Seoul Nightlife
322 Sowol-Ro, Youngsan-Gu, Seoul
+82 2 797 1234
Beers of the night: Cass, Hite, OB
No sooner we showered our bodies of the smoky Korean BBQ
remnants back at the hotel, we hopped in a cab and hauled it to Itaewon for the
party scene. We got dropped off in the midst of it all. Bars, clubs, karaoke,
etc. From the street level, we saw a balcony filled with people and loud music
playing. We went inside to discover it was one group of people sitting at a
long table having dinner and the rest of the bar was empty. Not a soul to be
found. We quickly found this to be the theme of the night. Where are all the
Seoulful people on this Wednesday night?? As we walked down the strip of bars,
it seemed the louder the music blasted outside, the emptier it was inside. We
finally settled at a lounge called S2 for some soju and beer. Soju is a Korean
spirit made from sweet potatoes. I find it a mix between sake and vodka.
![]() |
Cass beer and Soju |
Down
one bottle of soju and a round of beers, we moved on to an Irish pub, then took
another taxi to the Grand Hyatt. We heard about the nightly live music at the
upscale hotel, and that’s exactly what we found. The drinks were expensive, but
we stayed for a round because this was by far the most popular bar of the
night. The American band was set up on a small stage behind the main bar,
covering top 40 pop music. The crowd was a mixture of Americans and Koreans. Overall,
the people were either grinding up on each other after a few too many
cocktails, smoking, dancing on couches, or singing along with the music. This
is the kind of action I like to watch. When the band called it a night, so did
we.
Live music |
![]() |
Dancing on tables |
We left the Grand Hyatt and took to the streets of Itaewon for some more
soju. At the convenience store, it costs $1.50 per bottle, which is about the
size of a beer bottle. We drank some out on the street while soaking in the
culture of Seoul nightlife. We
weren’t exactly model American tourists at this point, seeing as we were
drinking on the street, but there was clearly more action out there than in the
bars. After we finished our people-watching and soju-sipping, we got some
snacks and called it a night.
No comments:
Post a Comment