Jen and Jason go to Korea: Global Gathering

During the week after our Everland excursion, Jen came across an Ad for Global Gathering which was taking place on the weekend. I had actually come across the same Ad a while back but had figured that Jen wouldn't be interested since it was just a bunch of DJs (including Yolanda be Cool and Groove Armada). I was wrong! She was totally up for it. So on a whim, we decided to go!

Where we stayed. Hostels are the way to go!

Instead of booking a hotel, we would stay at a hostel. I found this awesome website, hostelworld.com which makes researching and booking a hostel super easy. I found a cute little hostel called Miso Guesthouse that wasn't too far from where were would be going so it was perfect.

On Saturday, we left around noon for the 2 hours long subway ride to Hongdae (more on this place later). Although the event was an all-day thing that started at 12:00pm, we opted to miss the first few acts and instead make sure to be there by 3:45pm for Yolanda Be Cool, (which had convinced Jen to go in the first place since she is in love with "No Speak Americano"). We had no trouble finding the guesthouse thanks to my reliable Samsung Galaxy S (I still miss my iPhone though) equipped with Google maps. After checking in, we left right away to make our way to the event location. On the way, we passed a Subway (the restaurant), so of course I had to stop to grab a sub. YUMMMY!

Yolanda Be Cool

We weren't really sure exactly where the festival was being held, only that it was in the Han River park near World Cup Stadium. In fact, all the "how to get here" instructions on the website said was: "Take subway line 6 to World Cup Stadium, get out at exit 1 and walk across the road to the park". Wow... if it had only been that easy! After an hour walk, a few wrong turns and cut-up directions from a nice (although hard to understand) Korean woman, we finally found the overpass to cross the highway and were on our way to GG.

Example and DJ Wire

When we got there, the bass was pumping and the place was already pretty packed. We got our tickets (110,000KRW each) and went in. There was one main stage and four side stages set up at the venue. Live music would be playing ALL the time, even during the act change on the main stage. We just had time to buy a few souvenirs and grab a beer before Yolanda Be Cool came on stage. They were awesome and really got the party started. They played for about an hour as the sun was slowly setting behind the stage. In between acts, we walked the huge venue had something to eat and of course, drank some beers and jaggerbombs... Ok, I drank beer and Jaggerbombs. Jen had a couple of drinks but wasn't in a "getting drunk" mood. Example and DJ wire came on stage next and really fired up the crowd before Digitalism took it to a whole other level! Finally, at around 9:00pm Groove Armada took the stage for its set. "I see you baby... shaking that @$$" They put on a great show as well. But by 10pm, Jen was starting to get tired... and that means its time to go! We left the awesome party scene to retreat to Miso Guesthouse for the night. I have to admit I was pretty tired (and half in the bag) so it wasn't such a bad idea to leave since I had to get us back to the hostel. Overall though, we had an awesome time!