Being in Seoul, probably one of the most recognized, if not hottest place in the world right now is….
Yep! Gangnam is everywhere now, but unfortunately for us it didn’t come out while we were still overseas*sadface*. But it’s not just a street or a small district in the city’s landscape like I originally thought. It’s actually quite a big area with 22 other neighbourhoods including Apgujeong, Sinsa and Garosugil.
After spending much of the daytime visiting idol headquarters (anyone like Kpop?), we headed to Garosugil after getting off at Apgujeong to find this one elusive bubble tea shop to the Stars called Cofioca. I’ll let Talyssa tell the story but do not get off at the Apgujeong Station as it will take you to Plastic Surgery Street and not Rodeo Street, which is 30 minutes walk the opposite direction… Oh crap how painful! So to fight our disappointment (and the cold) we went to Garosugil. Lucky for us this single street, though not a very big road, was waaaay more easier to find than some small obscure little shop in a little unknown lane way.
Garosugil at night… in winter
Along Garosugil’s boutique streets, styles range from being feminine and flowy, with lots of handmade accessory shops selling flower hairbands and cute bows, to vintage and quirky-artsy with a few rare second hand shops and graphic goods stores. Since we went to Seoul during winter we didn’t get the lovely “European” vibe that Garousigil gives off when the street ginkgo trees have their leaves on but spending time walking through the streets, browsing at cute boutiques and passing the many cozy cafes and jazz bars, it’s definitely an ‘inspired Europe experience’ and of course a place were you can expect to find the Gangnam stylish crowd at (Oppa gangnam style!).
Home of too many cute cafes and galleries. My kind of place <3I didn’t take many pictures of shops since I wasn’t in “blogger” mode so here’s a teddy bear instead :)Chicken heaven Mmmm
I swear, Koreans can make chicken taste like heaven on a stick.
Probs one of the best korean chicken experiences of my life, if you know who Se7en is, his chicken restaurant is near the beginning of the street. Se7en’s music was probably my first introduction to Kpop other than BoA and Rain(Bi) when I was in high school. Besides the fact that I didn’t continue to listen to his music after Crazy… because I went on being Rain bias… I never thought celebrity chicken could taste sooo freakin good! Definitely give it a try and watch out for the chilli. It burns at level 1!!
Se7en’s Chicken RestaurantOther famous people who have visited his restaurant
After some walking around we went to Ginkgo Avenue (very appropriately name), a café that had a view of the street below. It was freezing cold, so natural we sat inside but close enough to the window to watch the street while sipping a chamomile teapot for two for ₩6,000.
Ginkgo Avenue Cafe
Like my artsy shots?
Lights out for now!
Need a Map?
Wanna get to Garosugil?
Take the train on Line 3 to Sinsa Station and exit at Exit 8, then walk 15 minutes. There’ll be a sign that reads “Garosu-gil” in English.
Spending Time:
If you are just browsing through, I would say 3 hours to eat, look and light shopping. Add more if you are going into galleries and nightlife activities.
Tips:
Garosugil also is home to some second hand vintage stores like 9 Owls that are located off the main road. Check them out if you’re into unique vintage goods.
Keep in mind that since Garosugil is in the Sinsadong area, things can be either of average to expensive prices for clothing and activities.
Dongdaemun is, quite frankly, HUGE and overwhelming. In my life, I have never seen so many shopping places all in one area. Infact – considering Australia’s severely lacking shopping industry – I bet Dongdaemun alone has more clothing and larger amounts of shopping malls than all the shopping centres combined in Australia. I mean magine 5-6 Westfields in one spot, with some DFOs chucked in as well. That is what Dongdaemun is, the Armageddon of SHOPPING MALLS!!!
I don’t know if it is because we live in Australia and shopping here is somewhat unobtrusive, but we found shopping in Dongdaemun (or anywhere in Korea) extremely straining – mentally and emotionally. Shopping in Dongdaemun is this mixture of head spinning clothing overload and extreme hyper-giddyness over the sheer amount of clothing available to one person. It was so emotionally draining that Siree and I actually became physically tired – we had so much to cover in such little time! You just didn’t know what to buy in case you found something better elsewhere, but by the time you had looked elsewhere, you had already forgotten about the first item because there were just THAT many clothes. It is completely impossible to compare items and pricing in Dongdaemun. Just don’t even try. If you see something and you really like it, buy it. Chances are you wont find it again if you don’t!!!
The Cheonggyecheon Steam and one of the many shopping streets in Dongdaemun which we didn’t get to explore…
Don’t get me wrong, we still loved shopping here and always will.
One of my favourite highlights of Dongdaemun was the abundance of street food. So being the foodies we are, this was naturally our first Dongdaemun pittstop. We decided to stop at this little stall that sold fish shaped “pastries” filled with all different kinds of fillings.
Some of the flavours. I had pizza it was actually really yummy!! Though I really wanted to try the sweet potato one too…should have bought both.Look at the cute menus! I love how Korea always decorates everything so nicely!!!The process of making our pastriesLOL totally doesn’t look like the picture haha but tasted way better than expected!!
Street food vendors literally line the streets in Dongdaemun. The smell is so good, and trust me after a long day of shopping some Korean street food goodness is just what you need.
Some more streetfood…I am seriously drooling remembering the smell and taste. My favourites – Ddeokbokki as well as fish cake in this really nice broth…soo good in winter in KoreaSiree’s potato chip and sausage hotdog…? LOL Gotta love Korea’s inventive street food.
If you think Dongdaemun is awesome by day, it completely comes alive at night with entertainment, influxes of people and amazingly lit shopfront displays. One thing I got to love about Korea is they seem to really enjoy their Christmas decorations, so even though almost a month had passed since Christmas, everywhere was still filled with Christmas lights and decorations, which was super pretty!
Going all out with the lighting. Where do they keep all the cables??The lights on this building would move and change into different animations. It was so pretty!! Unfortunately we didn’t even have time to check out the inside of the building.Soooo pretty!!!Doota!
Something you might want to be wary of when shopping in Dongdaemun, or anywhere in Korea for that matter, is the amount of shopping bags you are holding. Because there will be a point somewhere in your trip, where you are holding way too many bags that…you accidentally leave one of your shopping bags behind…and don’t realise until it’s too late… That is exactly what happened to me *cries*!!!! I know right how could I?!!?
The entire trip my brain was mush, but this seriously was the icing on the cake. I was so pissed off I resorted to modes of self punishment, which included retreating into quiet bouts of internal self reflection on how I could be so freaking reckless. I was so upset as my really nice (and cheap) double collared blouse was in the bag I had left behind. If theres one positive thing about Korean shopping its the fact that usually when it comes to the clothing and shoes there is usually only one piece of each item available to purchase, making your outfits more unique…however this obviously becomes a negative when you lose your shopping bags and now fear that you will never be able to find and buy that particular item again. Luckily for me though, I was reunited with my beautiful blouse the second time I went to Dongdaemun, although overall this meant it cost me 50000 won instead of 25000 won. sigh.
Map:
How to get to Dongdaemun:
Exit Dongdaemun Station exit 7 or 8. Dongdaemun has numerous shopping places, but for the “main” tourist area, you will need to pass Dongdaemun gate and cross the bridge that passes over the Cheonggyecheon river (see first image in post). 5 minute walk..not even.
How long to spend in Dongdaemun:
Siree and I spent 1.5 – 2 days of our schedule at Dongdaemun…and we only explored apM, Migliore and Doota..which is roughly (hardly) one side of Dongdaemun…soooo dissappointed at our efforts right now.
Tips:
If you are planning on shopping hardcore in Korea, go here first!!! Clothes are much cheaper here than items sold in Myeongdong and Hongdae – and often all 3 areas sell the same clothes.
Take a map with you so you dont miss any shopping areas. We didn’t take a map and therefore didn’t realise how many areas we didn’t explore!!!
Bargain wherever possible in stores like apM and Migliore…and use “aegyo”. It seriously works wonders – I got shoes down from 50000 won to 40000 won..and even ended up saving $160 on a leather jacket! Bargaining doesn’t really work in Department stores though.
Before this trip started, whenever I chat about South Korea with the girls everyone would say Seoul has some of the best shopping experiences for fashion that was affordable and stylish. After my experience, I would even argue that the fashion you would find in Seoul would definitely suit the style tastes of Sydney. Especially the winter trends. Bulky coats paired with blouses and leggings even when it’s sub-zero degrees of cold painful winter wind, Seoul’s winter fashion combines that causal element with sleek and polish.
So to get our first taste of what South Korea A/W 2012 fashion had to offer on our first day we went to Myeongdong, definitely one of THE go-to-place to shop in Seoul for the young stylish crowd.
Day vs Night
Comparing my first day shopping bags with Talyssa’s haul, I was definitely spending more money on cosmetic and beauty products than clothing. Oops~
But the one thing I wanted the most during this shopping trip was a fur item like a vest or collar. Mainly after seeing this picture of Okarie for Ank Rouge.
Okarie modelling clothes for her brand Ank Rouge (images from tumblr).
Ain’t the outfit kyute?? The fur collar definitely gives the outfit an interesting texture and lucky for me, Myeondong had a lot of fur shops selling solely fur pieces. I knew fur was a big trend for Japan’s winter season but for some reason I didn’t find a lot (if not any) young Seoulites wearing it… but all the older ladies! Omai!
Speaking of older ladies and fur, while we were shopping in one of the many side streets, we came across this store that had a lot of fur clothes. There were two sales people but the person I took notice of was the ajuuma who was very err “enthusiastic” to show me the fur collars that I was looking at, telling me to try it on and helping me… by shoving the ends into my top in very close contact with my chest. I don’t know if Talyssa was laughing her ass off at this point but all I could think of was “…did she just touch my boobs??” But rather than knuckling down to the hard sale, I was pretty solid in my mind that if it didn’t look good, I won’t buy it. So, after 5 minutes of close contact shoulder hugging while bumping into my conversations with Talyssa all buddy-buddy style, I decided to leave the store feeling a bit uncomfortable, at which the lady scoffed and went back to her counter. I felt quiet proud of myself, especially after Talyssa told me she was giving the other salesman a look of “I’m gonna make these girls buy something.” The store wasn’t cheap as well! Around $100 – $300 since she said it was either made from real fox or rabbit fur. Bonus: Pride went up 10 points.
But, but, butttt!! Just like to say, not every shopping experiences are like this in Seoul. These are just “skinship” tactics sales people use to make you come into their store which we don’t see in Western consumer culture. Actually, I had a friend who also went to Seoul during the same time and she took a photo of a salesman at the balcony of a store with a fishing rod with a present at the end of the line to get customers to come in during Christmas. Haha such a cute idea!
What gorgeous stores! Make up heaven: Etude House, Holika Holika, TheFaceShop and Tony Moly (right next door to Burger King hehe). Myeongdong was a great starting place since it mixes the big name stores like F21, Zara and Uniqlo with a good number of small boutiques and cart stores. But what I noticed was the cool concept stores. Especially the beauty and makeup brands who definitely had the best exteriors.
Sydney, why you no give free samples yo?! Best thing about shopping in Korea is the free samples for just entering the store! No guilt over not buying anything. Just enjoy your free sample of the latest beauty cream, facial mask or just some makeup pads for visiting their store. Of course, actually buying something in the store means better and more samples added to your bag but you’ll still get something good with the at-the-door kinds. Talyssa and I regretted not trying some of these new samples before we got back home since some of them were really good. Gah, noted for next time.
Example of outdoor cart stores selling everything from clothing to food.Though it’s easy to be tempted by the street level stores don’t forget to look up!
We found some really good restaurants and cafes on the upper levels of buildings while the bottom ground was reserved for more obvious stores like Starbucks. But not just in Myeongdong, a lot of the cute cafes we enjoyed and the yummy dinners we had on our trip have been from places on the upper levels in buildings. And, because we loved these places so much we’re gonna post up a entry just for eating shortly so keep an eye out!
Ohhh look at all those banchan!My sweet tooth was also satisfied :)Talyssa’s shopping Day 1. I think she did pretty well :)
Compared to other shopping districts, because of it’s popularity with tourists Myeongdong is certainly a bit more expensive than the others. For example…
My $10 strawberries!
Yes, $10 strawberries. So sweet, so good!! Little did I realize they are around $4 at local grocery stores… sigh the things I do for nomnoms.
Ok enough from me, so…
How can you get to Myeongdong?
Myeongdong Station is on Subway Line 4, Exit 7.
Map
Tips:
Favorite shopping places are Migliore, Etude House and SSFW. Many of the small shops without the big name labels attached to them are great for some discount buys.
Myeongdong can be quite confusing with it’s many side streets, so following the map will help a lot for first timers. At the end of the long street you can also find Lotte Young Plaza and Lotte Department Store which are more expensive with some international brands like the Make Up Forever counter as well as designs and prices that you would expect from a department store.
Make sure you look around before deciding on buying something. Myeongdong, besides being more expensive, like Dongdaemun also has more than one store selling the same product and sometimes cheaper.
If you havn’t guessed from our FML post, this month is centered around our trip to South Korea. This is some serious stuff okay, we’ll be sharing with you all the tips and tricks you need to know to experience Korean culture, particularly Korean youth culture, to its fullest as a foreigner.
This includes addressing important things like…going Korean clubbing, where do you go??? What do you do?? How do you make friends?? And most importantly…WHAT DO YOU WEAR!?
But! First things first. Before we get to the goodies, we need to address the basics.
Arriving In Korea
So you’ve just hopped off the plane feeling tired, grumpy and gross and all you desperately want to do is get to your hotel, shower, get comfy and sleep.
Never fear, you are not alone, this is exactly how Siree and I felt after 24 hours of barely any sleep. Not considering that we wouldnt get our luggage back during our stop over in Beijing, we stupidly left our toothpaste and brushes in our main luggage, adding permanent morning breath to our already uncomfortable situation. joy.
Being the girls that we are, as soon as our luggage was retrieved in Korea, we ran to the nearest bathroom to brush our teeth. This was both a blessing and a curse. Whilst it felt so good to feel and taste something other than the overstayed taste of blackbean sauced plane food in my mouth, it also meant having to look in the mirror and see my oily hair and dead tired face. ARGH! I mean there could be potential hotties I might need to impress on the way from the airport to my accomodation! Hahaha…I kid…I kid…but seriously.
Basically, there are 3 ways out of Incheon airport:
Bus
Train
Taxi
I’m going to focus on the bus and train, because I’m too much of a cheapskate to have considered the taxi (although I will say that travelling by taxi between towns during your trip is quite cheap and definitely recommended).
Bus
I highly recommend Korea’s airport limousine bus service as the most preferred mode of transportation to your accommodation ..its comfortable, you don’t have to hold your bags, you definitely get a seat, it is reasonably quick if the traffic is good and it is definitely recommended if you are going anywhere not directly serviced by the AREX. TRUST ME.
Before arriving in Korea, it is essential you plan your trip beforehand, so you know which bus to catch and where to catch it from. Siree and I were staying in an apartment around 10mins from Gaebong station.
Excerpt from bus timetable chart
In the timetable above, you can see our bus services the Gwangmyeong area (Seoul West), its number is 6014, its service is standard limousine, you can see all the stops it stops at, and the bus stops location (6A and 12B)
To find the bus that goes closest to your destination click here.
In the table above, if you click the detail button, you get this little pop up which tells you the bus time intervals, prices, duration of the trip and so on.
So now that you know which bus to catch, you will need to know where to actually buy your tickets. Although there is a pre-booking service available, there is no need to pre-book as you can buy tickets upon arrival (it is actually cheaper).
Tickets are located inside the airport at exits 4 and 9 (green icons on the map – this is where we bought our ticket) and in numerous places outside the airport. Bus stops are spread out upon the coloured platforms. Match up the bus stop number of your bus with its location on the map.Our bus ticket. Sorry for the crappy image quality!
Bus Fares:
Standard Limousine: 9,000 – 10,000 won (less than AU$10)
Deluxe Limousne: 14,000 – 15,000 won (less than AU$15)
Bus Do’s:
Plan and know where you are going, the bus number you are catching and where your stop is BEFORE you arrive. It will minimise stress and save so much time. You will also want to bring a print out copy of your plan, because you will forget it.
Sit as close to the front as possible. The hardest part of catching the bus is knowing when to get off it, especially since the bus announcements are all in Korean, so even if you are listening carefully, you will probably miss your stop…at least that is what happened to us..
Train
The first time I travelled to Korea, I was staying in Suwon which is quite far from Seoul. Being the noob that I was back then, I had decided to get there from Incheon by train…BIG MISTAKE. Whenever I needed to transfer stations there was always a HUGE flight of stairs that needed to be overcome upon exiting and entering a platform – an unachievable feat with heavy bags of luggage (although Korean men were so nice and always offered to help carry my luggage) – but it was still extremely exhausting and uncomfortable. This is definitely not something you want to go through after travelling for so long on a plane.
I would only recommend the train if you are not exhausted after your flight and are travelling anywhere between Incheon and Seoul station. The train is, after all, the cheapest and quickest way to the heart of Seoul.
The service you want to catch from the airport is called the AREX train service, which consists of both a commuter line (catch this if you are going to Myeongdong, hongik etc.) and the express line, a one way stop to Seoul Station.
Length of trip:
Commuter train – Seoul Station: 53 Minutes
Express train – Seoul Station: 43 Minutes
For information on pricing and train timetables, click here
Check out only the best website for all your Korean train travel needs (seriously it’s amazing for planning out your trip, you will use it always), here.
Train Do’s:
Ask people for help if you need it. In my experience, Koreans were always extremely friendly and always willing to take time to help.
Make sure you pick up a map of the train lines before exiting the airport, or have one with you before arrival. Although Korean train lines are fairly easy to navigate, you will get lost without a map.
Plan your trip to you accommodation BEFORE you arrive. You do not want to be making it up as you go along.
Consider how you will feel upon arrival…will you be tired from a long flight? Do you have heavy luggage? Do you expect to be seated the entire trip to your destination? If yes, consider the bus.
Finally, some things you may want to do ASAP when in Korea:
Buy a Tmoney card…it is like everything you will need transportation wise. Basically you load money onto it and you can use all forms of public transport with it. It is cheaper and more convenient than not using one. Tmoney cards can be bought from convenience stores as well as some little street vendors…I would insert a photo…but I have temporarily lost my card T.T
Run by two travel and lifestyle bloggers, The Hidden Thimble focus’ on creating truthful and in-depth travel guides, food & beauty reviews. Enjoy drool-worthy photography from around the world!
