My friend’s birthday happens to be the same day as the Korean March 1st Movement, which meant that we had the whole day to commemorate Korean Independence from Japan and her birth. After checking out Tapgol Park, we hit up one of Seoul’s cultural and artistic Meccas, Insadong, to pick up a birthday present.
After picking out a nice handmade gift and chocolate cake, a large group met at VIPS in Hongdae to eat copious amounts of food and drink bottles of wine and celebrate our favorite English ex-pat’s birth.
Presents were open, glasses of wine were had, chocolate cake was eaten, and laughter could be heard all around…
Following dinner, we drank some Hongdae cocktails and pre-gamed the noraebang (karaoke) by performing a public rendition of Queen’s “Find Me Somebody To Love” at the snobby bar we happened to be drinking in. Fortunately for the other patrons, our group left and made its way to a lively basement noraebang for some [more] late night music slaughtering.
Steph’s birthday was a success– well, except when we were trying to get into our hotel rooms and ended up opening a stranger’s door at 4 in the morning. That wasn’t so much fun… until the next day when we all laughed awkwardly about it and prayed we wouldn’t find him lurking angrily outside our rooms…