Night out in Itaewon

Last saturday, Chuseok weekend, Cassy, Sam, and I decided we wanted to go out in Seoul. Now Seoul is a massive city, so when you go out at night you have to choose one of the neighborhoods, and we picked Itaewon. Itaewon has more foreigners than any other area, it's right by the US Army base so most of the shops, restaurants, and bars cater to foreigners. To get to Seoul from Songdo you travel by bus (1 hr) or by subway (1-2 hrs), and since it was Chuseok and the traffic was going to be insane, we decided to go by subway. But first we did a little pre-partying in Cassy's apartment before heading out and took some pics:

Then we headed out for the trip there. It took us forever to get there that night because of all the people traveling for the holiday, so it took us about two and a half hours! Another thing you do since it's such a long journey with lots of stairs and escalators is you wear a pair of fold up flats that you can stick in your purse when you get there and carry your heels until then. We all had bought some at H&M earlier that day, so we also were all matching! Haha we got a lot of stares:

So we finally made it to Itaewon and headed to the Grand Ole Opry. You heard me, there is a country bar in South Korea called the Grand Ole Opry! Just off the main street and up a steep street called Hooker Hill you see a big lit up sign that says "Grand Ole Opry - Seoul, Tennessee". Stepping inside sends you straight back to Texas. You can tell it's all regulars and we were obviously not ones especially since we were really overdressed. We grabbed beers and found a seat at about 15 til midnight. Every Saturday at midnight they play Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" followed by the National Anthem, and everyone stands and sings along to both while facing the giant American flag they have on the wall. It was so great! Here's a few pics:

So great. And then afterwards is when the line dancing starts. They have a verrry small dance floor right in the middle of the bar and the people who get out there are very serious about it! Not very inviting to new comers, but then they played one I knew so I got out there and danced!

Haha it was a lot of fun, and I was obviously laughing really hard. They also played the Cotton Eyed Joe, but there was absolutely no room on the dance floor! Sam wants me to teach her some of the line dances so we can go back and she can get out there (she's from Wales). So after being there for almost two hours, we went to look for something else!
We walked back to the main street and ran into two guys who stopped us because they heard Sam's accent. One of the guys was from Yorkshire and the other was actually from Virginia, and they seemed nice and normal enough so when they invited us along to meet up with some of their friends at one of the pubs we went along. We walk in and the only people there are this group of about 15 guys, besides that the place is dead. So we think, well, we'll be nice and have a beer and then leave. But we actually end up staying for a long time because they're actually a really nice group of guys from all over the world and they play on the same intramural football team in Seoul. After a while though we tell them that we've got to go because we really want to go dancing, and one of the guys, Manos (Greek), says that he knows the DJ of the most popular club in Itaewon and he can get us straight in.
Turns out Manos seems to know all the right people, because for the rest of the night we bypass all the long lines of people waiting outside, pay no cover, and just get to go right into numerous clubs. It was so much fun! We definitely ran into the right people that night! Clubs in Seoul don't close until 6 or 7 am, so we stayed out all night. Around 6 we decided it was time to grab a taxi back to Songdo so we said goodbye, grabbed some food and headed back. A taxi back runs about $15-$20 a person, so it's definitely worth it on the way back.
It was a really fun night, and the three of us are planning on going out in Seoul again this coming weekend, but this time not Itaewon but in a University area!