Recovery Day

Hate to bore you with a recap post... but I'm gonna.

I feel like I've been running a marathon for the past 24 hours. But it was worth it. It was the type of Saturday night/Sunday morning you can't replicate in the USA. Let me give you the play-by-play:

-Mahya, Iwona and I met Erik at 7:30pm in Sinchon (not to be confused with Sincheon or Sinchang or Sinchon-dong!) for an English-speaking meet 'n greet at the Double Double Pub. 15,000 won, and all-you-can-drink beer. The place got packed pretty quickly, and the general mood of the place was "OMG you speak English? Me too! Gimme your phone number and we'll get drinks sometime!" I collected like six numbers from various individiuals. I definitely plan on hanging out with John and Fernando; they were a couple of moderately awesome Korean dudes.

-Iwona and I left mid-party at 9pm to get some real dinner. We found a Dwejji Galbi (marinated pork barbecue, ridiculously nom nom) restaurant that was 2,500 won a person! Tasted great, and an incredible price. Definitely going back.

-I invited my old co-worker Bryston to the meet 'n greet. He comes at 10pm with his friend Eric. They'll stick with us all night. I've really missed that guy, and I'm grateful to have him back in my life. Is that gay? Probably.

-The Sinchon party ends, and the 8 of us --including some new friends we met at the party-- cab it over 5 minutes to Hongdae. Laura Ann subways up from Anyang and meets us there. Hongdae is the university area where I spend most of my weekend time. You'll hear plenty about Hongdae from me in the coming months. Clubs and restaurants everywhere, and a good portion of the people there don't suck. Here's where it gets blurry...

11:45 - Club 500 - Trance club designed like an adobe kiva. Their "nachos" were tortilla chips with Kraft American Singles torn into pieces on them. Not even melted. Drinks be spensive!

12:45 - Ska 2 - Sucked. Ska 1 is better.

12:50 - Club Voldemort - it used to have a name when I was here a couple years ago, but now it's a new club without any signs. It's underground, small and intimate. Cheap drinks and good dance music. Henceforth I call it Club Voldemort, the club which shall not be named.

2:00 - Club Oi - Kind of like Club 500, but designed like an igloo and they were playing crappy salsa music.

3:00 - GoGo's - the bar above FF; plays great music but it's crowded and has a high concentration of dipshits and drunkasses.

4:30 - Club FF - The place I usually end up, and the place where I'm trying to get some DJ work. It's not quite as cool as it used to be in 2007, but it's still my favorite, especially after 1:00 when it's dancey time. Eddie picks good music when he DJs.

6:00 - Go outside to see the sun is up, get a chicken kebab from a couple of Pakistanis, and I talk to them about the son of Benazir Bhutto. They say he isn't ready, and they're loyal to Sharif. I'd say they're fucking retarded, but they're the Pakistanis and I'm not, so I guess they know more than me. Nevertheless, they were impressed with my drunken knowledge of international politics.

6:30 - The subway is finally open again! Much better to stay out til 6:30am and take the subway for 1,200 won instead of dropping 30,000 won on a long cab ride. So we start the trek to the subway station. At this point, we've lost our friends one by one along the way. It's down to me, Iwona, Laura Ann, and her new friend Albert. Albert's cool. And Mexican. After a few drunk piggyback races down the barren, littered streets of Hongdae, we lose Albert and Laura Ann, too. Iwona and I decide we're hungry, and I know a good brunch place in Itaewon. We grab a cab there, only to find it doesn't open til 9am. We're already there, so why not wait? Little did we realize how long a three-hour wait would be. We found a dirty stairwell and sat down. Thirty seconds later I'm passed out asleep.

8:00am - I woke up on the stairs an hour and a half later. Still another hour til breakfast opens. I was in pretty rough shape. Fuck this noise, let's go home.

9:00am - Fell asleep again on the subway. I had to be poked awake by some Korean strangers when the train hit its last stop. Finally home, I stumble out of the Indeogwon subway station. I don't remember going to bed, but I wake up at 3pm in my clothes and shoes. Leftover pizza and the latest episode of Lost, these were my only accomplishments today.

I certainly won't be doing this type of thing on a regular basis. I doubt I'll even go up to Seoul next weekend. I can't afford it and my body can't handle that abuse. But every once in a while, it's nice to go out in a big way. Snoop Dogg partied til 6 in the mornin', why can't I?