Welcome to my hood.

We decided to 엽기 it up in Bundang. After a yummy, homemade meal of spaghetti at June 언니's house, Cyndi and I met up with HY언니 at Samsung Plaza. We began the night at Su noraebang, a franchise of "luxury" karaoke rooms. At 18,000 - 25,000 won/hr, Su is a little pricier than your average karaoke room, but still cheaper than the karaoke places back home. Based on the very feminine decor, Su appears to have been designed with female customers in mind. I didn't get a chance to check out all of the rooms, but each room is supposed to be themed, including a bathroom style room (?) and large windowed rooms that face out onto the street so that any passerby can watch you sing. Su has several locations throughout Seoul (including Hongdae).

This sign reads, "Harmony of fantastic for customer"
This statement is too philosophical for me to comprehend.














You can feel the "luxury" as soon as you walk into the place. Instead of dim lighting and unattractively upholstered furniture with suspect levels of cleanliness, you are greeted by elegant decor, chandeliers, and an inviting ambiance.















Floral walkways lead you to further luxury.





































Don't forget to pick out some free ice cream before you settle in your room.














I'm not sure what the theme of our room was, but I'm thinking it was something like a "six year old girl's bedroom." The seating area is recessed so that...














... there is room for a stage! The room also comes with tambourines, maracas, and a plastic mallet -- everything you could possibly need to unleash your inner 가수.














There are also ottomans to better perform those emotional, heart-wrenching ballads.














Even the bathrooms are luxurious. Here's Cyndi refreshing her vocal chords with some complementary gargle.














This sign reads, "We prepare sanitary napkin for woman. Ask us, whenever you need."
Woman grateful. Thank you. I will.




























Su was very nice, but we didn't get any "service"; free additional singing time. Most places give you at least 30 additional minutes if there isn't a high demand for rooms.

After, Su, we walked through Samsung Plaza, where I bumped into some chic Bundang ajummas, contemplating the latest trends in fur. We all became quick friends.














Then, HY took us to a tiny 오뎅 (oden/ fishcake) bar on the other side of Samsung Plaza. On our way to the bar, we found this man passed out in front of the mini mart. Mature folks like Korean pop singer, Lee Hyori would probably show some concern for this man's safety, however, 엽기 girls like me simply see this as another photo opportunity. The photo is a little blurry, because we all couldn't stop giggling.


































Anyway, back to the tiny oden bar. When I say "tiny", I mean tiny. This place could hold ten people at most.















There were also sorts of oden: chili pepper oden, cheese oden, curry oden, spicy oden -- the list goes on.














Of course, I had to try the cheese oden. I couldn't really taste the cheese, but I thought it was tasty nonetheless. The oden broth was also quite flavorful.














You can't hang at an oden bar without a little soju. Packs of soju often come with this free metal bottle cooler, but you should note that this cooler is specially defined to fit the unique shape of Chamisul, and no other brand.














Our oden snack came courtesy of our new friends, Busan 갈매기 (seagull) ajusshis. These gentleman all hail from Busan. The man on the far left is HY's colleague. The man in the middle works for NongShim and offered to hook us up with some free ramyun after he mentioned how much we love NongShim products. The man on the right works for Samsung, but did not offer to hook us with any Samsung products :) He did, however, pay for our oden.














We concluded the evening with some fried glinko beans. I learned that glinko is an acquired taste. It's fried and seasoned with salt, and yet, I'm not a fan. Go figure.














After the oden bar, we swung back around the mini mart to take photos, I mean, check on our drunken friend. Fortunately, he seemed to have roused from his state of semi-consciousness, but perhaps he would have been better off sleeping.














We made many new friends that evening, but I suspect that most of them didn't remember us the next morning. These incidents are what lead HY to refer to Cyndi and I as " 엽기 (yupgi) American girls." I was lead to believe that this word meant silly and offbeat, but I just looked up the term in the dictionary and it seems to mean something like "bizarrely curious." I prefer my definition of "silly and offbeat", but I'm not going to lie, I am definitely bizarre and curious.