32 hours Part Four: Koreatown

This entry is one of many detailing what occurred in a few short hours.  Get your popcorn ready.

Alex, concierge at The Mayfair, pointed out the bus stop across the street from the hotel.  He said either bus 51, 52, or 53 would get us to Koreatown.  We were to get off at 7^th Street and Vermont.

We stood at the bus stop with our $1.50 fare in hand, along with about five other people.  Bus 53 pulled up and we boarded.  The machine wouldn’t take my bill, and the driver wasn’t going to move until it did.  He barked that the corners could not be folded and the bill had to be smooth.  I found an edge on the machine to smooth it out, inserted the dollar and turned around to find not a seat in sight.  Naysia and I held on tight.  He drove fast and stopped hard.  This went on for about 15 minutes. 

About a block before Vermont, Naysia looked out of the window and saw a building with Korean writing on it.  She wanted to get off immediately!  We got to Vermont, exited the bus and her face lit up.  Vermont ran north and south.  Across the street from where we were there were stores lined up, all with Korean lettering.  We’d walk a few feet, she’d stop to read.  We eventually made it to Vermont and Olympic, and although we knew we were in the right place, there was a sign at the stop light that read “Koreatown”.  We crossed at the light and found more shops, and tons of restaurants.  We peeked into meat markets and inhaled the aroma of Korean BBQ. 

We were trying to find a novelty shop similar to what we’d seen in Little Tokyo the previous year but had no luck.  We deduced that Koreatown, unlike Little Tokyo, was not meant to please tourists.  She did manage to find an ‘Angry Birds’ shirt just for the sake of saying she got something there. 

After about an hour of getting a minute glimpse of the Korean lifestyle we rushed to the bus stop, returning to the hotel to get ready for the ceremony.