us the rest of the cake. We sort of complained, but not really because it was damn good cake.
The next morning we woke up early and had a delicious breakfast at the hotel then left for Lotte World! This is an amusement park in Seoul that is half indoors and half outdoors, attached to the absolutely HUGE Lotte department store. It's an entire city block and maybe 15 stories high. Lotte World itself was actually a lot of fun. We went on some rollercoasters, some rides, one "Adventures of Sinbad" was a lot like Pirates of the Caribbean. We went on the Gyro Drop outside, and I wish I had time to take a picture from the top because you could see so much of the city from way up high, but the ride drops you unexpectedly. This little Korean girl next to me was so scared screaming the entire way up and down, but had the biggest grin on her face after the ride was over, it was so cute. In line for one of the rollercoasters, people had written stuff all over the walls. We spotted quite a few cheers for various Kpop idols. We made our mark though, letting everyone know we were there that day. Lotte World was a cool little fantasy land with the ice rink and various actors in costumes. There was a marching band playing Kpop songs on the stage as well. One of the traditions there is to wear headbands with bows, bunny ears, cat ears, or other cute things on them, and a ton of the girls were wearing them. Guys get dragged along by their girlfriends into doing it too. A few of us guys in our group played along with it, getting bows and bunny ear headbands to wear. When in Rome right?
After Lotte World we went to an area to learn a bit about Korean ginseng and what makes it so special. Apparently 6 year old ginseng is the best and you can only buy it in Korea since they don't export it, and it's ridiculously expensive. Then we went to KBS studios in Yeouido, which is in the financial area of Seoul. We went to the filming of a tv show called Immortal Song 2, which you can read all about in my first write up on the trip up top. We walked around for a bit in Yeouido before the filming started. It's a very nice area with restaurants all over the place.
Immortal Song was a blast and afterwards we went out to our last dinner together. We had bulgogi and it was delicious. Everyone was having a great time drinking soju and makgeolli(rice wine) and enjoying everyone's company on our last night. We had a few toasts to our tour guides and trip leaders and organizers, as well as to our girls in SNSD a few times. The party continued back at the hotel late into the night as we celebrated a successful and amazing experience in Korea together.
Our last day was upon us, and some of us wanted to make a last ditch attempt to find one special item that we couldn't get the other day when we went to SPAO. We all wanted a certain hat that was very rare because it's very popular, so we went back to Myeongdong early in the morning. Unfortunately we got there too early because SPAO didn't open until 11am and we needed to be back at the hotel by 11:30am to get on the bus to Incheon to make our flight. It was pretty funny because I was able to explain in Korean to the SPAO guy that we didn't have a lot of time and asked if he had the hat we were looking for, and he said they did. So we decided to take our chances and stay til SPAO opened and get our hats, and haul ass back to the hotel in a cab as fast as possible. We walked around Myeongdong for a bit and went into this music store to buy some albums. The nice ahjumma(older lady) was kind enough to give me a couple free posters for buying stuff in her store. This added to my quickly growing collection of SNSD goods after Intel gave us a ton of posters and DVDs and other stuff I bought and got for free from nice ahjummas and ahjussis throughout the trip. SPAO opened and we got the hats that they had in the back and got back to the hotel just in time to get on the bus. Mission successful. The hat in question is the 309 hat up front. Taeyeon is extremely popular and all of her stuff sells out ridiculously fast.
When we got back to the hotel we said our goodbyes to people who were staying longer and got on the bus to Incheon. At the airport we had one last meal together. The food in the international terminal was actually ridiculously good. I had been wanting naengmyun the entire trip and I finally got the chance to have it. It did not disappoint.
Our flight was actually shorter coming back, only 10 hours. I was sitting next to this Korean ahjussi along with a bunch of other people from our group. This guy actually recognized us from the news in Korea and he was a fan of SNSD too so we were all talking to him about the girls. He loves Yoona and Seohyun, not bad ahjussi, not bad. It was awesome, one to be recognized by some random guy on a plane, two that he was a fan of our girls. It's true, SNSD is the nation's girl group. They are national treasures and extremely important to Korea.
Once we reached San Francisco the group of us still together said our goodbyes and went to our respective gates. This group of people on this trip, were some of the most amazing people I've ever met. We all had instant connections and became friends almost immediately. Over the course of our week together in Korea we became friends that continue to talk to each other almost every day now. Going to Korea with Soshified was one of the best decisions I've ever made, and to think how close I was to not going, I would have regretted it more than anything. Sones are amazing people, from all walks of life, all ages, genders, nationalities. And yet everyone is the same, we all love our girls. Visiting Korea would not have been half as fun were it not for the amazing people that joined me.
Korea is an absolutely amazing country. The people were incredibly nice and welcoming. The food was some of the best I've ever had, in any country. The sights, the smells, the sounds of Seoul were truly unique. Seoul is without a doubt the single greatest city on the planet. If I could go back right now, I would. Since I've gotten back I've had actual withdrawal, and actual depression because I wasn't in Korea anymore. I've done a lot of traveling to a lot of very cool places and I've never felt that way. Most other people who went on this trip say the exact same thing. Seoul is magical. If you ever get the chance to go, you must. You will never want to leave.
