After the tea fields and baseball game, Nicole, Will, Kayla, and I went downtown to paint the town red. The game ended early by Korean standards, around 10 so we found ourselves downtown well before Korea dance hour, which may or may not exist.
The first club we went to was called Mix…I think. There was a cover, but the doorman just waved us in. Something being a group of foreigners in Korea seems to open doors for you, in this case literally. We walked into the dimly lit and darkly painted stairwell and walked upstairs to a small club on the second floor. Once inside we got some drinks and danced for a while. I would say with the exception of Nicole, none of us are amazing dancers, but that didn’t stop us. That did, however, stop everyone else. Koreans don’t seem to be big dancers. They prefer to sit at tables around the periphery of the dance floor, smoking cigarettes, wearing white pants, and contemplating their next move, or something, I wasn’t really paying attention.
Free Drinks
Apparently, our dancing caught someone’s eye though. We were all given a free round of drinks from some Korea gentlemen, possibly someone that works at the bar. Nicole and I tried to get others to join us on the dance floor, but the Koreans were having none of it. After a bit, we decided to explore more clubs in downtown Gwangju. Gwangju, like most downtowns anywhere, loves fliers. Fliers are everywhere. New stores, new restaurants, theme nights at clubs, you name it there’s a flyer for it. One such flier caught our eye BASS ATTACK. How do you say no to something called bass attack? I don’t know because we didn’t. Luckily it was nearby or we might have given up.
Nuclear Bunker Nightclub
Fast forward, there’s bass pumping out of a poured concrete hallway, this is the closest I’ve ever been to feeling like I’m walking into a nuclear bunker, sans bass. Once again there may have been cover, but it didn’t apply to us apparently. Inside the whole club was industrial poured concrete and black booths, it was bananas, and it was all empty. It’s as if the club planned an awesome night and hired great DJs then forgot to tell anyone about it. Nicole, Will, Kayla, and I had the place to ourselves with the exception of about 10 Koreans, several of whom were dancing.
After a while, we all caught a cab back to our apartments and called it a night. Between the Boseong Tea Fields, baseball game, and our night of clubbing, it had been a pretty solid day. I feel incredibly fortunate to live in a place where I can do all of these things in a single day. I got to see a traditional Korean trade, a fantastic piece of modern Korean culture, and a very futuristic view of Korean nightlife, all in one day.
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