The Road to 40 Day 169/365: Seoul Leg two, Day One

The gang arrived today in Seoul, which meant it’s going to be a bigger party now in Seoul.

For the first time in this trip, we were able to avail of the hotel breakfast as Vino got up before 10am and we didn’t have anything planned out for the day. It was check out day, as we were going to move to a different hotel with the guys.

They arrived early in the morning, but could not check in to the hotel just yet. We decided to take it slow in the morning and check out the mall nearby while passing time.

Vino had been asking when Neo would come and when we would meet them at least 10 times per day, and this day was no exception. Thankfully, we were actually finally going to meet them this day.

There were a lot of protests going on, which made traffic a bit bad. From what we gather, at least one of them was clamoring for China and US to be out.

Upon arriving at the hotel, Vino and Neo met up and immediately played as their rowdy selves. They are the closest in age in this group, and over the past couple of years, they found common interests in Roblox and whatnot, so they have enjoyed playing with each other online and in person.

We have plenty of bags, so Che decided it would be best to take out the clothes we’re going to wear for the next few days. Again, the best wasy to do this is to support Che on how she wants to get it done.

It was Kali’s birthday, so we reserved a table at a nearby restaurant that offered meat. For our first meal together, we had elevated Korean BBQ with local beef.

For the first timers, they appreciated the authentic banchan. Apparently, some of it don’t taste the same in the Philippines so they had apprehensions trying it at first.

I didn’t see myself traveling to different places when I was younger, but now that I have, I appreciate the opportunity of tasting food from where they are originally made. This way, we get to taste food as it was originally intended to taste.
After eating, we put the kids back in the room for a nightcap. We had a chicken and beer place right downstairs, so it felt ok to leave the kids in the room.

There was a table for eight, but we preferred to drink outside in the cold for a full experience.

The kids had their gadgets on, but when I went up to the room, it looked like a warzone because of how they played.

Downstairs, the Korean chicken was another revelation. It’s weird because it’s fried chicken, and it should be easily replicated. However, it just hits different here.

We had soju, beer, and chicken, as if we didn’t have dinner yet. It paired so well though.

We talked about getting hangover soup, and initially, Che was asking me not to walk anymore since it’s just the first day. However, they ultimately just joined in and walked with us. She led us to a tent bar near the train station that was managed by a lone ahjumma.

The plan was to have ramen, but we ordered quite a bit, including pork rinds and fish cake soup. The ahjumma was very pleased with us, and we were her only customers at that time.

It turned out to be round two as we had some soju there as well. The pork rinds were a bit too fatty for our tastes, so we decided not to finish it. But the ahjumma worked hard on it, so I suggested we take it out and dispose it elsewhere.

We got back to the hotel at around 11pm, which felt a little early because it’s still just 10pm in the PH and SG. The PH delegates barely had sleep from their flight here, so most of them were understandably tired.

However, Lia, the “youngest” among the adults, proposed that we still drink.

Prior to this trip, I noted that we should have time for naps, but she said “sleep is for the weak.” Hence, I made it my mission to make sure she sleeps before me, or she would not get sleep when I’m around.
Of course, I had to go with round three with her and whoever was still willing.

We had a few bottles of cheongha and soju and drank the night away with personal conversations.

Arianne and I finished at around 4am, making her awake for almost more than 24 hours. It’s just the first day, but we started hard, so we’ll see how day two turns out with all the energy they spent today.