I’ve blogged about the Hongik University area before, but last Friday (27 June 2008) was a special night. Once a month – the fourth Friday of every month – it’s Club Day. On Club Day, you buy a yellow bracelet (current price 20,000 won – about $20) and can get into a number of participating clubs for free. The best part – clubs are different, unique, and lots of fun. Literally dozens of different clubs, you can spend all night visiting each of them and not see them all before the morning arrives.

As you might expect, the crowd is young – not always college students, but still young – and primarily Korean, although quite a few foreigners make their way out to Hongik for the party scene as well.

This park is the perfect place to feel the energy and vibe of the crowd. Most notably on weekends, there’s usually an impromptu concert, band, dance, or drum circle exhibiting their talents. They naturally draw a crowd:

A popping battle, AKA ‘B-boy’ here in Korea, although it might be called ‘break dancing’ or hip-hop by mere mortals such as myself. A crowd in the hundreds gathered to watch two performers go back and forth in a quasi-competitive way.

I was too far away to see much of anything, so I decided to check out my first bar / club using my shiny new bracelet:

There wasn’t much to see, as this bar was completely empty save for the bartender and DJ. It was early (perhaps around 10:30pm), not unpopular. After the disappointment wore off, I tried another bar / club and was rewarded with this:

At a club called Spot, a Korean punk band that sounded like Blink-182 and My Chemical Romance (if you don’t know who they are, just smile and nod). Some excellent music – if you’re out there reading this right now, I have more pictures but didn’t get the name of your band 🙂

After enjoying the club scene briefly, I went back to the park. On the other side of the bushes is another medium-sized open area – big enough for 11-12 drummers in a drum circle, all following the leader (below):

The police came by a little while later to break the drum circle up – apparently someone complained about the noise. I’m not sure how close the area was to a residential neighborhood… and it’s a Friday night… but still…

Before long you begin to feel quite comfortable with the scene around you. Unlike most big parties in America, there’s no violence, very little overdrinking (but plenty of drinking), and enough activity to keep you going as long as you’re willing to find it. As you walk down the various streets of this district, expect to hear at least one club’s music (with multiple musical genres represented), people chattering on their cell phones or in restaurants, and the energy of a crowd glad another work / school week is behind them.

There’s some major differences between clubs – usually in terms of the atmosphere and the music they play. There are some differences in prices, but I’ll let someone else do the math on that. Some played straight techno, while others mixed hip-hop, rock, pop, top 40, and so on into their own special blend.

Welcome to Tinpan 2 – the aforementioned uber-crowded bar / club. Primarily a hip-hop / urban club, the crowd was almost entirely Korean. Whether they understood the words to the songs or just danced anyway, it was entertaining to say the least.

Thanks in part to lack of floor space and a little bit of alcohol, a few ladies decided to garner attention by dancing on the benches within the booths.

I got out of there before too much claustrophobia set in (having no room to exhale fully can make that happen to a guy), and later walked across the street to ‘Tinpan’ (I’m guessing the original). It’s similar in style, similar music, and similar crowd.