On my way from Indonesia back to Colombia I decided to make a stopover in Seoul, South Korea.
There is very little I knew about South Korea, other than the fact that it is perched between Japan, Russia and China, neighbouring with that kind of mysterious country of North Korea, inspiration for the worldwide known ´Gangnam Style´ musicvideo. So there I arrived in Seoul, straight from the hectic that was Indonesia.
The first issue started when I was trying to get money out of the ATM. Somehow most of the ATM´s had trouble accepting my Dutch bankcards, the only one that worked was the Stansted Bank, and only with my creditcard. So there is a little advice, in case you think of going to South Korea, other than making sure you have your bankcard set to international, also bring something else. Cash dollars, creditcard, or travellers checks (do they even exist still?).
Public Transportation to Hongdae
The only atm that worked was right áfter I had to swipe my public transportation card, but of course I could not buy the card, because the machine only accepted cash, and I had no cash. But… a very nice old man working at the airport tube station offered to watch over my bag (yes, this sounds like something you should never accept, but, years of travelling have taught me to trust my intuition, and this was a good guy). So he watched my 25kg backpack as another very friendly Sir let me through with his own card so I could use the ATM on the other side, and finally get my own public transportation card.
Metro´s, systems, people actually waiting in line, these were all things I had not seen in quite a while as I was trying to stay awake the 1 hour metro ride on the Airport line from the airport to Hongdae, which costs about 5 dollars one way. I am not very much of booking hostels in advance, but I do have learnt that you do not want to be searching for one after a so-many hour trip and with your luggage. So I had done my online searching through Hostelworld a couple of days earlier. Now that I am 30, everything that has the word ´party´ in it is not for me, even more so if I also work while travelling. But then I found one that said ´Time Travelleres Relax´ , small, full of books and no booze allowed. This seemed like the perfect hostel for me to both sleep and work of course.
Luckily the hostel was very close to the Hongik University metro station, not only very central in the fun student neighbourhood of Hongdae, but also on the direct line to the airport! When I got to the hostel I got welcomed by the lovely owner who made me some tea, asked me to take off my shoes at the door, and showed me the house. Because, yes with two dorm rooms and 3 private rooms, and a living room with a large kitchen table in the middle it seemed more like a big AirBnb than a hostel. A cute little welcome note and a toffee made me feel right at home. I slept in a shared dorm, which cost me about 20 euro´s a night.
When he asked me what my plans were for the upcoming 11 days and I said that I didn´t have many, he pulled out a map and started marking all kinds of different things down. And you are just lucky enough that I will share the same things here as well in a different blogpost;)
Where to work remotely?
As I said, I did a lot of work from the hostel actually. South Korea is supposed to have the fastest wifi connection in the world, though I honestly think those statistics change from day to day. But, the very existence of many coffee places and of course the famous cat cafes made it indeed a very nice place to work.
Cat cafés
Being a cat lover myself, I of course had to visit the cat-cafe. There are many all around the city, but I went to the one that is located in Hongdae, walking distance from the hostel. This one is just called ´cat café´ and is on the second floor of another shop. Just type Cat Cafe in google maps and you´ll find one.
So why catcafe´s you may ask? Well, people tend to live in very small places which makes it a bit difficult to have pets, if they are even allowed in the buildings. And thus, enter cat cafés: a public space where people can come and spend a few hours with dozens of cute cats, petting them, playing with them, feeding them or just watch them sleeping. And of course there is the whole thought that spending time with pets, and especially cats, is stress-reducing.
The price seems to be the same for the different places, 8000 won (or 8 dollars). This includes entrance to the cat café and a drink. I had a nice matcha green latte, which came with an adorable cat paiting on top 😉 (I was too distracted by the cats to tell her to NOT put it in a plastic cup and do NOT put a plastic straw, we are trying to use less plastic right, so please.. be a better person than I was). Of course there are rules: no shoes, no camera flash, of course no hitting or pulling the cat´s tails (pretty logical) and you are not allowed to disturb them when they are sleeping (I wish my own cats would respect that same rule when they wake me up at 5.30 am because they want food).
So yes, I spent some hours snuggling and playing with the little kitties, and also watching the local youth go all crazy with their picture taking. That said, I really also tried to be very work-productive, but unless you really don´t like cats, it´s a little difficult.
Common Ground
This cool establishment is all made up out of containers and is now filled with little pop-up stores, selling own design and second hand and vintage clothing, as well as bars and cafés. And of course these cafés make great working places. It´s also easy to reach, just of the metro line 2, though it is a 40 minute metro ride from Hongdae.
I really loved the vibe here, and I allowed myself to go on a little exploration in my work breaks. Luckily they only had winter clothes for sale, which are not very useful for me, living in Colombia. But I do warn you to come here with enough space free in your suitcase.
COEX mall
The big, big mall in the Gangnam district has a massive library in the middle of the mall, as well as many nice coffee places. However, it can get a little busy here, so time your visit well. Maybe avoid weekends and after-office work hours. If you do so, this is definitely a nice and cozy working spot, and you can just go from coffee place to coffee place without having to step outside in the -10 degree winter cold.
