All the imported booze is heavily taxed in Korea which makes drinking wine a luxury, especially in restaurants, where bottles can easily cost you 50 to 60 USD (50,000 to 60,000 Korean won). Spirits... don't even mention it! On Saturday we were in a Mexican restaurant where they charged almost 20 USD for a Margarita! Surprisingly the food was one of the best we have had in international restaurants.
The Korean products are on the other hand extremely cheap. One bottle of soju in the supermarket costs around 1USD. The bottle of makgeolli is a bit more, but less than 2USD. So getting drunk is not a difficult task, as long as you grow fond of the taste of Korean beverages, which believe me, is pretty far from what we are used to.
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| Makgeolli | Wikipedia: Soju |
Soju has a very plain grainy taste and the high alcoholic content is all you feel burning your chest when you gulp it down. Makgeolli – made from a mixture of wheat and rice – has a milky appearance and can be more interesting when perfumed with spices (cinnamon, ginger) and fruits (apple, orange).
Getting drunk is something normal but only among men. They drink together, mostly in the evenings, after leaving the office, and drag themselves in the streets afterwards, sometimes singing while hugging each other.
One hardly sees a woman drunk, except in Itaewon, the international area, though rarely. But when I say drunk, I say dead-drunk, which is a state they easily attain after two beers. :) Lack of the necessary enzymes to break down the alcohol.
A useful service has been gaining ground in Korea – the designated driver service, which you can call in case you had a bit too much to drink and want to be driven home in your own car. An estimated 100,000 replacement drivers tend to 700,000 customers every day across the country. This number increases by 30 % on Fridays (source: Korea Service Driver Society). In a 50 million people country, this is a significant number.
Thing about drinking in Korea is this: even if they drink a huge amount of booze they still maintain themselves morally sound. The drunk foreigners are the ones doing mischief.
Next post will be about food – street food, yeah!
One hardly sees a woman drunk, except in Itaewon, the international area, though rarely. But when I say drunk, I say dead-drunk, which is a state they easily attain after two beers. :) Lack of the necessary enzymes to break down the alcohol.
A useful service has been gaining ground in Korea – the designated driver service, which you can call in case you had a bit too much to drink and want to be driven home in your own car. An estimated 100,000 replacement drivers tend to 700,000 customers every day across the country. This number increases by 30 % on Fridays (source: Korea Service Driver Society). In a 50 million people country, this is a significant number.
Thing about drinking in Korea is this: even if they drink a huge amount of booze they still maintain themselves morally sound. The drunk foreigners are the ones doing mischief.
Next post will be about food – street food, yeah!
Yesterday - May 22 - 6 beers at The Plaza cost 130000 KRW !!!
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