Next up on the neighbourhood challenge was Hongdae. Now you'd think a neighbourhood known for night clubs and indie-youth-culture was not for us, but it is supposed to be hip and artsy - and we have hips and like art so off we went. Indeed there is sort of a student vibe, but as it was winter and daytime we didn't see many of the young and free enjoying the food stalls, dessert stands and retro clothing stores. The Free and Hope art/craft market was not running and the ice-bar was less of a curiosity when we were already in snowsuits. We did notice many hat and boot stalls and many people wearing hats and boots (the young are favouring the large pom-pom and the furry suede these days), and Western-influenced consumer and dining options (we ate Mexican and considered the pink leather parka in Gangsta clothing). Mostly interesting, however, were the cafes designed to cater to the student set. There were DVD bangs - private rooms where you can watch movies and snog, Gaming bangs (play video games - maybe snog?) and princess cafes for the young female students with no-one to snog to have some "YOU TIME" and sip from china cups in pink floral comfort. Ann House, shown top (billboard on bottom left) is situated underneath videobang PLAY, for the complexly layered princesses. We left the university neighbourhood, like so many young women do, via wedding dress lane, and went to find some more family-friendly-fun.So here is World Cu
p Park, where, much to our surprise, we found families doing their best to eek as much snow-day fun as possible out of what, to we Canadians, seemed to be a very faint dusting of snow indeed. There was a large tubing hill where families queued for hours to go down an almost snow-free slope holding onto one another. There were many daddies pulling their kids around a snowy field on improvised toboggans (I saw cardboard boxes, picnic blankets, plastic-wrapped couch cushions, car mats, and windshield sun shades). We looked at many snowmen (they seem to favour those with pointy hats - and use more of a sand-castle building technique since it wasn't packing snow) and we built a very tiny one of our own (right centre beside Brian and Jamie at the pecuter). It was cold; the road up the mountain for "spectacular views of the city" was closed; but we drank hot chocolate and Jamie had a bit of winter fun. There was very little traffic (the long line of cars at the bottom centre is the line to get into World Cup Stadium Home Plus, a grocery/department store owned by Tesco which is one of the most coveted grocery destinations in Seoul - they really like to line up to park at grocery stores here). We drove home quickly, spent some time at the local automatic car wash (they hand-dry your car, and two men open your doors at the end and vacuum the carpets beneath your feet - Jamie was quite surprised), ordered pizza (dishwasher is still kaput) and snuggled the young off to bed. Now we will spend Saturday night drinking tea, folding laundry, and watching American TV - take that you hip and artsy indie-clubbers!
