"Shit whats that noise?"
"It's something on the bridge"
Everybody looks up and is momentarily frozen as we pass under the bridge that supports the subway. The noise is incredible as 20 plus cars clatter across the railway tracks directly above us. I scream out with excitement and joy. It's not everyday you sail under a bridge with 1000's of tonnes of train screaming along it while on a cruise boat along the Han River in Seoul.
Photo from
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Seoul-Han.River-Yeoido-Bridge-01.jpg
Photo from
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/cms/resource/07/216207_image2_1.jpg
In saying that it's not been an average day in Korea either. Infact for the majority of the day I've felt like I've been transported back to home, well home with a load of Americans and crazy Irish men.
It is after all March the 17th and that means its St Paddys day and there was no way that I was going to let the fact that I live in Korea stop me from celebrating this festive occasion.
My fellow kiwis were keen to join me in celebrating so they traveled to my place in Gangnam. First mission was to pick up a mattress for Rob to sleep on so we jumped in a taxi and asked the driver to take us to Emart. I was so excited, it was my first time to visit the store that claims to be a supermarket, plus clothes mart, plus everything else you need mart! And blow me was it amazing.
Bedroll $5.00, beer cheap as! The hugest pizza I had ever seen for $11.00 and we were on our way back to my apartment to get ready for a mean day out!
This pic does not do it justice, it was massive
Kiwi Rob with his kiwi beer that was only $3.
Us all greened up, with our home made stickers ready to hit the festivities.
(Cass, Korean beer which you can get at the supermarket for $3.60 for 2 liters!)
We had heard that there was a huge festival happening across town so we braved the subways and soon arrived at our destination, Sindorim. One of Seoul’s most popular and widely participated cultural events will continue to be hosted in the city – it wouldn’t be March if Ireland’s national day, Saint Patrick’s Day, wasn’t being celebrated.
Yep drinking in public is accepted here!
Subway was packed and a hot sweaty mess. I was lucky to grab a seat but soon regretted it as I realised the seat was heated and I was sweating up a storm.
We arrived in Sindorim and what we saw literally took my breathe away. 100's of foreigners, white people, talking English and doing things that only Westerners do! It felt like I had been transported home, up until now I had only seen a sprinkling of my kind through the city of Seoul. It felt weird for a few minutes but it also felt great that no longer was I the different one, no longer was I the one that was stared at.
We found a place in the packed outdoor stadium and begun to laugh and drink and people watch and talk to new people while watching Korean bands play Irish songs and drunk westerners Irish dancing. The atmosphere was alive with happiness and good spirited fun and we did the right Irish thing and drunk the afternoon away.
We reluctantly left the festivities at 4.30 because we had a boat to catch in an hour and at $60 a ticket we didn't want to miss it.
Riding the subway and transferring between lines while you are quite rightly intoxicated is hilarious! It is just so freaking busy here that it felt like I was swimming through a sea of people. Had to down a bottle of water before we walked to the docks to board our St Paddys day booze cruise!
On the way down by the river we found some interesting sculptures.
I bet in summer this place is beautiful.
The rest of the night was wonderful cruising down the Han river on a boat full to capacity with 600 people. Free beer all night. $2 spirits and a pig on the spit.
A night spent drinking and being merry with new friends was a perfect way to spend St Paddy's I guess it could only have been better if my NZ friends and family had joined us to.
Oh and did I mention the green beer! It was disgusting lol
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