Before the trip, I spent a lot of time on Google maps and other various internet sights memorizing the bridges in Seoul so I could pick out Banpo from any angle. Because of my newly acquired map skills, when we were up in Namsan Tower eating dinner, I was able to easily spot Banpo from the brilliant display of Seoul beneath us. Visiting Banpo in person was a big deal to us, and for me, it is easily one of my favorite experiences in Seoul, minus Teppy's egg issue...read below.
The day we went to the Banpo Bridge Rainbow Fountain show, we had eaten at a Korean ahjumma diner, complete with ahjummas both serving tables and cooking. There was a not a bit of English anywhere on the menu or in the restaurant, so we were left to our own faculties to survive. We were hungry and we knew we wanted mandu, so we braved it. They had photos of all the food, so we assumed it would be easy to point and place our order. We had wanted the dumplings only, but our ahjumma would not listen to us and insisted we have the kimbap AND anchovy stock soup, which we vehemently protested. We said "no, no, no!" but she got loud, smacked the table and yelled back to ahumma #2 that she needed kimbap brought out pronto. Ewwww. I had tried kimbap at the H-mart in Johns Creek, GA and I was not a fan. I'm not a fan of sea food in general, so I correctly assumed that I wouldn't be leaving with a full stomah. (scroll down for the video of our meal).
When the food arrived 5 minutes later, we tried to be good little Americans and give the food a go. I popped a kimbap piece in my mouth, fought back the dry-heave, and chewed. Teppy did the same thing, but wasn't as successful as I was. First, Teppy is allergic to egg and there was a thumbnail size piece of egg wrapped up in her kimbap. This caused her to gag and while she was gagging, seaweed got caught in her throat. I looked over at her and watched her take her two fingers and pull a big ass string of seaweed out of her mouth. It was like watching a swordsman remove his sabre from his throat in a circus act. Amazing! I didn't know such a solid piece of seaweed could exist! This was really the beginning of the end of our Banpo Rainbow Fountain experience that was to come 6 hours later.
When Teppy eats egg, she gets really ill. Really ill as in she can't walk because her stomach hurts really bad. To get over to the Banpo Bridge show, we got off at the Express Bus Terminal subway stop and had to walk pretty far. Her illness hadn't kicked in full force yet, but she was complaining of feeling ill and slight abdominal pain. It had been 4 hours since she had eaten the kimbap, so it was really messing with her system lingering like that! She walked through the discomfort and was such a good trooper. I knew she was sucking it up for me because it was all I had been talking about. I owe Teppy for her sacrifice that night.
We weren't sure that we were going in the right direction, so I approached a young couple(20ish) to ask for help. As soon as the girl made eye contact with me and saw I was going to speak to her, she gave me the hand. Literally. Like, "talk to the hand, cuz the face ain't listening" kind of hand. Once again, denied by a Korean girl. What is it with their inability to smile and acknowledge that they can't help me becausethey can't speak English? I can't speak Korean and I didn't give anyone the hand when they said something to me! When she scurried away, Teppy and I continued in the same direction we were initially headed assuming that we must be going in the right direction because our mental maps told us so. Our mental maps didn't let us down. Who needed that "talk to the hand" Korean girl anyhow?????? HA!
It seemed like we walked forever, but we finally got down to the bridge and secured a good spot where we kicked back and gave our legs and her tummy a rest. People were all over the place, hanging out on these really cool foam padded rest mats eating fried chicken and laughing. We were jealous and wanted our own foam rest mat. We had to lay right on the hard cement. If we were back in Croatia, an old Baka might have come up to us and told us we would get ovarian cancer or hemorroids. Good thing we weren't in Croatia and good thing neither of us had ovaries! It was kind of cool to see delivery men on little mopeds delivering food. I don't know how they located the right customer when there were so many people there, but they did. Mopeds and scooters are a dime a dozen in Seoul, all delivering something. If you aren't careful, your tombstone will read "death by moped, Seoul, South Korea". Seriously.
We hung out for about an hour and a half waiting for the 8:30 show to begin. While we waited, we got a bit chilly. I had bought a Mickey Mouse towel from a street vendor earlier that day, so I pulled it out and wrapped it around my shoulders. When Teppy got cold, I gave it to her to use and pulled my hair out of my bun and let it rest on my shoulders to keep me warm. It worked ok, enough to keep us comfortable enough to wait it out.
As the show began, Teppy's discomfort continued to grow. My plans were to stay at the bridge until late in the evening. Teppy's egg issue had other plans. We were only able to stay at the bridge for 2 showings. I knew it was time to pull the plug on our adventure if I wanted to get Teppy home without having to piggy back her back to the subway. We packed up our stuff and began the long, arduous, journey back to the subway. We made frequent stops, but somehow, by the grace of Buddha, we got back to Hongdae. Teppy probably thinks I hate her for being the reason we had to leave Banpo Bridge early that night. That isn't true. Teppy is a trooper who could have easily, at any point in the night, said "I can't do this. I need to go back" and I would have understood and agreed. She held out for me. That's a true sister and friend. Thanks, Teppy. You are the best.
When we got back to Hongdae, Teppy went to bed and didn't come out of her coma for 13 hours. I'm glad she was better the next day, because of course, a new adventure was waiting for us!