The nephew took the train down from Seoul yesterday afternoon. For some unfathomable reason he wanted one last opportunity to experience the ambiance of Anjeong-ri nightlife.

I grilled us up a couple of ribeyes and with our hunger satiated we proceeded to hit the bars. Well, I did make a stop at the Star Shop hoping to schedule the shipment of my balkbayan box, but alas, they were closed.

We had a couple of drinks in Crystal’s, which I guess by default has become my favorite watering hole here. Then we moved over to IDK for the weekly dart tournament. I warmed up with Justin but advised him not to participate in the tourney as his skill at the game I deemed not ready for prime time. The problem is in a blind draw for partners some of the good players get incensed if they get paired with a rookie. Justin was fine with not playing. And as fate would have it, I drew a rank amateur as my teammate. Certainly even worse than Justin would have been. Fortunately for him, I’m not one of “those” guys who gets pissed if the “luck of the draw” turns out unlucky. Needless to say, it was two and out for us. Which freed me up to take Justin on an old fashioned bar crawl.

So, we went back to Crystal’s to pick up where we left off earlier. Ran into a co-worker and we constructed a vapor/cigar cloud. Aren’t we special?

I also got to practice my flirting skills with the barmaid Seon Nyoh. She was not impressed.

After several drinks we moved over to another of my regular haunts, Horse and Cow. There were some drunk guys doing karaoke. Loudly and badly. One beer and out for us. Where to now? Well, it just so happens that this weekend is the one year anniversary of my first weekend in Anjeong-ri. So why not try a couple of bars I used to frequent but came to avoid later. Yeah, I was drunk and my reasoning skills may have been impaired.

So we hit Casbah and the barmaid remembered me and asked where I’d been all this time. Then ordered herself up a W10,000 ladydrink. When she was ready for a second I said sorry we have to go. That’s why I stopped visiting this bar, high pressure juicy.

Across the street another old “favorite”, Visions, was our next stop. The owner seemed glad to see me again after all this time and was actually quite friendly. My problem at Visions had been with the former bartender/manager who was quite rude to me. She’s no longer there, so it was all good. One of the bargirls set her sights on Justin and seemed impressed that he could carry on a conversation in Korean. Of course, it wasn’t long before she wanted a drink. When Justin declined, she moved down the bar and pouted. Justin relented eventually and she gleefully went to make herself a drink. Then asked for W20,000. I think Justin negotiated her down to a more “reasonable” W10,000, but her mood was soured again, so we headed on down the road.

The final stop of the night was at Hot Top. I used to go there fairly regularly until the bartender I thought was my friend pulled the W20,000 ladydrink scam on me. She scowled at me when I walked in, but a former waitress from IDK works here now and she seemed genuinely happy to see me again. I made a show of ordering her a drink which as she consumed mentioned that it was a W20,000 drink. What the hell? She could see I was pissed and said don’t worry about it, I’ll pay the difference. Well, as a matter of principle I don’t buy twenty thousand won drinks. But I slipped a W10,000 “tip” in her pocket, so the books were balanced. And then departed Hot Top for the last time.

Got home after midnight more than a little drunk and woke up with a hangover this morning.

I’ve been asking myself that a lot lately…

I’m in my teens now. 19 days to go.

Bobby told Lucy, “The world ain’t round…
Drops off sharp at the edge of town
Lucy, you know the world must be flat
‘Cause when people leave town, they never come back”
They go ninety miles an hour to the city limits sign
Put the pedal to the metal ‘fore they change their mind
They howl at the moon, shoot out the light
It’s a small town Saturday night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFRkH_3ZmbU