"I seen 99 camera's ain't got a pic of one"*A week of adventure began last Tuesday with a morning visit to Donong. Unfortunately the store I was going to have a look at (US Military) looked like it has closed for good. It seems like the recession is still in effect with shop closures which I have seen around all areas I have visited.
I however visited E Mart and had my picture taken for my alien card which I perhaps will get this week.
Friday was a quick trip out after work to Taekwondo which happens to be not far from where I live. However it will be interesting to see if I can make it all the way from Deokso (where I work) back to Guri and a transfer on another bus or take a brisk walk to the building. We shall see how that works out today.
Saturday was a big day where I planned to cover Yongsan and Namdaemun Markets. Wow I arrived at Yongsan Station it is a huge place! Attached to it is I Park Mall which has floors (it must be 8 or 10?) of things to buy. Cameras, cameras, cameras. I will start with I Park; there were floors of cameras I mean it was ridiculous. Floors of computers as well and entertainment equipment such as Television and Audio equipment. There are also some very interesting stores there which I ave not yet seen anywhere else yet. An area for musical instruments which are quite reasonably priced, a book store with English magazines and a selection of English books (I believe they referred to it as Mega Book Store on the internal signs but it is called something else (Donkyo Book centre?...) I have a picture but half the name is obscured.
There is also a pet store and I was amazed to see hedgehogs there?!
On the other side of the mall / building is a food court or food courts as it extends multiple floors. This is where I had lunch, a pork steak half the size of the plate for $7,000 won (see in the picture section) which is not too bad considering I was at the station and the size of the meal.
I ventured out side took a walk around the block and then headed through a walking tunnel (on the right side of Yongsan Station if you are looking at it from the main entrance) to the other markets. so this is where it gets mind boggling in terms of the amount of stuff for sale. I first walked past computer part stalls then past a whole line of guys selling DVD's which led me to another section of buildings. Underground was a basement of Playstation, Wii and Xbox vendors with 1000's of games. More DVD stalls and then I crossed over into another building (which I later discovered was attached to Yongsan Stations rear by a sky bridge) to see another 5 or so floors of computers and cameras. A side note here; if you are wondering where Hooters is take the rear sky bridge from Yongsan Station descend the building you have now entered to street level, exit and turn right walk to the end of the building and you cant miss it.
So as I was saying I must have seen literally 1 Million cameras perhaps at least in Yongsan alone. I will definitely be back because that's where the KTX train leaves for Busan so see you next time Yongsan!
Seoul Station. Now Seoul centre is just somewhere you cant do in a day or 2 perhaps even a week. There are markets everywhere and yes there are some that pass you buy as you walk over them.
Namdaemun markets from Seoul Station:
If you get out exit 2 then you will have to cross the road. Exit 6, 7, 8 or 9 would be a better exit. There is a very large copper coloured building on the corner Seoul Centre if I remember correctly with the Police Station to the right of it. Walk up the road and you will see the SK building on the right and a walking over bridge just after that. Keep walking and on the left side of the road you will see gate 6 of Namdaemun market.
So the market is a maze of "stuff". Clothes, souvenirs, food, stationery and all sorts. Now somewhere in there is the Import market which is underground. I went specifically on a mission to find protein powder and sure enough on the 2nd level underground there are 2 or 3 guys that I found who are selling various protein powders, glutamine, creatine, amino acids and all the usual other supplements. Averagely pricey around $75 for a tub of Protein (around 1kg or so) and $20 for Creatine (probably 200 - 250g). I am going to a Korean Body building store this week to see what there prices are like.
I did manage to find other markets which look like subway entrances dotted around the place. Now these markets have some goodies. Coins, music, K-pop posters, mugs, pens lots of clothes, shoes, bookmarks well all sorts of things. One thing that grabbed my attention was the amount of record stores, yes that's right record stores. (Namdaemunno Underground Shoppping Centre).
If you don't know what a record is then... don't worry its one of those things from another era.
I also stumbled upon Shinsegae shopping mall which is floors of clothes and accessories with some electronics, beauty centre and a supermarket in the basement (8, 10, 12 floors? I cant remember or I lost count at some stage). There is also a beautiful rooftop garden / eating area which overlooks the city.
Now this is where you can get your fancy Armani, Gucci, Prada luxury items so be prepared for sore feet and a large credit card bill.
After that it was off to meet another New Zealand teacher and some of her friends in Itaewon (Charlotte with whom I did the ESL course at the New Zealand Institute of Education prior to coming to Korea) and then it was off to Hongdae University area to check out the night life. There was a vibrant atmosphere in the park with a couple of amateur concerts taking place and a lot of young students? drinking in the park aided by a mojito vendor and a guy dragging around a cart full of mokoli (a kind of rice wine). I discovered down an alleyway Gio Cat which I will definitely be re-visiting in the not too distant future so stay tuned... oh yes it will be worth a post in its own right.
Clubbing at Ting Ting and somewhere else... 1 and a quarter soju bottles will aid in my attention to detail dropping off to almost nothing and then it was an early 6am subway trip back to Guri a six hour sleep and then grocery shopping in Deokso.
So I think that this post is complete and look forward to what this coming week has to offer.
Flickr slide show link:
Something all gentlemen should take note of:
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