FC Seoul

Saturday 22nd August

Deoksu Gung palace

Last Saturday I made my second trip to Korea's capital in order to pursue Ric's insatiable love for football; we were going to watch FC Seoul vs. Pohang Steelers and somehow the voyage had attracted the interest of three Americans: Claire, Alex and Jared.

We arrived in Seoul a little after midday and decided to fit in a palace visit before the main event. Deoksu Gung palace is in the center of Seoul, nestled nicely between sky scrapers and Seoul's city hall. The palace looks fairly modern, as with many palaces in Seoul it was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt during the years of Japanese occupation. It was pleasant to walk around and entrance cost only 1000won (50p)!

The Expo in central Seoul

Across from Deoksu Gung there was an exposition of tradition medicines and general health products that offered a pleasing amount of free samples! Everything from fried duck to fermented
fungus!

We stocked up on samples and had a picnic on the grass in the middle of the stalls.

Teacher's picnic; my colleagues Claire and Alex to the right.

Finally it was time to go watch the football, and even I was a little excited. The subway to the World Cup Stadium was packed with red and black striped shirts and everybody rushed out of the underground to be first in line to buy tickets.

Ric outside the World Cup Stadium

At the ticket booth the attendant asked me a question in Korean which I didn't understand, she then waved her arms at me and made a "wooooo" noise. I told her yes, we do want to be in the stand with the crazy fans.

The following 90 minutes were more of a work out than I've ever done in the gym! Constant jumping, clapping, singing and chanting. There were fireworks at kick-off and every time Seoul scored and there were dozens of flags being waved. Seoul won 3-2 and although Ric wasn't at all impressed with the quality of the football, the fans didn't half put on a cracking show.

After the match had finished all the hardcore fans gathered behind the stands and starting singing and dancing. Right in the middle of the chaos was of course, my boyfriend. As if to prove the adaptability of football chants, FC Seoul's songs were to the same tune as any generic UK football song, so we could even sing along!

The fans.

World Cup Stadium, attendance 17,000. Capacity 66,000.

Americans LOVE "soccer", it's so cultural!!

Ric's souvenir of the day

When the excitement finally fizzled out we ended to Itaewon for some dinner. Itaewon is the most westernised part of Seoul and this was reflected in the prices! We had Mexican food and an expensive cocktail before heading home on Korea's bullet train, the KTX (which was nothing compared to the Chinese bullet trains that went over 300km/hr).

Itaewon at sunset