Last week I vistited the horse racing course here in Seoul. Apart from the lottery, it is the only way Koreans can legally gamble.
This was my first time to see horse racing anywhere in the world. And although I'm not interested in gambling at all, I heard it's a nice way to spend a sunny afternoon. And so it was. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and the place was full of Korean men (and a few women) intensely filling out forms and smoking cigarettes. My Korean friend and I chose a horse each and made a 1000won bet for the winner before joining the crowds in the front row. We stayed there for the first few races, but were amazingly unlucky. The atmosphere was fun, but not as exciting as I'd imagined from movies (maybe Koreans are more reserved?).
Anyway, after a few races we decided to escape the throng of chain-smokers and headed for the foreigners lounge I'd heard about. This was much more luxurious. No smoking, air-conditioned, comfy chairs, panoramic view over the finish line and English information.
Alcohol isn't allowed inside the course (to keep things civil), but we had some juice and snacks to mourne the progressive loss of our hard earned cash. For the last race of the day we upped our bets to 5000won. Though at the last minute I realized if neither of us won in the last race, we would be complete losers since we hadn't won a race all day. So I ran up and put 1000won each on another four horses, giving us a total of six horses with bets in the final race. We split up our bets and made another side wager to see who would buy dinner. Luckily one of my three horses came in first place pocketing me 3000won (about a pound fifty), but more importantly, a dinner of chicken and beer.
ll in all, it was a fun day out and a nice new experience, but not something I would rush back to.
Me, impressing my Korean co-worker with ability to walk on water.
Co-worker Stephanie catching fish with her bare hands.
Co-worker Tyler catching fish by hitting them in the head with rocks. Psycho!
