EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/MJlz4i0.jpg?1)
What I had not realized up into that point, was that Incheon is far, the fuck away from Seoul proper. Not as bad as I would later find Beijing to be, but far enough to be inconvenient. Bear that in mind, should you have the chance to make your pilgrimage. An hour long bus ride later, we arrived to hotel number one in Yeongdeungpo.
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Not exactly near Gangnam, where I wanted to be, but it was a nice hotel and I had figured that the Seoul Subway was efficient enough to be pretty reasonable. Not necessarily the case when compared to Hong Kong's subway, or even Guangzhou.
Seeing as it was 9pm on a Sunday, we did the only reasonable thing you could do, and started looking for bars after acquiring walking beers at the nearest GS25, which is great because once you find one, you can pretty much take a piss on the next, nearest location. They are everywhere, curiously low cigarette prices as well.
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1.6 Liter bottles of what is really not great beer, but it is effective.
We were a bit nervous as Google, ah it was so nice to have Google back, indicated that the nearest alcohol serving establishment was not exactly walking distance. Turns out, that wasn't the case. Not 3 blocks from the hotel, we found a bar called Cheers.
Makin' your way in Korea today, takes everything you've got...
It was here we learned our first lesson about Soju and what a fickle bitch, in a good way, that drink is. Initially, it is seemingly tasteless, but after the second bottle, it sneaks up on you. We continued meandering and a few bars later, in the street wound up meeting a Director from Busan University and one of his friends, who proceeded to guide us about to various clubs, which for 3-4am on a Sunday night, surprisingly still had people. Despite arguing about contributing to the check, the director insisted on covering the lot, and that was our first introduction to Korean nightlife.
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We awoke late in the morning, and by late in the morning I mean afternoon, nursing hangovers and eventually got out of the hotel to procure food, and make something of what would be many hung over mornings in Seoul. Hopped on the metro and headed towards Gangnam.
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Hey, at least we're welcome. Never saw this open however, probably for the best.
This brings me back to the metro system. As far as Seoul goes, I'm not a fan, and I'm being nit picky. The lines aren't always clearly labeled as far as directions go, you some times have to leave the station to change lines, and a lot of times it is just best guess or trial and error. I am sure there is a legitimate reason for the way it is set up historical or otherwise, but as a visitor, I found it cumbersome. When you like to just pick a subway stop and walk around like I do, that is kind of a pain.
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I love random advertisments that you'd never see in your respective home country
Regardless, we made our way to Gangnam for the first of again, several Starcraft matches I would watch while in Seoul. This was a load off my mind as checking the TL calendar while in Guangzhou, I was reasonably certain, I would have to find my way to a Brood War match instead of Proleague or GSL, but as fortune would have it, I was quite lucky.
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Bit of advice, show up early, it is kind of a pain in the ass to find this place. Luckily Koreans are very helpful, and make every effort to speak English. I honestly felt a bit bad not being able to ask much of anything in Korean.
The first of the matches was Proleague, and the day was Jin Air vs. SKT, and KT vs. Samsung. Not a bad day to start your esports vacation. I would also see CJ vs SBENU (I skipped the Prime match in favor of drinking), Classic vs. Stats for SSL, Myungsik vs. SoS, and Byul vs. Parting. Again, not bad.
Side note, the audio for both GSL, and Proleague sucks with GSL being the better of the two options. To put it another way, the sound at Proleague, is tantamount to the free stream quality of GSL. They literally give you a Coby AM/FM radio to listen to the English cast, and you'll spend a good bit of time trying to tune in your radio to get less static that you're currently getting. GSL has dedicated receivers, which are better in terms of audio quality, but still leave a bit to be desired considering it is 2015.
We even brought Zunes (my friends, not mine I swear) and tried the digital tuner on there thinking that the quality would be better for Proleague, and couldn't even pick up the cast. No wifi at either venue to use audio only mode on Twitch either. Just something to be aware of if you make it over to Korea.
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I even got this snazzy little pin for supporting Classic in the SSL game that day
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The Boys!
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Byuljwa
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Upper level where Moonglade and Valdes were casting that day at Nexon
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Gyuri's interview stage
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herO surrounded by fan girls and the rest of CJ after the loss to SBENU
I think I've gotten the point across that I watched a lot of SC2, I did my fair share of drinking, and had a generally excellent time in Korea. I will say that the matches are markedly more intense when you are actually sat in the audience. Even teams/players I couldn't give less of a shit about, evoked an actual response. It was strange, but I suppose to be expected after 5 years of watching online.
I also ventured out to the Horse Track in Seoul, which was lamentably not doing live racing that day despite what the sites I found said, regardless the betting machines had very limited options for English and the way the odds were displayed was partially in Korean anyway. I also saw the aquarium, and generally walked around. I did a few historic places as well, but on the most general of curves, I find just walking and seeing what you find to be the way I most enjoy travelling.
You wind up tired, kind of sweaty or very sweaty, but it makes that first beer when you've settled on your bar du jour that much better at the end of the day.
My friend left about mid-week, leaving me solo and free to nerd out without feeling like I was robbing him of things he'd actually prefer to do. I spent the rest of the time walking and esporting and nursing hangovers with Brood War matches on the TV in my hotel.
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Eventually my time ran out, and this time I took the subway to Gimpo, which while having the smallest international departure gate (Gimpo is mainly domestic is my understanding), was an easier get than Incheon. I was headed to Beijing, which is where I'll pick up the vacation blog next week.
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Next Week, on ThomasjServo's Blog: Beijing, and the assurance that nothing happened in Tiananmen Square 26 years ago at all.
