Last night I went out to the Hongnae with friends to go to the bars and clubs. I have no pictures of it this time, I hope to go again during the day and at night.
The first thing I have to say is how surprised I was about how MANY bars and clubs there were. I lost count of the insane amount! Also, many of the bars and clubs are connected. For example, HO bar has over at least 10 different bars labeled in number. Club Papa Gorilla is connected to Momma Gorilla and Big Baby. When you pay your cover fee, it gets you into those bars, and they often show you a map where the other bars and clubs are, because they are located in different areas around Hongnae.
When walking you see not only bars, but coffee shops and clothing shops and little restaurants that you can hang out at too. People are performing on the streets as well. Sometimes there are people trying to get you to go to their club instead of the other clubs.
We left at about 11pm. It was very easy to get there by train, had no problem navigating around the neighborhood. It took about 30 or 40 minutes. The architecture was interesting, and I look forward to going back to take pictures and take more in. The ground was GROSS. It was littered with paper and trash and advertisements and vomit. You had to be very careful where to step too because the ground was uneven. It is a hilly area so you are walking up and downhill. It is also very busy, so there are lots of crowds to deal with. The crowds were formed of drunk people, sober people, foreigners, koreans, and sometimes people just having a drinking party right out on the street. It was very lively and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Music pumped into the street from the various clubs and bars, mixing around all the noise of people talking.
My coworkers and I stopped off first at a bar that had a 5000 won cover, with 3 different bars inside, that was on the 2nd level of a building. It was called GoGo's I believe. It had a single width rickety staircase to climb up that people were trying to go both up and down. Inside the bar, there was no room. You had to push your way through the gyrating heaving sweating bodies to the bar. I'm told that we were lucky and this wasn't a busy night, and this was twice as full as any of the fullest bars I've been in before! We got our drinks, I choose a vodka cranberry, and danced and danced.
At 1:10 am we moved on to another club called Papa Gorrilla. We paid our entrance fee, another 5000 won, and entered. The club was a seething mass of people, dancing to the music, drinking, laughing, everyone was having a blast it looked like. From what I could see at least. The entire club was black, and there was very little light, and a strobe light as well which interfered with vision even more. It was long and narrow with the bar on the left side taking up almost an entire wall. In the center of the bar there is a table with polls and these little cages and a bench. The bench is not for people to sit on and the table is not for people to sit at. These are for people to DANCE on. It is another dance floor to move too. I'm sure there are parts of the bar I wasn't able to see, for with the lighting and so many people I could barely tell if I was seeing what I thought was there. At the back of the club there was lockers to store your belongings for 1000 won, and the bathrooms.
After storing our belongings, we went to the bar and got our free drink that we got with our cover. This was a Ladies only free drink. We were pulled up onto the dancing table with the help of those up there and proceded to drink and dance. After about an hour and a half I needed a break and headed out side. There were many people outside, and it was nice to feel the fresh air. It gets very hot in the club! After getting back my hearing and feeling a little less like I was going to pass out, I jumped back into the frey. My coworkers helped me back up onto the table, and then one went and got more drinks for us. This time I had a rum and coke. I think thats what I asked for. We danced some more. There was all kinds of music playing in the club, Kpop, american music, spanish music, and it was all good to dance too.
I have to say my very favorite part was the bartenders though. The entire night they were dancing to the music, pouring drinks to the music, and they were entertaining. They had great service as well. I still can't decide if I liked when they danced to LMFAO's I'm Sexy and You Know It or Big Bangs Fantastic Baby more. They were really fun to watch though. A little after 3am I ran out of steam, I am not used to partying for so long! The clubs all close at 2am back home, so it was weird for me that we could keep going. In fact as we went back outside, nothing appeared to be slowing down, but people appeared to be able to go on dancing forever. I obviously need to build up my stamina for these outings more!
We headed down the street, and found a taxi to take us home. I didn't realize how very tired I was until I sat down in the taxi. It was then I also realized I'd lost a gem out of my favorite bracelet. My only hope is that it didn't fly out and hurt someone while I was dancing.
So that was my first night clubbing in South Korea, and I hope to have more nights of the same. Maybe even better nights. Must build my stamina!
The first thing I have to say is how surprised I was about how MANY bars and clubs there were. I lost count of the insane amount! Also, many of the bars and clubs are connected. For example, HO bar has over at least 10 different bars labeled in number. Club Papa Gorilla is connected to Momma Gorilla and Big Baby. When you pay your cover fee, it gets you into those bars, and they often show you a map where the other bars and clubs are, because they are located in different areas around Hongnae.
When walking you see not only bars, but coffee shops and clothing shops and little restaurants that you can hang out at too. People are performing on the streets as well. Sometimes there are people trying to get you to go to their club instead of the other clubs.
We left at about 11pm. It was very easy to get there by train, had no problem navigating around the neighborhood. It took about 30 or 40 minutes. The architecture was interesting, and I look forward to going back to take pictures and take more in. The ground was GROSS. It was littered with paper and trash and advertisements and vomit. You had to be very careful where to step too because the ground was uneven. It is a hilly area so you are walking up and downhill. It is also very busy, so there are lots of crowds to deal with. The crowds were formed of drunk people, sober people, foreigners, koreans, and sometimes people just having a drinking party right out on the street. It was very lively and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Music pumped into the street from the various clubs and bars, mixing around all the noise of people talking.
My coworkers and I stopped off first at a bar that had a 5000 won cover, with 3 different bars inside, that was on the 2nd level of a building. It was called GoGo's I believe. It had a single width rickety staircase to climb up that people were trying to go both up and down. Inside the bar, there was no room. You had to push your way through the gyrating heaving sweating bodies to the bar. I'm told that we were lucky and this wasn't a busy night, and this was twice as full as any of the fullest bars I've been in before! We got our drinks, I choose a vodka cranberry, and danced and danced.
At 1:10 am we moved on to another club called Papa Gorrilla. We paid our entrance fee, another 5000 won, and entered. The club was a seething mass of people, dancing to the music, drinking, laughing, everyone was having a blast it looked like. From what I could see at least. The entire club was black, and there was very little light, and a strobe light as well which interfered with vision even more. It was long and narrow with the bar on the left side taking up almost an entire wall. In the center of the bar there is a table with polls and these little cages and a bench. The bench is not for people to sit on and the table is not for people to sit at. These are for people to DANCE on. It is another dance floor to move too. I'm sure there are parts of the bar I wasn't able to see, for with the lighting and so many people I could barely tell if I was seeing what I thought was there. At the back of the club there was lockers to store your belongings for 1000 won, and the bathrooms.
After storing our belongings, we went to the bar and got our free drink that we got with our cover. This was a Ladies only free drink. We were pulled up onto the dancing table with the help of those up there and proceded to drink and dance. After about an hour and a half I needed a break and headed out side. There were many people outside, and it was nice to feel the fresh air. It gets very hot in the club! After getting back my hearing and feeling a little less like I was going to pass out, I jumped back into the frey. My coworkers helped me back up onto the table, and then one went and got more drinks for us. This time I had a rum and coke. I think thats what I asked for. We danced some more. There was all kinds of music playing in the club, Kpop, american music, spanish music, and it was all good to dance too.
I have to say my very favorite part was the bartenders though. The entire night they were dancing to the music, pouring drinks to the music, and they were entertaining. They had great service as well. I still can't decide if I liked when they danced to LMFAO's I'm Sexy and You Know It or Big Bangs Fantastic Baby more. They were really fun to watch though. A little after 3am I ran out of steam, I am not used to partying for so long! The clubs all close at 2am back home, so it was weird for me that we could keep going. In fact as we went back outside, nothing appeared to be slowing down, but people appeared to be able to go on dancing forever. I obviously need to build up my stamina for these outings more!
We headed down the street, and found a taxi to take us home. I didn't realize how very tired I was until I sat down in the taxi. It was then I also realized I'd lost a gem out of my favorite bracelet. My only hope is that it didn't fly out and hurt someone while I was dancing.
So that was my first night clubbing in South Korea, and I hope to have more nights of the same. Maybe even better nights. Must build my stamina!
Sounds like you had a lot of fun! Great write up, Marti, I love to read about your fabulous adventures :D
ReplyDeleteShawna
PS - if you get a chance I posted a picture on the forum of us Saturday :)