Young people live differently than middle aged people. That's just a reality. They stay up late and sleep in late. I remember those days.....ur, kind of. It's been 20 years since I lived my life that way, so it is really but a distant memory for me. A friend once wrote that "old age is but a disguise". I tend to believe that because inside, I feel like I am 20....except on school nights when I know I have to be up at 5;00 a.m. to go to work..then I feel like I'm 40. Outside, I have gray roots and crows feet. Seeing all of those young people so carefree enjoying life made me a bit envious, until I remembered that 1) I already have a master's degree 2) I have a mortgage-meaning my own place to crash 3) I own my own car 4) I have already given birth to a child and 5) I can afford to travel . Would I trade having all of these things to getting my youth back? Hmmmmmmmm. That's a great question. Most definitely NO. While it is fun to be young and party like a rock star every night, I would never want to have to go back to college, have another child, or be broke again. So, I guess being 40 isn't so bad. It's just that being in Hongdae, you are constantly reminded that you ARE 40. Every day. Every time you look at another person. Oh well. This begs the question: if you ever go to Seoul again, Vicky, would you stay in Hongdae? Um, YES!! Why? Well, it was super convenient getting there from the airport, it is on subway line 2 which is my favorite subway line in Seoul, AND, there is a lot of cool stuff to photograph! We also felt safe. That was huge for us!
Putting the whole age thing aside, though, and looking at it objectively, Hongdae is a really fun place! The restaurants are aplenty. So are the coffee shops and icecream shops, and clothing shops, and any other shop that caters to the 20 year old demographic . Simon and Martina's studio is in Hongdae, too, so if you are coming to Korea to stalk them, they are easy to find. (Ok, creepy stalkers beware....please do not stalk them. Just stand outside and take pictures of their building. If you are a good little non-stalker, you may get lucky like us and just bump into them on your way to the children's park). There is a great open market that you can explore on Saturdays which we heard is a lot of fun. We never made it over there, but if we ever get back, we are most definitely going there! Over by parking lot street, there is a whole shopping area which reminds us of the Namdaemun Market area. I bought a poster set there of Lee Min Ho for 18 bucks (we hadn't realized we could negotiate at that point...when we figured out we could, WE TORE UP NAMDAEMUN MARKET!) The Trick Eye Museum is right there by parking lot street too...you know, the one from Heartstrings?
Young people are out everywhere shopping, eating, drinking, loitering, playing, etc. We spent a bunch of time photographing the random stuff we saw....including a group of boys we asked to pose for us and some military personnel who asked to photograph WITH us! Bottom line: we liked Hongdae and would stay there again. I just felt old, but that is my personal problem because I let superficial crap like age bother me:~
Below are some of our shots.