November 3rd, 2022

Day 3

I am meeting my friend Kihyun and my old friend Martin today, so there really isn’t much exploring for me on Day 3.

Me and Martin go way back to high school. We were both international students back in Dalian Maple Leaf International School, and we shared a dorm room together for around 2 weeks until he moved out of campus for better living arrangements. Really, anywhere that’s not on Maple Leaf’s campus is a better living space, but I digress. Since Martin is still a college student, we could only meet until 7 o’clock in the evening. He will be taking the metro from Suwon to Hongdae, which was super far away. I love this dude.

On Day 2, me and Kihyun planned on meeting at 11 AM in Gangnam area of Seoul, but she changed it to 2 PM. We both had appointments at around 1 PM so that was totally fine. However, that left my lunch time open, which I did not know what to do with. Lucky for me, my Uncle John Chen’s nephew, JJ, texted me and said we should meet. I was more than happy to comply. I left JJ with the duties of finding a good restaurant for lunch, and I went and grabbed breakfast.

This is the part of town that my hotel is at. It’s really just at like the most basic Korean normal life part of town. I love it.

Since I did not want to find a new breakfast place, I just walked to Isaac Toast that’s 10 minutes away from my hotel again. This time though, I ordered the most expensive toast because I just wanted to see how the most expensive fares against the middle of the pack that I ordered the day before. I mean there’s more stuff, but they basically tasted the same. However, I would still take this over generic hotel food any day.

After finishing my breakfast, I checked up on my second PCR appointment, and had a brief panic attack when I discovered that contrary to what I thought, the testing facility is located in Gangnam, not Myeongdong, where I live. That means google maps lied to me. That means instead of a 20 minute cab drive, it now takes 40 minutes to get to my second appointment. After realizing Kihyun wanted to meet in Gangnam too, my plan sort of went together without me noticing. That’s when I told JJ to find a good restaurant in Gangnam, and he gave me an address in a split second. That’s how I ended up in this restaurant named “Schedule”.

Restaurant information:

스케줄 (Schedule)

Address: 37, Seolleung-ro 152-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul

Address in Korean: 서울특별시 강남구 선릉로 152길 10, 4층

Gangnam area of Seoul seems to be an area that’s full of rich people. Normally in the streets I can see 1-2 German cars occasionally, but here, I almost don’t see Korean cars. That makes life easier for me as a German car enthusiast. I saw 2 G wagons while I was in this street. This street is narrow too, and cars often block it, so it often gets stuck for 10+ minutes.

I arrived earlier than JJ, and I was waiting for him. Since he only sent me an address, I did not know what restaurant he is taking me to. I did not expect a western style restaurant at all, but he chose the best restaurant in Gangnam, which happens to be a western restaurant. Life is ironic like that sometimes. After he got there, some idiot has already jammed the opposite lane so no one gets through. I stood there waiting for JJ’s car to pass through for 5 minutes.

After he finally got out of the traffic, he passed his keys to the valet, which probably means this is a fancy restaurant. We went into the restaurant, and since I do not have what it takes to actually order at a new restaurant that I have no prior experience with, I tasked JJ with ordering. Here is a picture of what he ordered.

The restaurant is really well decorated. As someone whose family works in the marble industry, seeing marble being used on a table makes me happy. I thought the food would be super expensive, but it was not. The most expensive dish was 45,000 KRW, which based on the currency of that day, is around 32 USD. When was the last time you saw something so cheap in a fancy restaurant in the US.

The restaurant also didn’t need reservation. We arrived between 12:00 to 12:30, and the restaurant was half empty. JJ wanted to book the restaurant right across the street, but that one was full. The food here is fine, and it is Korean styled western cuisine. Heck, it even has Kimchi fried rice as an option. You eat everything with picked radish. It was awesome.

After lunch, JJ volunteered to drive me to my PCR appointment. He drove me in his fancy BMW 420i, which was around 80,000 USD. I was extremely surprised, because in the US, the same car (430i) costs only around $42,000. That’s when it occurred to me that Korea charges import duties of 100%, which kinda sucks, but hey, their country is too small to fit too many cars.

Appointment information:

Ewha Medical Center (이화의원)

Address: 1228-6, Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Address in Korean: 서울특별시 강남구 논현로52 | 서울특별시 강남구 개포동 1228-6

13:30 PM

Price: 65000 KRW, or $46.28

Website: http://home.ewhalab.co.kr/

JJ told me that in Korea, they have 2 addresses for everything because the government tried to reform all the addresses. That didn’t end well, so everywhere in Korea has 2 addresses. You can just pick one and put it into your preferred navigation app.

You don’t early need an appointment to get tested here, this place is less busy than the first testing facility I visited. Everyone there speaks Chinese, so that’s how you know why it is a Chinese embassy certified PCR testing facility.

When you get in, there will be a woman behind glass right by the entrance. Ignore her, and go straight downstairs. That woman barked at me when I didn’t understand Korean, and yelled “go downstairs” in English. I am guessing she is Chinese too, and doesn’t really like her job. When you go downstairs, line up, pay for your test, get a test tube, go upstairs again and hand it to that woman. She will jab your throat and nose, and she will gesture you to move along.

She was the only person to yell at me in Korea. Lol.

This testing facility is 3 times more expensive than the first one I visited. I am guessing that this is the power that the Chinese embassy granted them.

After the test, it was my time to meet with Kihyun. I got into a Korean Cafe called “The Twosome Place” to wait for her. It is a chain in Korea, and they too offer you the option to either dine-in or to-go. Kihyun showed up right after I placed my order, and I asked her to tell the barista to make it to-go. Since I didn’t ride on the metro at all, she decided to take me to the area surrounding Gyeongbokgung on the metro.

I thought she was going to show me how to navigate the stupid menu of the metro’s one-time purchasing screen, but she just took me to a convenience store to buy a T-Money card. You can choose what your T-Money card looks like, and you can use it anywhere that’s related to traffic. For example, you can pay taxi fares with it, or the metro and the bus. It is really convenient if you know what to do with it.

I suggested we just take taxis to our destination, and we arrived at an area that’s very close to Gyeongbokgung. This is the best part of touring a foreign country without being a part of a group. You can see stuff that normal tourists don’t. Since I was with Kihyun, I did not take pictures along the way, but it was really a beautiful part of Korea I’ve got to experience.

We walked around town, and after me getting a bit hungry, Kihyun took me to a traditional Korean noodle house.

Restaurant information:

Hwangsaengga Kalguksu (황생가칼국수) [Hwangsaengga Noodles]

Address: 78 Bukchon-ro 5-gil, Sogyeok-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Address in Korean: 서울특별시 용산구 한강로 3가 16-58 1313호

Before this day, I never knew Korea had noodles that’s actually warm. I also didn’t know Korea has dumplings as well. Korean dumplings are a lot bigger than Chinese dumplings, and they look to be steamed rather than boiled, which doesn’t make them very watery. They are very delicious. The noodles tasted a lot like what my hometown would make. Both the noodles and the dumplings are very mild, and that’s why I like them.

While we were walking around before eating, Kihyun showed me the photo booths are becoming popular in Korea again. I remember those being popular in China when I was a little kid, and didn’t see them a lot afterwards. That seemed fun, so after we ate, we went to a photo booth and took the instant pictures. The photo booth we went to is quite different, as it allows you to take 8 pictures and choose 4. After we chose 4, it printed 2 sets of these 4 pictures. Me and Kihyun each took one.

Martin told me he wants to take his girlfriend to meet me, because his girlfriend wants to meet me. I don’t know why. But, I don’t want to be going alone when I am about to dine with a couple, so I asked Kihyun if she wants to come with. Kihyun said yes. She’s such a good friend. I brought Martin gifts from the US, and apparently Koreans really like fashion wear that shows locality and beef jerky. That’s why I bought him a UCLA sleeveless hoodie that is also Air Jordan, and Costco bought beef jerky.

Kihyun told me not only does Korea have Costco, it also has beef jerky. Nice job, Brian. Also, I forgot to bring it with me to Gangnam, so I had to go back to my hotel to get it, with Kihyun. Nice job, again, Brian.

We took the metro to the right way and grabbed my gift to Martin, and we took a cab to Hongdae. The traffic was very congested, and it took us 40 minutes to get there. Martin waited for us for a while. When we finally saw each other tho, we were really excited. After all, we haven’t seen each other in five years, and he was my best friend all throughout high school.

Martin’s girlfriend is called Maya, and she is from France. She is the first French person I have ever met. She is also majored in international relations, so we had a lot to talk about. We first went to a coffee shop to get coffee. I was still fighting with jet lag, and I was dying then. I needed caffein.

Restaurant information:

Mega Coffee (메가커피 홍대입구역점)

Address: 48 Hongik-ro 6-gil, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Address in Korean: it’s a chain, just search for their name for the closest one

This is just a random coffee place we went to for me to get caffeinated, and we sat there for like 20 minutes. Since me and Kihyun ate something beforehand, we were not hungry at all. That’s when Martin suggested that we get Malatang, a kind of Chinese street food that is very popular with Korean students. Since I am not going to eat anyways, we went there to talk.

Restaurant information:

Meet Constellation Malatang (별자리마라탕&훠궈 무한리필 홍대점)

Address: 50, Wausan-ro 23-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul

Address in Korean: 마포구 서교동 346-36 지하1층

If you plan on just visiting Seoul, then yes, try this, because this is a very popular Chinese street food if you are not going to China. For those of you that are trying to transfer through Seoul, you can also have it here, it’s just better story wise to have it in China. Martin seems to be enjoying it, and he’s had Malatang back in China, so that’s how you know it’s good.

Since Kihyun is a girl, and her family is strict, so she has a curfew. I walked her to the metro station, hugged goodbye, and returned to Martin.

We’ve talked for a while, and when it’s late, we went to another photo booth in Hongdae and took a picture. We ordered the 4 pictures combo, we each took one, and we left one at the photo booth and taped it onto the light.

We hugged goodbye, and I took a cab ride back to my hotel.