Traffic Jams And Booze Cruises

On Saturday afternoon we decided to make a quick stop at Costco to pick up some coffee before going to meet everyone for our much-anticipated *booze cruise*. Please note, there is no such thing as a "quick stop" at Costco. At least not in Seoul. We're lucky enough to live about a 10 minute bus ride from Costco but that's not taking into account the lame traffic jam that forms on the street leading up to Coscto parking lot every weekend. There must have been 50 cars lined up the street just waiting to park, so our bus sat in traffic while we sat and worried about the time. We eventually got off the bus and walked the rest of the way, got our stupid Kirkland brand tin of coffee and raced home to drop off our coffee and go. We arrived home at exactly the same time we were supposed to have arrived at Shanda's. Screw you, Costco!!

At 5:00 we left our place and we decided to take a taxi to the boat... we figured a taxi would be the only way we would get there before the boat left at 6:00. But guess what happened? We got stuck in traffic. 40 minutes into our taxi drive we had only driven as far as we could have walked in about 25 minutes. Tears were setting in and we were sure that we were going to miss the boat, until Shanda texted us to let us know the boat opened at 6:00 but didn't leave until 7:00. All said, it took over an hour for us to go 10km in that taxi. Good thing we're in Korea where such a taxi drive costs less than $15.

After almost stumbling onto some tour boat full of ajummas we finally met up with our peeps and got on our special boat. Mom, you would have loved it. The main floor looked like a 1950's prom complete with some def oldies songs being pumped in. The booze cruise was all-you-can-drink and there was a variety of microbrew beers to choose from and the lines were pretty quick. All of this free liquid resulted in long lines at the bathroom, people peeing into the Han River and into the sink too. All of these adventures in urination are fine when you're on a boat in Asia.

Three bands played, one of them I remember seeing the last time we lived in Korea, though I'm pretty sure the last time we saw them they played while being dressed up as scientists.

There were nice views along the water as we went along.

Good times!

Of course, someone had to bring a hula hoop. The next day I got an e-mail from the event organizers thanking me for attending and wondering "if anybody knows who the hula hoop girl
was please let us know because we want to offer her free tickets to our next event".

We got on a shuttle bus headed to the Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon and Pip and Shanda led the bus in a round of "There Was A Great Big Moose" and "You say Jesse, I say James... Jesse JAMES, Jesse JAMES". I think they made a lot of new friends. All I have to say is that the bus took was really damn slow and I'm sorry for what I did to the floor.

After our complimentary shot at the Rocky Mountain and some street kebabs, Mel and I decided to head home. We are *thisclose* to getting our first paycheques so we had to leave while we could still take public transportation back home instead of a pricier taxi. We cut it pretty close, so close in fact, that although we got our first train out of Itaewon, when we tried to transfer to the next train we were given a big X by the arms of a subway worker. We missed the train and had to take a taxi anyway. Above is a shot of the driver going 91 in an 80 zone, but I wish I had taken the picture when he was going 91 in the 60 zone. But really, after our experience with traffic that day, it was just nice to be in a car that wasn't going slower than I can walk.

Here's to booze cruises and Jesse James!