The Booze Cupboard

After a moderately tiring week, we decided to check out our "local" last night! We walk past this place every day, as it's literally the only other doorway between our apartment and the school. It really is quite lucky, the only place closer to us than our work, is a pub. Superb. Well, this place always looked very bizarre, and it seemed so tiny we assumed it snaked back into the darkness once inside.

We first went for a successful Chinese meal (although we are still having to "cheat" a bit, pointing to a bit of paper on which our boss wrote the Hanguel for various dishes!), which consisted of rice, vegetables, beef in black bean sauce, Korean Kimchi and spicy soup. It was all delicious, cost the equivalent of a measly £2 each, and really fills you up!

Our local boozer did not turn out to have a Doctor Who Tardis quality, and was instead a ridiculously snug affair, seating a maximum of 16 people tightly together with no standing room. These "Hofs" are everywhere and are in-keeping with the reputations Koreans have for being hardened drinkers. Unlike the bigger, slightly more civilised proper bars that are around, the function of these Beer Hofs seem to be to get smashed, and to get smashed cheap. Fortunately, despite being around 8ft wide and 15ft long, it's got a really nice ambience to it, with funky oriental beams, lots of little lights, and decorative Soju cap sculptures adorning the ceiling and walls. Also, the 2 women that run it seem cool, and kept us well stocked in free popcorn and monkey nuts, while cooking fried squid and god knows what else for the seasoned regulars coming and going. Lynne was convinced the place was rocking from side to side, even before a sip of beer, and it's already got to the point here where I wouldn't be surprised if it was! Although it's more likely it was claustrophobia! When we left, we were only charged for the one pitcher of beer, and it seemed that the woman was giving us sign language for "The rest was free". These Korean people sure are nice! (*Note: 4 pint pitcher is only 7000 Won anyway, £4....good good)

Another weird thing about the pubs in Korea, is that precious few have toilets in them! When you are out drinking and need to break the seal, you have to exit the pub, go along the road to an open door, and there is always a toilet on the ground floor. See, it's hard to explain, but rather than a row of obvious shop fronts and doors, you usually have an opening which leads to stairs or a lift that carry you up (or down) to various shops, business', and markets. So instead of scanning along a street to look at available shops, you have to look upwards at all the signs on each floor level. Hence the fantastic neon covered buildings lining each street!

I laughed as I relieved myself alongside a drunken Korean, as he ably summed up why Korean men have another reputation, of being fairly disgusting! Although this was a very minor show of filth, it was still entertaining to here him let absolute rippers fly for the duration of his pee, not wash his hands, then snort repeatedly, and loud enough to shake the foundations of the block. Maybe that's when Lynne felt the pub rocking about! (Speaking of which, we were on a bus and a Soju'd up man started shouting to get off. As soon as he did, his wanger was out in full view of the street before the bus had even pulled away, and he gave the bushes a little water. It was only 6pm! Dirty beast!).

Anyway, I'm just pleased to find we have such a bizarre but cool local pub. I'm gonna get pished and attempt some fried squid quite soon no doubt. We need to learn Korean to tell them to stop putting on western music for our benefit, cos this time it was clearly The Gayest Ballads in the World Volume 10 or something. A nice thought on their part of course though.

Off to see our first slice of old Korea on Saturday, a massive palace complex called Gyeongbokgung in Seoul, and hopefully catch the changing of the guard and take some nice pictures.

Later!