Hondae

About 9 minutes walk from the shiny bars, restaurants, DVD and PC bangs and 4 to 8 story buildings and bright neon of Shinchon is the far more understated ‘Hondae’.

Filled with tiny espresso and wine bars, excellent exhibition spaces and an equal amount of sidewalk restaurants and street food stalls, the streets that peel off from the main drags are full of these places that are instantly affordable, relaxed and groovy.

Iri Cafe

There are also many streets of clothes and tshirt shops as well as the ubiquitous ‘market’ (junk) fare I feel confident comes from the same suppliers as the QV Markets. I’m a little disappointed in the t-shirt situation though. I’ve seen millions of t-shirts with smart ass writing – my fave is a picture of a gnarly cat staring at you with the caption “If you want a friend… get a dog.” – but people here I think are so in love with the exoticness of the English language that I’ve not seen Korean hangul on a single t-shirt.

Exhibition & Street Art:

I recently saw an article in the Sydney Morning Herald outlining the 100 most expensive cities on the globe and Seoul came in second. I can only assume they weren’t spending much time in these districts. Cheapest Vs cheapest, this place is on an equal footing to Melbourne, if anything slightly cheaper.

A friend recently took me on an ‘exhibition crawl” through some of Hondae’s best galleries; click the screen-grab below to see a short video summary of my favourite at Zandari Gallery.

City Hall

This is where I watched Australia Vs Brazil.

This is where I watched Korea Vs France. Click on it to see more.

Shinchon

I’ve moved into a hasook in Shinchon.

1) A hasook is a block of apartments (medium sized rooms) where the landlord cooks you breakfast and dinner all inclusive. Still can’t quite face kimchi at 7:30am yet, though.

2) Sinchon is unreal. It sorta encompasses the Shinchon, Hongik and Hondae Districts. There’s hundreds of cafes, bars, restaurants, pubs, as well as independent & second hand clothes stores, coffee houses (mainly Hongik/Hondae), clubs, band venues, you understand by now. A really convivial, carnivale-esque vibration. I was out the other night and there’s people everywhere. A couple were playing badminton in the city centre. It’s a great district and I will post some photos and even a short virtual wander through in a week or so.

My place is about 150 metres away from the nucleus of Shinchon. Which is perfect, because even though you can see everything just down the road, up here feels like a little quiet block.

I just got back from the local milk bar. I bought another icecream and sat nearby to a couple of locals – the milk bar owner having a break and perhaps his mother. They’re just sitting watching people pass. They invited me to sit in between them, which I did, and I started reading aloud the Korean signs around us… Only she insisted reading them before I get a chance to finish. How am I supposed to learn the language like that!

We sat back and watched people pass, it was a balmy but not uncomfortable evening.

Tonight I’m heading out to City Hall at 4am to watch Korea crush France. Right after we have beaten Brazil(!?) Weird, huh? Me and sport. Even bought a t-shirt for the night. But between Australia going mad with soccer, Korea fucking insane with it, and watching the last game when Korea beat Tago and finding myself yelling at the top of my voice as Korea won each goal – I think I’ve been swept up in the soccer tidal wave with everyone else.

Too Much

The city is overwhelming. The size of the city. Another city around each corner. All of those mulit-storey neon-light-streets postcards coming to life right in front of you in every direction for as long as you walk. Awesome, but initially just too much. Not knowing where to start or where to go breeds anxiousness, then irritation, then depression. Flat.

Then you let go.

Seoul is just awesome. All of the small things and all the big things. A mega metropolis of 10.7 million people. Asia’s best kept secret. Millions of groups of people out every night, smiling, laughing, walking amongst the neon, bars 2 levels below ground and eight storeys above, restaurants whose tables spill onto the road, diners having their menu choices cooked for them at their table, clusters of Seoulites crowded around street vendors selling fried snacks. Scooters and cars edging past one another, pedestrians instinctively moving out of the way at the last moment without even looking, teenagers watching movies on their hand-held devices walking through the subway as they pass elderly women selling rinsed lettuce leaves on large tea-towels. A city so massive but with pockets of personal and intimacy everywhere you look.

It’s such an amazing energy, it’s intoxicating.

People always go on about how great Asian food is. Here’s an example: We went to a local cafe in the Hongik district. I ordered Mackerel, my friend ordered congee. Which we got… along with 11 other dishes. Small bowls, each a different condiment, each exquisite. And mine cost W5000 ($7). 

And the condiments aren’t exclusive to meals. You almost won’t need dinner when you order a beer; the condiments don’t stop! And different wherever you go: once I got prawn flavour stick-chips, another time a 3-part bowl of stringy white squid chew things, coconut chili peanuts and sweet seaweed sticks, but my favourite was at an art space bar: With my beer, I was served 4 sao crackers and 6 piping hot steamed green beans, all neatly arranged in a line.

Other fave things about Seoul: vending machines for toiletries, others for 45cent coffee (didn’t taste that one); motorcyclists who ride with their phone sticking out of their helmet so they can still talk while riding; icecreams at milk bars are 70 cents; bars with names like ‘Beatles’, ‘The Doors’, ‘The Velvet Underground’ and ‘Judas and Slayer’; and my favourite bar in Sinchon: it’s underground, a cat and its kitten are usually sauntering up and down the bar, you have to get your beer from the fridge and open it with a bottle opener yourself, and the guy always plays cool music – he even played “A Ghost Devotion”!

Thai

Before I get started, just wanted to say if you get the chance to fly Thai do it. Heaps of legroom; satay fish & bok choy with rice; but the BEST thing – was my remote control.

Although my outstretched arm passed the tv, with my remote control I could choose from 50 movies, 40 tv shows, stop and rewind fast fwd anytime; turn it horizontally and I could play one of 50 games (including old skool Game&Watch), learn a new language with voice examples, and best of all I could turn it on its side, swipe my visa card and call you as I glide 11 kms over the serenity of Ayers Rock, or the gunfire in Dili. See it here.