Saturday Night in Seoul

Last night I went to Seoul with my co-worker and new friend Ellen from Wisconsin. We first went to Itaewon, the foreigner district, so I could buy a cell phone. It is next to a large U.S. military base, so the area is filled with GIs and Western style restaurants and bars. We went to a place called Gecko's where we got our fix of hamburgers and greesy french fries. It felt just like being in a bar and grill in the States but with a few more Koreans and the waiters were dressed in pirate garb. We wandered the streets for awhile before deciding to check out a club called Woodstock where we heard a mediocre Korean blues band. Next, we met up with Ellen's Korean/English friend Jun who invited us to meet him, his sister, and three cousins at a bar in another area of the city. We drank soju, ate various types of dried fish and I tried silkworm for the first time, a small foul tasting bug that Koreans like to snack on for some reason.
And then it was off to Hongdae, the hip university district filled with plenty of lively night clubs (far superior to Shitaewon, as Jun calls it). Ellen, Jun, Jun's cousin named Bong, and I went to a club called TinPan which I had been to once before. The first time I was there the place was practically deserted, but this night, the music was blaring and you had to push people out of the way to get anywhere it was so crowded. There were plenty of drunk people dancing on the tables, many of them wearing high heeled shoes (I did see one girl fall off). We socialized with some lovely Irish girls who Ellen had met before. Just before we were about to call it a night, we heard that Fez was in TinPan. That's right, none other than Wilmer Valderrama, the actor who plays the foreign exchange student in 'That 70s Show' was partying it up in Hongdae! Very random. Apparently he was there to entertain the troops with his new 'Yo Mama' comedy routine that is currently on MTV. Wilmer was accompanied by a famous hip-hop artist Frankie J who was also there to entertain the troops. I did get to briefly meet both Wilmer and Frankie, but it was so loud it was difficult to have much of a conversation.
By this time it was almost 4 am and we were rather tired so we decided to call it a night. Ellen and I took a taxi back home to Hwajeong. As we got in the cab, Ellen's nose started bleeding. The cab driver was kind enough to offer her some tissues, but decided to take 'the long way' to Hwajeong, maybe to compensate for the cost of the tissues. We drove though some bumpy backroads for awhile before finally making it back. Quite a night to say the least.