Signs were clearly marked for the trains and I was feeling quite confident. Upon reaching two opposing escalators, the signs became misleading and I wasn’t sure if both led to the same tracks. I took my chances and went down one knowing that I could always go back up if it was the wrong way.
I noticed a lady aware of my confusion before heading down and once I had reached the tracks, her son was waiting to ask me if I needed help. She didn’t speak any English but her sons and husband spoke a bit. We chitchatted while waiting for the train; they were quite curious about why I was there. The husband eventually asked me which son I thought was more handsome and I could only politely answer that I thought both were. Although they got off the train before I did, the wife made sure to point to my stop on the tiny lit map above the exit doors so that things were very clear.
I reached my stop and followed the instructions given to me by the hostel I was staying at which told me to go out exit number two. The problem with that was that there was a yellow square with a two inside of it as well as a green circle with a two inside of it; they headed in opposite directions. I went towards the square and then towards the circle and then back towards the square before stopping to see if I could find someone working for the train. Apparently that wasn’t necessary as a young guy approached me immediately to offer help. He told me a few important things about the trains while walking me exactly where I needed to be. Fantastic! I was quickly becoming very impressed by the niceness I was receiving from the people of Korea.
The hostel was called Hongdae Guest House and it was recommended by an acquaintance. It was only OK in my opinion. The window of my room sat above a very busy road and the hum of traffic was constant. There was no common room so it wasn’t easy to meet others, only the ones staying in the same room. There were a lot of young guys staying in my room who seemed to be partying it up into the wee hours of the morning. They weren’t very considerate of the few that weren’t partaking. I lacked in sleep over the three nights and decided that may be my last time doing the hostel thing. The price was right, however, at only 20,000KSW per night and so was the location; it was situated perfectly.
It was early evening by the time I reached the hostel on day one and I wasn’t up for doing much due to the fact that the night before consisted of a staff party at an all-you-can BBQ and beer place and I was just recovering from my hangover. I went to a night market up the road and wandered around looking for a place to eat. I ended up with a big Japanese beer (3,700KSW) and a Turkish Donar Kebab (5,000KSW) to go and both hit the spot. I spent some time studying the map of the city and searching the Internet making plans for the following day which I knew would be a busy one; and that it was. There’s a new album on the right although my pictures do not overly impress me this time around.
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